For fifteen Yuan Hui, he had not taken a single step out of Du Guang. For one million nine hundred and forty-four thousand years, he sat in Du Guang, the center of the heavens and the earth.
The wind blew for a million years.
The rain fell for a million years.
Spring and winter cycles turned for a million rounds.
Jian Mu grew one zhang taller each day for a million years.
Qing Ling’s Qing Yun, crowning his head, also grew for a million years.
Qing Yun was the union of Dharma and Dao, each drop formed by cultivating Qi and comprehending the Dao day and night. The edges of his Qing Yun, from an initial mu, expanded ceaselessly.
Even with only a little growth each day, when multiplied by fifteen Yuan Hui, the years were not to be underestimated.
Qing Ling’s Qing Yun expanded from one mu to ten mu.
This speed was neither fast nor slow, a very ordinary pace.
For among the great powers, the innate gods’ origins were truly ordinary.
Those who achieved great power were all of extraordinary origins, possessing heaven-defying destiny, exceptional talent, and supreme strength.
Even the origins of innate gods and demons were not considered too high.
Therefore, Qing Ling was truly ordinary among the great powers.
However, if one considered him a Tai Yi, a Tai Yi great power, if one truly stepped into the realm of Da Luo, then they would indeed be incomparable to ordinary great powers.
Before Qing Ling, this Tai Yi great power, stood Ancestor Hei Yun, a Heavenly rank great power.
But due to the vast difference in their realms, cultivation, and Dharma power, such heaven-defying beings were rejected and restricted by the entire world. Ancestor Hei Yun would likely never be able to enter the Golden Immortal realm in his lifetime, only possessing battle power accumulated over endless years.
Qing Ling was different; he was only half a step away from the Da Luo realm, and his strength was augmented by the power of Jian Mu of heaven and earth.
He relied on Jian Mu of heaven and earth, not his personal Jian Mu.
Though only a change in designation, it was a fundamental shift.
Qing Ling had cultivated for fifteen Yuan Hui, lived for twenty-nine Yuan Hui, and was finally only a single opportunity away from the Da Luo Golden Immortal realm.
His speed, compared to those with exceptional blessings, was indeed slow. But compared to those of the acquired great beasts and acquired beings, it was a dimensional reduction attack.
For though he was much slower than those of great divine abilities, he could still catch up.
But those acquired beings might not reach this step in a hundred lifetimes.
Although Qing Ling had not returned to his clan, he had not forgotten Xi Shan. Every ten thousand years, he would have his clan send excellent Heavenly rank members to Du Guang, where he would protect and assist his junior clansmen.
This was also one of the reasons why the Golden Immortal Venerables of Xi Shan had not stopped increasing in number for the past million years.
Ten thousand years ago, a Chongming Divine Bird emerged from the Undying Volcano in Tian Nan and entered Du Guang.
That Chongming Bird was the old man before him, possessing a cultivation of the eighth level of Da Luo Golden Immortal.
He had come for two reasons.
One was to follow the order of Ancestor Jin Peng to bring Qing Ling to Tian Nan to investigate the disappearance of the penultimate Saint Child.
The second matter was that the sky was controlled by the Phoenix clan. Though Jian Mu was still weak, it had already touched the firmament, and the Phoenix clan would naturally not allow it to grow unchecked.
But Jian Mu was Jian Mu of heaven and earth, imbued with the karma of heaven and earth. Even this old Chongming Bird dared not act directly.
Moreover, in this place of Du Guang, he could not sever the Du Guang that Qing Ling presided over.
Therefore, he had devised this scheme. If the four borders fell, the power of heaven and earth in the Du Guang wilderness would be lost, and Qing Ling’s strength would be reduced by a third.
He would then tie down Qing Ling in the center while the four borders waged war endlessly.
Ten thousand years later, with the clansmen of Xi Shan entering Du Guang, this presented an opportunity for the Chongming Bird.
The old man’s colossal Dharma image looked at Qing Ling, who remained utterly calm. He merely smiled; the slaughter of thousands upon thousands of beings in the wars of the four borders was merely him manipulating pawns.
The thirteen snake clansmen of Xi Shan were captivated by the magnificent Jian Mu the moment they saw it.
In the Du Guang wilderness grew a living Jian Mu, a hundred ren tall without branches, with nine boughs and nine roots below. The tree bore no fruit, its leaves like awns. Da Hao once passed by.
Beneath it, looking up at the sky was the center, and standing on the earth was also the center. The vastness of the Primordial World, with its boundless continents, was divided into ten directions.
East, west, north, south, and the four sides, along with the upper and lower two directions, formed the ten directions.
And the center of the southeast region, the land where it stood, was already immeasurable.
Jian Mu had now grown into the firmament, only a million zhang away from the first heaven.
Standing at the apex of Jian Mu, it was as if standing at the apex of the sky, overlooking immeasurable mountains and rivers, a boundless land. What kind of scenery would that be?
And beneath Jian Mu, Qing Ling, who sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, had a field of flowers grow before him. One zhang within bloomed one flower, each flower blooming with intensity, as vibrant as blood, blazing with red light. There were over a hundred such flowers.
Upon seeing Qing Ling, the thirteen clansmen of Xi Shan prostrated themselves and said, "Greetings, Old Ancestor. May your longevity be boundless!"
Qing Ling slowly opened his tightly shut eyes and looked at them.
The Heavenly rank clansmen felt as if they had seen through life and death, through the dust of ages, in those bright pupils, and sank into a deep trance, lost for a long time.
Qing Ling said faintly, "Retire behind Jian Mu."
The crowd hurriedly bowed and retreated behind Jian Mu, then gazed at the old man’s Dharma image standing in the sky opposite them.
Time passed, and the battles on the four borders gradually became stalemated. However, undoubtedly, the combined strength of the three clans and the four border guardians led by Qing Ling held a significant advantage.
The first to falter was the north.
The Flower God Bei Xu’s true form departed, joining forces with Hei Bao in the east to resist the enemy.
The Pu Ying flower sea inherently lacked destructive power. Without the Flower God presiding, ten thousand white cranes forcibly broke through and breached the northern gate’s defenses.
The northern region, stretching for ten thousand li, was occupied by the White Crane clan.
Concurrently, the northern sky above Jian Mu darkened.
The white-bearded old man could not help but let out a light laugh, "It seems that in the end, righteousness will prevail!"
Qing Ling remained unfazed. His mind was calmer than ever, his heart resolute, undisturbed by external matters.
Since this old bird was fixated on him, there was no need to hold back.
He was still one opportunity away from the Da Luo realm, a greatly significant opportunity.
Originally, this juncture should have been delayed by a million years. But after encountering this old bird, his opportunity spanned a million years and arrived at his doorstep.
It was both a chance and a crisis, with calamitous Qi arriving from the west and spreading northeast, entering his Qing Ling’s destiny and aura.
Fortune and disaster, like life and death, intertwined, like Tai Chi. The two forces would give rise to one arrival!