The God Born from the Will of All Living Beings

"If I abandoned them, what kind of Spirit God would I be? I'd be nothing but a demon cultivating the Divine Path."

Qingyuan was, after all, a Totem Spirit who had become a god. He was deeply bound to the people of the tribe, and could not easily sever those ties.

"How laughable!"

"A Spirit God who seeks no transcendence and treats all living beings like lambs deserves to fall!"

"A god cultivated from a Totem Spirit is truly useless!"

The three cultivators surrounding Qingyuan burst into laughter.

They were called the Black Wind Three Heroes, and were demons of the most wanton sort. They acted without restraint or scruple, and their Dao Hearts had long since crumbled.

People like them could never achieve the Great Dao unless they attained complete enlightenment and purified their Dao Hearts.

Their only end was to fall, but before that, they could become a tribulation for other cultivators.

They had also sensed the spiritual energy in the mountains stirring, and realized that Vast Mountain was no longer protected.

If they did nothing, their old enemies would find them, and they would be doomed.

So they sought themselves a powerful patron: White Bone Superior of the White Bone Dao.

White Bone Superior was a Spirit Condensing Great Cultivator, and the White Bone Dao lay not far beyond Vast Mountain.

With the White Bone Dao's protection, they would no longer be as carefree as before and would have to obey White Bone Superior's orders, but that was still better than losing their lives.

To secure White Bone Superior's protection, the Black Wind Three Heroes had to present a token of allegiance: they had to use the flesh, blood, and souls of mortals to refine a Demonic Treasure for him.

The Demonic Treasure was called the Vengeful Soul Banner. Its creation violated the laws of Heaven, and White Bone Superior did not want to get his own hands dirty. As it happened, the Black Wind Three Heroes came knocking, so he used them to carry it out.

Relying on their strength, the Black Wind Three Heroes had slaughtered their way through Vast Mountain.

But when they reached Minping Tribe, they were stopped by Qingyuan, the Auspicious Spirit God!

The Black Wind Three Heroes cultivated the same Magic Art, but each had developed a different Supernatural Ability.

They each exhaled a gust of black wind. One caused flesh to rot, one chilled the Divine Soul, and one made spiritual power sluggish.

The three gusts merged, carrying the Black Wind Three Heroes' wild laughter as they swept toward Qingyuan.

Qingyuan was already running low on spiritual power, and he was also distracted by the great formation he was operating to protect the mortals in the tribe.

When the black wind swept over him, the Divine Dharma Body began to show signs of rotting.

Qingyuan's Divine Soul felt as if it had plunged into an ice cavern, and his spiritual power grew even more sluggish.

Even so, Qingyuan gritted his teeth and maintained the great formation, refusing to let the black wind reach the tribe.

"Water is supremely gentle, and the god is benevolent!"

"Water is supremely firm, and the god subdues demons!"

Every mortal in the tribe, young or old, man or woman, could see clearly that their god was doing everything in his power to protect them!

They watched Qingyuan, but could not step forward to offer even a sliver of strength. All they could do was clench their fists, their eyes reddening, and recite the words of prayer!

Their voices reached Qingyuan's ears. Though faint, they brought a measure of clarity to his mind.

But right after, the Black Wind Three Heroes unleashed another gust of black wind.

In the end, Qingyuan could not withstand the Black Wind Three Heroes. The waves beneath his feet turned to foul water, and the White Fish Red Carp were corroded into a pool of sludge.

The foul water quickly spread over Qingyuan's Divine Dharma Body.

Qingyuan sighed once more. In his eyes flashed scenes of the mortals in the tribe, generation after generation, from birth to death, from childhood to adulthood and finally old age, offering their sincere sacrifices time and again.

He had begun as a Totem Spirit and cultivated himself into what he was today. It had not been easy.

At that moment, Qingyuan could no longer hide his feelings, even though he cultivated the Ruthless Water Path.

The corners of Qingyuan's mouth lifted in a gentle smile. "I am a god, a god born from the will of all living beings. Today, I will die for those who believe in me."

