Gou Dao and Cultivation of Immortals, Start from Farming

Within the Spirit-Nourishing Pool, dark ink surged wildly.

The decaying Daoist aura, like a living thing, clung to the Chaotic Daoist Fire, spreading wildly with the help of the fire. The gray primordial nectar turned black at a visible speed, exuding a terrifying aura.

Upon seeing this scene, the expressions of all the Dao Ancestors changed drastically, filled with panic.

"Dao Lord!" Dao Ancestor Lei Yan looked at Li Mu and urged anxiously, "The filth is rampant, why haven't you made a move yet!"

"It's alright." Li Mu waved his hand, completely unconcerned.

Soon, the aura of decay spread out of the spirit pool and actively entangled Li Mu, enveloping him in a gray and desolate aura, as if it knew the master of this place and that as long as he was captured, this vast land could be occupied.

A gray light flickered in Li Mu's eyes as his chaotic will sank in.

Inside the fragment, countless lingering thoughts wailed, the scene of the Dao foundation collapsing reappeared, and Qian Yuanzi's unwilling sigh before his death impacted the mind layer upon layer.

Li Mu neither refused nor avoided it; the chaotic Dao intent surged like a tide, enveloping every wisp of lingering thought and sensing its rhythmic changes.

It was both fierce and rapid.

……

Under Li Mu's indulgence, the Daoist aura of decay lost its suppression and, like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey, surged wildly into Li Mu's Daoist body.

Enveloped in the aura of decay, Li Mu's Dao body withered at a visible speed, and fine black lines appeared on the surface of his chaotic Dao body, which was extremely terrifying.

Upon seeing this scene, all the Dao Ancestors present were startled and retreated a hundred miles, watching helplessly as the dark mass overflowed from the Spirit Pool, clinging to Li Mu's body layer by layer, causing them great anxiety.

"Dao Master!" Ancient Dao Ancestor's clear light surged wildly, and he repeatedly formed the Gui Cang Seal, but dared not make a move rashly.

Dao Ancestor Lei Yan frowned, his face full of confusion: "How could this be? Dao Master just now clearly understood the method of harmony!"

Qingyuan Daozu's emerald eyes trembled as he watched Li Mu's chaotic Dao Source being crushed by that mass of ink, muttering in bewilderment, "The aura of decline... how could the aura of decline backfire to this extent?"

The Dao Ancestor Haotian formed hand seals, pushing his deduction method to its limit, and said with surprise and doubt, "No, the Dao Lord didn't stop him. It seems he deliberately let it go?"

Ancestor Chenguang was slightly taken aback and said, "Let it go? With that filth invading his body, Daoist Master Li's Dao body has already withered. If we continue to let it go..."

Before he finished speaking, Li Mu's body suddenly collapsed, and billions of gray and misty streams surged out from the ink-black entanglement, like a bursting dam, instantly spreading throughout the entire Myriad Dao Source Sea.

The Daoist aura of decay missed its target and suddenly froze.

The next instant, the gray mist gathered a hundred miles away, and Li Mu revealed himself. The chaotic star vortex in his eyes was still flowing as before, and the Dao aura around him was more condensed than before.

"Dao Master!" Dao Ancestor Gu Xi rushed forward to greet him.

"It's alright, I'm sorry to have worried you!" Li Mu smiled and reassured them, "Just now, I offered my body to the Dao... The rhythm of decay was swift and intense, hidden deep within the fragments of the fallen Dao. I used my Dao body as bait to lure it out in full force, and only then was I able to capture the complete trajectory of this rhythm!"

Upon hearing this, all the Dao Ancestors showed expressions of sudden realization and breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Mu's eyes flashed with a gray light as he looked at the assembled Dao Ancestors and smiled, indicating, "I have mastered the Rhythm of Decay, and now I can completely refine it."

Gu Xi Dao Zu stepped forward and respectfully requested, "Dao Master, please give us your orders on how we can assist you!"

Li Mu pondered for a moment, then smiled and shook his head, saying, "You can observe as you please; we don't need your help this time!"

After speaking, Li Mu's expression turned solemn, and he formed a hand seal.

In an instant, the vast earth's source veins surged, and chaotic energy gathered in the myriad source seas. Hundreds of millions of gray silk threads enveloped the entire source sea, completely suppressing the mournful Dao aura emanating from the remnant source fragments into the pool, rendering it completely still.

