The fame of the Shushan School of Arts and Sciences had spread, and many students had been enrolled. With nothing pressing to occupy his mind for the time being, Ye Wen found himself once again in a state of idleness.

This school was different from a sect. Back then, the entire sect numbered several hundred people, yet every major affair required Ye Wen's attention, and he still had several apprentices to instruct daily. Every day brought fixed duties, so ten years passed quickly, with Ye Wen barely noticing the days slip by.

But now, things were different again. The teaching duties at the school were handled by established instructors. Although Ye Wen taught a few classes himself, his primary goal was to use the opportunity to assess the aptitude of these students. Furthermore, the techniques taught were relatively rudimentary, such as the Soft Palm exercise that the entire Shushan Sect was permitted to learn.

This palm technique was not the most profound art of the Shushan Sect, but in Ye Wen’s view, it was the easiest way to discern a person’s innate talent and comprehension. While the forms of the Soft Palm were finite, the underlying concept was profound; its actual power depended entirely on individual enlightenment. A student with good aptitude would naturally strike powerfully with the Soft Palm, whereas those lacking it might struggle to improve for a long time.

Using this technique for assessment was therefore most appropriate. Thus, the martial arts class Ye Wen taught every week focused only on the forms and methods of generating force for the Soft Palm—MMMM—the application of inner strength was omitted.

Even if he taught these children the method of circulating internal energy, they would be unable to learn it. Moreover, under the current circumstances, generating inner strength was exceptionally difficult. Ye Wen had been greatly surprised when Tommy managed to perceive Qi sensitivity; after researching for so long, he finally realized that the contribution of the Seven-Colored Dou Qi was actually quite substantial in that process.

The commonality between the Seven-Colored Dou Qi and the Absolute Domain techniques was their ability to absorb all forms of energy for one’s own use, converting them into energy within the practitioner’s own system for application.

When he first began cultivating internal arts, Ye Wen hadn't paid much attention to this aspect, but now he understood just how domineering this characteristic of the two cultivation methods was.

Simply put, the Earth's environment was deteriorating; the spiritual energy that cultivators relied upon most heavily was becoming increasingly scarce. However, this did not mean that Earth contained no energy at all. If it did, Earth would be a desolate planet devoid of any life form, be it plant or animal.

Thus, as long as life existed, it meant that Earth itself still possessed energy; it was just that the spiritual energy most valued by cultivators was nearly depleted.

Naturally, all practitioners relied to some extent on spiritual energy, though the degree varied; cultivators depended on it the most. The depletion of Earth's spiritual energy was a devastating blow to them, but for those cultivating using other forms of energy, the impact was minimal.

This was why, while the Eastern cultivators were already agonizing over their very survival, the Western Church, Vampires, Werewolves, and others continued to live quite comfortably in the world.

Simultaneously, those practicing peculiar, heretical arts—such as those relying on the essence blood of living people or fierce malevolent energy for cultivation—the demonic path adherents, could also roam freely and thrive increasingly well.

The Martial Cultivation lineage also had a slightly different requirement for spiritual energy compared to the Cultivators, but overall, their needs were quite similar. The only difference was that Martial Cultivators adapted more easily to the current environment. The singular difficulty was that the harsh current environment made it hard for those intending to walk the path of Martial Cultivation to even cross the threshold.

But now, Ye Wen didn't need to consider those issues. The nature of the Seven-Colored Dou Qi and the Absolute Domain allowed Ye Wen to discover his greatest advantage in this world: the ability to cultivate masters while completely ignoring the composition of Earth's energy.

"Sheath all energy..."

Ye Wen had initially felt this aspect was merely similar to techniques like the Northern Darkness Divine Art or the Yi Jin Jing, but now he understood that compared to those two, these two methods were far more tyrannical.

As long as he could find suitable disciples, he wouldn't need to concern himself with spiritual energy, ambient Yuan Qi, or anything else. He could have a person cultivate one of these two methods, and then...

What puzzled Ye Wen currently was that when the hermit Bei He mentioned going to Emei to pass on a message, Ye Wen expected that in the following period, Mount Emei and Mount Qingcheng would inevitably become incredibly lively, with many cultivators scurrying about. He had anticipated using that time to probe for some of the information he sought.

