15: Five Elements Body Tempering, Xia Qing Escapes

“The tenth level doesn't test combat strength; it tests perseverance and comprehension. Failure here means utter annihilation.”

“Perseverance and comprehension?”

The Youth nodded, “Being a natural blank slate means you are the best vessel. What content you can draw on it depends entirely on you.”

“The best vessel?”

“Yes. Those with elemental talents are like colored paper; it's extremely difficult to add other colors to them. Only a natural blank slate like you has the potential to carve all Five Elements onto your talent.”

“Enough talk. Prepare to receive the Baptism of the Five Elements!”’

As the Youth's voice faded, Huang Chen found himself immersed in a world of five colors.

Bands of five colors—gold, yellow, azure, blue, and red—circled his body.

“Use your mind to guide the Laws into your body. As long as the Five Elements Laws achieve balance within you, you can light up the Five Elements Diagram in your panel's talent attributes.”

The Youth's voice echoed in Huang Chen's ears.

Hearing the prompt, Huang Chen immediately stabilized his mind, sensing the fluctuation of the power of Laws around him, and guided the Laws to seep into his body through his pores.

“Hiss~”

Huang Chen gasped sharply,

It was simply too painful!!

His whole body felt as if it were being torn apart.

If the Law of Metal was excessive, it would slice through his flesh like a sharp blade.

If the Law of Fire was excessive, it would scorch his soul like a blazing furnace.

...“Ah~”

Huang Chen roared towards the sky. The overflow of every aspect of the Five Elements Power made him experience a unique agony.

Star Abyss's figure flickered faintly before Huang Chen. He raised his right hand several times, only to put it down helplessly.

The Will of the Source Universe would not allow him to interfere with the Trial Taker's development. If he dared to act, the Source Universe could erase his consciousness at any moment.

Finally, Star Abyss shook his head, sighing inwardly, “Alas~ His Realm is too low. Taking shortcuts is ultimately a crooked path. What a pity.”

Throughout countless years, those who passed the first nine levels of the Mirror Abyss were all individuals who had already grasped a bit of the Power of Laws.

Thus, they were able to fight against their mirror image, which otherwise crushed them in every aspect.

And during the tenth level, they could more accurately mobilize the Laws into their body to achieve balance.

Looking at Huang Chen now, his body was like an Asura Field.

When the Law of Metal became strong, the Law of Wood was suppressed to an extremely weak state.

When he tried hard to guide the Law of Wood into his body, the Law of Earth was suppressed... Focusing on one thing meant losing another; every attempt to introduce balance led to a new imbalance.

As more and more Five Elements Laws entered his body, Huang Chen swelled up like a balloon.

He couldn't introduce any more Laws, or he would explode before achieving balance.

The moment Huang Chen forcibly stopped absorbing the Laws, his body felt like a volcano erupting, and the red Law of Fire was the first to spiral out of control.

Subsequently, cracks suddenly appeared on his skin, and his internal organs were scorched black.

Huang Chen endured the intense pain, bit the tip of his tongue, and desperately mobilized the Law of Water within his body to extinguish the fire.

“Alas, his Realm is insufficient, his control is insufficient, and his comprehension of the Laws is insufficient.” Star Abyss shook his head and sighed again. “Forcibly interrupting the absorption of Laws is merely drinking poison to quench thirst!”

In the countless ages past, innumerable Heavenly Talents chose to make one final attempt when the Five Elements spiraled out of control.

Not a single one was as cowardly as Huang Chen, stopping the absorption outright.

Seemingly having anticipated the outcome, Star Abyss sighed, and his figure slowly dissipated.

At this moment, although the Five Elements Laws inside Huang Chen were chaotic and interacting with each other,

A subtle cycle was slowly forming without him realizing it.

Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal, Metal generates Water, Water extinguishes Fire... Water generates Wood, Wood in turn fuels the fire, while simultaneously suppressing the momentum of the thick Earth's growth... Round and round, the cycle repeated. Each Law gradually grew stronger in the process of consuming and being consumed, only at different speeds.

