After the Great Dao Died

It was just as it had been in his Absolute Perception Deduction.

The Crown Prince’s royal carriage had already descended Dragon Hall Mountain and entered the official road, its procession radiant and magnificent.

Chen Lingxi stood in the forest, gazing into the distance.

Zhang Mozhu and Xiao Zhushan had already gone ahead to lie in ambush.

At that very moment, a mighty aura of blood and qi erupted, surging like a roaring river and soaring into the sky like a signal fire.

Chen Lingxi waited and watched.

He saw Crown Prince Ying Chi laughing atop Dragon Hall Mountain, and saw the three Heavenly Boat women reveal themselves.

A faint smile touched Chen Lingxi’s lips. Barely a dozen breaths passed.

The Crown Prince had already taken to the air above Dragon Hall Mountain.

A confident sneer and overwhelming murderous intent still hung upon his handsome face.It was exactly like the Absolute Perception Deduction!

”You trusted Xiao Zhushan, thinking just the two of you could kill me? How utterly laughable...” The Crown Prince’s voice rumbled like thunder, echoing across heaven and earth as he stared down at Chen Lingxi, pushing his qi to the absolute limit.

But this time...

Chen Lingxi did not even wait for Crown Prince Ying Chi to get close before abruptly circulating his spiritual qi!

In the next instant, the full power of his Qi Circulation Ninth Floor spiritual qi surged forth, incomparably condensed.

In the blink of an eye, a Longevity Bridge materialized beneath his feet.

Crystal clear, the Longevity Bridge initially looked like an exquisite treasure carved from the finest spiritual jade.

But in a flash, the bridge expanded against the wind, transforming into a towering spiritual bridge that spanned the sky.

Where the bridge passed, the air ruptured under the pressure, emitting dull, thunderous booms.

Chen Lingxi’s gaze was indifferent. Watching the smile freeze on the Crown Prince’s face, he shifted his divine sense...

Rumble!

The Longevity Bridge erupted with a deafening roar and slammed forward.

The strike was completely unadorned, seemingly nothing but pure force. Like a long-suppressed giant dragon breaking its restraints, the Longevity Bridge carried terrifying, world-destroying might as it crashed into Crown Prince Ying Chi in midair.

In an instant!

It was as if he had been struck head-on by a mountain.

The purple spiritual light and spiritual qi surrounding the Crown Prince shattered upon impact.

He let out a muffled groan as a mouthful of blood spewed from his lips. The blow sent him flying backward, tumbling end over end through the void.

Chen Lingxi thrust out a hand.

The Heaven-Seizing Seal instantly condensed into a massive palm, snatching the Crown Prince and dragging him onto the Longevity Bridge.

Crown Prince Ying Chi’s body slammed heavily against the bridge deck.

His luxurious bright-yellow brocade robe was torn to shreds, his purple-gold crown knocked askew, and his long hair hung loose in utter disarray.

Agony contorted his features, yet he still managed to raise his head, staring at Chen Lingxi in disbelief.

The arrogance and murderous intent in his eyes had entirely vanished, leaving behind only pure horror.

”You... when did you...” Chen Lingxi could not be bothered to reply.

He stood at the head of the bridge with his hands clasped behind his back, the all-black robe formed by his Myriad Marvels Dharmic Robe fluttering in the wind.

Deep within his eyes, profound whirlpools constantly churned.

Divine Sense Materialization!

At the same time, Crown Prince Ying Chi felt a stream of divine sense pierce through the space between his eyebrows and into his Sea of Consciousness, where it morphed into a heavy hammer and viciously smashed down!

Under that strike, the Crown Prince’s Sea of Consciousness rang out like a struck ten-thousand-jun bronze bell, the booming echo causing his entire body to convulse.

”Ah!”

Crown Prince Ying Chi immediately screamed, feeling as if his Sea of Consciousness was about to shatter!

The intense agony overwhelmed him before he could even struggle, and he passed out on the spot.

Just as he had in the Absolute Perception Deduction, Chen Lingxi completely ignored the shock of Zhang Mozhu, Xiao Zhushan, and the three Heavenly Boat women. He simply steered the Longevity Bridge and headed straight for Lunan Prefecture.

Lunan Prefecture’s Nanju Twelve Mountains!

The Longevity Bridge, wrapped in clouds and mist, quietly descended. Chen Lingxi stepped into a cave and sat cross-legged.

He casually tossed Crown Prince Ying Chi into a corner by the cave wall. The man was on his last breath, and it was unknown when he would wake.

Chen Lingxi meditated like this, replenishing his spiritual qi.

Until early the next morning.

Waking from his breathing exercises, Chen Lingxi did not dare to delay and once again activated Vision Roaming on Emperor Daye.

