Qing Ling had been in this world for a thousand years, yet his cultivation remained at the Earthly rank.
Fortunately, with the aid of the Yang Qi Refining Godhead, he had finally reached the peak of the Earthly rank and was poised to ascend to the Heavenly rank.
Above the Earthly rank was the Heavenly rank. Further beyond the Heavenly rank were the Golden Immortal Venerables. The path of a Golden Immortal led to Taiyi, and above Taiyi was the Great Luo Golden Immortal.
Below the Earthly rank was the Profound rank, where beings awakened their intellect and began cultivation. Below the Profound rank was the Mortal rank, populated by all life forms devoid of spirit and intellect.
Despite being a congenital deity, even a demigod with a damaged godhead was still a deity and possessed inheritances.
However, matters of the Dao could not be taken lightly. He still needed to seek counsel from a senior expert.
Qing Ling ascended, entering the heart of Mount Tai Chong, where a colossal mountain cave, a hundred zhang tall, stood majestically.
A faint, hazy golden light shield floated above the cave entrance, its magical essence circulating. Though thin, it exuded an aura of invincibility.
Qing Ling took two steps forward, bowed respectfully, and said softly, "Qing Ling pays his respects to Granny."
His clear voice, though not loud, carried immense penetration, reaching into the cave. After a moment, the golden light at the cave entrance abruptly retracted, and an ancient yet robust voice echoed out, "Qing'er, come in."
"Yes." Qing Ling withdrew his bow and rose, stepping into the cave.
Inside, it was a vast, spacious cavern, a hundred zhang high. Golden spiritual flowers, spaced every three zhang along the stone walls, bloomed, their stamens emitting a soft golden light that illuminated the ancient, unadorned cavern.
In the center of the cave stood a stone pillar, about a zhang thick, rooted deep into the earth. Spiritual light flowed around it, and the essence of the Metal Dao was inscribed within the pillar, clearly indicating its extraordinary nature.
Atop this pillar sat a petite old woman in a meditative posture. Three golden divine flowers bloomed above her head, through which the Tai Geng Dao essence of the void flowed. The heavenly flowers connected to the vast heavens, the earthly flowers grounded to the boundless earth, and the human flower bound her own form into a triad, harmonizing with the elements to form a tri-component formation. With each opening and closing, it subtly resonated with the Great Dao of Metal in this realm.
The three flowers above the old woman’s head slowly receded into her spiritual platform. She opened her clouded eyes, her golden irises now brighter, dispelling the turbidity. Her pure Dao aura was withdrawn into her body, giving her an air of returning to primal simplicity. This was the matriarch of the Xi Mountain Serpent Clan, Granny Hua Geng!
Upon seeing this, Qing Ling smiled joyfully and said, "Congratulations, Granny, on your three flowers reaching perfection. Your Dao fruit is imminent!"
The old woman chuckled lightly. One moment she was sitting atop the stone pillar, and the next she stood three feet before Qing Ling.
"It is merely the result of refining Qi and nurturing the Dao. By the way, you have not emerged for decades. Are you here today to prepare for your breakthrough to the Heavenly rank?" Granny Hua Geng asked the young man before her with a half-smile.
"Indeed, nothing escapes Granny’s notice. Qing'er is indeed preparing to break through to the Heavenly rank!" Qing Ling met Granny Hua Geng’s gaze and replied with a soft smile.
"Hmm, you were supposed to break through to the Heavenly rank three hundred years ago. Alas, that scoundrel Mo Chan inflicted severe injuries on you, and you spent three centuries recovering," Granny Hua Geng said with a touch of regret. "Your demigod body is far more than a mere Earthly rank. It seems I was remiss in my protection of you back then."
Qing Ling comforted her, "Granny, why blame yourself? At that time, Qing'er was only at the Earthly rank. If I had disregarded the clan's rules and teachings, it would surely have displeased others in the clan. Moreover, if Granny had not arrived in time, Qing'er would have perished at Mo Chan's hands."
