Gou Dao and Cultivation of Immortals, Start from Farming

Li Mu lightly tapped his fingertip, and a wisp of gray sword light, like smoke and mist, quietly fell.

It appears casual, but in reality it contains the power of creation, like the first crack when chaos was first separated, silent and without a trace.

With a "whoosh!" sound, the Taiqing Immortal Pool trembled violently the instant the sword light touched the water.

In an instant, the clear, jade-like pool water seemed to be cleaved by an invisible giant blade, bursting open from the center with a roar, and the waves surged into a wall, more than ten thousand feet high, soaring straight into the sky.

The bottom of the pool is deep and exposed. It should be paved with spiritual jade and crisscrossed with water veins. Instead, it is covered with spider web-like gray and white strange patterns. The strange patterns wriggle like living things, breathing and rising and falling as if they have life, exuding an eerie aura that makes people's hair stand on end.

At the center, a fist-sized ball of eerie light blazed brightly, pulsating rhythmically. Its rise and fall caused the entire celestial pool's spiritual energy to change strangely, filling the void with a cold and eerie aura, and distorting the surrounding space.

The source of the strange race seemed to sense the impending doom, its pulse suddenly quickening, its gray and white strange patterns shining brightly, and the vast spiritual source accumulated over ten thousand years suddenly went berserk.

The next moment, the emerald water surged upwards, condensing into countless eerie water-shaped shadows in mid-air—some were the hissing of a nine-headed serpent, its venomous saliva dripping and corroding the mountain rocks; some were the claws of a hundred-armed giant demon, tearing through the void; some were the overwhelming swarms of soul-eating water locusts, their wings flapping like thunder, emitting bone-corroding and defiled power as they shrieked and pounced on the crowd.

Qingxuzi's expression changed slightly, and an ancient bronze mirror flew out from his sleeve.

The mirror's radiance surged, stretching across the sky like a flowing Milky Way, blocking the densest tide of eerie shadows. Wherever the mirror's light shone, the eerie shadows howled and dissipated.

Yunxiaozi forcefully gathered his remaining energy, made hand seals, and drew upon the spiritual energy of the city lord's mansion's earth veins to set up nine layers of the "Tai Xu Locking Spirit Array" outside the light screen. The golden chain-like array patterns intertwined like a net, sealing off the void in all directions. It was engraved with ancient restrictions that could suppress evil spirits and sever karmic ties.

The golden-armored giant that Xiao Jin transformed into roared to the sky, his body exploding with golden light, manifesting as a ten-thousand-foot-tall golden ape. His fist, as strong as a mountain, smashed fiercely into a group of water-shaped giant demons. Wherever the fist's wind reached, the void collapsed, and the water demons shattered into mist.

The Azure Moon True Dragon coiled in the sky and sang a clear song. It opened its mouth and spat out a torrent of mysterious water, which fell like the Milky Way from the heavens, washing away the strange shadow and making it slow down and unable to move.

The Crimson Phoenix, adorned in flowing robes, unleashed a phoenix phantom behind it. With a flap of its wings, blazing flames swept out, colliding with the eerie shadow. A series of sizzling sounds echoed as billowing white mist rose into the sky, filling the air with a stench.

Xiaowadunshi's body stomped on the ground, and the Xuanhuang demonic energy surged from the soles of his feet, transforming into continuous mountain phantoms that blocked Li Mu's path. Countless eerie shadows crashed into the mountains like waves hitting reefs, and before the eerie mist could rise, they were completely swallowed up by the Xuanhuang energy.

Xue'er's nine tails were fully manifested. Her white, silky fox tails curled up, with sparkling light at the tips. Wherever she passed, the eerie shadows were trapped in the mud, their movements stiffened, and their minds confused.

Mingyue stood quietly behind Li Mu, her puppet body adorned with countless tiny runes. She pressed her hands down, subtly altering the laws of nature. Any approaching phantoms were torn apart, twisted, disintegrated, and scattered by the invisible puppet force.

Li Mu remained oblivious to the countless strange images swirling in the sky, his gaze as deep as an abyss, fixed solely on the rapidly pulsating mark of the strange race at the bottom of the pool.

"Chaos Tree, suppress!"

With a slight thought, Li Mu's towering, sky-reaching Chaos Dao Tree appeared behind him. Its branches pierced through the illusory and the real, and the miniature worlds on its leaves underwent birth and death cycles. Hundreds of millions of roots stretched out like dragons, piercing through the separated pool water and stabbing straight into the rock layers at the bottom of the pool. The roots were gray and flowed with the rhythm of chaos. When they touched the strange patterns, they sizzled and crackled. The strange patterns coiled like snakes, trying to devour and erode him.

