The masked figure let out a furious snort. He couldn't fathom how the Five Elements Ring had become so firmly attached to the opponent's Great Saber, clinging to it like the closest comrade, inseparable no matter what.

But since neither of their weapons could be fully utilized, he didn't feel he was at a disadvantage. With over two centuries of diligent cultivation, he had successfully condensed the Three Flowers. If he couldn't suppress He Yiming in a contest of true energy, he might as well smash his head into a wall and be done with it.

However, He Yiming’s next move was still completely unexpected.

The dark hilt, under the deep cover of night, lunged forward with lightning speed. Before the piercing sound of air being cut could even reach him, the hilt was already stabbing toward his chest. Such velocity was truly terrifying.

Yet, the Masked Man was no ordinary character. With a flick of his wrist, his hand transformed into an eagle’s beak, aiming to snatch at that streak of blackness.

At this moment, his entire palm shimmered with a metallic sheen. Driven by the mighty flow of his Metal element power, nothing short of the sharpest divine weapons in the world could inflict damage upon his hand.

As he thrust this one-handed 'Eagle Beak Claw' forward, he felt absolute certainty. With a subtle shake of his wrist, a flurry of afterimages danced out, perfectly timing to seize the opponent’s hilt.

This speed, this skill, this precision—it all showcased the profound depth of his two centuries of martial attainment. Even his own master, seeing this display, would surely offer unstinted praise.

But the very instant his Eagle Beak Claw successfully clamped down on the hilt, he immediately sensed something was terribly wrong.

The sensation coming through his fingers suggested it wasn't a round hilt at all…

Then, a surge of intense agony shot through his hand. Since ascending to the realm of a First-Tier Heaven expert, he had not felt such violent pain. A quick glance sideways instantly revealed an expression akin to having seen a ghost.

In He Yiming’s hand, the weapon that had stabbed forward was not a detached hilt from the Great Saber at all, but a sharp, treacherous fork-sword, like a venomous snake hiding in the deepest shadows.

Given his vast knowledge, upon seeing this fork-sword, he instantly recognized its origin.

In that flash of lightning, a thought raced through his mind: when exactly had He Yiming swapped the weapons? And where had the hilt of the Great Saber he thought he had detached gone?

A spray of blood rained into the air; one section of his five fingers had been neatly sliced off.

The Masked Man's eyes held an indescribable confusion, which was immediately replaced by stark terror. His body reacted far faster than his thoughts could process. He sprang backward with incredible speed, regardless of everything else. Almost simultaneously, he exerted all his strength, pushing his wrist that gripped the ring.

All his true energy surged into the Five Elements Ring in that instant, as much as he could muster.

Light burst forth from the Five Elements Ring, the three types of true energy shifting unpredictably. It exhibited all the signs of imminent explosion.

He Yiming was greatly alarmed. Even before the Great Saber could sever the ring, he knew this artifact’s origins must be extraordinary. As the artifact’s colors began to shift unpredictably, He Yiming even had the distinct feeling that if the Five Elements Ring truly detonated, even he couldn't guarantee emerging unscathed from the blast radius.

The Masked Man’s all-out strike was, in reality, his only option when backed into a corner. If this treasure truly exploded, He Yiming might not die instantly due to the protection of the Great Saber, but without the enhancement of his weapon, his demise would be certain.

Having done this, the Masked Man released the hand gripping the Five Elements Ring without hesitation, leaping backward at top speed. Although the fork-sword in He Yiming’s hand was swift, it only managed to rake a long gash across his body, failing to inflict a fatal wound.

Moreover, in that same instant, He Yiming decisively abandoned the pursuit. The Great Saber in his hands spun rapidly, and the vast true energy concealed within the Five Elements Ring gradually flowed into the Great Saber, being slowly dissolved by him.

He Yiming’s hand flickered slightly, embedding the fork-sword into the continuously rotating Great Saber. By this time, the Masked Man was long gone, so he did not witness the exceedingly subtle change that occurred the moment one end of the fork-sword contacted the Great Saber.

The fork-sword began to morph. In just an instant, it transformed into a simple round rod, perfectly merging with the front section of the Great Saber. Now, from any angle, it appeared simply as a saber hilt, utterly devoid of the sinister deadliness characteristic of a fork-sword.

The true energy the Masked Man poured into the ring before fleeing was nearly all he possessed. To secure his escape, he naturally held nothing back.

After He Yiming successfully dissolved all the true energy channeled into the Five Elements Ring, several breaths of time had already passed, and his opponent had vanished into the blackness of the jungle, leaving no trace. After all, an expert of the Three Flowers realm, determined to flee at all costs, could not be tracked even by a million troops in such darkness.

He Yiming lightly shifted his wrist, pulling down the Great Saber. The Five Elements Ring then came to rest before him.

