"Indeed, the identity of kin is so useful. I didn't expect that just by mentioning it casually, it agreed on the spot."
"What?" Hearing the answer provided by Lin Ling, Wang Xuanba's expression changed.
"To form an alliance with that old thing? Sister, are you serious?"
Standing before the Leyline Ancient Tree with such deference made Wang Xuanba feel somewhat disdainful.
"It was merely a ploy to deceive it. An alliance..."
"It's worthy?" Lin Ling's tone was calm, but the deep disregard in her words was unmistakable.
"Now that it has joined the Holy Dynasty, could it possibly go back on its word? If it dares to bring up this matter in front of me..." Lin Ling scoffed coldly.
Wang Xuanba was taken aback.
Being someone who somewhat valued promises, he found it hard to accept Lin Ling's blatant breach of promise.
Seeing this, Lin Ling couldn't help but break into a smile. "Brother, as they say, all is fair in war."
"To treat an enemy as if one must do as they say and achieve what they promise, wouldn't that be folly?"
Wang Xuanba was left speechless.
"Besides, brother, do you still remember the instructions from our master before we went to the Leyline Ancient Tree?" Lin Ling asked.
"Of course I remember. Master said, if the ancient tree is stubbornly ignorant, sister you may replace it," Wang Xuanba recalled and said.
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"The Leyline Ancient Tree, its name is indeed mighty. I had some expectations originally, but after seeing it in person, I was left only with disappointment," Lin Ling's answer slightly startled Wang Xuanba.
"Weak, too weak. The strongest aspect of the Leyline Ancient Tree is its unity with the Xuan Huang Ley Lines, enabling it to harness the rushing power of the ley lines across Xuan Huang. This is its characteristic and advantage, but it also sets the limits for the tree. Moreover, the body of the Leyline Ancient Tree is too large, presenting many flaws in the eyes of a true master," Lin Ling shook her head slightly.
"My dream is to become a person like our master. If I really became that Leyline Tree, although my strength would indeed leap in the short term, it would mean the end of any future prospects. I'm not stupid."
"I could only fool that old thing and continue my role."
Lin Ling rolled her eyes at Wang Xuanba. "Brother, what kind of person do you think I am?"
Wang Xuanba, feeling a bit embarrassed, scratched his head and immediately apologized on the spot, "I underestimated you, sister."
He turned to look at the Leyline Ancient Tree in the Saint Emperor Seat, nodding in agreement. "XuanHuang Ancient Objects, though powerful, rely only on the power of the Xuanhuang Heaven Path Laws. If the Xuanhuang Heaven Path is strong, they naturally rise with the tide. But if it's like today, where figures like the Law Transmitter trample it underfoot, they can only struggle to survive, hiding in dark corners reminiscing about past glory."
"Didn't expect you to be so cultured, brother. Quite eloquent," Lin Ling said, not knowing whether she was sincerely praising or slightly retaliating with a sarcastic dig.
"I didn't think that much, just plainly thought it was strong enough."
"No more talk, I'm off to cultivate. Having swallowed some of that old thing's body, I indeed gained something. Had I known, I should have been more ruthless and swallowed more," Lin Ling's voice tinged with regret echoed in Wang Xuanba's ears.
A moment later, her figure gradually faded, and her presence vanished.
Wang Xuanba smiled wryly, chiding himself for overthinking.
...
Xuanhuang World, Tianyu Province.
A site famous within the Immortal Alliance.
A rift hundreds of miles long meandered across the land like a dark scar.
Even without approaching, one could faintly feel the endless icy intent emanating from the rift.
The closer one got to the rift, the more rapidly the temperature dropped.
Even Golden Core Cultivators could hardly endure the low temperatures for long and could not linger.
At the bottom of the rift, blue glimmers occasionally burst forth.
That was the freezing energy of Ice.
But standing beside the rift and looking down,
One could see that within this Cold Ice Abyss, numerous flames formed into lotuses were blooming.
They were not cold flames, but truly fiery hot lotuses.
Cold and heat, utterly contradictory yet interwoven here in the Cold Ice Abyss where they starkly coexisted.
Great Enthroned Faceless Saint Emperor, Li Ping's figure, suddenly appeared outside this spectacular scene of the Abyssal Icefire Lotus.
Like many visitors who came to this place, he stood quietly, gazing downward.
"Gifted by nature, creations mysterious."
After a long while, Li Ping couldn't help but express his awe internally.
To his eyes, the scene here was not quite the same as what other cultivators saw.
The blue-colored Cold Ice Abyss actually exuded a deep aura of death.
