"Roar"
Bai Mu roared mightily, morphing into his beast form. In his hand, a giant hammer eerily floated to the end of the White Tiger's tail, hanging menacingly and terribly.
"No matter how rich your spiritual energy is, what can you do? You are just a little beast who understands nothing! I refuse to believe I can't annihilate you!"
Bai Mu said, leaping into the sky. Above his head, a blood-red halberd suddenly materialized. Blood radiance flickered, heavy as a mountain, tinting half the sky red with its void aura.
At that time, Li Qingming's eyes shone with purple light, his fangs fiercely sharp. His face was expressionless, like a peerlessly ferocious beast with no emotional fluctuations!
A wave of the stench of blood hit. The moment the blood-red halberd appeared, it was as if a malevolent spirit had come into the world, with the air of blood raging to the skies, seemingly containing endless souls struggling and wailing inside.
Li Qingming looked up into the sky, his pupils intensifying in purple luminescence as he watched the approaching blood-red halberd.
"Whoosh!"
A towering purple bamboo suddenly appeared in mid-air. Purple radiance flickering, a horrific torrent surged, and amidst the flashing lights, endless vitality was present.
"Hiss!"
A streak of purple brilliance was flung from the Purple Bamboo, transforming into an ancient-looking light sword, inscribed with mysterious Tao runes. The sword, about three feet long and thin as a bamboo leaf, had a sharp blade adorned with twin narrow blood grooves on either side.
"Crack!"
The blood-colored halberd clashed with the purple light sword in mid-air, stirring up endless splendid radiance. Their collision sounded clangs, with sparks flying, shattering the clouds in the sky, causing the void to resound eerily.
A fierce look flashed in Bai Mu's eyes as he raised his head and spewed out a mouthful of fresh blood teeming with Sharp Gold Qi. That blood, as if sentient, flew directly towards the blood-colored halberd in mid-air.
Empowered by the fresh blood of the White Tiger, the blood-colored halberd fiercely burst forth with thousand-zhang-long blood radiance. The murderous aura it contained slashed Li Yanran and Li Qingquan off the ground unknowingly far. The trees on the ground withered visibly to the naked eye and then turned into ash.
Li Qingming remained unresponsive, but there seemed to be an added flicker of consciousness in his eyes.
"Roar, Sharp Gold Halberd, strike for me!"
Bai Mu roared furiously, his voice explosive and deafening.
The halberd transformed into a blood-red giant dragon, as immense as a mountain, instantly collapsing several small mountains on the ground. Then it opened its bloody maw and lunged towards Li Qingming hovering in the air.
"Boom Crack!"
The Ruijin Halberd, with an overpowering momentum, devoured the three-foot light sword completely, continuing its unstoppable trajectory towards Li Qingming!
"Whir Whir!"
In the air, the purple bamboo shadow suddenly swayed without wind, gracefully and sturdily oscillating. It then shot out countless purple light swords, continuously condensing together, as if endless rules of heaven and earth were being born along with the condensation of the purple light swords.
"Clang clang clang"
An unparalleled long spear condensed out of the void, with purple radiance flashing, carrying an annihilative aura!
Li Qingming's eyes flickered with purple light as he gazed down at the White Tiger! Suddenly, he swung his gigantic claw, and the spear tip of the long spear flashed with a cold light, furiously striking towards the Sharp Gold Halberd like thunder.
"Boom!"
Like a landslide, the collision finally shattered the void. A strand of external Chaos Qi meandered, drifting into this realm.
The confrontation of their Qi force turned the surrounding hundred zhang into a vacuum state.
After all, Li Qingming had never practiced cultivation before; his smooth fur, affected by the battle, turned dry, yellow, and scorched.
Looking at Bai Mu, he was in an even more pathetic state! His white fur was full of scars, and his massive body, akin to a mountain, was now missing its tail. His dim eyes seemed to contain both fury and disbelief.
"Junior, what exactly are you?" Bai Mu's hoarse voice was filled with anger.
