Gou Dao and Cultivation of Immortals, Start from Farming

The Starry Sky Platform remained silent for a long time.

Li Mu raised his eyes, looked towards the southern void, pondered for a moment, and decided: "The Northern Region has a powerful vein, but the presence of ferocious beasts will take too long to completely eradicate, and cannot be accomplished overnight."

Gu Xi Daozu was taken aback, looking at Li Mu with confusion: "What does the Dao Master mean?"

Li Mu raised his hand, and the star map rotated. A crimson dot of light appeared deep in the Southern Region, its light faint and intermittent.

"When we explored the void source veins earlier, we also noticed unusual activity to the south," Li Mu indicated. "However, the fluctuations in the source energy were sometimes strong and sometimes weak, resembling the remnants of an ancient domain. We haven't been able to get to the bottom of it!"

Gu Xi Daozu's spirits lifted: "Dao Master wants to explore the southern source vein?"

“Well, the Northern Region’s giant vein is close to the Cold Nether Vast Domain, making it easy for them to detect it. Let’s leave that for another time!” Li Mu looked at the two of them and nodded, “If we find the source vein in the Southern Region, we can go further and hunt for it!”

Gu Xi Daozu frowned and reminded him, "Dao Lord, the southern border is close to the Blazing Vast Domain. If we encounter the Blazing Dao Lord!"

“The Blazing Empire is still far from here. I will go alone and return quickly, without getting entangled with it,” Li Mu interrupted with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Xue'er immediately became anxious and said with concern, "Brother Li, are you going alone? That's too dangerous!"

Li Mu waved his hand: "Too many people will only make us more exposed. This trip is only to find out the truth, not to hunt for resources."

"Then we'll need a few people to accompany us and provide support!" Xue'er quickly volunteered, "Brother Li, let me go with you!"

"Master, I'm here too!"

"Me! I want to go too!"

……

As soon as Xue'er finished speaking, Xiao Jin, Xiao Wa, Lin Xiaonan and the others volunteered to go along.

"No need to argue!" Li Mu waved his hand and said, "This trip is to explore the source veins of the endless void. The situation is unclear, and it would be inconvenient for you to follow!"

Li Mu's gaze swept past Xue'er and landed on Mingyue beside her. He gestured, "Mingyue, you come with me. The rest of you stay behind and guard Haotu for me!"

Mingyue's silver eyes brightened slightly as she rose and respectfully replied, "Yes, Master."

Li Mu looked at Gu Xi and Hao Tian: "The Chaos Origin Cauldron will be under your command. The great formation will be fully operational, and border patrols will be strengthened. If we encounter an invasion from outsiders, we only need to hold out for half a month!"

Gu Xi Daozu solemnly accepted the order: "Rest assured, Dao Master, I will do my utmost."

Dao Ancestor Haotian nodded solemnly: "The Star Evolution Technique will monitor the four corners of the vast land at all times. If there is any abnormality, we will immediately send a message."

Li Mu nodded in satisfaction. Then, with a flick of his sleeve, a hazy light enveloped the bright moon. He stepped into the void and disappeared without a trace.

The Daoist masters watched them go, each with a different expression.

Xue'er gazed in the direction where Li Mu had disappeared, her Yin True Eyes swirling between her brows, remaining silent for a long time.

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Deep within the void, turbulent currents surged.

Li Mu carried the bright moon swiftly, his chaotic will spreading out, enveloping billions of miles of void, causing turbulent void currents, and the entire journey was shrouded in endless darkness.

Li Mu carried Mingyue on a swift journey for a hundred days. His chaotic will spread out, covering billions of miles of void. Occasionally, some stray primordial energy drifted along the way, as thin as mist. He could easily absorb it, but it was nothing more than a drop in the ocean.

"Master, does that source vein truly exist?" Mingyue's silver eyes darted around, and the puppet-patterned light screen illuminated the surroundings, revealing nothing but pitch-black turbulence.

"It exists." Li Mu's eyes swirled with chaotic starlight as he indicated, "The fluctuations are extremely weak and continuous, but we're still far from it!"

Mingyue nodded and asked no further questions.

The two traveled for another ten days.

