Chapter 3

When Yichen slowly regained consciousness, he found himself lying on a stone bed in a stone room.

The pain had disappeared, and his wounds were completely healed, but he felt weak all over.

"Don't move!" a middle-aged man in golden-yellow clothes hurriedly said.

He then took out several red, egg-sized wild fruits and handed them to Yichen, "Eat these Awakening Fruits first to restore your strength and clarity of mind."

Yichen was indeed very hungry and didn't hesitate to take the wild fruits and eat them. They weren't very sweet but were very refreshing.

The middle-aged man stood respectfully beside him, watching Yichen devour the fruits.

After eating four Awakening Fruits, Yichen burped and felt his strength return. He sat up on the stone bed.

Just as he was about to thank the man, he noticed that the man's face had turned red, his chest was heaving, and his hands were trembling uncontrollably.

"Master, you're finally back. Jinjia has been waiting for almost ten thousand years."

The middle-aged man knelt down in front of Yichen's bed and sobbed, "It's good that you're back... It's good that you're back, it's not too late!"

"What's going on?" Yichen was confused.

"Have you forgotten? Or..." Seeing Yichen's puzzled look, Jinjia stood up, trying to suppress his excitement, and said, "I am your mount, the Golden Pangolin. The last time, we were separated by the Demon Lord, and then you... Think harder."

"Senior, my name is Yichen. I've never met you before; you must be mistaken."

It turned out that he was the pangolin from before. No matter what, Jinjia was his savior, and he couldn't take advantage of him. He should be the one to bow, not Jinjia.

"You're right, it must be you! Even after ten thousand years, Jinjia can still recognize your aura. And your Five Elements Body."

Jinjia insisted on his judgment.

"Aura? Could it be that..." A thought flashed through Yichen's mind.

"Senior, two years ago, I was struck by lightning and often felt confused. I don't know if it has anything to do with the aura you mentioned."

"Is that so?" After hearing Yichen's story, Jinjia suddenly asked, "What is the Great Five Elements Technique?"

Yichen shook his head, completely baffled.

Jinjia stared intently at Yichen's face for a long time.

"I believe you. But since you have this aura, you must take responsibility and complete the unfinished tasks of the Elder."

"Unfinished tasks?" Yichen still didn't understand what Jinjia was talking about. "Senior, you saved my life. As long as I can, I am willing to do anything for you."

"This..." Jinjia didn't answer but his eyes lit up and he asked, "Are you really willing to do 'anything'?"

"Yes!" Yichen answered firmly, thinking of the humiliation of the past two years and the crisis facing the Yi family. He was eager to improve his cultivation.

No matter how he repaid Jinjia for saving his life, it would never be enough: "But my cultivation is low, I can't even defeat a Ninth Rank Battle Master like Liu Dong."

"There's a way." Jinjia was satisfied with Yichen's answer and happily led him deeper into the cave.

As they approached, the stone walls slowly parted, forming a door that revealed a cabinet.

Jinjia reached out, and a beam of white light flew out of the cabinet and entered Yichen's brain.

Yichen was startled, and an image of a book, the *Great Five Elements Technique*, appeared in his mind.

Jinjia waved his hand again, and a two-meter-wide dark yellow earth disk slowly rose, stopping about a meter above the ground.

"Senior, what is this?" Yichen was amazed by the dazzling changes before him.

"This is the Earth Heart Mystic Earth Training Platform, the best place to practice the Earth Technique. Focus on it and try to understand it."

Earth Technique?

The incantation that had once appeared in Yichen's mind and helped him defeat Liu Xi.

Yichen felt an invisible force lift him and gently place him in the center of the Earth Heart Mystic Earth Training Platform.

Earth Technique: ... The earth element of the Five Elements is the guardian, entering the body through the mouth, reaching the spleen and stomach, and then spreading to the muscles...

Using the terrain to hide, deceiving others, this is the initial stage; using the earth's veins to move freely underground, this is the intermediate stage; if you can draw the essence of the earth, conceal mountains and seas, and create your own space, this is the advanced stage...

Yichen, who had studied both literature and martial arts since childhood, naturally understood the meaning of the Earth Technique.

So he followed the instructions in the book, focusing on his cultivation, completely absorbed in the process.

After a few hours, Yichen took a short break, stretched his limbs, and felt refreshed and invigorated.

