After the Great Dao Died

The Crown Prince sat upright upon the purple sandalwood throne. The shadows behind him were as thick as ink, leaving only his bright yellow brocade robe to gleam faintly in the candlelight.

At this moment, a dense blue mist reflected in his eyes.

That mist drifted out from the thumb ring on his finger.

Spiritual light gathered three chi before his eyes, condensing without scattering like a small mirrored lake suspended in the void.

Reflected upon the lake’s surface were the scenes unfolding on Mount Qiaoji.

He saw Zhong Wuzhu, his martial master who had cultivated the Town Jade Precious Body and possessed skin as lustrously white as jade. He saw Chen Lingxi wearing the Ghost Mask, and the Qi Circulation 6th Floor cultivator standing beside him!

Naturally, he also saw Chen Lingxi and that Qi Circulation 6th Floor cultivator slay four of his Jade Qi subordinates!

And even Zhong Wuzhu, who could match a 6th Floor cultivator in strength!

Ying Chi’s face was as dark as deep water.

Although he had never seen Chen Lingxi wearing the Ghost Mask, he knew from Eunuch Zhuo’s report—who had secretly observed Lu Baizhong intercepting Chen Lingxi—that Chen Lingxi wielded the Gold-Slaughtering Precious Saber and had a mist-manipulating cultivator by his side.Ying Chi took a deep breath. That day in the eastern hall of the Crown Prince’s Beast-Fighting Palace, this official bondservant had stood before him, discussing the Dragon Roar Technique and his origins in the Southern Heaven Region!

At that time, the man had displayed a calm demeanor and extraordinary visual prowess. With his aura perfectly concealed, not leaking a single thread, Ying Chi had assumed he was a figure from the Greater World who had hidden his cultivation.

It wasn’t until later, when all the great elixirs surrounding Lin Longyue—Yang Zhuri, Commandery Princess Yunhe, and Chu Linzi—had died, that he remembered this senior seemed to be lying low within Marquis Baosu’s Manor.

Suspicious, he had dispatched his cultivators to investigate, only to discover that the residual spiritual qi fluctuations upon Commandery Princess Yunhe and the others belonged to a mere Qi Circulation 6th Floor cultivator!

Thinking Chen Lingxi was only at the Qi Circulation 6th Floor, he had sent his men to test the waters, finally forcing the man to reveal his true foundation!

During Lu Baizhong’s ambush, this person was only at the Qi Circulation 4th Floor.

Even with a life-saving trump card, he was undeniably just a 4th Floor cultivator!

As Ying Chi thought of this, the icy chill in his eyes deepened.

Until today.

Before his death, Zhong Wuzhu crushed that jade pendant. The spiritual sand of the pendant linked with the precious ring on Ying Chi’s finger, allowing him to see all that transpired on Mount Qiaoji.

”It has only been a few months since Lu Baizhong’s ambush, yet this person has already stepped into the Qi Circulation 5th Floor!”

His gaze flickered as he noticed the Gold-Slaughtering Precious Saber in Chen Lingxi’s hand, that Sun-Chasing Spirit Arrow, and the strand of Purple True Precious Qi he mentioned! He had no idea how much of his own wealth this Chen Lingxi had fleeced!

If Yang Zhuri, Commandery Princess Yunhe, and the others hadn’t been killed in succession, he would probably still be completely in the dark.

And today, he had even killed four more of his Jade Qi subordinates.

Ying Chi sat upright on the Crown Prince’s throne, his eyes brimming with killing intent.

”As a disciple of the Southern Heaven Region, to think I was deceived by such a nameless nobody.”

He stroked the thumb ring on his hand, his eyes like a bottomless, freezing abyss.

At this thought, the two whirlpools in Ying Chi’s eyes began to spin violently.

Faint golden light flashed deep within those whirlpools, like two enraged dragons churning and roaring within his pupils.

Right at this moment.

From the dense shadows behind him, the pale, beardless Eunuch Zhuo quietly approached.

