The further he went, the denser the surrounding power of the Five Elements became.
Along both sides of the path, ancient stone tablets were arranged in sequence. Each tablet was engraved with profound Dao patterns—some green, some red—alternating in five colors, faintly circulating with the insights left behind by Cultivators of different eras.
Having endured countless years, these stone tablets had long been saturated with the Five Elements dao rhyme, exuding a primitive and heavy aura.
Han Xuanji did not stop walking, but his gaze swept over these stone tablets, and he nodded inwardly.
Since stepping onto the Heavenly Ladder, he could feel the extraordinary dao rhyme of this place; it was a magnificent location to Cultivate the Five Elements Dao Laws.
He even felt that such handiwork shouldn't be something a Loose Cultivator Eternal True God could arrange. Perhaps the Ancestral Master of the Five Elements Tower had also obtained the Legacy of this place.
These were all dao rhyme Legacies left by the powerhouses of the Five Elements Tower through the generations. Although not as good as the core of the altar, they were still rare Opportunities.
However, for him, having just absorbed twelve sets of insights from the Heavenly Ladder, the dao rhyme on these stone tablets was no longer enough to make him stop and meditate.
After inquiring with the System, Han Xuanji knew that this place was at the nine-star level, but he did not intend to Sign In here.
The highlight was still in the core area further ahead.
Han Xuanji walked for a good while before finally reaching the end of the path. A five-colored light curtain now stood across his way, flowing like ripples on water, with the outline of a massive building faintly visible behind it.
Han Xuanji raised his hand to touch the light curtain. The moment his fingertips made contact, a gentle push surged from the curtain, as if testing his qualifications.
"Testing the level of my comprehension of the Five Elements Dao Laws?"
Han Xuanji's heart stirred. In the next moment, his entire being resonated with the light curtain, and it suddenly split open a gap, allowing him to step inside.
Beyond the light curtain was a completely different world.
On both sides of the entrance stood a stone statue. The statues were lifelike; one held green wood, and the other grasped red fire. It was unclear what they represented.
The eyes of the stone statues seemed alive, watching every living being that entered this place. This forced Han Xuanji to stay alert, fearing some sudden change.
Fortunately, nothing happened. The statues seemed to have determined that Han Xuanji was not a forced intruder.
Han Xuanji walked in, and the Five Elements Altar finally presented itself fully before his eyes. It was a structure so magnificent that it was breathtaking. The altar was cast entirely from five-colored divine jade in the shape of a regular pentagon. At each of the five corners stood a massive jade pillar, corresponding to Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth—the Five Elements.
The jade pillars towered into the clouds, their surfaces carved with dense Dao patterns. Those patterns were not static but were slowly circulating like living things, emitting light of different colors.
In the center of the altar, a circular platform floated in mid-air. Atop the platform, a phantom could be faintly seen sitting cross-legged. Five-colored light intertwined around the phantom, obscuring its face, yet it exuded a heart-palpitating pressure.
Above the altar, five-colored spiritual light intertwined into a vast curtain of light. Within the curtain, the powers of the Five Elements generated and overcame each other, evolving into countless profound scenes.
Every evolution was accompanied by fluctuations of dao rhyme, as if someone were demonstrating the ultimate Profound Truth of the Five Elements Dao upon this altar.
Han Xuanji looked around the altar and found it was surrounded by a shallow canal. What flowed in the canal was not water, but liquid spiritual light of five colors. The five types of spiritual light did not mix, yet they maintained a delicate balance, slowly flowing along the canal and making a crisp sound.
Below the altar, there was a massive plaque engraved with four ancient characters.
"Five Elements Returning to Origin."
Below the four characters, small characters were densely carved; they were the ancestral instructions left by the Ancestral Master of the Five Elements Tower.
Han Xuanji focused his attention and gradually understood the rules of this place.
To step onto the altar's high platform and obtain the core Legacy, one first needed to comprehend the Dao characters carved on the altar.
There were eighty-one of these Dao characters in total. Only by comprehending a sufficient number of them could one trigger the altar's recognition, ascend the platform, and receive the phantom's true Legacy.
"This is the place where the Ancestral Master of the Five Elements Tower attained enlightenment, and it is also the place with the thickest dao rhyme in the entire Five Elements Tower..."
Standing in this space shrouded in five-colored light, Han Xuanji looked up at the floating platform, and a sense of shock couldn't help but rise in his heart.
The more Dao characters one comprehended, the more complete the Legacy obtained would be.
It was said that among those from the Five Elements Tower who had reached the top of the Heavenly Ladder throughout the ages, the one who comprehended the most Dao characters only managed sixty, yet that person was already able to Breakthrough to the Peak of the Eternal True God Realm.
As for the Ancestral Master of the Five Elements Tower himself, it was said he comprehended all eighty-one Dao characters. His combat power was astonishing, enough to rival the powerful Eternal True Gods of supreme forces. It was even possible he had already stepped into the Saint Realm by now.
Because of this, although the Five Elements Tower possessed such a place of Opportunity, no powerful force dared to take it by force. They were wary of that Ancestral Master of the Five Elements Tower.
"Eighty-one characters..."
Han Xuanji's gaze swept across those profound Dao characters on the altar as he calculated inwardly. If he didn't have the System, he might have honestly stayed here to meditate, spending decades, centuries, or even millennia to gnaw through these Dao characters one by one.
But he had a better choice.
Han Xuanji withdrew his gaze and thought to himself:
"System."
[Ding—]
The familiar System notification sounded in his mind, crisp and pleasant.
[Detected ten-star Sign In location "Five Elements Altar". Would you like to Sign In? (A total of twenty Sign Ins are possible here; each Sign In requires 30 eternal points.)]
"Ten stars!"
Han Xuanji was not surprised. After all, as the Legacy site of a top-tier Eternal True God, the Sign In location of the Purple Soul Grotto-Heaven was also ten stars.
And the Ancestral Master of the Five Elements Tower was undoubtedly a powerhouse stronger than the Purple Soul True God, so ten stars was as expected.
However, he hadn't expected that a single Sign In here would cost thirty eternal points.
"Twenty Sign In opportunities, each costing thirty points... It seems that in the System's evaluation, this place is quite a bit stronger than the Purple Soul Grotto-Heaven."
"Twenty Sign Ins will require a total of six hundred eternal points."
Han Xuanji pondered silently. Before coming to the Five Elements Tower, he had saved up a full 1,200 eternal points. He had already consumed quite a few at the Five Elements Heavenly Ladder, and with this, only 480 points would remain.
"Fortunately, I saved enough points before coming. If I had rushed here in a hurry, I'm afraid I could only look at the ocean and sigh."
Han Xuanji felt secretly lucky, but his expression remained calm without the slightest hesitation:
"Sign In twenty times."
As his words fell, the System's notifications flooded in like a tide, sounding continuously in his mind.
[Congratulations to the Host for successfully Signing In at the ten-star location "Five Elements Altar". You have obtained the entry "Five Elements Source Stream"!]
...