Hermit in the Mountains

As Gu Changsheng comprehended the Daoist principles of creation arising from the transformation of the Azure Ox into a spirit, he sketched out his previous visualization techniques in his sea of ​​consciousness.

The outline of the blue ox is depicted, its four limbs firmly planted on the ground, carrying a mountain peak on its back.

The outline of the "Green Ox Carrying Mountain Visualization Method" was initially formed, just as Gu Changsheng was preparing to fill in the details of the Green Ox Carrying Mountain.

The Azure Ox completed its spiritual transformation, and the Daoist essence of creation vanished. Gu Changsheng was forced to exit his meditative state. He slowly opened his eyes, sighed softly, and said, "Alas!"

"To gain it is my fortune, to lose it is my fate."

He has at least grasped the outline of the new concept, and can gradually refine it.

He looked at the blue ox, which was covered in bloodstains and looked like a mud ox that had just come out of the paddy field, and snapped his fingers with his right hand.

"clatter-"

"Rain is coming—"

In an instant, a phantom spirit-gathering seal appeared above the green ox, and water molecules quickly gathered to form a cloud of white mist.

Before long, a light drizzle began to fall from the white mist, and the rain gradually intensified.

With a struggle of its limbs, the blue ox stood up shakily, shaking its head in the rain and occasionally lifting its feet to shake off the black bloodstains on its body.

After the rain washed away the black bloodstains on the ox's body, it revealed a new appearance.

The blue ox is more robust, with a beautiful curve all over its body. It has shed its rough black horns, and the new horns are light blue with pale yellow stripes. Its old fur has been completely renewed.

The green ox seemed to be breathing in and out in a rhythmic pattern. When it inhaled, the pale yellow earth spirit particles around it would be drawn into its body, and when it exhaled, the exhaled spirit particles would become half as faint.

After the rain subsided, the green ox bent its left front knee, then its right front knee, and knelt on the ground, nodding its head three times in the direction of Gu Changsheng.

"Moo, moo, moo—" (Thanks to the master for bestowing this blessing upon the old ox.)

Seeing the respectful look in the blue ox's eyes, Gu Changsheng seemed to realize something. He scanned the blue ox's sea of ​​consciousness with his divine sense and used a telepathic technique to call out, "Ox."

"Master, lord, master, the ox... greets... master."

A look of joy flashed in Gu Changsheng's eyes. He clearly heard the green ox's stammering reply. The green ox's voice was deep and resonant, carrying a sense of vicissitude.

A 30-year-old water buffalo is equivalent to a 70- or 80-year-old human, so it's not surprising that its voice carries a sense of vicissitude.

Gu Changsheng called out several more times in the Green Ox's sea of ​​consciousness, and the Green Ox responded with a sentence each time he called out.

After the Green Ox gained intelligence, under Gu Changsheng's guidance, it transformed its previous sights and sounds into knowledge, became more fluent in speech, gained basic common sense, and was able to have normal conversations with Gu Changsheng.

Gu Changsheng felt a little awkward hearing the green ox call him master. Thinking that in mythology, mounts are usually addressed as "Master," he told the green ox to change its address, "Ox, from now on you are my mount, just call me Master."

"Master." As the green ox spoke in his mind, he nodded habitually.

Gu Changsheng looked at the blue ox kneeling on its forelegs, raised his hand, and said, "Get up."

He glanced at the moon; it was still early before dawn. He beckoned to his three pets and pointed to the ground a meter in front of him. "You three come before me. I will teach you the visualization method."

With a fawning expression, Da Huang wagged its tail and trotted to the spot designated by Gu Changsheng, where it sat down with its head held high and chest puffed out.

Da Hong raised its wings slightly and swayed from side to side as it walked to Gu Changsheng. It then folded its wings and sat on the ground in an egg-incubating posture.

The blue ox walked steadily to Gu Changsheng, its forelegs bent and its hind legs bent as well, its whole body lying on the ground.

Gu Changsheng waved his hand toward the original location where the Azure Ox had transformed into a spirit, and a gust of wind blew up, forming a miniature tornado. He then waved his right hand toward the cliff on the left, and the tornado wrapped up the Azure Ox's shed old horns, hooves, hide, and bloodstains, packing them all up and flying toward the cliff more than a hundred meters away.