Yet, half a year had passed. He was living right next to the Shushan mountain range, but he had neither seen nor sensed any strange phenomena. Every day, he set aside time to extend his divine sense over the widest possible range to investigate the situation, but it was all in vain. The entire Shu region remained as placid as if nothing had happened.

Of course, if there was no activity, he wasn't overly concerned; after all, he was still preoccupied with selecting disciples. In recent days, he had found a few young people with decent aptitude and was currently observing their character. If they proved worthy, he planned to temper these young people for a while before imparting the marvelous techniques.

Aside from that, the most significant development during this time involved a tattered secret manual in his possession.

The Incomplete Scroll of Five-Colored Divine Light

Ye Wen knew what the Five-Colored Divine Light was—it was an incredibly formidable entity. It was hard to classify whether it should be deemed a magical artifact or a cultivation technique, but the only certainty was that this thing was awesome, extremely awesome, unbelievably awesome!

What astonished Ye Wen most was that obtaining this item wasn't due to his good fortune, but rather the result of an experiment he was conducting.

Lately, Ye Wen had observed the potent power of the colored light ribbon Hua Yi wielded, yet it seemed unable to progress further. This led him to ponder giving Hua Yi some advice. However, the seven-colored light ribbon was already quite exquisite... Ye Wen couldn't immediately think of any technique that both suited Hua Yi’s art and was more formidable than this ribbon.

"If only it would drop a hint, at least it would give Hua Yi a powerful direction to aim for..."

Unfortunately, Ye Wen didn't have many strong memories concerning ribbons or similar artifacts. Even if he wanted to mimic something similar, he couldn't recall anything suitable.

At this moment, Ye Wen held a clump of Hua Yi’s ribbon Qi in his hand, which he had intercepted during a spar with her just moments before. Because the Qi was solidified, it hadn't dissipated yet.

The palm-sized, multi-colored light ribbon circled in his palm for a moment, resembling a silk handkerchief but faintly luminous with exceptionally vibrant colors.

After pondering for a while, Ye Wen couldn't quite pinpoint why, perhaps seeing the ring on his finger while examining the light ribbon, he chuckled and said, "I can't think of anything. Maybe this thing can give me an idea!"

Then, with a surge of inner force, he enveloped the segment of colored light ribbon and directed it toward his ring, all while circulating his technique and muttering, "I wonder if this thing Hua Yi conjured up will elicit a response from this ring..."

Before he finished speaking, Ye Wen heard the familiar prompt sound echo in his mind. He still wasn't entirely used to this immortal-sounding treasure announcing itself like a high-tech computer, but over time, he had grown accustomed to it. As the voice sounded, after a brief moment of stunned surprise, Ye Wen recovered his composure, followed by a surge of elation.

"It actually worked?"

This was because the prompt he heard was extremely close to the prompt he received when using his Hun Tian Bao Jian Qi to summon something. The only difference was that the ring didn't state it had detected Hun Tian Bao Jian Qi; instead, it specified 'Unidentified Qi.' This suggested that Hua Yi's light ribbon had evolved beyond the scope of the Heavenly Demon Art, leading the ring to this specific judgment.

He poured his true Qi into the ring with vigor. He already understood that once the ring made its initial determination regarding the Qi category, what he needed to do next was supply the ring with sufficient 'energy'—the category of energy itself didn't matter.

A moment later, the ring flashed faintly, as if a tiny light bulb had briefly illuminated, and then a thin booklet dropped into Ye Wen's hand.

Bringing the booklet before him, the large characters that met his eyes almost made Ye Wen drop the item in fright. This was purely because the words Five-Colored Divine Light were so alarming.

"This can't be this vicious, right? Did Hua Yi's true Qi actually summon something this heaven-defying?"

But then he noticed that the name on the scroll wasn't just Five-Colored Divine Light; following it were the almost unnoticeable characters Incomplete Scroll. If Ye Wen hadn't looked closely, he might have entirely missed those two characters, which were clearly several sizes smaller—they looked like mere punctuation marks at a cursory glance!

"Damn it! Can you stop being so deceptive?"

Opening the booklet, Ye Wen glanced through it briefly and understood what the term Incomplete Scroll signified!

The Five-Colored Divine Light, as legend had it, was the ultimate technique of the ancient, super-powerful figure Kong Xuan, who was reputed to be invincible beneath the Saints during the Investiture of the Gods! If Ye Wen had truly acquired such a skill, he wouldn't need to bother practicing the Hun Tian Bao Jian; he could just practice the Five-Colored Divine Light!

