Chapter 114: The First Immortal of the Primordial Era (End of Volume) (First Update)

Refining the spirit to unite with the Dao; refining the Dao to ascend as an immortal.

Natural laws are not some arcane, impenetrable mysteries; through observation and documentation, these laws can be harnessed for one's own use. To organize these laws clearly—that is the Dao. The Dao is the articulation and explanation of heaven and earth. Therefore, the Dao is heaven and earth.

What Luo Zu calls "uniting with the Dao" is to have his primordial spirit resonate with natural laws—to perceive the Dao, understand the Dao, employ the Dao, and become the Dao. By becoming a part of these natural laws, one attains the longevity of heaven and earth, uniting with the Dao to become an immortal.

However, to become a part of natural laws, one must select a specific one. After all, there are thousands upon thousands of natural laws; if one could resonate with the infinite, Luo Zu would be snatching the title of "Ancestor of the Dao" of the Primordial World right out of Hongjun’s hands. The Primordial World is unimaginably vast, and Luo Zu can only focus on the natural laws within the vicinity of Luoxiang. Moreover, these natural laws must possess universality across the entire Primordial land.

This is the path most practitioners choose; the Five Elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—are the easiest. Then there are those omnipresent phenomena like wind, thunder, light, and sound, or the easily overlooked aspects like flesh, blood, and strength. Furthermore, there are natural laws derived from the Five Elements, such as forests, swamps, or torrential rains. There is even space, time, spirit, soul, ghosts, life... If one were to truly summarize them, the laws of the world are countless. After all, anything that exists within the Primordial World is, in itself, a form of natural law. Humans are a natural law; the heavens are a natural law. Every race, every individual, is a natural law. Existence is reasonable; to summarize the significance of their development and existence is also a way of attaining the Dao.

Luo Zu has mastered many Daoist arts—three hundred and sixty in total—plus his own "Mediation of Creation" and the "World Within the Pot." He truly has access to a vast array of natural laws. Luo Zu is greedy; having cultivated for so long, and possessing the unique "advantage" of thirty-six Dharma-image brains, how could he settle for resonating and uniting with only one or a few? Should he not resonate and unite with all three hundred and sixty-two Great Daos? With this ambition, Luo Zu worked tirelessly, taking all the laws accumulated from his past memories to deduce and integrate them.

"I must choose an auspicious time."

After all, becoming an immortal is like a carp leaping over the dragon gate; it is a fundamental transformation of life. If one’s foundation is shallow, mistakenly believing that mere resonance with natural laws is enough to complete the union, one would simply be "Dao-fied" and cease to exist. Much like marriage—to have a happy union, affection is important, but material wealth is equally vital. Otherwise, one will soon experience how "poverty brings sorrow to a married couple," leaving no room for marital bliss.

Uniting with the Dao of heaven and earth is the same. Being "compatible" with natural laws is essential, but one must also have the capital to engage in this union; otherwise, it is nothing more than hooliganism. When heaven and earth grow angry, their wrath is far more ferocious than any wife's.

Fortunately, Luo Zu had already constructed his essence using Daoist arts after forming his primordial spirit. He then condensed immortal energy, refining a full three hundred and sixty strands to constitute his primordial spirit, making it unimaginably stable. One must realize that the primordial spirits within the "World Within the Pot" usually only refine at most thirty-six Daoist arts and thirty-six strands of immortal energy, and even that is a laborious process that takes years. Yet, through his past accumulations and ingenious ideas, Luo Zu achieved this current feat. This gave him the capital to leap over the dragon gate.

"The forty-second year of the Primordial Era! The ninth day of the ninth month!"

"Today, I unite with the Dao and become an immortal."

Luo Zu exhaled a long breath and released his divine sense to issue orders to his subordinates, informing them that he was going into seclusion. He instructed them to attend to their duties and not to seek him for reports; he would contact them naturally when he emerged. Everyone agreed with joy, as this signaled that their leader’s cultivation was about to reach a new breakthrough.

Consequently, the strength of the "Cavemen" tribe would rise once more. In truth, the tribe’s power had already increased; it was not just Tie Touwa who had reached the stage of "Refining Qi to Transform Spirit." Huo Wa was close behind, followed by Xi, and a young successor named Zhe. The rest were also on the verge of breakthroughs. The Primordial humans were not mediocre; they were not foolish. It was simply that their time in cultivation was short, and not everyone had the "cheats" that Luo Zu possessed. However, they had begun to summarize their own experiences, and it was believed they would soon accelerate, no longer confined to the rigid frameworks provided by Luo Zu.

In particular, Tie Touwa had, in Luo Zu’s estimation, perfected the "Refining Qi to Transform Spirit" stage, and his Yin Spirit was about to manifest. As for the lazy Huo Wa, he was making great strides; after refining his spirit, his primitive urges for mating had diminished, and he began to practice with genuine diligence. Then there was Xi. Apart from focusing on tribal affairs, she spent most of her time cultivating, driven by a deep desire for revenge—to find the demon tribe that had harmed her people. Luo Zu gave her all the support he could, save for the time he could not provide. For every clansman dedicated to cultivation, Luo Zu was immensely supportive, providing techniques and resources.

