After the Great Dao Died

Chen Lingxi pondered for a moment. ’His surname is Xiao, his vital blood cultivation is extraordinary, and he intends to commit treason by assassinating the Crown Prince. There’s a high chance he is connected to Xiao Changlv.’

He looked up, his gaze settling on Xiao Zhushan’s cold, hardened face, and asked, ”Do you have a grievance with the Crown Prince, sir?”

Xiao Zhushan sat upright on the bluestone, a deep glint of cold light flashing through his calm eyes.

”The Crown Prince practices demonic arts,” he said, his voice low and raspy like a blade ground against gravel, every word steeped in bone-chilling cold. ”He once slaughtered innocent commoners in droves on the outskirts of the capital. Naturally, he deserves to die.”

Chen Lingxi thought it over, then asked, ”When do we strike?”

”Anytime will do—it comes down to when a good opportunity arises.” Xiao Zhushan’s eyes suddenly burned with light. ”That demonic Crown Prince holds beast gladiator banquets everywhere he goes. Opportunities won’t be lacking.”

He paused, a faint flicker of wariness crossing his calm eyes as he lowered his voice. ”However, the imperial palace is crawling with monsters and fiends. I once tried to kill him, only for evil beings to intervene.”

At this, his tone grew more solemn. ”When you and I make our move, I will hold off the evil beings, and I’ll even find you a divine weapon. All you need to do is kill him!”

Chen Lingxi’s thoughts stirred slightly.

’A divine weapon?’He naturally knew what Xiao Zhushan meant by ”evil beings.” Inside the imperial palace, aside from Crown Prince Ying Chi himself, there was Imperial Consort Chun, as well as the mysterious Yuan Yuan who had blocked Xiao Changlv that day—and likely other cultivators lurking in the shadows.

Even Emperor Daye... could very well be someone from the Greater World!

Every one of those figures was what Xiao Zhushan called ”evil beings.”

Having said his piece, Xiao Zhushan rose to his feet.

”There is no need to rush your decision.” With unhurried composure, Xiao Zhushan fastened the broad-bladed long saber back at his waist.

”Take your time to think it over, young friend,” he said slowly. ”If you are willing, just go to the Yuanjiang Prefecture Jiren Hall and pass word to the shopkeeper.”

”Simply say you wish to buy a stalk of great medicine of the common people, and I will know it is you.”

’Great medicine of the common people...’

Chen Lingxi’s expression remained unchanged; he merely gave a slight nod to show he had committed it to memory.

Seeing this, Xiao Zhushan said no more. He straightened his black cloak and prepared to take his leave.

Right at that moment...

Xiao Taozhuo’s scorching-bright eyes were brimming with irrepressible curiosity and scrutiny. Her gaze swept back and forth over Chen Lingxi until she finally could not hold back any longer. ’What realm is this person’s cultivation at, really?’

At the mere stir of her thought, the vital blood throughout her body erupted with a roar!

Golden Fluid Vital Blood surged forth from deep within her bones, blazing with radiant golden light like a miniature sun igniting inside her body, illuminating the entire cave.

She stood right where she was without moving an inch, yet the terrifying vital blood pressure of a Golden Body Consummation martial artist crashed down toward Chen Lingxi like an invisible tidal wave.

Formless and intangible as that pressure was, its weight was staggering.

Xiao Zhushan’s brows snapped together.

He turned back to look at his niece’s proud, radiant face, deep exasperation and displeasure flashing through his eyes.

’This girl is far too rude.’

Just as he was about to reprimand her...

Chen Lingxi let out a soft cough.

The sound was faint and delicate, like a withered leaf settling onto still water without raising a single ripple.

The Dragon Roar Technique. In that instant, Chen Lingxi drove his Subtle-stage Dragon Roar Technique to its absolute limit.

The spiritual pool within his sea of qi churned like boiling water. Spiritual qi rose from the pool and merged into his throat, transforming inside that cough into a thread-thin, almost imperceptible dragon’s roar.

