Hermit in the Mountains

The illusory little boy saw the Dao Fruit floating in the pool begin to emit several small orbs of light. He stared intently, and his eyes lit up.

Every time a small ball of light appeared, he would mutter a phrase.

"Innate spiritual treasure embryos one, two, three, and four;"

"Innate Treasure Embryos... One, Two, Three."

"Master is so rich!"

"Master still possesses three embryonic treasures of the origin of heaven and earth. He truly deserves to be the one chosen by heaven and earth."

"The precious pearl, lotus platform, ruler, and precious robe are all Master's personal magic treasures and cannot be chosen."

"Between the Great Cauldron and the Purple Pearl, the Great Cauldron should be the natal magic weapon that Master is preparing to refine."

"Only the Purple Pearl remains as the main body, but its roots are too shallow."

The little boy gazed at the large creature about to emerge from the bottom of the pool and consoled himself, "Let's wait a little longer."

"If Master can wake up before the big guys are born, we can ask Master to reforge the Purple Pearl's origin and form."

He prefers tower-like structures that can be attacked, defended, suppressed, or trapped.

Seven orbs of light arranged around the Glazed Dao Fruit, absorbing the primordial energy from the pool to strengthen themselves.

Unfortunately, they can only absorb and refine by instinct, which is incredibly inefficient.

The little boy by the pool watched anxiously, unable to intervene in anything happening inside the pool, and also at a loss as to how to help his master.

A three-colored lotus flower flew out from the Myriad Pearls and took root in the pool.

The sudden turn of events startled the little boy by the pool.

He saw a lotus flower that contained the power of the merits of heaven, earth, and humanity; its grade was not high, but its roots were extraordinary.

He never expected that his master would cultivate a spiritual root with three merits.

In his heart, he exclaimed, "Master, you're amazing! Amazing! Amazing!"

Heavenly merits are common in the primordial world, but human and earthly merits appear only a handful of times.

The Primordial Heavenly Dao governs the order of the Primordial World, while the Earthly Dao and the Human Dao are always somewhat different.

This is why the Great Primordial World has never been able to achieve a balance among the three paths, and the order of heaven and earth has always been flawed, with the upper realm being locked up first.

Just as the little boy was marveling at it, the Myriad Paths Pearl burst forth with a dazzling light.

The forty-nine innate restrictions within the Myriad Paths Pearl merged into an even more complex and mysterious restriction.

The body of the Myriad Paths Pearl is collapsing inward, and the inner cave is rapidly shrinking.

The mustard seed space within the Myriad Paths Pearl was exploded, the virtual Myriad Paths Realm was stripped away, and it disappeared into the pool.

The remaining seven strands of innate, indestructible primordial energy within the Myriad Paths Pearl flew out and crashed into the Glazed Dao Fruit.

The Myriad Paths Pearl once again released three strands of the power of the fundamental laws, which merged into the Glazed Dao Fruit.

In the end, only a grain of sand-sized essence remained of the Myriad Paths Pearl, which then disappeared into the Dao Fruit.

The Earthly Origin Cauldron emitted two wisps of innate Xuanhuang Qi, one of which flew into the Law-Breaking Ruler and the other into the Treasure Robe.

The Law-Breaking Ruler has undergone its ultimate transformation, now entirely bronze in color and covered with ancient runes.

The characters “破道” are engraved below the handle of the ruler.

The Earthly Cauldron exhaled two wisps of innate Xuanhuang Qi, and it itself underwent a transformation. The laws of defense and suppression were assimilated by the innate Xuanhuang mother Qi, giving rise to the Xuanhuang Imperishable Law.

The characters "地元" (Di Yuan) on the cauldron were erased, and the characters "玄黄" (Xuan Huang) appeared in their place.

The Primordial Purple Qi Pearl cracked open, and a mass of Primordial Purple Qi enveloped the Withered and Flourishing Treasure Robe and the Clear Wind and Cloud Pattern Shoes.

The precious robe and shoes were fused together by the innate Qi and the innate Xuanhuang Qi to form a set of purple-gold Taoist robes, embroidered with wind and cloud patterns.

The purple-gold Taoist robe consists of three parts: a purple-gold Taoist crown, a Taoist robe, and Taoist shoes.

The Glazed Dao Fruit flew into the Three-Colored Lotus, and the lotus petals slowly closed. The primordial power in the pool flowed backward along the lotus root into the lotus flower.

