Born as an ant, I was summoned to ascend to immortality.

Chapter 53: Myriad Phenomena Evolve in Five Lines, Spiritual Patterns Paint a Beautiful Landscape

Inside the cave, Zhou Li closed his eyes once more and began to guide the spiritual energy anew.

This time, his consciousness was more focused, and his control over spiritual energy became more refined and subtle.

When the last stroke of the spirit pattern on the Bifang tail feather finally connected perfectly in his dantian, Zhou Li finally felt a huge weight lifted from his heart.

However, in the instant his mind relaxed, a barely perceptible crack appeared on the spiritual pattern that carried the sacred sheep!

"puff!"

This time, the backlash was even more violent. The force of the earth collapsed like a mountain, slamming hard into Zhou Li's internal organs. A mouthful of dark red blood gushed out, dripping onto the cold blue bricks in front of him.

"The spiritual energy in my dantian is too thin, and the spiritual patterns are not stable enough after visualization..." Zhou Li supported himself with his hands on the ground, pondered for a moment, and discovered the clue. "It's like painting. The brushstrokes must be steady, and the ink must be sufficient."

He struggled to sit cross-legged again and forced a smile, saying, "Fortunately, I managed to exchange so many healing pills in advance, which saved me a lot of trouble."

Ignoring the pain within his body, Zhou Li once again entered that state of clarity. Time lost its meaning with each attempt; it might be months, or it might just be a few days.

Finally, the five distinct yet perfectly integrated meridian diagrams were completely stabilized in Zhou Li's dantian. The five elements of Qi interacted and countered each other, forming a stable cycle without any obstruction.

The five ancient demon meridian diagrams have finally been visualized and completed.

In an instant, an indescribable buzzing sound rang out from the depths of his dantian, its sound as loud as a bell and as faint as a mosquito.

The ancient demonic phantom constructed from the five elements suddenly shone brightly, its energy flowing between them, slowly condensing in the dantian, and finally transforming into a perfectly formed five-colored lotus plate, quietly floating in the center.

On the lotus plate, five-colored light blends like water, circulating endlessly and continuously; this is called "Lotus Plate Nurturing the God".

Inside the stone chamber, Zhou Li's seated body moved without wind. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth within a radius of a thousand feet swept in like rivers flowing into the sea. The extremely dense spiritual energy of the five elements was swallowed up by the five-colored lotus plate in his dantian.

Without further hesitation, Zhou Li immersed himself entirely in the scroll depicting the water-elemental swirling tortoise. With a thought, he transformed the power of the five elements into pure water-elemental spiritual energy, which surged powerfully into the profound meridians of the swirling tortoise visualization diagram.

The correct interpretation is: "The mind unites with the spirit, embracing the orifices and absorbing the essence."

The spiritual energy was abundant and gradually became saturated. Under the infusion of the abundant water spirit, the illusory image of the swirling tortoise seemed to come alive. The ancient meridians lit up one by one, and a vast true meaning of water essence spread out, with the faint sound of the tides audible.

An unprecedented grand cycle, flowing smoothly along the meridians of the tortoise shell, surged and swept through the limbs and bones.

The first realm of the Five Elements Painting Technique, the Tide Watching Realm, is now complete!

In the center of his dantian, the lotus disc slowly rotated, as stable as a rock. The spiraling tortoise diagram shimmered with a faint light, accompanied by the sound of tides, and could be activated at any time using the power of the five elements.

Zhou Li had a sudden realization: in the Tide-Watching Realm, all the power of the five elements within his body could be converted into the power of water, and at the same time, the power of water could be converted back into the five elements.

Only then did the advantages of the Five Elements Spiritual Root of Zhou Ritual begin to emerge. The Five Elements circulate endlessly, generating life indefinitely, drawing upon the Five Elements of Heaven and Earth to cultivate unparalleled methods.

