Chapter 1685 The Full Rotation of the Five Elements
The Wood Element rotation within the Five Elements Wheel was the final phase of Sun Hao’s spiritual root revolution.
With this revolution completed, Sun Hao truly became a genius cultivator in Qi Refining. His five-element spiritual roots were all of the finest quality, making his cultivation efforts yield twice the result with half the effort.
The full revolution of the Five Elements, by any measure, was a defiance of Heaven’s will. The moment Sun Hao achieved it, fantastical phenomena manifested once more over the endless wilderness.
Had this place not been devoid of people, it would surely have caused a sensational stir.
Above Sun Hao, a colossal, towering Giant Tree appeared. Upon it, a flame resembling a phoenix spread its wings as if ready to soar. Beneath the tree stretched boundless yellow soil, two lakes—one hot, one cold—and two towering mountains—one golden, one grey.
On the Giant Tree, the four seasons cycled, flames raged, extremes of heat and cold clashed, and the earth seemed to endlessly creep outward…
Witnessing these phenomena, a sudden clarity dawned upon Sun Hao. He realized that as his cultivation progressed, the spiritual roots and other mystical entities within his body would likely evolve into the states symbolized by this very spectacle.
The vision in the sky persisted for over two full days before finally dispersing slowly.
Disturbing no one and drawing no scrutiny from the Heavenly Dao, Sun Hao peacefully completed his leaping transformation, laying a solid foundation for his rapid future advancement in cultivation.
After quietly returning to the Kaelmen Dragon Domain, Sun Hao began traveling throughout the Dragon Domain and its subordinate territories, searching for Five Elements cultivation arts suitable for his needs.
Simultaneously, he started covert preparations for forging his own Array Pill.
To conceal his true intent and to justify his Array Pill forging research, Sun Hao deliberately entered the Warlock Clan’s Inheritance Ground. There, he borrowed and studied the highest-level metal attribute cultivation art available to him: the Vajra Invincible Desolate Qi.
Moreover, with great fanfare and sincerity, he visited various auction houses across the Dragon Domain, publicly seeking top-grade Array Pills to aid his cultivation.
A Barbarian choosing to cultivate a Warlock Clan art and making such a conspicuous effort to buy Array Pills was truly surprising.
This particular Barbarian really knew how to stir things up.
He’d spent decades learning Potioncraft just before this.
He was quiet only briefly before suddenly turning to Warlock Clan cultivation techniques. This Barbarian was certainly interesting.
Potioncraft was somewhat publicly accessible; even cultivators from other races could study it up to the sixth level. Under specific conditions, reaching the seventh level was feasible.
However, the art of forging Array Pills was the genuine, closely guarded secret of the combined Male and Female Shaman Clan (Warlock and Witch Clans). Within the Dragon Domain, Sun Hao couldn’t find even the slightest scrap of information about its methods.
Of course, since the Warlock Clan made their arts available for affiliated warriors to choose and cultivate, it naturally followed that finished Array Pills could be found within the Dragon Domain.
Like Sword Pills, Array Pills were also divided into lower, middle, and upper grades—the higher the grade, the better the effect.
But in ordinary venues, the best available were typically middle-grade. Only in the Warlock Clan’s official auction houses within the Dragon Domain did upper-grade Array Pills occasionally appear, invariably sparking fierce bidding wars.
Drawing from his experience forging Sword Pills, Sun Hao suspected that the upper grade might not represent the most formidable pinnacle. Perhaps there existed an even more powerful grade above the current upper tier.
Yet, lacking the forging method, Sun Hao could only sigh longingly. Sometimes, he had to admit, such race-based secrecy was truly frustrating.
Border Collie was quite well-connected in the Dragon Domain, mingling with people from all walks of life and having rather unconventional channels. Quietly, through Border Collie, Sun Hao collected many lower-grade Array Pills and studied them meticulously.
He gleaned some preliminary conclusions and understood the basic structure and foundational formations used in Array Pill construction. But the core forging technique, or the crucial secret art, remained elusive, impossible to deduce from the pills themselves.
Therefore, while participating in auctions hoping to acquire at least one upper-grade Array Pill, Sun Hao simultaneously drew upon his own experience, especially his Sword Pill forging knowledge, attempting to create his own Array Pill within the scope of his understanding.
The purpose and function of the Array Pill were crystal clear: to amplify the power of the Array Formation Legacy.
The precise forging technique eluded Sun Hao, yet the pill’s internal structure couldn’t hide from his perception. Essentially, he understood that for him, the Array Pill served as a unique art: it enhanced the agility, strength, and cultivation effectiveness of the rabbits inside his Water Cube, thereby accelerating his own cultivation progress.
