"This is a bit tricky..." Qing Ling said helplessly. "You see, I've just returned, covered in dust. I need to recuperate from some internal injuries before I can focus all my attention on detoxifying you!"
Qu swept her gaze over him, scrutinizing him from head to toe. She snorted, "You'd better not be lying to me."
"Hehe, don't worry, how would I dare lie to you?" Qing Ling walked away slowly.
He approached the water pool, pointed a finger, and a circular clearing several zhang in diameter appeared.
Then, the Birth and Death Realm emerged from his brow. The red leaves of the Chinese Toon tree rooted themselves, growing into a ten-zhang tall tree. Half of its broad canopy covered the sky within the valley, while the other half extended above the small pond.
The red leaves rustled, and their roots touched the land, merging with the entirety of Xishan. Innate energy descended in threads, smoothing the earth's veins and further enriching the innate vitality of the Xishan grotto-heaven, causing life to churn incessantly.
Qu's expression shifted slightly. It seemed that while she had been sleeping, this little snake had encountered a great opportunity.
Golden Immortal Venerables, one by one, sensed this anomaly and understood. The God of Spring had just returned to the mountain, and such a transformation occurred.
Qing Ling waved his hand again, and one hundred and eight small flowers scattered among the grass and flowering plants, taking root and continuing to grow.
These spiritual flowers, born from the cracks of birth and death energy in the Grim Forest, were inherently extraordinary. Infused with the two energies, they were spiritual treasures of heaven and earth, possessing innate sentience from birth.
Their bodies existed between the tangible and intangible, drifting outside the cycle of life and death. As long as their main bodies were unharmed, even if their souls were scattered, they could still transform into spirits and be reborn.
Qu looked at this group of peculiar little figures, neither beast nor god, and felt a flicker of interest.
The one hundred and eight little sprites joyfully flapped their wings, flitting back and forth, marveling at their new home, full of curiosity.
"This is a Supreme God's grotto-heaven!"
"It's wonderful, we can finally see the sunlight."
"Da Chun is here too!"
…
Qing Ling did not restrain them, allowing them to play freely within the valley.
With another flick of his sleeve, the Purple Nether Lotus began to rotate slowly, settling onto the surface of the pond. The purple lotus, with its soul-lengthening properties, gently dissolved its hazy purple light into the water, making the Three Paths Spiritual Water even more extraordinary.
The mountains were high, the valleys vast, the sun and moon sparse. A single tree supported the sky, a lotus bloomed by the water, a thousand grasses pulsed with life, a hundred flowers never withered. Sprites played with bees and butterflies, red leaves accompanied purple lotuses.
Qu, immersed in this scenery, felt her mind drift, all her negative emotions vanishing, as if bathing in a spring breeze, her body and mind relaxed.
Qing Ling glanced at her indifferently, then flew into the pond. He shed his clothes and bathed. The Three Paths Spiritual Water was refreshing and gentle, its purity cleansing away all traces of his journey.
Even with an outsider present, Qing Ling did not mind. After all, they were both male; what was there to be reserved about?
Qu, watching the smooth figure amidst the gentle mist, blushed slightly. She coughed softly, then turned her head away and found a mountain cave to sit in meditation.
After cleansing himself with the Three Paths water, Qing Ling entered the grotto-heaven and began his seclusion.
This seclusion was unavoidable!
Even though the internal injuries he had sustained from encountering the Erosion Heaven Supreme had dissipated during his seven hundred and seventy thousand years of slumber, the Birth and Death Realm was suppressing too many things.
The Birth and Death Realm was beginning to lose its grip.
The eight Golden Immortals and one Taiyi Immortal he had collected from the chaotic lands, along with the powerful Taiyi Immortal, Madam White Bone; the ten Ghost Kings, avatars of the Black Nether Supreme, and the Innate Yin Nether Qi.
Even Qu, who had been suppressed there, had slowly lost control and broken free to be reborn.
Now that he had returned to Xishan, all external karma and vengeful fates were no longer entangled with him. It was time to resolve these matters.