"Senior, why does this feel different from the previous Qi gathering?" Yichen was delighted.

"That's right. The *Great Five Elements Technique* gathers the Five Elements' Qi, allowing you to master the Five Elements' laws and transform your body."

"The Five Elements' Qi is divided into the earth's spirit, the wood's essence, the fire's flame, the metal's severity, and the water's gentleness," Jinjia explained patiently.

"Ordinary people have ordinary constitutions and gather ordinary Qi, leading to a mediocre life; very few people have one of the Five Elements' constitutions, allowing them to practice one of the *Great Five Elements Techniques* and have a chance to become top-tier experts."

"But you have the innate Five Elements Body, combining all five elements. This constitution is extremely rare, appearing only once in ten thousand years. This is why the Elder chose you. Only those with the innate Five Elements Body can practice the complete *Great Five Elements Technique*."

Yichen followed Jinjia's instructions, not being greedy or rash, but steadily improving.

On the morning of the third day, Yichen suddenly felt a dense Qi flow through his blood vessels and meridians, circulating throughout his body. After several clashes, it settled in his dantian.

Shortly after, the dantian became hot, radiating powerful energy that spread through his meridians to his limbs and bones.

Yichen felt a sense of comfort and invigoration, his strength and Qi greatly increased.

A familiar yet long-lost feeling.

Breakthrough!

Seventh Rank Battle Master!

"Excellent! Not only do you have the innate Five Elements Body, but you also have a sharp mind. The Elder indeed chose the right person."

Seeing Yichen's successful breakthrough, Jinjia was as happy as a child.

"Senior, thank you!" Yichen was filled with excitement.

At one time, breaking through to the Ninth Rank Battle Master or even the Battle Supervisor didn't give him the same feeling.

The two years of suppression and frustration, despite not giving up, were filled with failure.

Now, advancing to the Seventh Rank, just one rank away, filled Yichen with hope.

The *Great Five Elements Technique* was the perfect cultivation method for someone with the innate Five Elements Body, as if tailor-made for him.

Jinjia had given him a dream and a deep sense of gratitude.

In just twenty days, he had recovered half of the cultivation he had lost in two years. Yichen asked, "Senior, can you tell me about your Elder?"

"The Elder was the strongest person in the world, capable of becoming a Battle God, but he failed because of his duty to protect."

Possessing the innate Five Elements Body, which appears once in ten thousand years, and practicing the *Great Five Elements Technique*, he became the world's first super-strong expert.

Unmatched in the world, he protected the people with dedication and responsibility.

At the time, he was at the peak of the Battle Emperor level, just one step away from becoming the first Battle God in ten thousand years after the Idle Man.

However, the cursed ten-thousand-year calamity appeared...

Seemingly touching on a painful memory, Jinjia's eyes flickered but quickly returned to calm: "This Sun Moon Flask is also the Elder's cherished item. I'll give it to you."

He held up a fist-sized flask and waved it in front of Yichen.

"So small, how much can it hold?" Yichen, who had been listening with great interest, felt disappointed when Jinjia suddenly changed the topic.

He was somewhat dismissive of the small flask, thinking it couldn't even hold enough water for a single drink.

Jinjia smiled and placed the Sun Moon Flask on the ground.

Buzz

A beam of light flashed, illuminating the entire stone room brightly.

The seemingly unremarkable Sun Moon Flask emitted alternating golden and white light.

Like the sun and moon shining together, it was dazzling and ethereal.

The Sun Moon Flask then slowly grew, from the size of a fist to larger than a head, and continued to grow in a magical way.

In the next moment, a nearly two-meter-tall large flask appeared before Yichen.

Its shape remained unchanged, but its size had increased many times, and it shone brilliantly.

Jinjia took out numerous herbs from the stone room, including purple leaf grass, sunflower leaf grass, reed flower, and Awakening Fruits...

Although mainly fourth-level or lower herbs, the quantity was enormous, filling half the room, more than ten times the volume of the Sun Moon Flask.

Jinjia waved his hand, and the herbs, as if they had wings, rose into the air and orderly entered the Sun Moon Flask.

After all the herbs entered, the Sun Moon Flask showed no change.

Not a single herb overflowed, and it seemed empty inside.

If Yichen hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed that such a large pile of herbs had vanished.

