63: My body stiffened! Have I turned into a gold nugget?

In the deep sea, undercurrents surged.

Gu Yang opened his mouth wide and swallowed the taiyi essence gold in one gulp—a piece radiating a piercing golden light that would drive countless Golden Core Cultivators mad.

"Gulp."

With that swallow, disaster struck.

The moment the taiyi essence gold entered his stomach, Gu Yang felt as if he hadn't swallowed a piece of metal, but a miniature star that was collapsing and exploding.

"Ugh—!!!"

He wanted to roar, but his throat felt as if it were filled with molten iron, unable to make a sound.

Billions of razor-sharp strands of Geng Jin Qi, seemingly capable of slicing through space, exploded within him and rampaged wildly. They were like countless tiny Flying Swords, mercilessly cutting his internal organs, Meridians, and blood vessels.

And this was only the beginning.

To complete his Five Elements, Gu Yang had previously devoured essence of wutu (Earth), tian yi divine water (Water), Spirit Wood Bark (Wood), and Earth Core Lotus Fire (Fire). These four Origin powers had originally maintained a delicate and fragile balance within him, like four evenly matched warlords.

But with the arrival of the taiyi essence gold, the overbearing "Gold Emperor," the balance instantly collapsed!

A Five Elements Rampage!

Water and fire clashed, gold and wood countered! The five extreme Origin powers launched an unprecedented free-for-all within the limited battlefield of his Physical Body.

His body fluctuated between hot and cold, suddenly heavy as a mountain, then bursting with vitality only to wither in an instant.

[Warning! Warning! Severe Five Elements energy imbalance!]

[System is attempting a forced takeover... Takeover failed! Energy level is too high!]

[Physical Body self-protection mechanism forcibly activated! "Law Lockdown" in progress!]

"Creeeak..."

A series of ear-grating sounds, like gears jamming, echoed from all over Gu Yang's body.

His joints began to harden, and his muscle fibers began to solidify.

His originally glazed crimson-gold skin rapidly lost its color, turning into a pure, unblemished bright gold that shimmered with a cold luster!

This was no longer a body of flesh and blood, but a true Golden Body!

Starting from his toes and spreading to the top of his head. His eyelids were solidified by the gold Qi, unable to blink; his mouth remained wide open from the swallow, frozen in an extremely comical yet eerie expression.

"I... I can't move!"

Gu Yang wailed in his heart. Although his consciousness remained incredibly clear and he could feel every bit of pain from the Five Elements battle inside him, his body felt as if it belonged to someone else—or rather, it had become a lifeless statue.

Even more terrifyingly, as the Golden Body stiffened, the precursor to the unification of the Five Elements triggered a qualitative change—his density and weight began to increase exponentially!

Ten thousand pounds... a hundred thousand... a million... ten million!

Thud!

The surrounding seawater seemed unable to withstand this weight and was instantly pushed aside.

Gu Yang felt like he was no longer a person, but a solid deep-sea neutron star. The seawater that could barely keep him afloat before now felt as thin as air, unable to provide the slightest buoyancy.

Pulled by the terrifying gravity, he plummeted straight toward the bottomless trench like a golden depth charge at an incredible speed.

"Why did that kid stop moving?"

Behind him, Mysterious Spirit Master, the Sect Master of the Five Elements Sect who was hot on his heels using a Water-Repelling Bead, scanned with his Divine Sense and immediately noticed Gu Yang's abnormality.

When he saw Gu Yang's current state—golden, stiff, and sinking like a lead weight—he was first stunned, then burst into a wild, ecstatic laugh.

"Hahaha! Heaven is helping me! Truly, sins committed by Heaven may be forgiven, but sins committed by oneself cannot be escaped!"

The killing intent in Mysterious Spirit Master's eyes almost solidified, a mocking sneer hanging on his lips. "This greedy, ignorant junior actually dared to swallow taiyi essence gold? That's Innate sharp gold Qi that can even melt and destroy a Nascent Soul Magic Treasure! Even a Soul Transformation expert wouldn't dare to consume it directly. He's seeking his own death; his Meridians must be completely shattered!"

"Take his life while he's down! Blast him to smithereens, then refine the taiyi essence gold out of him!"

