Gou Dao and Cultivation of Immortals, Start from Farming

The origin of the Ghost Clan and the evil power of the Ancient Evil Realm achieved a delicate balance within the body of the Twin-Eyed Ghost Demon. They clashed and their power surged, causing the surrounding void to collapse on its own, condensing into a domain that devoured all laws.

The two-faced demon stretched out its four arms—its left arm was deathly white as bone, covered in menacing armor; its right arm was pitch black, dripping with malevolent fluid. The surging new energy within its body caused smiles to appear on both faces simultaneously.

"The evil power is boundless and endless!" the Face of Corruption roared like thunder.

"Devour! Plunder! Conquer!" The Devouring World's Face shrieked, its three right eyes sweeping across the vast ancient world, its eerie light surging like a tide.

With a single step, the skull altar beneath his feet shattered with a deafening roar. He tossed his head and howled, the sound waves carrying with them the shrill cries of the demon race and the evil howls of the ancient realm, sweeping across the entire wasteland!

"We...have returned!"

Before the howl of the two-faced demon had faded, its supreme evil power and boundless wicked thoughts descended upon the world like an imperial edict, spreading throughout the entire Ancient Realm of Taixie.

The wandering evil spirits and surviving creatures trembled at the sound, the weaker ones their souls shattered and transformed into pure evil energy, which was then swallowed up from afar; several ancient evil beasts comparable to world lords awoke from their slumber, gazing at the source of the roar, their eyes filled with a mixture of surprise and greed.

The two-faced demon had all four arms outstretched, its left arm emitting a ghastly white light, while its right arm surged with a black, malevolent liquid. The two merged, transforming into gray-black chains that, as if possessing sentience, shot directly at any who dared to intrude!

"Submit! Or... Annihilation!"

The two faces spoke in unison, their wills overlapping, brooking no disobedience.

A giant lizard-like ancient beast roared, its spinal spikes shattering as it spewed out a poisonous breath capable of corroding galaxies, attempting to destroy the chains. However, the chains pierced through the poisonous mist, ignoring the protective divine light, and directly wrapped around its body; a gray-black current flowed into the chains, causing the ancient beast to tremble violently, its fierce eyes dimming in an instant. Within a few breaths, it prostrated itself on the ground, growling softly, and bowed its head in submission.

Another mass of "Weeping Blood Clouds," formed from countless vengeful spirits, attempted to escape into the void but was pursued and torn apart by several chains. The core resentment was separated and merged into the dark, evil liquid on the right side of the body.

With absolute power, the two-faced demon continuously gathers the scattered forces of the ancient evil realm, incorporating a powerful army of evil demons that belongs only to it!

Chains burst forth from its body, spreading like a plague, capturing all powerful beings; the broken world core was forcibly refined and incorporated into its domain; ancient evil spirits were marked with demonic seals and became servants; ancient remains that had slumbered for thousands of years were also awakened, infused with evil power, and transformed into killing puppets.

The two-faced demon stood in the center of the Ash Plains. Its left half shimmered with eerie light, maintaining its primal coldness; its right half churned with malevolent fluid, constantly absorbing and assimilating the chaotic power of the ancient realm. On both faces, only disdain and madness remained.

"Once the army is in full force, we will first devour this realm, and then shatter all the heavens!" The face of the corrupt source spoke with a voice as cold as a blade.

"Not enough...not nearly enough!" The Devourer of Realms roared, its three eyes bloodshot.

The face of the source of corruption spoke in a voice as cold as ice: "The ancient realm is vast, with endless ruins. Once our clan's secret techniques have eroded the foundation of this realm, all evil can be transformed into resources."

Before he finished speaking, his left arm suddenly pressed down!
A pale, eerie light rippled outwards, and three ancient evil beasts on the edge of the plain froze simultaneously. The "Ember Dragon Owl"—its body was as large as a mountain, pieced together from billions of incinerated world remains, with nine pale soul flames flickering on its head, and its mouth spewing out soul-corroding ashes.

At this moment, the three-headed dragon octopus's soul fire flickered violently, its eerie light binding the bones like chains, eroding them inward. The ancient evil power remaining between the bones clashed fiercely with the eerie light, the scraping sound deafening.

"Roar!"

One of the dragon octopuses struggled the most fiercely, its spine shattering and thousands of bone spikes swirling back, trying to break the chains of eerie light.

The two-faced demon swung its right hand in mid-air, and the black liquid transformed into a giant hand phantom, fiercely squeezing its skull!

"Crack!"

The skull shattered, and the soul fire was engulfed and devoured by the evil liquid. The dragon octopus's mangled body convulsed, its bones turning gray, and its struggles gradually weakened.

