268: There is no easy path to the Tao; I am the Tao.

Inside the Five Elements Hall, there was complete silence.

Shen Yuanmo sat cross-legged upon the white jade throne, the dim heart of chaos origin floating quietly before him.

The hall spirit had obeyed his command, raising the defensive Restrictions of the entire hall to their maximum, completely sealing it off from the outside world.

At this moment, the hall was perfectly still, with only the steady sound of Shen Yuanmo's breathing echoing within.

Shen Yuanmo's eyes were tightly closed, his mind calm like water as he slowly sank into his Dantian.

That grey, misty space of Chaos had expanded several times over since he left the deserted island, becoming vast and boundless.

In the very center of this space, a chaos dao seed no larger than a thumb was slowly rotating with a profound rhythm.

On the surface of the dao seed, scenes of billions of stars being born and dying seemed to flow; with every flicker, it emanated an aura that was ancient, vast, and supreme.

It was the source of the myriad Dao, the beginning of life.

Shen Yuanmo could clearly feel the infinite potential contained within this chaos dao seed.

It perfectly aligned with his Physical Body and Divine Soul, and with every gesture, it possessed the power to tear through the Void Realm, bringing his physical strength to the Nascent Soul realm that ordinary Cultivators dreamt of.

But that was precisely where the problem lay.

This chaos dao seed was unimaginably powerful, yet it did not generate any magical power in the traditional sense.

His Dantian was completely empty.

There was no lake of gathered Spiritual Qi, not a single trace of surging Spiritual Qi, nor was there a Golden Core suspended within.

"The Dao has no smooth path; one must break before one can establish. It is truly so."

Shen Yuanmo whispered to himself, feeling not the slightest bit discouraged.

He knew very well that from the moment the chaos dao seed took root and sprouted within him, he had already embarked on a path completely different from all other Cultivators in this world.

Those who came before plant the trees, and those who come after enjoy the shade.

But before him, there were no trees, nor was there a path.

The peerless Cultivation Technique Shen Yuanmo had once been proud of—the Great Five Elements Glazed Art—which he created by using his Golden Finger [Heaven-Defying Comprehension] to fuse the Crimson Sun Glazed Scripture and the Five Elements Rotation Scripture, now seemed somewhat inadequate before the chaos dao seed.

The power of the chaos dao seed was too vast, too foundational, and could no longer be contained by the Great Five Elements Glazed Art.

If he were to force the old Cultivation Technique to run, it would be like trying to carry a rushing galaxy within a stream's riverbed; the result would only be the collapse of the riverbed and a backlash against his Foundation.

"It seems the old Cultivation Technique is no longer suitable for me," Shen Yuanmo said, opening his eyes and letting his gaze fall upon the light of the heart of chaos origin in his hand.

"Since there is no ready-made path, I shall carve one out myself." A surge of heroism rose in Shen Yuanmo's heart.

He decided to use the Cultivation Technique he had learned as a Foundation and the chaos dao seed as the core to deduce an entirely new Cultivation Technique that belonged solely to him.

Shen Yuanmo closed his eyes once more. This time, his mind, his will, and his entire spirit sank into the depths of his Sea of Consciousness with unprecedented intensity!

[Heaven-Defying Comprehension], talent activated at full power!

Boom!

A deafening roar, as if the Universe itself were being born, exploded within his mental world!

Shen Yuanmo began to frantically examine, dismantle, and analyze everything he had learned!

The Five Elements rotation and the profound mysteries of mutual generation and Restriction within the Great Five Elements Glazed Art.

The Divine Soul tempering of the Nine Revolutions Spirit Refining Art, from weakness to condensation, and now to a strength far surpassing those of the same rank.

And the Laws of destruction, creation, life and death, and space that he had comprehended while in the Five Elements world and the turbulence of the Void Realm.

These Laws were profound and obscure, but through the analysis of [Insight into Origin], they had long been deeply imprinted into his Divine Soul.

These were all his treasures, the cornerstones for creating his new Cultivation Technique.

At the same time, Shen Yuanmo's mind sank into the [heart of chaos origin].

This time, he was no longer passively sensing the dao rhyme, but was taking the initiative to strike.

He used [Heaven-Defying Comprehension] to analyze the supreme mysteries contained within the heart of Chaos.

This [heart of chaos origin] was the Origin of the world and the source of the myriad Dao; it contained the ultimate truth of the time before heaven and earth were opened, when all things returned to one.

"The myriad Dao return to one!" A core philosophy gradually became clear in Shen Yuanmo's heart.

His goal was to create a supreme fundamental Law that could accommodate and fuse all the great Dao he had comprehended, and which could grow infinitely and encompass everything!

What Shen Yuanmo wanted to do was not to choose a single Dao, but to create a Dao that could accommodate all other Dao!

A unique path of [Myriad Dao Returning to One] that truly belonged to him, Shen Yuanmo.

The Five Elements, destruction, creation, life and death, Reincarnation, Karma... the mysteries of countless Dao were dismantled before his eyes into the most basic threads of Law.

These threads of Law intertwined and entangled within his Sea of Consciousness, recombining in entirely new ways.

He saw the sharpness of Metal, the vitality of Wood, the flexibility of Water, the intensity of Fire, and the heaviness of Earth.

He saw that the end of destruction was new life, and that the Reincarnation of life and death was eternal.

He saw that space and time were merely two forms derived from Chaos.

These Laws were no longer independent individuals, but components of a massive whole.

They verified and complemented each other within Shen Yuanmo's Sea of Consciousness, gradually forming a grand and intricate network.

As his comprehension of the Dao deepened, strange phenomena began to appear throughout the Five Elements Hall.

In the center of the hall, the runes on the five towering pillars would sometimes shine with brilliant golden light, sometimes turn emerald green like jade, sometimes ripple like water, sometimes erupt with crimson flames, and sometimes become as heavy as mountains.

Under the guidance of Shen Yuanmo's will, the Five Elements Spiritual Qi intertwined, rotated, and rose, sometimes turning into golden lotuses covering the ground, and sometimes condensing into the shapes of Dragon and tigers.

The hall spirit's light-projection Incarnation trembled violently beside him, flickering on and off.

It felt a terrifying will to reopen the Dao emanating from Shen Yuanmo.

"New Master... what is he trying to do?" The hall spirit's voice was filled with unbelievable horror. "Could it be that he wants to create a Cultivation Technique again? And a fundamental Law that points directly to the root of the Dao?!"

The hall spirit had lived for ten thousand years, having seen countless Prodigies and witnessed the astounding talent of the Five Elements True Lord.

But even its Old Master had only walked the Five Elements Dao to its extreme, never having thought of carving out a path that could encompass the myriad Dao.

Such an idea was simply unheard of and unseen!

Shen Yuanmo paid no heed to the hall spirit's shock; his mind was completely immersed in the deduction.

Within his Sea of Consciousness, billions of threads of Law intertwined and collided, annihilating and then regenerating.

Every collision was accompanied by a severe consumption of Divine Sense, but every regeneration made the framework of the Cultivation Technique clearer and more perfect.

A framework for a Cultivation Technique, magnificent beyond imagination, began to slowly take shape.

It was all-encompassing, yet orderly.

Every node of it corresponded to a Law,

and every vein of it carried a dao rhyme.

In Shen Yuanmo's heart, the name of this Cultivation Technique, which was about to be born, gradually became clear.

"Chaos Myriad Dao Returning Origin Scripture"!

He would take Chaos as the beginning, gather the myriad Dao into the Origin, and achieve his own Dao!