"Master?" Hearing that word, Li Fan felt a moment of disorientation.
In the current cultivation world, cultivating by oneself was already a difficult endeavor. Who would still take the time to impart knowledge, teach skills, and resolve doubts?
In all these years since he had embarked on the path of cultivation, he had never witnessed a proper formal master-disciple relationship.
Driven by curiosity, Li Fan looked toward the source of the voice.
Beside the massive Dust-Crossing Boat stood two cultivators, one old and one young, yet both dressed in identical blue robes and shared a remarkably similar bearing.
The elder had hair as white as a crane's feathers but the complexion of a child, with ruddy cheeks. The younger one, however, looked weathered and worn, his expression that of one who had seen through the affairs of the world.
What astonished Li Fan was that the childish, tender voice he had just heard had actually come from the mouth of the white-haired elder.
The old man looked utterly naive, gazing down with great curiosity at the child beside him as he asked his question.
The child appeared no more than five or six years old, but the words from his mouth were anything but childish.
"All things emerge from nothingness, and to nothingness they return.
"The convergence of the five elements is simply a return to their original state." The child in blue robes answered with a smile.
The elder in blue robes thought for a moment, then seemed to grasp the answer, saying with great delight, "I understand, Master! You mean that soon, this place will revert to a void of primordial chaos, just as we saw before. Is that correct?"
The child chuckled softly, looking at the elder with a kindly gaze. "You are correct. If left undisturbed, allowed to evolve freely according to its own nature, that is indeed what would happen."
"But if one day, outsiders were to intrude here and take away some of the matter within this grotto-heaven... well, that would be a different story."
The child gazed down at the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens below, a sigh of regret in his voice.
Hearing this, Li Fan was momentarily taken aback, then narrowed his eyes to scrutinize this master-disciple pair more carefully.
The old man and the child acted as if Li Fan did not exist at all.
The elder frowned deeply, as if pondering his master's words.
After a moment, a look of sudden understanding dawned on his face. "These five grotto-heavens, with their five elements flowing and cycling, fused into a perfect, flawless whole. It can separate into five, and the five can converge back into one. But if an outsider were to take a portion from each of the five elements, it would cause an imbalance among them. And then...
"And then..."
Here, the elder seemed to get stuck, unable to figure out what came next, no matter how hard he tried.
The child in blue robes gave a light, amused laugh and continued for him. "In truth, if the extraction were only small-scale and spread out over a long period, the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens, relying on the natural flow and cycle of their own attributes, could self-regulate. Thus, it would not lead to an imbalance.
"The real danger is if, within a short time, someone were to plunder resources from only a few of the grotto-heavens on a massive scale.
"The grotto-heavens’ regulatory mechanisms would be overwhelmed, unable to compensate, causing the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens to completely lose their elemental balance."
"Master," the elder in blue asked curiously, "what happens after a complete imbalance?"
The child's smile faded. "Do you remember the Five Elements Sect I once told you about?"
The elder nodded. "This disciple remembers. The Five Elements Sect is a subsidiary of the Great Dao Sect. A few years ago, when their sect leader came to pay his respects at our Deliverance Sect, I even saw him!"
Hearing the conversation between master and disciple, Li Fan's heart shook violently.
He finally became certain that the two figures before him were not truly present on this Dust-Crossing Boat.
They were a mirage-like illusion!
The conversation between the master and disciple was clearly taking place in the ancient cultivation world, before the Great Reformation had descended and while their sect still stood.
Li Fan swept his gaze around the Dust-Crossing Boat. People came and went, yet for some reason, no one else besides him could see this phantom scene.
Without raising an alarm, Li Fan continued to observe the dialogue between the ancient master and disciple of the Deliverance Sect.
The blue-robed child continued, "The Five Elements Sect's strength back then was actually quite formidable. Aside from our Ten Immortal Dao Sects, it was considered one of the top-tier major sects in the entire Xuanhuang World. Within the sect was a secret realm called the Five Elements Heaven. It was practically a world unto itself, with resources so abundant they seemed inexhaustible.
"It far surpassed even the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens here.
"Relying on this secret realm, if the Five Elements Sect had developed slowly over hundreds or thousands of years, it might very well have risen to become the greatest sect under heaven.
"A pity that the sect leader two generations before the current one, Lan Xiangfeng, was shortsighted..."
Here, the blue-robed child snorted coldly, a flash of frustrated anger in his eyes—the anger of one who saw potential squandered.
The blue-robed elder widened his eyes, not daring to speak, quietly awaiting the rest of the tale.
After a moment, the blue-robed child continued, "At that time, the Heavenly Sword Sect required a truly astronomical amount of Taiyuan Essence Gold in order to forge a legendary World-Breaching Divine Armament.
"This Taiyuan Essence Gold is exceedingly rare. It only forms by chance as a companion material within metal ore veins, not something that can be sought out deliberately. The Heavenly Sword Sect had already scoured almost all that could be found on the market, yet they were still far from meeting their needs.
"Hearing that the Five Elements Heaven within the Five Elements Sect might contain vast stockpiles, the Heavenly Sword Sect's sect leader personally went to plead with them.
"That old scoundrel, infamous for his domineering nature, is a man of immense pride. For him to lower his head before the Five Elements Sect... Lan Xiangfeng immediately became puffed up with pride, so elated he couldn't tell north from south.
"Add to that the fact that the Heavenly Sword Sect's offered price was truly exorbitant, and all the elders of the Five Elements Sect were persuaded.
"And so, the Five Elements Sect began the large-scale mining of Taiyuan Essence Gold within their secret realm. Had it stopped there, the later tragedy would not have occurred.
"But then, they listened to someone's instigation—who it was, no one knows—saying that since all the various metal ores excavated during the mining process shouldn't go to waste, they might as well sell them off too. Other sects heard the news that the Five Elements Sect had vast quantities of metal ores and came in droves to purchase them.
"Blinded by profit, the Five Elements Sect's efforts to excavate their metal attribute ore veins grew increasingly frenzied.
"Finding their own manpower insufficient, they even hired rogue cultivators.
"Finally, one day, the massive loss of the metal element led to an imbalance of attributes within the Five Elements Heaven."
"Inevitably, it began to evolve silently, with the five elements converging into one.
"And when the missing metal element could no longer satisfy the demands of the five elements convergence, the remaining four elements—wood, water, fire, and earth—began a chaotic, never-ending collision of energy...
"The final result was a cataclysmic explosion that utterly destroyed the Five Elements Heaven.
"The losses to the entire Five Elements Sect cannot be described by the mere word 'devastating.' Their core strength was nearly annihilated, and from then on, they never recovered.
"To survive, they could only voluntarily submit to the Great Dao Sect, relying on a trace of past camaraderie to become a subsidiary sect."
Having finished his account, the blue-robed child sighed with deep regret.
Listening from the side, Li Fan suddenly felt a chill surge in his heart.
The fate of the ancient Five Elements Heaven—wasn't this exactly the situation now unfolding with the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens?
Did that mean after the five elements converged, a cataclysmic explosion would also occur here?
Cursing inwardly, Li Fan turned his gaze back toward the master-disciple pair of the Deliverance Sect, only to find their forms growing increasingly indistinct. The words moving on their lips slowly became inaudible.