The Spring Sequence Prosperous Painting also unfolded leisurely, enveloping the Dragon Void Arena. Flowers, trees, streams, spring water, birdsong, fragrant flowers, chirping insects, and roaming beasts, everything appeared lifelike.
Han Xue's sense of impending crisis surged. Without the slightest hesitation, he summoned a white Dao flower of humanity above his head. Endless ice and snow enveloped his spiritual platform, preserving a single point of clarity in his primordial spirit. He knew that everything he saw and heard was an illusion.
Boundless ice and snow converged behind him, forming a colossal ice and snow white bear tens of thousands of zhang tall. It roared furiously, unleashing torrents of thunder and chilling winds that swept away all the spring illusory beings.
Qing Ling extended a finger, and the spring breeze materialized, softening the harsh winter wind. The cold wind from the north, upon passing through the southern spring scenery, had its sharp edges smoothed. Winter snow melted, and all things revived. The heavenly ice divine thunder transformed into the thunderclap of spring.
Even though Han Xue was a Golden Immortal Venerable, he was no match for Qing Ling, the Spring God who wielded the authority of heaven and earth, when it came to the changes of heaven and earth.
Above Qing Ling's head, a green human flower bloomed, followed by a golden celestial flower. Both bloomed simultaneously. Although ethereal, their Daoist manifestations converged. The Profound Sky Vine within him extended.
He clasped his hands, his Qi harmonizing with the Great Void, embracing the universe. His palms formed a circular embrace, then separated above and below. The two flowers merged into the Dao manifestation, and with a soft shout, he commanded, "Body of Jianmu, rise!"
A majestic and colossal phantom of Jianmu appeared once more.
Jianmu was so vast it connected heaven and earth, even extending beyond the Dragon Void illusion. A beam of azure light shot straight up, its blinding radiance forcing everyone to close their eyes.
Under the pervasive azure light, the pure Ice and Snow Great Dao was pushed to its absolute limit. With the traction of the Great Void Illusion and the dispersion of primordial spirits by the Spring Sequence Prosperous Painting, Han Xue could only unleash at most fifty percent of his strength.
Qing Ling, on the other hand, deployed a hundred percent of his primordial spirit's power, augmented by the strength of his tens of thousands of zhang Dan Tian Qi Sea, converging into a single strike. With the added blessing of the Spring God's authority, this strike represented his absolute limit!
"Boom~"
Jianmu, majestic as if reaching out from the universe, contained the power of worlds, not of mere mortals. The vast energies of heaven and earth met, acting as a single entity to suppress, no longer the power of one individual.
Beneath the cascading azure brilliance, the ice and snow vanished in an instant. Han Xue was about to be crushed beneath the majestic and colossal Jianmu. The overwhelming force, carrying spatial封禁 (fengjin - sealing), was inescapable.
Beside him, a Dragon clan Grand Unity expert acted without hesitation, extending a palm. The ancient Dragon Claw, possessing five talons, pointed in five directions. A million zhang brown dragon phantom roared to the heavens, unleashing potent dragon might and the aura of a top predator. The dragon coiled around the Jianmu phantom, its chaotic dark grey hue staining the azure light. The two colors, blue-grey, entered a stalemate.
The Dragon clan Grand Unity expert, surprised, struck again. With a point of his finger, a pair of brown dragon wings unfurled above the brown dragon phantom. The brown dragon spun, wind and rain converging to form a "dragon's water absorption" technique, forcefully dispersing the Jianmu phantom.
"You have won. No need to strike again," the Dragon clan Grand Unity expert declared.
Only then did Qing Ling relax and bow to the Dragon clan Grand Unity expert in gratitude.
The other party then seized Han Xue, who was still in a state of bewildered shock, and flung him to the eighty-eighth arena, before soaring into the sky to stand alongside the other nine Grand Unity experts.
Beneath them, people of various races, filled with astonishment, widened their eyes and exclaimed in disbelief, "Someone actually dared to challenge the Ten Great Holy Sons and succeeded?"
"This… a Heavenly rank defeated the Ten Great Holy Sons?"
"Could it be they went easy on him?"
"How is that possible? The Ninth Holy Son lost the honor of an entire race; going easy is out of the question."