Compressed into a single line, the sound landed squarely beside Xiao Taozhuo’s ear.

Inside Xiao Taozhuo’s mind, it was as though a true dragon that had slumbered for eternity had been startled awake, opening its vertical golden pupils to fix her with an icy stare.

Xiao Taozhuo felt her whole body suddenly turn leaden.

In a split second, an invisible mountain seemed to drop from the heavens and crush down upon her shoulders.

At the same time, it felt as if an ancient primordial beast had thrust its head out of the abyss, opening its eyes to look down on her coldly, as though gazing upon an insignificant ant.

”Ugh!”

Xiao Taozhuo let out a muffled groan.

Staggered by that overwhelming pressure, the Golden Fluid Vital Blood inside her froze in place against her will!

Her Golden Fluid Vital Blood surged backward into her lungs and viscera, sending a sharp, tearing pain through her internal organs.

What shocked Xiao Taozhuo even more was that she was still looking into his eyes.

In that instant, she felt she was facing not a youth who looked even younger than herself, but a peerless immortal!

Seated high above, the immortal looked down upon her with matchless majesty!

It was terrifying beyond measure!

For the first time, terror broke across Xiao Taozhuo’s bright, spirited face.

Staring at the handsome youth before her, she could not fathom how someone so young could possess such dreadful, mysterious methods.

That single light cough had carried not a trace of killing intent, yet it had set every drop of vital blood in her body trembling.

’If this person had wanted to kill me, I wouldn’t even have had the chance to draw my sword before dying from that single cough.’

Xiao Taozhuo’s heart pounded like thunder.

”Taozhuo!”

Xiao Zhushan’s sharp rebuke exploded through the cave.

Deep and resonant as thunder, his voice poured over Xiao Taozhuo like a bucket of cold water, washing away the shock and indignation on her face. At the same time, it shattered the dragon’s roar lingering by her ears, leaving her body feeling instantly lighter.

A shudder ran through Xiao Taozhuo. The churning Golden Fluid Vital Blood around her receded like an ebbing tide, drawing its golden radiance back deep into her bones, and the cave returned to gloom.

Even so, her internal organs still throbbed with intense pain.

She lowered her head, a rare look of sheepish embarrassment surfacing on her once-radiant, now-pale face.

Xiao Zhushan turned back and cupped his fists in a bow toward Chen Lingxi.

His bow was deeply earnest, his face carrying an apologetic look. ”This niece of mine has been spoiled by the few of us since childhood and lacks manners. I hope you will not take offense, young friend.”

His tone was sincere, without the slightest hint of pretense.

’This Xiao Zhushan is a man of honor! His cultivation is unfathomable, yet he never stoops to bullying others.’

Sitting upright on the bluestone, Chen Lingxi merely shook his head slightly, neither anger nor pleasure showing on his face. ”It’s fine.”

He spoke lightly, brushing it off.

Xiao Zhushan straightened up. Without another word, he inclined his head slightly toward Chen Lingxi, turned, and strode out of the cave.

Xiao Taozhuo trailed behind him with her head lowered. Upon reaching the cave entrance, she still could not resist looking back at Chen Lingxi one more time. She bit her lip, said nothing in the end, and hurried her steps, vanishing after Xiao Zhushan into the deepening night outside.

Chen Lingxi remained seated on the bluestone, motionless.

Only when the pair’s footsteps had completely faded at the far end of the mountain path did he slowly exhale a breath of turbid air.

Xi Mu still stood guard at the cave entrance. His vacant face was utterly expressionless, though faint spiritual light flickered deep within his lifeless eyes as he vigilantly sensed every movement in the surroundings.

Chen Lingxi fell silent for a moment.

Xiao Zhushan’s vital blood cultivation was unfathomable.

A figure of that caliber... had likely reached the Realm of Nine Revolutions, and was no ordinary Nine Revolutions practitioner at that.

