Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 593 - 25: True Monarch Tier 5

The meeting hall, with its grand and solemn decor, began to buzz with activity as the chatter of conversation rose and fell. The number of attendees was nearing two hundred.

The twenty-some people seated on the dais each had an unadorned white sheet of paper in front of them. Whenever someone entered the meeting hall, a new symbol would appear on the paper, representing their proxy or the highest level of their "Awakening Degree" and Yan Fu Heritage. Zhao Jianzhong, who had been staring pensively at the list, suddenly twitched his eyebrow and unconsciously lifted his head.

Zhan Yuejin noticed Zhao Jianzhong’s reaction and asked, "What’s wrong?"

Zhao Jianzhong frowned slightly with dissatisfaction, "It’s getting out of hand, there could be casualties."

A barely perceptible tremor ran through the meeting hall, and the assembled guests immediately fell silent and alert, all looking up.

The doors of the hall opened again, and an astonishing wave of heat swept in. Several black paper cranes, ignited in flames, struggled to flap their wings before plunging to the ground, where the fire consumed them completely.

The door frame creaked, and from the midst of the lingering blue light, a delicate, pale arm emerged. Soon after, a face, and most of Lady Dan’s body, was in the blue light. It took her a while to emerge in a loose blue robe, barefoot, from the door. Her original white sweater, jeans, and sneakers had all been destroyed in a violent explosion. This was her original form when she was reborn as a Mountain Spirit.

The meeting hall fell into prolonged silence until suddenly, a "Ti mi" alert tone came from Hou Tu’s phone, which seemed to be idling. She pressed the volume button without any change in expression, turning it down to the lowest setting before bending her head and resuming her game.

Lady Dan walked to the middle of the full row of seats. Her loose long hair and the blue robe stood out from the attire of everyone else in the room.

"You can move forward and sit."

Zhao Jianzhong interjected at the right moment.

Lady Dan nodded her head.

The others turned their gazes away and resumed their conversations as if the strange atmosphere had never been there. However, on the dais, the twenty-some pieces of paper did not gain a new symbol belonging to Taishuai.

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There are many bomb shelters in this abandoned city, some deeper than fifty meters, with long wooden benches along the tunnels. The electric lights installed all over had long since failed—it was stuffy, dry, and devoid of life, with not even snakes, rats, ants, or insects in sight.

Wushan leaned against the rock wall as he groped his way forward, his breathing somewhat erratic, his body still carrying a faint scent of blood.

He had bad luck, having been transported to a location less than five kilometers from where Zheng Jinghong and Lady Dan had clashed at the spire. As soon as he noticed the sky tainted with green flames, he realized something was amiss, but it was already too late. He was ultimately affected by the aftermath of the super bomb, but fortunately, most of its power had been locked away by the Domino Wall, and he wasn’t severely injured. By chance, he spotted a cobblestone path leading to a bomb shelter and chased along it right into here.

Suddenly, an electric light above Wushan flickered on, casting his shadow prominently in the light.

He opened his eyes and exhaled a heavy breath while flexing his right hand repeatedly.

The deliberate footsteps connected with Wushan’s shadow in the light.

Wushan spoke out loud, "Is there something you want?"

The face of the other approached within the range of the electric light, looking sinister and sharp, with blue-purple electricity crackling through his hair and eyebrows.

"My name is Chen Wenyu. My heritage is Ancient Thunder Marsh, Eight Extremes Peak. Don’t you recognize me?"

"No recollection."

"Let me remind you. A year ago, you, as a Hunter, entered my Yan Fu event and stole the scroll of my Heritage at the time."

"No recollection."

Chen Wenyu lowered his head for a moment in silence before continuing, "At that time, your infamous exploits in the lower-level Yan Fu events were well-known. Compared to the vast number in Daqian Yanfu, the number you’ve traversed is negligible. Aside from first-timers and punitive events, we should all be minding our own business, even if we’re in the same fruit, it’s not certain we would meet. Yet you specifically bought fruits at the auction that would interfere with others’ Yan Fu events and cunningly snatched away their Yan Fu Heritage."

