"Can you stop me?" Qing Ling glanced at him, his demeanor exuding arrogance.
Jue Pao felt a surge of heat in his head. As a supreme being, when had he ever been treated with such disdain?
"Boy, you are too arrogant! Even if I have to sacrifice a hundred thousand years of cultivation, I will suppress you!"
"A hundred thousand years? That's not enough!" Qing Ling said with a casual smile, unconcerned.
"Then a million years! Ten million years!"
Jue Pao roared, the heavens rumbled with thunder, and in an instant, lightning struck. The force of the thunder, imbued with even greater speed, surged towards Qing Ling. He threw a punch.
The supreme speed law, almost instantaneous teleportation, with no concept of time, reaching a speed beyond even thought, struck.
Qing Ling's golden bells on his feet had no time to react, and even his primordial spirit only had a moment to respond.
Their eyes met, and Jue Pao saw a world of black and white, life and death, reflected in Qing Ling's eyes.
"Pfft~"
Qing Ling was sent flying backward by the punch, spitting out a mouthful of heart's blood.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, a faint smile still on his face. Then, he uttered a sentence.
"Life and death collide with Yin and Yang, the flower blooms!"
Jue Pao was stunned, but he reacted immediately. He quickly activated his primordial spirit and examined his internal organs.
Indeed, a blood-red flower bud had sprouted on his heart, already connected to its countless blood vessels, even touching his primordial spirit. It was impossible to remove.
Qing Ling smiled faintly. The Sky-Conquering Net transformed into a thousand strands, weaving a curtain thousands of feet thick to protect him. The golden bells chimed throughout the heavens, preventing the opponent from approaching him again with his speed law.
Although he had a snake's body and tenacious vitality, it did not mean his physical body was strong. He was not a body cultivator, but strictly speaking, a spell cultivator, and thus could not be approached by his opponent.
"If you wish to keep me here, then I shall await you. Please, enter my flower!"
Jue Pao's face turned extremely ugly. All his powers erupted from within, but as soon as he tried to pull out the blood flower, it would tear countless blood vessels of his heart, and even the foundation of his primordial spirit.
Neither of these could be lost. The heart was the foundation of the physical body, and the primordial spirit was the core of the soul. Without either, one could not be considered human!
However, no matter what great dao law Jue Pao employed, he could not break free from the flower's confinement. He could only watch helplessly as the flower gradually devoured his essence, spirit, blood, flesh, and soul, growing stronger.
He couldn't help but panic. This peculiar sense of powerlessness, the feeling of death slowly approaching, was a torment to his mind. Although Jue Pao knew his Da Luo body would not die, his emotions still triumphed over his reason.
Jue Pao hesitated for a moment, then spoke, "Apart from this flower, we are even. You may cross the Southern Wasteland freely."
Qing Ling sighed and said, "It's too late."
"What do you mean?"
Jue Pao's face darkened.
"This great divine ability is unsolvable. I only know how to plant it, not how to resolve it.
Moreover, even if I could resolve it, I wouldn't do it for you."
"Why?" Jue Pao roared. "Do you truly think you have me completely?"
"No," Qing Ling's feet were covered in emerald threads, which self-arranged into steps. He ascended, step by step, towards the heavens, and said faintly, "It is because I am not in control of myself.
Not just you, but me as well. In this Primordial World, if one does not reach the apex, can one ever avoid being a pawn?"
Qing Ling's melancholy words left Jue Pao filled with unease. However, he soon understood.
In the distance, a sky full of golden light surged southward, carrying a majestic saintly aura that swept across the heavens and earth.
A young girl in a yellow robe, as noble as a deity, rode a purple-gold holy tiger through the sky.
Behind her, a hundred Golden Immortals and ten Grand Unity Immortals guarded her.
Behind the girl stood two supreme beings, one old and one young.
Jue Pao's expression changed drastically. He quickly bowed respectfully, "Greetings, Qilin Saint Emissary."
The Qilin Saint Emissary, much like the White Dragon Saintess of the Dragon Clan, possessed a high status, representing the pride and dignity of their race.
