In the clearing, the wind stilled and the forest fell silent.
"Your Highness the Holy Son, I'll make the first move."
Tang San moved first.
He abruptly raised his right hand. Emerald-blue light surged from his palm as countless Blue Silver Grass vines burst from the ground like furious dragons emerging from the sea, sweeping toward Li Qinglian at astonishing speed.
Each vine was as thick as a finger, its surface flowing with crystalline Soul Power. Tough and brimming with strength, they were clearly worlds apart from ordinary Blue Silver Grass.
"So this is Tang San's Blue Silver Grass?"
"The toughness of these vines truly surpasses ordinary Blue Silver Grass, and their vitality is far more active as well."
"Blue Silver Grass is a useless Martial Soul. But Blue Silver Grass with the Blue Silver Emperor Bloodline is no longer useless."
Li Qinglian watched the emerald-green vines flooding toward him and curled his lips faintly.
Using Tang San as an example, Yu Xiaogang had tried to prove that there were no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters.
But fundamentally, the premise of that argument had been wrong from the very beginning.
"The essence of this Blue Silver Grass truly aligns with the Life Great Dao."
"Especially its quality of being impossible to burn away completely, springing back to life when the spring breeze returns. After Ah Yin sacrificed herself, she was still able to leave behind a seed containing her soul and memories. That proves she had already found a path along the Life Great Dao. It was also the foundation that allowed her, a weak soul beast like Blue Silver Grass, to survive the Hundred-Thousand-Year Tribulation and become the Blue Silver Emperor."
"And Tang San clearly hasn't realized this."
"His use of the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul remains superficial. He relies on the toughness and strength of its leaves and vines, empowered by the Blue Silver Emperor Bloodline, and follows the control path. His path is still too narrow."
"Blue Silver Grass would be immensely powerful if it followed the life path. On the control path, it would ultimately remain nothing more than a somewhat stronger blade of grass."
Li Qinglian murmured inwardly, feeling a trace of regret.
"Among the living beings of Douluo Continent, only the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger possesses the Evil God attribute among the five high-level attributes, while Ah Yin comprehended some of life's mysteries."
"Yet even that brought them endless benefits."
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger had been the only fierce beast on this continent that had truly come close to killing Tang San.
And it had faced Tang San at his peak, a Tang San capable of severely wounding Angel God Qian Renxue with Guanyin's Tears.
As for Ah Yin, merely comprehending a trace of life's mysteries had allowed her to leave behind a Life Seed and grant herself another chance.
Those two examples alone revealed the enormous gap between high-level and low-level attributes!
That gap was like an insurmountable chasm.
No wonder those First-Level Gods could only obediently serve as subordinates before a God King.
"The five high-level attributes are already this powerful. The gap between low-level and high-level attributes is like a chasm. If I truly gain control over the power of Reincarnation, then the gap between me and the Five Supreme Gods will likely be just as vast."
As he watched Tang San, Li Qinglian's eyes gleamed as a new realization suddenly arose within him.
For Tang San's Blue Silver Grass, one step back led to the wood attribute among the five elements, while one step forward led to the Life Attribute!
Unfortunately, Tang San had not comprehended this.
Otherwise, if Tang San had entered the God Realm with the foundation of controlling two high-level attributes while inheriting two god positions, he could have become the ruler of the God Realm without resorting to any schemes.
"Li Qinglian, at a time like this, you're actually distracted?"
A trace of anger flashed through Tang San's eyes.
From Ning Rongrong and the others' conversation, he had already learned just how formidable Li Qinglian was!
But Tang San was not someone to be bullied either. This was the first time he had been so openly scorned by someone his own age.
On the battlefield, the slightest error could lead to a disastrous defeat!
In a clash at such close range, even a brief moment of distraction could decide victory or defeat!
"Defeating you will be effortless!"
He remained where he stood, not even taking a single step back.
He merely released his Martial Soul.
The phantom of a giant tree, black as dark jade, silently rose behind him. Its branches were twisted and gnarled, every grain flowing with a dim, icy sheen.
An invisible aura of deathly stillness suddenly spread outward from him, like the coldest wind in the depths of a winter night, silently sweeping across the entire clearing.
In an instant, everyone present felt as though a chilling gust had blown through the air, making their scalps tingle.
The already dense forest was suddenly filled with a cold, deathly aura. Everyone's faces turned a little pale, while Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, and the other girls could not help recalling scenes from frightening stories they had read before, their legs trembling in fear.
"What is this?"
Tang San's pupils suddenly constricted.
The emerald-blue Blue Silver Grass vines seemed to have all their vitality drained away the moment they came within three meters of Li Qinglian.
The Blue Silver Grass lost its luster at a visible rate, withering and curling. It changed from emerald green to dried yellow, then from dried yellow into gray, decayed powder that rustled down across the ground.
Dozens of vines withered at the same time, as though a spring meadow had been engulfed by winter in a single instant.
Tang San's expression changed!
Refusing to believe it, he once again mobilized his Soul Power. More Blue Silver Grass burst from beneath the ground, denser than before, surging toward Li Qinglian from every direction like a green tide.
Yet the result did not change in the slightest.
No matter how much Blue Silver Grass approached him, the same fate awaited it: withering, dying, turning to dust.
It was as though an invisible Death Domain existed around Li Qinglian, stripping away the life force of any living thing that entered it.
A layer of gray-black plant ash accumulated on the ground, forming a thick ring around Li Qinglian's feet.
And against those ashes, his black hair, dark as ink, appeared even more chilling and terrifying.
"...How is this possible?"
"This is insane!"
Fear tinged Tang San's voice.
He had never encountered anything like this.
The Blue Silver Grass had not been torn apart, burned, or frozen. It had been silently killed.
It was as though an invisible hand had severed all its life force before it could even touch Li Qinglian.
At the edge of the clearing, everyone fell into deathly shocked silence.
Ning Rongrong's eyes widened and her small mouth hung open, unable to close for a long while. Dai Mubai clenched his fists, a thin layer of sweat beading on his temples.
"What terrifying power. It feels even colder than mine."
A faint, imperceptible chill flashed through Zhu Zhuqing's catlike eyes, and she instinctively took half a step back. The golden-white specks deep within her pupils seemed to hold something that instinctively made people want to stay away.
"Is this the Spirit Hall Holy Son?"
Zhao Wuji, a Soul Saint-level powerhouse, wore an extremely grave expression as well.
He could sense the aura surrounding Li Qinglian.
It was a kind of power he had never encountered before, carrying an ultimate, pure deathly stillness that made even this veteran Soul Saint, who had fought for half his life, feel an involuntary pang of dread.
That aura was absolutely not one any living creature would like.
Xiao Wu silently watched everything unfold.
She was not surprised. She had known long ago what Li Qinglian was.
Back then, there had been no living creature around that tree! Even as a soul beast infinitely close to one hundred thousand years old, she had suffered greatly!
Death restrained every living being that relied on life force to sustain its existence!
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