The Myriad Path Pearl and the Breaking Path Ruler then flew into the lotus flower.

A purple-gold Taoist robe, a pure white lotus, and a Xuanhuang cauldron floated outside the lotus.

The little boy by the pool snapped out of his daze, his face full of bitterness. "Mine, mine, the body I chose is gone again."

"Why am I so unlucky!"

He chose the Withering and Flourishing Treasure Token because he was interested in the virtual world.

Later, the Withered Glory Treasure Token was melted down, losing its first original form.

They had finally waited for their master to arrive, and he had seen the Innate Purple Qi Pearl, but now it was gone again.

He examined the several treasures in the pool, all of which were connected to his master's aura and had become companion treasures.

He wants to become an independent life form, but he can only wait for his master to wake up.

However, if the big guy at the bottom of the pool awakens before his master, he can only choose to become the spirit of the treasure, losing the opportunity to become a disciple.

He didn't want to become the spirit of his master's most precious treasure, staying by his master's side forever.

He has been trapped in the original space for countless years, and he wants a physical body that can travel the world.

He looked up at the outside world, his eyes full of grievance, "I just took a nap, how did I end up being used as a guinea pig by a bunch of idiots?"

"It seems that his experiment was half successful, but he's about to die."

Just as the little boy was cursing, in a boundless, chaotic world, a middle-aged man with an axe at his waist sneezed.

At the same time, the Glazed Dao Fruit condensed into a phantom figure, holding the Dao-Breaking Ruler in his right hand and the Myriad Dao Pearl in his left.

The phantom raised its right hand and slashed forward with the Dao-Breaking Ruler, creating a crack inside the Glazed Dao Fruit.

"Certainly--"

The phantom used its left hand to smash the Myriad Paths Pearl into the crack, stopping the slowly closing crack.

The afterimage slashed, and the crack widened slightly.

When the Myriad Paths Pearl struck, the crack was held in place by an invisible force and no longer closed.

The phantom kept repeating the same pattern of slashing and smashing...

As time passed, the crack grew larger and larger, while the phantom became increasingly faint.

After the phantom disappeared, the Breaking Ruler and the Myriad Paths Pearl continued to repeat their chopping and smashing motions, as if some kind of obsession was controlling the two supreme treasures.

Three beams of light appeared out of nowhere from the crack, illuminating the entire crack.

The three orbs of light evolved into three divine chains that intertwined to form a hollow sphere that supported the top and bottom of the crack.

The myriad pearls flew into the hollow sphere formed by the divine chain, and suddenly the pearls shattered, turning into points of light that merged into the divine chain.

The Breaking Ruler flew into the hollow sphere formed by the Divine Chains, supporting the heavens and the earth, and holding the sphere in its upper and lower positions.

The ruler slowly lengthened, expanding the hollow sphere.

For every time the hollow sphere is expanded to twice its original size, the illusory hollow sphere solidifies by one-tenth.

After nine attempts, a miniature cave-like secret realm with a diameter of one hundred meters was formed.

The Glazed Dao Fruit transformed into a mysterious cave realm, appearing and disappearing, sometimes manifesting in the real world, and sometimes hidden in the void.

The Crystal Dao Fruit is like a beating heart.

With the Glazed Dao Fruit as its core, wisps of primordial energy began to outline a body.

The moment the illusory body took shape, the purple-gold Taoist robe, the Pure World White Lotus, and the Xuanhuang Cauldron outside the three-colored lotus all found their mother and flew into the three-colored lotus.

A purple-gold Taoist robe draped over an illusory body;

The pure white lotus steadily supports the illusory body;

The Xuanhuang Cauldron hovered above the illusory body's head, wisps of Xuanhuang energy dripping down from it.

After an unknown amount of time, the tricolor lotus in the pond slowly bloomed.

A young man sat cross-legged on a pure white lotus, with a black and yellow cauldron on his head and wearing a purple and gold Taoist robe.

The young man had long, jet-black hair cascading down his shoulders, an enigmatic face, and an aura of supreme superiority.

The young man was Gu Changsheng, who disappeared on Earth.

Gu Changsheng slowly opened his eyes, his gaze flashing with confusion, surprise, and lingering fear. Finally, his eyes hardened, and he said with a self-deprecating smile.

"hehe--"

"What you fear most is what comes to pass!"

He wanted to walk the path of freedom, so fate pushed him to the highest position in the celestial realm.