Upon seeing this, the remaining two wailed and hissed, their soul flames flickering, revealing their submission.

"Those who understand the times can be spared," said the face of the source of corruption indifferently.

The Devouring World Mask grinned maliciously: "Survive? All will become my army's minions!"

The evil liquid in his right palm split into two streams, pouring into the remains of the two dragon octopuses. The sound of bones reassembling was piercing, and a pale, eerie light emanated from within, mingling with the black liquid and condensing into gray-black, eerie patterns on the bone surface. The soul fire in his eye sockets extinguished, replaced by a ghostly green flame.

In less than half a day, the three-headed skeletal dragon octopus lay prostrate at the feet of the demon, its skeletal body bowed low, its ghostly flames burning silently, having become a loyal servant puppet.

From all directions of the plains, more evil creatures have come drawn by the scent of war.

The "Weeping Soul Vine" took root in the void, its tendrils swaying like dying arms.
The "Time-Eroding Bats" fly in swarms, disrupting time wherever their wings sweep across;

……

Suddenly, a dark red light flowed from the center of the two-faced demon's chest, its flesh writhed, and a scroll that seemed both real and unreal appeared—the "Myriad Demon Blood Map," refined from the source of corruption, the remnants of the Devouring Realm, and the billions of resentments of the ancient world.

The scroll, when unfolded, is no more than three feet square, yet it contains an endless sea of ​​stars, their light pale and their patterns indistinct.

A towering, illusory tree stands in the center, the ancestral tree of all realms. Yet, its branches and leaves are stained with dozens of glaring gray spots—the forty-three remnants of the Ghost Realm that remained after Li Mu's purification of the Ghost Clan's beacons.

At the edge of the blood-red map, hundreds of faint points of light flickered like candles. These were the remnants of the elusive races that had not been completely eradicated in the myriad realms, or the hidden beacons formed from the hidden injuries within the bodies of cultivators who had been corrupted and barely managed to shed their demonic nature.

"Hmph, Lord of Chaos... you've cleaned it up quite well." The Face of Corruption stared at the forty-three nearly extinguished stains, its voice growing increasingly sinister.

The Devouring Realm's gaze fell on the faint speck of light, its eerie green pupils gleaming: "These remnants are scattered across the heavens like starlight. With the power of the Blood Map, they may be able to sow the 'seeds of cunning' across the void!"

Before he finished speaking, black liquid surged in his right palm, and a wisp of pure evil essence was separated and poured into the blood map; a faint point of light in a remote star field, attached to the shadow of a medium-sized realm, suddenly lit up, and subtle ripples spread around it.

Almost simultaneously, at the edge of the heavens, deep within the earth veins of the "Dark Dust Realm," a small sub-realm of the "Firefly Starfield," a wisp of eerie remnant energy that had been missed by the Allied Forces' purification array trembled slightly. Drawing upon the source of the dark evil, it sprouted roots like a seed, drawing out pale, hair-thin roots that quietly burrowed into the rift in the realm's core.

The garrison commander was a newly promoted True Immortal who was in seclusion consolidating his realm when he suddenly felt a tremor in his chest and a gray-white phantom flashed before his eyes. He focused his mind and looked inward, but his Dao heart was clear and there was nothing unusual. He simply assumed it was due to the pressure of being a garrison commander and did not investigate further.

On the Myriad Demon Blood Map, the light representing the "Dark Dust Realm" is still faint, though somewhat more solid than before.

"It's done!" The Devouring Realm Face chuckled, "Though it's only a trace, like a drop of water into the sea, little by little, it adds up. Once all the remaining fragments are activated, where in the heavens can't we become the eyes and ears of our race? Where can't we sow the seeds of disaster?" The Corrupting Source Face, however, stared at the illusory image of the Ancestral Tree in the center of the Blood Diagram: "The distorted veins of the Ancestral Tree of Myriad Realms seem to be healing themselves. The Chaos Dao Lord is overseeing it, nourishing the Ancestral Tree's origin day and night with the Chaos Dao Tree. If this continues, the traces of our race's past erosion may be completely erased."

"Then let him have no time to spare!" the Devouring Realm Face roared. "We must grow stronger even faster! Devour all the evil sources of this realm and refine the ancient remains. Once the legion is formed, we will use the Blood Map as a guide to find a realm with abundant fragments of the map, tear open a passage, slaughter that realm first, and use the blood and souls of billions of living beings to sacrifice to the map, awakening the 'Myriad Evil Spirits' sleeping within it!"

As the words "Myriad Ghosts and Evil Spirits" were uttered, the Blood Map itself trembled slightly, and countless twisted faces seemed to struggle to emerge from the depths of the scroll, their silent shrieks shaking the void.

