The Desolation mantra was wide-ranging and profound. It contained the truth of the world and was all-encompassing and enlightenment-provoking. Each time Xiang Shaoyun meditated over it, he would have great gains. This time was no exception, and he made great gains, especially on the dao of yin and yang and the five elements.
The primal chaos begets the five elements, while the two extremities begets the yin and yang. That sentence contained the profundities of the great dao. What one could comprehend from that sentence would depend on one’s comprehension ability.
When Xiang Shaoyun first learned the Desolation mantra, he did not have the Light of Wisdom. Now that he had the Light of Wisdom, his comprehension was far beyond an ordinary person’s. That was why he had been able to learn and create the Yin Yang Shield in the middle of a battle against Dugu Qiubai.
Now that he had the time to sit down and focus on cultivation, he naturally had even greater gains. His experience with the Desolation mantra was enriched while his comprehension on the powers of yin and yang deepened. He felt himself in a state of enlightenment, and the things he couldn’t understand previously started unraveling in his head.
The two extremities beget yin and yang. One extremity begets yin, the other extremity begets yang. As yin and yang interweaved, even time is reversed.
As Xiang Shaoyun meditated on the Desolation mantra and circulated the powers of yin and yang, inspiration suddenly struck him, and it allowed him to comprehend the profundities of yin and yang.
The Light of Wisdom continued shining brightly on his head, lighting up the entire cultivation room. Numerous abstruse runes floated in the air, presenting a mystical and profound scene.
At the same time, a clump of black energy floated out and fused with the bright clump of energy. Slowly, the two transformed into a circular Yin Yang Diagram that could also be known as the Tai Chi Diagram. In this state, the yin and yang were separated, yet they were also smoothly flowing into each other.
As the powers of yin and yang rotated into each other, changes started occurring to their surroundings. Unfortunately, even with the Light of Wisdom, Xiang Shaoyun still couldn’t fully comprehend the changes occuring.
Along with the passage of time, Xiang Shaoyun slowly discovered the offensive prowess of the Yin Yang Diagram.
Yang as the heaven, yin as the earth. Heaven and earth united, peerless and unrivaled.
The dao of yin and yang focused on the fusion of hardness and softness, and it was somewhat similar to the profundity of water. It could be as ferocious as a deluge, and it could also be endless and gentle. It was unpredictable and held boundless might.
“No wonder Devouring Ghost is cultivating the dao of yin and yang with his new body. He clearly knows that the powers of yin and yang are among the strongest powers one can cultivate. In fact, the powers of yin and yang is comparable to the power of primal chaos,” muttered Xiang Shaoyun after personally experiencing the might of yin and yang.
After deepening his comprehension of the profundities of yin and yang, he stopped. It would take a long time for him to fully comprehend the two powers, so he was better off stopping and shifting his focus to the power of primal chaos instead.
Everyone knew that the primal chaos could be divided into the five elements, but nobody knew how to turn the five elements back into the primal chaos. Only by fusing the five elements back into the primal chaos energy would one be able to fully display the might of the five elements. Dugu Qiubai was a perfect example of that.
Of course, Dugu Qiubai had yet to fully comprehend the profundity of primal chaos. Otherwise, Xiang Shaoyun would stand no chance against him.
The five elements reinforced and countered each other. Gold reinforced water, water reinforced wood, wood reinforced flame, flame reinforced earth, and earth reinforced gold. Additionally, gold countered wood, wood countered earth, earth countered water, water countered flame, and flame countered gold. This was the concept of the great dao, and this was how all living beings came into existence, how all living beings gained sentience.
Those were the elements required by all life. If even one of them went missing, balance would be lost, and the ecosystem of the world would collapse.
One could say that the existence of all living beings could not be separated from the five elements. Even in areas where one of the elements was prominent, there would still be traces of the other four elements around. Only when the five elements were present would sentient beings exist.
All cultivators were familiar with the concept of the five elements reinforcing and countering each other, but comprehending this concept was not something one could easily do.
Thus, Xiang Shaoyun wasn’t even hoping to fully comprehend the five elements. Rather, he only wanted to learn more about the fusion of the five so he could better utilize the concept of fusing different powers.
He started meditating on his fight with Dugu Qiubai. The Primal Chaos Physique played a great role in helping Dugu Qiubai fuse the five elements and combine the prowess of multiple stars, but the many dual or triple elemental battle techniques that he knew had also helped him easily utilize multiple elements at the same time.
Since Xiang Shaoyun did not know those battle techniques, he could only make use of his comprehension of the profundities of the different powers to fuse them.
The profundity of gold was exceedingly sharp, capable of penetrating all defenses.
The profundity of wood worked in accordance with the concept of revival and was filled with life.
The profundity of earth was thick and heavy, capable of carrying all living beings.
The profundity of water was continuous and unending, hard and soft at the same time.
The profundity of flame was destructive and unstoppable.
The concepts of all these powers revolved in Xiang Shaoyun’s head, further deepening his comprehension.
A divine five-colored radiance started shining from his body, making him look like a peacock spreading its tail. The divine radiance interweaved and flowed endlessly, creating a scene that was exceptionally beautiful in the cultivation room.
Some sort of resonance formed between the five powers. They seemed to have fused, yet they also seemed to restrict each other at the same time. Thus, they were unable to form the true primal chaos energy.
Everyone knew the theory of the five elements in concept, but to actually attempt the fusion would be incredibly hard. After many attempts, Xiang Shaoyun seemed to have comprehended something. However, he was still missing something crucial, so he stopped trying.
“I still lack comprehension on the five elements. It is impossible to forcefully fuse them with my current comprehension. I need to start with two elements and slowly learn from there. That might be better,” muttered Xiang Shaoyun.
After giving it a thought, he selected flame and gold, two powers that countered each other. After all, among the five elements, they were the two powers he utilized more in battle. Thus, it would probably be easier for him to fuse them.
Unfortunately, these two powers did not reinforce each other. It would be much harder to fuse them. But since he had decided to try it, he would stick to his decision.
A clump of gold energy floated out of his hand. A clump of flame energy floated out of his other hand. As he sensed the differences of the two, he started bringing the two together. The gold was countered by the flame and started dispersing. Eventually, only the flame remained.
“What does it mean for a power to counter the other? Does that mean that only one of the two can remain in the end?” Xiang Shaoyun questioned himself and started meditating on the new questions in his head.
At this time, he recalled the Desolation mantra. He tried using the mantra to comprehend what “counter” meant exactly.