The power of chaos encompasses all things and is the nemesis of the strange race. With a tremor of its roots, the strange patterns crumbled inch by inch, turning to ashes in an instant, like rotten wood meeting fire.

The main root of the Chaos Dao Tree, like a heavenly cone falling to earth, pierced deep into the rock layers surrounding the mark, forcefully seizing the connection between the source of the strangeness and the core source of the main vein of the Taixu Immortal Realm!
"rise!"

Li Mu let out a low shout, and the main root of the Chaos Dao Tree suddenly exerted its power. The entire Taiqing Immortal Pool trembled violently, the rock layers at the bottom of the pool cracked, and the spiritual veins wailed as if weeping.

The ghostly mark of the Ghost Clan flashed wildly, frantically drawing upon the spiritual energy of the earth's veins to nourish itself. Its gray-white light surged, actually managing to withstand the stripping force of the Chaos Roots.

Li Mu's eyes turned cold. He made a grasping motion with his right hand, and the Chaos Axe materialized. The axe blade was unadorned, reflecting the scene of the collapse of the heavens and the return to the primordial chaos. He was about to swing the axe to sever the last vestige of the mark.

"Giggle..."

Suddenly, a sinister and twisted laugh emanated from the core of the strange source, piercing through the howling of the countless eerie shadows and the roar of spells, penetrating deep into the soul and causing one's consciousness to shatter.

The next instant, a crack appeared on the surface of the strange source. A wisp of dark, abyss-like, and solidified gray-white energy drifted out. It was only the thickness of a hair, yet it exuded a terrifying pressure that surpassed all heavens and regarded all worlds as ant food.

The wisps of air twisted and turned into a blurry phantom—wearing a tattered crown, its face hidden in deep shadows, with only its eyes as white as ancient ice, it was none other than the remnant consciousness of the Ghost Ancestor that Li Mu had previously annihilated outside the myriad realms!

"Lord of Chaos... I have been waiting for you for a long time!"

The voices from the source were hoarse and overlapping, like the murmurs of millions of vengeful spirits. They formed a pair of eerie eyes, which swept over Li Mu, Qingxuzi, Yunxiaozi, and Xue'er and the others. A trace of greed flashed in their pale eyes, like a hungry wolf seeing blood.

"Using this pool as our eye and the Immortal Realm as our framework, we have laid out the 'Ten Thousand Hearts Feeding Demons Grand Array' for a hundred years. Today, with your blood and soul light, we celebrate our clan's... return to all the heavens and myriad realms!"

Before the words were finished, the remnant consciousness of the Ghost Ancestor suddenly let out a sharp shriek. The shriek was invisible, causing the entire Taixu Immortal Realm to tremble violently.

Yunxiaozi's expression changed drastically, and the "Heavenly Patrol Jade Talisman" in his arms exploded, revealing a horrifying scene:

In the Eastern Qinglin Plain, tens of thousands of acres of spiritual fields withered, and the earth veins spewed out grayish-white eerie energy, which transformed into twisted vines that entangled and killed cultivators.

In the western Crimson Flame Mountain, the volcanic cluster erupted, lava turned a ghastly white, spewing forth soul-corroding fire rain;
In the northern Xuanbing Sea, the permafrost layer cracked, and thousands of icy monsters emerged, roaring like thunder.
In the Southern Stone Forest, the mineral veins mutated, the gold and stones became spirits, turning against the miners and staining the thousands of peaks with blood...

Thirty-six spiritual vein nodes, seventy-two immortal cities, and countless villages and caves—wherever there are living beings, the marks of the Ghost Clan are activated, spewing out eerie energy, evolving into strange creatures, and devouring blood energy and soul light!
In an instant, the celestial realm was engulfed in flames, filled with wailing cries that shook the heavens and earth, causing the world to lose its color.

"You!" Qingxuzi's eyes were bloodshot, his whole body trembled, and he almost vomited blood.

Yunxiaozi staggered a step, his face ashen: "So... all these years of supernatural occurrences, cultivators falling into demonic possession, and abnormal earth vein movements... are all due to this fiend accumulating power!"

The remnant consciousness of the Demon Ancestor sneered: "This mere Immortal Realm is nothing but nourishment. After devouring all the living beings in this realm, I can reshape my soul and body, and then seek the legacy of the Mother Tree... Chaos Dao Lord, you have ruined my great plans several times. Today, I will use you as a sacrifice to my banner!"

With a sway, he merged into the mark of the Ghost Clan at the bottom of the pool. The mark expanded dramatically, transforming into a ten-zhang-tall, pale ghost tree. The distorted face of the Ghost Ancestor appeared on its surface. It absorbed a massive amount of earth vein spiritual energy and blood energy and soul light gathered from all over the Immortal Realm, causing its aura to rise wildly!
"Oh no! It's devouring the origin of a realm, attempting to temporarily restore its cultivation!" Qingxuzi exclaimed in horror.