Although he lacked the exact forging method, Sun Hao could use reverse engineering, combined with his existing knowledge, to deduce and potentially develop an entirely new Array Pill forging art.
If the combined Male and Female Shaman Clan could create the Array Pill technique from scratch, why couldn't Sun Hao reverse-engineer the technique based on the pill's effects? Perhaps it wasn't impossible after all.
Patiently and entirely in secret, using his Sword Pill forging experience as a guide, Sun Hao began inferring the method for creating Array Pills.
The closely guarded secret of the combined Shaman Clans proved far from simple to deduce.
Sun Hao spent several years experimenting. Gradually, by studying the Array Pills in his possession, he uncovered some of their characteristics and key principles.
The difficulty of forging Array Pills surpassed that of Sword Pills by orders of magnitude.
Forging Sword Pills relied primarily on two skills: Alchemy and Artifact Refining, neither of which could be weak.
Forging Array Pills, however, demanded mastery over three potent disciplines: Potioncraft, Artifact Refining, and Array Formation (Array Dao). Creating an upper-grade pill required supreme proficiency in all three; missing any one was impossible.
Among these three, Sun Hao’s Potioncraft was comparatively his weakest. By conventional standards, he shouldn’t have been able to forge an Array Pill above upper-grade at all.
But Sun Hao’s unique circumstances turned impossibility into inevitability.
His Potioncraft was lacking, but his Alchemy was immensely powerful. Where Potioncraft faltered, Sun Hao compensated with his Alchemy.
It took a full five years before Sun Hao finally completed his first successful Array Pill forging in absolute secrecy.
Slightly different from other Array Pills, this one was noticeably smaller and gleamed brighter with Golden Light. This was a result of substituting Alchemy for Potioncraft, allowing the forging of this miniature pill.
Feeling that his years of effort hadn't been in vain, Sun Hao suppressed his inner excitement and forged onward.
A few more years passed. Sun Hao finally succeeded in forging not just upper-grade Array Pills, but pills that secretly surpassed the upper-grade standard. However, substituting Alchemy for Potioncraft significantly increased the difficulty, as solid pills were inherently harder to master than liquid potions.
The crucial factors determining Array Pill quality gradually became clear to Sun Hao: first, the effectiveness of its imprinted Formation was paramount; second, the energy implicitly contained within the pill.
Sun Hao’s actual mastery in the Array Way had already broken through to the Advanced Spirit Array level. His collection also contained potent Desolate Beast crystals perfectly suited to providing concentrated energy.
Finally, after a full decade, the Barbarian from the Barbarian Tribe—that innovative fellow Jiang Xiaoshan—quietly "failed" and ended his study of the Warlock Clan cultivation art, publicly deeming it unsuccessful because he hadn’t managed to buy an upper-grade Array Pill.
In truth, Sun Hao had already forged and implanted a self-made Array Pill into his Water Cube, one whose effects surpassed those of an upper-grade pill, enhancing his cultivation speed.
Jiang Xiaoshan was never a Barbarian willing to rest idle, nor was he afraid to innovate. Despite being a huge Barbarian himself, after abandoning the Warlock Clan secret art, Jiang Xiaoshan shocked everyone again by buying a set of Dwarf Race cultivation art specifically known as the "Dwarf Race Art."
Once more leaving many cultivators shaking their heads in disbelief.
The art was indeed high-level and earth attribute: the Earth Hammer Divine Forging Art.
A quintessential top-tier earth attribute art practiced by the Dwarf Race, known for cultivating exceptionally thick and mellow Qi. Its drawbacks included requiring the cultivator to immerse themselves underground for prolonged periods to absorb earth energies for enhanced cultivation effects, and ideally, engaging in frequent forging work…
This battle-hungry Barbarian somehow procured an Iron Hammer. He then disappeared into the Secret Realm dedicated to earth attribute cultivation within the Warlock Clan territory. With loud clanging and banging, he began diligently practicing the Dwarf Race cultivation art.
This was truly a bizarre Barbarian.
His bizarreness didn't stop there. In the years that followed, this Barbarian sequentially studied the Elves' "Wood Spirit Sacred Nourishing Qi Art" and the Wind Folk's "Undying Sacred Flame" as well. He vanished into the Warlock Clan’s corresponding cultivation Secret Realms for serious, isolated training each time. Whether these efforts yielded any real results remained known only to Heaven itself.
Under the bewildered scrutiny of others, Sun Hao gradually assembled his set of five elemental cultivation arts. Guided by the principles of the Five Elements Wheel Spirit and Yin-Yang Fusion, he commenced the simultaneous rotation and cultivation of all Five Elements.
No one suspected that this hulking Barbarian—often viewed as a joke—was attempting an epic feat not even the combined Male and Female Shaman Clan dared undertake.