Gou Dao and Cultivation of Immortals, Start from Farming

The lingering gray-black remnant was completely annihilated in the chaotic Dao fire, and the last bit of spiritual light scattered as stardust, merging into the roots of the Dao tree.

Li Mu sat cross-legged in the void, his body surrounded by undulating chaotic energy.

The lingering resentment of Xuanming poured into the shattered scene, still echoing in his mind. Gu Xi and Xuanming stood side by side, cultivating the tree for ten thousand years, but in the end, they faced each other in life and death, and the source of the Dao backfired.

Li Mu's gaze narrowed slightly, and the chaotic starlight in his eyes swirled faster as he looked at the roots of the majestic ancestral tree in the distance. The clear light enveloped the tree, isolating it from external disturbances and protecting the Chaos Dao Tree so that it could grow steadily.

However, after learning about Gu Xi's secret, Li Mu became extremely wary.

Gu Xi was able to set up such a deadly trap against his fellow Daoist who had been with him for 100,000 years. His deep mind and far-reaching calculations made him an extremely terrifying old monster. Now, he is helping him to establish himself and promising to protect him for a thousand years. Is this genuine or is he plotting something else?

Li Mu pondered for a long time before finally suppressing the many distracting thoughts in his mind.

“Whatever Gu Xi’s intentions may be, the Chaos Dao Tree is still shallow at the moment and needs this thousand years of peaceful time to grow.” Li Mu’s mind raced, and he resolutely said, “The most urgent task is to absorb the source energy of the vast land with all our might and improve our cultivation. When the Dao Tree is truly grown and its branches and leaves can cover a vast land, even if there are any changes, I will have the power to deal with them.”

With this thought in mind, Li Mu formed hand seals and sank his mind into the Chaos Dao Tree. Countless roots of the Dao Tree, deeply embedded in the vast earth, surged forth, resonating even more deeply with the primordial energy of the earth. The originally flowing primordial energy suddenly boiled, like hundreds of rivers flowing into the sea, frantically converging towards the roots of the Chaos Dao Tree.

Within a radius of millions of miles, the flow of primordial energy suddenly intensified.

Deep within the dark soil, the primordial energy that had accumulated over countless eons was forcibly extracted, transforming into a hazy current that flowed upstream along the roots and into the trunk of the Chaos Dao Tree.

As time passed, the trunk of the Chaos Dao Tree, driven by Li Mu, expanded at a visible speed, reaching 50,000 zhang... 60,000 zhang... 70,000 zhang...

In just ten years, the Chaos Dao Tree has grown past the ten million zhang mark, and its growth momentum has not slowed down at all. The primordial Dao patterns on the surface of the tree trunk have become increasingly complex, faintly outlining a series of innate scenes of the beginning of chaos and the differentiation of purity and turbidity—the very prototype of the Daoist rhyme of the "Chaos Creation Diagram".

The branches and leaves then grew wildly.

The tree canopy spread out like a sky-supporting canopy, and the branches and leaves that disappeared into the hazy sea of ​​light above extended into more distant phantoms. One chaotic leaf after another stretched out to a thousand feet, three thousand feet, five thousand feet... The spiritual light flowing between the veins of the leaves gradually changed from gray to red, blue, black, white and yellow, evolving into the scene of the five elements turning and all things being born and dying.

Li Mu sat cross-legged under the tree, his soul completely merging with the majestic Dao tree.

I could clearly perceive that the primordial energy of the vast earth was transformed through the roots into the purest chaotic Dao power, nourishing the tree trunk and every chaotic Dao leaf. The feeling of "growth" was incredibly real, as if I myself were this Dao tree, with roots firmly planted in the dark soil, branches reaching out to the sea of ​​light, swallowing and exhaling primordial energy, and evolving into the infinite Dao.

Time passes bit by bit.

Nourished by the vast primordial energy, the Chaos Dao Tree continued to grow, its trunk breaking through 30 million zhang, then 50 million, until it reached the 100 million zhang mark, at which point its growth rate slowed down slightly.

At this time, the Chaos Dao Tree had grown into a towering giant.

The main trunk is as thick as a pillar supporting the sky, and the primordial Dao patterns on its surface have completely solidified into a complete "Chaos Creation Diagram" - the diagram is divided into nine layers. The first layer depicts the initial separation of purity and turbidity, the second layer shows the differentiation of the five elements, the third layer shows the arrangement of stars, the fourth layer shows the formation of mountains and rivers... The nine layers of the diagram advance layer by layer, interpreting the true meaning of the evolution of chaos into all worlds.

The tree canopy blocked out the sun, and the branches that disappeared into the sea of ​​light extended into countless branches, each branch ending in a thick, chaotic leaf.

