As the voice of the Golden Crow echoed out, an intense glow began to emanate from its body. It was so bright that it made it seem like the only thing in this entire world of gray, was this one beam of golden light.

At the same time that Meng Hao turned around in response to the voice of the Golden Crow, the beam of light fused into the Metal-type totem tattoo on his chest.

As it did so, Meng Hao's body trembled, and he was locked in place, looking backward. A roaring sound filled his head as boundless, indescribable Metal-type power burst into him.

Now, the Metal-type totem tattoo on his chest was experiencing the same type of transmogrification that the Wood-type totem had!

"This is my Golden Life Tattoo," said the Golden Crow in its soft voice. "With it, you will forever be able to wield the complete power of Metal."

Yan Song and the others watched in astonishment as the transmogrification occurred. Suddenly, an unprecedented feeling of crisis exploded out within them.

Li Tian was panting, and his pupils were tiny dots. He had spent most of his life on the run, and had keen intuition. Heart pounding, he instantly burst into motion. He did not move forward, but rather, began to flee in the direction of the seventh volcano.

Yan Song hesitated for a moment. Next to him, Mo and Wang exchanged a glance and then began to retreat.

Right at this moment, a sigh suddenly came from atop the golden tree from the Golden Crow. At the same moment, the golden glow that could be seen with the naked eye suddenly vanished, as though all of it had suddenly been retracted away, starting from the roots of the tree and condensing at its crown.

As the golden light flowed upward, the original color of the tree was slowly revealed. It was a grayish color, the grayness of death.

Soon, all of the golden light from the tree had coalesced onto the body of the Golden Crow. Now, the Golden Crow emanated a shocking golden glow.

Within the glowing goldenness, the body of the crow began to change. Soon, it was a young woman wearing a long, golden robe. Despite her young appearance, she emanated an aura of ancientness. She stood there at the crown of the tree, looking down with an expression of grief.

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust…." she murmured. Then she stepped forward. As she moved, ripples spread out through the air. Each move she made caused change. Everything began to turn to gold; even the sky seemed to become solid. The whole place was turning into a world of metallic gold.

As of this moment, every part of this world--every life, all existence--became a part of this golden metal.

Currently, Li Tian was fleeing at top speed, and had almost reached the mouth of the seventh volcano. It was at this point that his face suddenly filled with complete terror and astonishment. Despite the fact that the woman-form Golden Crow didn't seem to be moving very quickly, she suddenly appeared directly in front of him.

"You…." Li Tian began to pant, and his pupils constricted. A sudden, intense feeling of grave crisis swept over him like floodwaters. Without a moment's hesitation, he began to flash an incantation sign. A vast quantity of magical items burst forth from his bag of holding. He shoved his hands out, using all the power he could muster to summon a black fog that emanated terrifying ripples.

"If you're gonna die, then just die! You're not taking me with you!" he roared. However, even as his divine ability manifested and a shocking aura emanated out, a golden hand shot through the air. It pierced through the black mist, distorting the ripples. The hand was then right in front of Li Tian. A finger tapped down lightly on the top of his head.

The woman turned to look at Meng Hao. Her voice soft, she said, "Remember, this is the first wyrd of my Golden Life Tattoo. Convergence Wyrd. Any life that I touch will turn into gold."

Li Tian's entire body shook in response to her touch. Suddenly, a golden light began to emanate from his forehead. His eyes went wide as the light covered his entire body. His face distorted with terror and then, his entire body turned into a statue of gold.

Even his Nascent Soul had no time to escape, and was sealed within him. The Metal-type power flowed into it, and it was transformed into a Gold Soul.

All of this happened in the space of an instant. The speed was so shocking that no one had a chance to react. In the blink of an eye, an awe-inspiring Nascent Soul eccentric, a person who could shake the outside world wherever he went, a top-notch expert….

Disperse the aura, exterminate the Qi, eliminate the body!

A clattering sound could be heard as the golden statue of Li Tian fell to the ground. It was completely incapable of movement, and the look of shock on its face was permanent as it stared off toward the withered great tree.

This turn of events made Yan Song, Mo, and Wang feel as if thunderbolts were slamming around inside their hearts. Their faces immediately fell. Yan Song, his mind spinning, immediately shot backward. His right hand slapped his bag of holding to produce a command medallion which he then crushed.

As for Mo and Wang, the glow of a spell appeared around them, wrapping around them with layer after layer of brilliant light. It seemed to invoke some sort of pulling power that instantly caused ghost images to spring up around them. It looked like they would shoot up into the sky at any moment.

The entire time, Meng Hao stood there motionless as the Metal-type power continued to roar into him. Within the golden light around him appeared a massive, life-like Golden Crow.

As the golden light continued to flicker and the Metal-type power flowed into him, Meng Hao could sense the transmogrification, as well as the increase of his Cultivation base.

