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They took the cobblestone path, Gu Luolin tagging after Ye Zichen.

From time to time, she glanced behind them. She could still dimly discern the essence spirits’ figures. They’d been standing there ever since Ye Zichen left.

Even now, she didn’t understand why Ye Zichen would do this. They’d gone through so much trouble to get here. Wasn’t it all for the sake of meeting those essence spirits?

"Are we really leaving?"

"Mm." Ye Zichen didn’t seem to want to talk. From beginning to end, he didn’t spare the spirits a second glance.

He was well aware that they really could strengthen his Power of the Five Elements. They were transcendent fortune, and with their help, he might very well transcend.

But the era neared its end. He couldn’t put the entire era into danger. What if, in the face of life and death, the spirits caused problems like they had in the past? It was better to simply take them out of the equation, pretend they didn’t exist, and rack his brains for some other way to ward off their enemies.

Ye Zichen had left marks on their path on their way here. He followed them, and led Gu Luolin back to the entrance to the real room..

The dense smell of blood assailed their nostrils. The area around the stairway was stained completely red.

Cang Xiong leaned against a stone pillar, his hands behind his head, humming a tune Ye Zichen couldn’t quite understand. As for Qing Lan, he stood in a place where the pooled blood was particularly deep, staring into it, his expression pained.

There was no trace of the Thousand-Faced Yao Monarch.

"It’s over?" Ye Zichen asked softly.

When Cang Xiong heard that, he looked up, patted himself off, and walked up to Ye Zichen. "Boss Qing Lan is in a bad mood, so be careful when you talk to him."

"Young Friend Ye, you’re back." Qing Lan left the pool of blood, then said, "I can’t sense the elemental essence spirits’ presences on you."

"Mm. I didn’t bring them with me."

"Then what did you go for?" Cang Xiong glared at him.

Ye Zichen looked at him, and when Cang Xiong saw the look in his gaze, he forced his words back down.

Ye Zichen then turned to Qing Lan. "Uncle Lan, I’ve troubled you. Please return to the pagoda and get some rest."

Qing Lan nodded, but right before he left, he took out a little jade bottle and collected some of the pooled blood.

Cang Xiong was just about to follow him back into the pagoda when Ye Zichen patted him on the shoulder. "Cang Xiong, I’ll have to trouble you a little longer. Unless I’m mistaken, there are people waiting for me outside. You don’t have to hurt them; we’ll need their help as the era nears its end. All you have to do is scare them off."

"What do you think I…." Cang Xiong was just about to object when Ye Zichen spread his fingers.

"Your reward."

Cang Xiong’s anger disappeared in a flash, replaced by a face full of smiles. He pounded himself on the chest and said, "No problem! I’ll be sure to wrap this up properly!"

Meanwhile, the elemental essence spirits stood by the gateway to their miniature world. They could use their abilities to sense elemental essences to determine that Ye Zichen had already left.

"He really left." The water essence spirit’s indolence had disappeared, replaced with disbelief as he looked at his siblings.

The essence spirits had always nitpicked and made demands of the Emperor Star, not the other way around. Of course, the end result was always that they’d follow him out, but even then they and the Emperor Star were equals.

Anyone who met them would have to talk things over properly. After all, they were the leaders of their respective elements, kings over elemental essence.

Obtaining their support was like obtaining support from the Five Elements of Heaven and Earth. Anyone would treat them cautiously.

Yet Ye Zichen had just upped and left without so much as a second look.

In that case, what were they doing here?

"He really left," said the fire essence spirit hoarsely.

"It’s definitely because we made him angry," said the wind essence spirit meekly. "That’s why he doesn’t want us anymore."

"It’s all your fault!" The lightning essence spirit glared viciously at the fire essence spirit. "If not for that mouth of yours, if you hadn’t brought up all those petty trifles, it wouldn’t have turned out like

"Would I have said all that if you hadn’t kept pushing your share of the blame onto other people?" shouted the fire essence spirit.

"What are you talking about? Everything I said was true, wasn’t it? Aren’t you ever-eager to cling to pretty girls?"

"Well, what I said was true too, wasn’t it?"

As the fire and lightning essence spirits stared each other down, the water essence spirit sprawled out on the ground and pouted. "What do we do?"

"You’re still so lazy! It’s because of your laziness that the Master of the Stars left! He definitely remembers what I said about you skimping and slacking off and thinks you’re unreliable. That’s why he cast the five of us away!" said the fire essence spirit.

"What does that have to do with me?"

"Quiet!" Something boomed overhead. Lightning crackled around the thunder essence spirit as he roared, "The situation is already what it is. None of us can fully escape blame. Besides, this is no time to argue. What we need to worry about is the fact that the Emperor Star didn’t take us with him. What do we do about our mission?"

"Hmph. If he heartlessly cast us aside, he can’t blame us for not fulfilling our duty!" snorted the lightning essence spirit.

He waved, and was about to leave, but the fire essence spirit pulled him back. "Where are you going?"

"To find someone else. There’s no need for we five essence spirits to fear not finding a new host, now is there?"

"Is there something wrong with your brain?" The fire essence spirit whapped his brother on the skull. "Did you forget what happened last time with the Demon Emperor? Besides, tell me, where are we going to find someone else with such high compatibility for the five elements? You noticed that he has the Five Elements Imperial Crown, right?"

