"Hmph!" Elder Qing suddenly gave a low, cold snort, tinged with displeasure and warning.
Then, beside the Spring of Life pool, Elder Qing's true body-the enormous Jade Green Vine Tree-suddenly blazed with light. Blue-white Soul Power erupted from its trunk like a torrent, shooting straight into the heavens.
That immense Soul Power instantly unleashed a storm of Soul Power that shook the clouds. The resulting shock waves spread like ripples, swiftly sweeping through the entire secret realm.
On a hill several miles away, everyone felt the fierce fluctuations of Soul Power, and their bodies swayed involuntarily.
In a corner of the black forest, Black Elder sneered. "That old fellow really has flown into a rage. He really does have some connection to that little girl. Heh heh..."
At the summit of the secret realm's highest mountain stood a vine tree sixty or seventy meters tall. Its trunk was so thick that even twenty or thirty people could not encircle it with their arms. Its luxuriant branches and leaves blotted out the sky and sun, as though it could brush the clouds and touch the heavens.
The vine tree seemed to sense Elder Qing's Soul Power fluctuations as well. Its branches and leaves swayed gently, as though paying their respects to him.
In a secluded spot on the other side of the mountain, the Moon-Covering Illusion Vine quietly poked its head out. Its vines could transform into all manner of shapes, seeming both illusory and real.
Its cool voice rang out. "Old Qing, why are you disturbing my sleep?!"
From far off to the left came explosive, thunderous fluctuations, followed by a rough voice roaring, "Old fellow, come on! Fight me!"
Clearly, the Soul Beast there had also been stirred by Elder Qing's Soul Power fluctuations, and its response brimmed with