He suddenly opened his eyes, slowly raised his hand, and with a slight movement of his fingertips, a wisp of extremely pure water spirit swirled around, gradually transforming into a thin layer of black tortoise shell covering his fingertips. This was the Xuan Turtle's innate divine ability, "Mysterious Tortoise Shield Armor".

After visualizing the ancient demon, as one's cultivation level gradually improves, the cultivator can comprehend the ancient demon's innate supernatural abilities, which is precisely the power of the "Five Elements Danqing Technique".

Zhou Li exhaled a long breath, and a sense of power far exceeding his previous strength flowed quietly through his limbs and bones.

After the clouds parted and the sun shone through, and after hardship came happiness, Zhou Li felt a surge of pride and recited aloud:

"All things manifest the five elements, and spiritual patterns are painted in vibrant colors. Demonic images inherit the Daoist principles, and tides rise and resound throughout the four seas."

…………

A mountain breeze swept across the bluestone platform outside the cave. Qingqing, resting her chin on her hand, sat on a smooth boulder, listlessly gazing at the stone door that had been closed for over a month.

She still had a touch of childishness, with a spirit herb dangling from her mouth, but she looked listless at the moment.

"Junior brother, oh junior brother, it's been so long..." she muttered under her breath, "All he does is meditate and space out, it's so boring!"

At first, she stood obediently at the door, thinking of helping her junior brother protect the Dharma. But as the days went by, that initial enthusiasm was worn away by the boredom.

"No, no, I'm going to grow mushrooms if I stay here any longer!" Qingqing suddenly stood up, her eyes darting around as she looked at the path leading down the mountain outside the cave.

"Well... since my junior brother won't be out for a while anyway, I'll just play around nearby for a bit. I should be fine, right?" She gave herself a plausible reason.

For safety's sake, she pulled out a few low-level array flags that she had somehow acquired and awkwardly set up a very simple "maze array" around Zhou Li's cave.

She only asked to block the view and create a maze so that people wouldn't see the cave entrance at a glance, which would be considered fulfilling her duty of protection.

The green array flags were planted at varying depths and in different positions, and the spiritual energy hubs were connected in a stumbling manner.

"Alright!" Looking at the area shrouded in mist, Qingqing clapped her hands in satisfaction. Like a fawn breaking free from its cage, she turned around happily and disappeared into the depths of the forest in a few leaps.

As fate would have it, no sooner had Qingqing left than someone else arrived.

After an unknown amount of time, the stone gate slowly opened, and Zhou Li stepped out of the cave where he had been in seclusion for more than a month. The scent of the mountain plants and trees, like a long-awaited clear spring, permeated his entire body.

He habitually looked at the once smooth bluestone ground, which was now shrouded in a thin layer of mist. This mist was condensed and did not dissipate, carrying a trace of spiritual energy fluctuations, like a dome covering the front courtyard of the cave.

"This is... an array?" Zhou Li frowned slightly, then realized. Who else could it be but his impatient senior sister Qingqing?

"Perhaps they're too bored to bother with setting up formations here." A slight smile crossed Zhou Li's lips.

He activated his Heavenly Thunder Eye, and the mist before him gradually disappeared, revealing that the spiritual energy of this place was connected and flowing in a special way, forming a somewhat rudimentary framework. Although it had no murderous aura, it could still disrupt perception.

Suddenly, deep within this simple, enigmatic place, an unusually familiar aura caught Zhou Li's attention.

This aura carried a wild and unruly quality, and it was violently charging left and right.

"Fang Yu?" Zhou Li frowned slightly. "Why is he here?" Without thinking further, Zhou Li stepped into the maze.

Upon entering, the scenery immediately changed. The once clear mountain path disappeared, the surrounding bamboo forest transformed into towering ancient trees, and the flat bluestone underfoot turned into tangled vines.

Although the fog was thin, it greatly impaired his sense of direction. He steadied himself, a flash of lightning in his eyes, and carefully discerned this place where reality and illusion were mixed.