”Luo Ran has already headed for Mount Qiaoji.” His somewhat murky eyes stared at the lapis lazuli floor tiles beneath his feet. ”Only, that immortal manipulating ice...”

The Crown Prince narrowed his eyes, pondering for a moment. ”Since Luo Ran has gone... let her draw away that Spiritual Qi 6th Floor cultivator.”

”As for that Chen Lingxi... he still has an extraordinary trump card on him. If it isn’t drawn out, then if I am not present when you find him, it will be difficult for you to kill him.”

He gently shook his head, reached out his hand, and closed his slender, pale fingers lightly in the void.

With this grasp, the Purple True Treasure Vase suddenly appeared in his palm.

The vase was no larger than a palm and entirely a lustrous white. Flowing light faintly circulated across its surface, looking like a thin layer of moonlight bound to its walls.

With the vase mouth facing downward, the Purple True Precious Qi flowed inside, exuding astonishing might.

The purple qi surged within the vase like a purple true dragon imprisoned in a glass cup, roaring and struggling to break free from these narrow confines.

The moment the precious vase appeared, the air in the entire hall stagnated.

The court eunuch lowered his head even further.

Ying Chi held the precious vase, his gaze landing on the flowing purple light across its surface.

Then, a strand of spiritual qi was slowly injected into the thumb ring on his finger.

The dark jewel on the face of the thumb ring trembled slightly, and overlapping layers of light illuminated its surface. Ying Chi looked at the surging mist before him, his eyes icy.

”Zhong Wuzhu and the others died too quickly just now.”

He paused and glanced down at the Purple True Treasure Vase, a faint gleam flashing in his eyes.

”I only need to stall them for a moment. Once I use this Purple True Precious Qi...”

Before he could finish his words, the two golden whirlpools in his eyes suddenly accelerated their spin.

Golden light violently surged from deep within those whirlpools, blindingly bright and impossible to look at, like two erupting volcanoes.

He said no more, simply lowering his head as spiritual qi rose from the qi sea within his body.

The flowing light on the precious vase flared brilliantly at this moment. Radiant purple light erupted from the vase, bathing the entire hall in a magnificent, terrifying purple.

—

Far away on Mount Qiaoji, Chen Lingxi was crouching among the Jade Qi corpses.

Chen Lingxi searched the bodies one by one, fishing out their belongings.

Precious sabers, extremely valuable vitality and blood pills, and bank notes. Just at this moment, specks of blue light floated over through the surrounding air.

Those halos of light were extremely faint and tiny, like countless little fireflies dancing silently in the night.

Chen Lingxi’s expression shifted slightly as he looked at this jade sand.

The halos gathered in ever greater numbers and grew increasingly dense, converging from all directions like all rivers run into the sea. They collected, swirled, and solidified three zhang in front of him, ultimately forming a blue silhouette.

The figure slowly walked out from that patch of blue light.

Chen Lingxi immediately recalled the spiritual qi incarnation of Wu Mohe he had seen at Cuojin Mountain.

’This figure is also a magical incarnation of a similar method.’

The man wore a bright yellow brocade robe, a white jade belt cinched at his waist, a purple-gold crown on his head, and black leather boots on his feet.

Intricate cloud and dragon patterns were embroidered onto the brocade robe with gold thread. Under the illumination of the blue light, they seemed to come alive; the clouds drifted and the dragons swam, exhaling a faint, cold radiance.

His face was extraordinarily handsome—complexion like flawless jade, eyebrows like distant mountains, and eyes like bright stars.

Only, at this moment, there was not a trace of warmth in those eyes, only a bottomless icy chill.

It was precisely the Crown Prince, Ying Chi! Standing within that blue halo with his hands clasped behind his back, Ying Chi’s cold gaze landed squarely on Chen Lingxi.

”To think that the so-called senior who could see through my cultivation and even execute the Dragon Roar Technique...” His voice suppressed an anger that was practically overflowing, like a volcano trapped beneath thin ice.

