After the Great Dao Died

That night, Chen Lingxi slipped out of the Baosu Marquis Residence. Cloaked in darkness, he wove through Yuanjiang Prefecture until he ducked into an abandoned alleyway.

’A quick look will tell if Lin Suri truly left Yuanjiang Prefecture for Luyang Prefecture.’

Chen Lingxi leaned back against a crumbling wall and closed his eyes.

His consciousness descended into the Divine Chamber, settling upon the two characters for Vision Wander. With a faint stir of his mind, a strange fluctuation pulsed from the chamber. Like ripples across water, the unseen waves surged outward in every direction.

The ripples passed through ruined walls, streets, and city walls, sweeping across a span of four thousand zhang.

A moment later, Chen Lingxi opened his eyes, his brow furrowing slightly.

’Lin Suri isn’t in Yuanjiang Prefecture.’

He had already tried this once back at the Baosu Marquis Residence. The Divine Chamber had blanketed more than half the prefecture, yet he had not caught a single trace of the man.

That was why he had gone out of his way to come to this alley in the southern end of the city—to scan the remaining half. Yet, he still came up empty.

Wasting no more time, he leapt up and slipped silently out of the city.He activated Vision Wander at the foot of Ancestral Mountain, Mangyang Mountain, and Cuojin Mountain in succession. Still, there was no sign of Lin Suri.

’It seems Lin Suri really has left Yuanjiang Prefecture.’

He stood in silence for a moment before making his way up Cuojin Mountain.

’I wonder where he actually went.’

Sitting cross-legged in a cavern, Chen Lingxi mused to himself, ’In that case, I will ignore everything else for now and focus on completing this final bit of origin-replenishing progress. Once Thorough Awakening reaches completion, I can use it to test both the True Formulas of the Six Qi True Method and the Credit Peddler in advance.’

He retrieved several medicine bottles from his Cosmos Bag, tipping their pills into his palm.

They were all blood-qi pills he had bought with money.

The spiritual qi within them was meager, but it was far better than nothing.

’The spiritual qi on Cuojin Mountain is too thin. I have to rely on these blood-qi pills.’

Without another thought, he tossed more than a dozen pills into his mouth. He chewed them as casually as if they were candy before swallowing them whole.

These days, Chen Lingxi no longer bothered to carefully refine the blood-qi medicinal properties. The benefits were negligible, and purging the resulting pill toxins with his spiritual qi would only waste his energy.

He only extracted one thing from those pills: spiritual qi.

As the pills hit his stomach, he stripped away their spiritual qi like silk drawn from a cocoon. The threads of qi flowed down into his dantian’s sea of qi, dissolving into the hazy, azure stream of liquid spiritual energy.

He tossed the pills back one after another, his face expressionless, as if munching on a plate of flavorless roasted beans.

At the same time, he practiced the Six Qi Breathing Method, squeezing every last drop of the meager spiritual qi from the near-barren Cuojin Mountain.

’Breathing techniques still have their limits. Even after swallowing so many pills containing traces of spiritual qi, the growth to my cultivation is almost nonexistent.’

Chen Lingxi sighed, but not daring to slack off, he continued his cultivation.

Three days passed in this manner.

On this day, as he sat cross-legged in meditation, he suddenly felt the stream of liquid spiritual energy within his dantian tremble. Like the rising tide of spring waters, its volume swelled just a fraction higher than before.

Even better, the origin-replenishing progress of his Thorough Awakening had finally bridged that last two percent, reaching completion.

[Thorough Awakening: Ready].

Chen Lingxi exhaled a long breath of impure qi, the corners of his lips curving upward.

Linking his consciousness to the Divine Chamber, he first activated the Vision Wander Divine Ability. Still, there was no sign of Lin Suri.

’It seems Lin Suri hasn’t returned.’

Chen Lingxi wasted no more time.

Taking a deep breath, he submerged his consciousness deep into the Divine Chamber, triggering the fully primed Perceiving Clear Divine Ability.

In the void of the Divine Chamber, two bright mirrors suddenly flared to life.

The void shattered and light warped around him. When everything stilled, he was no longer in the cavern.

The two bright mirrors hung high in the sky, blending their golden and silver light together.

Cuojin Mountain within the Divine Chamber was completely identical to the real one.

He stood up in the cliffside cavern, descended Cuojin Mountain, and immediately scaled Ancestral Mountain!