As he spoke, bloody tears ran from Qingyuan's eyes. Water ripples spread across his handsome face, filling it with a sense of ruin.

Yet a faint smile still touched his face. He had lived up to his name as a Spirit God and protected those who had offered him their faith!

"I only hope that after I die, someone will still remember me..."

Qingyuan's body was swallowed by the foul water.

But suddenly, rippling beams of water shot up from within it and fell upon the great formation over Minping Tribe.

Those shimmering beams of water were the Divine Essence of the Auspicious Spirit God. At the final moment, Qingyuan had used his own Divine Essence to reinforce the formation and continue protecting the mortals who believed in him!

The black wind unleashed by the Black Wind Three Heroes sent ripples through Minping Tribe's great formation, but it still could not break through!

"I never thought the Auspicious Spirit God would do something so foolish, destroying his own Dao Path for a bunch of mortals!"

The Black Wind Three Heroes laughed uproariously, recklessly mocking Qingyuan, who had already fallen.

The mortals of Minping Tribe were furious and grief-stricken, but powerless. There was nothing they could do.

Qin Yuyan stood among the crowd, his fists clenched.

He had witnessed the god who protected mortals fall with his own eyes. If only I could cultivate!

Quite a few people in the tribe shared his thoughts. How could the Black Wind Three Heroes fail to sense the mortals' hatred for them?

"Qingyuan is dead. These mortals are his kindling. We'll wipe them out too, so Qingyuan can't be reborn from their thoughts one day!"

"And we'll stop any of them from gaining some fortuitous opportunity and coming after us in the future!"

The Black Wind Three Heroes were no fools. They began refining the great formation over Minping Tribe.

Without Qingyuan sustaining it, the formation would fall sooner or later. The mortals in the tribe were already in their hands!

The great formation above Minping Tribe hummed as the Black Wind Three Heroes refined it.

Disaster was nearly upon them. If the formation broke, not a single person in the tribe would escape.

Qin Yuyan suddenly thought of the True Person who had given him the medicinal herbs, and remembered what Chen Ming had told him.

With a firm heart, fate will find its way!

Qin Yuyan steadied his mind and reined in his emotions, picturing the form Chen Ming had manifested that day.

A glimmer of water suddenly rose from his body. It was a trace of Qingyuan's power, left on him earlier when Qingyuan had taken care to look after him.

Qin Yuyan closed his eyes and, with unwavering intent, called for Chen Ming to come.

At that moment, Chen Ming was in the mountains, and Qin Yuyan was already connected to him.

Moreover, Qin Yuyan's resolve had surpassed that of an ordinary mortal. As he thought of Chen Ming, he used that trace of water left by Qingyuan to stir an illusory cause and effect hidden in the unseen.

Chen Ming's heart gave a sudden thump. He pinched his fingers to calculate, changed direction in the mountains, and headed straight for Minping Tribe.

"Rumble!"

The great formation above Minping Tribe was shattered under the Black Wind Three Heroes' assault.

They raised a bare flagpole in their hands, its material unknown. A phantom flag unfurled from it, swelling in the wind.

Strands of black air drifted from the flag.

In an instant, the black air wrapped around several people in the tribe, and their flesh and souls vanished into nothing.

"Hahaha!"

"This tribe has plenty of people. Once we harvest this batch, we'll have just about enough!" The Black Wind Three Heroes laughed madly.

"Were you the ones who killed Qingyuan?"

"Were you the ones who killed all these mortals?"

Suddenly, a cold, grim voice rang beside the Black Wind Three Heroes' ears.

Though the tribe was in an uproar and the cries of anguish shook the heavens, the voice reached them with perfect clarity.

The Black Wind Three Heroes were startled. They saw a Daoist standing beside a young boy from Minping Tribe, a Blood Bead floating in his hand.

The Black Wind Three Heroes laughed arrogantly. "Who are you to meddle in our business?"

The Blood Bead in Chen Ming's hand shot into the air. "Since you did this, then die!"