Qing Ling's heart was filled with shock, but on his face, he offered compliments, "Senior has remarkable skills."
The Queen Mother smiled for a moment, then became desolate again as she gazed at the fragrant blossoms covering the tree.
"However, I managed to retrieve the tree, yet it has never borne fruit. Flowers without fruit, not a perfect completion. This supreme grade likely cannot withstand the erosion of heaven and earth."
Qing Ling was startled, "It only blossoms and bears no fruit?"
"Precisely!" The Queen Mother sighed, "Pan Tao, Pan Tao, its tree is valued for its fruit. Without fruit, how can it live up to its name?"
Qing Ling was a little surprised, "Could it be that without male and female, it cannot be pollinated?"
"Pollination? What does that mean?" The Queen Mother seemed to be waiting for Qing Ling's confusion, and continued, "In those days, I once saw fellow Daoist Azure Dragon. The beauty of his form, the might of his masculinity, was indeed worthy of the name God of Spring.
Although you, young friend, are but an auxiliary god, I imagine you possess some means."
Only then did Qing Ling understand the reason why the Queen Mother had saved him.
Even though he knew that repairing a supreme-grade spiritual root that had a problem would be an extremely difficult task, he had to brace himself and try.
Not only because he needed to repay the Queen Mother for saving him, but also because if the Queen Mother became displeased and threw him from Western Kunlun, that would be even more terrifying.
For he could sense the aura of many Great Luo Golden Immortals surrounding the outer reaches of Western Kunlun. And these auras might have been deliberately made noticeable by the Queen Mother.
Their purpose, no doubt, was to make him apply his full attention.
Qing Ling felt a bitter sorrow. These old fellows were truly not a single one of them good, all of them devising schemes upon schemes, one link after another. Once entangled, it was difficult to escape.
It was the same with the Supreme Being Shi Tian and Mu Gong back then, the clone of the Azure Dragon Ancestor, the Qilin clan, and now the Queen Mother.
Qing Ling could only say, "Senior, you also said that I, this God of Spring, am merely an auxiliary god, and my means are limited. But I am still willing to give it a try."
The Queen Mother smiled and said, "Good! If you succeed, I shall give you ten percent of the Pan Tao fruit. If it bears fruit, it will be the first fruit of Pan Tao, and its efficacy will be far beyond ordinary."
Even though Qing Ling knew this was the Queen Mother's tactic of wielding a big stick and a sweet carrot, he couldn't refuse, because this peach was too enticing!
After all, who could refuse the primordial spiritual fruit of a supreme-grade innate spiritual root?
Qing Ling said sincerely, "This junior will do his utmost."
The Queen Mother nodded in satisfaction, removed a golden hairpin from her bun, and with a wave of her hand, golden light crisscrossed the Pan Tao garden, and it all vanished. "Young friend, please enter the garden."
Qing Ling nodded and walked in under the Queen Mother's watchful gaze.
As soon as he entered the garden, a fragrant scent filled his nostrils, and he felt refreshed, his mind becoming much clearer.
If it weren't for the presence of the Queen Mother, Qing Ling would have already been unable to resist transforming into his true form and dwelling in the sea of flowers.
Qing Ling walked around the peach garden and discovered that although there were over a thousand trees, there were only nine main roots.
And the nine peach trees were neither male nor female; only the pistils and stamens were divided into male and female. In Qing Ling's past life memories, peach blossoms like these required cross-pollination and needed external assistance.
Qing Ling looked at the peach garden. It was sealed on all four sides, and the void was solidified, providing excellent protection. Not even an ant could get in.
He touched the trees with his hand, his primordial spirit sensing that within the innate spiritual roots, Dao prohibitions were formed. The Pan Tao trees contained as many as thirty-six layers of innate Dao prohibitions, not only the Dao of Wood but also the Dao of Life, possessing extremely rich vitality.
Furthermore, the essence nurtured since the Primordial Chaos was fully hidden within the trees, almost bursting them apart.
No wonder the Queen Mother was anxious. She also knew that if the spiritual roots did not bear fruit soon, they would become lifeless objects, only capable of falling in grade and at most becoming an upper-grade spiritual treasure.
Qing Ling's primordial spirit traversed every tree, every flower, immersing himself, both sensing the Pan Tao and comprehending the Dao of Wood and the Dao of Life within.