The two-faced demon said no more. Its four arms shook together, and the pale white eerie light and the pitch-black evil liquid merged and erupted, turning into a raging gray-black torrent that swept across the plains and lurked evil creatures in all directions!
The "Weeping Soul Vine" was the first to be hit. When the vine touched the torrent, it withered and collapsed instantly, and the essence of the core vengeful soul was extracted and absorbed into the evil liquid of the right arm. The "Eroding Time Bats" swarmed and shrieked, trying to deflect the torrent with the disorder of time. The eerie light ignored the order of time and penetrated the bat swarm. Each of the yin bats melted like wax and turned into pure evil power of time, which flowed into the eerie patterns on the left side of the body.

The most troublesome are the "Star Giants," whose bodies are compressed from shattered stars and are indestructible. The star core in their chest cavity still retains the immense stellar power and unyielding will of the stars before their annihilation.

The Star Giant roared and threw a punch, its fist crackling with the power of collapsing stars; the Two-Faced Demon neither dodged nor evaded, its left arm covered in a ghastly white armor, meeting the attack head-on!
With a loud "thud," fists and palms collided, the sound like muffled thunder exploding, and the earth of the Ash Plain cracked, with fissures spreading for thousands of miles.

The Star Giant's fist shattered into several pieces of star debris, causing it to stagger backward; fine cracks also appeared on the Demon's left arm armor, its pale white light flickering uncertainly.

"The remnant power of the star core... it's a tough nut to crack." The Devourer of Worlds licked its lips, and the black liquid on its right arm suddenly shot out, transforming into thousands of tentacles that wrapped around the giant's torso, frantically drilling into the gaps in the star remnant, aiming straight for the star core in its chest cavity.

The giant roared, pounding its chest with both arms. Its star core blazed brightly, unleashing a ring of destructive starlight that shattered most of its tentacles. However, a strange light had already slipped in through the gap on its left side. The pale light threads, like a malignant sore, seeped into the cracks and eroded the star's will within it.

The giant's movements slowed, and the star core's light was tainted by the eerie glow, turning grayish-white. The evil liquid in his right arm condensed again, transforming into a twisted and ferocious "World-Devouring Demon Spear," its tip leaping with ghostly green flames, which slammed into the giant's chest!
"Pfft!"

The demonic spear pierced through the body, and malevolent fire poured into the star core. The giant let out a final roar, its body shattering inch by inch, the star core in its chest cavity being gouged out by the demonic spear and dragged away. Even after leaving its body, the star core continued to pulsate violently, the star patterns on its surface flickering, and resentment boiling within.

The two-faced demon grasped the star core in its right hand, enveloping it in evil liquid and frantically refining it. The vast star power and the resentment of annihilation merged into the evil source, and the demonic patterns on the right half of its body suddenly lit up, revealing a complete illusion of the birth and death of stars, and its aura rose again.

The remains of the Star Giant were scattered and swept up by the gray-black torrent, turning into dust and absorbing all its essence.

The two-faced demon gathered the torrent, with seven ancient evil beasts, subdued and refined, already prostrate beneath its feet—three Ash Bone Dragon Owls, a reconstructed Soul-Weeping Demon Vine root, two Time-Eroding Bat Kings, and a newly refined "Star Bone Demon Statue"; in the distance, dozens of slightly weaker evil creatures struggled and wailed under the restraint of gray-black chains, gradually losing their resistance.

The face of corruption swept across the scene with a cold gaze, "Next step: conquer the 'Abyss of Burial Gods and Demons'."

The Devouring Realm gazed upon the Blood Map. The Ancient Realm of Tai Xie was vast, with the Ash Plains merely a corner of its edge. The map marked several places where light soared into the sky: "The Abyss of Buried Gods and Demons," "The Sea of ​​Ten Thousand Bones," "The Rift of Time Ruins," "The Volcano of Sin"... all were core, dangerous places within the Ancient Realm, harboring great peril but also containing great opportunities.

"Within the Abyss of Burial Gods and Demons, slumbering are the 'remains of evil gods' who fell from the ancient realm." The Devouring World's emerald pupils gleamed with greed: "If we could refine even a fraction of it, our evil origins would undergo a qualitative change!"

The Face of Corruption nodded: "The abyss is fraught with danger and unpredictable, so the legion must accompany us; first, thoroughly refine the subdued evil creatures, imprint them with the 'Evil Soul Seal,' and assign them as the vanguard."

……

The blood-red map on the chest of the two-faced demon shimmered with light, splitting into dozens of dark red threads that shot into the bound evil object. These threads, sharp as needles, pierced its core, forcibly imprinting a soul seal that fused the demonic power of the demon race and the ancient realm.