His perspective soared into the sky like an invisible bird, piercing through clouds and mist, heading straight toward the distant Imperial Capital.

The invisible bird finally landed within a resplendent hall deep inside the imperial palace.

He found Emperor Daye sitting cross-legged in cultivation.

At this moment, streaks of golden light continued to flash in Emperor Daye’s eyes, within which countless profound runes faintly floated and flowed, exuding an indescribable aura of the Dao’s marvels.

These runes were incredibly ancient and profound. If one could comprehend them, they would undoubtedly be a massive boon to cultivation.

Yet, Chen Lingxi realized he could not understand a single one.

’It seems the aura flowing between these runes is simply too Sublime, far exceeding the scope of what my current cultivation can comprehend,’ he thought, shaking his head helplessly as he exited the Vision Roaming state.

Chen Lingxi’s gaze fell upon Crown Prince Ying Chi once more.

The Crown Prince had already woken up and was struggling to open his eyes.

His once arrogant eyes were now dim and dull, his pupils unfocused, looking like two pearls covered in a layer of gray film.

He turned his head to look at Chen Lingxi, a trace of despair in his eyes.

Even now, Crown Prince Ying Chi still couldn’t figure it out. It had barely been a year or two since they last met—how could Chen Lingxi’s cultivation have shot straight up to the Ninth Floor?

During their previous clash, he had only been using a purple qi avatar, yet Chen Lingxi had still needed to activate a talisman to deal with it.

But today.

This man had only used a single divine ability, yet he hadn’t possessed the slightest power to resist.

Right then, Chen Lingxi spoke up, ”You once told me that you came from the Southern Heaven Domain. I wonder, what kind of divine ability do you practice, Your Highness?”

As he spoke, he slowly walked over and looked down at Crown Prince Ying Chi. His tone was plain, his expression calm.

There was neither murderous intent nor pity.

Crown Prince Ying Chi pursed his lips and said, ”It wasn’t a lie. I really am from the Southern Heaven Domain. I practice the Profound Ming Dao Formula and the Purple Light Golden Wheel Divine Ability, and my grandmaster is the Moon River God of the Southern Heaven Domain.”

Chen Lingxi’s expression finally shifted.

”Just as I guessed,” Chen Lingxi said.

Shortly after, feeling rather puzzled, he asked, ”What is the Moon River God?”

Crown Prince Ying Chi looked up, as if finding a sliver of hope for survival.

Assuming Chen Lingxi did not know what a river god was, he concluded that the man must hail from some small sect or minor faction, and wanted to use his grandmaster’s prestige to intimidate him.

Thus, he raised his head and said, ”The Lord of my Southern Heaven Domain controls the Cauldron Vessel, Immortal Capital Immortal Gate!

”Such a Cauldron Vessel can confer divine positions and bestow divine methods and abilities.

”My grandmaster was conferred the title of Moon River God by True Monarch Southern Heaven.

”He governs a continuous eighty thousand li of the Moon River, and is a True Person!” As the Crown Prince explained this, his innate arrogance seemed to return slightly.

Without overthinking, one could tell just from the Crown Prince’s gloomy tone that a figure from the Southern Heaven Domain, a grand-disciple of the Moon River God... such a background would be enough to command high regard even among the noble sects and immortal factions of the Greater World.

”A True Person...”

Chen Lingxi mused softly.

A True Person was a Golden Portal cultivator. With a patron like that, he indeed had the right to be arrogant...

However...

Chen Lingxi thought of the cultivator named Zhuo Fengxiu.

His gaze then fell upon Crown Prince Ying Chi’s bloodstained yet still exceedingly handsome face, focusing on the sliver of pride in his eyes.

An indescribable sense of absurdity suddenly rose in his heart.

This Crown Prince kept going on about how his grandmaster was the Moon River God and how he came from the Southern Heaven Domain.

But he likely never imagined that his martial lineage, his proud origins, and even his past-life memories were nothing more than a fabricated lie—stolen by Emperor Daye from that corpse, casually rewritten, and implanted into his mind.

Chen Lingxi shook his head slightly and asked the Crown Prince, ”And what is the background of those three Heavenly Boat women?”

The Crown Prince looked up and replied, ”There aren’t three of them. In reality, it’s just one person.

”Her name is Zhou Xuemei. She’s been hiding in the imperial palace. She practices a profound technique—three bodies, one soul. They are truly just one person.”

He gasped for breath for a moment before continuing, ”She recognized my identity and made a deal with me. For now, she’s taking my orders.

”Once we return to the Greater World, I will recommend them to the Southern Heaven Domain.”

Reaching this point, a faint smile tugged at the corners of the Crown Prince’s lips.

The smile held a great deal of smugness.

