"The gate above the Celestial Vault?"

Ning Xunqiu watched as "Li Yanzhi" fell, the writing on the Celestial Derivation Volume halted, and he slightly squinted his eyes.

"This Celestial Palace truly looks familiar... Guiding Divinity Transformation to ascend, harvesting ’Spirit Roots’, could it be an alternative method to defer the arrival of the Celestial Five Declines, a different form of eternal life?"

"Spirit Roots? Human Spirit Roots?!"

Ning Xunqiu suddenly had a flash of inspiration. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"Is this not the ’Peach of Immortality’ type of Spirit Root in mythology, these Five Elements Spirit Roots of the Divinity Transformation Cultivators, blooming in a thousand years, bearing fruit in a thousand years, maturing in a thousand years..."

"Every ten thousand years, harvested routinely once over."

"Could it be that ’sacred’ World Gate?" Ning Xunqiu frowned, becoming vigilant, "With a World Gate, it must be a powerful world comparable to the Qingxu Realm."

This fortune...

Dang.

[Congratulations, your tumultuous life has been appraised as a Red Life ’Red Dust Immortal of the End of Heaven and Earth’: As a young boy passionate about studies, high-spirited, with bold declarations, riding into battle to bring peace to the world, achieving feats and gaining a marquis title.]

Your grand wedding turned into a sudden change, awakening from the dream, laughing as you left, seeking the Dao of longevity in the Desolate Mountain, waiting for a century without seeing the return of the beloved.

You ended worldly ties, sought your old friend, stepped into the red dust, saw heaven and earth, saw all beings, saw your true self, and from thousands of miles of red dust, you realized the ’Dustless Dao Heart.’

You cultivated the Dao for ten thousand years, ultimately attaining the Dao—’Red Dust Immortal.’

You sat dry and alone above the Celestial Vault, severing the pathways of Heaven and Earth, suppressing the ’darkness,’ reigning over countless eons.

You are the first immortal of the Wanhua Realm for all eternity.]

[You have once achieved a special reward for a Red Life achievement.]

[Would you like to immediately draw the Red Life achievement reward?]

"Nine points of fortune, instantly achieving a Red Life, worthwhile."

Ning Xunqiu’s eyes were filled with anticipation.

"Draw the reward."

[Drawing in progress...]

[Congratulations, you have obtained the Red Life achievement reward—’Dustless Dao Heart’!]

[Dustless Dao Heart]

The Bodhi is originally without a tree, the bright mirror has no stand. Originally, there is nothing, where can the dust alight?

Red Dust Immortal Li Yanzhi, entered thousands of miles of red dust, refined the red dust, transcended and emerged.

Attaining the Dao—

Void.

...

Void!

With a loud boom in his mind, Ning Xunqiu felt the surroundings suddenly grow quiet.

He slowly opened his eyes, becoming a young boy Daoist with disheveled hair.

The young boy Daoist sat atop a large rock in the Desolate Mountain, quietly watching a sapling slowly grow, year after year, the sapling blossomed and bore fruit, grew into a towering tree, and then, with the passing of time, gradually withered.

That was the mighty force of time.

The young Daoist’s eyes were filled with confusion, looking at his fair hands, he stood up and left.

The Daoist walked into the red dust.

He saw mountains and rivers, he saw the evil nature of people’s hearts, he saw demon fiends and ghosts, he saw the fierce winds of the Nine Heavens, he saw the eternal silence of heaven and earth, and his inner puzzlement grew.

He was searching for an answer.

The young Daoist passed through the Mortal World, becoming an immortal in the words of cultivators.

His divine might was boundless.

He saw cultivators at the foot of the mountain, like ordinary mortals, not understanding why these cultivators of Qi Cultivation, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and even Divinity Transformation struggled so hard for a chance to become an immortal, laboring and searching, struggling persistently.

Even knowing in their hearts that they could not become immortals, they still chose to prolong a hundred years of suffering to a thousand.

Only to exchange for one sentence before their demise, "I have no regrets!"

Life for a thousand years was not as magnificent as a mortal’s hundred years.

In the end, it was all void.

The young Daoist could tell that they were lying, they were deceiving themselves, why did they have to deceive themselves? Was it just for the peace of mind to die content?

