The Wu-Demon battlefield was a scene of devastation. Mountains lay in ruins, the land scarred and ravaged. Countless demon tribes, their Demon Emperors fallen, despaired. Had the demons been defeated?
The remaining three Ancestral Witches, grief and pain etched into their eyes, pondered. Had they truly won?
From beyond the heavens, a radiant light descended. From the Jianmu Tree, a verdant glow ascended. The two lights met in the mid-heavens and merged into one.
A figure cloaked in emerald light stepped from the heavens, gazing down upon the devastated land of Witches and Demons.
The three Ancestral Witches instantly tensed, facing a formidable foe against whom they had no confidence of victory.
Qing Ling descended from the thirty-third heaven, sighing, "By the decree of our Demon Ancestor, the Witches and Demons shall cease hostilities!"
His calm voice echoed through the heavens and earth. Countless bewildered demons halted their actions. The Demon Sages, their guiding lights, found their bearings. Wounded elder demons and mighty beasts alike wept, prostrating themselves and crying, "We implore the Demon Ancestor for mercy! Avenge our Heavenly Emperor, Lord of the Eastern Sun, and our Empress!"
Qing Ling offered no reply. With a gesture, the East Emperor Bell, its divine radiance dimmed, appeared in his hand.
In the void, the great powers present swallowed hard, their covetous thoughts extinguished.
Qing Ling wiped the dust from the East Emperor Bell, a sigh of relief escaping him. The Immortal Elixir lived up to its name.
He had wished to save Di Jun’s life, even sacrificing the Eastern Sun Lord’s life in return – one life for another. Yet, he had failed to preserve Di Jun. Qing Ling had done his utmost.
Qing Ling looked at the sea of kneeling demons, their broken limbs and scarred bodies, the battlefield littered with corpses. They all watched him, implored him. The hopes of the demon race seemed to rest upon his shoulders.
As Qing Ling turned, he resembled the Azure Dragon of ages past, the sole pillar of support for the dragon race.
He raised his head, looking at the Witch tribe.
All the Witches trembled. Ju Mang, grievously wounded, Tian Wu, half-crippled, and Ru Shou, his combat power depleted, felt a tightening in their hearts.
Qing Ling reached into the void.
The Witches were alarmed and prepared to fight again.
But the void trembled, and a single figure emerged: the sleeping form of Zhu Jiu Yin.
Ru Shou urgently demanded, "What do you intend to do!"
Qing Ling produced a great seal, upon which a five-clawed golden dragon was embossed.
The Dragon Seal merged into Zhu Jiu Yin's body. Zhu Jiu Yin's form transformed, his Ancestral Witch true form vanishing, replaced by a Candle Dragon.
Qing Ling declared, "This life is concluded, it is time to return to the next! Candle Dragon, if not now, when!"
As his words fell, the Candle Dragon awoke with a start, the memories of his long slumber in the River of Time flooding back. He murmured softly, "I am the Candle Dragon!"
Qing Ling said, "Ancestor Candle Dragon, please return to the East Sea."
The Candle Dragon's memories were a chaotic mess, having just awakened from his temporal slumber. He bowed his head, turned, and departed, leaving the three Ancestral Witches in stunned silence.
Qing Ling looked at the weeping demons and sighed, "My demon race has not been defeated, nor have the Witches triumphed. I shall send you to a new world to usher in a new era."
Qing Ling pointed to the Heavenly Stars. The star formation atop the Jianmu Tree spun at its utmost. The combined power of his two selves, the one from the Primordial World and the one from Chaos, was comparable to a half-saint!
Boundless starlight enveloped the myriad demons. Qing Ling commanded, "Relocate!"
Vast stellar radiance covered heaven and earth. Innumerable stars bid farewell to the demons, sending them from the Primordial Land into the Demon Realm.
Qing Ling turned to the three Ancestral Witches, his intent devoid of malice. He said, "Take all the Witches and return to the Ancestral Witch Hall. Empress Houtu requires you!"
The three Ancestral Witches faltered. Empress Houtu? Not Ancestral Witch Houtu, but the Empress Houtu, who embodied the law of Heaven and Earth. But Empress Houtu needed them.
The three Ancestral Witches retreated, taking with them the remaining thirty percent of the Witch tribe, and returned to the Ancestral Witch Hall.
In the Chaos, sensing only forty percent of his tribe had entered the Demon Realm, Nuwa's heart filled with sorrow. She retracted her many divine abilities and silently retreated into Wa Huang Palace.
The Three Pure Ones' expressions shifted, and they hurried back to the Primordial World.