Situated to the west of the city, Ancestral Mountain looked from afar like a massive beast crouching by the banks of Yuanjiang. Its slopes were not particularly steep, but the mountain was shrouded year-round in a thick fog, cloaked in a veil that could never be lifted.

Surging like ocean waves, the dense fog instantly swallowed his figure.

A dead silence hung within the mist, sealing away even the sound of the wind.

Chen Lingxi attempted a breathing cycle here, only to find that the spiritual qi on Ancestral Mountain was even thinner than on Cuojin Mountain.

’How could a place with such barren spiritual qi give birth to a spiritual aperture like the Ancestral Mountain Maternal Qi—a treasure that draws the intense interest of cultivators from the great worlds?’ Chen Lingxi wondered.

According to the rumors, Maternal Qi was a treasure born of a spiritual aperture. Obtaining it would turn one’s marrow into flowing silver and cause spiritual tides to surge within their bones, completely reforging one’s entire skeleton like exchanging an old cauldron for a new mold.

Logically, any place capable of nurturing Maternal Qi should be a blessed grotto-heaven brimming with spiritual energy and converging leylines.

Yet Ancestral Mountain’s spiritual qi was so starved it resembled a barren desert. To claim that a spring of sweet water lay buried beneath such a desert was utterly bizarre.

Pressing down his doubts, he pushed deeper into the mountain.

The mountain trail wound endlessly through the dense fog. The further he walked, the thicker the mist grew.

After walking for about the time it took an incense stick to burn, he suddenly realized something.

’I haven’t seen a single living creature since I set foot on this mountain.’

Just as the thought crossed his mind, he caught sight of the bend around a rocky crag up ahead and stopped dead in his tracks.

There sat a rock, roughly half the height of a man. It was entirely gray and dull, looking like any ordinary stone you might find anywhere in the mountains.

Yet Chen Lingxi’s gaze locked onto it.

Wasn’t this the Credit Peddler’s stone?

’I haven’t even ventured deep into Ancestral Mountain, yet I’ve already run into this stone.’

Just as the thought surfaced, a voice called out, ”Hold on a moment, Fellow Daoist!”

Threaded with spiritual qi, the secret transmission echoed directly in Chen Lingxi’s ears.

Chen Lingxi looked up.

A faint ripple washed across the stone’s surface. The distortion rapidly widened, and a figure stepped out from within the solid rock.

A short tunic, a hemp rope, a woven basket, a sly smile, and a youthful face.

It was the Credit Peddler.

Feigning shock, Chen Lingxi took a step back. He looked the peddler up and down before asking, ”Who are you? Why did you just walk out of a solid rock?”

The Credit Peddler just stood there grinning, in no rush to reply.

Chen Lingxi waited for a moment. Seeing that the man did not answer, he pressed on, ”What exactly is your background?”

Hearing this, the Credit Peddler laughed and replied, ”My background is complicated, yet it is also simple. I wouldn’t be able to explain it clearly on short notice.

”As for why I was waiting here for you today...” He paused, the grin on his face widening. ”I was entrusted by someone!”

Entrusted by someone?

Chen Lingxi was greatly bewildered, his brow furrowing a bit deeper.

He looked at the peddler and asked, ”Entrusted by whom?”

The Credit Peddler merely shook his head.

He reached into his tunic, drawing something out from an inner pocket.

It was a jade pendant, about an inch square. Carved from pure, lustrous white jade, it emanated a faint, cold glow within his palm.

Chen Lingxi kept a confused look in his eyes, but a shockwave rippled through his mind.

It was because he recognized this jade pendant.

During Vision Wander, he had seen Lin Suri hand this jade pendant to the Credit Peddler. It was exactly the pendant that recorded the True Formulas of the Six Qi True Method!

He kept his expression completely neutral, merely knitting his brows as he pointed at the item. ”What is that?”

A glint of slyness flashed in the Credit Peddler’s eyes. ”This holds the true formulas of a cultivation method. It is exactly what you need, Fellow Daoist.”

Chen Lingxi revealed a look of vigilance. ”You haven’t even asked who I am. How do you know what kind of cultivation true formulas I need?”

The Credit Peddler didn’t answer. He simply flicked his finger against the jade pendant. The stone left his hand and hung suspended in the empty air between them.

The pendant rotated slowly in midair, the faint azure glow radiating from the jade growing brighter and more intense.