In short, every member of the "Cavemen" tribe, excluding children under thirteen, had reached the stage of "Refining Essence to Transform Qi," entering the realm of the "False Immortal" in the common understanding of the Primordial land. In the Primordial World, such a tribe would be the envy of many, despite lacking peak combat power. However, in the eyes of tribes that had developed for thousands or tens of thousands of years, the "Cavemen" remained weak.

Luo Zu was now about to rectify this weakness. The tribe needed a True Immortal, and perhaps the human race itself needed one. Honestly, Luo Zu did not know if there were already True Immortals among the first generation of humans. But the True Immortal he was about to prove himself to be would truly be an immortal. His immortality was that of the human race, not the "immortals" of the demon race. The demon race’s "immortals," as their characters depicted, were simply the Dao. Luo Zu’s immortality was built upon the human form—an immortal human.

Although the result was the same—uniting with the Dao—Luo Zu’s path differed from the methods of the Witches and Demons. With a primordial spirit forged from three hundred and sixty Daoist arts, he would articulate and resonate with three hundred and sixty Great Daos, plus the "Mediation of Creation" and the "World Within the Pot," totaling three hundred and sixty-two. Such a quantity was unprecedented in the paths of True Immortals and Witch-folk that he had heard of. Whether it would be unique in history, he could not say. After all, it was said that when most True Immortals and Witch-folk attained their cultivation, they resonated with only one natural law, or at most three or four. The bloodline of the Witches held no records of anything beyond that. To the great figures of the Primordial World, becoming a True Immortal was merely the first step; once crossed, there was no need to lay a foundation of reinforced concrete to the core of the earth. Future cultivation involved gradually resonating with more natural laws and uniting with the Dao step by step. It was not as if one was limited to the number of Daos one resonated with at the moment of becoming a True Immortal.

But Luo Zu wanted to win at the starting line.

"Let me see where the limit lies!" Luo Zu sat in the cave and whispered to himself.

Then, various rays of mysterious light swarmed in from without and surged from within, connecting inside and out in a grand resonance. Suddenly, Luo Zu’s physical body dissolved into the multicolored mysterious light filling the cave. No longer restricted by flesh and blood, it became a interplay of spiritual energy and light.

Boom! A muffled sound echoed from within the light. Then, the multicolored rays began to "move" in a profoundly mysterious pattern. They circulated rapidly and continuously within the cave, attempting to sketch out the framework of a human body.

Thump, thump, thump!

Suddenly, a heart radiating crimson and violet light manifested from the void and leaped into the center of the multicolored rays. Following this, the lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, and the rest of the internal organs were formed one by one. Then, bones and meridians pulsating with mysterious light grew from the void. Crystal-clear, glowing flesh filled the gaps, and gradually, Luo Zu’s physical form grew back. His body was now imbued with an unfathomable magic, appearing almost... divine!

But this was not the end. Thunder and fire descended, water and earth surged, metal and stone struck the body, and frost bit the air—three hundred and sixty different forces descended one after another. Yet, as they fell upon his body, they were like mud sinking into the sea, absorbed and contained. After these three hundred and sixty forces descended, his body became even more wondrous, as if heaven and earth breathed with him. Nature itself seemed to view him as its master; all things treated him as the Dao, and those who did not submit were considered devoid of the Dao.

When this subsided, two points of brilliant light shot from the remaining darkness of the cave and landed squarely upon the neck of the body. Only then was it discovered that the body was still missing a head. As these two points of light struck the neck, the skull grew first, followed by flesh, and the face took on the likeness of Luo Zu.

Yet, this was not enough. With each breath Luo Zu took, boundless radiance descended from the void. This was the light of the sun and moon—thousands upon thousands of rays, the essence he had accumulated in the "World Within the Pot" for over a year. At this moment, he seized it all.

Rumble.

This vast, complex essence of the sun and moon poured like a torrent into his fresh body. Not a single drop spilled; it was all absorbed. After circulating through his body, the essence converged in his head. As it poured in, the two brilliant points of light in his head became even more magnificent, shining brighter than before.

Even with all these miraculous signs, Luo Zu did not awaken. Yet his body began to move, slowly sitting down in a cross-legged meditative posture. Suddenly, two points of light—one red and one silver—emerged from the crown of his head. Then, Luo Zu’s eyes snapped open, shooting out a gaze that seemed to pierce the heavens, drawing those two points of light back into his eyes before they closed once more.

Whoosh.

With the generation and return of these two points of light, a multicolored river descended from the void and poured into the crown of his head. This brilliant spectacle continued for a long time—a month and three days—before it finally faded.

Luo Zu opened his eyes the very moment the light vanished.

Everything returned to silence.