Pitch black, suffocating.
While the fiery red lotuses, were pure white, radiating vigorous life.
It seemed to be a mingling of cold and heat, but in reality, it was...
"Black Abyss White Flower, Dead Abyss Flower of Life."
Li Ping took a step forward, suddenly fell through the void, and plummeted swiftly into the depths of the Black Abyss.
Yet his disappearance went unnoticed by the surrounding cultivators.
At this moment, from Li Ping's perspective, the surroundings abruptly stretched and twisted.
Though the white Flowers of Life seemed not far away, Li Ping had been falling for quite some time, yet he hadn't gotten any closer to them.
The entire space of the Black Abyss, with Li Ping's descent, endlessly expanded and extended.
What followed, was the correspondingly increasing dense aura of death.
Feeling the death energy around trying to infect him, Li Ping sneered internally, but didn't pay it much mind.
If it were an ordinary cultivator, even one in the Realm of Unification, their lifespan would drastically decrease under the erosion of this Black Death Aura.
But he, Saint Emperor Li Ping, was the Incarnation of Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, a part of Xuanhuang Law. Even if it was an uncontrollable part, how could it harm him?
Ever since he forcibly devoured the Xuanhuang malevolent thoughts, Saint Emperor Li Ping indeed felt that the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao seemed to have become somewhat distant.
However, Li Ping was convinced that this was just the instinctual reaction of the Heavenly Dao after devouring the malevolence.
Given some more time, the bond between him and the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao would ultimately return to normal.
Although they are currently in a weak period of their relationship, it was still not something to be shaken by the death aura of this place.
True to his expectations, even without taking any protective measures, Saint Emperor Li Ping remained inviolate like an impenetrable fortress, and the Black Death Aura merely swirled around him, finding no breach.
Li Ping's gaze pierced through the dense death aura, staring directly at the Bai Hua of life below.
"At the border of life and death, the origin of all Wanspirit."
"The Xuanhuang World has now become like this, merely hiding in this secret realm, lingering on with the last gasp of life…"
"What use have I for you!"
A sense of grim determination suddenly arose from Saint Emperor Li Ping.
He forced the surrounding death aura to retreat.
"Stand down for your Emperor!"
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With a low shout from Li Ping, a pathway unexpectedly split open through the layers of death aura below him.
Space stopped stretching, Saint Emperor Li Ping's form went floating, passing through it in an instant.
A rich vitality faced him, the white Bai Hua of life was within arm's reach.
The black clouds of death, floating above, lingered for a long time.
Facing the rich vitality, Li Ping's heart suddenly felt somewhat solemn.
Compared to the pure Death Aura, an excess of useless vitality seemed more like a deadly poison.
Because fundamentally, vitality is a beneficial state.
As the Incarnation of the Heavenly Dao, Li Ping naturally could enjoy this favor from Heaven and Earth.
He didn't know how many years had passed since a cultivator not repulsed by Heaven and Earth had come to this place.
The vitality accumulated beside the Black Abyss White Flower for thousands of years now seemed to finally have found an outlet, rushing crazily towards Saint Emperor Li Ping.
Even though he intended to stop it, he could not counteract the overwhelming quantity of vitality here.
It was inevitable that some of it would surge into Saint Emperor Li Ping's body.
Vitality indeed would bring certain benefits.
But Li Ping was not a cultivator of the Immortal Cultivator who relied purely on his Cultivation Base.
The Essence of Source Power, Holy Dynasty's Luck, and the Heavenly Dao's blessing…
Under the combination of various forces, he had already reached a strength comparable to that of the Immortal Realm.
Li Ping's state had already reached a State of Balance with his ascension.
Now, this balance was slowly being disrupted by the incessant influx of endless vitality.
Li Ping's hair, as if coming alive, grew wildly.
In just a moment, it had already spread to his ankles.
His body was swelling in sync.
One zhang, two zhang...
Amidst the creaking sounds of bones, it only took Li Ping a few breaths to become a thirty-foot giant.
His presence was even more majestic, but it was not a good thing for Saint Emperor Li Ping now.
Frowning slightly, he tried to transform and absorb the surging vitality as much as possible.
But the speed of reduction was far slower than the speed of growth.
While maintaining the balance of the various forces within his body, Li Ping examined his surroundings, looking for a way to enter Ruo Mu's hiding place.
After devouring Xuanhuang malevolent thoughts, there was very little in the Xuanhuang World that could escape his eyes.
