Hermit in the Mountains

Inside the emerald green seed, Gu Changsheng's Yin Spirit sensed a tiny crack appearing on the seed's outer shell, allowing a ray of light to shine in.

He had a sudden inspiration, and the Yin spirit shouted three times in succession, each shout more forceful than the last.

"break-"

"break--"

"break---"

In an instant, the seed shell became covered with cracks, making a slight "crack" sound, like the sound of glass breaking.

Suddenly, the Yin spirit was no longer under his control, like a gluttonous beast opening its mouth and frantically absorbing the spiritual energy accumulated by the emerald green seed.

As Gu Changsheng watched the Dao Seed undergo a sudden change, he felt as if time had stopped. He could only sense and watch everything unfold, and his mind, Yin spirit, and body were all beyond his control.

He watched helplessly as the humanoid Yin spirit shrank rapidly, until it transformed into a tiny green speck of light.

His mind and spirit absorbed all the spiritual energy of the Dao seed, and it transformed back into a semi-transparent, glass-like seed the size of a sesame seed.

The translucent, glass-like seed transformed into a stream of light and disappeared into the sea of ​​consciousness.

An indescribable feeling welled up in Gu Changsheng's mind.

"I am the seed of the Dao, and the seed of the Dao is me."

"A world is contained in a single grain of millet, and the universe is contained in a tiny sprout. Close the six gates to hide the true meaning, and wait for the spring thunder to be the first."

At this moment, Gu Changsheng finally understood the reason.

The previous "Dao Seed" was nothing more than a "pseudo-Dao Seed" crudely formed by gluing together Yin Spirit, essence blood, spiritual root, and spiritual energy.

The seeds we see now are the true "seeds of destiny's rise and fall".

The "True Dao Seed" is a fusion of Yin spirit, mind, essence, blood, and spiritual energy, where they are unified and inseparable.

The price was that his spirit was gone.

Perception and attraction became the instincts of the "Tao Seed," enabling it to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to nourish itself at all times.

The "Tao Seed" seemed to have become another version of him.

With a thought, Gu Changsheng sent out a semi-transparent, glass-like 'Dao Seed' from his sea of ​​consciousness, which hovered above his physical head.

The Dao Seed was bathed in moonlight, absorbing the power of the moon's essence.

The "Tao Seed" is surrounded by a thin, transparent membrane that expands and contracts as if it is breathing.

This time, Gu Changsheng truly saw his own physical body; it wasn't through perception, but simply by looking with his eyes.

He thought of the legendary power of "divine consciousness".

The area he could see was only a circle with a radius of 1 meter, which is a circle with a diameter of 2 meters where his physical body was located.

The sensing range has doubled to a radius of 20 meters, and the traction force has doubled compared to before.

Absorbing a trace of moonlight is relatively slow, but the spiritual energy it contains is ten times more concentrated than a trace of wood spiritual energy.

The power of the moon contains a rich plant-growth energy, three times stronger than the wood elemental energy.

He quickly adjusted his approach, abandoning the absorption of other spiritual energies and focusing all his attention on drawing upon the power of the moonlight to refine it.

Absorbing wood elemental energy during the day and moonlight at night can greatly improve cultivation efficiency.

At midnight, the highest form of the power of the moon, "Emperor's Dew," was born once again.

This time, Gu Changsheng was able to draw two strands of "Emperor's Essence" into the "Dao Seed" at once and slowly refine them.

Two full hours passed before he completely refined the two strands of 'Emperor's Essence', and the spiritual energy in the moonlight returned to normal moonlight power.

Before we knew it, a layer of red light appeared on the horizon.

Gu Changsheng stared intently at the red glow in the east, preparing to draw the 'purple energy' into his 'Dao Seed'.

In the instant of "Auspicious Purple Qi Coming from the East," the pulling force was like two nimble hands, quickly and accurately grasping the two strands of "purple qi" and pulling them towards the sea of ​​consciousness.

He had long ago retrieved the 'Dao Seed' into his sea of ​​consciousness. He dared not expose the 'Dao Seed' to the sunlight. The burning pain from three months ago was still deep in his bones, and he still felt lingering fear when he thought about it now.

