Gou Dao and Cultivation of Immortals, Start from Farming

The scene before my eyes completely defied common sense.

The sky, indistinguishable between day and night, was neither dark nor blue, but rather shimmering with a surging tide of seven-colored rays, sometimes gathering into magnificent palaces, resplendent in gold and jade; sometimes scattering into a shower of blossoms, drifting and swirling. The earth stretched out like a cloud carpet, yet felt weightless beneath one's feet;
Mountains and rivers are outlined by the halo of light, their shapes shifting at will—one moment snow-capped peaks piercing the sky, the next, with a slight thought, they transform into misty rain, small bridges, and waterside villages. In the distance, cities appear and disappear, pavilions and towers are exquisitely crafted, and figures move gracefully through the streets and alleys, their laughter faintly audible, like a paradise on earth, a fairyland.

Countless pure white, jade-like spirits fluttered and played among the streams of light. When the steel torrent suddenly arrived, they were not afraid, but instead gathered and danced around it, exuding a peaceful aura that calmed the mind, as if there was no strife in this world, only joy.

However, beneath this tranquility, a deadly intent had already been lurking.

"Om-!"

The Ember Puppet Legion had only ventured a few miles when the world suddenly changed. The colorful, flowing light that filled the void suddenly froze and twisted as if alive, the air became thick and cold, as if an invisible giant hand was seizing their souls. The pure phantom spirits that had been laughing just moments before let out a shriek, their bodies shattering, their entire bodies stained with ink, instantly transforming into hideous demonic shadows!
The three-headed, six-armed creatures roared like thunder, while the hundred-eyed, thousand-legged creatures crawled like a tide. Their forms were bizarre and varied, yet they were all filled with overwhelming evil thoughts such as resentment, greed, and fear, as they roared and pounced on the cold puppet army.

This is not a physical attack.

The demonic shadow, like a cold wind, swept through the walls, ignoring the divine golden armor and the energy shield, and went straight into the core of the Ember Puppet's logic.

"Warning! Unknown psychological fluctuations have infiltrated!"

"Core instruction flow disorder...logic conflict..."

"Identification system crashed... Friendly fire detection failed..."

A chilling alarm shattered in Mingyue's consciousness. Hundreds of Chaos Ember Puppets at the vanguard suddenly turned from crimson gold to a frenzied, blood-red light in their eyes, their bodies trembling violently, and a sharp, metallic hissing sound emanating from within.

The next instant, they suddenly turned their cannons around, brandished their sharp blades, and launched a frenzied attack on their comrades without warning!

In an instant, the sounds of metal cracking and energy exploding resounded throughout the heavens and earth, replacing the previous tranquility. The puppets, corrupted by "mindset," acted like madmen, their attacks chaotic yet fearless, tearing several gaps in the well-organized army formation in an instant, causing the formation to falter.

"Nightmare Puppet Guards, disperse!"

The bright moon uttered a clear, crisp sound, like a cold spring striking a rock.

Five hundred shadowy figures moved at the command, their forms silently dissolving into the bizarre and fantastical illusion, like drops of water merging into an ocean. A moment later, dark purple shadows quietly appeared around the out-of-control Ember Puppet.

The Nightmare Puppet Guardian had no sharp edges or blades, but its core, the "Nightmare Core," shimmered with a faint light, and an invisible suction force suddenly spread out.

The negative spiritual energy that had entered the Ember Puppet's body was like a natural enemy; it was forcibly stripped from the metal shell, turning into wisps of black smoke, which were all absorbed into the Nightmare Core and annihilated without a trace.

The red light in the out-of-control puppet's eyes went out, its movements stopped, and it stood frozen for a moment before its core rekindled with stable golden light. It looked around blankly, as if waking from a dream.

"Chaotic Puppet Domain, open!"

Mingyue's gaze remained unmoved. With a slight lift of her fingertips, she let out a clear shout. Centered on herself, a domain of billions of intricate gears and chilling legal codes suddenly expanded, instantly covering a radius of thousands of miles.

The Puppet Realm descended, and the laws of this world retreated.