Using the Spirit Gathering Dao Seal as a tool and the power of divine sense as control, he developed various minor spells that utilize spiritual energy.

For example, miniature tornadoes can be used as a cleansing spell or as a means of attacking enemies. However, the attack method is very simple: the tornado blows the enemy up and slams them back to the ground. It is only effective against ordinary people or low-level cultivators.

The Spirit Gathering Dao Seal uses the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to artificially simulate natural weather in its attacks. For example, the Rainfall Technique does not cause damage; it only makes the rain fall even more.

To make the spiritual energy of heaven and earth form a specific attack method, it is necessary to condense the corresponding spell seal.

He can now use the Spirit Gathering Dao Seal to indulge in the fantasy of being an immortal, and perform fake immortal arts, such as a harmless version of the Wind and Rain Summoning Technique.

In his eyes, it was indeed fake magic, but in the eyes of outsiders, it was definitely divine magic.

After cleaning up the unsightly trash, Gu Changsheng turned his attention back to his three pets. He slowly closed his eyes and calmed his mind.

He separated three strands of his divine consciousness and sent them into the minds of the three pets.

"Write down the pattern that appears later," he instructed, and then used his divine sense to simulate the "Heavenly Dog Eating the Moon Contemplation Diagram."

The "Heavenly Dog Eating the Moon Visualization Method" was originally derived from Da Huang, who quickly entered a meditative state.

It's normal that Da Hong hasn't transformed into a spirit and hasn't changed; Gu Changsheng will leave Da Hong alone for now.

"Master, I... I don't understand, I can't remember." The green ox had images in his mind, and he was trying hard to remember them, but he forgot them the next second. Even the fish's seven-second memory was better than his.

Gu Changsheng presented the outline of the "Green Ox Carrying a Mountain Visualization Picture" that he had just sketched into the Green Ox's sea of ​​consciousness.

As he expected, the green ox entered a meditative state a few minutes later.

Gu Changsheng withdrew his divine sense and glanced at the effects of the three pets absorbing the moonlight.

Rhubarb has the best absorption effect, followed by ox ox, and red ox has the worst.

After a long period of spiritual energy baptism and spiritual liquid nourishing their bodies, the three pets could instinctively absorb the power of moonlight even without any cultivation techniques. Now that they have cultivation techniques, the absorption effect has been amplified.

It's not just the three pets that Gu Changsheng raised that can instinctively absorb the power of the moon; all the plants and animals on Earth can instinctively absorb the power of the moon and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. The difference lies in the absorption effect.

Some plants and animals may absorb less than one percent of the spiritual energy from a single particle of spiritual energy, while others may absorb it more effectively, but nothing is as outrageous as this.

After transforming from mortal to spiritual, and with the "Heavenly Dog Eating the Moon Visualization Method" that suits him, Dahuang can absorb about 50% of the spiritual energy of the moon.

The Green Ox has just successfully transformed into a spirit, and its visualization method is not yet fully formed. It can absorb about 20% of the spiritual energy from the moonlight.

The Crimson One is in a worse state; it can only absorb about one-thirtieth of the Moon's spiritual energy content, but it can absorb the 'purple energy' of the primordial sun as spiritual energy content.

Gu Changsheng's long-term observations led him to conclude that plants and animals are most effective at absorbing spiritual energy particles that are compatible with their own spiritual roots, followed by the power of moonlight, while absorbing spiritual energy of other attributes will produce side effects.

If a human possesses a spiritual root and is within an area covered by spiritual energy, the spiritual root will absorb spiritual energy to nourish itself while breathing. The so-called "qi sensation" will only be born after the spiritual root has fully recovered, which is a prerequisite for guiding qi into the body.

However, the Great Way is impartial. Heaven and Earth have bestowed upon humankind extraordinary wisdom, but they have also placed a shackle on humankind called "distractions" in the mortal world.

Plants and animals don't have many distracting thoughts; they only have instincts. They can unconsciously absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth while sleeping.

The human brain is too intelligent, but it also has too many distracting thoughts. The body's defense mechanisms will unconsciously reject the spiritual energy of heaven and earth from entering the body. After being worn down by worldly energy, and then eroded by acquired turbid energy, how much is left?