This feeling, however, was also rather dull. Even though the mind, immersed in cultivation, barely registered the passage of time, the long path of seeking the Tao was undoubtedly a test of one's spirit and will.
Qing Ling rose, exited the thousand-year-old stone chamber, flew out from behind the waterfall, and plunged directly into the small pool. Shedding his robes, he felt the cool embrace of the pool water, infused with the spiritual energy of Xi Mountain's earth veins, washing away the dust of a millennium from his body.
As he sank into the water, wisps of spiritual energy seeped into his bones and flowed into his meridians. It was incredibly comfortable.
From beneath him, a giant python emerged, coiling around Qing Ling's body and weaving back and forth.
Qing Ling stroked You's serpentine scales and said with satisfaction, "Not bad. Nurtured by the thousand-year-old water veins, you've achieved mid-stage Earth-rank strength."
You was the first puppet Qing Ling had refined to perfection. Furthermore, it had been forged by Granny Hua Geng, utilizing the divine power left by the first generation patriarch of their clan, into a puppet capable of undergoing tribulations in his stead!
Back then, when he was being pursued by Venerable Mo Chan, it was You who unleashed the power of being a substitute for tribulations, absorbing a fatal blow meant for Qing Ling.
This was You's sole function now: to take fatal blows for him, the kind that guaranteed death. It had taken You three hundred years of recuperation to recover from Mo Chan's strike back then.
Every time Qing Ling left his residence, as long as he stepped outside Xi Mountain, he would bring You along as a precaution. After all, he was likely the most life-preserving person in all of Xi Mountain.
After soaking in the pool for a night, Qing Ling emerged from the water. Dewdrops cascaded from his flawless, jade-like body, flowing from his forehead to his cheeks, then down his perfectly chiseled jawline, past his prominent Adam's apple, tracing his delicate collarbones, and perhaps dripping onto his resilient, thin muscles. They then followed his defined abdominal lines, down his slender legs, and finally onto the flowers and grass.
Spreading his arms, he willed it, and a green robe naturally glided over his body, dressing him completely in a brief moment. The Mi Tian Rope automatically flew up, gathering his hair behind him as it always had, tied with a knot, leaving two long green ribbons to hang beside his tresses.
Qing Ling felt utterly refreshed. A smile bloomed on his face, his eyes brimming with the vitality of spring. An indescribable charm radiated from his heroic features.
With this smile, a wave of flowers bloomed in concentric circles on the grass around him, and the green of the grass intensified.
He could sense the affection these flowers and grasses held for him, for he was the God of Spring. Without his overt presence, he was the God of Spring, in charge of the world's seasonal order!
Now, winter had passed, and spring had arrived. His robes had also transformed from red to green.
Qing Ling surveyed the flowers and grasses in the valley, finding that most of them were more spirited than before. Currently, the Primordial World was covered in spiritual grasses and trees. Apart from innate flora, no one paid attention to these acquired spiritual herbs.
But he did, due to his responsibilities.
Qing Ling made several swift gestures in the air. Green light appeared, and five paths materialized in the valley carpeted with grass, devoid of any flora. Then, with a flick of his sleeve, he summoned the pool water, and thousands of碎石 (suì shí - shattered stones) from beneath the water flew out. These spiritual stones, nurtured in the spiritual lake for tens of thousands of years, were laid down to form the paths.
These spiritual grasses, imbued with his divine aura of spring, might not show remarkable changes in a thousand or ten thousand years. But after a million or ten million years, they would possess great spiritual efficacy, perhaps becoming spiritual herbs sought after throughout the world.
Having completed this, Qing Ling walked along a path to a spiritual herb with nine leaves. He gently touched its green leaves, sensing its fondness for him.
"I'll try a few things with you. It will be a bit of suffering for you, little one."
With that, Qing Ling rose. His left eye, the color of glazed jade, closed, while his right eye, black and radiating a dim glow, opened. The pupils instantly became terrifying. His right eye reflected the nine-leaved spiritual herb. In a mere moment, the green color of the grass receded, its spring vitality withered, and the herb was on the verge of perishing, its life force fading.