The dazzling illusions had nowhere to hide under the power of order. The evil phantoms hidden in the light and shadow, their forms like snow meeting the sun, let out mournful howls and quickly dissipated, being purified and devoured by the Puppet Realm.

Mingyue's golden eyes grew increasingly solemn.

With the blessing of the Puppet Domain, Mingyue's senses were incredibly sharp, probing deep into the Illusionary Spirit Realm.

This realm is not a single world, but a dream layer upon layer, endless and boundless. Beneath the surface of this "beautiful dream" lies countless dark, twisted, and hopeless realms of depravity. The deeper one delves, the more vast and powerful the negative spiritual torrent originating from the abyss becomes, as if the nightmare origin of the entire realm has settled at the very bottom.

"Dreams layered upon dreams..."

The moon whispered, its eyes flashed, and it suddenly understood the truth.

To fight on the surface is no different from battling with phantoms, an endless struggle; only by going straight to the core and finding the "Sea of ​​Illusory Spirits" that gathers all the evil of dreams can one sever the root and break this illusion.

The moon's divine sense, sharp as a blade, pierced the darkest barrier of the dream. The instant it touched it, an ancient, vast, and malevolent will awakened with a deafening roar!

"Hehehe... More delicious food has arrived..."

A piercing, eerie laugh tore through the void. Before the bright moon, the beautiful landscape constructed of flowing light collapsed with a deafening roar. The colorful sunset turned into a foul, bloody mist, and the peaceful city became a ghostly realm of broken walls and ruins. The rain of flowers turned into the rustling of decaying bones and withered flesh.

Blood mist surged, and countless malevolent phantoms, a hundred times more powerful than before, crawled out. Several colossal inner demons, with solid figures and auras comparable to immortal venerables, strode forward, their eyes bloodshot, fangs bared, and their bodies entwined with malice capable of tearing apart the soul.

With a clear objective and ignoring everything else, they swarmed towards Mingyue and its core legion. The overwhelming spiritual impact caused ripples to spread across the borders of the Chaos Puppet Domain, almost causing it to collapse.

Mingyue's eyes were as cold as ice; she finally understood—the real enemy had only just arrived.

Mingyue must hold this place at all costs to buy time for the army, while also finding a way to infiltrate the "Phantom Spirit Sea".

"Form ranks! Defend against the enemy!"

Mingyue's clear shouts echoed throughout the army, and the Nightmare Puppet Guards, like ghosts, roamed in front, devouring and eroding the spirit; the Chaos Ember Puppet arrayed like a mountain, forming an iron wall to resist the occasional materialized demonic shadows.

Mingyue stood in the center of the army formation, his golden eyes filled with the intertwining and operation of chaotic Dao patterns and the laws of time. His divine sense was like a net, deducing the flow of countless dreams and searching for that rift leading to the source.

The Rift Universe hovered silently at the entrance to the realm. Li Mu stood at the bow, his blue robe motionless, his gaze piercing through layers of illusions, as if he had already crossed endless dreams and reached the Illusionary Spirit Sea buried deep beneath countless calamities.

The bright moon's golden eyes slightly opened, its cold light like frost.

Deep within the pupils, a torrent of data and chaotic Dao patterns intertwined and surged, instantly piercing through illusions and revealing the true forms of the overwhelming evil phantoms and the gigantic inner demons—all condensed from the negative emotions emanating from the depths of the "Phantom Spirit Sea," resembling physical entities, rooted in the boundless ocean of spirit, like mist and smoke, arising with every thought.

"Nightmare Puppet Guards, disperse! Transform into a 'Devouring Vortex'!"

Mingyue's divine sense was as swift as lightning, cold and resolute, instantly penetrating the core of the five hundred shadow puppet guards.

In an instant, the flowing shadowy figures froze, like stones thrown into still water, ripples spreading from the center of each puppet. The "Nightmare Core" hidden deep within their chests surged with eerie light, becoming as deep as an abyss and as powerful as a well, generating a terrifying suction force that devoured divine consciousness!
Five hundred miniature vortexes instantly formed, their energy interconnected and resonating with each other, transforming into an invisible and formless spiritual net stretching across the front of the army, enveloping the thousands of soldiers and awaiting the arrival of the demons. "Roar!"

