Qing Xuan stood at the mountain peak, watching the two depart.
His words, from this moment on, would change the future destiny of the serpent tribe. Many of the serpent tribesmen would face trials of life and death, but it would also be a time of great opportunity.
He, Qing Xuan, even as the nominal Ancestor of Ten Thousand Serpents, possessed immense fortune and had stepped into the Quasi-Saint realm.
However, Qing Xuan had never found that sliver of opportunity to break through his bottleneck.
Besides the innate deficiency and shallow foundation caused by his former act of shedding his cultivation and starting anew, it was also due to the constraints of the prevailing situation!
This sliver of opportunity needed to be bestowed upon the future demon race!
When the Dao Ancestor preached, heaven and earth split, and the Wu and Yao tribes opposed each other.
In this era, the fortune of all living beings would ultimately fall upon the demon race.
Since he had to enter the game, it was better to enter early, turning passivity into initiative.
The various tribes in the southwest of the Primordial World were about to face a upheaval.
However, this no longer concerned him.
Qing Xuan issued a decree: the serpent tribe was to expand.
From south to north, they were to strengthen themselves and temper all serpents.
As for the Ancestral Shamans, after the Dao Ancestor's sermon, they had become much more subdued and reclusive. The Wu tribe's expansion had also halted, thus providing opportunities and ideas for the various tribes to stir up trouble again.
The four Serpent Leaders of Luoling Mountain, who originated from the ancestral land of Xishan, were entering the world to face the tribulation for the Xishan serpent tribe, marking an opportune moment of immense luck!
They were now all on the verge of touching the threshold of the Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm, thanks to Qing Xuan bringing them into the Zixiao Palace!
Time in the Primordial World passed amidst the turmoil of ages, as usual, with intertwined karma, life, and death.
After four Yuanhui.
Atop the Jianmu tree in Duguan, a spirit egg of chaotic color stood, enduring wind and rain without hindrance. A subtle crack finally appeared on the perfectly formed eggshell!
"Crack~"
One crack gave rise to a hundred, and cracks spread all over its surface.
Simultaneously, on the twenty-sixth heaven, layers of mist inexplicably emerged, vast and boundless like a sea of clouds, obscuring the eyes and ears of countless beings.
Great cultivators looked up at the sky, but only saw dense clouds, and not the heavens.
Quasi-Saints looked up and saw, deep within the clouds, a terrifying aura awakening.
Rumble~
The Heavenly Dao vibrated, the Earthly Dao vibrated, and heaven and earth responded.
Atop the Jianmu, the giant egg shattered, and a god-demon emerged.
A phantom of the thirty-six-grade Azure Lotus bloomed beneath him. This being had a human body and a serpent's tail, capable of plucking the sun and moon, and absorbing the elements of earth, wind, water, and fire.
Qing Ling awoke from his slumber. From this moment on, he was no longer an innate deity, but possessed the body of a Chaos God-Demon!
However, he was neither a Chaos God nor a Chaos Demon, nor a half-god-demon.
His god-demon body, distinct from the three thousand god-demons, was said to originate from Pangu's body!
Pangu's God-Demon Body.
The same origin and position, yet different in strength.
His Dao body was closer to Pangu, closer to Chaos and the Great Dao.
Pangu's life and death were intertwined to form Qing Ling.
Jianmu, beneath his feet, instantly pierced through the void, growing vigorously, yearning for the starry sky.
The elemental energy of the four directions returned, and all the scattered innate Azure Qi in the Primordial World surged towards him.
Above Qing Ling's head, auspicious clouds grew for countless acres, like a vast ocean, or a firmament, with surging seas of clouds!
Jianmu grew, crossing the firmament, its height reaching the twenty-eighth heaven!
Qing Ling's Dao also ascended to the twenty-eighth heaven.
Jianmu entered the universe, illuminated by the celestial bodies of stars, rivers, sun, and moon, resembling the World Tree, a colossal tree in the starry sky!
The pressure of Buzhou Mountain gradually receded, retreating further and further until its pressure was completely gone.
Only on the twenty-eighth heaven did Pangu's pressure still exist!
