The two of them returned to Xishan not for recuperation, but for reinforcement.
A typical Myriad Beast War would normally conclude within thirty to forty years, never exceeding fifty.
However, this current Myriad Beast War showed no signs of ending. Large numbers of lower-tier clansmen from the Southern Scarlet Toad tribe, along with the Scarlet Wood Toad tribe, had joined forces and advanced ten thousand miles towards Xishan.
From the west, the Spirit-Spotted Hyena tribe, in alliance with their natural predator, the Spirit Centipede tribe, had pushed twenty thousand miles towards Xishan, directly threatening the Xishan mountain range.
It was not that the Xishan tribe was weak. On the contrary, in terms of Golden Immortal battle power and the number of lower-tier clansmen, Xishan was the strongest among the surrounding ten tribes.
The reason their territory was being encroached upon was due to multi-front warfare, facing armies from four tribes simultaneously. In past Myriad Beast Wars, it was usually the Serpent tribe that launched attacks, even nearly annihilating the Scarlet Toad tribe on several occasions.
Fortunately, to the north of Xishan lay the Mountain River Giant Ape tribe, with their sparse population, never wasting surplus clansmen in such internal conflicts. But now, Xishan's situation was becoming increasingly perilous.
In the Myriad Beast War, only Heavenly ranks were allowed to fight; Golden Immortal Venerables of each tribe were forbidden to intervene unless their tribe faced annihilation.
This was the second of the Dragon tribe's twelve Ranks, and one of the two most severely punished legal Ranks.
These twelve Ranks were personally inscribed by the Dragon Tribe Leader, the Ancestral Dragon of Ten Thousand Dragons, upon twelve golden shells, each ten thousand feet long, with supreme divine might on the southeastern coast. Hence, they were also known as the Twelve Golden Laws, representing the supreme, majestic, and noble rule of the Dragon tribe.
This system of rule resembled the Twelve Tables, the first written law code of ancient Rome, and marked the initial transition from chaos to order on the Primordial World.
It was precisely due to the existence of the Twelve Ranks that the Eastern Barrens, a land of a thousand warring tribes, was able to preserve its strength and develop in a limited manner.
Xishan's current crisis arose because its growing strength had instilled deep fear in the surrounding tribes, prompting them to launch a unified assault on the Xishan Serpent tribe and slaughtering large numbers of their lower-tier clansmen.
Both the western and southern fronts were sending urgent pleas for aid. As an ancient tribe, the Xishan Serpent tribe had already begun employing all their hidden trump cards. Whether it was the hundreds of thousands of heroic souls in the Xishan Spiritual Mausoleum, various secret techniques, or powerful talismans, all had made the surrounding tribes tremble.
Even facing four tribes at once, they had managed to hold the western and southern battle lines within a twenty-thousand-mile radius of Xishan. If the enemy advanced further towards Xishan, they would reach the primary breeding grounds of the Xishan tribe's surrounding territories. As long as this area was not destroyed, Xishan would not be fundamentally crippled.
Qing Ling was stationed in the east, guarding the Green Wood Great Wall. Another five years passed, but the Myriad Beast War had still not ended.
Qi had also gone to the western battlefield, which was the most brutal. After all, the Centipede tribe was present. With their countless legs, centipedes were mortal enemies of the legless snakes, and their conflict was one that needed no cause for eternal hatred.
Through the tribe's communication methods, Qing Ling saw the ferocity of the battles in the west and south, and a chill ran down his spine.
At this time, the Myriad Beast War was largely over within the Eastern Barrens. Only a few places, similar to Xishan, were still embroiled in planned extermination wars. Those tribes with ambitions for great prosperity did not possess the centuries of heritage that Xishan did. They were almost entirely wiped out. Even with Golden Immortal Venerables intervening, if their lower-tier clansmen were annihilated and their breeding grounds ravaged, a tribe could be considered extinguished without technically ceasing to exist.
Although Qing Ling was extremely worried, he did not rashly depart.
On the eastern front, he was the only Heavenly rank. However, his presence alone was enough to deter the Green Lizard tribe. If it were any other Heavenly rank, the Green Lizard tribe might have sought revenge. But with Qing Ling here, no Heavenly rank dared to attack.
Below him were ten thousand serpent tribesmen, facing over two hundred thousand giant lizards. No matter how fiercely they fought, a Heavenly rank would not easily intervene.
But that did not mean intervention was impossible.
