As Joe Di's mind began to blur, on the verge of losing consciousness, he suddenly sensed a breath of fresh air. It was as if someone suffocating in darkness had, at last, inhaled a rush of pure, clean air.
What was happening? Joe Di tried to open his eyes, and to his surprise, he actually saw a faint glimmer of light. His body was nearly crushed into nothingness, yet just before he was about to vanish, he found himself revived instead. Was this a final burst of life before death?
No, that faint light he sensed had not disappeared; it remained vividly clear before his eyes.
Could this be the formation of a Dao Tree? Joe Di wasn't sure whether the light was truly the Dao Tree. He tried to sense it, but couldn't discern the actual form of the Dao Tree.
He hurriedly activated his Rule Cycle, and to his delight, the circulation of his Grand Law made him feel noticeably lighter and more at ease.
The light did not grow larger, yet under the Rule Cycle, his body managed to stretch out a bit.
Joe Di frantically circulated his Rule Cycle, and the body that had been squeezed to the verge of annihilation began to stretch out further...
Although that light seemed to grow brighter and brighter, Joe Di was certain it wasn't due to his Rule Cycle.
Once Joe Di's body stood upright again, the first thing he did was attempt to condense the Three-Life Dao and the Way of Unity. He didn't know if that light was the Dao Tree he sought, nor whether it would vanish. But no matter what, Joe Di would never let such an opportunity slip by.
Whatever the reason for his newfound hope, he had to seize it.
To Joe Di's immense joy, the Three-Life Dao quickly took shape, and at the same time, the Way of Unity formed its own embryonic outline.
At this moment, the light seemed to grow even larger. Joe Di now understood that he had truly condensed the Dao Tree. He began circulating three Dao paths at once—even though the Rule Cycle started the process, followed by the Three-Life Dao and the Way of Unity. Yet, with just one complete cycle, these three Daos formed a complementary and perfect round within him.
It was just like when he, Emperor Ye, and Nick Ning constructed the new universe together—the same feeling, the same excitement.
Joe Di was swept away in the pleasure of this smooth Dao circulation. When he opened his eyes again, however, he found that the light had vanished.
Joe Di was alarmed—the light was the foundation of his survival. If it suddenly disappeared, would he once again be crushed into nothingness by Chaos?
Just as this thought crossed his mind, Joe Di sensed the shadow of a Dao Tree, infused with the aura of Chaos, circulating in his Purple Mansion. Then, it seemed to sprout three branches...
Joe Di was so excited his hands turned white from gripping too tightly—he had succeeded, accidentally condensing the Dao Tree. Not only that, but the Dao Tree had also allowed his Rule Dao, Three-Life Dao, and Way of Unity to form three distinct Dao branches.
If he wished, his universe would soon, under the influence of the Dao Tree, transform into the new universe he had once built with Emperor Ye and Nick Ning.
As he gained more Dao branches in the future, his new universe would become even more complete.
Joe Di let out a long breath. He wondered why, when he had previously tried to frantically circulate his Rule Cycle to condense the Dao Tree in Chaos, he failed—yet after giving up, he managed to succeed?
Was it that the aura of Chaos saw him on the brink of death and couldn't bear to let him go?
Joe Di knew that was impossible. So what was the reason? Was it that, facing his own demise, he began to recall all his past experiences?
Soon, Joe Di realized that might truly be the case.
He vaguely sensed the reason for his earlier failure, then shook his head, thinking to himself that he came to Chaos to condense the Dao Tree. Since it's a Dao Tree, it must serve as the main trunk bearing all kinds of Dao paths.
Yet he had tried to use his own Path of Rules to condense the Dao Tree. If that had worked, it would have been a miracle. Even if it had succeeded, the Dao Tree would be marked by the shadow of his Path of Rules, making it impossible to bear other Daos.
He had made a mistake. Although he sensed that the Dao should have form, which was progress, this insight gave rise to his idea of condensing the Dao Tree. And it was precisely this idea that allowed him to survive today. But he still hadn't grasped what the true Dao was. In his view, Dao could only be constructed when one's cultivation reached a certain level and one's understanding reached sufficient height.
But that's not how it is!
The true Dao should be the most ordinary, the most commonplace things—like a meal, a cup of tea, a word, a deed.
Just as he was about to fall, his mind turned to everything in the past—to life and death, to those trivial matters, to love and hate, to all the tangled emotions...
The Dao exists in the everyday moments of ordinary people—in the tiny details of daily life, in love and hate, in all those subtle, mundane things.
Yet even if ordinary people understood that the Dao is forged from every subtle detail and moment, they still couldn't construct their own Dao Tree. For the Dao Tree forms where the pure is touched by the tiniest speck of dust. Not to mention, they could never reach Chaos to refine it. Even if they could, they wouldn't be able to sense Chaos's subtle changes and then evolve a Dao Tree from them.
Joe Di had once heard others say that a higher Dao is paradoxical, and in truth, there is some reason to this view.
Chaos is the purest place in the vast universe, untouched by any dust. Here, Joe Di built his Dao Tree, with himself as the center of the Grand Dao, then derived branches of the Dao he recognized.
If someone else came here, the Dao Tree they constructed would have themselves at the center of the Grand Dao.
Though the Dao Tree is indeed refined from countless tiny, insignificant details, how tall it can grow in the future depends on the one who condenses it.
The breadth of Joe Di's mind and the depth of his understanding of the Grand Dao determine how far his Dao Tree can reach, and how far his Dao itself can go.
As the Dao Tree became more and more substantial, each time he circulated his Rule Cycle, the Dao resonance of its three branches grew stronger and stronger.
Chaos was split open, and all around was the purest Genesis Vitality. Cultivating in this Chaos, no other energy could compare.
Joe Di continued to circulate his Rule Cycle, and his divine sense gradually began to extend outward.
When all agitation and unease faded away, Joe Di felt as if his Grand Dao had crossed a bottleneck, as if a wall had been shattered. His Genesis Vitality surged, and his divine sense instantly stretched to a range of ten meters. This was ten meters in Chaos itself, where nothing exists and no rules apply. This range was entirely due to his perception of Chaos—or, rather, a testament to his power.
Joe Di knew this was the second time he had achieved Convergence Realm. He had experienced it once before, and though last time he felt his Convergence was the strongest, today, with this second breakthrough, he realized that compared to now, his previous achievement was no different from that of an ant.
It was not just a difference in strength, but also a gap in Dao perception—like sensing the size of the world from the bottom of a well, versus standing atop a mountain.
When the Chaos Essence fully solidified the Dao branches on his Dao Tree, Joe Di found that its usefulness to him had greatly diminished.
Joe Di ventured deeper into Chaos, his divine sense now able to perceive a hundred-meter range—an area that existed solely because of him. With a wave of his hand, he swept up vast quantities of true Chaos Essence into his own universe world.
Joe Di felt a deep sense of wonder. He had no idea how long he'd been in Chaos, but he was certain the Chaos Skyship wouldn't wait for him—it must have long since departed. Back then, he hadn't dared to leave the Chaos Skyship, afraid he'd perish in Chaos. But now, he could roam freely. While the Chaos Skyship needed to burn Supreme Ley Lines to survive, he could cultivate in Chaos and even gather endless Chaos Essence.
Joe Di didn't know if the Chaos Essence he collected would be of use in the future, but it was clearly several grades above the Chaos Essence he'd encountered in the Five Elements Universe.
(That's all for today's update. Good night, friends!)