The Demon Forest was vast and boundless, teeming with countless wandering spirits. It was eternally shrouded in darkness, choked by dense, deathly fog, and saturated with an extreme abundance of Yin and death energies.
Yin and death energies were deeply disliked by the vast majority of cultivators, except for certain demonic races with spectral bodies and those who cultivated the Great Yin path.
Yet, the endless trees of the Demon Forest grew exceedingly lush, their canopies obscuring the sky, stretching for miles upon miles.
Qing Ling, dragging his wounded body, entered the forest. Along the way, he encountered dangers repeatedly, but he paid them with injury for injury, carving a path towards the place of origin.
The Spring God's imprint on his brow had emerged spontaneously, flickering and emitting a verdant glow.
As he walked through the woods, voices called to him from within his heart.
Countless trees and weeds grew in profusion, the forest dense and pathless, trees reaching hundreds of feet into the sky, as grand as small mountains.
However, the moment Qing Ling stepped in, all the fog within a thousand-zhang radius dispersed.
Furthermore, with every step he took, the trees and plants before him spontaneously parted, clearing a smooth path. Tall trees stood on either side, as if welcoming a royal dignitary.
Qing Ling suppressed the various injuries within his body. Flowers bloomed on both sides, grass bowed its leaves, and each tree burst into unfading blossoms.
Myriad towering Chinese Toona trees stood like soldiers, guarding Qing Ling on both sides. The boundless fog swirled around the forest beyond the path. Cultivators within the forest who practiced by absorbing Yin energy were astonished. Why had this pervasive mist arisen? For whom did these countless Toona trees bloom?
The Chinese Toona trees, which had never bloomed in ancient times, accumulated long ages and finally unfurled their blossoms today.
Qing Ling walked to the deepest part of the forest, and suddenly, small sprites emerged.
Hundreds of sprites with wings of purple, red, or green, each no larger than a palm, were extremely agile.
"Welcome back, honored deity!"
"Welcome back, honored deity!"
"Welcome back, honored deity!"
The little sprites flew closer with great excitement, like children surrounding an adult returning home, begging for candy.
A long-absent smile spread across Qing Ling's face. These sprites carried two distinct innate energies. One was naturally his Spring God spirit root's energy, and the other carried the aura of the Soul Dao laws, seemingly ghostly, spectral, or like death energy.
Qing Ling smiled and extended his hand. Two sprites immediately vied to land on his palm, exclaiming with delight, "Honored deity, you are so handsome! Honored deity, you are so handsome!"
Qing Ling couldn't help but smile and replied, "You are also very handsome, little sprites."
The little sprites, upon hearing this, became incredibly excited, like children, shouting, "The honored deity praised us! The honored deity praised us!"
"No, no, the honored deity praised me, not you!"
"Clearly, the honored deity praised me, and even smiled at me!"
"Go away! The honored deity was clearly speaking to me, not you, it was me."
"It was me!"
"It was me! It was indeed me!"
...
Their shouts and squabbles continued, neither willing to yield, as innocent, lively, and adorable as children!
Qing Ling's head began to ache from the noise. He said helplessly, "Alright! Let's go. Let me go see it."
As soon as he spoke, the hundred-plus sprites immediately fell silent, flapping their wings and saying, "Honored deity, this way! Honored deity, this way."
The sprites flew across the sky, like flowing fireworks, heading into the distance.
Qing Ling walked for a thousand zhang and looked at a cliff face and a chasm before him, from which emanated dense life and death energies, nurturing the endless forest trees.
The divine position on Qing Ling's brow flickered, and a red mystic light rose from the valley, filling the air above the cliff.
Innumerable red leaves transformed into a staircase, paving themselves beneath his feet, extending downwards.
Qing Ling stepped onto the red leaf staircase and descended into the depths of the chasm. Terrifying spatial rifts were everywhere to his sides, yet only the path paved by these red leaf stairs was completely safe.
