Qing Ling smiled without speaking, raised her eyes to look at the Heavenly Court. The old man under the osmanthus tree understood immediately and tied a red thread to the marriage tree.
Tong Tian saw this, shook his head, and no longer looked at the void, but at the disciples before him, his expression rather complicated. "Since that is the case, then do as you wish."
The atmosphere in the great hall suddenly became lighter.
"Yes, Master."
...
In the East Sea, within the extreme north, before the pillar supporting the sky.
Qing Ling stopped and looked behind the layers of heavenly prohibitions.
Through the celestial curtain, a man in a light blue shirt sat cross-legged in the East Pole. He was looking up at the outside of the celestial curtain.
He chuckled and said, "It has been a long time, but I must still congratulate you on achieving Hunyuan."
Qing Ling's eyes held a smile, no longer the indifferent saint. "Big Brother, I've come to take you home."
As she spoke, Qing Ling slowly raised her hands from her sides, palms facing the sky. In an instant, the winds and clouds of the four seas roared and changed, the sky trembled, the earth shook, and countless ferocious cracks rapidly spread across the void, extending to all heavens and myriad worlds.
The Azure Dragon immediately said, "Stop!"
Countless terrifying cracks appeared behind him, and endless heavenly lightning punishment gathered above his head. Yet, Qing Ling's expression did not change. She smiled lightly at the wind and clouds and said softly, "Big Brother, I have come to fetch you, and even the heavens cannot stop me."
The Azure Dragon said gravely, "But you are the Saint of All Beings. If you do this, how can you face heaven, earth, and all beings?"
Qing Ling shook her head, a look of contentment on her face. At the center of this shattering heaven and earth, no one dared to look directly at her. "Big Brother, at this moment, I am not the Saint of All Beings, I am just Qing Ling, your former assistant deity of Spring!"
Outside the heavens, thunder roared. Inside the heavens, the Five Extremes trembled.
Beneath the Central Qilin Cliff, the souls of the two Qilin Kings trembled.
The Supreme Xuanwu of the North, the turtle and snake with two heads, slowly awoke.
The Ancestor Bai Hu of the West smiled and watched from thousands of miles away across mountains and rivers.
In the South, the Vermilion Bird's spirit raised an eyebrow, its lava from the Undying Volcano poised to erupt.
The Five Sacred Venerables maintained a balance of power, neither losing nor gaining, neither increasing nor decreasing, thereby stabilizing heaven, earth, and all phenomena.
Now that the East Pole had changed, the four directions naturally lost their balance.
The Eye of Heavenly Punishment brewed a terrifying lightning tribulation, karmic forces brewed between heaven and earth, and the karma of heaven and earth was being drawn. It only awaited the Azure Dragon to take one step out of the heavenly prohibition for it to descend.
In the Nuwa Palace, Nuwa suddenly stood up and said, "Fellow Daoist Qing Ling, you must not be impulsive!"
Qing Ling smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist must know that I have never been an impulsive person."
Nuwa pondered for a moment and no longer tried to dissuade.
On Shouyang Mountain, Laozi remained silent.
On Kunlun Mountain, Yuanshi Tianzun asked, puzzled, "Daoist, for your own selfish reasons, are you going to disregard all beings in the world?"
Tong Tian watched for a few moments but ultimately did not speak.
A sigh came from the West. Zhun Ti lamented, "Daoist, why must you do this?"
Qing Ling merely shook her head and smiled. She stepped towards the heavenly prohibition. Countless cracks spread across the void, and the Azure Dragon was swept out of the East Pole.
"Rumble~~~"
The heavenly lightning punishment descended, striking directly at the saint.
Qing Ling pointed her hand, and the Azure Jade Umbrella unfurled a vast ocean of lightning, creating a path for the Azure Dragon.
Boom~~~
The four seas boiled, ten thousand dragons emerged from the sea, their roars shaking the ten directions, welcoming their ancestor's return.
The four seas also surged towards the heavens because the Azure Dragon, this sacred venerable, was no longer suppressing them.
Qing Ling smiled and said to the Azure Dragon, "Big Brother, please help me look after Fuyu Mountain and those unworthy disciples."