Li Mu remained calm, only looking up at the sky. Outside the Taixu Immortal Realm, the veins of the Myriad Realms Ancestral Tree faintly groaned—the depth to which this realm was corrupted by the strange power far exceeded expectations.

"The clown!"

Li Mu took a step forward, and the world suddenly froze.

Centered on him, a vast Daoist aura erupted, causing the sky to lose its color, the flowing clouds to freeze, and the surging pool water, the slaying of the ghostly shadows, Qingxuzi's light screen, Yunxiaozi's array patterns, Xiaojin and others' spells... all were frozen solid, like insects sealed in amber. Only Li Mu's green robe fluttered slightly, and the gray aura around him flowed naturally, like the Great Dao walking alone.

The illusory image of the Chaos Tree solidified completely, its branches piercing through the void, miniature worlds on its leaves undergoing cycles of birth and death, and gray-gold Dao Fruits on its branches pulsating like thunder, cascading down with countless golden patterns of order. Wherever these golden patterns reached, all things returned to their proper order.

Within the Chaotic Dao Domain, Li Mu is the ruler, all laws are governed by his mind, and all paths bow down.

The pale, eerie tree's pulsation suddenly slowed, and the Evil Ancestor's face contorted with shock and rage as he frantically channeled his demonic power to break free of its restraints. However, the Chaotic Dao Domain was like an invisible quagmire; the more he struggled, the deeper he sank. "Suppress."

Li Mu pointed with his finger, and a single word of Daoist sound descended like a decree from heaven.

The power of the Chaotic Dao Domain suddenly converged, pressing down entirely on the sphere of light. The strange patterns on its surface crumbled inch by inch, the pale light rapidly dimmed, and a mournful wail came from within.

"I am the ancestral source of all demons, and even a wisp of my consciousness shall not be insulted! Explode!"

The source of the strange energy suddenly shrank, then exploded with a deafening roar. Even though the power of the self-destruction of the Dao Realm was suppressed by the Dao Domain, it was still terrifying beyond compare. A torrent of strange white energy swept out, annihilating the void and collapsing the laws.

Qingxuzi's light barrier shattered, and Yunxiaozi's array patterns exploded into points of light.

Under the protection of the Chaos Dao Domain, Xiao Jin and the others were shaken by the aftershocks, their blood and qi churning, and they each staggered back several steps, their faces pale.

Li Mu stood unmoved at the epicenter of the explosion. The countless roots of the Chaos Dao Tree intertwined to form a cocoon, enveloping, devouring, and refining all the destructive power. As the aftershocks dissipated, the roots dispersed, and his green robe remained spotless.

The strange tree at the bottom of the pool has completely disappeared, leaving only a bottomless pit with smooth, mirror-like walls and scorch marks from the annihilation of remaining laws.

Qingxuzi and Yunxiaozi stared blankly, speechless with shock—the terrifying self-destruction power of the Ghost Source had been so easily neutralized…

Li Mu seemed to sense something, frowned slightly, and turned his gaze to the depths of the giant pit.

Although the Strange Tree was destroyed, the remnant consciousness of the Strange Ancestor was also extinguished. A trace of the Strange Clan's origin, extremely obscure, actually followed the spiritual energy of the earth's veins and quietly fled towards the source of the Great Void Immortal Realm—the "Source of the Realm" that connects the Myriad Realms Ancestral Tree to this realm.

"Trying to pollute the source of the realm, using this realm as a springboard to infect the ancestral tree in reverse?" A cold glint flashed in Li Mu's eyes as he sneered, "Wishful thinking."

The next moment, Li Mu's thoughts merged with the Chaos Dao Tree, and the main root followed the earth's veins to chase after it. At the same time, the Chaos Dao Domain expanded rapidly, spreading from the Taiqing Immortal Pool to the Xuanqing Immortal City, and then covering the entire Taixu Immortal Realm.

Within the domain, all the strange energies and creatures that erupted in various places, regardless of their strength, were suppressed by the invisible Daoist aura. The strange mist solidified like stone, and the various strange creatures became stiff and rigid. Cultivators and mortals were able to catch their breath and looked at the faintly visible phantom of the towering Dao tree in the sky, as if they had seen a savior god.

"Fellow Daoist Qingxu!" Li Mu looked at Qingxuzi and gestured, "Quickly mobilize all available forces in the Immortal Realm to wipe out the evil forces in various places. The Chaos Dao Domain can suppress these evil entities. You must seize the opportunity and completely eradicate this source of trouble!"

