For a thousand years, Qing Ling entered the mortal world, arriving at the Xuan Ming tribe.
At the heart of the Xuan Ming tribe stood the Ancestral Witch Hall, naturally housing the Ancestral Witch Xuan Ming.
Qing Ling entered the Xuan Ming tribe without apprehension. Many Celestial Witches, Elder Witches, and Venerable Witches were present, and even Great Witches could be found.
The grand hall, forged from ice and snow, was ancient and imposing. The woman who had been slumbering within the hall suddenly awoke. She rose from her icy throne, her pure white eyes radiating a snow-like coldness.
Qing Ling halted outside the Ancestral Witch Hall, gazing at it with profound contemplation.
Xuan Ming emerged, and the blizzard momentarily paused. Her footsteps echoed in the frozen wasteland.
Xuan Ming felt no fear; the Wu clan was devoid of such emotion.
She approached calmly, offering no questions. She was intelligent and knew that although she could not defeat the person before her, this visitor was not here for a fight.
Qing Ling observed the Ancestral Witch Hall. Its foundation was pure ice and snow, its structure crafted from sharp, biting winds, giving form to this palace of ice and snow.
The hall was more than just a building; it was the condensed essence of ice, snow, rain, and wind.
"Xuan" represented wind and rain, while "Ming" signified ice and snow. Xuan Ming was the Wu clan's god of wind, rain, ice, and snow.
Within Qing Ling's eyes, the hall dissolved, revealing the primordial Pangu energy of wind, rain, and snow, a force of raw, unadulterated power.
A flicker of astonishment crossed Xuan Ming's eyes. This individual actually dared to attempt to comprehend the Great Law of Pangu!
Qing Ling's pupils gradually lost their focus, transforming into a pure white akin to snow.
A daring thought suddenly surged within Xuan Ming's heart.
This supreme being had become lost in the immense power of ice and snow, completely defenseless. If she could seize his body and destroy his primordial spirit…
The idea, once conceived, spiraled out of control. Though the risk was immense, the reward was even greater, for before her stood the sole Demon Ancestor of the Demon Race!
Xuan Ming struck instantly. The sky filled with a blizzard, carrying frigid winds towards Qing Ling, its extreme coldness freezing the void itself!
"Buzz—"
The void shattered. From the darkness, a river of pure white light began to flow slowly, encircling Qing Ling.
Xuan Ming exclaimed in shock, "The River of Time!"
Few in the heavens and earth cultivated the Great Dao of Time, and only three had comprehended the River of Time.
Tai Yin Star Lord, who had departed from Hong Huang; Xi He, who became the Mother of Ten Thousand Demons; and the Dao Master of the Eastern Desolation before her.
The boundless snow and wind were drawn into the river, merely creating ripples on its surface.
No wonder Qing Ling had passed through without any of the spell-witches, let alone the Great Witches, noticing his presence. He had been walking within the flow of time.
Xuan Ming hesitated for a moment. Disrupting the flow of time was no easy feat. If she attacked again, the person before her would undoubtedly retreat.
As she pondered, a hint of green emerged before the Xuan Ming Hall.
Amidst the swirling blizzard, a green sapling began to grow vigorously.
Its trunk stretched straight into the sky, its verdant branches reaching back towards the snow. Each needle-like leaf shimmered with green light, a hundred-year-old pine, lush and verdant.
A colossal pine tree gradually grew, standing alone in the northern snow.
Qing Ling's pure white pupils regained their radiance. He looked at the giant tree and smiled gently, "A pine standing against the cold. How artistic."
Xuan Ming said coldly, "Planting a tree before the Ancestral Witch's domain?"
Qing Ling chuckled, "Let the matter just now rest. The pine tree beside your Xuan Ming Hall is a blessing to this place."
Xuan Ming remained silent. She glanced at him, then turned and walked back into the Ancestral Witch Hall.
Qing Ling approached the hundred-zhang tall pine and tenderly stroked its ancient bark, whispering, "The wind and snow are harsh. You have suffered."
The pine needles rustled, expressing its gratitude and joy.
It had been a spiritual seed from eons past, dying in the northern wilderness with the great changes in heaven and earth, unable to grow.
Qing Ling's Dao of Wood had resonated with it, resurrecting it from its frozen death, becoming the sole speck of green in a land devoid of vegetation.