...
There was no response; at that moment, Li Qingming's eyes remained tightly closed, but his mind was clearer than ever.
Just moments ago, he had awoken from his frenzied state, finally understanding this world: the significance of the purple root, the White Tiger before him.
This realm, at the dawn of the Primordial age, was divided and ruled by the Innate Three Clans. The three segments of the purple root were not ordinary, originating from the Bitter Bamboo, one of the Ten Great Innate Spiritual Roots.
Each segment grew every hundred thousand years, with nine segments making one piece. That thin one, with purple tinged with gold, contained the quintessence of the Bitter Bamboo's existence to date, encapsulating massive amounts of Heaven and Earth information inscribed by the Great Dao.
It could be said, whoever obtained that segment of root would ascend to immortality and attain eternal enlightenment. As for other marvelous uses, Li Qingming would need to discover them for himself—just like that earlier phantom of the purple bamboo!
That was the residual consciousness of the Heaven and Earth within the Bitter Bamboo, released to preserve the last of its lineage's roots!
Bloodline?
Yes, the bloodline.
Li Qingming had consumed the most quintessential segment of the root, and the Bitter Bamboo's subconscious recognized Li Qingming as another Bamboo, thus naturally protecting him as seen.
That white tiger belonged to the Beast Clan led by the Qilin Clan. They generally favored meat and occasionally attacked weaker members of the Beast Clan.
Furthermore, the Bitter Bamboo granted Li Qingming endless power of heaven and earth, endless cultivation techniques, infinite spell information… the list is countless!
In essence, this was an era where Daluo roamed freely and Golden Immortals were as common as dogs, an era where the strong ruled.
To survive in this world, one must become strong! Strong! Strong!
Gradually opening his eyes, Li Qingming's gaze was cold as he looked down upon the White Tiger, saying, "You and I are both from the Beast Clan, why do you attack us without cause?"
Bai Mu licked his wound, his tone chilling and merciless: "Why? Humph, the mission of you lower tribes is to become food for us! As a noble of the proud White Tiger Clan, I can of course kill you at will!"
Though now a demon, Li Qingming had decided to follow the rule that the strong prevail. However, upon hearing these words, he still trembled all over, burning with rage!
"Roar! Die!"
Taking advantage of Li Qingming's momentary daze, Bai Mu launched another attack.
The already battered Sharp Gold Halberd suddenly flew diagonally, aiming straight for Li Qingming's waist.
This time, it was not Bitter Bamboo controlling Li Qingming's body, a flash of panic appeared and vanished in Li Qingming's eyes.
Although he had participated in many martial arts competitions in his past life, those were mere sparring between people and did not endanger lives.
This was a genuine attack, a slight mishap could cost him his life.
"Humph, despicable!" Li Qingming snorted coldly, controlling his body to swiftly turn and dive, dodging the attack of the Sharp Gold Halberd.
Li Qingming operated the cultivation technique he had just acquired from Bitter Bamboo, morphing Tai Chi with his beastly body. A Yin Fish and a Yang Fish suddenly appeared as his hands moved.
The two intertwined, forming a Tai Chi Diagram, with rich Yin Yang Spiritual Energy flowing over it as if tangible.
Under Li Qingming's control, it suddenly pressed and pulled.
The massive Tai Chi Diagram soared into the sky, exhaling True Yang and True Yin, the fish transforming into dragons! Their eyes emitted dense spiritual energy as they pounced with bared teeth and claws at Bai Mu on the ground.
Bai Mu looked up in dismay at the Yin Yang Dragon in the air, desperately trying to muster his scant remaining Mana to block the attack of the Yin Yang Dragon.
Sadly, fate was not on his side!
"Ah!"
The two dragons passed right through Bai Mu's mouth, Bai Mu died!
Li Qingming looked at Bai Mu, now reduced to dust of Heaven and Earth, and smiled slightly. His body suddenly shrank, and he fell from the sky, unconscious.
