First Battle Victory, Saint Takes Disciple

Faced with the tiger's roar that could pierce gold, split stone, and shatter mountains and rivers, Li Qingxu did not take it head-on. Instead, he chose to overcome strength with softness.

As he activated Water Divine Power, the sound of surging tides abruptly rose. An enormous curtain of water that stretched from sky to earth manifested before him, blocking the space between himself and the Black Tiger like a severed Heavenly River.

"Boom!!"

A visible, mighty soundwave slammed into the blue water curtain. The curtain churned violently, countless shocking ripples and splashes exploding across its surface before it finally burst apart with a crash, transforming into a torrential downpour that poured from the sky.

The soundwave's power to pierce gold and split stone was likewise dissolved and cushioned by the supremely yielding water, vanishing without a trace.

The instant the water curtain disappeared, the Black Tiger Demon, hundreds of zhang long, lunged forth. It opened its blood-filled maw, raised its razor-sharp tiger claws, and pounced at Li Qingxu.

Facing the murderous Black Tiger, Li Qingxu remained clear-headed as his thoughts raced.

The Demon Race's physical bodies were generally far stronger than those of the Human Race. Even though he had reversed his constitution into an Innate Five Elements Root, he still could not match the Black Tiger in terms of physical strength for the time being.

Moreover, this was his first battle, and he lacked experience. To be safe, he should play to his strengths and avoid close-quarters combat.

"Wood Binding!"

As Li Qingxu retreated to evade, he activated Wood Spiritual Power.

The next instant, hundreds of deep-green vines as thick as giant pythons and tougher than divine iron extended from the void, wrapping around the Black Tiger like tentacles.

The Black Tiger was shocked and enraged. It roared repeatedly, its tiger claws as sharp as Heavenly Blades slashing madly and shredding more than half the vines, sending wood chips flying everywhere.

Though most of the vines had been severed, the rest still bound its limbs. Its forward charge came to an abrupt halt, as though it had fallen into a swamp.

Seeing that the Black Tiger was temporarily restrained, Li Qingxu repeated his previous move. Forming hand seals, he fused earth and fire divine power once more and activated the divine ability he had created himself.

"Earth nurtures its form, fire forges its soul... Skyfire Meteor, gather!"

This time, however, he did not blanket the area with an indiscriminate attack. Instead, he concentrated all his power into a colossal meteor over a thousand zhang in diameter, launching a precise strike at the Black Tiger.

Lava-like patterns flowed across the meteor's surface. A thousand zhang across, it descended with destructive force capable of crushing the void and incinerating all eight lands.

Even the heavens rumbled as it was crushed beneath the meteor's passage. Its trailing flames stretched for dozens of li, dyeing half the sky a bleak, apocalyptic red.

"Roar!!"

As the Black Tiger watched the enormous meteor descend upon it, its eyes finally revealed undisguised shock and terror.

It let out a roar like a trapped beast, unleashing the demonic power within its body without restraint. Its muscles bulged as it struggled desperately.

By the time it finally snapped the vines binding it and broke free, the enormous meteor falling from the sky had already crashed into its body.

"Boom!!"

A deafening explosion rang out as the Black Tiger was carried by the meteor and violently driven from the sky into the earth below!

Centered on the point of impact, a horrifying crater more than a hundred li wide instantly formed.

Countless thick pillars of molten fire erupted from the earth's cracks, while scorching magma spread madly in all directions like a boiling sea of blood, incinerating every mountain, forest, and river within hundreds of li.

The earth shook and the mountains trembled, as though the end of the world had arrived.

However, as a minor leader among the Demon Race, the Black Tiger truly was far more powerful than ordinary demons.

From the bottom of the charred lava crater came a faint, agonized growl.

Despite suffering such a devastating strike, it had not died immediately. Instead, it struggled to rise to its feet.

The Black Tiger was now charred black from head to toe, its flesh mangled and bloody, its aura feeble. It no longer possessed its former arrogant bearing, looking more like a homeless cur.

Though it found it difficult to accept that it had been severely wounded by a Human Race member it had regarded as an ant, fear had nevertheless risen in its heart. It intended to flee back to the Demon Court first, then lead a great demon army back to avenge itself.

Just as it prepared to flee, it discovered that its limbs had been bound by vines once again.

Immediately afterward, one enormous meteor after another, each trailing a long blaze of fire, came hurtling toward it.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Under the Black Tiger's utterly despairing gaze, meteors struck its body one after another without pause. Every impact made the entire earth tremble.