The Queen Mother's gaze narrowed slightly, but she made no move. Compared to the risk of innate Dao principles being spied upon, the fruition of the Pan Tao was more important.
Qing Ling sat among the peach trees for a hundred years, observing the blossoms without speaking, investigating each peach blossom, and taking it all into his heart.
He stood up, and fallen peach blossoms carpeted his green robes.
"Senior, this junior is willing to try, but the outcome is uncertain."
"Try as you will," the Queen Mother nodded.
"Then I ask Senior to deactivate the void solidification and open the peach garden."
The Queen Mother hesitated for a moment, but then removed her golden hairpin and drew another stroke. Amidst rolling golden thunder, all the prohibitions of the peach garden were opened.
As the thunder rumbled, some peach pollen mixed with golden divine lightning drifted in all directions, landing outside Kunlun to become peach branches. Among them was the aura of the Queen Mother's thunder of punishment, capable of dispelling evil.
As the pollen dispersed, countless spirit insects in the four directions of Kunlun sensed it and flocked over.
The Queen Mother waved her hand, intending to destroy these small insects, but Qing Ling quickly stopped her, "Senior, please spare them. Without these, the peach blossoms cannot bear fruit."
She frowned but still restrained herself.
Qing Ling's Spring God mark on his brow moved, clearing away all the insects, leaving only a thousand spirit bees and spirit butterflies with considerable cultivation.
The bees and butterflies collected nectar, passing among ten thousand flowers, and the yin and yang stamens began to unite.
The thousand bees and thousand butterflies collected nectar with great excitement. Each one refused to stop, even when exhausted, because this was the nectar of a supreme-grade spiritual root.
Qing Ling smiled, his divine mark on his brow moved, his human form revealed its serpentine tail, and the aura of the God of Spring spread throughout every inch of the peach garden, an atmosphere that made one's face flush and heart pound enveloped the garden.
Even the bees and butterflies became restless, unable to restrain their desire.
The Queen Mother outside the peach garden naturally felt nothing. She merely thought, this fellow, unlike the vibrant Azure Dragon, was more inclined towards reproduction.
Look at this alluring appearance; it could truly captivate the soul. It was only because she was an old woman that she remained unmoved. Even a Great Luo would find it difficult not to be affected.
However, she greatly disliked scenes of chaotic reproduction and would not allow any future disciples to approach this fellow; they should not be tainted by such matters of emotion.
Although the Queen Mother disliked it, her expression finally brightened as she saw the peach blossoms wither and gradually fall.
Where there is movement, there is change. Where there is change, there are many possibilities.
It took three thousand years for the peach garden to go from full fragrance to withered decay. After three thousand years, all the flowers were gone, replaced by small, round fruits.
Each little round fruit was receiving the essence of plants and the spiritual nature of the Great Dao accumulated by the Pan Tao trees over countless years.
However, out of over a thousand peach trees, each tree bore only ten fruits, and the nine ancestral roots at the very center bore only one fruit per tree.
Qing Ling's primordial spirit had already merged with the eleven thousand and eighty-nine fruits in the peach garden. Within each fruit, the Dao of Life and the Dao of Wood were nurturing the spiritual fruit and also warming his primordial spirit.
The Dao of a supreme-grade spiritual root was extraordinary, profounder than that of top-tier powerful beings.
As Qing Ling comprehended the tree and its fruits, the Dao of Life and the Dao of Wood rapidly ascended. The Dao rhythm of a thousand Pan Tao fruits accumulated over countless years warmed his spirit, and the two Daos climbed to new realms at an unprecedented speed.
His aura also rapidly increased. His primordial spirit realm advanced one level every thousand years. Another three thousand years passed, and the ten thousand fruits ripened, but Qing Ling's primordial spirit had still not emerged.
His primordial spirit's Dao of Wood and Dao of Life had already ascended three levels. Thousands of years of comprehending the origin of the spiritual roots were equivalent to tens of epochs of effort.
However, as the Dao of Life surged, the Dao of Death became imbalanced. The balance between life and death was broken, and his primordial spirit momentarily lost its equilibrium, leading to a conflict between life and death.
Dead energy surged in the Pan Tao garden, instantly withering and destroying a hundred fruits.
The Queen Mother felt an unbearable pang of heartache. Looking at Qing Ling in the garden, whose Dao of Life and Death was mixed, she was both angry and resentful, yet she couldn't bear to part with more Pan Tao.