The Azure Dragon sighed deeply and said, "You can rest assured."
Qing Ling nodded. A saber appeared in her hand. "Slaying God," which had been silent for a long time, resurfaced!
This saber was destined to be extraordinary from the moment it was born. It had been nurtured for too long, with countless Xuanhuang merits, the refinement of supreme divine souls over the ages, and the creation of saintly power. As a result, every time it appeared, it represented earth-shattering events!
Qing Ling raised the long saber and looked towards the nine heavens, and then at the terrified beings below. She smiled and swung the saber at herself.
"Boom~"
The saint's blood spilled, the heavens and earth changed color, the mountains and rivers mourned, and the myriad trees bowed.
A tailless snake body swam through the void and entered the East Pole. The immense power of the Great Dao of Wood suppressed the four seas, bringing Eastern Azure and infinite vitality!
Qing Ling appeared with a human body and a snake's tail. From then on, this was her true form. The body above the snake's tail had transformed into the guardian of the East.
The vast lightning tribulation slowly receded, the mountains and seas returned to peace, the ten thousand dragons returned to the sea, and the beings were no longer terrified.
No one blamed the Saint of All Beings anymore, because she had used her own body to rectify the saint's mistake.
Whether it was for selfish reasons or for the sake of all beings, it ultimately did not lead to the imbalance of heaven and earth. The beings did not resent her, nor were they particularly grateful.
The beings, having experienced this thrilling event, realized that the saint who called herself the Saint of All Beings was not as selfless and desireless as they had imagined, nor was she solely focused on the beings.
The beings understood that there was nothing in heaven and earth that they could always rely on. To have a future and seek the Great Dao, they ultimately had to rely on themselves!
The several saints were stunned for a long time before they reacted.
The great powers of the myriad worlds and the ancestors were also deeply shocked. They had never imagined that this most benevolent and easy-going saint could be so ruthless.
Qing Ling returned to the World Tree and fell into a deep slumber there, healing her dao wounds.
From this moment on, no one felt they could fathom the thoughts of this Saint of All Beings anymore.
In the myriad worlds, in countless halls of beings, the envoys of these halls knelt before the statue of the saint in the hall.
On Fuyu Mountain, the Taoists knelt on the white jade steps.
This Saint of All Beings had fallen into a deep slumber. No one knew when she would awaken, perhaps in one or two hundred Yuan Hui, perhaps in thousands or tens of thousands of Yuan Hui; it was all uncertain.
Precisely because it was uncertain, even though this saint was not present, no one dared not consider her.
Furthermore, when Qing Ling fell into slumber, she dispersed her saintly power into every hall of beings throughout the myriad worlds, bestowing upon them permanent divine power.
From then on, for a long time to come, this world would be short one saint. In the myriad worlds, there would be no more high-and-mighty Saint of All Beings to restrain them. The great powers and ancestors who had opened up the heavens and earth would no longer be content and law-abiding due to the saint's constraints.
But similarly, the foundation of the myriad worlds opened by the Saint of All Beings had nurtured the myriad races of the myriad worlds for nearly a hundred Yuan Hui, and had subtly influenced the myriad worlds, though many of them were unaware of it.
The slumber of the Saint of All Beings marked the beginning of a new era. Without Qing Ling, the six saints would not have selectively forgotten in such a vast universe as the myriad worlds.
The Azure Dragon visited the Dragon Clan plane and received the salutations of his descendants. He met with Zhulong, whom he had not seen for a long time. He was now completely at ease regarding the Dragon Clan.
Therefore, he went to Fuyu Mountain and naturally became the martial uncle to all the second-generation disciples of Fuyu Mountain.
With this ancestor, who was three points stronger than a half-step Hunyuan, guarding them, Fuyu Mountain, with its countless treasures, could still enjoy peace and tranquility through the ages.
In her slumber, Qing Ling's lips curved slightly. The show had begun.
From then on, she no longer had to scheme for thousands of calculations and contend for destiny. She only needed to watch the ebb and flow of the world and wait for the day when heaven and earth would be unified and all beings would return to their hearts.