The refining efficiency of 'Purple Qi' was even slower than that of 'Emperor's Dew'. It took three hours to refine two strands of 'Purple Qi'.

The moment the 'purple aura' was completely refined, a slight crack appeared in the 'Dao Seed'.

Having already experienced "hatching" once, Gu Changsheng didn't hesitate and shouted with all his might.

"break--"

The sound was like a thunderclap in spring, and a tender green sprout grew from the crack in the 'Dao Seed'.

"With a thunderclap, the sprout bursts through the soil, and two blue skies open freely. From now on, it will not hide deep in the earth, but will absorb the sun and moon into its embrace."

A transparent funnel-shaped vortex formed above his head and spun rapidly. Within a 20-meter radius, the spiritual energy of wood, water, and earth was drawn into the vortex, and strands of spiritual energy were guided into his sea of ​​consciousness to nourish the nascent sprout.

The spiritual energy was invisible to the naked eye, but the vortex stirred up the surrounding air, creating a weak airflow, and strands of his hair swayed from side to side.

The energy inside the 'Dao Seed' was completely absorbed by the sprout, and the translucent, glass-like 'Dao Seed' disappeared into the sea of ​​consciousness.

A vibrant green seedling floated within the hazy sea of ​​consciousness.

The seedling was three inches tall with two tender leaves. A root system one foot long was rooted in the void of the sea of ​​consciousness, and a gray vortex was slowly rotating around the root system.

The root system automatically draws in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth from the outside world into the sea of ​​consciousness to nourish and strengthen itself.

"The tender branches already possess the ambition to reach the sky, and their roots should be planted in the void. Do not worry about the wind and rain that come from time to time, for they will be refined into the rings of time."

As the seedlings gently absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, Gu Changsheng shifted his attention from the seedlings to his physical body.

He sensed that his physical body had not changed much, except for a trace of residual spiritual energy overflowing from his sea of ​​consciousness, which circulated within his body and nourished his physical form.

He opened his tightly closed eyes, his eyes filled with joy, and let out a long breath of pent-up gas.

The sun was already high in the sky outside the window, and the cold air carried a slight warmth.

He sat on the edge of the wooden bed, put on his shoes, and strode out of the bedroom, stretching his stiff body under the eaves at the doorway.

The big yellow dog at Gu Changsheng's feet followed suit; when Gu Changsheng bent down, the dog lay down.

Gu Changsheng stretched out his arms, and it squatted down and looked up at the sky, breathing out.

Lunch was the same familiar meal: Gu Changsheng cooked a big bowl of noodles, fried a few eggs, and heated up the leftover tilapia from yesterday.

After finishing his meal, he walked to the chicken coop a dozen meters away, opened the cloth bag hidden above the coop, and grabbed several handfuls of corn, scattering them into the coop.

After standing on the muddy ground for a few seconds, he frowned, feeling as if his feet were blocking his airway and making him feel suffocated.

He filled the plastic bottle in the chicken coop with water, then hurried back to the door of the wooden house. He took off his cotton shoes and felt a little better after holding his breath.

He took off his cotton socks and stepped barefoot onto the wooden board, and the feeling of difficulty breathing in his feet finally disappeared.

He tried several times, but as soon as he put on socks and shoes, he felt short of breath in his feet, so he could only walk barefoot on the wooden board.

He thought to himself, 'Could it be that I'm evolving in the direction of trees, with my feet acting as tree roots?'

He left wet footprints on the wooden plank and walked towards the flat land ahead.

The moment Gu Changsheng stepped barefoot onto the ground, his thoughts transformed into roots that penetrated deep into the earth, connecting with the surrounding veins.

A cool, rich energy surged into the body from the soles of the feet, flowing down the legs to the lower dantian, through the middle dantian, and finally into the upper dantian, disappearing into the seedling.

After absorbing the energy from the earth, the seedlings swayed slightly.

Gu Changsheng stood barefoot on the snow, closing his eyes to meditate and contemplate the changes within himself.

His body remained motionless like a small mountain, his black hair was dyed white, and tiny snowflakes clung to his eyelashes, as if he were draped in a snow coat.