He looked like a traveler wandering in a foreign land who had finally met a few peers who knew his true worth, proving that the identity he took so much pride in wasn’t fake.

Chen Lingxi continued to watch Crown Prince Ying Chi.

’Emperor Daye can rewrite memories. Perhaps Crown Prince Ying Chi spending eight months on Dragon Hall Mountain was related to this,’ he thought. ’Otherwise, how could he not know about my battle record in the Ancestral Mountain?’

Having made this guess, he temporarily suppressed his thoughts.

He then pressed Crown Prince Ying Chi for details on many matters concerning the Greater World. Yet, he found that the man surprisingly couldn’t answer many of them.

”I fear my soul was damaged in the Pool of Reincarnation. My memories are recovering extremely slowly, and even those that have recovered are rather blurry,” the Crown Prince said.

Chen Lingxi immediately recalled his first encounter with Crown Prince Ying Chi in the Crown Prince’s Beast-Fighting Palace; back then, the man had also mentioned that his memories were not yet fully recovered.

’Thinking about it this way, that profound Cauldron Vessel Emperor Daye used to fabricate and implant memories cannot achieve absolute perfection.’

’But for puppets like him, it’s likely more than enough.’

While he was thinking, Crown Prince Ying Chi endured the pain and grit his teeth. ”Daoist brother, I offended you greatly in the past, putting myself on the path to death.

”But if you let me go, I can sign a Jade Precept Book with you. From now on, in this Qi-Depleted Grotto-Heaven, I will be at your beck and call.

”Beyond that, once the Que Star Xi Family refines this grotto-heaven and we return to the Greater World, you can come find me at the Moon River in the Southern Heaven Domain.

”I will personally recommend you, allowing you to join the Southern Heaven Domain.”

Looking at the Crown Prince, the sense of absurdity in Chen Lingxi’s heart reached its absolute peak.

He shook his head slightly, then suddenly raised his hand.

From the Profound-Pointing Sword Furnace, a stream of sword qi instantly shot out in silence, sinking into the space between Crown Prince Ying Chi’s eyebrows and leaving behind only a hole the size of a finger. The Crown Prince shuddered. Unable to utter a single word, his body collapsed onto the cave floor.

The light in his eyes completely extinguished.

He died right there.

Gazing at Crown Prince Ying Chi’s corpse, Chen Lingxi’s thoughts surged.

’I was originally wondering if Emperor Daye was a native of this world, or if he had been possessed by a cultivator from the Greater World,’ he thought.

’But thinking about it now, there’s an overwhelming probability that Emperor Daye was possessed by a Greater World cultivator.’

As the saying goes, even a vicious tiger won’t eat its cubs.

If he hadn’t been possessed by someone else, how could Emperor Daye have used a Cauldron Vessel on his own biological son—the Crown Prince poised to inherit the Great Li empire—just to implant memories into him?

And turn him into a completely different person?

But right at this moment, Chen Lingxi thought of Xiao Changlv again.

’If that’s the case, then what gives Xiao Changlv, the man fighting him for the empire, the qualifications to have such deep karmic ties with Emperor Daye?’

Xiao Changlv was indeed extraordinary. His blood and qi cultivation was peerless, he commanded an army of 300,000, and he had consecutively conquered twelve prefectures! But in the end, he was nothing more than a mortal, a martial artist who could not cultivate spiritual qi!

Why would a figure like him be able to forge such profound karma with an unfathomable existence like Emperor Daye?

These many doubts were like a thick fog.

Chen Lingxi couldn’t figure it out.

So he simply stopped thinking about it. Pressing down these chaotic thoughts for the time being, he began setting up the Pure Wondrous Qi Pivot Array Formation within the cave!

Chen Lingxi had long since memorized the first layer of the Pure Wondrous Qi Pivot Array Formation by heart.

Today, he was going to lay down the second layer.

At the Qi Circulation Ninth Floor, he had obtained the Deduce Method profundity!

This profundity allowed him to independently deduce various methods within his Sea of Consciousness, greatly accelerating the time needed to comprehend them.

Although Chen Lingxi hadn’t actively studied the second layer of the Pure Wondrous Qi Pivot Array Formation recently, the Deduce Method profundity had been constantly simulating the array in his Sea of Consciousness.

Day after day.

After so many days, he had unknowingly deduced the array formation to its second layer.

Back when he was in Yuanjiang Prefecture, Chen Lingxi had already procured many jade pendants capable of conducting spiritual energy, all for today.

He took out all of these jade pendants and carefully arranged them according to the nodes of the second-layer array formation. Then, using his spiritual qi as a guide, he cast increasingly complex and exquisite hand seals into them.

It sounded very easy, but arranging the formation and casting the seals took Chen Lingxi a full two days.