”...is merely a little thief at the Qi Circulation 5th Floor.”

He paused, his eyes sweeping back and forth over Chen Lingxi. His gaze passed over the Gold-Slaughtering Precious Saber at his waist, over the spiritual qi fluctuations that hadn’t yet been fully restrained around him, and over the Jade Qi corpses strewn about his feet.

That gaze held only the purest, most undisguised killing intent.

”However, I am curious,” Ying Chi continued. ”How do you know my Southern Heaven Region’s Dragon Roar Technique? And how were you able to see through my origins?”

This question had troubled him for a long time.

Chen Lingxi looked Ying Chi up and down, a hint of a smile actually appearing on his face beneath the Ghost Mask.

That smile peeked out from the lower edge of the Ghost Mask. Though only the slightly upturned corners of his mouth were visible, it was enough to reveal his current unhurried composure.

”That day, the Crown Prince wanted to kill me,” Chen Lingxi said, his voice steady and unhurried. ”If I hadn’t used some methods, wouldn’t I have died by the Crown Prince’s hand?”

Ying Chi scoffed coldly. ”Now, you shouldn’t hesitate to tell me your origins.”

Chen Lingxi remained silent. Ying Chi paid it no mind; his gaze shifted from Chen Lingxi to Xi Mu, who stood not far away.

Ying Chi looked at Xi Mu and the surging mist. ”Mist Swallowing Art.”

”You are someone from the Que Star Xi Family?”

Xi Mu remained silent and did not answer.

There was no trace of emotion on his handsome face.

Ying Chi carefully scrutinized Xi Mu, his gaze settling on his eyes.

Those eyes were empty and lifeless. Although spiritual light circulated deep within his pupils, they lacked even a shred of the vitality a living person should possess.

Ying Chi’s pupils constricted slightly.

”This member of the Xi Family is a puppet?”

The sneer on his face deepened.

He lifted his head and looked back at Chen Lingxi, a touch of schadenfreude now present in his eyes.

”The Xi Family holds grudges the most,” Ying Chi said. ”And the Xi Family’s ancestor is the most fiercely protective and unreasonable of them all. You turning a member of the Xi Family into a puppet is a tremendous humiliation to them.”

He paused, a trace of amusement entering his tone. ”Once you leave this grotto-heaven...”

His eyes darted as he stared with disdain. ”To not dare announce your sect means it’s nothing but some minor faction. Once you leave this grotto-heaven, I’m afraid your masters and your entire sect will be refined into a speck of world essence by the Xi Family’s Realm-Refining Furnace.”

Chen Lingxi was silent for a few breaths before suddenly laughing. ”Did the Crown Prince come all this way just to spout this nonsense?”

Ying Chi did not answer. He simply stood there with his hands behind his back. The cold sneer still hung on his lips, but his gaze grew increasingly dark.

Meeting his gaze, Chen Lingxi smiled. ”Through our few clashes, I know of the Crown Prince’s methods. I also know of your arrogance. Yet now, the Crown Prince has sent an incarnation here just to talk so much nonsense with me...”

Here, his tone abruptly shifted. ”The Crown Prince is far away in the Capital and unable to rush here.

”But there should be a contingency left by the Crown Prince in this Yuanjiang Prefecture.

”Therefore, the Crown Prince is stalling for time, waiting for that contingency to arrive here at Mount Qiaoji?”

Ying Chi nodded candidly. ”Exactly so.”

His eyes were awe-inspiring with killing intent. ”Since you know of my Southern Heaven Region, you must know how vast and formidable my Southern Heaven Region is! Even my Southern Heaven Lord has been imperishable for three thousand years, standing as a True Lord figure...”

He paused, his tone carrying an innate arrogance. ”Disciples of my Southern Heaven Region are naturally noble. Yet you dare to play tricks on me; naturally, I must kill you.”