On the back of the colossal purple-gold tiger beneath the Saint Emissary, a magnificent and resplendent palace was built. The young girl stood at the forefront of the palace, like a divine monarch descending to the mortal realm, her power immense, sweeping towards Qing Ling.
Qing Ling smiled faintly. The God of Spring summoned the wind of ten miles, his smile as beautiful as a flower, his kingly aura unable to approach him.
"Who dares to disrespect the holy might of my clan?" the girl asked.
Her words, each one carrying a vast pressure, seemed to be directly imposed upon the mind.
Qing Ling's smile vanished. He composed himself and said, "I am the master of a small region, Qing Xuan. I have not disrespected the Qilin Clan's authority."
Qing Ling was his name, and Qing Xuan his title. He called himself Qing Xuan, and there was no harm in that.
The girl said coldly, "You injured a supreme being of my clan. What is the meaning of this?"
Qing Ling glanced at Jue Pao, who had retreated, and said, "He merely blocked my path, and I needed to pass. Hence, the conflict. It is nothing more."
"Presumptuous! This is the territory of my Qilin Clan. Since you have entered our domain, you must abide by our clan rules. Black and White Venerables, apprehend this person!"
As the divine maiden's voice fell, the old man and the young man behind her instantly moved. Dark black light emanated from the old man, while pure white radiance emanated from the youth.
Phantoms of a Bright Qilin and a Dark Qilin soared into the sky. The dual Qilin phantoms, at the ninth heaven of Da Luo, roamed the void, transforming the land for thousands of miles into a Taiji realm.
Opposite absolute light was absolute darkness.
Qing Ling stood precisely at the midpoint between darkness and light, both simultaneously consuming and purifying him.
Qing Ling shook his head and sighed. Trouble had ultimately arrived.
Yin and Yang, life and death, spun around him. Life against light, death against darkness. Within the great Taiji, a small Taiji was born.
And the small Taiji, along with the great Taiji, formed a new balance of Yin and Yang, strength and weakness.
Qing Ling's pupils shifted, and he looked towards the young man.
However, the Saint Emissary threw out a golden jade artifact, blocking Qing Ling's Eyes of Life and Death.
"You dare to be so arrogant with merely a great divine ability?" The Saint Emissary, seeing that the two Da Luo cultivators could not subdue him, decided to intervene herself.
The heavens and earth were filled with golden radiance. The sharp and peerless Great Dao of Metal shattered the cosmos and inverted the universe. The might of a heaven-and-earth supreme being was not comparable to that of a Da Luo Golden Immortal.
Qing Ling manifested auspicious clouds above his head and shouted, "Come!"
Suddenly, the eastern sky dimmed, devoid of light.
A figure that blotted out the sun and obscured the moon appeared, blocking the light of the sun and moon.
From the Guangdu Land in the Eastern Wasteland, the Jianmu tree's projection manifested.
Golden light crisscrossed for billions of miles, yet it could not shatter the majestic Jianmu. The power of heaven itself was drawn to reinforce Jianmu, standing firm and unyielding behind Qing Ling.
The Saint Emissary's eyes narrowed. She knew of Jianmu's existence, but she had not expected it to be so magnificent.
Jianmu ascended into the clouds, creating vast expanses of white clouds stretching for millions of acres. Within the immense cloudy sky, Qing Ling flashed and escaped, grabbing Jue Pao, who stood stunned nearby, and fled westward.
The Saint Emissary's face showed a hint of displeasure. "Pursue!"
The wings of the purple-gold holy tiger spread open, and it soared into the sky in pursuit.
The Jianmu projection at the original spot dissipated.
Qing Ling suppressed Jue Pao within his Four Seasons Diagram world, and then fled westward at full speed.
To the west lay the residual veins of Buzhou Mountain, allowing him to ascend Buzhou without entering the Qilin territory. His goal had to be advanced.
Today, he had inadvertently become entangled in a relationship with deep repercussions. He did not wish to be involved in such karma, so he had to break free, to shatter this world of karma.
The Saint Emissary's purpose for coming here was not him, but solely the Azure Dragon Ancestor. He, too, was merely acting under compulsion within this grand current of events.