Surging spiritual qi suddenly poured out of the stone, filling the air and coalescing into countless floating characters.

The intricate, profound text shone with a hazy azure brilliance. The characters flowed slowly through the air, arranging themselves into a complete cultivation technique.

It was the True Formulas of the Six Qi True Method!

Chen Lingxi’s gaze swept over the characters, his heart jolting.

Although he already knew what it was, seeing the true formulas laid out right before his eyes still filled him with excitement. The Credit Peddler took in his reaction, chuckled, and made a beckoning gesture.

As if scooped up by an invisible hand, the azure characters hanging in the air dissolved back into threads of spiritual qi and rolled back into the jade pendant.

The pendant drifted down and stopped right in front of Chen Lingxi. It hovered in the air, hanging perfectly at arm’s reach.

”No need to be so defensive. I’m just honoring a request. Please accept it, Fellow Daoist.” After saying that, the Credit Peddler cupped his hands in a polite bow and turned to leave.

Taking a step back, his figure began to dissolve like thick mist, sinking inch by inch into the stone boulder behind him.

Feigning a sudden realization, Chen Lingxi pointed at the man’s face just as it was about to vanish into the rock. ”Could you be the rumored Credit Peddler?!” he asked urgently.

The peddler’s face continued to sink into the stone.

But Chen Lingxi called out to stop him again. ”I must ask—who exactly was the one who entrusted this to you?”

The Credit Peddler didn’t answer.

Chen Lingxi seemed to let the matter drop, adding, ”In that case, I, Chen Lingxi, would like to make a trade with the Credit Peddler.”

The peddler’s eyes lit up with interest.

His face, which had already half-sunken into the stone, emerged once more. In the blink of an eye, he stepped back out, looking just as youthful and clear-featured as before.

With his bamboo basket on his back, he walked out of the rock and grinned. ”My little business offers fair prices to the young and old alike. What is it that you wish to trade for, Fellow Daoist?”

After asking, he tilted his head in thought. Before Chen Lingxi could answer, the peddler reached out with his right hand, his thumb flying rapidly across the joints of his index and middle fingers as if he were flicking the beads of an invisible abacus.

He blinked and chuckled. ”How about I sell you an array?

”Under this array, spiritual qi is gathered, perfectly suited for cultivation.

”Having such an array in a spiritually barren place like this is like digging a well in the desert. You would have a sweet spring to drink from every day. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

Chen Lingxi was instantly struck with astonishment!

Even though he had already witnessed the Credit Peddler’s vast capabilities during Vision Wander, experiencing it face-to-face still felt unbelievable.

Coming to Ancestral Mountain this time, he had indeed harbored this exact thought.

If he could trade for an array that gathered spiritual qi from the peddler, he would never have to worry about a lack of spiritual qi for his cultivation again.

Ignoring Chen Lingxi’s shocked expression, the Credit Peddler asked, ”Do you have any treasures to set up the array?”

Chen Lingxi considered it for a moment before giving a faint nod.

He raised his right hand and brushed it lightly across his waist.

With a flash of azure light, eight bronze lamps and dozens of jade pendants flew out from his Cosmos Bag. They drifted to the ground, arranging themselves into perfectly neat rows.

The Credit Peddler glanced down at the lamps and pendants, though his eyes first drifted toward the leather bag hanging from Chen Lingxi’s waist.

He raised an eyebrow, a flicker of very faint surprise flashing through his eyes before he nodded. ”A Hongdong Treasure Bag... that’s quite rare.”

Shifting his gaze back to the bronze lamps and jade pendants, he assessed them. ”The quality is a bit lacking, but they’ll do.”

He paused and looked up, his clear eyes boring straight into Chen Lingxi. ”However, these arrays of mine are quite extraordinary. The price is extremely steep. I wonder if you can afford it, Fellow Daoist.”

Chen Lingxi said, ”Why don’t you tell me and see.”

The Credit Peddler raised his right hand once again, pinching his fingers as if calculating.

Over a dozen breaths of time passed before the peddler suddenly opened his eyes.

He looked at Chen Lingxi and held up a single finger, slowly speaking, ”How about this? I’ll trade it for one of your future treasures.”

A future treasure? Chen Lingxi was completely baffled.

The peddler smiled. ”You don’t possess that treasure yet. Whenever you do get your hands on it, I’ll naturally come find you, Fellow Daoist.”