The turbulence intensified, and the area ahead remained pitch black. However, the aura of the void turbulence changed, becoming more tangible.

Mingyue frowned slightly. Her peak Dao Integration Realm divine sense reached out and touched that pitch blackness, but it was like a mud ox sinking into the sea, yielding nothing.

"Master, what lies ahead?"

“It’s a void rift!” Li Mu raised his hand, and a hazy light enveloped the bright moon as he explained, “This phenomenon often occurs in the depths of the endless void. The spacetime is chaotic, the source energy is isolated, and divine senses cannot enter.”

Mingyue suddenly realized, "Then the source vein is after the fault line?"

"It should be!" Li Mu condensed the chaotic will into a needle and pierced into the darkness, extending it across billions of miles of territory.

Take a breath.

Ten breaths.

One hundred breaths.

……

Li Mu withdrew his Daoist thoughts, pondered for a moment, and decided: "The fault line stretches for countless billions of miles. Going around it would take too much time. Let's go through it."

As soon as he finished speaking, a gray light suddenly shone brightly, enveloping the two of them and plunging them into the endless darkness.

In the pitch black, without light or sound, time and space were distorted. A moment of moving forward seemed like a hundred years had passed, and taking a step forward seemed like returning to the starting point.

Li Mu unleashed his Chaotic Dao Domain, its gray light illuminating the surrounding area for tens of thousands of miles.

Mingyue followed closely behind Li Mu, the puppet-patterned light screen flowing and recording their trajectory.

After an unknown amount of time, perhaps days, perhaps months, a glimmer of light suddenly appeared ahead. Li Mu accelerated, and the gray light broke through the darkness, revealing a bright and clear view.

The void remains, the turbulence remains, the darkness remains. The bright moon looks back, and that darkness has vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed.

“It’s out!” Li Mu’s gaze swept across the surroundings, and his chaotic will spread.

After a moment, Li Mu raised his hand and pointed to the deepest part of the room, gesturing to Mingyue, "Look over there."

Mingyue looked in the direction Li Mu was pointing—in the far distance, a tiny glimmer flickered, like a star or a candle, appearing and disappearing in the endless void.

The two continued on their way.

That tiny glimmer of light always flickered in front of me, seemingly within reach, yet I could never get close.

Mingyue frowned: "Dao Master, this..."

"The void is vast, and what we can see is often hundreds of millions of miles away." Li Mu said calmly, "That tiny glimmer is hundreds of millions of miles away from us."

The two walked for a while longer.

The faint light gradually brightened, and its outline became faintly visible—not a single primordial vein, but a cluster of primordial veins, stretching for countless billions of miles, like a nebula suspended in the void, its milky white light flowing and dazzling.

Mingyue's silver eyes lit up, and she asked excitedly, "Master, what is that?"

"A vast cloud formation." Li Mu's eyes narrowed slightly as he exclaimed, "Such a scale is unprecedented."

As the two continued their journey and drew closer, the outline of the vast cloud formation became increasingly clear. Thousands of primordial veins intertwined and entwined, like an inverted galaxy. Amidst the endless radiance, countless points of light could be faintly seen rising and falling, twinkling like stars.

Mingyue took a deep breath and extended her divine sense. The moment she touched the vast cloud formation, her body trembled and her face turned pale.

Li Mu quickly raised his hand, and a hazy light enveloped the bright moon, signaling, "Contain your divine sense. There are several Dao Lord-level beings guarding the depths of that vast cloud formation. Do not act rashly!"

Mingyue quickly withdrew her divine sense, still shaken: "Dao Master, that was..."

"A vast alliance formed!" Li Mu's eyes swirled with chaotic starlight as he gestured, "It's many times stronger than Zi Xiao and Leng You." Upon hearing this, Ming Yue was stunned, her heart pounding.

In the center of the cloud, amidst the milky white light, countless primordial veins extended like tentacles, plunging into the depths of the void, frantically absorbing the free primordial energy, and converging around the core domain—a magnificent and awe-inspiring sight.

Li Mu stared at that vast area for a moment, then turned and gestured, "Let's go, the source vein we're looking for isn't in this direction."

The bright moon nodded and continued on its way with Li Mu.

Bypass that vast expanse and venture deeper into the void.

Several more days passed.