Several nightmare demons attacked, their claws not yet reaching the target, but the mental impact had already exploded. A gray-black wave surged and rolled, carrying extreme thoughts of despair, hatred, and madness, like a tide of corrupt souls, howling as it rushed towards the defense line set up by the bright moon.

Rivers flow into the sea, and all streams converge.

Such a torrent of divine consciousness, powerful enough to shatter the Dao heart of an ordinary immortal, touched the net of the "devouring thought vortex" and was instantly torn apart and swallowed by the five hundred nightmare cores.

The roars of the nightmare horde were filled with shock and rage. Their offensive tactics not only failed to shake the puppet in the slightest, but instead turned into nourishment for the puppet guards. The puppet's aura rose steadily, becoming more and more solid, and the core's ghostly light was as deep as an abyss, as if it would devour the heavens and the earth.

The malevolent phantoms surging from behind, like moths to a flame, were torn apart by the vortex puppet domain before they could even get close, turning into pure divine thought that was then swallowed up.

Before the army, a spiritual vacuum was formed, where all illusions and inner demons were kept out of reach and could not advance an inch.

"Keep pushing forward."

The sound of the bright moon falling is as cold as frost.

With the protection of the Nightmare Puppet Guards, the pressure on the Chaos Ember Puppet Legion was greatly reduced. The Iron Torrent was activated, shattering the intertwined earth of illusion and reality, and piercing straight into the heart of the Illusionary Spirit Realm like a sharp sword.

Above, the Celestial Dynasty fleet, led by the Rift Universe, continued to advance, its hull patterned with flowing golden light, resisting the pervasive erosion of the illusion.

The deeper they went, the more bizarre the surrounding scenery became. Sometimes they fell into an endless sea of ​​blood, with wailing ghosts and towering waves of blood; sometimes they were in a lava hell, where the pain of burning their souls went straight to their divine palace; and sometimes they saw their loved ones die tragically and their best friends betray them. All sorts of illusions kept turning and trying to undermine the soldiers' will from the depths of their hearts.

The Nightmare Puppet Guardian followed him like a shadow, constantly devouring mental pollution like a cleaner. The Immortal Dynasty cultivators held mind-cleansing artifacts, chanted the mantra of guarding the spirit, and with their Dao hearts as firm as a rock, they moved forward step by step.

Mingyue stood in the center of the army formation, his silver armor covered in frost, a filth formed from countless negative emotions. Before it could spread, it was quietly dissolved by the chaotic Daoist energy flowing around him.

The bright moon's golden eyes pierced through layers of illusion, pointing directly to the source of that torrent of spirit.

Ahead, the boundaries of space gradually blurred, the barrier between reality and dreams became as thin as a cicada's wing, and at the edge of the sky, a vast, boundless, and indistinguishable "ocean" slowly emerged—

Phantom Sea!
An ocean of consciousness formed from the fragments of dreams, thoughts, and emotions of billions of living beings! The waves are not water but the tides of thought, surging endlessly. Each wave reflects a fragment of a broken dream. Joy, sorrow, fear, obsession... countless emotions intertwine and collide, transforming into a grand cacophony that strikes the soul.

Just a glance from afar is enough to make one's heart flutter and almost fall into its spell.

"Stop."

As Mingyue raised her hand, the returning army abruptly halted and formed a battle formation a thousand miles away from the Illusionary Spirit Sea.

From this distance, one can clearly sense the spiritual pressure emanating from the vast ocean. If an ordinary cultivator were not protected, their divine sense would be instantly submerged in a raging tide of distracting thoughts, turning them into a fool.

Mingyue took a deep breath. Even with her chaotic puppet spirit body, she felt as insignificant as dust in the face of such a vast ocean of spirit.

Mingyue formed a hand seal, and the mark between her brows felt slightly warm—it was the "timed talisman" given to her by Li Mu, which was now quietly resonating.