Chen Lingxi lowered his head in thought before looking back up. ”Do we need to sign a Jade Precept Book?”

The peddler just waved a hand, his face showing a hint of nonchalance. ”I don’t have a Jade Precept Book on hand.”

Pausing, he added, ”There’s no need to sign a Jade Precept Book. When you get the treasure, I will come find you.”

Chen Lingxi frowned deeper.

’Someone of his caliber doesn’t have a Jade Precept Book?’

Shaking his head, he asked, ”And when exactly will I obtain this treasure?”

The peddler waved his hands again. ”Can’t say! I can’t say!” He repeated the words twice, his tone cloaked in mystery.

Having said this, he suddenly shifted the conversation. ”Within this grotto-heaven, you can only seek me out for a single trade. After today, this shop will be gone.

I’m practically giving this array away, so you’d better act fast.”

Only a single trade? What did that mean?

He was just about to ask when the peddler grinned. ”I know you’re going to agree, Fellow Daoist.”

Chuckling to himself, the peddler reached back into his tunic and pulled out a bamboo slip. It was about the length of a palm, two fingers wide, and dyed a lush green.

He handed the slip to Chen Lingxi. Taking it with both hands, Chen Lingxi looked down and saw five tiny characters carved into its front—[Pure Wondrous Qi Pivot Array].

The calligraphy was slender but forceful, every stroke biting deep into the bamboo. It looked less like the characters had been carved into the wood and more like the slip had naturally grown with them.

He slowly channeled his spiritual qi into the bamboo slip. Instantly, a massive, complex torrent of information rushed into his mind like a bursting dam.

’This array... how is it this complex?’

He rapidly committed the vast influx of knowledge to memory, absorbing every single character without missing a detail.

At that very moment, the peddler faded back into the boulder.

A moment later, the rock itself vanished without a trace.

A full night passed before Chen Lingxi finally opened his eyes.

’This Six Qi True Art and Pure Wondrous Qi Pivot Array are actually so profound!’

The profundity of the True Formulas of the Six Qi True Method far exceeded his expectations.

And the Pure Wondrous Qi Pivot Array was equally exquisite.

It didn’t simply gather spiritual qi. Instead, it used spirit as a catalyst to construct a miniature spiritual qi cycle within its boundaries. When the array was active, it pulled in all the ambient spiritual qi scattered through the surrounding world thread by thread, before slowly venting it outward from the array core. This created a self-sustaining vortex of circulating energy.

Anyone sitting within the array would essentially be meditating on top of an invisible spiritual spring. Immersed in it day and night, their cultivation efficiency would outpace standard meditation by leaps and bounds.

Better yet, the array could passively absorb the essence of the sun and moon, along with the vitality of the surrounding flora. It converted those energies into pure spiritual qi to fuel itself, allowing it to sustain operation even in spiritually barren environments.

Thrilled by his haul, he stood up and began pacing the mountainside, his mind racing.

But gradually, his footsteps slowed.

’The mysterious Credit Peddler said he wanted one of my future treasures. He also said we could only ever make a single trade.’

What would the future treasure be?

Only a single trade.

Why only one? Was it the rules of the grotto-heaven? A restriction imposed by the peddler himself? Or was there some other invisible limit at play?

Lost in thought, Chen Lingxi came to a sudden halt.

He looked up, staring into the two bright mirrors hanging high in the sky.

One blazed gold like the sun, while the other shone silver like the moon. The intertwining golden and silver light blanketed the entirety of Ancestral Mountain in a strange, otherworldly halo.

This was the Thorough Awakening Spiritual Chamber.

His eyes suddenly lit up.

’I... have the Perceiving Clear Divine Ability.’

’If I never trade with the Credit Peddler in reality, I can simply seek him out on Ancestral Mountain every time I use Thorough Awakening, and trade with him then.

’Within Thorough Awakening, I can accept his terms without any hesitation, trading that one future treasure for his goods every time.

’Once Thorough Awakening ends, I just need to choose one item from the haul to bring back to reality. That means every time I use Thorough Awakening, I can get something out of the Credit Peddler for absolutely free.’

Chen Lingxi’s eyes burned fiercely. ’And in reality, since I will have never actually traded with him, that one-time chance to buy will always remain.’

He had already removed his ghost mask, revealing a face flushed with ecstatic realization.

’Using this same future treasure to exchange for numerous wondrous techniques and treasures!’