Primordial World: The Green Snake Only Wants to Cultivate Immortality, Blood Sea, Asura Realm.
Minghe sat at the head of the Asura Hall, looking down at the hundred beings below, the Four Asura Kings, the Four Demon Kings, the Celestial Consort Wumo, and a host of Asura generals, receiving the worship of all Asuras. He couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment. Now, his Blood Sea Asura Realm had nine great powers and tens of Daluo, making it a top-tier force in all the heavens.
Thinking of this, he smiled and said to the cold and handsome youth sitting beside him, "Eight-headed Daoist friend, are you truly leaving?"
Qi nodded and said, "I have cultivated all I can here. It is time to return to my mountain."
Minghe was regretful, "It is indeed a pity to lose such a supreme power as yourself. I am reluctant to see you go."
Just as Baqi was about to say something, he suddenly turned his head and looked towards the entrance.
Minghe followed his gaze. A Daoist suddenly stood at the entrance of the hall, a faint smile on his face, his eyes, like the starry sky, looking at him.
His heart startled, and he quickly rose and bowed, "Minghe greets the Sage of All Beings!"
All the Asura Kings in the hall heard this and immediately bowed, "We respectfully wish the Sage well-being!"
Qingling nodded and said, "Everyone, please rise."
Only then did they dare to straighten up.
Qi smiled, a rare sight, "Brother."
Qingling's smile softened, "Qi, it seems it is time for you to return to your mountain and wash away the karma of bloodshed."
Qi nodded and walked to his side.
Minghe said with a smile, "Sage, why do you grace our Asura Realm with your presence today? Do you have any commands?"
Qingling's smile faded slightly, and he said, "Daoist Minghe, we have known each other for many years, so I will be direct. I have come to the Blood Sea today to ask for a treasure."
Minghe's heart skipped a beat, but he still smiled and said, "May I ask which treasure in my Blood Sea the Sage desires?"
"The Asura Banner!"
Minghe's heart relaxed, but at the same time, a pang of pain shot through him. He had feared that Qingling would ask for the Yuantu and Abi swords, or the Karma Fire Red Lotus. But the Asura Banner was also one of the Five Directional Banners of Heaven and Earth, formed from a leaf of the 36th-grade Chaos Green Lotus, possessing infinite wondrous uses. He was also reluctant to part with it.
"This..." Minghe hesitated, "The Asura Banner is already merged with the destiny of my Asura religion and is the treasure that guards the sect. May I ask if the Sage could accept something else in exchange?"
Qingling sighed inwardly upon seeing this. After all, times had changed, and people's hearts were fickle. However, he did not show it. He reached out and produced an item, saying, "This is the seventh gourd from the gourd vine of Mount Buzhou. I have already nurtured the supreme dao of killing within it. Once your Asura clan refines it, you can forge a true Asura Banner, which would be far more suitable than the Xuan Yuan Water Control Banner."
Minghe's face lit up with joy, and he said with a smile, "Since the Sage requires it, Minghe is naturally willing to comply."
Qi saw this and asked, "Brother, why do you not want his Karma Fire Red Lotus?"
Minghe's heart twitched, and he instantly wanted to shut Qi up.
Qingling shook his head and smiled, "The five lotus platforms are the children of the Chaos Green Lotus, and the Five Directional Banners are its leaves. I have no use for these lotus platforms."
Minghe's heart relaxed, but he also remembered Qingling's words. Every word and deed of a Sage held deep meaning, and he naturally would not take it lightly.
Qingling, with Qi and the Xuan Yuan Water Control Banner, left the Blood Sea and then went alone to the Heavenly Court's Jade Pond.
In the Jade Pond, the Queen Mother smiled and said, "Why does the Sage have time to visit my Jade Pond today?"
Qingling smiled and waved his hand, and four streams of treasure light—blue, red, yellow, and blue—appeared.
The Queen Mother's expression instantly changed, "Azure Lotus Treasure Color Banner, Flame Light Banner, Earth Gentry Apricot Yellow Banner, Xuan Yuan Water Control Banner. The Sage truly has remarkable abilities and grand plans to have gathered the Heaven and Earth Five Directional Banners. However, I wonder how the Sage intends to take my last banner, the Plain Colored Cloud Boundary Banner?"
Qingling smiled and said, "Three Kalpas make one Epoch. The Jade Emperor has two more Kalpas to reign. First, Buddhism will fall, and then the Three Realms will fall. After this Epoch, the Queen Mother of the Jade Pond will be the co-ruler of the Three Realms, revered above all realms!"
The Queen Mother's expression grew serious, "How will the Six Sages agree to this?"
