At this moment, the surrounding snakes became incredibly excited, their hissing in unison calling out, "Spring God! Spring God!"
The five Heavenly-level experts of the Azure Lizard tribe felt a jolt in their hearts. The divine statue floating above their heads was rumored to be a primordial deity worshipped by dozens of tribes, said to be possibly connected to the Ancestor of the Dragon tribe.
The elder with the azure face immediately bellowed, "Retreat!"
Even without a connection to the Dragon tribe, a single primordial deity with unfathomable divine abilities was not something they would dare to challenge. No one who survived in the Primordial World was a fool.
The five figures instantly scattered in five directions, fleeing individually.
But the divine statue of Qing Ling let out a light laugh, saying, "Too late!"
As his voice fell, the Heaven-Reaching Rope behind Qing Ling detached and instantly split into five. Five azure threads pierced through the air, covering thousands of miles in an instant, catching up to the five who had already fled thousands of feet away, at a speed far exceeding that of Heavenly-level experts.
Qing Ling said faintly, "Bind!"
The next moment, as the five slender azure threads moved, several shining divine patterns appeared. The threads crisscrossed the void, directly entangling the five Heavenly-level experts.
"Come!"
The five Heavenly-level experts, who had each fled in a different direction, were instantly bound by the azure threads and pulled back.
The five Heavenly-level Azure Lizard tribesmen were now filled with terror. The elder with the azure face said in shock and anger, "You are a Golden Immortal Venerable! To so easily attack and slaughter us, what about the order of the Dragon tribe?"
At this moment, all five were bound by a single azure thread. Their spiritual powers and souls were instantly imprisoned within their bodies by the primordial divine pattern of "seal," rendering them unable to move.
Meanwhile, Qi looked on in shock, "Brother, when did you become so powerful?"
Qing Ling ignored the words of the five Heavenly-level enemies and chuckled, "What? Scared because I'm powerful? Even your speech is stuttering now.
Watch, I'll show you what true Dao with no emotion is like. Don't be more afraid of me then!"
Without the Heaven-Reaching Rope holding it, Qing Ling's hair fluttered in the wind. He turned his head, and his hair, like a waterfall, grew longer and longer, three thousand feet of black hair filling the sky, weaving through the tens of thousands of lizards who were still in shock. Wherever the hair passed, scarlet flowers bloomed – they were the splatters of blood. The moment they bloomed, the moment they fell, it was the end of an Azure Lizard's life!
The blackness was like a demon, reaping the lives of countless Azure Lizards. Even with tens of thousands of lizards, not a single one could resist the piercing of Qing Ling's hair. Even Great Lizards of the Earthly level could not withstand the dense and terrifying piercing of ten or a hundred strands of hair.
This terrifying and utterly helpless slaughter shocked every snake and lizard present. Some of the Great Lizards were already filled with despair, while others had given up resistance. Several thousand Great Lizards threw themselves to their deaths, delaying the escape time for their tribesmen behind them. Amidst all the efforts, unwilling, and despair, it all eventually turned into a field of corpses and a sea of blood.
At this moment, the five Great Lizards of the Heavenly level looked at Qing Ling with wide-eyed horror.
"Hsss~"
"Sss...er~"
The two female and two male lizards uttered single, numb, and shocked tones.
Even Qi's throat rolled, and he swallowed. In his eyes, his brother had always been a noble and kind deity who cherished every flower and blade of grass, was willing to expend his spiritual power to heal injured tribesmen, respected the elders of the tribe, and loved the young snakes. In his heart, his brother was born perfect.
But today, he saw his brother's cruel and heartless side. The black hair that had been retracted behind him now emanated a dark gleam, lustrous and exceptionally beautiful. This was the beauty cultivated by countless flesh and essence!
The elder with the azure face remained stunned for a long time before he finally reacted, his voice trembling stiffly, "You... you are more ferocious than the demons in the Myriad Demon Domain of the Far West! You are a devil!"
Qing Ling continued to treat the five people as if they were air and said to Qi, "Do you think your brother is cruel? Heartless?"
Qi subconsciously nodded, then quickly shook his head.
"Qi, you revealed yourself just now, holding your saber but not striking, only deterring the lizards with your presence. You only drew your saber after the five Earthly-level lizards attacked you. And after you struck, you didn't continue the attack until these five crawling things surrounded you.
Qi, we are all ants, without the right to discuss aura. We can only live well. To live is to kill any enemy that can be killed! And to flee from any enemy that cannot be killed.
If you don't kill these Azure Lizards, it will be you who dies. Not just you, but the lives of everyone behind you, will perish because of your moment of mercy. Even the tens of thousands of your tribesmen to the west of your territory will die.
Remember, born in this era, all beings you face are divided into only two kinds."
Qi subconsciously asked, "What two kinds?"
Qing Ling said leisurely, "Enemies and non-enemies.
Enemies are also divided into two kinds. One is an enemy stronger than you. Facing such an enemy, you can only flee, without any dignity or pretense, as long as you survive.
The other kind of enemy is weaker than you. At this time, you are the cleaver and they are the fish. Regardless of their cultivation level, even if they are mere mortals, you must kill them, eradicate them! Your compassion towards an enemy today will be your cruelty towards yourself tomorrow. You must never give an enemy a chance to escape, otherwise, it will be you who is killed by a strengthened enemy in the future.
Non-enemies include your blood relatives, your fellow tribesmen, friends, mentors, or even strangers. To protect the people you wish to protect among the non-enemies, you must kill all enemies who can be killed!
Qi, as long as you live, do you understand?"
Qing Ling gazed at him intently, his killing intent gathering like ink, dark as clouds, standing in the high sky like an unparalleled god of slaughter!