Li Mu closed his eyes and sank his mind into the chaotic source sea. Myriad paths flowed and the five elements were born and destroyed. A wisp of emerald green vitality pulsed from the depths of the source of the Dao, while a wisp of black decay pulsed from the pool.

Two Daoist energies faced each other from afar in the Dao Sea Source Pool. Li Mu raised his finger, and Chaotic Dao Fire surged from his fingertip, transforming into a gray line of fire that stretched between the two.

The fire line is blazing, yet it neither invades nor violates; it draws life from the left and leads to decay from the right.

The rhythm of life spreads to the right along the fire line, while the rhythm of decay penetrates to the left against the fire line.

The two met in the middle of the fire line.

Silently.

In the center of the fire line, the green light and gray hues intertwined, like two swimming fish slowly circling around.

"When Yin and Yang were first separated, Taiji was born."

Li Mu opened his eyes and woke up, his eyes reflecting three kinds of divine Daoist charms. He made hand seals to activate the transformation of the Dao Sea Source Pool.

In an instant, the chaotic energy in the Dao Sea Source Pool split into two colors: one was as green as spring, and the other was as gray as decay. The green fire was warm and contained endless vitality; the gray fire was stagnant and contained the decay of all things.

They are like two snakes entwined, head to tail, slowly rotating.

With each rotation, the fire intensifies; with each increase, the yin and yang essence within the fire deepens.

Looking at the constantly spinning two-colored Dao Flame, Gu Xi Dao Ancestor exclaimed in surprise, "Yin Yang Dao Flame?"

The Dao Ancestor Haotian's starry eyes shone brightly as he exclaimed in shock, "Not only Yin and Yang, but also life and death, prosperity and decay are all contained within it."

Qingyuan Dao Ancestor exclaimed in surprise, "It's not that simple. Dao Lord is enacting the evolution of chaos, fusing life and death into one."

All the Dao Ancestors stared in astonishment, as if witnessing the birth of a new world, the beginning of the myriad Daos.

Li Mu was completely absorbed in it, his hands constantly changing hand seals, and the Yin-Yang Dao Fire swirled faster and faster. The green and gray colors in the fire gradually merged, transforming into a chaotic and unclear gray vortex.

Thirty years have passed in the blink of an eye.

The fragment of the Dao Fallen Origin Core in the pool had lost seventy percent of its ink color, and its surface was covered with cracks like a spider web, with a lustrous green light seeping out from between the cracks.

Li Mu opened his eyes and woke up, his gaze filled with a chaotic vortex of stars as deep as an abyss.

"Thirty years have passed; it's time for a resolution."

As soon as he finished speaking, he pointed to a virtual point.

The Yin-Yang Dao Fire suddenly surged, its azure and gray colors merging abruptly to form a chaotic, undefined gray vortex that swallowed the entire fragment of the source core.

A deep, muffled sound emanated from the pool, like the hammer of a twilight drum, like a mournful sigh, like the death of the Great Dao... and in the next instant, a sudden change occurred!

On the surface of the source core fragment, the last 30% of the inky color suddenly exploded, and a blurry figure stumbled and materialized from the flames.

Clad in a tattered black robe, with long, disheveled hair and a withered, decaying face, only a pair of cloudy yellow eyes remained, reflecting a strange seven-colored light—the remnant consciousness of Qian Yuanzi hidden within the fragments.

"You, you dare to refine my Dao Foundation!"

With a sharp whistle, the afterimage burst forth with seven dazzling streams of light: red like lava, blue like the deep sea, gold like the blazing sun, green like ancient trees, yellow like thick earth, white like a frost blade, and black like eternal night.

Seven realms with different origins, seven great paths.

Qian Yuanzi's afterimage spread his arms, and seven-colored light intertwined to form a net, suddenly pressing down on Li Mu: "Dare to steal my Dao Fruit, then take your life!"

"Dao Master, be careful!" Upon seeing this scene, the expressions of the Dao Ancestors guarding the area all changed.

Li Mu sat motionless, the chaotic star vortex in his eyes suddenly stopping, as if he had expected this.

"I've been waiting for you for thirty years!"

Li Mu smiled slightly, extended his right hand, and pressed down lightly with his five fingers.

The next moment, the Myriad Dao Source Sea suddenly boiled, and billions of Dao principles soared into the sky. Crimson flames, weak waters, thunder, vitality, deathly silence... all kinds of Dao essences surged wildly along the source vein spiritual network like ten thousand dragons returning to the sea, exerting their full power.