Given her experience, she naturally knew that Qing Ling's own Dao realm had a problem, and she had no desire to intervene.
However, this fellow's primordial spirit was connected to the Pan Tao, and the remaining ten thousand fruits still needed his power as the God of Spring to regulate their growth, so there could be no mistakes.
The Queen Mother hesitated. In mere seconds, several hundred more fruits were invaded by dead energy. Heartbroken, she no longer hesitated. With a flip of her hand, she took out an item and painfully threw it into Qing Ling's body.
Earth Origin Yin Water was an extremely high-grade innate spiritual object, which she had coincidentally obtained from the core of the Great Earth. It was the only mass of Earth Origin Yin Water in existence.
It was not that there was no such water in the Primordial Chaos, but that no one could obtain it. This water was used for the evolution of the Dao of Death by heaven and earth and carried great karma. This particular mass was something she had obtained by chance before the Earth Origin Yin Water had settled into the Great Earth.
An extremely strong dead energy surged into Qing Ling's body, and the Dao of Death also instantly surged.
However, the Queen Mother seemed to have used too much force. The dead energy of the Earth Origin Yin Water was too potent, completely subverting the dead energy within Qing Ling in an instant, and even overwhelming his vitality.
Qing Ling sensed the life and death within his body and calmed his mind. His primordial spirit remained centered, and he quickly drew upon the Jianmu of Heaven and Earth, using the Dao of Wood as the core to maintain the balance between the Daos of Life and Death.
Even though his Dao of Wood had ascended three heavens, it was only at the fifth heaven.
His Dao of Life was also only at the fourth heaven, but the Dao of Death, with the infusion of this Earth Origin Yin Water, surged instantly, even drawing in the yin energy from the depths of the earth.
Fortunately, the Queen Mother blocked the earth's malevolent energy and controlled the divine mountain, preventing the earthly yin energy from entering his body.
The Queen Mother seemed to know this situation. She merely stood by and watched quietly, her gaze as calm as a mirror, as if contemplating something.
In the vastness of the eastern wilderness, the Four Treasures rose, and Jianmu instantly grew, breaking through to the third heaven, then the fourth, and then the fifth.
All the wood energy from the four directions flowed into Jianmu, attracting the attention of powerful beings from all sides.
At the same time, above Western Kunlun, wood energy condensed and poured into Qing Ling's body. His primordial spirit at the fifth heaven brought his magic power to break through to the fifth heaven simultaneously.
The celebratory cloud above his head instantly manifested at three hundred zhang, then four hundred zhang, and finally eight hundred zhang.
However, the Dao of Death had now reached the tenth heaven, even attempting to break through to the eleventh, the realm of Heaven and Earth Great Powers.
But the realm of Heaven and Earth Great Powers was truly difficult to attain. Even the Earth Origin Yin Water stopped at this point.
Qing Ling's primordial spirit divided into countless fragments, not only controlling the ten thousand fruits but also diverting his attention to suppress the Dao of Death.
The dead energy on his body was dense, and malevolent energy filled the sky. His Dao of Life and Dao of Wood were completely suppressed.
Even the Pan Tao fruits in the Pan Tao garden carried dead energy. However, under Qing Ling's control with his primordial spirit, life and death coexisted, and they had not yet been damaged.
A thread of time passed through Qing Ling's heart. The void of time, yet approaching yin, a white, trickling stream flowed into his primordial spirit, entwining the primordial spirit's little person, which had been blackened by the Dao of Death.
As time flowed, dead energy ebbed and flowed. The white light and faint shadow absorbed the domain of death.
Finally, another three thousand years passed. Under Qing Ling's power of time laws, the dead energy subsided and retreated, unifying. The power of life and death Daos, under the power of the Dao of Wood and the Dao of Time, returned to balance.
It was at this moment that all the peach trees in the garden matured.
Out of over ten thousand fruits, only three thousand remained.
But these three thousand fruits had condensed the essence of the eight thousand spiritual fruits that had died and decayed, their quality further improved.
And the nine ancestral root trees at the very center bore extraordinary fruits of heaven and earth.
Life and death coexisted, the Dao of Wood below, and Time above. It did not enter yin and yang, nor did it return to life and death; thus, it was immortal.