Having said this, he coldly snorted again. That cold snort seemed to suppress his anger and killing intent.

”When you faced Lu Baizhong, you revealed a trump card. I have come today to exhaust that trump card of yours.

”Then, the next time I come to Yuanjiang Prefecture, I will capture you alive and interrogate you for your lineage and origins.

”When I leave this grotto-heaven, I will take your fragmented soul with me.”

As he spoke, an extremely faint and cold smile surfaced on his jade-like handsome face.

”When that time comes, I’ll show you what an upper sect is, and what a noble cultivator is!

”Why an upper sect cannot be slighted!

”Why a noble cultivator cannot be humiliated!”

”Everyone associated with you will be wiped out by my Southern Heaven Region!”

By the end of his words, every syllable was resolute and decisive, ringing with absolute certainty.

”Upper sect, noble cultivator,” Chen Lingxi repeated those four words and shook his head. He stood with his saber, his back straight as a ramrod. Beneath the Ghost Mask, his eyes met Ying Chi’s gaze without the slightest evasion.

”The Crown Prince and I are already as incompatible as fire and water,” he began. ”Whether it’s an upper sect or a noble cultivator.

”Since the Crown Prince wants to kill me, I absolutely will not just offer up my neck to be slaughtered.”

As he spoke, the Method of Qi Observation circulated in his eyes.

Looking at his own black clothes, there were actually a few unlit specks of jade sand faintly attached to the fabric. The spiritual qi within them was extremely faint, hidden among the similarly faint spiritual qi of the surroundings.

Without the Method of Qi Observation, it would be fundamentally impossible to detect!

”Fellow Daoist!” Chen Lingxi withdrew the Art of Qi Observation and grinned. ”You attached this spiritual light to me so that if I fled, you could use it to track my movements!”

”But you... overthought it.” Chen Lingxi’s tone was calm. ”I... won’t run.”

His eyes, however, were exceptionally sharp as he stared straight at Ying Chi. ”Since you want to kill me, I will naturally fight you.

”Since I’ve already killed four of your Jade Qi cultivators today... I’ll just wait right here for the contingency the Crown Prince left in Yuanjiang Prefecture.”

He wanted to take this opportunity to eradicate the Crown Prince’s contingency and weaken his forces.

Ying Chi stared blankly. After a few breaths of time, he suddenly let out a soft chuckle.

He turned his head, his gaze falling onto Xi Mu standing off to the side, his eyes unabashedly revealing disdain.

”Relying on this puppet?”

His soft chuckle turned into a loud laugh, as if laughing at a naive child making empty boasts right to his face!

Right at this moment, the sound of footsteps echoed in the night.

The footsteps were extremely light, coming from deep within the distant mountain forest. Carried by the mountain breeze, they were almost indistinguishable if one didn’t listen carefully.

The rhythm of the steps, however, was neither hurried nor slow. Treading on crushed stones and withered grass, they were steady and composed.

Chen Lingxi looked toward the sound.

A woman slowly walked out from the night.

She wore a plain white long dress, the hem trailing on the ground, gently fluttering in the night wind.

Her appearance wasn’t particularly stunning; her brows and eyes were gentle, and her features delicate, looking to be only in her twenties.

Yet, strands of clouds and mist actually coiled and flowed around her body. The mist was extremely thin and faint, like a thin veil woven from moonlight and mountain vapor, shrouding her entirely within a mysterious halo.

But what truly made Chen Lingxi take her seriously was the spiritual qi fluctuations emanating from her body.

The fluctuations were extremely deep and thick, like a bottomless, freezing pool.

These fluctuations were not the least bit weaker than Xi Mu’s.

The woman walked to the side of Ying Chi’s spiritual light incarnation, stopped her steps, and gave Ying Chi a slight bow. Her posture was respectful, yet she did not speak.

Her eyes landed on Chen Lingxi, her gaze as calm as water, revealing no emotion.