In the Primordial World, at Mount Buzhou, the mountain had collapsed. A chasm appeared in the sky, accompanied by rumbling roars. The heavens turned a dark, mysterious black, devoid of sun and moon.
The chaotic Four Symbols rampaged unchecked. Wind and fire represented purity, while earth and water represented turbidity. Thus, boundless chaotic water and earth flowed into the Primordial World, pouring from the great void at Mount Buzhou.
Qing Ling withdrew the pressure of his Wood Dao Buzhou Mountain and Jianmu. Saint Zhun Ti arrived upon the Jianmu, and Saint Jie Yin arrived from the Chaos.
The Three Pure Ones returned to the Primordial World, only to find it no longer resembled the Primordial World.
The thirty-third heaven began to shake. The chaotic Four Symbols encroached. The heavens were about to collapse!
Countless beings trembled in terror and bewilderment, countless others in despair. The chaotic waters were about to descend, consuming all life.
The five Saints frowned deeply. This situation had exceeded their expectations and was not within the Heavenly Dao's plans.
Qing Ling spoke not a word to the five Saints. He walked back onto the Jianmu, merging his form with the tree. The Jianmu's body expanded infinitely. Its countless trillions of zhang-high form propped up the thirty-third heaven.
But the heavens were too heavy. All the roots of the Jianmu caused the southeastern land of the Primordial World to collapse. And because the southeast was supported by the Jianmu, the heavens tilted and fell towards the unsupported northwest of the Primordial World.
The pillar of heaven broke, the earth's foundation was severed. The heavens tilted to the northwest, causing the sun, moon, and stars to shift. The earth was not filled in the southeast, so the floods and dust returned.
The five Saints busily employed their means, resisting the invasion of wind, fire, water, and earth. They manifested their divine powers to save the living beings.
Zhunti scattered countless Bodhi leaves. Jie Yin pointed, and countless lotus flowers bloomed. Many beings, corroded by the chaotic waters but still clinging to life, climbed onto the Bodhi leaves and the water lotuses, escaping by a thread.
Lao Zi propped up the Heaven and Earth Mysterious Yellow Linglong Pagoda, supporting the heavens alongside the Jianmu. Beneath his feet, the Taiji Diagram spun, stabilizing the rift in the firmament.
Yuanshi wielded the Pangu Banner, dispelling the boundless chaotic energy outside the Primordial World, blocking the chaotic invasion. He then conjured auspicious clouds and golden lamps to catch the chaotic waters.
Tong Tian shook his formation diagram. The formation diagram of the Peerless Killing Formation, the Immortal Slaying Sword Formation, was used as a treasure for saving lives, also placed beneath the thirty-third heaven. Simultaneously, the four Immortal Slaying Swords stood outside the Chaos, blocking the influx of boundless chaotic energy into the Primordial World.
However, heaven and earth had collapsed. The Primordial World was shattered. The incomplete heavens and earth resembled a funnel. The five Saints patched the leaks in the east and west, plugging the west only for the east to leak again.
Infinite floodwaters poured into the Primordial World, consuming the lives of countless beings.
At the same time, within the Jianmu, Qing Ling's two selves merged. The Chaotic self and the Primordial self completely integrated. The Wood Dao Buzhou Mountain fused with the Jianmu, and the Dao Fruit melded with the Dao.
The power of heaven and earth was entirely within him.
The power of the Heavenly Dao aided the Jianmu in growing and expanding. At this moment, the Heavenly Dao spared no expense, solely seeking to stabilize the Primordial World.
Otherwise, the Heavenly Dao's power would be greatly diminished, and even the will of the Primordial World, the will of heaven and earth, would no longer grant Him its majestic power.
And the Jianmu was the most stable pillar of the Primordial World, not a temporary stabilization by a Saint's treasure, nor a fleeting support, but the only entity capable of replacing Buzhou Mountain, propping up the heavens, and integrating with heaven and earth!
At this moment, Qing Ling no longer had to worry about the schemes of the five Saints, nor fear the punishment of the Heavenly Dao. He was free of all worries.
The power of heaven and earth merged into Qing Ling's being. Qing Ling seemed to fuse with the Primordial World, his will becoming one with the will of heaven and earth. The myriad great Daos, the myriad methods, the myriad principles and orders of the world were all Him.
At this moment, the past, future, and present selves completely merged into a single, complete Qing Ling. Qing Ling's primordial spirit and Dao body were utterly integrated; the primordial spirit was the physical Dao body, and the Dao body was the primordial spirit.