Qingxuzi bowed respectfully: "Thank you for your help, Dao Master!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Qingxuzi immediately took out several communication jade talismans, and his divine sense surged, sending commands to the various garrison commanders and sect leaders throughout the Immortal Realm. Yunxiaozi, despite his injuries, assisted in the coordination, and the defensive line was quickly reorganized.

Li Mu closed his eyes and focused his mind on the main root of the Chaos Dao Tree, continuing to pursue the wisp of the Ghost Clan's origin that was fleeing towards the source of the realm.

The main root of the Chaos Dao Tree pierced through the earth's veins like lightning, its gray Daoist aura washing over everything in its path, devouring and purifying all the lurking evil energy. In less than ten breaths, it had already reached the source of the Great Void Realm.

This place is incredibly hot, with earth fire flowing everywhere. In the center, a soft, clear light floats, which is the end of a "root" that extends from the source of the Great Void Realm—the Ancestral Tree of Myriad Realms.

That wisp of the Strange Race's origin transformed into a tiny white snake, lunging towards the core of the Taixu Immortal Realm, preparing to forcibly invade it and imprint itself upon it.

"sucker Punch!"

Li Mu made a hand seal with one hand, and the main root of the Chaos Dao Tree arrived first, its gray roots forming a net that tightly bound the White Serpent's source, drawing it in and instantly swallowing it into the root system of the Chaos Dao Tree.

The White Serpent of the Mysterious Origin struggled violently, uttering the last thoughts of the remnant consciousness of the Mysterious Ancestor: "Lord of Chaos...you cannot stop me. The traces of my race are spread throughout the myriad worlds, and we will eventually awaken...all worlds will ultimately return to the Mysterious Sea!"

Li Mu gave a cold snort, ignoring it indifferently, and manipulated the roots of the Chaos Dao Tree to tighten.

With a soft "poof," the White Serpent's source of evil vanished, and the last trace of the evil race's essence was completely absorbed by the chaotic Dao power and merged into the Chaos Dao Tree.

With a thought, Li Mu activated the Chaos Dao Tree to instantly refine it.

The core of the Taixu Immortal Realm, the Pure Light of the Realm Source, remained serene and peaceful. Instead, nourished by the Chaotic Daoist Rhyme, it became lustrous, profound, and full of vitality.

Li Mu retracted his main root and opened his eyes.

Beyond the Dao Domain, battles have broken out in various parts of the Taixu Immortal Realm. Under the suppression of the Dao Domain, the strength of the strange creatures has been greatly reduced, and the allied forces of cultivators have seized the opportunity to launch a counterattack, with the clearing operation progressing smoothly.

Qingxuzi and Yunxiaozi stood in the sky above Xuanqing Immortal City, directing operations. When they saw Li Mu wake up, they quickly went forward to inquire about his condition.

"Master Li, what about the mysterious source that has escaped..." Qingxuzi asked anxiously.

“I have already removed it.” Li Mu said succinctly, indicating, “The source of this world is safe and sound!”

Upon hearing this, the two breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Li Mu with gratitude in their eyes.

Li Mu gazed into the vast emptiness beyond the heavens, his eyes deep and unfathomable. Though the remnants of the Ghost Ancestor's consciousness were extinguished, his dying words were likely not unfounded. There were probably many beings throughout the myriad realms who, like the Great Void, had planted hidden agents.

"Now that this matter is settled, we should depart," Li Mu said, bidding farewell to Qingxuzi.

Qingxuzi hurriedly said, "The Daoist Master's great kindness is beyond our ability to repay. Please stay a few more days so that our realm can do its best to show our gratitude."

Li Mu waved his hand and politely declined, saying, "Having traveled here, I have come to realize how troublesome the Ghost Clan is. I'm afraid this scourge exists in other realms as well, and it is urgent to resolve it. It is not convenient for me to stay here for long. Fellow Daoist Qingxu, your most pressing task is to thoroughly eradicate the Ghost Poison within your realm and strengthen your defenses, so as not to give the Ghost Clan any opportunity to take advantage of you."

Qingxuzi solemnly agreed: "I will certainly not fail the Daoist Master's expectations!"

Li Mu said no more, and with a flick of his sleeve, chaotic energy enveloped everyone. He took one last look at the gradually returning order of the Taixu Immortal Realm, and with a slight thought, a passage opened in the void before him.

"Let's go!"

The crowd followed Li Mu closely, disappearing into the passage.

Only the illusory image of the Chaos Dao Tree remained in the vast sky, slowly fading away, the Dao Domain dissipated, and heaven and earth returned to clarity.

Qingxuzi and Yunxiaozi stood side by side in the air, gazing at the place where Li Mu had disappeared. After a long while, Qingxuzi sighed softly, "The Lord of Chaos... truly the pillar that stabilizes the heavens and the seas."

Yunxiaozi nodded emphatically, his eyes filled with awe. (End of Chapter)