The void ahead suddenly changed; the turbulent currents gradually subsided, the scattered stars thinned out, and a desolate void stretched out before them, devoid of light and sound, only endless darkness.

Suddenly, Li Mu stopped in his tracks, and the chaotic will spread.

"Master?" Mingyue looked at Li Mu, puzzled.

After a moment, Li Mu said solemnly, "It's the remains of the Vast Domain."

Mingyue was taken aback: "Remains?"

"A vast land, what remains after its collapse." Li Mu stepped forward and gestured, "Let's go take a look."

Before long, Li Mu led Mingyue into that desolate void.

Mingyue extended her divine sense, touching that deathly silence, and sensed a desolate and ancient aura, like a sleeping behemoth, which made her uneasy.

As darkness dissipated, a wreckage emerged—the vast land crumbled into countless fragments, suspended in the void. The surfaces of the fragments were charred black, their source veins dried up, exposed like withered bones, and their source energy dissipated.

Mingyue's silver eyes darted around, the puppet-patterned light screen reflecting the structure of the ruins, and she exclaimed in amazement, "Dao Master, does this vast land still retain primordial energy?!"

Li Mu frowned and said, "This vast region has been dead for countless millennia. Its source veins are exhausted, all living beings have vanished, and not even remnant souls have been left behind."

The bright moon remained silent.

As the two continued deeper, the debris became denser and the fragments of the vast earth grew larger. Finally, a vast expanse of debris stretching for hundreds of millions of miles appeared before their eyes, more than a hundred times larger than the debris they had seen before.

In the center of the wreckage, countless cracks revealed a faint, eerie light.

Li Mu's gaze sharpened, and his chaotic will probed in.

A moment later, Li Mu opened his eyes and exclaimed in surprise, "There's something there!"

Soon, Li Mu led Mingyue into the depths of the crack. An ancient and obscure aura rushed towards them. He raised his hand and pressed down, and a gray light surged out, continuously seeping into the crack.

With a "crack!", the source layer shattered, opening a fissure that led directly to the interior.

Li Mu led the bright moon into the city.

Deep within the heart of the land, a towering stone palace comes into view. The stone palace is mottled and engraved with ancient patterns. The palace door is wide open, and a faint light flows inside.

Li Mu stopped in front of the hall, gazing at the many ancient and strange Dao patterns on the hall door.

Mingyue's silver eyes darted around, and the puppet-patterned light screen reflected the ancient patterns: "Dao Master, these patterns are so unfamiliar and strange, unlike any Dao pattern I have ever seen."

As Mingyue spoke, she flipped through the memories of all the patterns and began to analyze them frantically.

"It's not surprising that you don't know about the Dao patterns from other realms. Decipher as much as you can!" Li Mu smiled slightly, looked at Mingyue, and gave the order.

The purpose of bringing Mingyue along came in handy at this moment. Otherwise, Li Mu would have been helpless against the Dao patterns of these alien realms. This was true when he encountered the remnant domains before, and it was also true when he studied the Myriad Origin Furnace. He had spent a lot of energy before he could gain anything.

"Yes, Master!" Mingyue readily accepted the order, unfolding her Dao-Merging Puppet Domain to analyze the surrounding alien Dao patterns.

The hall was filled with a deep, dim light, and the vast space was empty. The four walls were engraved with dense Taoist patterns, the lines of which were as winding as dragons and snakes, flowing with a dim halo.

At the center of the hall stood a hundred-foot-tall stone platform, upon which floated a fist-sized azure crystal core. The surface of the crystal core was covered with cracks and was shrouded in deathly silence.

Li Mu stepped to the front of the stage, stared at the crystal core, and used his divine sense to explore its essence. However, he did not obtain any valuable information for a while.

Below, Mingyue stood frozen in place, her silver eyes filled with countless puppet patterns. The source of the puppet path expanded, covering the Dao patterns on the four walls, and began to analyze them frantically.

About an hour passed.

The puppet patterns in Mingyue's silver eyes stopped, and she looked at Li Mu, respectfully reporting: "Master, I have deciphered ninety percent of the information in these foreign Dao patterns. These patterns record the rise and fall of a vast land!"