The evil creature's struggles gradually ceased, its pupils turning a ghostly green, its aura subtly connected to that of the demon.

As the two-faced demon gathered his demon army, deep within the Chaos Treasure Palace, Li Mu slowly opened his eyes.

Deep within his eyes, the chaotic star vortex slowly rotated, reflecting the scene of all forty-three strange origins being refined. The once filthy strange origins have now transformed into pure chaotic mother power, surging between the veins of the Dao Tree, nourishing the increasingly perfect chaotic Dao Fruit on the branch.

Thirty years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Li Mu's aura was deep and profound. When he sat quietly, he seemed to be one with the towering Dao tree behind him. The branches and leaves swayed gently, and the Daoist rhythm of the birth and death of all things and the cycle of all worlds flowed within him.

Suddenly, Li Mu's mind stirred slightly, as if he sensed a very subtle fluctuation in the darkness—not an ominous sign, but rather a causal pull, a slight tremor of the boundary.

Li Mu murmured something, stood up, and the chaotic energy naturally parted, revealing a path leading outside the mansion.

Inside the Bao Mansion, in the courtyard, Xue'er was brewing spiritual tea, while Mingyue, dressed as a maid, waited quietly by her side. Sensing the commotion, they both came to greet her.

Xue'er was dressed in white, her eyes were bright, but there was a hint of worry between her brows.

"Brother Li!" Xue'er called softly, gazing at the person before her. She felt his aura was ethereal and lofty, so close yet seemingly separated by a thick barrier. His eyes were still deep, but now lacked the worldly concerns of the world and possessed a more detached and indifferent air. The chaotic Daoist aura surrounding him was as vast as a starry sea, making Xue'er's mind slightly sluggish.

Mingyue was also taken aback, and curtsied, saying, "Master!"

Li Mu nodded, his gaze falling on Xue'er: "Sorry to keep you waiting!"

Xue'er felt a growing unease. After biting her lip for a moment, she finally spoke, "Brother Li, your aura during this seclusion has become even more profound!"

This statement was slightly inaccurate, but Xue'er stubbornly looked at Li Mu with reluctance, while Mingyue lowered her eyes and remained silent, waiting for his response.

Li Mu's expression remained unchanged as he looked up at the chaotic sky above the Treasure Mansion, where miniature worlds were constantly being created and destroyed among the branches and leaves, and the Dao Fruits were pulsating, causing all kinds of laws to resonate softly.

"This is the appearance; the chaos I cultivate encompasses everything, evolves into countless forms, and refines the strange sources of the forty-three realms. My foundation has advanced to a higher level, and my resonance with the Great Dao has become more profound. My form and spirit naturally change accordingly."

Li Mu withdrew his gaze and looked at Xue'er, a faint gentleness flashing in his eyes: "As for achieving Dao..."

Xue'er's heart tightened.

Li Mu changed the subject and said with a smile, "The Great Dao of Chaos is now close to perfection. Before perfection, there is still a slight barrier that needs to be broken through by seclusion. This opportunity does not lie in seclusion and quiet contemplation, but in traveling through the heavens, observing the birth and death of all worlds, and verifying the beginning and end of my Dao. The matter of merging with the Dao is not something to be rushed!"

"Brother Li, what will it be like after you advance to the Dao Integration stage of the Chaos Dao you cultivate?" Xue'er asked with concern.

Upon hearing this, Li Mu frowned and pondered. The chaotic star vortex in his eyes slowly rotated, as if countless worlds were born, died, and rose within it. He did not answer immediately, but simply raised his finger and lightly tapped the void. A wisp of gray mist flowed from his fingertip and slowly unfolded in front of him, transforming into a chaotic scroll of ever-changing light and shadow.

"The realm of merging with the Dao, as recorded in various classics, is nothing more than the body merging with heaven and earth, and the spirit merging with the laws, thus coexisting with the Dao, immortal and indestructible." Li Mu's voice was calm, yet each word was like a bell, striking the Dao heart of the listener: "The chaos I cultivate encompasses all things and evolves endlessly. The so-called merging with the Dao, for me, is 'merging the heart and returning to the origin, the intention and the law facing each other, and the Dao intention existing forever.'"

Upon hearing this, Xue'er and Mingyue held their breath and focused their attention. They saw that within the chaotic scroll, the clear and the turbid suddenly separated, Yin and Yang were first distinguished, and earth, wind, water, and fire surged and converged; a speck of dust condensed from the chaos, gradually expanding into a star. Upon the star, mountains rose, rivers flowed, vegetation grew, and life multiplied… A complete world unfolded in the blink of an eye. (End of Chapter)