"Time anchor point, set!"

hum!
An invisible wave rippled outwards from her center, not destroying the army, but transforming into three thousand six hundred strands of "timelines" as fine as silk and as strong as the Dao, precisely wrapping around the divine soul essence of each Chaos Ember Puppet and the core general.

In an instant, the "moment" of all those who were anchored was forcibly frozen, completely isolated from the chaotic flow of time and the frenzied mental currents of the outside world, like a stabilizing needle driven into the midst of a raging storm.

The Phantom Sea suddenly boiled!
"Ow—!"

A roar that transcended the boundaries of matter resounded deep within the consciousness of all living beings!
The sea arched, and an indescribable behemoth slowly rose. Its formless body was pieced together from billions of distorted faces, fragmented memories, and the deepest fears, its form like a star, its mental fluctuations distorting reality, bending light, and folding space—this was the embodiment of all beings' fear, a nightmare beast!
The "giant eye," formed from countless pupils of pain, locked onto the Bright Moon Army, its massive mouth opening to spew out a hazy, gray breath.

Wherever the breath passed, the laws wailed! The earth turned into a soft cake, the sharp energy turned into falling petals, and several leading cultivators, along with their magical treasures, were instantly twisted and deformed, turning into comical dolls, or melting and dripping like wax figures!

This is a distortion of the rules of reality, pointing directly to the essence of existence!

"Chaotic Puppet Domain, open!"

The bright moon dared not slacken, opening its entire domain.

Chaotic radiance soared into the sky, gears roared, and laws extended. A kingdom constructed of absolute order and puppet laws was forcibly squeezed into a space polluted by the power of nightmares.

Chi Chi Chi -!
The gloomy breath clashed fiercely with the chaotic puppet domain, the ear-piercing friction sounds echoing endlessly as the two laws clashed intensely. At the edge of the puppet domain, the power of order continuously eroded the nightmare breath, forcing it to retreat step by step, and the domain was forced to shrink forcibly.

"Nightmare Puppet Guardian, devour the essence of nightmares!"

Five hundred shadowy figures pounced out like ghosts, their Nightmare Core operating wildly, attempting to devour the twisted spiritual essence. The Nightmare Beast's power was too high-level, making absorption difficult; the puppet's body trembled violently, nearly collapsing.

Mingyue's golden eyes were slightly cold; ordinary methods could not harm its essence. His gaze pierced through the behemoth, landing on the deepest part of the Illusionary Spirit Sea. Through the churning tides of intent, a pure and profound source of light emerged, like the heart of the sea, pulsating with mysterious rhythms, absorbing the essence of heaven and earth, giving birth to a being that sent shivers down one's spine—

The Phantom Core! And the Ancestral Phantom that is awakening!
Only by defeating this behemoth can we strike at the heart of the enemy!
Her silver hair danced wildly, and the chaotic Dao Seed within her body resonated with the time anchor. Mingyue held her hands in a gesture of reverence, and the power of the Chaotic Puppet Domain suddenly contracted, condensing at her fingertips and transforming into a phantom spear swirling with chaotic energy and time ripples. Wherever the spear tip pointed, all thoughts retreated.

"With the spear of order, pierce through the sea of ​​illusion!"

A sharp cry echoed through heaven and earth. The spear, imbued with most of the power of the moon's laws, was hurled with the might to shatter illusions, aiming straight for the Nightmare Beast's chest—the core where countless terrified faces converged!
Where the gun shot, fragments of the dream crumbled, and the flow of time seemed to freeze.

The mirror light suddenly shattered, like the first ray of dawn bursting forth from nothingness at the beginning of time, carrying the true will that illuminates all ages and cleanses the universe, piercing through the ever-churning sea of ​​illusions.

In an instant, the waves of thought, under the purest light of "truth," melted away like snow under the blazing sun; joy, anger, sorrow, obsession, and delusion—all the fragments of illusion—vanished into nothingness under the power of "all things returning to their true nature."

"No!"

The Ancestor of Illusions let out a furious roar. Its thousand-faced body, pieced together from countless dreams, twisted and boiled violently under the illumination of the mirror-like core. It transformed into an ancient ferocious god, attempting to escape into the realm of formlessness, but all its transformations were in vain. (End of Chapter)