"town!"

Li Mu uttered a single word, and the gray Dao Source descended like a curtain from the sky, completely enveloping the seven-colored flowing light and the afterimage of Qian Yuanzi.

Qian Yuanzi's afterimage was distorted, his turbid yellow eyes swirling with seven colors, as he roared fiercely: "Clashing paths! You can't suppress it!"

"Is that so! See clearly!" With a thought, Li Mu's Myriad Dao Source Sea surged forth with endless gray and chaotic Dao Source, and the struggling momentum of the seven-colored strange light suddenly stopped.

“Different paths clash, how could I not know that!” Li Mu looked down at the afterimage and smiled, indicating: “However, chaos contains all paths, not to be suppressed by force, but to be united by the same source.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the Chaotic Dao Domain changed drastically. Seven thin streams split off from the gray sea of ​​light, each winding around the seven-colored strange light. They did not resist with force, nor did they refine with fire, but instead continuously permeated it with the same chaotic Dao rhythm.

The crimson light stirred restlessly, while the chaotic stream flowed slowly and steadily, permeating along its veins and patterns; the blue light was chilling, and the chaotic stream flowed without flinching, merging with its coldness.
The golden light was sharp and intense, while the chaotic stream, not vying for dominance, followed the blade's pattern and flowed along it...

Take a breath.

Ten breaths.

In less than a hundred breaths, the seven-colored strange light struggled weaker and weaker, and the surface Dao patterns and chaotic streams intertwined, gradually generating a wisp of resonance.

The remnant consciousness of Qian Yuanzi froze, the madness in his turbid yellow eyes quickly fading, revealing an empty, bewildered look. He murmured, "I have sought this path for seventeen kalpas, devouring seven domains and consuming all sources, yet I have never found the gate. Why, why..."

Li Mu smiled slightly and elaborated on the Great Dao, explaining: "All Daos share the same origin. They cannot be harmonized without different Daos. They cannot be forced. When all Daos enter the body, they are not absorbed by force, but by their shared origin. You feed on the Seven Realms, and when they are exhausted, you devour them... I take Chaos as my mother, and my child returns to its embrace. How can there be any conflict?"

The remnant consciousness of Qian Yuanzi lowered his head and eyes, his tattered black robe fluttering without wind, lost in memories. In a moment of enlightenment, he murmured, "The calamity tide has arrived, the source veins have weakened, and the Dao Tree cannot withstand the passage of time. I used my original source to extend it for 300,000 years, but in the end, I could not hold on to it."

Qian Yuanzi's lingering consciousness looked up at Li Mu, seven-colored rays of light gathering at his fingertips, floating like fireflies.

“Since then, I have understood. If this realm cannot sustain me, I will go to other realms to take it. If one ancestral tree withers, I will devour a thousand ancestral trees. If the source of one realm is exhausted, I will devour the source of ten thousand realms…”

With his remaining consciousness, Qian Yuanzi looked at Li Mu, his cloudy yellow eyes filled with no hatred or resentment, only weariness.

"When I absorbed the first domain, my Dao foundation increased by 30%; after absorbing the second domain, it increased by 20%. By the time I absorbed the fifth domain, it had stopped increasing and even decreased. On the day the seventh domain entered my body, my Dao foundation cracked... I know I was wrong," Qian Yuanzi said regretfully, "but I couldn't stop."

Li Mu was silent for a moment, then asked, "What path do you originally cultivate?"

Qian Yuanzi's afterimage paused slightly, as if no one had asked this question for a long time. After a while, he condensed a wisp of azure light at his fingertips. Compared with the seven different sources, it was as weak as a candle in the wind. Inside, a small azure tree, nine feet nine inches tall, was reflected, with glossy green leaves and seven-colored flowers.

"The Path to Immortality!"

Qian Yuanzi's lingering image looked at the small green tree and recalled.

Li Mu nodded, indicating that "immortality is not about taking the myriad paths for one's own use, but about transforming oneself into the myriad paths."

Qian Yuanzi's afterimage stared at the small green tree, remaining silent for a long time.

"My enlightenment through seventeen kalpas is not as profound as this single statement."

Qian Yuanzi raised his head, staring at Li Mu. A faint smile appeared on his withered face as he sighed with relief, "You, this junior, are stronger than me!"