The chaotic Dao leaves vary in size, ranging from a hundred feet to over ten thousand feet. Daoist principles flow between the veins of the leaves, and the life force of the inner world embryo is burgeoning.

Among them, the core thirty-six Chaos Dao Leaves, the "Boundary Embryo" in the core position, have matured into complete primary Great Realms after hundreds of years of Dao Source nourishment and law self-evolution!

Li Mu's mind split into thirty-six strands, closely connected with the origin of all realms, allowing him to clearly perceive the changes in each great realm.

A single branch in the East, in the realm of icy foxes.

The glaciers stretch for thousands of miles, crystal clear like glass. Nine extremely cold veins run through the region, and the boundless cold air condenses into tangible frost patterns in the void.

Above the central star of the realm, the Snow Fox Ancestral Palace stands majestically, with billions of icicles hanging from its eaves, reflecting an extremely cold law.

Xue'er sat upright in the core of the ancestral hall, her nine tails hanging down, deeply connected with the Nine Extreme Cold Veins. The Heavenly Fox Ancestral Mark between her brows shimmered with moonlight, and her aura had risen from the initial stage of the Seed Path to the peak of the Seed Path, only a step away from achieving the Dao.

Life flourishes within the realm.

The first batch of enlightened snow foxes have cultivated for hundreds of years and have developed into a complete clan. The fox clan is divided into nine lineages, each mastering a lineage of ice magic: there are wind foxes who are good at controlling frost, rock foxes who are skilled at freezing ice, and water foxes who ride the cold tides... The clan has grown to over a million members and has built a series of ice and snow cities on the glacier.

Three hundred years ago, Xue'er selected the most talented members of the Nine-Tailed Fox lineage from among her clans and personally taught them the true teachings of the "Mysterious Frost Heavenly Fox Technique." These members cultivated diligently and tirelessly, and eighty years ago, they collectively broke through to the Extreme Dao Realm. Xue'er appointed them as "Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox Priests," in charge of all matters related to sacrifices, the transmission of magic, and laws within the realm.

Today, the world of Ice and Snow Foxes welcomes a grand celebration.

Nine Celestial Fox Priests, clad in ice crystal robes, stood atop the altar before the ancestral hall, chanting ancient incantations in unison. The chanting flowed like a frigid spring, causing the extremely cold source of the realm, accumulated over hundreds of years, to surge violently.

"With our bloodline, we draw upon the true essence of Taiyin; with the origin of this realm!"

Nine tails swayed in unison, and nine icy blue pillars of light shot up from the priest's head, converging at the dome to transform into a cold, bright moon phantom. The cold light fell and merged with the surging cold air from the Nine Extreme Cold Veins, condensing into a crystal-clear, nine-tailed phantom in the center of the altar!
The moment this image appeared, the entire Ice and Snow Fox Realm was shaken.

The glaciers resonated for thousands of miles, and countless snow foxes prostrated themselves. At this moment, the laws of the realm reached perfection. Xue'er suddenly opened her eyes, reached out her hand, and the shadow of the celestial fox drifted in and disappeared into the ancestral mark between her eyebrows.

The barrier to the peak of the cultivation path shattered instantly!

Xue'er's aura rose steadily, and the prototype of the "Dao Domain" unique to the Dao Realm appeared around her body—an extremely cold territory covering thousands of miles, where wind and snow were controlled by her will and ice could be frozen at her whim. She successfully stepped into the Dao Realm and became the first Realm Lord under the Chaos Dao Tree to advance to this realm.

At the same time, Xue'er's realm improved, the Ice and Snow Fox Realm grew, and a massive amount of fortune and Dao essence fed back into the Chaos Dao Tree, tracing back along the leaf veins to the main trunk and merging into the Primordial Dao Fruit on the branches.

The pulsation of the Chaos Dao Fruit increased imperceptibly by a fraction, and the Dao patterns on its surface gave rise to more delicate branches of icy evolution.

……

A branch in the south, belonging to the realm of the Golden Ape.

The climate in this realm is completely different from that of the Ice and Snow Fox Realm.

Within this realm, there are no glaciers or snowfields. On the main star, the Golden Ape Demon Star, only the towering Ten Thousand Mountains stand majestically, their bodies a dark gold color, with natural Dao patterns engraved on their surfaces.

The golden-armored giant ape that Xiao Jin had transformed into stood atop the peak, roaring to the sky, its voice shaking the mountains. Golden light emanated from its body, indicating that it had ascended from the initial stage of the Seed Path to the late stage. Behind it emerged a colossal ape dharma image that stood tall and imposing, its fists grasping stars and its feet treading mountains and rivers, its pure power filling the entire realm. All living beings within this realm belonged to the "Vajra Ape Clan."