Unable to bear the thought of this lone tree amidst the vast blizzard, Qing Ling opened his Azure Jade Umbrella. A lotus flower fell to the ground, taking root and sprouting.
Alas, the place was too cold. This was the territory of the Ancestral Witch of Ice and Snow.
The lotus grew for only a moment before withering.
Seeing this, Qing Ling extended a finger, and a drop of crimson fell from his fingertip, staining the green lotus red as it landed. The green lotus transformed, its leaves retracting, branches and foliage growing, blooming into myriad red flowers.
"Beside the pine, a red plum. From now on, you two will have each other's company in the ice and snow."
The first pine and plum blossoms in existence grew here.
Xuan Ming watched the pine and red plum in the snow. She did not intervene, for they were living beings of ice and snow.
Qing Ling set off again, traversing the ice and snow, leaving behind the trees of ice and snow.
Beyond the northern Ancestral Witch Xuan Ming, lay the She Bi Shi tribe.
The Wu clan was divided into Spell Witches and Body Witches. Spell Witches mastered magical arts, performed sacrifices to heaven and earth, prayed to all spirits, understood the laws of heaven and earth, and commanded the spirits of all things.
Body Witches focused solely on cultivating their physical bodies, tempering their muscles and bones, absorbing the malevolent energies of heaven and earth to strengthen themselves, capable of moving mountains and shattering the void.
The Wu clan's cultivation realms were divided into Earth Witch, Celestial Witch, Elder Witch, Venerable Witch, and Great Witch.
Before reaching the Great Witch realm, they practiced body cultivation or spell cultivation separately. Upon reaching the Great Witch realm, spell and body became one. Each Great Witch was an unparalleled expert. While Great Witches corresponded to the Daluo Golden Immortal realm, even the weakest Great Witch could overpower a Daluo of the same cultivation level.
Great Witches of exceptional power could even contend with Quasi-Saint realm cultivators!
The She Bi Shi tribe specialized in spell cultivation, with very few body cultivators.
As Qing Ling journeyed, he saw walking corpses everywhere, all poisonous creatures.
Xuan Ming's seventy-three tribes inhabited the lands of ice and snow, while She Bi Shi's fifty-two tribes resided in desolate mountains and treacherous waters.
Qing Ling walked for a thousand years and stood before the Ancestral Witch She Bi Shi's hall.
She Bi Shi, unlike Xuan Ming, lacked calmness. With a furious roar, ten thousand corpses stirred, and ten thousand poisons descended.
She Bi Shi, the Ancestral Witch of Poison and Corpses, was adept at poison and controlling the dead!
Qing Ling observed the Ancestral Witch She Bi Shi's hall, then looked at the drifting souls and spirits of the living throughout the mountains and rivers. Their bodies were controlled, possessing bodies but unable to return.
A dot of soul energy emerged from his brow, giving rise to a wood named Huai, capable of gathering Yin and collecting souls.
Qing Ling extended a finger, and the Sky-Binding Net transformed into a rainbow, ensnaring She Bi Shi.
Beside him, the Huai tree connected to the path of corpse ghosts, for the innocent souls who died being refined by the Wu clan, and also for the Dao of Wood. The Huai tree was planted before the Ancestral Witch Hall, its roots connected to the ancient Wu patterns of the hall, rendering it indestructible.
Qing Ling ignored the enraged roars of She Bi Shi behind him and continued south.
As he traveled, he encountered the halls of the Ancestral Witch of Thunder and the Ancestral Witch of Lightning, planting a Thunder Wood and a Magnetic Flower.
The twelve Ancestral Witch halls were constructed by the twelve Ancestral Witches from the twelve ley lines of Pangu Hall, each hall embodying a strand of Pangu's power.
Qing Ling continued his journey south. That night, stars and moon hung in the nine heavens, plants received the dew of heaven, and insects chirped as birds returned to their nests.
Under the moonlight, he encountered an old man. Both were startled, having not expected to meet each other.
However, it was not an impossible occurrence.
"Dao Master, please."
The old man politely invited him to sit, not with cushions, but on the ground. The river flowed gently nearby, and a green ox grazed on the bank. The old man sat on a stone beach, surrounded by silent plants bathed in moonlight. Even when fireflies and ants crawled onto his body, he did not brush them away.
Qing Ling smiled and sat down, "My apologies for the intrusion."
The old man slowly said, "What intrusion? You borrow a bend of the stream and a shallow bank under the moonlight, merely a place to rest."