Li Mu smiled slightly and said modestly, "It was the time and the circumstances. Senior, you traveled alone for seventeen kalpas without anyone to guide you. I had the help of the ancestors of the vast land, the companions of my disciples and followers, and the guidance of the deceased senior's last thoughts. If you had met three or five like-minded people earlier to study the Great Dao together, you might not have had to take this perilous path."

Qian Yuanzi's afterimage stood still amidst the flames. As his figure faded, his smile deepened, and he sighed with relief, "Isn't that right!"

"This tree is named 'Changchun'. It was the first natal Dao tree I planted when I attained Dao, and it withered at the end of the third kalpa. I thought it had long since disappeared, but it turns out it was hidden deep within my Dao foundation all along."

"Could you find me... a sunny spot?"

Qian Yuanzi's afterimage faded to transparency, and all the seven-colored light disappeared, leaving only his pair of cloudy yellow eyes, clear as a newborn child's. As he completely vanished, he sent out the small green tree with both hands.

Seeing this, Li Mu condensed a chaotic source of Dao to receive it, and nodded in response, "I will certainly not fail to fulfill your request, senior."

Qian Yuanzi smiled with satisfaction. Immediately, his afterimage scattered into countless light fragments, like petals falling in the wind, fluttering and disappearing into the void of the Myriad Dao Source Sea.

As Qian Yuanzi's remnant consciousness disappeared, the seven-colored strange light of the fragments of the Dao Yuanyuan Core in the pool faded away, and the dark, decaying Dao aura lost its master, wandering aimlessly in the pool like a headless snake.

Seeing this, Li Mu moved his mind and the Yin-Yang Dao Fire reignited. The two colors, green and gray, circled each other like two fish, and the fire spread steadily, covering the fragments of the source core.

The decaying Daoist aura peeled away layer by layer, turning into wisps of ashen energy, which were then enveloped by the Yin-Yang Daoist fire and slowly refined. A wisp of emerald life force seeped out from the depths of the fragments.

Li Mu pointed his fingers and drew them out, causing the vitality of the Dao and the decaying remnants of death to meet in the fire. The Yin and Yang Dao fire harmonized in the center, and the two fish circled around each other more rapidly, gradually synchronizing the rhythms of the two Dao sources.

Three days.

The last trace of ink faded from the surface of the fragment.

Seven days.

A vibrant green life washed over the entire fragment, like a spring tide submerging a barren plain.

The ninth day.

The Yin-Yang Dao Fire suddenly subsided, and its radiance vanished.

A crystal core the size of an infant's fist, pure white in color, floats in the center of the pool. Its crystal walls are as smooth as jade, and a yin-yang fish pattern is naturally imprinted on its surface. The fish pattern slowly flows, green on the left and gray on the right, representing life and death coexisting, prosperity and decay.

Li Mu held up the crystal core, his eyes reflecting the ever-flowing yin-yang fish pattern. He smiled with delight, "The seventeenth tribulation foundation of Qian Yuanzi, the seven domains of alien origins, and the sorrow of the collapse of a vast land have all been transformed into this thing."

"Dao Master! Can this item be contained within the Origin Vein?" Gu Xi Dao Ancestor's spirits lifted, and he looked at Li Mu with burning eyes as he asked.

Li Mu smiled slightly and nodded readily: "Of course!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Mu casually waved his hand, and the endless chaotic energy of the Myriad Origin Sea receded, revealing the vast earth primordial veins.

The next instant, Li Mu changed his hand seals, and the source veins seemed to come alive, transforming into a giant hand that took away and wrapped the crystal core.

The yin-yang fish pattern on the surface of the milky white crystal core rapidly disintegrated before the naked eye, turning into billions of bluish-gray light spots that disappeared into the depths of the vast earth and quickly dissolved.

Before long, a massive amount of source energy surged forth from the depths of the vast earth's source veins like a bursting dam. At the same moment, Li Mu's aura surged violently.

Soon, an endless gray light enveloped Li Mu like a cocoon, with myriad paths flowing within him, the five elements arising and ceasing, purity and turbidity separating, yin and yang interacting... all the scenes of the evolution of the Dao principles endlessly rotated within this small space.

Gu Xi Daozu looked at Li Mu and exclaimed, "Dao Master, what is this...?"

Thunder Dao Ancestor's eyes widened in surprise and delight as he exclaimed, "Dao Master, are you about to advance to the mid-stage of the Dao Transformation realm?" (End of Chapter)