The Rise of the Five Elements Chapter 99: My Era

The branch leader of the Shadow Serpent Sect’s You Ruo City division was a towering, imposing figure.

He wore a long black robe embroidered with golden snakes, his hair tied with a purple-gold crown. A finely crafted jade pendant carved with a beast motif hung at the edge of his lion barbarian belt.

His cultivation was at the Jade Void realm, deep and unfathomable like the sea, his gaze inscrutable.

He lightly pinched a pill, refined by Su Ye using a new method, between his fingers. A surge of sinister energy rolled off it, chilling his skin.

Without tasting it, he knew it was superior to the ancient methods of refinement.

“Chai Du, how did you come to meet this Daoist friend?” the leader’s voice was deep and resonant as he addressed the hooded man whose face was partially revealed.

The hooded man cupped his hands in respect and replied,

“He killed the owner of the evil artifact shop in the underground black market. No matter what, I had to appear, and thus we met.”

The leader’s deep eyes shifted, resting on Su Ye’s face seated across from him.

Behind Su Ye stood Huang Bao, lowering his head, trying not to meet the leader’s gaze.

Su Ye remained calm, meeting the leader’s eyes steadily.

“Daring to kill someone outright in the underground black market—aren’t you afraid I would kill you?” the leader probed.

Su Ye’s expression didn’t change:

“I am more valuable to you alive than dead.”

“Young people these days, truly bold,” the leader laughed heartily. “You guessed right... I will not kill you.”

He turned toward the man who brought Su Ye and instructed, “Chai Du, take this attendant to have some tea. Do not neglect him.”

Chai Du cupped his hands and bowed.

Huang Bao, as a Demon Suppression Master, grew wary and stood his ground.

Su Ye turned to Huang Bao and said,

“Go with Lord Chai to have tea. I will have a quiet chat with the leader.”

Huang Bao saw the composure and confidence in Su Ye’s eyes, dispelled his doubts, and followed Chai Du out of the spacious courtyard.

In the courtyard, a locust tree sprouted new branches.

The leader summoned a pot of wine and two cups from a jade gourd, smiling as he asked,

“Dare to drink my wine?”

“What is there to fear?” Su Ye accepted the cup without any guard.

He understood not the leader’s face, but the human heart.

The leader would not kill him.

Neither openly nor in secret.

“I heard rumors and calculated your fate,” the leader waved his hand, and clear wine flew from the pot to fill the two cups. “You might die halfway through, or perhaps...”

“...inherit the heavenly mandate,” Su Ye finished the leader’s deliberately left phrase.

With these words, neither side needed to conceal anything further.

The leader knew Su Ye’s true identity.

Su Ye’s reading of the leader’s thoughts was equally precise.

---

Raising his cup leisurely, the leader said,

“I discerned your intentions from that pill.”

Su Ye also lifted his cup, smiling as he asked,

“And what does the leader think?”

“The idea is good... but to establish a new world is the ancient master’s lifelong wish.

All disciples of the sect regard it as their ultimate ideal.”

Su Ye drained his cup and laughed heartily:

“Clearly, your true ideal is not to create a mad new world.”

The cups refilled automatically.

“Before meeting you, I had imagined your appearance,” the leader murmured, “You are more handsome and more profound than I envisioned.”

Su Ye’s fingers lightly touched the cup, his smile fading as he looked at the leader:

“You hold a high position and have seen the tides of the world... Only Senior Song Yang can save this calamity threatening all life. The mediocre cannot fill the gaps.

If it were so simple, why not just recruit a supreme master of the Celestial Realm? Wouldn’t everything be settled?”

“But you must understand, the Human Emperor once harbored the intent to kill you,” the leader implied, showing the sect’s constant watch over the imperial court.

Su Ye beamed brightly:

“Do you think... I am aware of this, or completely oblivious?”

The leader remained silent.

He awaited a precise answer.

Su Ye chuckled softly:

“In the plot of Weilan City, only one Su Ye can survive.

The mediocre will die by Zheng Tiandao’s hand; the second Sword Demon will fall to Feng Yuan’an.

Only I, sitting across from you, can win the Human Emperor’s favor.”

The leader’s smile blossomed instantly as he raised his cup:

“Daoist Su, you are indeed no ordinary man.”

They drank together.

“Do you know what I seek?” the leader said cautiously.

“Whether mortal or immortal cultivator, it is easy to take up desires but hard to let go,” Su Ye said as he watched the cup refill with clear wine. “After countless hardships to reach your level, the foremost desire is longevity and ascension to immortality.”

“Communicating with the wise is indeed simple.

My foolish subordinates always muddle my Dao heart with their ignorance.”

Su Ye laughed heartily but said no more.

He sought to use the sect’s power against the Demon Purge of the Sexagenary Cycle, but this did not mean he approved of the sect’s ways.

Touching on the matter lightly was the safest course.

---

“You just mentioned the new world we seek to build,” the leader looked at Su Ye, his smile fading, “This Demon Purge is the best opportunity.”

“What the Sword Demon failed to accomplish,” Su Ye’s gaze sharpened, “Do you truly believe... that with your strength, you can overturn the world?”

“Even illusions sometimes convince someone of their truth.”

Su Ye pondered briefly, contemplating how to reverse the situation.

The leader sensed Su Ye’s thoughts.

Though lacking spiritual roots, he radiated a brilliance surpassing even the Heartless Dao.

“As the sect leader, I cannot personally assist you,” the leader declared beforehand to avoid entanglement.

“No need for your toil, someone else will help me.”

Su Ye stood and walked to the locust tree in the courtyard, gazing at the new buds sprouting from the twisted branches.

Winter was over; spring was coming.

“Do you know why I did not kill you?” the leader’s curiosity finally surfaced.

“The Sword Demon is dead, and the sect nears its end,” Su Ye did not turn back, still watching the tender shoots. “To abandon darkness and embrace the light—that is the only chance.”

“There is another reason.”

“Time... from the Sword Saint to the Sword Demon, then to me... when the next chosen by fate will appear, none can say. So you dare not gamble.”

“Too much wisdom leads to premature demise... I hope you do not fail halfway.”

“If I fail to inherit the mandate, then it is heaven’s will,” Su Ye turned, his eyes clear as water. “But I believe I will reach the other shore.”

He turned back and gently touched the fresh green buds.

The leader stared at Su Ye’s slender, upright figure, momentarily dazed, and asked unconsciously:

“Are you truly the savior?”

“If Senior Song Yang heard your question,

he would mock your foolishness, explain the cycle of Heaven’s Dao, or simply ignore you.

If it were your ancient master, he would not hesitate to cut off your head, make a human pig from your skin, refine your spiritual roots into a pill, soak your organs in spiritual liquid,

and then mock your ignorance while preaching.”

“...”

Su Ye lifted his head, looking up at the cloudless sky.

“Their glory and legends, their terror and shadows, have now become yesterday’s news.

Whether revered or hated, all will ultimately turn to nothing.”

The leader fell silent, quietly observing Su Ye.

Witnessing such an extraordinary opportunity blurred his vision.

“If this world truly needs a hero, I will stand forth and become the one to inherit the heavenly mandate.

This is my era.”