Hermit in the Mountains

The moon was bright and the stars were few. The pure white moonlight illuminated the entire Changsheng Peak. The evening breeze swept across the mountaintop, and the bamboo forest swayed from side to side in the wind. The bamboo stalks collided with each other and made a crisp and melodious bamboo chirping sound.

The golden bamboo shimmers with a pale gold hue under the moonlight, while a touch of emerald green sparkles in the pale gold bamboo grove.

At the entrance of the wooden house, Gu Changsheng sat cross-legged under the eaves with his eyes slightly closed, his three pets lying in front of him.

There was a suction force on Big Yellow that was absorbing the moonlight, making its body glow white, like an incandescent light bulb.

At midnight, as the moon cast strands of "Imperial Dew" across the sky, Gu Changsheng raised an eyebrow, slowly opened his eyes, and looked towards the direction of the medicinal field, a look of surprise flashing in his eyes.

Just now, strands of pure energy appeared out of thin air within his Dao root. He followed the direction from which the energy came and discovered that it was flowing from the causal line of the Earth Spirit Ginseng.

After the energy stopped flowing in, Gu Changsheng noticed that his cultivation level had increased by one percent.

He opened his eyes and looked at the medicinal field, his divine sense sweeping over it at the same time.

The outer shell of the Earth Spirit Seed cracked open, revealing a new earth-yellow seed. Its internal suction force doubled, and the range of absorbing 'earth energy' reached two meters in radius.

Seeing the Earth Spirit Ginseng break through its cultivation level, Gu Changsheng began to praise himself, as if he were praising his newly accepted eldest disciple.

"Shen, you achieved your first breakthrough in just ten days. Your potential is only slightly lower than mine."

"Back then, I started from scratch, created my own innate Dao Seed technique, and cultivated in an environment with scarce spiritual energy, completing my first breakthrough in just seven days."

"The cultivation resources you have now are far better than mine. Your hard work in cultivation and your rapid breakthrough in cultivation level will be the greatest reward for your master."

Gu Changsheng understood why his cultivation level had increased by one percent; the root cause lay in the 'Origin Dao Guide'.

When those he bestows the "Original Dao Guide" break through their cultivation, it will feed back his pure energy to enhance their cultivation.

The innate divine ability "Origin Dao Guidance" should be used as much as possible without affecting one's own origin; not using it would be a disservice to this divine ability.

The "Origin Dao Guidance" innate supernatural power is definitely a cultivation cheat code.

If the Earth Spirit Ginseng is already at the Dao Root Realm, and it breaks through a minor realm, wouldn't it receive even more feedback energy?

The Earth Spirit Ginseng had just broken through to the second stage of the Dao Seed realm, and his cultivation increased by one percent. Even if it was reduced by ten times, the Earth Spirit Ginseng could still provide him with one-tenth of his cultivation when he broke through to the Dao Root realm.

Once he gathers nine disciples at the "Origin Dao Guidance" level, his cultivation will increase by 90% as long as each disciple breaks through a minor realm. With a little more effort in his Dao Root, he can complete a cycle of flourishing and decay.

If one accumulates merit, receiving ten, twenty... three thousand "Dao Guides" will prevent their cultivation from taking off.

With his three thousand disciples, who else would dare to challenge him?

Thinking of this, Gu Changsheng's face lit up with joy, and he murmured to himself, "Incredible, truly incredible!"

"Hahaha, I also have the potential to become a Dao Ancestor."

Gu Changsheng's laughter rang out, and the three pets in front of him woke up. They stared at their owner with wide eyes, looking completely bewildered.

Gu Changsheng suppressed his excitement. With his first disciple, how far away could the second disciple be? And the ninth disciple?

He looked at the three pets in front of him. If the divine medicine and the disciple could be combined into one, then there would be no problem with combining the mount and the disciple into one.

Gu Changsheng looked up at the full moon in the sky. "Tonight is an auspicious day."

When he looked away, his gaze fell on the blue ox on the far right. "Ox, are you ready? Tonight, whether we have double happiness depends on you."