He walked step by step, with the hundred sprites following behind him. They dared not make a sound, clearly fearful of this path, which they had traversed many times yet still found unnerving.
Slowly descending, an underground world brimming with rich innate spiritual energy unfolded before Qing Ling's eyes.
Most prominent was the majestic, colossal tree, seven hundred and thirty-two zhang in height, standing in the valley!
The wind stirred the golden bells tied to Qing Ling's ankles, tinkling and echoing through the valley.
The giant red-leaf divine tree stood in the valley. In response to the wind chimes, it swayed its branches, its red leaves drifting down, turning into rainbow light upon landing, and merging into one hundred and eight flowers, either purple, red, green, or black.
"Dingling~"
"Ding~"
"Dingling~"
Qing Ling walked step by step towards the initial spiritual essence that had nurtured him for countless years, the Red Leaf Toona.
"Rustle~"
"Rustle~"
The branches and leaves of the red tree swayed, watching the divine being with whom they had coexisted, return.
A gentle breeze arose, bells rang in the valley, and red leaves fluttered down.
Beneath the towering tree, a deity stood. The red leaves rejoiced, reunited after a long separation.
Qing Ling's face broke into a smile, radiant as spring.
"Toona, I have returned!"
"Rustle~"
"Rustle~"
Thousands of branches and leaves swayed, responding to him.
Qing Ling stepped forward, smiling as he approached the red leaves, and entered into them. The tree merged with him, and he merged with the tree.
The deity was within the tree, and the tree surrounded the deity.
Sprites danced, flitting amongst the flowers.
Beneath the valley floor, a purple, ethereal lotus slowly rotated, its thirty-six petals unfolding. Endless deathly and soulless spirits were captivated, as countless death energies and souls floated from the Demon Forest.
Qing Ling stepped into the Red Leaf Toona. No words were needed; their minds were connected, the tree was born with spirit, and the spirit accompanied the deity.
It was his companion spirit root. He was its companion deity.
Their energies merged, their divine intentions understood.
On the Red Leaf Toona, the incomplete "Spring" divine position merged into Qing Ling's primordial spirit. The incomplete "Fu Chun" (Assist Spring) dao patterns, which had been deficient for a long time, were finally completed.
Qing Ling, having endured numerous hardships and tribulations on his journey, had finally returned here. His divine heart and the tree's heart became one.
Just as in the beginning, when heaven and earth first opened, the divine tree manifested, nurturing spiritual essence. The great Pangu God shed a strand of divine essence, which sensed the spiritual essence and accompanied it for countless years.
Qing Ling fell asleep, sinking into the cradle of life, to complete the flaws and shortcomings that had arisen from his premature birth.
Outside the divine tree, Bai Fu hung upside down on a branch of the Red Leaf Toona, streams of life energy nourishing his internal injuries.
The sprites were ecstatic, waving their wings joyfully and flitting back and forth. Their awaited honored deity had finally returned after hundreds of thousands of years. They were products nurtured by both the Red Leaf Toona and the Purple Ethereal Lotus.
The Red Leaf Toona was a top-grade innate spiritual root. When the Innate Azure Light Formation was damaged, the divine tree, along with its cave-heaven, shifted position. It was then attracted to the innate spiritual root Purple Ethereal Lotus nurtured in this place. The tree and lotus attracted each other, causing the cave-heaven to linger here.
Red leaves imbued with life force, purple lotuses giving forth ethereal souls. Life and death, heaven and earth's spiritual treasures born and growing together, coexisting due to their shared wood element.
Both were top-grade innate spiritual roots and did not originally belong to Qing Ling. However, due to the Red Leaf Toona, they would eventually be controlled by Qing Ling.
To obtain its treasure, one must bear its destiny!
With the added burden of the Purple Ethereal Lotus's destiny, this was why, despite his strong destiny, he had faced such constant peril.
One cause and effect, one destiny and time, one vital energy and one tribulation. Though no heavenly law was explicitly stated, it was balanced and impartial.