Mysterious Spirit Master didn't hesitate, his hands quickly forming seals.

"Five Elements Divine Lightning, hear my command! Fall!"

Rumble!

Lightning actually appeared out of thin air in the deep sea. Five bolts of Divine Lightning of different colors, thick as water buckets and containing the power of Five Elements creation and destruction, pierced through the thick seawater. With an aura of total destruction, they slammed into the rapidly falling Gu Yang.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

The lightning struck Gu Yang's Golden Body, but there was no flesh flying or charred shattering.

Instead, it produced a series of crisp, melodious iron-striking sounds, like the tolling of a great bell!

Sparks exploded in the pitch-black deep sea, brilliantly illuminating Gu Yang's shimmering, dull-faced expression.

When the lightning faded, Mysterious Spirit Master was dumbfounded, his eyes nearly popping out.

On Gu Yang's Golden Body, let alone a wound, not even a white mark was left! In fact, the golden light had become even more dazzling due to the tempering of the lightning!

The taiyi essence gold gave him ultimate physical defense and gold-attribute resistance. Combined with the Five Elements Origin battle inside his body, it actually formed a bizarre "Absolute Defense" field. In his current stiffened state, he was harder than any Nascent Soul-grade defensive Magic Treasure!

"What?! This is too hard?!"

Mysterious Spirit Master's mouth twitched wildly, feeling as if his ultimate move just now was nothing more than polishing and waxing the opponent. He, a grand Nascent Soul Middle Stage Cultivator, couldn't even break the defense of a Golden Core Body Cultivator?

"Roar—!!!"

On the other side, that Nascent Soul Stage Sea-Overturning Flood Dragon also caught up.

Seeing Gu Yang sinking straight down like a dead man, it was overjoyed.

"Human! Die!"

It didn't care about any taiyi essence gold; it only knew that this human had killed its kin and played it for a fool.

It opened its bloody maw, large enough to swallow a small mountain, its rows of sword-like dragon teeth glinting coldly.

"Crunch!"

The Dragon snapped its jaws shut, wanting to bite Gu Yang and the gold into pieces and chew him into pulp!

Snap!!!

A crisp, ear-grating sound that made one's scalp tingle echoed in the deep sea.

Immediately following was a shrill, agonizing scream.

"Awooo—!!!"

The Sea-Overturning Flood Dragon jerked its mouth open and retreated frantically, its two front claws covering its mouth as it rolled in the sea in pain.

Blood dyed the seawater red.

Inside its mouth, its two hardest, proudest front teeth... had actually snapped off at the root!

Meanwhile, Gu Yang remained in that "stunned" posture, continuing to sink unharmed, with a few shards of broken dragon teeth still hanging off his body.

"What the hell is this?! Harder than Ten-thousand-year Deep-sea Profound Iron?!"

The Dragon's eyes watered from the pain. Looking at the sinking golden figure, its eyes were filled with disbelief and deep wariness. How was this a human? This was clearly a piece of primordial divine gold that had gained sentience!

Although Gu Yang couldn't move, his Divine Sense could still perceive the situation outside.

Seeing the two Nascent Soul powerhouses suffer—one polishing him and the other breaking teeth on him—although he was panicked, he couldn't help but feel a hint of secret satisfaction.

"Fortunately, though I can't move, this skin is truly tough."

"But... sinking like this forever isn't a solution."

He watched himself rapidly falling into that bottomless trench where even light couldn't reach—the famous Forbidden Ground of the Chaotic Star Sea, **"Guixu Dead Sea"**!

The water pressure there was terrifying, Yao Beasts were non-existent, and it was said that even Soul Transformation Stage experts didn't dare to venture deep into it.

"Chase him! We can't let him get away! The taiyi essence gold is still in his stomach!"

Mysterious Spirit Master and the Dragon glanced at each other. Although they were wary of each other and their eyes were full of hostility, they were even more reluctant to part with the treasures on Gu Yang (especially the undigested taiyi essence gold and Five Elements Origin).

Wealth is found in danger!

The two of them gritted their teeth, unleashed their protective Divine Abilities, and one after another, braving the increasingly terrifying deep-sea water pressure, followed Gu Yang's golden figure into the endless dark abyss.