Qing Ling sat cross-legged on the Spring Breeze Cattail Mat, woven from the tender shoots of grass that grew in early spring, to calm his mind.
Bees and butterflies danced in the valley, sprites frolicked, the mountain wind stirred gently, and a waterfall cascaded down. Water droplets from high above shattered against the cliff, splashing into countless tiny droplets that sprinkled the valley floor.
Everything that moved, every sound, dissolved into nothingness in Qing Ling's perception, reaching a state of stillness.
Within the Birth and Death Realm, the primordial spirit of a Golden Immortal whose physical body had perished, seemingly awakened from a dream, saw a world teeming with life and believed his death had been but a dream.
However, when he saw a stone tablet erected nearby, suppressing an entity of extreme Yin and malice, his heart was touched, and his spirit turned to ash.
All this arose from greed, burying his own path.
Qing Ling's primordial spirit emerged, his Birth and Death Eyes flashing black and white. Instantly, a flower with crimson leaves and a dark root grew from the Golden Immortal Venerable's primordial spirit.
The flower bud grew larger and larger, and the Golden Immortal's primordial spirit exuded more and more of the Birth and Death Dao energy.
He saw the person who had caused his death standing before him, yet he himself was gradually dissipating, unable to struggle.
It was he who had made the first move against Qing Ling. Had Qing Ling been weak, it would have been himself who died.
Therefore, Qing Ling treated those who wished to kill him with extreme indifference, ruthlessness, and cruelty.
Otherwise, it would have been himself who perished.
The immortal aura of the Golden Immortal Venerable gradually faded. Golden Immortals were immortal in their primordial spirits, giving rise to true spirits. They were immortal in the world.
Thus, to annihilate a Golden Immortal, one could only do so by Dao. By grinding down the Golden Immortal Venerable's Dao with Dao, when Dao no longer existed, the spirit would naturally cease to exist.
The Birth and Death Dao energy permeated his entire being. When the flower bloomed on his back, the Golden Immortal's primordial spirit was annihilated, and countless specks of golden light merged into that exceptionally vibrant and radiant Rakshasa flower.
The Rakshasa flower took root, growing in this realm of life. Though small, it condensed the primordial spirit power of a Golden Immortal Venerable.
If Qing Ling wished to use it, the power within this flower would be his to command.
When his Thousand Tears Lament reached complete divinity, his left eye absorbed vitality, and his right eye became even more imbued with death. After the transformation of Birth and Death, Thousand Tears Lament ceased to exist, replaced by the Birth and Death Eyes.
Qing Ling glanced at the only stele below, beneath which the White Bone Demoness from Mount Skeleton was being suppressed.
He certainly didn't believe this White Bone Demoness was the same one from the Journey to the West. If this Madam White Bone had truly lived for so long, how could she have remained obscure? It was likely that even the most powerful immortals and Buddhas would have few opponents, let alone a mere monkey.
Qing Ling walked into the Death Realm, opening stone tablets one by one. Golden Immortals and Taiyi Immortals whose auras still lingered were all transformed into Rakshasa flowers by him.
Their entire essence, blood, magic power, and primordial spirit were transformed into a Rakshasa flower.
Next were the ten Taiyi Ghost Kings suppressed beneath the green vines.
Ghostly energy gradually arose. One by one, the Ghost Kings were also transformed into Rakshasa flowers, growing on this land teeming with vitality.
Then came the avatar of the Black Nether Supreme, an avatar carried by the Innate Yin Nether Qi.
Now that the Black Nether Supreme's main body was suppressed beneath Mount Tian Jun, Qing Ling had no reservations and integrated this mass of Yin Nether Qi into the Death Realm.
Finally, there was the White Bone Demoness.
In this Birth and Death Realm, who could stand against him if they had not attained Grand Unity?
The White Bone Demoness, under his malevolent gaze, was reduced to dust, her primordial spirit blooming into a flower.
Qing Ling looked at the twenty Rakshasa flowers swaying in the gentle breeze, blooming so vibrantly and dazzlingly, and muttered to himself, "In the future, being a flower planter wouldn't be too bad.
I hope that one day I can plant my Rakshasa flowers all over the world!"