"Oh! Tell me about it!" Li Mu stopped exploring the crystal core and turned to look at Mingyue.

Mingyue raised her hand and pointed to the left wall, explaining, "These patterns tell the story of the beginning of the vast land, the emergence of all things, and the birth of the first batch of innate beings."

As Mingyue explained, she projected a light screen with puppet-shaped patterns, displaying translated Daoist text: "From the beginning of the source veins, all Daos evolved, and life gradually arose. We call this the 'Primordial Dao Lord'..."

Mingyue turned to the right wall and continued, "This pattern tells of the great land's prosperity, the veneration of all races, and the master, the 'Primordial Dao Master,' attaining enlightenment and transforming into the Dao."

The puppet curtain turns—the master has undergone sixty-two tribulations, merging all the Dao into one, breaking through realms and ascending to the highest level. Heaven sends down congratulations, and all spirits pay homage. We call him the 'Lord of the Origin'.

Mingyue pointed to the front wall and continued, "These patterns tell of the decline of the Vast Land and the cause of the collapse of the Primordial Dao Lord."

As the light curtain shifted, after the Primordial Dao Lord broke through to the next realm, his Dao foundation became unstable. He absorbed the Dao source from the void and refined it into the vast domain. However, the different Daos clashed, and even after 30,000 years of seclusion, he could not suppress them. On the day his Dao collapsed, the vast land crumbled, and all living beings perished. We call this the 'Primordial Calamity'.

Li Mu's gaze narrowed slightly: "Above the Dao Transformation stage, the Dao collapses and the domain is destroyed?"

Mingyue pointed to the last section of the wall and explained in detail: "These patterns tell the story of the survivors leaving these relics to warn future generations."

The light screen shifted, displaying the scene after the collapse of the Primordial Dao Lord. Less than one million people remained in the Primordial Vast Land, barely clinging to life. They built this great hall to inscribe the rise and fall of the Primordial Dao. If anyone in the future comes here, they should remember: Above the Dao of Transformation, only when all the Daos resonate in harmony can one break through it lightly. Those who force it should take the Primordial Dao Lord as a warning.

Li Mu remained silent for a moment, then his gaze fell on the blue crystal core in the center of the hall.

The bright moon puppet pattern light screen reached out and touched the crystal core. The crystal core suddenly lit up and shone with a bright blue light. The star river inside circulated faster and faster, and an ancient will surged out from the crystal core, enveloping the entire stone hall.

Li Mu raised his hand, and a hazy light enveloped the bright moon.

The ancient will swept over the two of them, paused for a moment, and then slowly subsided. The eerie light of the crystal core gradually dimmed, returning to its original state.

Mingyue breathed a sigh of relief, then said nervously, "Master, that's it!"

“The lingering resentment of the Primordial Daoist,” Li Mu explained. “After the collapse of the Dao, a wisp of his obsession remained in this core.”

After speaking, Li Mu extended his chaotic will and touched the crystal core.

The crystal core trembled slightly, and the azure light rose again, offering no resistance and allowing Li Mu's will to seep in.

After a moment, Li Mu withdrew his chaotic will and said in a deep voice, "The core contains the remaining essence of the Primordial Vast Earth, as well as the insights gained by the Primordial Daoist when he broke through to the next realm."

Mingyue's eyes lit up: "Master, if we could refine it..."

“Refining is not difficult,” Li Mu said. “The difficulty lies in bearing the Dao essence within. The Origin Dao Master cultivates all Daos and merges all Origins. His breakthrough insights are precious, but also extremely dangerous. This place is not suitable for him to carry out the process.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Mu raised his hand and a surge of gray Dao Yuan flowed in, enveloping the crystal core and putting it into his sleeve.

Mingyue nodded knowingly, and the puppet-patterned light screen continued to flow, sweeping across the four walls.

Suddenly, Mingyue let out a soft "Eh," and pointed to a shadowy spot in the corner of the hall: "Master, there's something slightly different about the Dao patterns on that piece!"

"Oh!"

Li Mu's gaze swept over the area and he noticed a small patch of Daoist patterns engraved on the corner stone wall of the hall. The patterns were fine and dense, quite different in style from the patterns on the other four walls, suggesting that it was added later. (End of Chapter)