His claim that he could hold off the ”evil beings” around the Crown Prince was likely no exaggeration at all.

’Once my cultivation advances another step, I really can consider joining forces with him to kill the Crown Prince.’

Turning the matter over in his mind, he rose to his feet, straightened his pitch-black robes, and placed the green-faced, fanged Ghost Mask back over his face.

Beneath the Ghost Mask, his eyes were as still as water, betraying not the slightest ripple.

He strode out of the cave with Xi Mu trailing silently behind him, wreathed in swirling mist like a faithful shadow. As they walked unhurriedly down the mountain, the morning sun rose.

Chen Lingxi headed into Yuanjiang Prefecture City, where he purchased a large supply of dry rations, then found a secluded well and filled several large waterskins to the brim with spring water.

He packed all of these provisions into a Vast Void Pouch.

The Vast Void Pouch was part of the spoils looted from Luo Ran. Although its interior space could not compare to the Musk-Skin Bag he had obtained from the Crown Prince’s Beast-Fighting Palace, it was still quite roomy—more than enough to hold several months’ worth of ordinary rations.

He then doubled back to the cave on Mount Qiaoji where Xu Qingru was trapped and shoved the Vast Void Pouch through the gap beside the boulder.

Xu Qingru took the Vast Void Pouch and channeled her last remaining wisps of weak spiritual qi into it, barely managing to pry the mouth of the pouch open by a crack.

Through the boulder, Chen Lingxi sensed the fluctuations of her spiritual qi. Once certain she had received the supplies, he lingered no longer and turned to descend the mountain.

This time, he went nowhere else, heading straight toward the Nanju Twelve Mountains in Lunan Province.

—

Five days passed in the blink of an eye.

In the Nanju Twelve Mountains, inside that same cave.

The cave lay hidden beneath a sheer cliff, its entrance tightly concealed by several gnarled old pines and dense vines. Inside, the Pure Wondrous Qi Pivot Array had been set up anew.

Hazy cyan flames burned within the bowls of sixteen bronze lamps, while forty-six jade pendants radiated a soft luminescence in unison.

A powerful suction pulsed from the eye of the array, drawing in thin wisps of spiritual energy from several hundred zhang around and condensing them into a pale cyan vortex at the center of the formation.

Chen Lingxi sat cross-legged at the eye of the array.

After setting up the Pure Wondrous Qi Pivot Array so many times, he had grown increasingly adept at it.

The coordination among the array eyes, nodes, and hand seals had grown ever more intricate. Like a seasoned zither master plucking the strings, every hand seal landed with pinpoint precision, and every current of spiritual energy flowed with the grace of floating clouds and flowing water.

The suction of the array was several tenths stronger than before, drawing billowing waves of spiritual energy from all directions.

As all rivers run into the sea, the energy converged into the formation, circulating along the array lines before finally condensing at the eye into a vortex of spiritual energy so dense it was nearly liquid.

Chen Lingxi sat upright at the very heart of the vortex. The Six Qi True Method circulated slowly within him as the golden light of his Profound Qi illuminated his sea of qi, refining, compressing, and drawing every strand of incoming spiritual energy into his spiritual pool.

He slowly opened his eyes.

His injuries had already healed a great deal.

His battle against Zhong Wuzhu, the Crown Prince, and Luo Ran had looked as effortless as breaking dead branches and rotten wood, but in truth, the clashes with those Jade Qi experts and Luo Ran’s Profound-Pointing sword light had left his meridians, bones, and internal organs with no small amount of hidden trauma. Fortunately, he no longer lacked spiritual energy; nourished day and night, those hidden injuries were mending at a visible pace.

He let out a long breath of turbid air and lowered his gaze to the ground before him.

Three types of items were laid out there.

One spirit lingzhi, one medicinal pill, and two spirit stones.

All of them were spoils Chen Lingxi had taken from Luo Ran, the Crown Prince’s subordinate.