All beings were unaware, only the great cultivators sensed that the already magnificent heaven and earth had become a degree higher, and the earth a degree heavier.
The twenty-eighth heaven of Jianmu, with the immense force it bore, was despair-inducing.
The twenty-eighth heaven and the twenty-ninth heaven held no special significance on the path of the Great Dao.
However, among the thirty-three heavens of the Primordial World, it was an extremely special heaven.
This heaven was the most vast, magnificent, and mysterious heaven in the Primordial World, bar none.
This was because Pangu's eyes fell upon it, and because countless stars revolved around this heaven.
This heaven was a universe!
To traverse this heaven, one would likely need the power of a Hunyuan!
Qing Ling's god-demon body stood between heaven and earth, the clouds of the Heavenly Dao obscuring the vision of all beings.
God-demons were not to be known by sentient beings as still existing in the world.
With his god-demon body, Qing Ling entered the universe, wandered through the star river, and felt the starry sky.
He was like a colossal beast of the cosmos, swallowing stars and light, devouring the universe, ancient and mysterious like a god-demon.
Behind Qing Ling, the Dao Wheel emerged, gathering the authority of the Wood Dao over most of the world.
The world's Wood Dao was shared by all beings; Dong Wang Gong, again in decline, also held a portion, while Qing Ling alone held eight portions!
With a turn of Qing Ling's primordial spirit, he knew it was now the fourth Yuanhui after the Dao Ancestor's first sermon.
The innate deities were currently riding the tide of the times, catching up to these older primordial great cultivators!
Qing Ling returned to Jianmu, standing at the lowest point of the starry sky.
Jianmu still grew three feet and three inches daily, without the slightest slack.
However, at the rate of twenty-eight heavens in the universe, it would take tens of millions of Yuanhui to reach the top.
Even if he reached the top, without the power of a Hunyuan, he could not step onto the twenty-ninth heaven!
On Kunlun Mountain, Laozi sighed, "That one in the Eastern Wasteland has advanced another step!"
Tongtian chuckled, "For us to catch up to him would only take more time."
Yuanshi shook his head, "Indeed, our paths are different! While Jianmu supporting the heavens is good, it is ultimately against the will of heaven, and likely a great disaster in the future!"
On Phoenix Perch Mountain, Nuwa smiled, "The pinnacle of the Wood Dao, the gate of creation. It seems my own creation may depend on this great senior!"
On Jianmu, Qing Xuan sat cross-legged, the phantom of the thirty-six-grade Azure Lotus appearing.
The phantom revolved, lotus leaves bloomed, and the Wood Dao evolved.
The Azure Lotus swayed, flowers bloomed and fell, while Jianmu grew, standing eternally in the firmament.
Lotus and tree, the origins of the Wood Dao united.
However, the phantom of the Azure Lotus was his contemplation; it held none of the actual power of the Chaos Azure Lotus.
Otherwise, it could have drawn back the five lotus platforms and five divine banners scattered across the world, returning them to his Azure Lotus body, and recreating the image of the Primordial Creation Azure Lotus!
If the current Qing Ling were to absorb more innate Azure Qi and wood energy from heaven and earth, it would cause an imbalance in the Five Elements and leave all Wood Dao cultivators with no Dao to pursue.
Therefore, his only path lay beyond the Primordial World!
Other top great cultivators did not face this problem because they were not of primordial god-demon origin; their absorption of worldly power was naturally limited by the world.
However, Qing Ling's god-demon body was not restricted by the world.
Thus, he could only go to Chaos!
In Chaos, he would absorb endless earth, wind, water, and fire, and then convert it into Wood Dao power to absorb.
The phantom of the Chaos Azure Lotus was the key to this conversion!
Qing Ling's current strength allowed him to go anywhere, both inside and outside Chaos.
However, he had other matters to attend to.
After much deduction, Qing Ling's mind was finally settled.
He would lend a hand to the demon race!
This was not due to any past affection for Tai Yi, nor was it a matter of allegiance, but purely of benefit.
To ascend to the twenty-ninth heaven, and to possess the power of a Hunyuan, only the demon race could achieve it!
He had to cultivate the Great Dao, and Jianmu had to grow!