Qing Ling couldn't help but recall three hundred years ago. He had already reached the perfection of the Earthly rank and was about to break through to the Heavenly rank. However, it was time for the decennial Earthly rank trials within the clan.
Despite the clan leader's favor, he was bound by the ironclad rule passed down through three generations of the clan.
All Earthly rank clan members were required to serve a century-long rotation at the clan's border to participate in tribal wars and battles.
Those who had achieved cultivation did not need to rely on blood food for sustenance. However, such individuals were a minority. The majority of the clan members who had not cultivated needed blood food to survive.
Qing Ling then proceeded to the southern border of the clan territory, near the boundary with the Fiery Toad clan. The Mortal rank members of both tribes hunted and preyed upon each other.
That day, as the sun was about to set and the moon was about to rise, in a wide valley, over a thousand snakes or pythons of various colors and sizes lay coiled on the grass, their heads raised, tongues flicking, hissing incessantly, sending shivers down one's spine.
Opposite the thousand snakes were thousands of fiery red toads, their skin bumpy and bulging. They croaked continuously, facing the serpents.
Among the toad swarm, a colossal toad, a hundred zhang in size, was flanked by the others, clearly its leader.
Qing Ling descended from the sky above the serpent swarm, his red robes billowing, his hair flowing in the wind, his face exquisitely beautiful. He captivated the thousand serpents and stunned the toads, whose eyes widened and whose croaks grew more urgent. Sticky saliva even dripped from their mouths, forming long strands that fell to the grass.
Qing Ling couldn't help but smile, further bewitching these lowly creatures. Truly, a toad dreaming of eating divine snake meat.
It was no wonder these mortal-ranked creatures had such weak restraint, for Qing Ling, as the deity of Spring, possessed divine aura. Spring represented reproduction and renewal, its nature akin to light. Spring was a season conducive to mating.
To these beasts, he was like a walking pheromone. Qing Ling stepped through the void towards the front, his left eye of glazed jade and his right eye of profound black fixed on the colossal toad.
The giant toad also looked at him, their eyes meeting. The toad's large eyes were placid, while Qing Ling's were filled with the ripple of spring.
Qing Ling suddenly raised his head, opened his mouth, and flicked out a serpentine tongue, emitting a hiss. The invisible sound waves entered the minds of the thousand serpents.
The serpents below immediately received their orders, flicking their tongues, their bodies coiling into S-shapes, and charging towards the toad swarm. Several enormous, patterned pythons led the charge, spitting out various colored lights that swept across the toad horde, leaving severed toad corpses in their wake.
Within the toad swarm, several giant toads opened their mouths and spewed forth red flames, incinerating the serpent group. The Fiery Toads refined the serpents.
The mortal-ranked snakes, lacking cultivation, fought the toad swarm with venomous fangs, constriction, or their nascent innate abilities.
Some pythons, while devouring toads, were incinerated into charred corpses by the flames spat out by other toads. Others were smashed into pulp by the tail sweep of a massive python. Toads swallowed pythons, and pythons swallowed toads…
As the lowest of creatures in the Primordial World, their wars knew no surrender or mercy, only life and death. Death meant becoming food, while life meant consuming food.
Serpent corpses littered the ground, and toad blood flowed everywhere. The tribes would not cease until sufficient blood food was obtained.
Qing Ling, with his dual-colored eyes, gazed at the colossal toad across the serpent-toad battlefield. He then reached behind him and pulled, his tied hair cascading down like a waterfall. The green hair ribbon fluttered to the ground. His hair, now unbound, danced in the wind. A leisurely smile played on his handsome, heroic face, causing the giant toad to momentarily falter. He then pointed his finger.
The next instant, nine incredibly slender blue threads shot out from beneath the ground around the giant toad, ascending three hundred zhang into the air. They converged and intertwined in mid-air, trapping the giant toad within.
The giant toad finally reacted, its mountain-like body slamming fiercely against the blue web woven from the nine threads. However, the slender threads remained utterly unshaken.
Qing Ling chuckled, shaking his head. This toad, though possessing Earthly rank strength, lacked true sentience after its transformation and lost the advantage on the battlefield. Such a creature was unworthy of surviving in the Primordial World. Was it not about to die today?