But would things really be that easy?

Of course not. Moreover, given Ye Wen’s current level of cultivation, it seemed impossible for him to reach the required state to practice the Five-Colored Divine Light. Thus, when Ye Wen opened the scroll, the very first sentence nearly made him spit blood.

This technique is referenced from the ultimate skill of the Grand Sage Kong Xuan. However, this technique is a plagiarized and truncated version; it is not the original Five-Colored Divine Light, and its power differs vastly from the original. Practitioners should not become overly complacent!

This single sentence caused Ye Wen to curse his ring vehemently, especially such a playfully mocking opening, which made him suspect that his ring was inhabited by some great figure who was deliberately playing a prank on him.

Considering that the items previously produced by the ring had all been quite good—especially the named techniques which proved highly effective—this time, even if it was a plagiarized, truncated version trading on the name of the Five-Colored Divine Light, it shouldn't be too abysmalMMMMafter all, it was something obtained by exhausting Ye Wen's entire cultivation base. If he could practice it, the power should be guaranteed.

Furthermore, since he summoned this item using Hua Yi’s true Qi as a guide, it meant that in the ring's assessment, this technique was currently most suitable for Hua Yi. Since that was the case, there shouldn't be any issue preventing her from cultivating it.

Flipping further through the booklet, Ye Wen finally understood why this book was labeled a plagiarized, truncated version and an incomplete scroll. The original Five-Colored Divine Light was generated when a wisp of primordial Chaos Qi differentiated into the Five Elements during the initial division of chaos, simultaneously leveraging Kong Xuan, this supreme spiritual being, to give it form.

The essence of the Five-Colored Divine Light lay in the five peacock tail feathers. The great being who later defected to Buddhism to become the Peacock King of Wisdom spent tens of thousands of years refining the Five-Colored Divine Light for his own useMMMMAt this point, Ye Wen realized, even without thinking, that this was absolutely not something he could obtain right now, and even if he obtained it, he didn't have tens of thousands of years to refine it.

Therefore, this Five-Colored Divine Light was merely a product imitated based on some characteristics of the true Five-Colored Divine Light, transformed into a cultivation method by reverse-engineering this legendary skill, which was hard to classify as either a treasure or a technique.

And the so-called plagiarized, truncated scroll in Ye Wen’s hand was actually only a portion of the cultivation method for the plagiarized Five-Colored Divine Light. According to the scroll, if one could master everything within this volume, they would master one color of the Five-Colored Divine Light!

“”

Ye Wen held the scroll for a long time, speechless. So, the so-called plagiarized, truncated scroll meant this! The original Five-Colored Divine Light aside, even this plagiarized version required immense effort just to master a single color of the light. That seemed terribly underwhelming, didn't it?

However, looking further ahead, Ye Wen grew increasingly astonished, realizing his initial assessment might have been too simplistic. By the time he finished reading the entire scroll, he understood just how formidable this so-called plagiarized Five-Colored Divine Light was. Even if it couldn't match the original, if mastered, one could walk sideways across Earth without fear!

The Plagiarized Five-Colored Divine Light consisted of six volumes in total! Five volumes contained the cultivation methods for one color of the five elements, while the final volume detailed the method for unifying the five colors into the true Five-Colored Divine Light.

This meant the volume in Ye Wen's hand represented only one-sixth of the entire cultivation method!

These five colors were also differentiated according to the Five Elements, just like the true Five-Colored Divine Light: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth each corresponded to one volume, with each attribute corresponding to a ray of divine light, mapped to the colors White, Green, Black, Scarlet, and Yellow, respectively.

The scroll he held detailed the cultivation method for the Geng Metal Divine Light. If Hua Yi could master this Golden Light, she could nurture a ray of white divine light within her body. This white divine light, belonging to Geng Metal, would not only suppress all Metal-attributed magic treasures and spells but would also possess the inherently aggressive characteristic of Geng Metal Qi. It wouldn't exist purely as a divine light form; when necessary, it could transform into various shapes for direct offense.

“Hiss... How tyrannical!”