Qingling smiled, "I will naturally persuade the Six Sages. Moreover, at that time, not only will the immortals of your Western Kunlun Plane support you, but the Dragon and Phoenix tribes, the Asura Realm, Mount Fuyu, the Hall of All Beings, and the Demon Realm will all support you in ascending to this position. Then, the prestige of the Heavenly Court will rise above all realms!"
The Queen Mother's expression was calm, "Very well, I shall give up this Immortal Gathering Banner. I believe the Sage will not disappoint me!"
Qingling smiled, "Thank you for your magnanimity, fellow Daoist."
...
Qingling, carrying the Five Directional Banners, knocked on the door of Wa Huang Palace.
Lingzhuzi, who had returned, opened the door and respectfully bowed, "Greetings, Sage!"
Qingling smiled and asked, "What, is your empress not here?"
Lingzhuzi shook his head and said, "Please forgive me, Sage. My empress said that you have caused such a great calamity, it is best not to provoke you."
Qingling chuckled, "So, fellow Daoist Nuwa blames me for prematurely triggering the immeasurable Kalpa. But is fellow Daoist Nuwa truly willing to watch the beings of the Primordial World suffer?"
"Never mind, disciple, let him in," a sigh came from inside the palace.
Qingling walked into the palace and said with a smile, "I will thank you on behalf of all beings."
Nuwa sighed, "Why do you thank me?"
Qingling flipped his hand, and the Five Directional Banners descended. Five divine lights faintly interlocked, and the Great Dao boomed, encircling Nuwa.
Nuwa hesitated for a moment, "So that's how it is. Then I will help you one last time. Only this time! Henceforth, I will owe nothing to the beings of the Primordial World."
Qingling nodded with a smile, "Your great virtue!"
The gates of Wa Huang Palace closed, forming a separate realm. The divine light of the Five Directional Banners illuminated. Qingling took out the Heaven-Reaching Rope, the Blue Jade Umbrella, the Primordial Golden Dou... taking out one innate spiritual treasure after another formed from the Chaos Green Lotus.
Nuwa was surprised, "Daoist friend, you are even willing to part with your protective treasures?"
Qingling shook his head, "These are ultimately external possessions."
Nuwa nodded, took out the Qiankun Cauldron, and sighed, "This time, the origin of the treasure cauldron will be injured."
As her voice fell, she pointed at the Qiankun Cauldron. The lid opened wide, and the Five Directional Banners fell into the cauldron. The spiritual treasures then fell into the cauldron, arranged according to the stellar formations, guarding the Five Directional Banners of Heaven and Earth.
Qingling and Nuwa sat cross-legged facing each other. One revealed the origin of the Wood Dao's vitality, the other revealed the origin of the Grand Dao of Creation. One drew the spirit of the infinite starry sky outside the Primordial World, the other invoked the boundless chaos tide. The Qiankun Cauldron served as the furnace, Creation as the craftsman, Yin and Yang as the fuel, and the spiritual treasures as the metal. All changes, ultimately returning to one.
The stars outside the realm were fragments of the shattered Chaos Green Lotus, the Five Directional Banners of Heaven and Earth were the most important leaves of the Chaos Green Lotus, and the spiritual treasures like the Heaven-Reaching Rope, the Blue Jade Umbrella, and the Primordial Golden Dou were its auxiliary leaves. The refining within the Qiankun Cauldron was to break through the shackles of the innate, to return to the lotus. Creation served as the craftsman, and the Wood Dao provided the life force, reviving the dead.
Qingling deduced the Creation Green Lotus for countless Kalpas, and after countless Kalpas of planning, he finally succeeded.
After more than a hundred Kalpas, a wave of vitality swept across all the myriad realms. Powerful beings, both shocked and greedy, looked towards the heavens. Saints were astonished.
A twenty-four-petal Creation Green Lotus reappeared in the world, born against the heavens!
The several Sages immediately understood everything. Even though they had been schemed against, they could not help but praise the grand scheme!
It turned out that the so-called "Slaying of the Heavens" earlier, which rallied the strength of a hundred races to follow the trend, was to create space for the birth of this lotus. Otherwise, the heavenly punishment at this moment would never allow it. If the lotus was formed to slay the heavens, it would be for selfish reasons, and who among all beings would willingly accept it?
Qingling reversed the Kalpa, freeing all beings from the cycle of killing. He drew upon the emotions of all beings, destroyed the Heavenly Dao to achieve his goal, offered them benefits, established trust, and schemed with his heart. When the lotus was formed, the heavens were destroyed, and it was a natural progression.
Laozi sighed, "What a grand scheme, what a grand scheme. It has made all beings lose their suffering."
Laozi rose and headed towards the heavens. The Two Sages of the West also rose and headed towards the heavens. The Sages of Chan and Jie naturally followed. They all needed an explanation.