"An ordinary person couldn’t do it, that’s true." Dean Chen cut Zhou Changkong off, his tone calm. "That’s why I’ve never mentioned it to any other student. But this boy... he might be able to give it a try."
He slowly paced before Chu Bai, his eyes, which seemed to see through everything, locked onto him. "In the Illusion Realm, to slay the Shadow Beast, you actually dared to swallow the poison of the Earth Smoke Fire. Had that Poison Fire entered the body of an ordinary Qi Cultivation Cultivator, their meridians would have been torn to shreds long ago. Yet, you managed to forcibly refine it, even using it to unleash a burst of power."
"Your physique is far beyond ordinary; your Divine Soul, even more so, is exceptionally resilient in the face of life and death."
A hint of temptation crept into Dean Chen’s voice. "The Scattered Spirit Dust and Mingmeng Dew that Instructor Zhou mentioned are indeed the safe choices. But even if you succeed with them, you’ll end up with nothing more than a conventional, run-of-the-mill Dao Foundation. But the Impermanence Root..."
He paused, and a brilliant light flared in his eyes. "If you succeed in building this foundation, your Magical Power will be endless, you’ll wield Five Elements Techniques with ease, and among cultivators of the same level, you will be invincible! *This* is the true, unimpeded path to the heavens!"
Chu Bai felt his heart pound violently.
Invincible at the same level.
Those four words held a fatal attraction for him, someone who possessed a system.
A worried look crossed Zhou Changkong’s face. He couldn’t help but say, "Dean Chen, this path of the Five Elements... in the entire hundred-year history of our Dayuan Prefecture Daoist School, no one has ever succeeded on it. If he fails..."
"If he fails, he’ll just have his Cultivation crippled and have to start over, or be relegated to the Miscellaneous Order," Dean Chen said lightly, as if discussing some trivial matter. "What? If you don’t even have the courage to stake your life on a gamble, why bother with immortal cultivation at all?"
With that, he looked at Chu Bai and threw down his final chip. "If you want to walk the path of the Five Elements, then on this trip to the Spirit Pavilion, don’t absorb any Cloud Mist Water Qi. Instead, find a sliver of ’Geng Metal Evil Qi’ and draw it into your body. Metal produces Water. Use this to establish the first step of your Five Elements cycle."
"If you dare to take this path, come find me then."
Dean Chen casually tossed out an ancient-looking Black Iron Token, then with a wave of his great sleeve, he vanished on the spot like a wisp of smoke, leaving only the echo of his words reverberating through the forest.
"I will be waiting for you at the Foundation Establishment realm. Do not disappoint me."
The atmosphere by the old pavilion grew tense.
Chu Bai clutched the still-warm Black Iron Token in his hand, his knuckles turning white.
Zhou Changkong stared in the direction Dean Chen had disappeared. After a long moment, he turned to Chu Bai with a wry smile. "Dean Chen... he’s treating you like a priceless, uncut gem he wants to carve, but he’s also holding your feet to the fire."
"Chu Bai, you must think this through." Zhou Changkong’s tone was more serious than ever before. "Though I, your teacher, want you to succeed, I want you to be safe even more. The Impermanence Root may be powerful in theory, but controlling the balance of the Five Elements is as difficult as ascending to the heavens. Once you lose control, losing your Cultivation will be the least of your worries; I’m afraid you’ll lose your life as well."
"If you want to play it safe, choose the Mingmeng Dew. The road ahead will be much smoother."
The wind rustled through the treetops.
Chu Bai fell silent for a moment. He looked down at the token in his hand, then at the faint calluses on his palm.
They were the marks left from practicing the Spirit Water Needle day after day, a testament to his journey from a poor scholar in Anping County to where he stood today.
’Play it safe?’
’If he played it safe, he never would have gone to the Zhao Mansion in the dead of winter to act as a "Spirit Target." If he played it safe, he would have hidden behind his teammates in the Illusion Realm instead of charging forward to swallow the Poison Fire.’
’Others struggled to cultivate the Impermanence Root because they couldn’t precisely perceive and control every minute fluctuation of the Five Element Spiritual Energy.’
’But he was different.’
’Besides...’
’Blessed as he was by his Fate Chart, a path impassable to others was not necessarily impassable to him.’
’What was a life-and-death gamble in the eyes of others was, in Chu Bai’s view, merely a precision engineering project that required some grinding.’
’In this world, what path could be safer than one where effort guaranteed progress?’
Chu Bai lifted his head, the hesitation in his eyes gone, replaced by a light as sharp as a blade’s edge.
"Master Zhou," Chu Bai said softly, but his voice was as firm as iron. "I come from a humble background and started with nothing. If I don’t fight for that one-in-a-million chance, then there’s no point to this whole immortal cultivation thing."
Zhou Changkong stared, stunned, at the young man before him. For a moment, he seemed to see the figure from the Illusion Realm—alone, covered in blood, yet still swinging his sword at the Shadow Beast.
After a moment, Zhou Changkong broke into a relieved laugh and clapped Chu Bai heavily on the shoulder.
"Good! ’No point,’ indeed!"
"Since your mind is made up, then go! Go to the Spirit Pavilion and fight for that sliver of celestial opportunity!"

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