Under Jinjia's control, the Sun Moon Flask returned to the size of a fist, and the light dimmed.

"Here, take a look." Jinjia, seeing Yichen's puzzled expression, smiled and reminded him, placing the Sun Moon Flask in front of him.

"Is that all? How can that be?" Yichen looked closely and finally saw a small clump of herbs in a very inconspicuous corner of the Sun Moon Flask.

"This is nothing. Even if you put an entire mountain in, it wouldn't fill it. This is the Sun Moon Space."

Even with Jinjia's explanation, Yichen still didn't fully understand.

The Sun Moon Flask is an ancient treasure, with its own space, capable of changing size, and is one of the two great treasures of alchemy, alongside the Divine Medicine Cauldron.

Its magic lies in the fact that you can put in herbs or medicines, issue a mental command, and it will automatically mix and refine them until the desired pill is formed.

It has different levels, and the higher the cultivator's level, the more advanced the Sun Moon Flask's refining ability.

It can also create and destroy, refine medicines, magic crystals, souls...

"Now the Sun Moon Flask is at the sixth level. If you have enough materials, it can refine pills up to the seventh level with a 100% success rate and no waste."

"Come, take a drop of blood from your middle finger to bind the Sun Moon Flask to you." Jinjia handed the Sun Moon Flask to Yichen and instructed him.

Yichen bit his middle finger and dripped blood onto the Sun Moon Flask.

As soon as the blood touched the flask, it seemed to come alive, as if it had been parched and finally received rain. The entire flask trembled.

The drop of blood, in the Sun Moon Flask's joy, turned from red to pale and finally disappeared. The essence of the blood entered the flask through its veins.

After a moment, another beam of light flashed.

The Sun Moon Flask rapidly shrank from the size of a fist, finally turning into a stream of light, circling Yichen, and then merging into his body.

"From now on, you are the master of the Sun Moon Flask. You can control it with your mind."

The *Great Five Elements Technique*, the Earth Heart Mystic Earth, and the Sun Moon Flask are the three greatest treasures of Jinjia's Elder.

Practicing the *Great Five Elements Technique* allows you to gather the Five Elements' Qi from the world, enhancing your cultivation and strength, achieving twice the results with half the effort compared to ordinary people.

The Earth Heart Mystic Earth, taken from the depths of the earth, is the purest earth element treasure, with a dense earth Qi. Using it as a training platform is the best way to practice the Earth Technique.

The Sun Moon Flask, a treasure of alchemy, can refine and store medicines, with its own space, capable of containing anything, and is infinitely mysterious.

Any one of these treasures, if it were to appear in the world, would cause a huge sensation.

The result would often be countless killings and bloodshed.

Even the most greedy person, if they obtained one of these treasures, would consider it a great fortune and dare not covet more.

But Yichen, unintentionally, had obtained all three treasures.

Although he didn't learn more from Jinjia, just the three treasures were enough for Yichen to determine that Jinjia's Elder was no ordinary person.

He just didn't know why such a super-strong expert had fallen, leaving only a thread of soul in his mind.

Jinjia took out a small booklet, made of leather but already damaged in many places.

The booklet contained three main contents:

1. Various natural treasures, their images, distributions, names, and a wide variety of types.

2. Materials, proportions, substitutes, and counteracting types for different levels of pills, including the preparation and detoxification methods for various poisons.

3. Introductions to various rare and exotic creatures, from ancient times to ten thousand years ago, from existing to legendary, with text and images, clear and detailed.

"I will give you everything the Elder left behind. I hope you will keep it well and benefit from it."

Jinjia suddenly choked up, as if touching on a hidden pain.

When Yichen fell off the Eagle's Beak Cliff, Jinjia sensed that thread of aura and acted to save and heal him.

He used the Awakening Fruits to help Yichen recover his mind and guided him in his cultivation.

After a few days, Jinjia was convinced that the Elder's choice of Yichen was absolutely correct, and Yichen had the potential.

"The Elder's thread of soul, due to its weakness, absorbed your Qi, causing your cultivation to regress and preventing you from gathering Qi."

"And this time falling off the Eagle's Beak Cliff was guided by the Elder, with the purpose of bringing us together... There may be similar events in the future, but don't be afraid. The Elder has no ill intentions towards you."

So that's how it is!