Qi's mind was shaken; he was clearly unable to recover for a moment.
Qing Ling decided to let him have some quiet time alone. After all, he was just a child. Although he cultivated the Dao of the Saber, making his saber hard, sharp, and ruthless, the wielder of the saber had a compassionate heart. Qi's mindset ultimately needed to harmonize with the Dao of the Saber to achieve greatness!
Turning around, he looked at the five lizards still trapped by him. All five lizards' scalps tingled, their minds filled with fear.
As the elder with the azure face faced his fear, he muttered, "Such a person must never be provoked, or it will bring utter destruction to our tribe!"
At this moment, Qing Ling's killing intent completely vanished. He was still in his human form with a snake's tail, his demeanor as warm as the spring breeze, the compassionate Spring God. His peerless face held an expression of infinite beauty, inspiring reverence.
"Don't misunderstand, I am merely a Heavenly-level expert. The reason I captured you so easily was merely by borrowing external means.
As for slaughtering the low-level lizard folk, as long as no one is left alive, who would know? The great powers have profound magical abilities and would naturally know, but alas, even they wouldn't pay attention to our petty affairs.
Five of you, your questions are answered. It's time to send you on your way!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the four Heavenly-level lizard folk, one after another, either roared, pleaded, or wept. All of it was merely a struggle for survival!
Only the elder with the azure face remained unyielding, saying, "If you kill me, the Black Lizard Upper Tribe will surely come here to investigate, and then your entire Xi Mountain tribe will be annihilated!"
Qing Ling couldn't help but scoff, "You really think you're someone important.
You are merely vanguard cannon fodder, disposable. If you don't die, the vanguard will continue to advance and attack our tribe, and with you paving the way, the invasion will be even easier.
If you die, it will naturally provide an excuse to mobilize the main army. Therefore, no one cares about your life or death. Cannon fodder should have the awareness of cannon fodder. Let's set off peacefully, don't overthink it."
Although the elder with the azure face heard the word "cannon fodder" for the first time, he could easily guess its meaning. Instantly, his face finally lost its azure hue, turning ashen gray!
Qing Ling ignored the five people's pleas. Whether they cursed, cried, or begged, he was still going to send them on their way.
Five divine patterns emerged from his brow, transforming into five "Life" character Dao inscriptions. They slowly flew into the struggling eyebrows of the five individuals. The five people instantly trembled violently, enduring indescribable, immense pain. Their brilliant roars echoed through the night sky, chilling and utterly miserable.
The pain of extracting life force and spiritual power, how could it be compared to ordinary physical pain? This kind of pain truly made life worse than death. Although Qing Ling felt no pity for them, he absolutely did not want to experience how painful his divine ability was!
The life force of the five Heavenly-level great beasts slowly dissipated. Their struggles and screams grew weaker. In just a quarter of an hour, the five lizard folk were finally freed. Their bodies decayed and withered, leaving no possibility of survival.
Five "Life" character Dao inscription light clusters slowly flew into Qing Ling's brow. The five powerful life forces of the Heavenly level surged into Qing Ling's body. Under the purification and refinement of the divine personality core, they were directly converted into surging spiritual power and poured into his dantian. In the world of his dantian, a torrential rain began to fall. The spiritual power of the five Heavenly-level experts, painstakingly cultivated for hundreds of thousands of years, even after being purified and refined, losing more than half of its volume, was still the most immense source of spiritual power Qing Ling had obtained since he began cultivating the Dao!
In the dantian world, the pouring rain continued, and the water in the thousand-foot spiritual energy lake was also rapidly rising. This rapid accumulation of spiritual power was far faster than sitting in meditation to cultivate qi. Moreover, due to the miraculous nature of the divine personality, it removed impurities from the spiritual power, and the purity of the spiritual energy was no less than that obtained through painstaking personal cultivation.
It seemed that using the Dao of Life Force Plunder for battle to nurture cultivation was also a good method of cultivation!
Qing Ling's figure slowly descended, withdrawing from his state of merging with heaven and earth. The millions of miles of Xi Mountain territory had been influenced by his thirty thousand years of being the Spring God, and this region had merged with his being and spirit. Earlier, Qing Ling, in his divine form, had borrowed the power of this realm to activate the primordial divine prohibition of the Heaven-Reaching Rope, thus easily capturing the five Heavenly-level experts. If the five Heavenly-level experts had left the Xi Mountain territory, he would have had to fight a tough battle!
Within the Xi Mountain territory, he could borrow the power of heaven and earth. In his divine form, he could fight at a level close to a Golden Immortal Venerable. Among Heavenly-level experts, he would find few opponents.
But once he left home, outside of Xi Mountain, he was just a small snake in the early stage of the Heavenly level.
Qing Ling closed his eyes and began to meditate, refining the spiritual power within him. Qi naturally stood by to guard him.
At this moment, the three Earthly-level tribesmen finally stepped forward and said, "Many thanks to Uncle Qi and Uncle Qing for saving us."
Qi sighed silently. He looked at his tribesmen, who were covered in wounds, and at Qing Ling, who was meditating beside him. Perhaps his brother was right.
Although Qi looked like a ten-year-old boy, he had actually lived for at least fifty thousand years. These Earthly-level tribesmen indeed had to call him uncle.
"Alright, with the two of us guarding this place, you lead your troops back to Xi Mountain to recuperate. Also, tell my father to send another group of tribesmen here to garrison. The Azure Lizard tribe will attack again soon!"
Although the three Earthly-level tribesmen had the will to fight, they were injured soldiers and would only be a burden if they stayed here. Therefore, the snakes returned.
Qi remained by Qing Ling's side, from late night to dawn, then through another night, for ten days and ten nights.