The spirit lingzhi was roughly the size of a palm and dark purple throughout, with faint light flowing across its cap. The moment he picked it up, a rich medicinal fragrance washed over his face.

The medicinal pill was sealed inside a small jade box. As soon as the lid was opened, misty spiritual qi rose from the surface of the pill, condensing in the air into a wisp of pale, gossamer white fog that lingered for a long time without dispersing.

As for the two spirit stones, they were even more abundant in spiritual energy, and one of them was a size larger than the spirit stones he had taken from Xi Mu.

’All of these are brimming with spiritual energy—more than enough for me to cultivate to the Qi Circulation 6th Floor.’

Chen Lingxi thought to himself.

Aside from those, there was only the ring capable of firing sword qi.

The ring was tiny and slender, dull silver all over, with a black bead smaller than a grain of rice embedded in its face. After inspecting each of the other items in turn, Chen Lingxi pinched the ring between his fingertips and turned it over and over, examining it closely.

’This haul is much smaller than what I got from Xi Mu,’ he mused.

From Xi Mu, he had obtained three spirit stones, two talismans, a mysterious ring, a blood talisman sealing the power of a palm strike from Xi Yu, along with numerous medicinal pills and spirit stones for cultivation.

Although Luo Ran had been a cultivator at the Qi Circulation 6th Floor, her personal wealth fell far short of Xi Mu’s.

At that thought, Chen Lingxi shook his head slightly.

By now, he had met quite a few Qi Circulation cultivators—ranging from dazzling talents like Lin Suri, Ying Chi, and Lu Baizhong, to sect disciples from the Greater World like Xi Mu and Luo Ran, down to cultivators from minor sects like Jiang Xing and Xu Qingru, who barely clung to life through the Life Devouring Divine Ability.

More and more, he realized that even within this grotto-heaven, the gap between cultivators of the same realm was immense.

Jiang Xing and Xu Qingru, for instance, were both 5th Floor cultivators, yet they were remarkably frail and no match for him alone.

Luo Ran, on the other hand, was far from weak—she could even be called formidable.

With a single strike from that sword-qi ring, she had severed one of Xi Mu’s arms, its razor-sharp aura suppressing even the regenerative vitality of the Undying Willow Branch.

Yet compared to Lu Baizhong, who had intercepted him on the riverbank that day, she could not even be mentioned in the same breath.

That day, a casual bolt of lightning from Lu Baizhong had pushed both him and Xi Mu to the brink despite their combined efforts. Had Xiao Changlv’s vital blood pressure not swept across the sky when it did, he would have had to unleash the Xi Yu Talisman just to escape with his life. ’That must be the gap between an ordinary cultivator and a noble cultivator.’

Turning these thoughts over in his mind, Chen Lingxi flipped his hand and drew two more items from his Qiankun pouch.

A ring.

A black stone.

Together with the sword-qi ring from Luo Ran...

He had acquired these three items one after another, yet had been unable to refine any of them so far.

’I still cannot refine this throwing-knife-shaped black stone or the ring I took from Xi Mu.’

’I have no idea what this black stone is, but the array inside is so intricate that my spiritual qi still can’t reach the end of it.’

’As for Xi Mu’s ring, even Xi Mu couldn’t refine it with his Qi Circulation 6th Floor cultivation. It seems it will take at least the perfection of the Qi Circulation 6th Floor, or even the Upper Three Floors, to fully master this object.’

After making a quiet estimate, he tucked those two items back into his Qiankun pouch.

His gaze settled on the third item.

’Luo Ran’s sword-qi ring... formidable as it is, it doesn’t seem nearly as difficult to refine.’ Picking up the ring, he slowly channeled a wisp of spiritual qi into it.

This time, it was different.

He closed his eyes and focused his mind as his spiritual qi wandered slowly through the spell array, committing every rune line and every barrier firmly to memory.

After roughly half a shichen, his eyes snapped open, a flash of realization glinting in their depths.

’A magical artifact...’

’The Profound-Pointing Sword Furnace.’