As soon as he finished speaking, Gu Changsheng raised his right hand, spread his five fingers towards the green ox, and began chanting the Dao seal.

"The Gathering Technique... Earth Spirit... Gather..."

In an instant, a semi-transparent spirit-gathering path imprint with a diameter of two meters appeared beneath the green ox.

The earth elemental particles within a radius of 100 meters were activated, and the pale yellow particles of spiritual energy gathered around the green ox.

Earth elemental particles converged from all directions, forming wisps of pale yellow silk that drifted into the Green Ox's body.

As the spiritual energy entered its body, the green ox seemed to remember this scene happening before its eyes. It obediently lay on the ground without moving and let out a joyful bellow towards Gu Changsheng.

"Moo—"

Big Red, standing to the side, seemed to look at the old ox on the left with some envy, and shifted its body to the right.

Big Yellow was bumped by Big Red. After it came to its senses, it seemed to be infected by Big Red and slowly moved its body backward, half-crouching on all fours.

The dog and the chicken seemed to be on the same wavelength, retreating in unison to get away from the old ox.

Seeing this furtive scene, Gu Changsheng shook his head helplessly, a hint of regret appearing in his eyes as he looked at Da Huang.

Dahuang usually seems quite smart, but it's been almost a month since he transformed from a mortal to a spirit, so why hasn't he gained any intelligence yet?

The enlightenment he spoke of was not simply about being spiritual or being able to hear human speech, but rather that the other person could respond to him during spiritual communication.

The three pets currently possess sentience and intelligence, but lack true wisdom.

The Green Ox has lived for thirty years, spending countless years among humans. In Gu Changsheng's view, the Green Ox has a higher probability of achieving enlightenment.

Dahuang and Dahong are only about a year old, so he should raise them slowly.

Gu Changsheng turned his attention back to the green ox, and with his left hand he made a sword finger and drew it towards the ground in the direction of the green ox.

"The root of heaven and earth... awaken..."

"Earth's energy...go away..."

Gu Changsheng multitasked, using his right hand to control the Spirit Gathering Seal to inject earth spiritual energy into the Green Ox's body, and his left hand to manipulate supernatural powers to guide 'earth energy' into the Green Ox's body.

The Green Ox's spiritual root belongs to Earth, and with the combined effect of Earth Spiritual Energy and Earth Energy, the result is definitely greater than the sum of its parts.

A massive influx of earth elemental energy and earth energy surged into the Green Ox's body, causing it both joy and pain.

Two streams of energy, like runaway trains, surged through its meridians, destroying and reshaping its bones, flesh, and blood in preparation for transformation.

Within the deepest part of the Green Ox's body, in a virtual space, a virtual spiritual root transformed into a gluttonous beast that devoured earth spiritual energy and earth energy.

The ox's pale blue fur turned reddish, and soon it was stained blood red. It trembled all over and lay on the ground, panting heavily, with saliva dripping from its mouth, tinged with a faint red.

Suddenly, the weak and listless blue ox let out a sharp bellow.

"Moo—"

The mooing of cattle pierced the silence of Changsheng Peak.

At the foot of the mountain, Yang Dashan was awakened from his sleep by the piercing mooing of cattle in a wooden house. He sprang up, put on his slippers, opened the door, and went outside.

He stood outside the empty house, his expression solemn, his gaze fixed on the mountainside.

Halfway up the mountain, in front of the wooden house, the blue ox let out a bellow. The illusory spiritual root within its body seemed to solidify a bit, and a mysterious power surged into the ox's body.

A mysterious power swept over the entire body of the blue ox, causing a transformation from the inside out.

The broken bones, flesh and blood inside the green ox were repaired, and strands of black impurities were expelled from its body.

A vortex of energy emanated from the green ox, absorbing the earth's spiritual energy and earth energy from the outside world, and it entered the final stage of spiritual transformation.

Gu Changsheng, who was sitting cross-legged at the entrance, had already closed his eyes. His withered and flourishing Dharma Eyes observed the changes within the Green Ox's body and comprehended the Daoist charm of creation generated when the Green Ox's life level leaped.