This race was created by Xiao Jin using his own blood essence to transform rocks and draw upon the source of the realm. Their appearance bears a seven-tenths resemblance to his original form: their bodies are covered in dark gold fur, their muscles are bulging like cast iron, their eyes are crimson gold, and their fighting spirit is overwhelming. Although the race is not as numerous as the million Snow Foxes, it still numbers in the hundreds of thousands, and each one is brave and strong enough to lift a mountain.

The martial spirit is prevalent in the world of apes.

Since the realm was first formed, Xiao Jin established a rule: no magic should be practiced, only physical training and combat skills should be honed as the highest righteous path. The once-in-a-century "King of Strength Competition" is the biggest event in the realm. The winner can enter the secret cave of the ancestral mountain and obtain the inheritance of the "Spirit Devouring Body Forging Technique".

For hundreds of years, nurtured by this atmosphere, the Golden Ape Clan has forged a unique talent—the Indestructible Battle Body.

Ordinary apes, once they reach adulthood, can withstand the spells of the Extreme Dao Realm with their bare bodies. The elites of the tribe, with their battle bodies just beginning to form, can withstand attacks from the Seed Dao Realm for a hundred breaths without collapsing. As for those "Power Kings" who were personally taught by Xiao Jin, they have cultivated their indestructible battle bodies to a minor level, and their physical bodies alone are enough to directly confront cultivators in the early stages of the Seed Dao Realm.

On this day, a deafening roar came from the depths of the Zushan Secret Cave.

Xiao Jin sat cross-legged in the cave, with a dark golden, heavy, viscous marrow floating in front of him—the first wisp of "Vajra Essence" fed back after the laws of the Vajra Ape Realm had reached perfection.

The ultimate essence of this marrow-containing power can reshape the physical body with just a drop, transforming a mortal into an indestructible battle form.

"Good! Good! Good!" Little Golden Ape with Azure Eyes repeatedly exclaimed, his golden eyes shining brightly as he excitedly said, "With this marrow as a guide, I can create the 'Vajra Battle Blood' inheritance for the clan. In the future, the clan's sons will be born with the rudiments of a battle body, saving them a hundred years of hard work!"

Xiao Jin opened his mouth and inhaled, swallowing the Vajra Essence. His body shone with golden light, and the giant ape dharma image behind him suddenly solidified by three-tenths. The barrier of the late stage of the Seed Dao was faintly loosened, and he was not far from breaking through.

……

A single branch in the West, a world of myriad forms.

The weather in this region is different from the previous two.

Within this realm, there are countless metallic planets, devoid of mountains, rivers, cities, or tribes. Instead, one sees towering war puppet fortresses, bustling armies of war puppets, and a vast, boundless "sea of ​​data light," composed of billions of flowing puppet patterns.

In the center of the sea of ​​light, a pure white palace with sharp angles floats—the Puppet Dao Cardinal.

The Puppet Spirit - Bright Moon sat upright on the cardinal, her golden eyes gleaming with data flowing like a galaxy. After hundreds of years of nurturing from the source of the world and tempering the puppet path, her aura remained stable at the mid-stage of the Seed Path.

However, Mingyue, who fully embraced the core inheritance of the Golden Puppet Realm, possessed computational power beyond the realm of reason.

Since taking over this realm, Mingyue has used the Puppet Heart's calculation power as a foundation to construct this "Puppet Dao Pivot" by drawing upon the realm's source. The Pivot is deeply integrated with the entire Myriad Manifestations Evolution Realm, and can deduce in real time the operation of all laws within the realm, the optimization of cultivation techniques, and even the cultivation path of the Puppet Dao's self-evolution.

Over the centuries, Mingyue, with the help of the Cardinal, optimized the "Chaos Dao Operation Model" for her master, Li Mu, with 3,600 versions. Li Mu was able to cultivate the Chaos Dao Tree to a scale of hundreds of millions of feet in the past five hundred years, thanks in no small part to the optimized model deduced by Mingyue.

At this moment, the Puppet Dao Cardinal is conducting an unprecedented simulation.

Within the sea of ​​light, countless puppet patterns, as if manipulated by an invisible hand, rearranged and combined, evolving into endless variables. At the core of the deduction was a "Great Dao Puzzle" encompassing all the laws of the thirty-six realms of the Chaos Dao Tree.

The puzzle is incomplete, with many key parts still blank.

