The Black Phoenix Holy King sneered, "Did you invite an expert from the Dragon Clan?"
Qing Ling shook her head. "I am the master of the Eastern Wasteland. Only I can protect this place."
The Black Phoenix Holy King's heart stirred. She quickly raised her hand and grabbed the nine-headed bird that had fallen to the ground.
The once majestic and powerful Nine-Headed Divine Bird was now in a half-dead state, covered in wounds with much of its plumage missing.
As for the prison beneath her palm, it had vanished without a trace.
The Black Phoenix Holy King looked up at Qing Ling and said coldly, "Hand it over!"
"Hand over whom?"
Qing Ling said indifferently.
"That rebellious bird, your old flame!" the Black Phoenix Holy King said, enunciating each word.
Qing Ling was momentarily stunned and then chuckled. "I don't know who you are referring to.
However, I have someone else here whom you should recognize."
With that, she waved her hand, and a Luo Sheng flower bloomed. A projection appeared from its center, revealing Chi Wu's form. Da Feng Xiao Shuo Wang.
"Aren't you here to save him?"
Qing Ling asked doubtfully.
The Black Phoenix Holy King let out a scoff and ignored Chi Wu, continuing, "That rebellious bird was once a Holy Son of our clan, yet he accompanied you for a long time. If there were no affection between you, you would have perished long ago."
Qing Ling chuckled. "Black Phoenix Holy King, from where did you hear such absurd words?"
"Heh, naturally, I gleaned it from the primordial spirit of that rebellious bird." As the Black Phoenix Holy King spoke, she appraised Qing Ling with a meaningful gaze.
Qing Ling replied helplessly, "Then why don't you probe my primordial spirit? You will then know the truth."
The Black Phoenix Holy King hesitated. "What scheme are you trying to pull now?"
Qing Ling cast her a glance, her eyes filled with disdain and nonchalance.
She then closed her eyes, sat cross-legged atop the Jian Mu, and utterly ignored her.
The Black Phoenix Holy King's heart burned with anger, but she stepped forward without hesitation, drawing her twin swords again. The Undying Flame spread, and a roaring inferno exploded into the void.
Then came the fusion of the twin swords, with the Fen Ji Sword becoming the Undying Sword, and the essence of immortality descended.
The Black Phoenix Holy King, like an angel, spread her wings and soared high into the void, a judge of judgment, wielding the sword of flaming judgment, plunging directly towards Qing Ling's physical body below.
Just as the long sword was three feet from Qing Ling's brow, a white light appeared.
The white light shimmered with a luminous glow, like moonlight from the heavens, and a long bridge was erected.
The long bridge divided the space above and below. Qing Ling sat below, at the base of the bridge, while the Holy King flew above, stopping on the bridge's surface.
Time reversed, and the long bridge spun, ushering in night from endless time.
The eastern sunrise transformed into the moon at its zenith, and the sky was filled with twinkling stars.
The Black Phoenix Holy King's immortal will was momentarily obstructed by the flow of time, and this moment was stretched out for a very, very long time by the passage of time.
Beneath the Tai Yin star, a red star shone brightly. Endless crimson light descended, and the three thousand red threads around Qing Ling's waist flew up, crossing the bridge of time, above and below, binding themselves to the frozen Black Phoenix Holy King.
However, she only managed to secure one thread before the other party broke free from the temporal restraint, and the undying flame burned away the red threads.
Qing Ling's primordial spirit departed her body and merged into the body of the bridge of time.
The power of time surged. Time flowed like a waterfall, and the magnificent moonlight shone as brightly as day, becoming the sun of the night.
On the long bridge, the Black Phoenix Holy King's expression changed. Within the ninety-foot-long bridge, each step was a world, each step was an eternity.
For a time, she found it difficult to leave this confined space.
Yet, she could neither kill nor harm Qing Ling in the slightest.
Qing Ling had not been this exhausted for a long time, not since she had become a great power of heaven and earth.
Nine-tenths of her primordial spirit had been depleted, and her boundless magic power had been poured into the endless flow of time. Even the Great Luo Dao Treasury's replenishment rate could not keep pace with the rate at which time was being consumed.
But the crisis had not yet been resolved.
Qing Ling kept her eyes closed to minimize even the slightest depletion of her primordial spirit.
The divine patterns on her brow trembled, and the mark of the Earthly Dao stirred the land, shaking the ten directions.
She also invoked the power of the Wood Dao to mobilize the Jian Mu, causing the roots of the Jian Mu to crack open.
Dust rose from the earth, and the soil cracked, revealing a scar in the land.
The bridge of light slowly descended, its speed gradually increasing as it plummeted.
The Holy King on the bridge of light sensed the anomaly and frantically unleashed her undying flame.