One day passed, two days passed... Huang Chen continued to grit his teeth and persevere. The Five Elements within his body promoted each other according to the Generation Cycle and suppressed each other according to the Restraint Cycle.

A dynamic, minor balance was gradually forming... The afternoon of the fifth day since Star Abyss descended.

10086 Novice Village.

“Hahaha! I'm in the top eighty million! The top eighty million among countless Trial Takers!!!”

Waves of unrestrained laughter and shouts came from the square.

“Brother Hao is brilliant! Brother Hao is mighty!!!”

“Brother Hao!” Lin Weijie looked at Chen Hao in disbelief. “We are in the top eighty million?”

Chen Hao enjoyed the crowd's worshipful gazes, his eyes subconsciously glancing towards Xia Qing on the side.

For making it into the top eighty million this time, the Star Abyss System rewarded each of them with 50 Potential Points.

Converted, this was a potential bonus equivalent to 10 levels, which filled Chen Hao with confidence.

“Brother Hao, what should we do next?”

After the brief excitement, Chen Hao's lackey asked him.

Chen Hao, who was treated as the backbone, felt quite comfortable. Based on his gaming experience, the first thing to do upon entering a game was definitely to complete quests.

After reviewing his past gaming experience,

He lightly coughed twice and said confidently, “Of course, we should look for quests now. That's the fastest way to improve.”

The expected echoes of agreement did not appear. Instead, everyone voiced their opinions:

“But we are really too hungry right now.”

“That's right, we haven't eaten for two days.”

“How about we go farm some Gold Coins for food first, eat our fill, and then properly explore the Novice Village? Anyway, there's no one else here right now, so we don't have to worry about being robbed.”

Seeing his suggestion refuted, a trace of displeasure flashed in Chen Hao's eyes.

Food had indeed been scarce for everyone these past few days, but that didn't include him, the one managing the food.

Even during the last two days when everyone else had nothing to eat, he still had a pound or two of Beast Meat in his backpack.

Therefore, when he made the suggestion, he completely failed to consider that everyone was already starving.

Coughing lightly again, Chen Hao said in a deep voice, “Sharpening the axe doesn't delay the woodcutter. We should seize the initiative and improve ourselves first.”

After a pause, Chen Hao saw that everyone still looked troubled.

He could only continue, saying, “However, everyone is indeed too hungry. Let's go farm some Gold Coins first then.”

“Great!”

“Brother Hao is brilliant!”

“Let's go, let's hunt monsters!”

Just as Chen Hao led the group grandly toward the outside of the Novice Village, four figures slowly detached themselves from the team when no one was paying attention.

They walked directly in the opposite direction.

These four people were Xia Qing and the three girls who had been bullied.

In the Testing Grounds, Chen Hao wasn't worried about them escaping, and since the girls were physically weak and always lagged behind the team, no one noticed that they had left.

As soon as they arrived at the Novice Village, the four of them added each other as friends and planned to leave this demonic team.

According to Star Abyss's rules, the village interior is a safe zone, and fighting is prohibited, or offenders will be arrested by the Guards and locked up for 10 days of confinement.

Inside the village, they didn't have to worry about being oppressed at all, but they needed to be extra careful once they reached the wilderness.

Upon reaching the Wild Monster Area, Chen Hao checked the Battle Chicken's attributes and immediately decided to allocate his Potential Points to Strength.

After all, 50 Potential Points was more than others had. Allocating them to attack now meant killing monsters much faster than others, establishing an early advantage.

With over fifty points of attack hitting a Battle Chicken with 50 HP, it was a one-hit kill, and everyone cheered excitedly.

Star Abyss didn't seem so cruel after all!

Chen Hao once again felt that he was truly brilliant and mighty.

Star Abyss was practically a paradise tailor-made for him.

In just a short while, they gathered dozens of Copper Coins and exchanged them for several loaves of bread.

But when they turned around, they discovered that, except for Lin Weijie, the four girls were gone.

Chen Hao immediately flew into a rage, cursing loudly on the grassland.