Qing Ling could not help but ask, "Only how?"
The old woman pondered for a moment before slowly replying, "It's just that the Grand Unity Golden Immortal is an existence among Golden Immortal Venerables who has either comprehended the Three Flowers Gathering on the Crown or reached the Five Qi Returning to the Origin, one of the two. They have already touched upon the mysteries of Grand Unity. This realm is the beginning of all conditioned phenomena transforming into unconditioned phenomena.
The Three Flowers Gathering on the Crown and the Five Qi Returning to the Origin are the manifestations of a Grand Unity Golden Immortal's aura. I am currently only at the completion of Three Flowers and the initial stage of Five Qi. To reach the realm of Grand Unity, even with逆天气运 (against heaven's luck) and obtaining the opportunity for Grand Unity, it will take several Yuan Hui (eons)."
Qing Ling smiled, "Don't I have the luck of a congenital deity to support you? As the leader of a clan, the old woman possesses immense luck, and naturally, she will obtain the opportunity for Grand Unity!"
"Enough. Stop trying to console me. Let me ask you, the Heavenly Rank, have you settled your Dao Seed?" The old woman turned to look at him and asked directly.
Qing Ling immediately replied, "The Earth Rank establishes the foundation of three lifetimes, and the Heavenly Rank obtains the Dao Seed of ten thousand lifetimes. Qing'er has naturally decided long ago. I plan to use..."
"Enough, you don't need to say it," the old woman interrupted him. "The Dao Seed is the precursor to the Dao Fruit of ten thousand lifetimes. Each has their own path, and one must judge it oneself. If you speak it out, no matter my attitude, it will affect your decision. I believe you are no ordinary person, and Xi Shan is small, it can accommodate you now. I hope in the future, you can accommodate Xi Shan."
Hua Geng, the old woman, a Golden Immortal Venerable with a fearsome reputation, looked at Qing Ling with eyes full of expectation and hope. She shed her high-and-mighty demeanor, acting merely as his elder, an old person who wishes for her descendant to succeed and achieve greatness.
Qing Ling's heart trembled slightly, and he said solemnly, "Thank you, Old Woman. Qing'er will surely remember your honored words."
Hua Geng, the old woman, smiled. She raised her hand to stroke his head as she had done in the past, but found that the little snake had grown. She patted Qing Ling's shoulder, and the wrinkles on her face seemed to lighten by a third. "The heavy responsibility of this clan will surely fall upon your shoulders in the future. Go, come to see me again after you have stepped into the Heavenly Rank."
Qing Ling respectfully replied, "Yes, when I return, I will surely break through to the Heavenly Rank."
Hua Geng, the old woman, watched Qing Ling leave with a smile, but the smile gradually faded, turning into helplessness. The Xi Shan Snake Clan had a lineage of twenty-seven Yuan Hui, and she was the third generation. In the Primordial World, the first clan leader of the Xi Shan Snake Clan was an ancestor who was a Grand Unity Golden Immortal. At that time, the Xi Shan Snake Clan was one of the ten great tribes of the Eastern Wilderness, possessing transcendent status. The second generation only had the Tai Yi realm. In her generation, there wasn't even a single Tai Yi Golden Immortal. There were no internal troubles, but external threats were becoming increasingly apparent. She hoped to see Qing Ling grow up. After all, the roots of a congenital deity could not be compared to the descendants of congenital beings like them.
...
Qing Ling returned to his cave dwelling and sealed Hundred Springs Valley, beginning a death seclusion. Hundred Springs Valley was located at the convergence of Xi Shan's water and earth spiritual脉 (veins), and it was also his residence as the Spring God, blessed with the reinforcement of the world's wood qi. It could be said to be a place where the three elements converged. Such a spiritual land was comparable to the residences of the two Golden Immortal Venerables, Elder Chi Li and Elder Shu, of the Xi Shan Snake Clan. As for the residences of the forty-two Heavenly Rank members of Xi Shan, they were naturally inferior to his Hundred Springs Valley.
Qing Ling walked to the edge of a pool more than twenty feet wide. With a wave of his hand, a nine-zhang long blue giant python shot out from the bottom of the pool, breaking the surface and looking at Qing Ling with its huge, ferocious snake head.
Qing Ling stroked the blue python's body and murmured, "You have been hidden under the water脈 (vein) for a hundred years, and you have indeed made some progress." This giant snake was named You. Although it appeared full of life, it had long lost its primordial spirit. The reason its body still had vitality was merely due to Qing Ling infusing it with life force. It had become a puppet without perception or intelligence, obeying only Qing Ling's commands.
"Go guard the entrance. Tell any snake who comes that I am in death seclusion." The giant python's mouth vibrated, emitting a hissing sound. Then, it twisted its body and crawled out of the valley entrance, coiling into a ball and blocking the entrance to Hundred Springs Valley with its body.
Qing Ling flew into the waterfall. The mountain cliff's water automatically parted, and behind the cascading water was a very deep stone chamber. Inside the stone chamber was his residence. Walking into the room, there was a stone bed, stone table, and stone chairs. Everything was simple. The dwelling of a small person did not need to be ostentatious or luxurious. The waterfall flowed ceaselessly day and night, and Qing Ling cultivated his qi and nourished his spirit ceaselessly.
Qing Ling sat cross-legged in the deepest part of the stone chamber's cultivation area. Beneath him was a cushion made from the first sprouts of ten thousand spiritual grasses and trees that emerged when spring returned to the earth, the first breath of life, combined and refined into a cushion for cultivating a calm mind and spirit. Within his spiritual platform was a primordial spirit doll with a human body and a snake's tail, its appearance identical to Qing Ling. However, at the center of the doll's forehead was inscribed a divine personality, on which were ancient and profound true patterns of the Great Dao, commanding: Assist Spring. These two Dao patterns originated from the grace of Great God Pangu when the Primordial World first opened, and they are the most mysterious foundations of the spirits of heaven and earth. However, on Qing Ling's divine personality, these two Dao patterns were clearly dim, and the "Spring" Dao pattern was missing a large portion. This was the reason he was only a demigod.