Not until the final seal was cast did the array formation suddenly spring to life.

In the blink of an eye, a power several times stronger than the first layer flowed out from the formation, frantically dragging in the thin heaven and earth spiritual energy from across the Nanju Twelve Mountains!

It condensed inside the array into an almost liquefied spiritual energy vortex!

’The second layer of this array formation is truly profound,’ Chen Lingxi thought.

His eyes flashed as his divine sense flowed outward.

’On top of that, the perimeter of the second-layer array naturally comes with a concealment formation.’

’This concealment formation is incredibly vast, almost enveloping the many peaks and rivers of the Nanju Twelve Mountains. It completely masks the flow of spiritual energy within, making it exceptionally extraordinary.’

’Unless someone steps directly into the concealment formation, it is absolutely impossible for them to notice.’ Chen Lingxi sat cross-legged and cultivated just like that.

Across the vast expanse of the Nanju Twelve Mountains, the spiritual energy from all twelve peaks—along with the clear streams, ravines, vegetation, and rocks within them—was gathered together.

For a time, the spiritual energy inside Chen Lingxi’s cave became incomparably abundant.

’With spiritual energy this abundant, it wouldn’t be out of place to call this cave a cultivation abode.’

Chen Lingxi cultivated peacefully within this abode.

Time drifted by leisurely, and a few months passed in a flash.

The scenery outside the cave shifted from early spring to late spring, and then to midsummer.

Chen Lingxi seemed oblivious to it all, doing only two things every day.

The first, naturally, was cultivating.

Several months of time, combined with various heavenly materials, earthly treasures, pills, spirit stones, and this incomparably profound spiritual energy array formation...

Chen Lingxi’s cultivation progress could actually be considered fast.

His own spiritual qi had even grown by twenty percent. His many divine abilities and techniques had also become much more refined.

The second thing, of course, was using Vision Roaming on Emperor Daye and Lin Suri.

Over the past few months, apart from cultivating, Chen Lingxi strictly adhered to using Vision Roaming on the two of them every single day.

Initially, he only focused on Emperor Daye. Later, he realized that even after exhausting himself observing the emperor, he could still use Vision Roaming on Lin Suri for the duration of a cup of tea.

Thus, he hadn’t neglected Lin Suri either.

After all, Lin Suri was different from the other reincarnated cultivators. The profound jade slip in his hand allowed him to communicate directly with his sect.

And his sect, the Under-Dao Academy, was glaring like a hungry tiger eyeing its prey at the Immortal Slough opportunity.

However, a little over a month ago, Lin Suri had traveled north again to some unknown location, exceeding the current range of Chen Lingxi’s Vision Roaming, and he had yet to return.

So Chen Lingxi could only continue focusing his Vision Roaming on Emperor Daye.

During these several months, Emperor Daye was either meditating with his eyes closed or holding a knife as thin as a cicada’s wing, studying those severed limbs and body parts.

It was all incredibly profound and obscure.

Chen Lingxi gained absolutely nothing from it. Until this midsummer.

On this day, while taking a break from cultivation, Chen Lingxi closed his eyes, concentrated his mind, and activated his Vision Roaming divine ability, descending deep into the imperial palace.

Right at that moment, he happened to see a young man in a purple python robe bow as he walked into the main hall.

The young man entered slowly, dressed in a dark purple python robe.

As someone who possessed an official scholarly rank, Chen Lingxi naturally knew that such dark purple python robes could only be worn by a reigning marquis of the current dynasty.

Calling him a ”young man” didn’t seem quite right, though.

While the person looked to be only in his twenties, his eyebrows and hair were completely white. Yet his face was extremely young, his skin smooth and entirely free of wrinkles.

This bizarre anomaly of having snow-white hair and eyebrows paired with such a young, handsome face gave him an indescribably demonic and eerie air.

He also possessed a pair of piercing eyes. Even though he kept his body bowed and his head lowered, golden light constantly shot from his gaze whenever he looked around.

He respectfully walked into the hall without casting a single glance at the severed limbs. He kept his eyes strictly ahead, his footsteps steady.

Only when he reached the foot of the high platform did he stop, straighten his attire, and respectfully kneel, kowtowing in greeting.

”Sage, news has arrived from the Heavenly Gate Sea! That Cauldron Vessel is stirring once more. It seems it is about to bear new fruit.”

Chen Lingxi’s thoughts stalled.

’There really is a second complete Cauldron Vessel!’

At that moment, the decrepit Emperor Daye opened his eyes.

Golden flames instantly blazed to life deep within his eyes, runes flowing within them.

It was as if an abyss was brewing in his eyes—immeasurably deep and utterly terrifying.

”The second complete Cauldron Vessel is about to be born!”

”Excellent!”