The young Daoist thought for a long time but couldn’t understand, until one day he suddenly awoke to the realization that he too would die.

He strove harder to comprehend the Great Dao, seeking longevity, yet could never fulfill his wish.

Until an old friend came, untangling his mental knot.

The great river water, endlessly flowing, even with boundless magical power, could not reverse its course, nor trace back the river of time that had long flowed for countless ages, it continued to surge forward unceasingly.

His old friends withered one by one.

He finally understood that all things in the world, had an ending time, and even immortals could not escape this tribulation.

The young Daoist once again looked back at the past, suddenly enlightened.

The sapling in his mind quietly sprouted new shoots, bursting with vibrant life.

A smile tugged at the corner of his lips, he gently whispered to the heavens and earth:

"I see now, the Dao I pursued, has always been here."

"I am that Dao."

As the words fell.

After a long while, Ning Xunqiu slowly opened his eyes, murmuring to himself, "Red Dust Immortal..."

He reached out his hand, the magical power from his body transforming into butterflies.

The butterflies danced in the air, chasing and frolicking, gradually changing from rigid and lifeless to agile, these butterflies seemed to truly come alive.

"Spirituality is the key to attaining the Dao."

Ning Xunqiu caught a butterfly in his hand, suddenly recalling the "great joy" of Yiya, Qingfeng, Baiyun, and others when they transformed, and immediately understood.

"Life is truly precious, among ten million worlds, only the human world has compassion and kindness, only the Celestial Dao exists."

"A human is not merely a human, but all spirits."

Ning Xunqiu’s eyelid twitched, vaguely grasping an understanding, but it was like the moon reflected in water, a flower in a mirror, seen but untouchable.

"Let it be."

A day later, Ning Xunqiu ceased his contemplation and opened the Celestial Derivation Volume, for his deadlock in the Qingxu Realm was yet to be resolved.

This was the urgent matter at hand.

Having the "Dustless Dao Heart," Ning Xunqiu’s magical power had birthed spirituality, giving him the confidence to achieve the Dao of a Carefree Immortal, and he intended to amend the Qingxu Realm.

He paused, realizing that even as a Carefree Immortal, it was not the ’world,’ and even if he succeeded in attaining the Dao, he still couldn’t enter ’that sea’ to meet the Ancestral Dragon.

He rewrote his life once more, confined to stirring winds and clouds within the Qingxu Realm, seeking new variables.

Ning Xunqiu used the Celestial Derivation Volume to infer celestial secrets.

[For four thousand years, I cultivated diligently on Purple Bamboo Mountain in the Qingxu Realm, not touching upon karmic consequences, avoiding the calamity of falling.]

[Would you like to use seven hundred sixty-seven thousand nine hundred points of fortune to rewrite this segment of life?]

"Four thousand years and there’s still a calamity of falling, and the ending adds another double fortune..."

Ning Xunqiu remained silent.

"I will continue to forge achievements in the external world, accumulating foundation, seeing if I can break through by force."

He reviewed Li Yanzhi’s life, studying it meticulously.

"In the Wanhua Realm, standing before the Celestial Gate, severing the pathways of Heaven and Earth for ten thousand years, I’ve already reached the level of ’Red Life.’ If I rewrite once more, resolving that Celestial Palace, it would be a Golden Life."

"The Supreme God of the Celestial Palace clearly fears the young Li Yanzhi, indicating they are on the same level, only the number of Supreme Gods is unknown."

"In the Mortal World of the Wanhua Realm, Qi Cultivation, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Divinity Transformation, Divine Monarch. This cultivation method for ’Spirit Roots’ should be transmitted by the Celestial Palace..."

Ning Xunqiu’s eyes lit up.

"What if I transmit the Dharma in the Wanhua Realm?"

He knew just how astonishing the talents were during a realm’s peak of fortune.

Determined, Ning Xunqiu turned to when "Li Yanzhi" first entered the Cultivation Realm, pen in hand, he began to rewrite.

[With a sensation in my heart, I established a Dao lineage, transmitting the ’Cyan Heaven Great Sun Burning Qi Scripture’ to the people.]

[I want to become the Daoist Ancestor of the Wanhua Realm!]

[Would you like to use ten points of fortune to rewrite this segment of life?]

"Rewrite."

...