To prevent it from launching a final counterattack before death, Li Qingxu continuously activated his divine abilities in a "saturation strike," stopping only after the Black Tiger had been blasted into nothing but scraps, with neither corpse nor bones remaining and not a trace of life left behind.

At that moment, heaven and earth fell silent. Every demon had been wiped out, and only Li Qingxu stood in the air, his robes fluttering fiercely in the wind.

"The demons have been wiped out! We survived!!"

"We survived!!"

After a brief moment of stunned silence, the millions of Taihao Tribe members erupted into cheers like Mountain Shouting and Sea Roaring.

They excitedly embraced one another, their faces filled with the joy of surviving disaster. Some could not help but shed tears.

When the demon army had descended above the tribe, they had all been overwhelmed by despair. They believed that they would surely die that day, and that the entire Taihao Tribe would be massacred.

They had never expected Li Qingxu, who had been in Closed-door cultivation for over a hundred years, to descend like a god, turn the tide, and slaughter every demon with his strength alone.

Looking at the cheering tribespeople below, Li Qingxu secretly felt fortunate as well.

The Primordial World truly was a place where the strong preyed upon the weak, filled with danger everywhere.

Fortunately, he had obtained the Innate Five Elements Kirin Fruit through the system in time and successfully refined it, reversing himself to the innate state and gaining cultivation in the Earth Immortal Realm. Only then had he been able to turn the tide.

After this battle, he had also gained a rough understanding of his current strength.

At this moment, Taihao Clan Leader and more than a dozen other elders flew over to Li Qingxu.

"Greetings, Clan Leader, elders."

Li Qingxu cupped his hands in salute.

The group looked him over, their faces filled with emotion.

"Qingxu, I never expected such a tremendous transformation from you in merely a hundred years."

"If you had not appeared in time today, everyone in the Taihao Tribe would have perished beneath the Demon Race's fangs."

"On behalf of all the Taihao clansmen, this old man thanks you for saving our lives."

One of the elders was about to bow, but Li Qingxu supported him.

"Elder, I am also a member of the tribe. Protecting our people is simply my duty. There is no need to be so formal."

Upon hearing this, Taihao Clan Leader revealed a gratified expression, though it was tinged with solemnity.

"Qingxu, your rebirth and vast increase in strength are certainly good things."

"However, the Taihao Tribe—and even the entire Human Race—is not fertile ground for you."

"If a pearl remains in the desert for too long, it will eventually gather dust."

"In this old man's view, since you have encountered such a fortuitous opportunity, you should venture into a broader world. Best of all, you should find a great Primordial World expert and become his disciple."

"That way, you will not only gain protection, but also cultivate under your Master and truly embark upon the path of cultivation."

Taihao Clan Leader spoke in a grave tone.

The other elders nodded in agreement as well.

In their eyes, although Li Qingxu had become an Earth Immortal and successfully helped the tribe avert a crisis of annihilation, he was still far too insignificant in the vast Primordial World.

Perhaps one day, a Golden Immortal Demon Race cultivator might pass through this place and bring utter destruction upon the Taihao Tribe.

The other humans had nowhere to go, but Li Qingxu had better choices. There was no need for him to remain in the Taihao Tribe, living each day without knowing whether he would survive the next.

Hearing this, Li Qingxu could not help but feel moved.

Taihao Clan Leader and the others clearly knew that if he stayed in the tribe, its safety would greatly improve, yet they still put themselves in his shoes and urged him to seek a better path.

At that moment, an incomparably supreme, heaven-shaking aura surged from the direction of Kunlun Mountain. Two Dao Sounds—impossible to describe in their grandeur, majesty, and profundity—rang out through every corner of the Primordial World:

"I am Yuqing Yuanshi Tianzun. I preside over the Chan Sect, Following Heaven and Responding to People."

"Now, having sensed the hardships faced by all beings in the Primordial World in their pursuit of the Dao, I shall expound the Dao at Kunlun Mountain Jade Void Palace. Those with deep roots and abundant fortune may enter beneath my gate."

"I am Shangqing Tongtian Jiaozhu. I preside over the Jie Sect, Seizing a Thread of Heavenly Opportunity for all beings."

"The gates of Kunlun Mountain Biyou Palace stand open. Teaching without discrimination—anyone with the heart to pursue the Dao and the courage to face hardship may enter beneath my gate and learn the supreme methods!"