She glanced at Chen Lingxi, then at Xi Mu not far away, tilting her head slightly as if waiting for Ying Chi’s orders.

Chen Lingxi looked at this woman and suddenly narrowed his eyes. ”Qi Circulation 6th Floor?”

He nodded, a hint of approval in his tone, but then suddenly added, ”Only one person?”

”Naturally, it is not just Luo Ran.”

The Crown Prince’s incarnation shook his head.

As soon as his voice fell, a sudden change occurred between heaven and earth. A dazzlingly radiant purple light arrived from the distant sky! It approached in the blink of an eye!

The purple light came without any warning. One moment it was still the silent night, and the next, it exploded upon the mountain peak like a purple sun.

The purple light soared into the sky, dyeing half the firmament a magnificent and terrifying purple.

The spiritual qi fluctuations contained within that purple light were too terrifying.

Although much of it had been depleted across the distant sky, it was still refined to the extreme, as if every single drop contained the power to destroy the world.

It was just a bit slow.

The purple light surged, swirled, and condensed in the air, ultimately transforming into arm-thick pillars of purple light that flooded into Ying Chi’s spiritual light incarnation from all directions.

Those pillars of light sank into his chest, his limbs, and the top of his head, converging into his body like all rivers run into the sea.

Ying Chi’s originally somewhat illusory spiritual light incarnation suddenly became much more solid the moment the purple light entered it.

At this moment, his spiritual light incarnation was no longer the faintly discernible figure it had been just a moment ago.

Purple radiance flowed across his robes, and a faint purple light shone from beneath his skin. The two golden whirlpools in his eyes intertwined with the purple light, presenting an extremely eerie gold-purple hue.

Standing there, his robes fluttering and the purple light blazing, he looked like a god of thunder and fire descending to the mortal world from the highest heavens. His might was so overwhelming that one dared not look directly at him. Luo Ran took a step back and stood with her hands by her sides, a flash of awe passing through her gentle eyes.

Ying Chi raised his head and stared straight at Chen Lingxi.

The intertwined gold-purple whirlpools in his eyes slowly rotated, the depths of his pupils reflecting Chen Lingxi’s Ghost Mask-covered face.

At this moment, his sharp edge was fully exposed, and an icy aura overflowed from his body!

”Falling into my grasp...” His voice overpowered the howling of the mountain wind, transmitting clearly into Chen Lingxi’s ears: ”You’ll find it hard to fly away even with wings attached!”

As he spoke, the Crown Prince raised the hands he had kept behind his back.

The five fingers of his right hand spread slightly, palm facing up, as a sphere of purple light refined to the extreme slowly spun within his grasp.

The sphere of light was no larger than a fist, yet it was so bright it made it impossible to keep one’s eyes open.

The air surrounding the light sphere was scorched and distorted by this power, emitting an extremely faint sizzling sound.

At the same time, the female cultivator Luo Ran also moved.

Her figure swayed, sweeping across a distance of several zhang like a wisp of white smoke to close in on Xi Mu.

She attacked incredibly fast, so fast that the eyes of an ordinary martial artist would only see a white blur streak through the air. Clasping her hands lightly in front of her with her ten fingers intertwined, streaks of white spiritual qi surged from her sleeves.

That spiritual qi surged, condensed, and transformed before her like a living creature. In an instant, it manifested into dozens of cloud ropes as thick as a child’s arm.

Those cloud ropes snaked toward Xi Mu from all directions, wrapping his entire body in layer upon layer.

The spiritual qi around Xi Mu’s body surged. The mist in front of him condensed into walls of ice, ice shields, and ice spears, crashing against those cloud ropes and erupting in dull explosions.

This woman was actually faintly suppressing Xi Mu.

Ying Chi’s spiritual light incarnation also moved at this moment.

The Crown Prince violently unleashed his attack, taking a single step forward.

The patch of mountain rock beneath his feet, which had been dyed a different color by the purple light, cracked inch by inch.