Within the dan tian of Qing Ling's Dao body was a vast green lake. The water in the lake, every drop, was formed by Qing Ling's continuous cultivation and absorption of heaven and earth spiritual qi day and night for thousands of years. There was no demon core or dharma core in the dan tian. The demon race possessed demon cores, which appeared only after the later establishment of demon script by the demon master Kunpeng and the spread of demon cultivation methods, which opened the era of ancient demon cultivation. In the current era of the three races, even the word "demon" had not yet appeared, so there were naturally no methods for refining demon cores. Qing Ling only absorbed heaven and earth primordial qi with his divine body, circulating it through the great heavenly circulation of his meridians, drawing the spiritual energy of heaven and the qi of earth, and transforming it into his own dharma. The capacity of this lake of dharma power far surpassed the limit attainable by an ordinary Earth Rank cultivator.
The Primordial World is a world that values one's origins. The background of a congenital deity's birth placed them far beyond ordinary beings from the start. Their later achievements naturally far surpassed other beings.
The Heavenly Rank is above the Earth Rank. This realm is the Heaven-Man Realm. One must first use their mind and spirit to summon the heavens and earth, then draw the power of heaven into the body and the mind, and then visualize the power of heaven drawn into the body. One then explores their own path, and finally condenses the conceived path into one, called the Dao Seed, which is planted within the dan tian and sea of qi, thus achieving an extraordinary connection with heaven and earth, stepping into the Heavenly Rank. Once the Dao Seed enters the body, it will open up the sea of qi and dan tian, which can accommodate more and vaster heaven and earth spiritual qi. Following this, the Heavenly Rank cultivator will nurture the Dao Seed, causing it to grow and strengthen until it opens the Dao Fruit. At that point, one can comprehend one of the 108,000 Great Daos of the heavens and become a Golden Immortal Venerable, with the Dao Seal entering the body, the spirit guiding one fundamental Dao, and existing eternally with heaven and earth, coexisting with the Great Dao, theoretically achieving immortality and indestructibility!
This sounds simple, but it is extremely difficult to achieve. In the vicinity of the Xi Shan Snake Clan, within a radius of several hundred million li, the number of living beings is already immeasurable. If ordinary realm beings are included, there are likely billions. However, there are only just over twenty Golden Immortal Venerables. One must know that this area near the East Sea is a prosperous region. Other places are far less populated than the areas near the East Sea, and Golden Immortal Venerables are even rarer. Each Golden Immortal Venerable is a strong individual forged through the baptism of time, countless calamities, and the tempering of life and death. They are beings revered by all living beings, hence they are called Venerables.
Qing Ling's Dao Seed, he had already conceived of it. What the Dao Seed is, the future Great Dao will be. For example, if Qi entered the Heavenly Rank, the Dao Seed he planted would be a sharp saber. The saber would merge with his soul, and the saber would enter his body. In the future, if Qi wished to step into the Golden Immortal realm, it would only be through the Dao of the Saber! Dao Seeds are unconstrained. The Dao Seeds planted by cultivators throughout the world are bizarre and varied, encompassing all things, with no fixed conclusion.
As the Assistant God of Spring, Qing Ling's thoughts were very simple. Since he was the God of Spring, he would plant a seed. It would merge with his body, and he would nurture it day and night, waiting for it to sprout and grow into a towering ancient tree!
In his secluded stone chamber, Qing Ling remained day and night, unaffected by winter or spring. He was drawing the spiritual qi of the entire earth脉 (vein) and the primordial qi of heaven to converge within himself, using his divine body to purify himself with the essence of heaven and earth. As Qing Ling's eyes opened and closed, ten cycles of spring and winter passed. Ten years later, Qing Ling's body had been washed and purified by the essence of heaven and earth, achieving a pure and untainted body.
Qing Ling no longer hesitated. His soul instantly summoned heaven and earth, drawing the power of heaven and earth into his body. Each cultivator draws a different kind of power from heaven and earth. What Qing Ling drew was the power of wood in heaven and earth. As a congenital deity, he naturally possessed an instinct to command the power of heaven and earth, and did not need to strive to sense the heavens and earth like ordinary beings.
Qing Ling now visualized in his mind a world where he was located, his mind gradually becoming clear and empty, his consciousness gradually fading. His primordial spirit's divine personality summoned the ten-li spring breeze, and the wood power within a radius of ten li manifested and was drawn into Hundred Springs Valley. Beyond ten li was the hundred-li warm wind, the thousand-li spring breeze, and the ten-thousand-li strong wind. It was currently winter. Snow covered Xi Shan, and many ordinary and profound realm members fell into hibernation. The Earth Rank members were mostly drowsy, and only the Heavenly Rank members were completely unaffected.
At this moment, Qi, still carrying his long saber, was searching the mountains on the four side peaks of Xi Shan. He walked through the snow-covered ground and suddenly felt a warm breeze. He curiously raised his head, scratched his neck, and looked towards the main peak of Xi Shan. Then, many Earth Rank and Heavenly Rank members also looked up.
They saw that on the Tai Chong main peak of Xi Shan, which was a hundred thousand zhang high, ten thousand li of verdant qi suddenly spread out. Xi Shan's snow melted into spring water, and the thousand-li winter cold gave way to spring. At this moment, not only were the Heavenly Rank members shocked, but even the two Golden Immortal elders deep within Xi Shan were astonished. Such a celestial phenomenon was by no means ordinary!