Then he saw Li Tian die, and watched as Yan Song and the others made to flee. Silently, Meng Hao looked up into the sky.

Up in mid-air, the woman's body looked blurry, as if she might disappear at any moment. The golden glow around her was fading, and she wasn't looking at Yan Song and the others as they fled. Instead, she gazed at Meng Hao.

"Next, my Golden Life Tattoo's second wyrd. I call it Net of Heaven." With that, the woman extended her right hand and pushed it down toward the ground. Immediately, the golden ground began to quake, and cracks spread out. As the land began to crack and break, countless fragments flew up into the air, each and every one made of pure gold. It transformed into a rain of gold that shot toward Mo and Wang.

At the same time, this entire world, with the exception of the area occupied by Meng Hao and the great tree, began to collapse. All of the rocks, plants… everything fell into pieces. These tiny chunks of gold then coalesced into countless oddly-shaped blades that began to spin around to form a towering tempest.

Caught within the tempest, the faces of Mo and Wang filled with despair. The golden tempest seemed to have them trapped, motionless and ready to collapse.

The two of them roared as they went all out in their attempt to activate their spell, causing a rumbling sound to fill the air. However, no matter how they fought back with their spell or the power of their Cultivation bases, they were incapable of resisting this massive golden tempest formed from the land itself!

The giant golden tempest swept over them, and the golden rain formed something like a massive net that no one could break through. When the net finally dissipated, nothing was left of Mo and Wang except two skeletons.

Not far away from their bodies, their Nascent Souls were attempting to flee. However, they couldn't get far enough away, and were also destroyed by the tempest.

Turn the world gold and collapse the land into a tempest. Use this power to form the Net of Heaven, which can exterminate all wills.

"There is a third wyrd, called… If Not a Pill." The woman was now very faint and blurry as if she were about to disappear. In unison with the softly spoken words, her graceful hand pointed at Yan Song, whose body was almost transparent as he utilized the power of a jade slip to escape.

He screamed as something like a giant invisible hand wrenched him back out from the void he was disappearing into. His previously transparent body instantly became clear as he was pulled back into the golden world.

His face was pale, and his eyes were filled with madness.

"If I'm going to die!" he howled, "I will choose the way I perish!" Suddenly, his body burst into flames and the power of self-detonation appeared.

The self-detonation of a Nascent Soul Cultivator unleashes intense, indescribable power.

However, the instant in which he seemed about to self-detonate, the woman-form Golden Crow softly said, "If Not a Pill…."

At the same time, she waved her hand, causing the golden shrapnel tempest to shoot toward Yan Song, where, shockingly, it formed into… a gigantic pill furnace, with Yan Song inside!

Caught within the pill furnace, the force of Yan Song's self-detonation was not only blocked, but turned into transformative power!

Meng Hao began to pant with shock.

He could clearly see that within the pill furnace, the force of Yan Song's exploding body was turned into a vortex that spun rapidly within the pill furnace. Incredibly… it was transformed into a single, blood-colored medicinal pill!

Concoct a person into a pill, be nostalgic of one's past. If Not a Pill.

The pill furnace vanished, and the blood-colored medicinal pill flew over to land on the woman's hand. She looked down at it, then crushed it into ash.

By this point, her body was clearly about to dissipate. She turned, not even looking at Meng Hao, but rather gazing at the withered, dead great tree as she walked toward it.

As she neared, her body continued to fade away. With each step, more of her life force disappeared. As for the great tree, it began to rot away and turn into dust.

"Live together, die together," the woman murmured as her body disappeared.

The tree had completely rotted into floating ash.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust….

In that instant, everything in front of Meng Hao grew blurry. He was no longer locked in place, but could move once again. Suddenly, in the void in front of him, he saw a man wearing a long green robe. Next to him was a golden woman. They were smiling and laughing as they stepped out into the nothingness.

You are a pill and I am a tree. The year you appeared before me… my life became more than just greenness.

I am a pill and you are a tree. The year I opened my eyes for the first time, I saw you and… my life was no longer lonely.

Sometimes, the meaning of an entire life can be only because of a chance meeting.

His expression serious, Meng Hao clasped hands and bowed deeply toward the two departing figures.

As he bowed, the golden light around him shrank down, and the golden world around him began to collapse. At the same time, the Metal-type totem tattoo on his chest transformed into a character.

Metal! [1]

——-

Note from Er Gen: Regardless of whether or not you're talking about love or friendship, many things in life happen because of a chance meeting.

I have been very lucky in my path of writing to meet all of you.

Thank you for your support and thank you for willingness to meet me.

Note from Deathblade: Isn't Er Gen awesome?

In Chinese, the character used for "metal" in the five elements is the same as the character for "gold"