He made a fist. Gripping his right fist tightly, the purple light at the knuckles blazed brightly.

That purple light did not spread outward, but instead tightly wrapped around the surface of his fist, like a layer of fist astral armor condensed from Purple True Precious Qi.

He punched out. The fist astral qi tore through the air with blazing purple light. Like a purple meteor plummeting from the highest heavens, it carried world-destroying might as it smashed straight toward Chen Lingxi.

That punch was too fast, so fast that Chen Lingxi only felt a blindingly bright purple light suddenly flare before his eyes. That purple light was overwhelming, entirely swallowing his field of vision.

Before the fist arrived, the wind of the punch had already pressed his robes, sending them flapping backward.

Wherever the punch wind passed, the air was squeezed into a visible white ring that explosively expanded outward, overturning all the withered grass, crushed stones, and fallen leaves on the slope.

Chen Lingxi’s pupils shrank slightly.

The power level of this punch was not weaker than Zhong Wuzhu’s!

Chen Lingxi’s thoughts flashed, and his figure shot diagonally like an arrow loosed from a bowstring.

The spiritual qi whirlpool and Jade Qi vitality erupted abruptly.

He then twisted through a bizarre arc in midair, barely avoiding the direct brunt of that purple fist astral qi.

The purple fist astral qi brushed past his right shoulder and smashed into the mountain boulder several zhang behind him.

That boulder, which was fully half a person’s height, was smashed to pieces by this punch. Showering like rain, the flying rocks slammed into the surrounding tree trunks, producing dull thuds.

Having barely dodged the Crown Prince’s terrifying punch, Chen Lingxi shifted directions multiple times in midair before landing on an old pine tree.

The corners of Ying Chi’s incarnation’s mouth revealed a hint of a smile at this moment as he gazed at him from afar. ”Where is your trump card? If you don’t use that trump card, I can kill you... in three moves!” Yet at this moment, there wasn’t the slightest bit of fear in Chen Lingxi’s eyes!

He suddenly shook his head and murmured softly as if talking to himself, ”And here I thought I’d have to use the Xi Yu Talisman.”

He paused, lifting his head to look at the purple light incarnation striding aggressively toward him. An incredibly faint trace of amusement flashed in his eyes. ”But to think, is this all?”

Before his voice even faded, the spiritual light on Chen Lingxi’s body suddenly flared brilliantly!

The spiritual qi within his qi sea was frantically consumed as a talisman abruptly combusted in his hand.

The talisman burned extremely quickly, from the edges to the center, from the talisman paper to the runic patterns. In the blink of an eye, it had already turned into a pinch of ashes!

However, those ashes did not scatter. Instead, they hung suspended in midair, drawn by an invisible force to spin, condense, and transform.

A very faint, soft glimmer of golden light ignited within the ashes.

At first, that glimmer was no larger than the tip of a needle, but it blazed brilliantly in the blink of an eye, transforming into a small golden sun that slowly rose from his palm.

Golden light diffused from his palm, wrapping him from head to toe within it. It circulated endlessly, condensing without scattering, and actually faintly outlined a ten-foot-tall phantom behind him.

That phantom was indistinct but faintly took on a human shape. Sitting upright in the void behind him, it looked like a jade statue of a celestial being seated on a throne—solemn, dignified, and radiantly majestic!

This was exactly the trump card obtained from Xi Mu... the Heavenly Light Treasure Form Talisman!

At this moment, beneath this Heavenly Light Treasure Form, Chen Lingxi looked just like a light-draped celestial being with vastly heightened might.

He put away that smile and took a step forward.

As that step landed, the mountain rocks beneath his feet cracked inch by inch. Jade Qi vitality condensed on the surface of his body into a vitality astral shield several inches thick. On top of the astral shield was the golden light enhancement of the Heavenly Light Treasure Form. Layer upon layer, it was indestructible!

”Crown Prince, I’d like to see how you defeat me in three moves!”