His blue silk net was the innate spiritual treasure, the Nine-Layered Celestial Confinement Rope, a companion spiritual treasure. Though his Earthly rank cultivation could not fully unleash the treasure's might, the innate toughness of the nine ropes woven into a net was something an Earthly rank cultivator could not break.
The hair ribbon that fell to the ground was the treasure's本体 (original form). The moment it touched the earth, the silk threads penetrated beneath the giant toad. At Qing Ling's gesture, they were unleashed, trapping the toad.
Having gained the initiative, Qing Ling wasted no time. He extended his right palm, and the godhead within his palm activated. The Spring God wielded the cycle of life. When reversed, all things perished.
An ancient rune of the word "Life" emerged from his palm and slowly floated towards the trapped giant toad. Even as its body blazed with intense true fire and it spewed forth poisonous liquid, it could not damage the nine blue threads in the slightest. It could only be confined in place, with more and more blue threads wrapping around its limbs and binding its entire body.
The "Life" rune slowly floated forward, landing on the giant toad's heavenly spirit aperture, which offered no resistance. The giant toad immediately trembled, its eyes rolled back, and it let out a chaotic series of croaks. Its short, stout legs straightened, as if enduring immense pain.
At this moment, it felt the life force within its body rapidly draining, converging and being drawn into its heavenly spirit aperture. Was the pain of life stripping not ordinary? It was a supreme agony that directly affected the soul, and at this moment, the giant toad felt that death itself could not alleviate its suffering. This pain filled it with despair and hopelessness.
In mere seconds, the giant toad's body suddenly sagged. Its skin and flesh became ancient and decayed, its life force completely stripped away.
A speck of green light emerged from its spiritual platform and slowly flew back, landing in Qing Ling's hand.
Qing Ling ceased his hand seal. His face instantly turned pale. His demigod spiritual body was, after all, not a true god's spiritual body. Wielding divine authority was too strenuous.
The next moment, Qing Ling turned his head. His long hair, without wind, began to rise. His blue hair grew longer and longer, transforming into a vast expanse of blue threads that pierced through the bodies of the remaining toads below who were still fighting. How could these mortal and Profound rank beasts withstand his attack?
Thousands of toads fled in terror. Even when they escaped a thousand zhang away, a line of blue light still pierced through them, their bodies stiffening, their croaks the final murmurs of the dying.
Black hair three thousand zhang long, sweeping the ground and covering the toad corpses. The youth's dual pupils held menace, turning his head with ruthless killing intent.
As his long hair retracted and coiled behind him, the ferocity of the slaughter quietly subsided. It was just black hair, who would have thought this head of black hair could become a deadly weapon?
Qing Ling flicked his serpentine tongue again, emitting a hiss. The remaining serpents below immediately began to bite at the toad corpses scattered across the ground and carried them towards the serpent territory.
He stood in the high heavens, tidied his long hair behind him, and once again bound his beautiful hair with the green ribbon. It was truly unique for him to use an innate spiritual treasure as a hair tie. It was not that he did not cherish the spiritual treasure, but with his Earthly rank cultivation, he could not fully unleash its divine mystery. It could only be worn on his head, where it could produce unexpected effects in combat.
Qing Ling watched the serpents carrying toad corpses back and forth, his gaze somewhat distant. He had lost count of how many beings he had killed. His compassion had long since vanished.
The Heavenly Dao had not yet manifested, and the laws were incomplete. Who would judge his sins?
He only wanted to live, to live well. If I do not kill, then beings will kill me!
Born in the ancient Primordial World, survival and killing were intrinsically linked, with no contradiction.
The Tai Yin star emerged, its light bathing the vast world. The serpents had already returned. All spirits and beasts were absorbing the moonlight. The duty of guarding was complete, and he should return.
Qing Ling turned around, then paused.
Starlight flowed like water. Fireflies flickered amidst the flowing light, circling a old man in black robes.
The old man met Qing Ling's gaze and was instantly struck by his stunning appearance.