A sense of urgency arose in Qing Ling as he witnessed his peers, of the same generation, surpass him and step into the realm of Golden Immortal Venerable. If he continued at his current pace, he might still be at the Heavenly tier when newly born Earth tier clansmen reached the Golden Immortal stage.
The legendary Ancestor Hei Yun seemed to be Qing Ling's future. As long as he wished, his Dantian world could continue to expand, his Qi sea could become boundless, and after cultivating for a hundred Yuanhui, he might become Ancestor Qing Yun.
But this was not the path Qing Ling desired. Even with formidable power, if his cultivation was shallow, he would lack the opportunity to command the winds and clouds, and have no freedom to choose his own destiny.
Within Qing Ling's heart, there had always been a Great Divine Ability user he admired. This being's strength was so immense that even Saints in the age of Saints had to show him deference. Not only did he survive, but he lived freely.
In an era where all sentient beings bowed to the Six Saints, this being alone worshipped only Heaven and Earth. With a whisk in hand, a wondrous abode on Spirit Mountain, beneath a Spiritual Root tree, he paid no mind to the mortal world, nor interfered with the Three Realms. Quietly reciting the Yellow Court, he attained pure tranquility and unfettered ease, dwelling until the heavens and earth grew old, truly coexisting with the sun and moon in longevity.
Step by step, Qing Ling entered the Five Elements Light Domain of Xi Mountain. The five colors enveloped his body, his expression calm and serene, his mind undivided.
The Golden Immortal Venerables all noticed this unique Holy Son. Granny Hua Geng nodded to the assembled Golden Immortal Venerables, and they all shifted their attention elsewhere.
As Qing Ling walked into the Five Elements world, the intricate yet clearly defined five-colored light filled him with a sense of familiarity.
He sat down cross-legged, his Nascent Soul manifesting above him. Even a Nascent Soul comparable to a Golden Immortal Venerable was only about a foot in size.
As the Nascent Soul appeared, it merged with the spring. A verdant light erupted from the Eastern Wood Peak. The Nascent Soul’s small hand lifted, and the Wood element Dao principle in his right palm flowed into Xi Mountain.
Wood, as Lesser Yang, governed the growth of all things, the flourishing green of grass and flowers. Water nurtured wood, and earth complemented wood. Fire weakened wood, and metal cut wood. Wood was a singular vital energy, circulating as a mechanism, giving birth to vitality, hence the growth of all things…
The miniature Nascent Soul flew onto the Eastern Wood Peak and, with a flash, merged into the mountain itself.
At this moment, Qing Ling’s Nascent Soul seemed to have stepped into a world of Dao. He had initially thought the Five Elements and Five Peaks should be independent, but upon merging with the mountain, he discovered that the Five Elements were already evolving in unison.
Threads of wood laws descended upon the peak. Xun returned to wood, wood energy transformed, giving birth to sparks of fire, nurturing fire to gradually become the Li Fire element. Fire, upon exhaustion, turned into flying ashes, becoming Gen Earth. Earth accumulated to form mountains and rivers, nurturing Geng Metal stones, and within these stones, Kan Water flowed deep and serene.
The miniature Nascent Soul merged into the mountain body, and the imagery of the flourishing spring sequence gradually unfolded.
The warm sun above, fused with fire, intensified into scorching heat. Verdant grasslands transformed into dense thickets, gentle streams became surging rivers, beasts roamed in herds, and birds, beasts, insects, and fish lived contentedly. Spring led to the fire element, evolving into summer.
Then, it drew in the Metal element. The heavens and earth turned golden, fruits ripened in abundance, leaves withered and fell, rivers dried up, beasts hid, and snakes and insects chirped late into the evening. Summer transformed into autumn.
Next, it drew in the Northern Water element. Kan Water, chilling and frigid, brought forth a thousand miles of ice and ten thousand miles of snow. All beasts hibernated, insects and snakes became rigid. The biting winter was harsh.
Finally, it drew in the Earth element. Vast and profound, a single spark of vitality was nurtured. Cold water melted fire, water, earth, and fire mingled, and all things revived. The spring sequence reappeared.
A small world of the Four Seasons' rotation was born within the Five Elements Light world.
This small world, regardless of spring, summer, autumn, or winter, was as picturesque as a poem. The spring days warmed the heart, the fierce summer bloom brought joy, the desolate autumn evoked melancholy, and the biting winter despair.
The Diagram of the Four Seasons' Rotation was ceaselessly regenerating. Under the influence of the Five Elements Dao power, it gradually expanded, covering the Five Peaks of Xi Mountain. The illusionary realm of the diagram slowly merged with the reality of Xi Mountain.
The Golden Immortal Venerables were greatly astonished but did not act rashly. Although an anomaly had occurred, the cave-heaven of Xi Mountain was still under construction and unaffected.
The diagram of the Four Seasons was divided among the Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern Peaks. Only the Tai Chong Peak, although lacking its own seasonal sequence, drew upon the scenery of the Four Seasons from Xi Mountain.
The Four Seasons of Xi Mountain gradually formed a complete, closed cycle, much like the cycle of the Five Elements. The Five Elements rotated endlessly, and the Four Seasons turned ceaselessly.
Qing Ling's Nascent Soul flew out and stood atop the Tai Chong Peak, beneath the Venerable Wu.
