Chapter 1682: The Second Era’s Past

When he saw the fire elemental essence spirit at a loss, Ye Zichen felt rather bad for him. After all, at least on the surface, he looked like a toddler. But then, the group ganging up in him were all toddlers too, and he was a little lecher!

He deserved every word of their rebukes!

“Look! Even Ol’ Two nodded! What do you have to say for yourself?” The lightning elemental essence spirit really was keen on trouble. He was the one who’d started it with Ye Zichen, but also the one telling them to stop. He was the first to rebuke the fire essence spirit, but now, he was acting like this had nothing to do with him.

“What are you guys doing?” The fire essence spirit seemed a bit aggrieved. He looked around at his brothers, then at the lightning essence spirit.

I saw that that guy was about to attack you, so I threw a fireball without even thinking. Why are you criticizing me for no reason?”

“But what about after that?” The lightning essence spirit tilted his head.

The fire essence spirit’s momentum suddenly dropped. He scratched his head, stood on a stone stool, and fell silent.

At first, he really had acted on the lightning essence spirit’s behalf, but after that, he seemed to have, maybe, possibly, attempted to turn his fire against the others?

“Ahem…” After clearing his throat, the fire essence spirit grinned. “I was just thinking of the bigger picture! After all, he’s the Emperor Star! It would be bad if we really hurt him. Besides, he didn’t get ahead earlier, so I decided to just let it drop. I also wanted you guys to cool your heads. Besides, I didn’t really throw that fireball, did I?”

“Ol’ For, look at this guy! He’s gotten better at talking. nonsense again!” The lightning essence spirit pointed at the fire essence spirit, then turned and addressed him. “I’m not blind, alright? If we really fought, that fireball of yours would definitely hit me right in the face. Don’t argue. It’s not like we don’t know you, right?”

Then, the lightning essence spirit turned to the wind essence spirit and said, “Ol’ Two, you’ve always been a fair judge. Well? Is he in the wrong or not?”

“Mm, he really was behaving badly.” 

This was the first time Ye Zichen heard the wind essence spirit speak. The thunder essence’s words were forceful and domineering, the water essence spirit sounded lazy, the fire essence spirit sounded lively, the lightning essence spirit sounded like a trouble maker, and the wind essence spirit sounded gentle and meek.

All of them, whether it was their personalities or their manners of speaking, resembled their portraits perfectly.

One look at their portraits, and you could roughly guess their personalities. Now, seeing them in person, they were indeed as they seemed.

“Even you’re talking about me like that?” The fire essence spirit reacted as if his dear friend had betrayed him. He shook his head and said, “If you guys don’t like the look of me, just say the word and I can leave!”

Just like that, the fire essence spirit transformed into a fireball and flew off into the distance.

The others made no attempt to stop him, except for the wind essence spirit, who said softly, “Big Brother Fire Essence isn’t mad at me, is he?”

“No way! He just realized things aren’t looking good for him, so he’s decided to run away! He’s smart, you know! When he heard us call him out, he knew he wasn’t a match for the four of us. How could he possibly just stand there and let us complain about him?”

The lightning essence spirit crossed his legs and drummed his fingers against the table. A beverage suddenly appeared by his hand. “Hey, Emperor Star! Sorry about just now!” He got up and walked over to Ye Zichen, carrying the cup. “Here’s an apology gift.”

“You don’t want to fight?” Ye Zichen’s brow shot up.

“Heh, just now, we were actually testing the fire essence spirit. To think… even after all these years, he hasn’t changed.”

“Testing him?”

“It’d take too long to explain. This is a beverage I formed of concentrated elemental essence. It’s all pure essence of lightning. You’re not so bad after all, so I’ll share a cup with you.”

Not so bad after all?

Who was it who’d been jeering at him all this time?

But then, the lightning essence spirit had said it himself: this was just a show to test the fire essence spirit. Ye Zichen didn’t want to argue and ruin his relationship with the essence spirits, so he stretched out his hand, only to pause in mid-air.

…..

An entire cup full of lightning elemental essence. Even through the cup, Ye Zichen could feel the abundance of lightning.

The lightning essence spirit might be able to drink it, but if Ye Zichen tried…

“Forget it! Hold onto it and enjoy it yourself.” 

The lightning essence spirit took the cup back, then glanced at him. “Although your understanding of lightning is okay, in my eyes, it’s not enough. I’m just trying to help your comprehension of my element.”

“Don’t worry about it!” Ye Zichen dared not except the essence spirit’s good intentions, but this elementally-charged beverage was quite precious. If Ye Zichen didn’t want it, the lightning essence spirit wouldn’t push the matter. He simply clutched the cup and drank it himself.

“Umm… Is he really okay?” Gu Luolin suddenly interjected.

The lightning essence spirit waved away her concerns. “He’s five. Ol’ Five is right; he’s just running away.”

“Does that mean that, since the moment you saw me, you started acting?” asked Ye Zichen.

“You ought to say ‘from the moment we saw her,’” said the thunder essence spirit, pointing at Gu Luolin.

“Me?” Gu Luolin’s eyes widened.

“Then, the way you made fun of me….”