The surface of the Five Elements Ring began to undergo subtle transformations. Tiny, almost microscopic tentacles started to emerge slowly, retracting one by one back onto the Great Saber. When the last tentacle had retreated, the Five Elements Ring dropped down.

The reason for the Masked Man’s utter bewilderment was the work of these little tentacles. In truth, after these small appendages latched onto the Five Elements Ring, the exotic weapon had undergone minor changes. If he had been able to calm down and examine it closely, he might have discovered the cause. But the battle had been fiercely desperate, life and death hanging on the slightest moment. Under such circumstances, for the Masked Man to have pinpointed the reason would have been truly supernatural.

He Yiming planted the Great Saber vertically on the ground and stepped back a few paces, holding the Five Elements Ring. As soon as he completed this action, the Great Saber began to transform, reforming into the Hundred and Eight shapes within a single breath.

He Yiming gave a slight nod, glancing in the direction the Masked Man had fled, and let out a long sigh, shaking his head faintly. Regret gnawed at him. However, he knew that having lost the man's trail, finding him again was now almost impossible.

He raised the Five Elements Ring in his hand, only truly seeing its complete form once it was in his grasp. From the outside, the treasure appeared to be a simple circle, yet its internal structure was quite exquisite, divided into an outer and inner ring, separated by a distinct boundary line. Moreover, the inner ring featured a grip. The moment He Yiming’s hand closed around it, he felt a bone-chilling coldness. He sent a sliver of true energy inside and couldn't help but pause slightly.

It seemed another kind of true energy was contained within this artifact. As soon as his true energy entered, it met immense pressure, seemingly ready to spring back out at any moment.

His expression shifted slightly, and He Yiming snorted in anger—a tiger doesn't show its might only to be mistaken for a sick cat. He had sensed that the true energy residing within the Five Elements Ring was identical to that of the Masked Man. He couldn't fathom how the man managed to leave his own true energy inside the artifact to actively resist others' energy.

However, since the treasure was now in his possession, He Yiming certainly couldn't allow the other man’s energy to linger. With a thought, He Yiming's true energy began to seep into the Five Elements Ring, thread by thread. As expected, once his energy began to enter, the repulsive force intensified. Furthermore, the Five Elements Ring actively emitted a low hum, and the outer ring even began to rotate slowly. Three different colored lights flickered faintly.

Earth, Metal, Water...

When these three elemental lights merged, even He Yiming felt a slight headache coming on. The sheer quantity of this residual true energy far exceeded his expectations. More critically, the Five Elements Ring itself possessed a peculiar property that amplified the resistance of this energy. As the outer ring spun faster and faster, there arose a distinct sense of the Five Elements generating each other in an endless cycle.

He Yiming was utterly amazed. He had never even heard of, let alone imagined, such a marvelous and incredible artifact. The constant flow and endless generation of the Five Elements cycle would certainly vex anyone else encountering this situation. However, since the ownership had changed hands, the residual energy lacked replenishment. If he could continuously counter it, there would eventually come a day when it was completely worn out. But achieving this feat would take no less than ten days to half a month.

He Yiming was different. Sensing the ring's unique nature, he cycled his own true energy, channeling the Five Elements energy simultaneously. His internal Five Elements energy and the external energy immediately entered a state of confrontation, constantly colliding and consuming one another. Under the pressure of these two forces, the outer ring of the Five Elements Ring spun even more violently.

When the outer ring reached its peak speed, circles of strange colors shimmered—the effect of the true energy being maximized through the Five Elements Ring. He Yiming even felt a powerful sense of oppression, especially as the five elements gradually unified; he felt an irresistible force. A chill ran down his spine. He realized how recklessly brave he had been to clash with this ring barehanded earlier. Thankfully, at that time, he used the Thirty-Six Forms of Mountain Splitting, whose overwhelming Metal sharpness—an aura seemingly capable of piercing anything—had made the Masked Man wary. Thus, the opponent only used the path of mutual generation to neutralize his power, and then countered by employing the powerful Ice element, which lay outside the standard five, to freeze the ring. Otherwise, facing it empty-handed might have resulted in a grim outcome. This artifact appeared seamless, yet once the outer ring reached a certain rotation speed, it could cut through metal as if it were mud.

Slowly, the remaining true energy within the Five Elements Ring began to wane, and He Yiming’s true energy gained the absolute upper hand. Once the path of mutual generation was suppressed by He Yiming, the internal energy rapidly diminished. An hour later, all residual true energy vanished without a trace.

Only then did He Yiming finally let out a long breath. He reassessed the artifact. With the foreign true energy gone, he suddenly found the Five Elements Ring much more pleasing to the eye. He channeled his true energy into it again; this time, there was no resistance.