Even if the memories of the malevolence were somewhat faded, as long as he saw them with his own eyes, he would quickly be able to sense them again.
In a flicker of his figure, Saint Emperor Li Ping disappeared at the bottom of the Black Abyss.
Without a target to infuse into, the vitality suddenly became somewhat aimless. The white flowers swayed gently and had no choice but to reabsorb the vitality.
In a world full of Strange Phenomena, like faded yellow leaves, the nearly fifty-foot tall Li Ping suddenly appeared.
The boundless vitality he carried spilled out from his body and spread into the surroundings.
But in this bizarre environment, it seemed utterly unable to propagate.
Soon after, like autumn leaves falling, it turned into desiccated solids, floating down from the air.
Having found a way to release the unwanted vitality, Saint Emperor Li Ping gradually expelled the culprits of imbalance from his body.
His size gradually shrank.
But due to the short time before, the state of balance within his body had already changed.
When Li Ping reverted to normal, some details of his body did not revert with him, instead becoming a part of his physical characteristics.
For example, his height remained at nine feet, with hair dark as ink that fell to his waist.
His figure also became fuller, exploding with power beneath his golden robe.
Li Ping did not pay particular attention to these changes.
They were merely external appearances, and if he wished, he could revert to his original form at any time.
At this moment, however, his attention was focused on the peculiar surroundings.
The decayed scent flowing here even made him somewhat uncomfortable.
What concerned him more was the center of this place.
An enormous tree stood silent, reaching into the sky yet withered yellow and covered in spots.
Even as a giant nine feet tall, Li Ping was no more than an ant at the base of the great tree.
Countless cultivators hung densely from the withered yellow branches.
Like fruits laden on a tree.
They were all with their eyes closed, their faces wearing strange and contented expressions.
Li Ping's gaze swept over them, and besides this withered ancient tree, he found no other figures.
"Is it just the true body here..."
Li Ping knew that Ruo Mu had an incarnate that often went out to lure cultivators here, producing Golden Core Fruits to vent its internal resentment.
It seemed that at this moment, the incarnate had gone out.
Li Ping was not in a hurry, continuing his careful observation of this space.
On the towering trunk of the tree, one could vaguely see deep engravings, as if it had received some fatal injury.
Li Ping narrowed his eyes, trying to awaken the connection between this object of the world and the Xuanhuang Heaven Path.
Maybe due to the contamination of the withered yellow, Li Ping's call did not receive any response.
Instead, it provoked the old tree's innate defense.
Tiny specks of decay followed the veins of the great tree from the ground beneath Li Ping's feet, starting to erode.
Li Ping deliberately let down his guard, absorbing a wisp of the decay into his body.
He enveloped it with the Essence of Golden Source Energy to prevent it from spreading, and then observed carefully.
The force of decay was strange indeed, yet it could not break the seal of the Essence of Source Power.
Li Fan felt more from this decayed force than just the common sense of aging.
He sensed, it seemed, the decline of the entire world.
As if the heavens were about to fall, presenting an irreparable and evident decline.
"This is..."
"The world is heading towards ruin."
In his Spirit Consciousness, countless images emerged, all from the Various States of the Xuanhuang World, scenes of natural disasters befalling due to the decline of Heaven and Earth.
But Li Ping knew that in reality, these state regions of the Xuanhuang World had not experienced these events that should have occurred.
"Ruo Mu is indeed the source of all spirits in the Xuanhuang World and to a certain extent, it truly reflects the vitality of the Xuanhuang World."
"Nowadays, Ruo Mu has become this way, yet the Xuanhuang World still appears vibrant..."
Li Ping frowned slightly.
He quickly learned the answer.
"If there were no infusion of external vitality, the Xuanhuang World would definitely decay in sync with Ruo Mu."
"The source of this vitality is..."
"Fragments of the Cultivation World being devoured."
"Although they have been dismembered, during the Fusion process, the remaining vitality was drawn from those Fragments of the Cultivation World."
"Thus, Xuan Huang was reborn..."
Li Ping thoughtfully said,
"This celestial surgery is indeed exquisitely unmatched."
As a Heavenly Dao Incarnation, nominally a victim, he could not help expressing sincere admiration after coming to terms with what had transpired over these thousands of years.
"Life and death are unpredictable. Death and life are unpredictable."
"I was once an existence that controlled life and death, yet now I've fallen to this state."
"The world wants to abandon me, how could I not harbor hatred..."
While Li Ping was lost in thought, a strange voice suddenly rose from behind him and faded without a trace.
Li Ping knew that the owner of the voice was none other than Ruo Mu.