The hens in the yard all looked at him in surprise, then scattered in a flurry and hid in the henhouse. However, the rooster, with disdain in its eyes and an air of arrogance, held its head high and strutted past Chu Mo.

Chu Mo glanced at the rooster, feeling that he might inherently clash with roosters. Why else would every rooster act this way around him? This particular rooster behaved no differently.

"I'll stew you if you keep staring!" Chu Mo threatened the rooster viciously.

"Cluck cluck!" The rooster simply ignored him, crowed, fluttered its wings twice, and walked away gracefully.

An old Taoist came out of the Taoist temple. The elder had an ordinary appearance, silver hair, wrinkled face, and showed no discernible age. He had no discernible aura around him. He grinned at Chu Mo and said, "One month... not bad, go chop some firewood." After speaking, he turned around, went back into the house, and slammed the door shut.

Chu Mo couldn't help but roll his eyes, thinking whether this was how they treated guests here. But he knew this old Taoist was certainly extraordinary and had a profound reason for his actions.

In fact, the enlightenment Chu Mo gained in this one month had been deeper than the insights from several years of usual cultivation. His gains were enormous.

Therefore, although the old Taoist seemed very inhospitable, Chu Mo silently went and did as told. He walked up to a pile of firewood and saw a rusty axe. He took a deep breath, bent over, and picked up the axe.

Chu Mo thought for a moment, then put the axe down and... returned to his former Dao.

Instantly, a terrifying pressure nearly forced Chu Mo down to his knees!

His blood energy surged wildly, even his powerful physique was pressed to seep blood, and his bones creaked.

Without uttering a sound, Chu Mo struggled to bend over and lift the axe!

But it was—

Too difficult!

He simply couldn't bend over!

Even such a simple movement caused him immense pain, feeling truly worse than death.

Chu Mo still showed no sign of wanting to change his approach, continuing to try bending over to lift the axe.

In the Taoist temple, the elder suddenly stood up, eyes emitting a shocking radiance, a face of disbelief, and murmured, "Has this boy gone mad? How... how could he realize this so quickly?"

In fact, the old Taoist was utterly shocked that Chu Mo managed to open this door in only one month!

When he himself had arrived here, it took him twenty years, sitting by the front door, contemplating the Dao.

Only after twenty years could he successfully stand up and open the door.

And Chu Mo… took only one month!

This gave the old Taoist a huge sense of defeat. On the surface, he casually told Chu Mo it was passable, but mentally, thousands of proud roosters were already storming through his mind.

Although he had long known this young fellow was a true genius, possessing an unimaginably noble lineage and incredible origins.

But who doesn't have a noble lineage? He himself also boasted a distinguished lineage! Comparing strictly, his background was not much inferior to Chu Mo's! He had always been seen as a peerless Heavenly Genius by everyone and that world… was not the Yanhuang domain, so the old Taoist didn't think Chu Mo was much stronger than him.

Only slightly stronger… very slightly!

The spirit of competition, something inherent to all.

But Chu Mo harshly slapped the old Daoist with the cruel truth, giving the old Daoist quite a shock.

Even if he was reluctant to admit it, he couldn't help but mutter to himself, "This perception is simply astonishing!"

"I took twenty years... this little thing took only one month! Is our gap really two hundred and forty times as large? How is this possible? How can there be such a stunning genius in this world? It must just be blind luck!"

Behind the old Daoist's calm expression, there was a bellyful of complaints. Therefore, the matter he was supposed to explain to Chu Mo right then was temporarily suppressed, and he directly sent Chu Mo to chop wood.

In his heart, he harbored a bit of schadenfreude, thinking, "Let's see you be a genius, let you have perception, let you unknowingly slap your elder's face – this time I'm throwing the biggest challenge at you!"

Let's see what you can do!

When you've suffered enough, I'll give you some guidance, and you'll still have to be grateful to me. That way the feeling of defeat inside my heart... can be lessened a bit!

The old Daoist seemed to want to torment Chu Mo but was actually crying without tears. The gap was simply too vast!

The reason was simple: chopping wood in this courtyard, if one merged with its Dao, wasn't difficult, even quite simple. Because such a task, any ordinary mortal man could accomplish. But that held no meaning.

Chopping wood normally, what could you understand? Calmness? Precision? Or control of strength? For a great cultivator, these were all nonsense! Completely meaningless.

Then what was the meaning of chopping wood?

The old Daoist also only knew after reading some materials – the true essence of chopping wood lay in the collision and merging of two different Great Daos!

The so-called collision meant using one's own Dao to confront the Dao of this place! Using one's own rules to collide with the rules here! Amidst the roaring of the Great Dao... finding that optimal point, causing resonance with the Great Dao!

Then… merging the two Great Daos together! Becoming a Dao completely of one's own!

For this, the old Daoist was acutely aware, but he had not succeeded. He failed.

Despite many attempts, he ultimately could only give up dejectedly.

He failed because he understood his own Dao too deeply. So much so that even though he had spent twenty years understanding the Dao here and had pushed open that door, he still couldn't use his own Dao to split the firewood here!

The clash of two Great Daos sounds simple but is incredibly difficult. Throughout history, those who managed it later accomplished incredibly brilliant feats – they were all truly powerful beings!

They... were all saints!

The old Daoist also dreamt of becoming a saint, dreamed fervently! For this dream, he even led his declining sect away from the Luotian Immortal Domain, far from that treacherous "pure land". He came to this sealed world with the aim of breaking through its barriers and seizing that great fortune and opportunity here.

And this insignificant little Daoist temple was one pathway towards becoming a saint.

He came, he saw, he understood everything, but he… failed.

How utterly sad was that?

Seeing that dazzling path right before his eyes, so close yet… forever out of reach!

No sadness in this world is greater than this.

"This ultimately... is not the opportunity meant for me." The old Daoist's eyes, looking through the walls of the house, fell upon the figure desperately grasping at the axe. A wistful smile appeared on his face, filled with desolation. But then, a look of resignation appeared, and he murmured, "Actually, watching a youth rise before my eyes, to walk that path for me, to overturn those people, that's also a good choice! Didn't I already give him the token? So... why should I envy a junior related to me so profoundly?"

In the old Daoist's eyes, a flash of clarity passed – it was a true breadth of spirit!

He pushed open the door and shouted towards Chu Mo's back, "Hey, young fellow, if you keep this up, you won't even be able to lift that axe!"

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