The snakes, relying on the Green Wood Great Wall, coiled on the vines, using the terrain to their advantage. The vines provided support for offense and a place to retreat and hide. The ten thousand serpents, fighting against twenty thousand lizards, still held their ground.
Qing Ling was alone here now. Among the Earth-rank reinforcements who had arrived, there wasn't a single shapeshifted clansman; all those who could shapeshift had gone to the other two battlefronts.
Therefore, with no one to guard him, he naturally could not afford to carelessly enter closed-door cultivation.
For the past fifty years, Qing Ling had been focused on one thing: refining puppets.
He had not only repaired You, who had taken another blow for him, but he had also successfully created Spirit Rhyme Puppets!
The puppets were not numerous, only twelve in total, but that was sufficient.
Qing Ling slowly rose. Another winter had arrived. Over the past fifty years, he had awakened the spring for them every year, leading to a surge in the number of young snakes in Xishan's breeding grounds. The numbers had even reached a terrifying point where the number of fallen warriors and newborns was almost equal!
After all, the allure of the Spring God's hormones was something even Old Toad Mo Chan, a Golden Immortal, could not resist, let alone the young snakes of his own tribe.
Qing Ling's green robe transformed into a red one. Behind him, You, a fifteen-zhang long blue python, automatically lowered itself to the ground, lifting Qing Ling with its head, making a puppet feel somewhat like a mount.
This action immediately caused the three Heavenly rank lizards lurking behind the lizard horde to tense up, quickly preparing to flee.
Qing Ling pointed his hand, his divine spark flashing between his eyebrows, and he shouted, "By the Spring God's decree, be born for me, be driven by me, turn the divine wood into puppets!"
As his voice fell, the twelve five-zhang tall giant trees beside the Green Wood Great Wall instantly trembled their branches. Their crowns became hair, their trunks faces, and their roots feet. Their roots pulled out of the soil, their bodies elongating to become ten-zhang tall tree-men, radiating spiritual light all over. Their aura clearly indicated they had reached the Earth rank.
After their appearance, the twelve tree-men marched into the lizard horde. Standing on their feet, they transformed into dozens of roots that burrowed into the soil and then erupted, piercing the bodies of the mortal-rank giant lizards.
With a flick of the green crown atop their heads, a hundred green leaves flew out like flying knives, piercing the bodies of a hundred giant lizards, cutting them and drawing blood. After this single strike, the green leaves lost their luster, becoming ordinary leaves that remained within the bodies of the deceased lizards.
Although the twelve tree-men were only of low-rank cultivation, they made short work of these mortal lizards, even those exceeding several zhang in size, as if entering a land of no resistance.
As a result, a clearing was carved out in the middle of the lizard horde, and the great lizard army retreated, falling back to the rear.
Seeing this, Qing Ling nodded with satisfaction. Even if they were only low-ranked, and perhaps couldn't even defeat Earth-rank beasts, and their methods were singular, he saw boundless potential.
He knew that the Daoist sects had divine abilities and secret arts that allowed them to scatter beans and conjure soldiers, or summon Yellow Turban Warriors. Now, he too possessed a similar miraculous method.
It might not be apparent now, but when he pushed the art of "Turning Wood into Soldiers" to its peak in the future, he would be able to conjure armies with a mere wave of his hand, possessing infinite divine might and utility.
He called these puppets "Profound Wood Puppets." "Wood" referred to their wooden bodies, and "Spirit" referred to their spiritual essence.
These twelve puppets were all refined in advance from spiritual wood. They could be released freely. When still, they could root themselves into the soil, appearing as ordinary trees, making them extremely concealed. When active, their roots could become feet, and their wood could become soldiers, possessing extremely high spiritual essence and an instinct for avoiding danger, making them extraordinary.
Qing Ling recalled the Profound Wood Puppets and continued to meditate on the decree. The puppets he personally crafted were naturally extraordinary. However, the ordinary wood-turned puppets summoned by his primordial spirit were somewhat stiff and rigid, but they had the advantage of being able to form armies from wood, eliminating the need for prior refinement.
He did not continue to refine more puppets but instead began to refine these twelve spiritually imbued puppets, engraving more Dharma patterns onto them, and even attempting to integrate his own consciousness into them to enhance their divine properties and marvel.
Thus, the days passed. In the seventy-eighth year of the Myriad Beast War, a beam of golden light shot straight into the nine heavens from Xishan. Even from a million miles away, the immense power contained within that grand golden rainbow was visible.
Qing Ling trembled violently, his body rising as he looked towards Xishan.