Mo Chan Venerate's many years of cultivation had never brought him closer to death than at this moment. His innate potential was fully unleashed, and ninety-nine hundred Black Flame Arrows erupted, a barrage of ten thousand arrows meeting ten thousand swords. The world was plunged into darkness.
"Boom, boom~"
"Crack, crack~"
Sword Qi crisscrossed, and arrow light devoured, and after a deafening roar, Mo Chan Venerate fled madly. His physical body had been consumed by the Vitality Poison and the Five-Step Absolute Poison, all life extinguished. His Dao body was dead, only his immortal Golden Immortal True Spirit instantly broke through the air and fled south.
As Mo Chan fled, Du immediately unleashed another sword strike, a ten-thousand-zhang long sword traversing the sky, aimed at Hei Dao Venerate.
Hei Dao cursed inwardly, never expecting Mo Chan to be so useless and defeated so quickly.
In truth, Mo Chan was also helpless. Having been poisoned by the Thousand Tears Sorrow once, he now encountered the Myriad Tears Sorrow Poison, its toxicity doubled, its penetration doubled. Moreover, he had also been struck by the Five-Step Absolute Poison, no weaker than the Vitality Poison. It was simply his misfortune!
Hei Dao Venerate felt an unbearable pain. As the colossal sword approached, he twisted his body, transforming into a ten-thousand-zhang giant lizard. His tail swept through the air, colliding with the giant sword.
"Boom~"
After a deafening crash, Hei Dao fled, dragging his bloodied tail.
Du Venerate did not pursue but looked at Qing Ling, his eyes filled with worry, "Can you still hold on?"
Qing Ling smiled, "Of course, no need to worry. Next, we will seize the million spirit marshes of the Crimson Fire Toad clan!"
The Profound Heaven Vine within his body stirred slightly, resembling a small, sentient being. It reluctantly released a wave of dense vital energy. Once this vital energy flowed through his entire body, Qing Ling's injuries began to heal at a visible speed. In mere moments, his aura had significantly recovered.
Qing Ling leaped into the air and transmitted his voice, "The Crimson Fire Toad clan is annihilated! My clan members, slaughter all toad-folk!"
As his voice faded, he raised his arm, and a thousand-zhang, colossal Xi Mountain Blood Banner was deeply planted in the Crimson Fire Toad's ancestral land. The blood-red banner on the flagpole fluttered in the wind, and the five peaks of Xi Mountain shone in the sky.
Hearing Qing Ling's words, the millions of snakes below their spirits soared, overwhelming and rapidly slaughtering each toad with their immense numbers.
Du Venerate looked at the man in crimson robes. Beneath the sky, upon the earth, in the world of all living beings, he appeared exceptionally radiant. At this moment, a premonition arose in his heart: this youth would one day lead them to the pinnacle of the era!
Qing Ling gazed at the victorious battlefield below. Not a single toad corpse remained. The mere six hundred thousand toad-folk had become sustenance for the five million snakes, and many snake-folk hadn't even gotten their fill.
It wasn't that Mo Chan was foolish; he truly hadn't anticipated someone as reckless as Qing Ling, leading his entire clan on an all-out assault. A single misstep could result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands, even millions, of their kin.
Qing Ling, however, had no such worries. He knew he wasn't a tactical genius. Therefore, he would be a common commander who won by sheer numbers, not foolishly aiming for victory with a smaller force. As long as he, the God of Spring, was present, Xi Mountain's reproductive capabilities would consistently be astonishingly high.
He turned and said, "Brother, lead two million clan members and traverse the Crimson Fire Spirit Marshes, slaughtering all Crimson Fire Toads!"
Du Venerate nodded and said, "Then you stay here and maintain vigilance." With that, he raised his head and projected his voice. Below, the Heavenly-tier, Earthly-tier, and even the profound-tier spirit snakes, all possessing significant speed advantages, twisted their bodies and followed him in a ruthless act of ethnic extermination and cleanup.
No one showed mercy. If Xi Mountain had been the one facing annihilation today, then the death of all snakes in Xi Mountain would have been inevitable. There was no pity, no prisoners, and no surrender. It was either life or death, such was the law of survival for the ants of the Primordial World.
Qing Ling sat cross-legged on his colossal, dark body. With a wave of his yellow gourd, the remaining seventy thousand-plus puppets were recalled. He ordered the snake clans to rest and remain vigilant.
Even with two million snakes departed, the remaining three million clan members, clustered together, overlapping scales upon scales, formed a veritable den of snakes potent enough to inspire terror.
At this moment, among the snake clans, the Heavenly-tier members looked at Qing Ling with awe. Previously, it was respect, driven by clan rules. Now, it was tinged with fear, born from strength. The primitive nature of beasts was to worship the strong.