The lightning elemental essence spirit’s lips quivered, but he said nothing. The fire essence spirit then turned to the others. "I told you a long time ago! When he got here, we should have just left with him right away."

"Do you have any shame at all? Who was it who lay limply in that maiden’s arms?" said the water essence spirit in disbelief.

"Sure, but that wouldn’t stop me from leaving with him. Isn’t that girl on his side?"

"What are you doing? Why are you arguing again?" said the thunder essence spirit. "The boss is right. The Emperor Star just now was highly compatible with our elemental power, and he has the crown. We shouldn’t even consider finding an alternative host."

"So what should we do?" They all seemed vexed and worried. It was clear that Ye Zichen really didn’t want to take them with him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have left so decisively.

"How about we go find him and apologize?" asked the wind essence spirit meekly.

"We’re essence spirits, the emperors of our respective elements. What about our dignity?" The lightning essence spirit glared at her.

"If not that, then what? Once someone enters this space, the mausoleum will disappear on its own within three days."

The essence spirits’ gazes all landed on the thunder essence spirit. No matter what the fire essence spirit might say, and even though he was the oldest, it was the thunder essence spirit who had the real decision making power.

The thunder essence spirit was in distress; they had to leave before the mausoleum disappeared.

Ye Zichen was the most compatible with the five elements. Both his fate with the elements and his grand fortune made him the best choice of host.

Should they take the initiative to apologize? That would be far too great a blow to their dignity.

"Let me think it over."

Meanwhile, in the true room.

After the imperial lords left, many of the imperial kings remained behind; they still hadn’t given up.

Even now, there were numerous imperial kings gathered around the scroll paintings.

Rumble!

A loud rumbling filled the true room. Then, the crowd watched as a door opened in the blank painting, and Ye Zichen, Gu Luolin, and Cang Xiong walked out.

"He’s got the fortune!" The imperial kings were just about to attack in a frenzy, but Ye Zichen didn’t even blink. Before the imperial kings could even focus their dao arts, Cang Xiong suppressed them with insurmountable force.

The pressure didn’t lay up. Soon, Cang Xiong had suppressed every last imperial king who showed any signs of enmity for Ye Zichen.

Ye Zichen left the palace, and without blizzards to get in their way, the three of them took less than six hours to pass through the mountains.

Meanwhile, Yang Jian and the other imperial lords were all gathered around the periphery of the mausoleum. "Ye-zi will be able to make it out, right?"

The Great Sage and Yang Jian had once lived here as immortals. Out of consideration for the fact that fighting might soon break out between imperial lords, they’d placed a barrier around the mausoleum as soon as they got outside, protecting everything within a hundred mile radius.

Their goal was to prevent the shockwaves of battle from destroying this lower plane.

"Kui Lin sure is patient," said Great Emperor Bi’an.

"Hmph. The thing he’s waiting for is transcendent fortune! Who wouldn’t be patient? But it’s strange; Zhou Wu is so obsessed with transcendence, yet he’s nowhere in sight. I assumed he’d be waiting here too," said the Fox Empress, Su Qingyan.

"It’s good he’s not here," said Bi’an. "Saves us the trouble."

The great emperors on good terms with Ye Zichen were all indeed imperial lords, and furthermore, they were exceptional even compared to others of their cultivation. But even if they didn’t want to admit it, they had no choice but to face reality: the three Realm Emperors’ cultivations were indeed above theirs.

It didn’t matter whether it was Demon Emperor Kui Lin, God Emperor Zhou Wu, or the Yao Emperor, the Eastern Monarch Taiyi….

All three Realm Emperors could single-handedly fight this whole group of imperial lords, and they wouldn’t be at a disadvantage, either. Kui Lin had already given them a real headache. If they added Zhou Wu to the mix, it would be very difficult to ensure Ye Zichen’s safety.

Especially the Ocean Emperor. The area around Howling Valley had no bodies of water at all.

Without the ocean, Xue Yang’s power fell by half!

"Hey, Ye-zi’s still alive, right?" After waiting all this time, the Great Sage couldn’t help but look at Gu Li. Although he didn’t want to talk to the likes of Gu Li, the Great Sage was so worried about Ye Zichen that he couldn’t help it.

"He’s alive, but…." Gu Li knit his brow. The Great Sage, Yang Jian, and Pu Jingwan’s hearts shook.

"But what?"

"But even now, he’s yet to obtain the good fortune contained within the mausoleum." Gu Li’s brow was tightly knit. Before coming here, the Outsider Gu Li had told him much of what was to come, including how Ye Zichen would change upon obtaining the mausoleum’s good fortune.

Gu Li glanced at his missing right arm. So much time had passed, but Ye Zichen had yet to obtain the mausoleum’s good fortune. This didn’t quite match what the Outsider Gu Li had told him.

Suddenly, the air outside the mausoleum rippled.

Demon Emperor Kui Lin was the first to race towards the disturbance, but the Ocean Emperor and the others were prepared. They instantly blocked his path.

"Out of my way!" Kui Lin’s eyes were bloodshot, and his divine power surged forth. "Interfere, and I’ll kill you!"