“The extreme cold of the Ice and Snow Fox Realm, the ultimate power of the Vajra Ape Realm, the water cycle of the Xuan Water Dragon Realm, the Phoenix Fire Dao of the Li Fire Phoenix Realm, the heavy burden of the Wu Earth Great Realm, the vitality of the Qing Wood Yuan Realm, the soul-devouring transformation of the Myriad Gu Insect Realm…” Mingyue’s thoughts raced, and the data flow reflected the characteristics of the laws of various realms: “These are all basic law puzzle pieces of the Chaos Great Dao.”

"They need to be organically linked together, complementing and coexisting, in order to construct a truly perfect cycle of chaos."

The simulation lasted for a full 21 days.

The sea of ​​light surged ceaselessly, and eventually, the missing nodes of the puzzle were filled in one by one, and a complete, self-consistent, and ever-renewing "Basic Law Cycle Diagram of the Great Chaos" slowly unfolded in the sea of ​​light.

The moment the image was created, the entire puppet world trembled violently.

The Puppet Dao Core burst forth with brilliant white light, and the aura of Mingyue's puppet body surged. The barrier of the mid-stage of the Seed Dao broke through, and she stepped into the late stage of the Seed Dao. At the same time, the Law Cycle Diagram transformed into a stream of light, tracing back the veins of the leaf, reaching the main trunk of the Chaos Dao Tree, and imprinting itself on the surface of the Primordial Dao Fruit.

The pulse of the Dao Fruit suddenly accelerated by 30%!

As a result, the efficiency of the Chaos Dao Tree in absorbing and expelling the primordial energy of the vast earth increased, and its billions of roots expanded even more vigorously. The primordial energy within a radius of ten thousand miles was completely absorbed, and primordial energy from even further away surged in like a tide to fill the gap.

Li Mu, sitting cross-legged under the tree, suddenly opened his eyes.

"The bright moon has deduced the fundamental law cycle..." Li Mu sensed the changes in the Dao Fruit, his eyes swirling with stars, and exclaimed with delight, "The efficiency of the Chaos Dao's operation has increased by 30%, and the growth speed of the Dao Tree can also be accelerated by 30%. Excellent! Very good!"

……

While the progress of other realms is not as astonishing as that of the three realms, they each have their own unique characteristics and contribute back to the Daoist philosophy.

The Xuan Shui Dragon Realm, ruled by the Azure Moon True Dragon, has reached a state of near perfection in its water elemental cycle, giving rise to the "Primordial Xuan Shui Essence"; the Li Huo Feng Realm, managed by the Crimson Fire Phoenix, boasts unparalleled blazing Phoenix Fire Daoist charm, giving rise to the "Nirvana Phoenix Fire Source Seed"; the Wu Tu Great Realm, guarded by Little Tile, has thick and solid earth veins, giving rise to the "Wu Tu Mother Qi"; the Qing Mu Yuan Realm, cared for by the Azure Jade Ginseng King, is brimming with vitality, giving rise to the "Jia Wood Longevity Dew"; the Wan Gu Insect Realm, managed by Little White, is unpredictable and treacherous in its spirit-devouring abilities, giving rise to the "Wan Gu Source Egg"...

Each of the thirty-six realms, based on its original characteristics, has evolved distinct realm laws, which in turn have given rise to thirty-six kinds of chaotic Dao resources with different attributes, nourishing the Chaos Dao Tree. The Primordial Dao Fruit has caused its Dao patterns to gradually outline an all-encompassing "Chaotic Myriad Realms Map".

Li Mu clearly sensed that his understanding of the Great Dao of Chaos was rapidly deepening as the various realms fed back to him: "Chaos encompasses everything and evolves endlessly. I used the Dao Tree to derive thirty-six realms, and each realm revealed the aspect of Chaos, feeding back the Dao's resources. In reality, I disassembled the Great Dao of Chaos into thirty-six basic laws, and then unified them into one through the Dao Fruit."

"When all the laws of the thirty-six realms are perfected and the resources for cultivation are gathered, one's cultivation will be able to advance further and reach the threshold of the late stage of the Dao Integration Realm."

With this thought in mind, Li Mu dared not slacken and exerted all his strength to urge the Dao Tree to absorb the source energy of the vast earth.

A thousand years have passed, and more than five hundred years have gone by.

There are still more than four hundred years until the period of protection agreed upon by Gu Xi. During this time, the Chaos Dao Tree must grow to a point where it can stand on its own, so that even if there are any changes, it will still have the strength to fight.

Li Mu's mind completely immersed in the Dao Tree, causing the roots of the Chaos Dao Tree to expand even more rapidly, like billions of dragons frantically devouring the primordial energy of the vast earth. After the primordial energy within a radius of ten thousand miles was completely absorbed, the roots continued to spread deeper, touching the edge of the area covered by the roots of the Ancient Ancestral Tree.

At that moment, a sudden change occurred. (End of Chapter)