Exploring its mysteries little by little, He Yiming’s eyes lit up. The Five Elements Ring, as its name implied, was a miraculous treasure capable of containing and utilizing the power of the Five Elements. When He Yiming channeled a specific type of true energy into it, the ring would manifest a corresponding ability. Even more astonishingly, even with just one element channeled, the Five Elements Ring could spontaneously generate the other four elements through the path of mutual generation. Of course, the power unleashed this way was significantly weaker.

After several attempts, He Yiming roughly estimated its capabilities. Manipulating the Five Elements Ring with its corresponding element provided a substantial boost. But if he tried to generate the other elements, even at full strength, the power exerted was extremely limited—roughly equivalent to that of an ordinary Xiantian (Innate) expert.

But he now understood why the Masked Man could conceal his use of the Five Elements Ring from the Totem Clan members. The Five Elements energy, equivalent to that of a common Xiantian expert, was already potent enough in the eyes of the average Totem Envoy, making it naturally impossible for them to discern its true source. He sighed deeply. Such a miraculous artifact existed in the world; it was no wonder the Totem Clan had fixed their sights directly on him.

He continuously channeled his true energy into it, and gradually, He Yiming began to feel a sense of practiced familiarity, an almost inherent connection to the ring. This feeling was almost identical to when he wielded the Great Saber; the Five Elements Ring had become an extension of his body. The only difference was that the Five Elements Ring could not change its shape; He Yiming couldn't mold it at will.

After pondering for a moment, He Yiming waved his hand, and a burst of fire shot out from the Five Elements Ring, igniting the brittle fallen leaves on the ground, showing a tendency to spread. Surprised and delighted, He Yiming waved the ring repeatedly, shooting out jets of water. After a while, all the sparks were extinguished.

Hesitantly, he unleashed a burst of Metal element power. The rotating outer ring seemed capable of evoking all five elemental forces. When this Metal power struck a small tree about the thickness of a fist nearby, it sliced through it. Without a sound, the small tree instantly toppled.

Joy flickered in He Yiming’s eyes. After some consideration, he simultaneously channeled his Five Elements true energy into the ring. This was genuine Five Elements energy, not the mutually generated forces spurred by combining several different energies. As these five streams of energy entered the Five Elements Ring together, some strange change occurred within. He Yiming cautiously sensed and constantly adjusted the five energies, gradually bringing them into a state of perfect equilibrium. This way, no single element was dominant, and all five energies within the ring were activated simultaneously.

Suddenly, the entire Five Elements Ring emitted a clear, ringing sound, crisp and beautiful, like the clash of bells and drums. Even with He Yiming's composure, he was startled. The Five Elements Ring was small, but the magnitude of the sound surprised him immensely.

The outer ring of the Five Elements Ring began to rotate once more. He Yiming now understood that as long as true energy was channeled in, the outer ring would automatically spin, and the subtle marvels of the Five Elements would manifest through this rotation. But this time felt different. Although the speed of the outer ring’s rotation wasn't particularly fast, the sensation it gave He Yiming suggested it could spin forever.

Hesitantly, He Yiming slowly withdrew the Five Elements energy. Then, his eyes shone with a mixture of pleasant surprise and excitement. The outer ring of the Five Elements Ring continued to spin. The mutual generation of the Five Elements, endless and continuous—the profound truth of the Great Dao was displayed perfectly within this small artifact. A uniform speed, a stable frequency—all of it was utterly breathtaking.

With a casual wave, a wave of Five Elements power flowed from the outer ring. The half-tree that had been split in two before suddenly exploded, blasted apart once more by this innate Five Elements Qi. Although the power of this single burst of Five Elements Qi wasn't something He Yiming needed to fear, he was overwhelmingly exhilarated. With such a treasure, wouldn't his command over the Five Elements true energy become inexhaustible?

He experimented by channeling more equally divided Five Elements energy into it. Sure enough, the faster the outer ring spun after receiving more Five Elements energy, the significantly stronger the power of the casually released Five Elements force became compared to before.

At this point, He Yiming was truly overcome with joy. However, letting it spin indefinitely seemed problematic. After studying it for a long while, He Yiming finally discovered a solution. By channeling slightly more of any single element, he could disrupt the perfectly balanced system of mutual generation, thereby stopping the entire process.

Watching the outer ring slow down and finally come to a halt, He Yiming felt a joy beyond words. The Five Elements Ring, in the hands of the Masked Man, could never unleash its greatest potential. Only in his own hands could its most potent aspects be brought forth. Moreover, he discovered something else. He had been overly cautious. This artifact was clearly a rare supreme treasure. Since it could withstand the impact of the Great Saber, its hardness was self-evident. Even if he poured all his Five Elements energy into it, he couldn't shatter it, let alone the Masked Man’s three-elemental Qi.

He gave a wry smile. He had tricked the other party once, and now he had been tricked back—a debt from June is quickly paid…