Therefore, Qing Ling never displayed his humanity in the Primordial World. In an era where beasts reigned supreme, speaking of humanity was something even fools wouldn't dare to consider.
In the west, the setting sun bled like crimson. The great sun had already set, and in its afterglow, flashes of divine light could still be seen – the clashes of Golden Immortal Venerates. The Spotted Hyena clan had no retreat. The four Golden Immortal Venerates within the clan were also exceptionally united, unlike the fractured Crimson Fire Toad clan, which was easily defeated.
Golden Immortal Venerates fought for their clans, and for themselves. Without the reliance of their clan, in this era where the world was already divided among three major powers, it was difficult to even find a secluded cave for cultivation. Thus, they could only seek refuge with the Dragon Palace, becoming something akin to guest elders, enjoying the benefits of Dragon clan cave dwellings and spirit lands. However, the numerous dangerous, near-death missions were undertaken by these Golden Immortals.
No one wished to live under another's roof, to compromise their dignity, and to face certain death daily. Therefore, even with internal conflicts, Golden Immortal Venerates dared not abandon their clans.
Qing Ling did not rush to offer support. He instructed the snake clans to build their nests in this location, providing resting places for his kin. After a fierce battle and a long journey, they could not afford to be exhausted; otherwise, their arrival would be mere fodder.
He stood up and pointed towards the distant Xi Mountain. Blue spiritual light emanated from his fingertip. This was the spiritual essence of Xi Mountain, Xi powder, capable of spontaneously attracting Xi Mountain Xi stones within ten thousand miles, used for communication.
He informed Granny Hua Geng that the Crimson Fire Toad clan had been annihilated and there were no lingering threats, so they could make their move.
The next day, as the great sun rose in the east, a blinding golden light ascended from Xi Mountain, racing westward alongside the sun's golden radiance. A golden tide surged, the supreme aura of a Grand Unity cultivator. Even at the border, Qing Ling could sense its power.
Subsequently, the western battlefield was filled with golden radiance. Three streaks of light desperately fled, while only one light violently erupted and exploded.
Qing Ling felt the earth power within a radius of a million miles being mobilized and fused into himself. Then, a colossal roar, like the collapse of ten thousand mountains and the tilting of the earth, resounded. The ground shook violently, as if a magnitude ten earthquake. A million-mile territory was covered in dust, smoke and dust filled the sky, mountains crumbled layer by layer, earth cracked fissure by fissure, rivers were severed one by one. Within tens of thousands of miles, the sky gathered clouds, dark and somber, heavy with sorrow. A rain of sorrow fell, mourning a Golden Immortal. An immortal Golden Immortal had stirred the Great Dao of heaven and earth; when an immortal perished, heaven and earth grieved.
This sorrowful heaven and earth referred to the primordial heaven and earth first opened by the Great God Pangu, not the heaven and earth of the Heavenly Dao.
In the west, a profound yellow true spirit ascended into the nine heavens, pierced through the thirty-third layer of heaven, and returned to chaos.
The Golden Immortal patriarch of the Spotted Hyena clan had self-destructed. At this moment, Granny Hua Geng looked up at the sky. She did not pursue the true spirit ascending into the heavens but silently watched the battlefield below. A thousand-mile abyss appeared. Even with three Golden Immortals and herself intervening, they could not protect hundreds of thousands of their kin who had been annihilated in the Golden Immortal's self-destruction!
However, thankfully, the Xie Mountain of the Spotted Hyena clan had been captured. With two clans annihilated, Xi Mountain's ancestral territory had expanded to over three million seven hundred thousand li.
The Xi Mountain Blood Banner was planted on the cliff of Xie Mountain, fluttering in the wind, inspiring the snakes. This banner was the clan banner created by Qing Ling. Wherever the Xi Mountain banner flew, it belonged to the land of Xi Mountain. The saint chosen by her was indeed extraordinary.
As these two clans were annihilated, in the realm of destiny unseen by mortals, a crimson giant toad standing in the heart of the Eastern Wasteland was bitten by a golden giant python. Half of its body was swallowed, and the other half escaped, merging into the body of a green giant toad in the south.
In the west, a ferocious hyena, its body covered in spots, was also completely swallowed by the golden giant python!
The giant python coiled around Xi Mountain, its body wider, its form larger, facing southwest. It gazed at the various giant beasts standing in formation not far to its southwest.
At this very moment, the aura and destiny of every member of the Xi Mountain snake clan had been amplified. However, for clan members like spirit snakes and Earthly-tiers, whose destiny was already minuscule, there was naturally no perceptible change.
Only the Golden Immortal Venerates, to varying degrees, felt a faint sense of awareness.
Qing Ling, feeling the destiny python above his head expand once more, was deeply moved.