This was Qing Ling's only possible course of action, for no matter how powerful the Primordial Grand Separation was, its Nascent Soul was not a complete Nascent Soul. It lacked a complete Dao heart. Qing Ling was not yet capable of matching the Primordial Grand Separation in terms of sheer power.
Meanwhile, in the distant Eastern Sea, within a sealed forbidden land at the bottom of the ocean, no one besides the four Dragon Ancestors would ever set foot.
Within the forbidden land, the ground was an inferno of scorching lava, while the sky was a realm of bone-chilling, extreme cold.
In this world split between lava infernos and the frigid essence of the netherworld, coiled a white dragon as vast as the world itself. Its once pristine, sacred scales were now marred by the scars of both infernal fires and hailstones.
Before the colossal white dragon, Qing Long's avatar gazed at the slumbering beast with a sigh. He then produced a blood-red spirit pill and guided it into the white dragon's maw.
As the pill entered its body, a potent life force surged through the white dragon, nourishing its form and mending many of its injuries.
The white dragon slowly awakened. Upon its massive dragon head, a maiden in pure white robes stood barefoot, positioned between the two magnificent dragon horns.
"Fourth Brother, you have depleted your essence blood for me again."
The maiden's words were laced with apology as she manifested before Qing Long's avatar.
"Alas, your condition is already so dire. How much longer will you conceal it? Though my essence blood is precious, as long as my avatar remains, it is never truly lacking. If you go another ten thousand years without consuming the Myriad Life Ginseng Pill refined from my essence blood, your cultivation might decline yet again!"
Qing Long's avatar spoke with a hint of frustration.
"Fourth Brother need not think of your little sister as so fragile. After all, I am the Fifth Dragon Ancestor, second only to the Dragon Patriarch and above all other dragons!" The maiden rose slowly, her white robes billowing, as if she were the sovereign of this realm where ice and fire intertwined, exuding an aura of royalty and divinity.
"You have sacrificed too much for our Dragon Clan. From now on, you must never again utilize the Great Dao of Time and Space nor the Great Dao of Destiny," Qing Long's avatar cautioned her.
"I understand," the maiden replied, her regal bearing instantly dissolving as she transformed back into a spirited young girl. She chuckled lightly, "Even if I cease to wield them, what then?
Wherever I go, this profound cold and the eighteen hells shall follow. No matter where I flee in this life, the infernal ice will pursue me to the ends of the earth."
Qing Long's avatar fell silent for a moment. Throughout the Dragon Clan's rise, they had frequently relied on the white dragon's celestial calculations to foresee events and lay countless plans. It was she who had paid the ultimate price, risking the heavens' abandonment and punishment, to give her all for the Dragon Clan, including her freedom!
The maiden's light laughter broke Qing Long's reverie, diverting him from the somber topic.
"Is the True Body still in seclusion? From my observation, it seems to be on the verge of a breakthrough? A breakthrough to the thirtieth heaven! One more step and it will be half a step into the Hunyuan realm.
Fourth Brother, you have a genuine chance of surpassing Old Man Black Dragon! Perhaps even overtaking Third Brother is possible!"
Qing Long's avatar smiled and nodded, "Indeed. My connection with the True Body is almost perfect."
The maiden's eyes flickered, reflecting an infinite expanse of stars and the cosmos, a miniature of the eight seas and nine heavens. She exclaimed in surprise, "Fourth Brother, have you been siphoning our clan's destiny recently?"
At that very moment, Qing Ling's Nascent Soul, within the chaotic lands, trembled slightly and then lost all sensation.
In the Dragon Clan's forbidden territory, Qing Long paused, pondered for a moment, then chuckled, "Indeed. The True Body's primary Spring Godhead is being assisted by the Secondary Spring God. I have bestowed another opportunity upon him, thus laying another unknown contingency for our clan."
The maiden, shifting from surprise to a charming smile, inquired, "Interesting. Do you know how that little fellow has been faring lately?"
"Oh? What do you mean?"
"He's been incredibly unlucky, plagued by continuous misfortune," the maiden chirped. "And it's all your doing."