The miniature Nascent Soul stood in the void, its innate spirit fully exposed under the vast sky.
The Nascent Soul’s left finger pointed to the earth, its right finger pointed to the sky. The Nascent Soul’s power divided into upper and lower, the divine mind responding to heaven, the serpent-like finger pointing to the earth. The Nascent Soul itself was human, constructing the Three Talents.
The Five Elements were the roots, giving rise to the Four Symbols. At this time, the Four Symbols lacked divine beasts and sacred venerables, thus only the Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern directions existed.
Within the Four Symbols, the Three Talents evolved, and outside the Three Talents were the Two Instruments.
The physical body was Yang, and the Nascent Soul was Yin. The cycle of life and death within Yin and Yang, the Two Instruments, reversed the Great Dao, leading to life from death.
Within the Two Instruments, the extreme Yang was the physical body, and the extreme Yin was the Nascent Soul. Yin and Yang merged, returning to the One Dao.
Dao gave birth to One, One gave birth to Two, Two gave birth to Three, Three gave birth to all things. The Dao De Jing of his past life, which Qing Ling had reversed, stated that all things returned to the Five Elements, the Five Elements condensed into the Four Symbols, the Four Symbols merged into the Three Talents, the Three Talents entered the Yin and Yang, the Two Instruments, and the Yin and Yang of the Two Instruments were again the original One!
This reverse progression took a very, very long time. From Qing Ling's perspective, it was merely a gradual perfection of the reversal, but in the Primordial World, fifty thousand years had passed.
Fifty thousand years immersed in the Dao returning to a singular form. With the Wood Dao alone achieving 통 (tōng), all methods would be 통. At this moment, Qing Ling’s Nascent Soul seemed to have become that One, the initial energy of heaven, earth, and all things. His body became One, his soul was divided into One, the void was One, reality was One. In the intermingling of void and reality, the Nascent Soul was on the verge of becoming lost in the principles of the infinite universe.
Within the Dantian world of his physical body, the Profound Heaven Vine suddenly surged. A green vine sprouted from the top of his body, connecting to the Nascent Soul across tens of thousands of feet of sky. The Nascent Soul was above, the physical body below, the green vine linking them, serving as the path for the connection of Yin and Yang.
For fifty thousand years, the heaven and earth of Xi Mountain had merged with the imagery of the Four Seasons' rotation. The four peaks represented the four seasons, and Tai Chong Peak alone generated the four seasons: the mountain foot was spring, the mountainside was summer, the mountain top was autumn, and the peak was winter—a vertical geographical differentiation.
The upper end of the Profound Heaven Vine absorbed the Dao principles infused with numerous Great Dao truths from the Nascent Soul, channeling them into the root system of the Profound Heaven Vine. The transient dominance of the Wood Dao strengthened the Five Elements within the Nascent Soul’s Dao realm.
The Wood element flourished, overpowering Earth. Earth shattered, and the Water element grew strong, while Fire weakened. The Five Elements separated and subsequently collapsed. The Five Elements shattered and merged into the Profound Heaven Dao Vine. The Four Symbols were then decomposed, extending to the Three Talents, then to the Two Instruments, and the singular Dao was no more.
In that instant, the Profound Heaven Vine abruptly contracted, pulling the Nascent Soul, which had reached the heavens, back into the physical body.
Qing Ling's physical body suddenly opened its eyes. His left eye was like glazed porcelain, his right eye dark as the abyss. Brilliant fragments of various Daos instantly erupted.
At this moment, countless Dao rhymes within Qing Ling's body were consumed by the Profound Heaven Vine. Only by comprehending and integrating the various Daos within the Nascent Soul could they be preserved.
Qing Ling felt both immense joy and profound shock. If not for the Profound Heaven Vine's intervention, even Granny Hua Geng could not have broken him free from the perilous state of losing his Dao!
As Qing Ling withdrew the anomalous phenomena of various Daos, the fifty thousand years of Xi Mountain's spirit vein cultivation finally succeeded.
Countless terrestrial spirit veins surged upwards, converging between the Four Peaks of Xi Mountain. The Five Elements’ power formed a dazzling, multicolored Xi Rainbow, spanning the summit of Xi Mountain.
The boundless primordial Qi of the Eastern Wilderness, spanning an area of ten billion li, surged. Various Great Dao laws flew into Xi Mountain from all corners of heaven and earth, integrating into this blessed land that could maintain the dispersal of primordial Dao rhymes.
An endless tide of spiritual energy flowed from the six directions like an ocean, surrounding Xi Mountain. Xi Mountain, however, resembled a bottomless chasm, forever insatiable, devouring all primordial spiritual energy.
At this very moment, Xi Mountain appeared no different from an ordinary mountain from the outside. Yet, Qing Ling, within it, felt the entire mountain range stretching and expanding. The thirty-thousand-li Xi Mountain rapidly enlarged, its peaks and valleys becoming even more majestic, its domain extending to a million li in circumference!
Abundant primordial spiritual energy filled his surroundings, far more refined than that of the outside world. All sorts of Dao rhymes seemed to have merged with Xi Mountain. Mountains were not just mountains, water was not just water. Mountains, water, flowers, grass, all things and phenomena possessed Dao and principle.
Qing Ling marveled in his heart, realizing this was a blessed land of cave-heaven!
At this moment, many clansmen outside Xi Mountain rejoiced, their hearts filled with elation.