"Didn't you see? The Dragon clan Grand Unity Supremacy had to strike twice to dissipate that azure pillar of light. It seems this Holy Son of Xi Shan is simply too powerful!"
In the Eastern Wilderness arena, Granny Hua Geng stared at Qing Ling, who was meditating cross-legged in the sky, with utter disbelief, unable to speak for a moment.
As for Chi and Du, they were already stunned. Could Heavenly rank cultivators be this formidable?
Beside them, the old ape Shan Kun's expression was somewhat awkward. He had always thought Xi Shan was just here to make up the numbers, never expecting them to be serious.
Looking at their own Holy Maiden, ranked over three hundred, his earlier pronouncements felt like he had been slapped in the face.
Above, the Dragon clan Grand Unity experts were also amazed. Many elder dragons had already taken notice of this Holy Son, who hailed from a weak background yet possessed boundless potential, and were contemplating how to arrange a marriage alliance between him and their own dragon daughters.
At the forefront of the upper clans below, a Dragon clan Grand Unity elder from the Blizzard Tribe, his face contorted with rage, coldly transmitted, "After the Holy Sacrifice is over, have the eight junior Tai Yi cultivators from our tribe go and meet Xi Shan. I want to see who gave this small clan the audacity!"
Beside him, a Golden Immortal Venerable responded obsequiously, "Ancestor, do you recall Xuanwu Supreme awakening once every tens of thousands of years?"
The elder frowned, "What of it? I'm talking about Xi Shan. Why bring up the Supreme Being?"
The middle-aged Golden Immortal trembled slightly, "It seems Xuanwu Supreme went to this small clan, Xi Shan, the last time he awakened. I just gathered this information from other alien races."
"What? How could Xuanwu Supreme have any connection with this small clan? Are you talking nonsense?"
"Ancestor, please calm your anger. How would your junior dare? The Xi Shan Serpent Clan is a lineage of Taigeng Supreme!"
"Uh~" The elder's throat tightened. The words of reprimand caught in his throat. "Why didn't you mention this earlier?"
The middle-aged Golden Immortal Venerable felt wronged internally, "You didn't ask me."
Qing Ling, atop the arena, was rapidly recovering his internal magical power. That last strike had exhausted all his strength. If anyone were to challenge him now, he would have very little energy left.
Of course, after the terrifying aura of that final blow, it was likely that most cultivators had already abandoned the thought of challenging him.
Qing Ling's choice of the ninth Holy Son from the Blizzard Clan was not a spur-of-the-moment decision.
This clan, the second-ranked upper clan in the Northern Region, with a supreme expert guarding it, who would believe they had no connection with Xuanwu?
If he provoked this upper clan, they might refrain from acting out of fear of Xuanwu Supreme. However, other sea clans and the two major upper clans would have no such qualms. Even if they didn't annihilate Xi Shan, a few minor schemes would be enough to bring them hardship.
Furthermore, the Blizzard Clan's Ice and Snow Great Dao had a certain degree of restraint over him, the Spring God. And their opponent was not particularly skilled in the Dao of Primordial Spirit, making them the most suitable target for his Great Void Illusionary Sound.
Considering all these factors, Qing Ling had chosen this Holy Son for his challenge.
As long as he could withstand four more challenges on the arena, the spiritual fruits of the Innate Spiritual Root would be his. The opportunity for Golden Immortal would then be within reach!
Even if his strength was immense, how could it compare to that Black Cloud Ancestor? Had he not still been forced to flee in defeat? Though he was saved in the Demonic Land, Qing Ling, knowing that Hongjun would ultimately win, naturally held no high hopes for the existence of Black Cloud Ancestor.
Because such primordial beings were too heaven-defying, their existence too greatly challenged the stability of the future Heavenly Dao's laws and order, making them the most targeted by the Heavenly Dao.
Therefore, Qing Ling had been relentlessly striving to climb towards the Golden Immortal realm. Although his progress was extremely slow, his heart had never wavered.
Qing Ling never considered walking the path of Black Cloud Ancestor. Although another's path might be wide and smooth, it was ultimately another's path, not his own.
He wished to carve out his own path, even if it were difficult or narrow. For it would be a road he himself had pioneered, where he commanded his own Dao, attained his own Dao Ancestry, and achieved his own freedom, revealing a unique landscape.