Upon reading this, Ye Wen understood the implications. Once Hua Yi mastered this Geng Metal Divine Light, Metal-attributed spells would become ineffective against her. Furthermore, Hua Yi could conjure flying swords to attack enemies using the Geng Metal Divine Light, much like how Ye Wen condensed his purple Qi into purple swords. However, unlike Ye Wen, if her Geng Metal sword Qi manifested as an actual flying sword, it would be indistinguishable from a flying sword imbued with Geng Metal power!

Although Ye Wen only held one volume, he gleaned from general guidance verses that the other four divine lights possessed similar effects to the Geng Metal Divine Light. This implied that mastering each divine light would significantly boost the practitioner's strength, right up until all five lights were mastered.

That wasn't all. According to the scroll, mastering the five divine lights was merely the foundation of this entire technique. The true subtlety lay in the sixth volume, which detailed the unification of the five colors into the Five-Colored Divine Light!

The Five-Colored Divine Light was heralded as capable of sweeping away all things, but these five plagiarized divine lights could only suppress spells and treasures of the corresponding elemental system. Even for a plagiarized item, this seemed to disgrace the Five-Colored Divine Light. Thus, if the sixth volume wasn't mastered, the practitioner hadn't truly cultivated the Five-Colored Divine Light, even if it was a knock-off.

Only upon mastering the sixth volume would it truly become the plagiarized Five-Colored Divine Light. Once the Five Elements were unified, it could encompass all things in the world. Only then would the Five-Colored Divine Light possess the foundation to counter all spells and treasures, sweeping any person, object, or treasure into the divine light, with life and death entirely at the user's whim, just like the real Five-Colored Divine Light.

What shocked Ye Wen the most was the final passage in this volume. It clearly stated: If the cultivator possesses extremely high attainment, and extraordinary comprehension and innate talent, they may continue to reverse-engineer the Five-Colored Divine Light, further allowing the Five-Colored Divine Light to evolve Chaos from the Qi of the Five Elements... then transforming back into Primordial Chaos Qi before redifferentiating the Five Elements. If this can be achieved, the Five-Colored Divine Light will truly become the Five-Colored Divine Light, no longer needing to bear the moniker 'Plagiarized'...

“”

Ye Wen stared at this passage, remaining silent for a long time. To say he wasn't tempted would be an absolute lie! Could any ordinary person resist the allure of cultivating the true Five-Colored Divine Light, this ** treasure?

He didn't consider hiding the technique from Hua Yi. Instead, he contemplated whether he should abandon his ongoing cultivation of the Hun Tian Bao Jian and switch to cultivating the Five-Colored Divine Light instead.

But after thinking it over, he realized the Five-Colored Divine Light only presented a grand future prospect to the practitioner at the end; it gave no guarantee that this state could actually be achieved. Based on the inherent power of the technique itself, it might not necessarily be stronger than the Hun Tian Bao Jian.

"At most, it offers massive room for development, but this room for development depends entirely on the cultivator’s own transcendent talent to continue reverse-engineering the Five-Colored Divine Light to reach the realm described in the scroll! But if someone possessed that level of talent, they wouldn't be weak practicing any technique!"

Ye Wen never believed his talent was exceptionally formidable. Even though he rarely encountered stagnation due to failing to grasp a cultivation technique. But he knew he relied partly on serendipitous encounters and partly on the ring; he was never like those true diligent practitioners who continuously broke through solely through their own comprehension.

Therefore, he chose not to comment on the grand promise laid out in the final section of this plagiarized Five-Colored Divine Light.

Lowering his head to consider his Hun Tian Bao Jian... Ye Wen suddenly realized: "The Five-Colored Divine Light reverses the Five Elements to derive Chaos, but the true Qi of the Hun Tian Bao Jian also corresponds to all things under Heaven and Earth, and all things under Heaven and Earth originate from Chaos. If I manage to cultivate all ten levels of Hun Tian Bao Jian Qi, perhaps I can also use the Hun Tian Bao Jian true Qi to deduce Chaos! In that case, the Hun Tian Bao Jian might also change. Why must I fixate on the Five-Colored Divine Light technique?"

"Besides, even the authentic Five-Colored Divine Light is only rumored to be invincible beneath the Saints. My Hun Tian Bao Jian, after all, was created by a genuine Saint. It should be superior to the Five-Colored Divine Light!" However, recalling that the two techniques belonged to entirely different systems, Ye Wen’s final self-questioning sounded very unconfident: "It should... be superior?"