The undying flame, by its very nature, was inexhaustible and eternally burning. Even Qing Ling could not extinguish it.
As ten thousand fires burned her primordial spirit, Qing Ling's closed eyes shed tears of blood, her ears rang, and blood flowed from her five orifices.
This was the scorching heat of the undying flame, the torment it inflicted on her primordial spirit.
A white light streaked across the sky, scattering with black and red flames, and fell into the scar in the earth.
The scar in the earth closed, and the bridge of light retracted its primordial spirit.
Qing Ling's primordial spirit was severely wounded, on the verge of collapse.
The intensity of an ultimate great power's undying flame was not something to be trifled with.
If she had diverted her temporal power to defend herself, she would have allowed the Black Phoenix Holy King to escape the bridge of time.
Once the other party escaped, she would truly be helpless!
With great perseverance, Qing Ling endured the pain of being burned by ten thousand fires and suppressed the Black Phoenix Holy King beneath the Jian Mu.
From then on, the Black Phoenix Holy King could never step beyond the Jian Mu, and Qing Ling could never leave the Jian Mu.
This was because the Jian Mu had only seventeen layers, while the Black Phoenix Holy King was at the twenty-first level.
She had suppressed the Black Phoenix Holy King, and the Black Phoenix Holy King had also imprisoned Qing Ling.
This was a mutual suppression.
Unlike the Yang Yu clan ancestor and Chi Wu, who were planted within the Luo Sheng flower, the Black Phoenix Holy King was suppressed without any harm to herself.
Breaking the suppression was only a matter of time.
But Qing Ling's goal was to delay for as long as possible.
The weight of the seventeen layers of heaven was transferred by Qing Ling onto the Black Phoenix Holy King.
As a result, the pressure on the Jian Mu's body was greatly reduced. With less pressure, it naturally grew faster.
Qing Ling's eyes remained closed for a long time, never opening.
Her primordial spirit began to recover, her magic power began to replenish, and her physical body began to recuperate.
She was severely injured, to the point where she was powerless to fight even against a great power of the eleventh heaven.
It was just that few people could perceive this.
Her profound unfathomability and her endless array of techniques had intimidated too many, leaving no one daring to foolishly test her mettle.
The sky and the earth shook, and dust flew.
The armies of the four clans had arrived.
The Great Luo experts from three clans came to pay their respects.
Shan Kun the Old Ape, Hei Wen the Old Lizard, and Ju Wu the Old Crocodile all appeared respectful and did not dare to be negligent.
Although Qing Ling's eyes were closed, her primordial spirit could see. She said indifferently, "The three friends have arrived at a most opportune moment."
The three were startled. The distance between them was merely a blink of an eye.
However, they only arrived after the battle had concluded, a fact that was an open secret.
Qing Ling did not blame them; after all, the gap in strength was too great, and their presence or absence would have been in vain.
Therefore, she had specifically asked Granny Hua Geng to arrive after the battle.
"I have a matter that requires your assistance."
Shan Kun the Old Ape quickly responded, "Dao Master, please do not hesitate to command."
Ju Wu the Old Crocodile and Hei Wen the Old Lizard also chimed in with their agreement.
"I request the three clans to use Du Guang as the core formation eye and establish a grand formation to block the invasion of hostile forces from the south into the Eastern Wasteland."
The three felt relieved and nodded in agreement.
After the three departed, Granny Hua Geng spoke, "How is your injury?"
Qing Ling shook her head. "Not severe, I just need time to recover."
"How much time?"
"At least ten thousand years!"
Granny Hua Geng sighed. "Why has the Dragon Clan not sent reinforcements yet? Could it be that the Dragon Clan is truly..."
"Don't worry, Grandma. How can the overlord of the Dragon Clan decline so easily?
It's just that the Phoenix Clan and the Qilin Clan have taken the lead, and the Dragon Clan hasn't reacted in time.
The tide of battle will change before long.
During this period, I will need you to guard me so that I can focus on my recovery with peace of mind."
Hua Geng nodded. "I will do my best. Focus on your recovery. I will hold off even if a great power of heaven and earth arrives."
In the present Xishan, the clan could do without Hua Geng, but it could not do without Qing Ling.
This was the resolve of an elder clan leader who had been loyal to the clan for hundreds of Yuan Hui.
Above the Dong Lin Secret Realm, the Azure Dragon smiled and said intentionally, "Good, very good!"
The White Tiger Ancestor was dismissive and stated, "This is only the beginning."
The Azure Dragon Ancestor said meaningfully, "Isn't this indeed the beginning?"
On the Sun Star, a point of light ascended from the seventeenth heaven of the lower realm, unnoticed by most, yet known by some.