Five months later, on South Sea Ten-thousand Bamboo Island.
"Brother, how did you know there was an island here?" Li Qingquan and his companions sat in front of a bamboo forest, Li Qingquan asked.
"That day didn't I tell you about Bitter Bamboo? This is the Innate Divine Ability 'Mastering Ten Thousand Bamboo' that Bitter Bamboo endowed me with!" Li Qingming looked at the still frowning companions and said: "Actually, I control all bamboo within ten thousand miles. It is this divine ability that helped me find such a good place!"
"Plus, this bamboo forest is really strange!" Li Qingming rubbed his chin, looking at the bamboo forest in front of him.
"Eh! Yeah, you're right, I hadn't noticed, but these bamboos seem to move on their own, truly bizarre and wonderful!" Li Yanran interjected at this time.
"This bamboo forest, I reckon even a Quasi-Saint can't escape from it!" Li Qingming sighed softly.
"Quasi-Saint?" Li Qingquan said in confusion: "Brother, what is a Quasi-Saint?"
"Oh haha. Right!" Li Qingming snapped out of it and said: "Look at my memory! You guys still don't know about the strength divisions in the Primordial World. Let me explain."
Li Qingming climbed onto Li Qingquan's head, found a comfortable position, and said: "Since the creatures of Heaven and Earth began to consciously cultivate after acquiring spiritual intelligence. Although there is no clear division of cultivation stages. I think it can roughly be divided into several stages: First stage:
Refining Essence to Qi, Refining Qi to Divinity, Refining God to Void, Refining Void and Merging Dao. This is one major stage, and breaking through this stage one can achieve the Immortal Dao.
Then enter the next stage:
Earth Immortal, Heavenly Immortal, True Immortal, Profound Immortal, Golden Immortal. This is the second major stage, this stage as long as you have achieved the Immortal Dao, then relying on effort you can basically achieve it.
Then comes the third stage:
Taiyin True Immortal, Taiyiuangxian Immortal, Taiyin Golden Immortal, Daluo True Immortal, Da Luo Immortal, Daluo Golden Immortal. This stage cannot be reached solely through effort. It requires understanding the deeper principles of the Heavenly Dao, without profound comprehension and guidance from a good teacher, it is very difficult to achieve.
Then comes the final stage:
Quasi-Saint, sub-Saint, Saint, Heavenly Dao, Great Dao. This final stage requires extraordinary Qi Fortune and high comprehension. Cultivation is to contend with Heaven, wrestle with Earth.
Only with a steadfast heart towards the Dao, can one achieve success!"
At this point, suddenly a heavenly phenomenon occurred, the sky filled with colorful glow, the Earth Erupting Golden Lotus, a hundred miles wide Golden Merit Cloud floated above Li Qingming's head. Startled, Li Qingming directly fell off of Li Qingquan's head.
It turns out that the Great Dao sensed it, for the first time someone detailed the stages of cultivation so thoroughly, thus it especially bestowed Merit as a reward.
Li Qingming recovered from the shock and told the two to operate their cultivation techniques. He also started to practice his own technique, massive Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy mixed with the hundred-mile wide Golden Merit Cloud continuously washed over Li Qingming's body.
In conducting so, Li Yanran and her child also reaped substantial benefits.
In the Primordial World, time is the least valuable, after a hundred years, Li Yanran and Li Qingquan awakened from their cultivation.
Opening their eyes, the two beasts were surprised to find their bodies, previously just over five meters long, had now swollen to over fifty meters. Then above the green sky, clumps of dark clouds continuously gathered.
"Boom!"
"Crack!"
Thunder rumbled incessantly.
The two beasts realized this was the legendary Transformation Heavenly Tribulation, only by surviving this tribulation could one break through the beast form and transform into the most suitable Innate Taoist Body for cultivation.
The two beasts, not wishing to disturb Li Qingming who was still cultivating, hastily set up a defensive Array before moving to a distant place, prepared to face the Tribulation.