Qing Long's avatar expressed confusion, "I bestowed him an opportunity and divided our clan's destiny. Logically, he should be enjoying continuous good fortune."
"That is true. However, you have overlooked too much. He is merely a Golden Immortal. Even a wisp of destiny from a Great Powerful Being like you is a momentous fortune for him!
When destiny converges, fortune arrives. This little fellow, for reasons unknown, ventured into the chaotic lands. He carries the ascending destiny of our clan, along with a sliver of destiny you diverted. His fortune has already surpassed that of a Taiyi realm cultivator.
And within the chaotic lands, there is an old enemy of yours. Destiny follows them. Bearing your destiny, he has become your enemy. That Fusang Divine Tree in the Eastern Sea fought with that wood spirit, causing it to flee into the chaotic lands.
The little fellow's destiny is vast. Upon entering the chaotic lands, he was practically walking in broad daylight. That wood spirit, entangled by karma with you, led to their encounter there."
Qing Long's avatar blinked in surprise, "Shall I go and investigate?"
"No need. While there is danger, there is also opportunity. Fourth Brother, you must remember, never arbitrarily alter the fate of others! Your every word and action could invert the destinies of countless beings.
Although the life or death of ants may not shake our destiny, over vast eons, they will eventually grow into terrifying dragon slayers!" the white-robed maiden admonished him sternly.
Qing Long's avatar remained silent for a moment, then nodded and said, "My considerations were indeed not cautious enough."
...
In the chaotic lands, within the world of green mountains and sandy seas, Luo Hua bowed respectfully to Qing Ling. "Many thanks, fellow Daoist. The rest shall be entrusted to me."
Qing Ling smiled and nodded, "I appreciate your trouble, fellow Daoist. I am truly at the end of my strength, and I sense I cannot contain them for much longer. Please be swift!"
Luo Hua's heart tightened. After acknowledging his words, she directly flew towards the battlefield where the endless tree people were clashing with insect beasts. With every movement of her palms, blood needles rained down like a storm, scattering like blossoms. Wherever these blood needles passed, the tree people dissolved into puddles of blood.
The tree people, devoid of fear or strategy, advanced relentlessly in their assault.
On the scorched earth, a tree person was cleaved in two, its lifeless consciousness sinking into darkness.
Blood needles crisscrossed the battlefield. Even Golden Immortal Venerables could not withstand Luo Hua's myriad needles! Though she was inherently powerful, her invincibility stemmed from the fact that these Golden Immortal Venerables had already died once. How much strength could they possibly retain after a single demise?
Tendrils of death energy began to rise from the battlefield, coalescing into a dense miasma, for death is the ultimate destination of all things.
Yellow sand swirled through the air, encroaching upon the green mountains and oases. Barrenness expanded further, and the corpses of tree people and insect beasts were buried beneath the shifting sands. The world became a desolate wasteland.
Qing Ling stood in the sky, surveying the land. This was a struggle between life and death, a natural conflict between heaven and earth, a life-or-death battle between Erosion and the Wood Patriarch.
Life, Qing Ling was intimately familiar with, as the Spring Godhead inherently revolved around the Great Dao of Life.
Death, too, was no stranger to him. Throughout his journey, amidst ceaseless turmoil, he had brought about countless deaths and experienced innumerable battles and desperate struggles.
Gazing at the ceaseless combat between insect beasts and tree people on the battlefield below, Qing Ling momentarily pondered that all beings in the Primordial World were also struggling for survival.
The living, unless they reached the Primordial Grand Separation, were ultimately destined to die.
The deceased, their Nascent Souls and spiritual energies returned to the heavens and earth, to be reborn from the world and to return to it in death.
It seemed that life and death arose and coexisted together.
Life was the end of death, and death was the return of life.
A tree grew for ten years to mature, a hundred years to become strong, a thousand years to decline, and after decline came death.
A glimmer of enlightenment, a sense of realization, flickered within Qing Ling's heart, yet he still felt that something was profoundly lacking.