Wushan nodded, "Going on those godforsaken Yan Fu events is not only troublesome, but the chances of acquiring Yan Fu Heritage are also low. Hunting them down is much faster."

Wushan indeed started off that way, and he didn’t feel embarrassed about it. Those actions had high returns and great risks. After all, it wasn’t likely that Yan Fu would pair Wushan with a weakling. The probability of an unexpected setback was high; the unluckiest time was when he encountered a group of fanatics calling themselves Sifan who could destroy the fruit.

"Your actions back then were no different from killing me."

Wushan noncommittally shrugged his shoulders.

"But now it’s my turn."

Chen Wenyu’s skin became transparent, as searing lightning surged within his body.

Wushan narrowed his eyes, "Su Ling’s Genetic Potion?"

Fourth-order genetic ability: Youfu Raith

The same lightning, in the hands of Mo Sui, the captain of the assassination squad against Li Yan, was a thunderclap that could split a century-old tree, but in the hands of this man named Chen Wenyu, it was a vast, roiling dark cloud sea at the summit of Kunlun Mountain!

The lengthy tunnel plunged into a blinding white light, the continuous rock collapsed, and the light only lasted for no more than five seconds before dimming.

Wushan, with Chen Wenyu’s neck in his grasp, pinned him against the wall, his hand glowing with a soft five-colored light, his muscular forearm exerting force, immobile as a vise.

Chen Wenyu’s face was full of disbelief, the power he commanded at will had vanished in an instant, and while he could accept defeat, he couldn’t accept being overwhelmed in such a manner.

"Train some more."

Wushan’s fingers tightened, only releasing Chen Wenyu once he had fainted from the pressure. He looked down at the faintly visible pebble path in the dim light and followed it without turning his head.

The five-colored light in his hand had just dissipated, revealing an ancient bronze ring on his thumb that resembled a push pin.

Five Virtues True Monarch Dharma Aspect

Quality: Special

Type: Accessory

Characteristics:

[Eastern Age Star Wood Virtue](Enables the wearer’s certain Yan Fu Heritage quality to undergo a leap in improvement, equivalent to evolving into the Yan Fu Heritage: "Eastern Age Star Wood Virtue True Monarch," but it will erase all the original wood attribute secret enhancements. A Five Virtues evolution blessing on the same heritage can acquire additional characteristics)

[Southern Blazing Fire Virtue](Enables the wearer’s certain Yan Fu Heritage quality to undergo a leap in improvement, equivalent to evolving into the Yan Fu Heritage: "Southern Blazing Fire Virtue True Monarch," but it will erase all the original fire attribute secret enhancements. A Five Virtues evolution blessing on the same heritage can acquire additional characteristics)

[Taibai Metal Virtue]...

[Morning Star Water Virtue]...

[Town Star Earth Virtue]...

Additional Characteristics:

[Five Virtues True Monarch Dharma Aspect]All things between heaven and earth fall under the Five Virtues, and all that which belongs to the Five Virtues can be suppressed.

The above characteristics are only effective for wearers below the Seven Palaces.

The actual effect of the Five Virtues True Monarch Dharma Aspect is related to the compatibility with the object of reinforcement, and the higher the compatibility, the greater the chance of backlash.

Note: This accessory was an experimental piece from when Zhan Yuejin’s talent for artifact creation was still immature, as he sought a different path to harness the power of the Divine Court.

Later, Zhan Yuejin abandoned this direction, and the "Five Virtues True Monarch Dharma Aspect" was placed in a high-difficulty Yan Fu event as a reward.

One would need to offer a large amount of high-quality Yan Fu Heritages to obtain it.

Behind Wushan still stood the fierce and simple General Cat, and on the five large flags behind it, each was embroidered with a dignified and wrathful visage of the Five Virtues True Monarchs.

Over the years, Wushan had acquired countless Yan Fu Heritages, but unfortunately, he had never changed his own. After all, there weren’t many Yan Fu Heritages that could fully unleash the power of "Five Virtues True Monarch Dharma Aspect." The Peacock would have been a more suitable choice, but this part of the heritage had been bought out by Third Eye Global long ago, so Wushan had no choice but to settle for the next best thing.