“We meant every word!” The thunder essence spirit nodded. “Although your comprehension of the Grand Dao of the Five Elements is workable -good, even, if we look at it objectively - to us, it’s pathetically low.” 

“....”

Well said! Really!

Ye Zichen gnashed his teeth. He really didn’t understand why he’d felt the need to ask; he’d only hurt himself a second time. What, was he into that now?

But after his brief clash with the essence spirits just now, Ye Zichen really did recognize the gap in ability. 

None of them had gone all out; they’d used only the most basic attack of their respective elements. Yet even so, Ye Zichen had to use far more elemental power than them just to ward off their attacks.

Ye Zichen wasn’t sure if the lightning essence spirit had gone all out just now, but Ye Zichen had used at least ninety percent of his power. 

But even so, his entire arm went numb.

These five were spirits formed of pure, concentrated elemental power. In terms of control over their respective elements, they were ridiculously well-practiced.

“Ummm…. You still haven’t explained what you said earlier, have you?” asked Gu Luolin. She was naturally referring to what the lightning essence spirit had said about deciding to put on this whole show upon seeing her. 

“Let’s sit down and talk!” The lightning essence spirit pointed to the stone table. The water essence spirit didn’t like to move, so he just slumped over the rock. The fire essence spirit had run off and wasn’t around. That meant there were just enough stools to seat everyone present. 

The wind essence spirit was still meek and timid, but he seemed to really like Gu Luolin. He sat down beside her, and his meekness faded a little.

Ye Zichen couldn’t help but wonder to himself, “This isn’t another little perv, right?”

“That friend of yours condensed the Dao Heart of Wind, right? Ol’ Two is the essence spirit of wind. She and Ol’ Two will naturally do well together. Besides, Ol’ Two isn’t like the boss. She’s a girl, for one thing.”

“She’s a girl?”

“You’re a girl?”

Ye Zichen and Gu Luolin both asked at once. The wind essence spirit nodded carefully. When Gu Luolin saw that, she giggled and pulled the essence spirit into her arms. 

The wind essence spirit seemed a bit unused to this, but when she sensed the wind elemental power around Gu Luolin, she seemed to calm down a little.

“Can you explain now?” Gu Luolin glanced at the thunder essence spirit.

“This is actually we essence spirits’ greatest shame,” said the thunder essence spirit with a sigh. “Don’t misunderstand; we’re not ashamed of the boss, but rather, of what he did.”

“What happened?” asked Ye Zichen.

“The five of us have a mission, and that’s to help the Emperor Star comprehend the five elements, break through, and achieve transcendence.” 

With this opening, Ye Zichen could guess that the rest of the story was sure to be long. He didn’t interrupt. He simply watched and listened as the thunder essence spirit told their tale.

“The mausoleum descended in the Second Era too, and that era’s Emperor Star found his way here. Do you know how I could ascertain that you were the Emperor Star?” The thunder essence spirit suddenly asked mysteriously.

“By looking at my starlight?” All star bearers, from the Emperor and Auxiliary Stars to the ordinary stars of the night sky, were accompanied by starlight. When Ye Zichen opened his celestial eye, he could see it. 

“We’re just elemental essence spirits. We don’t have that kind of skill.” The thunder essence spirit laughed. “It’s because of your name.”

“My name?”

“Ye Zichen, right?” said the thunder essence spirit. “The Second Era’s Emperor Star was called Ye Zichen too. He looked just like you, too.”

The others nodded along, but Ye Zichen felt his heart clench. “Your various eras, in summary, are more like parallel universes. Everything happening now happened once before in the Second Era. But of course… there have been some changes along the way. Individually, the changes have all been subtle, but overtime, they’ll create the butterfly effect.”

The thunder essence spirit looked at Gu Luolin and smiled. “Take the Second Era. The one who came with that Ye Zichen wasn’t her, but rather, a girl named Zuo Mo.”

“Zuo Mo!”

“When the fire essence spirit saw Zuo Mo, he reacted the way he did when he saw this young lady; he stuck to her like glue. The four of us followed the Emperor Star, but the oldest of us followed Zuo Mo. Fortunately, Zuo Mo was the Emperor Star’s Fated Star, and when the Master of the Stars needed the power of the five elements, the boss was willing to go to work on his behalf.”

“In that case, there was no harm in him sticking close to Zuo Mo, right?” said Gu Luolin.

“No harm?” The lightning essence spirit sneered. “If there was no harm, why was the Second Era destroyed?”

“Why was it destroyed?” asked Ye Zichen.

“It was precisely because the fire elemental essence spirit was too weak to feminine wiles. As a result, once, when the Master of the Stars needed him the most, he didn’t make it in time. You ought to know that, since it’s called the ‘Grand Dao of the Five Elements’, it’s strongest when all five of us are together. Without fire, we’re incomplete, and we weren’t strong enough to fend off the True Gods of the Outside. As a result, the Second Era fell….”

“Ol’ Five!” The thunder elemental essence spirit suddenly objected. “Boss came in the end, didn’t he?”

“He did! But by then, it was already too late!” The lightning essence spirit snorted in anger.

As they argued, Ye Zichen’s shock had already reached insurmountable heights.

The Second Era’s destruction! It happened because of the essence spirits!