When he had broken through to the Heaven-rank, his right eye's innate talent had been activated. He had cultivated it since then but had never truly tested its power. His right eye could transform life into death. It was a poison of vitality, invisible, odorless, formless, and tasteless. Anything his right eye gazed upon would have its life force extinguished and be transformed into death!
Qing Ling opened his left eye. The captivating dark glow of his right eye dissipated, returning to its normal state. He looked at the withered nine-leaved grass and extended his index finger. A drop of bright red blood flowed down his fingernail and dripped onto the grass.
Instantly, the withered and dying nine leaves regained their vitality and bloomed with renewed vigor, surpassing their former splendor.
His Spring God's blood possessed an extremely potent aura of life, far surpassing the ordinary. It was the perfect antidote to the life-draining poison of his right eye.
However, if his right eye were harmed, the toxicity might only be curable by the left eye of vitality. But currently, he had not yet recovered his left eye's innate talent.
Nevertheless, Qing Ling smiled with satisfaction. He gently touched the nine-leaved grass, comforting its fragile spirit, and then turned to leave the Hundred Springs Valley. He had been in seclusion for over a thousand years and should emerge to mingle, lest he become isolated and uninformed.
Of course, Qing Ling's steps remained confined to Xi Mountain. He would never easily step beyond its borders. He absolutely would not admit that it was due to his fear of death.
Qing Ling ascended along the mountain path of Xi Mountain. Most of the clan members he encountered were fellow Heaven-rank cultivators. However, he met very few of them. At most, familiar elders would call him "Little Qing" and ask a few casual questions.
After walking for several hours, Qing Ling finally arrived at a clearing on the mountainside. Here stood a colossal tree, incredibly thick, with a circumference of ten zhang. Its sky-obscuring canopy covered an area of three thousand zhang.
Entwined around the branches and leaves of this luxuriant tree was a horrifying python nearly a thousand zhang long. Its body was covered in brown-green spots, appearing from afar like a thick, gnarled vine.
Qing Ling approached the base of the tree, bowed respectfully, and said, "Qing Ling pays his respects to the Great Beast Zhan Mu."
As his voice fell, the slumbering giant python slowly opened its eyes. Its massive serpentine body slithered through the branches, dislodging countless green leaves from the tree. In an instant, the sky was filled with falling green leaves, like a shower of emerald rain. The mountain breeze rustled Qing Ling's robes and hair. The green tree, the moving giant python, the falling green leaves, and the standing figure in green robes created an indescribably beautiful scene of celestial beasts.
"Oh?"
The giant python was momentarily taken aback. It extended its enormous serpentine head towards Qing Ling, then said, "Your foundation is so deep. It is no wonder a supreme mighty being personally forged your Dao base."
Qing Ling watched the snake's head, nearly a hundred zhang in size, less than ten feet from him. He knew that this serpent could swallow him in a single gulp. He silently took two steps back and smiled, "Great Beast Zhan Mu has a keen eye."
The giant python, of course, noticed Qing Ling's subtle movement. With a very human-like disdain, it retracted its massive head and said, "What are you afraid of, little snake? If I truly swallowed you, wouldn't that old girl Hua Geng come looking for trouble? Besides, if I really wanted to swallow you, could you escape?"
Qing Ling maintained his smile, completely disbelieving the old fellow's beastly words.
This python was an ancient exotic beast subdued by the first generation patriarch of Xi Mountain, a Grand Unity Golden Immortal. It could not cultivate magical powers or transform into human form, possessing only immense physical strength and bizarre, unpredictable mystical talents.
After the first generation patriarch of Xi Mountain perished, although the python remained due to the Grand Unity Dao prohibition and was compelled to guard the spiritual land for the Xi Mountain serpent clan, even using its talent to perform divination rituals for the clan, this python also ate snakes. Over the past ten thousand years, more than ten clan members, both Heaven-rank and Earth-rank, had been starved into its belly.
This python was undoubtedly the nightmare of all young and juvenile snakes in Xi Mountain, as ancestors had used it for generations to scare disobedient serpent cubs.