After the Great Dao Died

An indescribably majestic momentum erupted from his body at this moment, incredibly heavy!

The overwhelming Great Sage coercion swept outward like an invisible, raging tidal wave. Wherever it passed, the wildly surging flames were somewhat suppressed by its terrifying pressure.

Daoist Huotuo’s pupils contracted slightly, a flicker of surprise crossing his mind.

But this surprise lasted for only an instant.

A moment later, an even thicker killing intent bloomed in his eyes.

He brought his hands together, his fingers flying as he formed an incredibly profound hand seal.

The moment the seal formed, the crimson flames surrounding him abruptly transformed!

[Cage Fire]!

In the blink of an eye, the sky-filling flames formed a massive cage that crashed down from the heavens!

As soon as it appeared, an indescribable binding force pressed toward Chen Lingxi from all directions, threatening to trap him to death within this flaming hell.

Chen Lingxi looked up at the sun-blotting cage of fire, his expression unchanged.

The methods of the True Edict of Approaching the Dao within his body were pushed to their limit, and the Great Sage Breathing profound mechanism operated madly.

At the same time, the Great Sage momentum from his Heaven-Inviting Momentum surged once again. The illusory figure of the indomitable Great Sage flickered behind him.

Chen Lingxi took a step forward and threw a punch!

The Great Sage phantom behind him threw a punch as well!

”Break!”

The two forces collided!

Terrifying vital energy erupted from Chen Lingxi’s body alongside the roar of surging spiritual qi.

The entire cage began to totter instantly, on the verge of total collapse.

However, Daoist Huotuo seemed to have expected this.

Before the cage even completely shattered, he opened his mouth and spat!

An incredibly dense streak of crimson true qi flew from his mouth like a ribbon. Its deep red hue was far more condensed and pure than the Cage Fire—it was the [Vermilion True Qi] he had cultivated for years!

Expanding in the wind the moment it left his mouth, this true qi instantly transformed into a crimson streak that stretched across the sky. Carrying a terrifying, all-incinerating heat, it slashed straight down at Chen Lingxi’s head.

A cold light flashed in Chen Lingxi’s eyes.

Instead of retreating, he advanced. The Longevity Bridge abruptly manifested beneath his feet, pale golden lightning arcing wildly across its surface.

Stepping from the bridge, he shot upward like a pale golden meteor defying gravity, rushing head-on into the crimson streak.

In midair, the fingers of his right hand suddenly clenched the void, violently activating the Heaven-Seizing Seal method!

A massive handprint, spanning over ten zhang, instantly took shape in the void!

He thrust his palm forward, and the handprint crashed into the Vermilion True Qi like a mountain of spiritual light!

Rumble!

The moment the handprint and true qi collided, terrifying ripples bloomed in the void.

”A Wondrous State divine power?”

Daoist Huotuo was greatly astonished, a trace of wariness leaking into his eyes.

Ultimately, however, Daoist Huotuo was an expert who had already established a Dao Platform.

Although his Vermilion True Qi trembled violently under the Heaven-Seizing Seal and its surface brilliance dimmed, it was not completely routed.

The crimson streak paused briefly in the void before roaring back to life like an enraged red dragon, lunging at Chen Lingxi with even more ferocious momentum!

Right at this moment, Daoist Huotuo’s third divine power followed closely behind.

Clenching his right hand into a fist, he violently slammed it into the ground!

His arm, thick as a pillar, smashed into the magma-turned earth, emitting a muffled boom resonant as a grand bell!

[Suppressing Mountains and Seas]!

An invisible, terrifying weight crashed down on Chen Lingxi from all sides like a collapsing mountain range!

Even Chen Lingxi’s tyrannical physical body, tempered repeatedly by the True Edict of Approaching the Dao, finally felt the strain beneath this horrific pressure.

It felt as if several mountains were resting on his shoulders. His bones creaked under the weight, and his rapidly circulating spiritual qi grew somewhat sluggish.

This move, Suppressing Mountains and Seas, was not meant to kill—it was meant to suppress!

Sure enough, the very instant Chen Lingxi’s movements stalled, Daoist Huotuo closed in!

The three divine powers he had just executed—Cage Fire to trap the enemy, Vermilion True Qi for the main assault, and Suppressing Mountains and Seas to pin him down!

They seemed independent but were actually interlocking links, cooperating flawlessly.

These three divine powers had bought him exactly this: the chance for close combat!

Clapping his hands together, he ruthlessly activated yet another divine power to its absolute limit!

[Fire Bell Method]!

”Ommm—”

An earth-shaking bell chime exploded over the ruins! The sound was deep, heavy, and overbearing, as if a god in the nine heavens had struck a massive bell forged from a blazing sun.

Right at the epicenter of the chime, a massive fire bell constructed purely of crimson flames descended from the sky, shrouding Daoist Huotuo’s entire body!

The fire bell stood ten zhang tall. Built entirely from intensely condensed Vermilion True Qi, its surface was densely engraved with flame runes.

The bell was incomparably thick, shielding Daoist Huotuo like a genuine wall of copper and iron.

And this was merely the first variation of the Fire Bell Method.

The bell chimed a total of nine times! With every toll, a layer of runes on the fire bell lit up, and Daoist Huotuo’s already burly body expanded a fraction more!

In an instant, the nine chimes finished!

Empowered by the nine chimes of the fire bell, his physical strength skyrocketed to an utterly terrifying level!

From afar, Daoist Huotuo now looked like a giant of fire, incredibly dreadful!

”Ant!” The flaming giant’s throat released a roar like muffled thunder.

Following the roar, he shot toward Chen Lingxi like a flaming cannonball out of a barrel!

Clenching his right fist, he unleashed a punch!

Flames swept forward!

Before the blow even landed, the scorching pressure of the fist caused the ruins behind Chen Lingxi to collapse and melt anew!

Facing this world-destroying punch, Chen Lingxi took a deep breath.

The Cloud Soaring Technique beneath his feet abruptly shifted laterally, carrying his body dozens of zhang to the side at the very last second, barely dodging the direct brunt of the blazing white fist aura.

Relying on the agility of the Wondrous State Cloud Soaring Technique, Chen Lingxi darted and weaved through the sky-filling barrage of fists.

Daoist Huotuo’s boxing stance was opening wide and closing wide; every time his fist aura broke the sound barrier, it tore through the sky like streaks of crimson flame.

Chen Lingxi, on the other hand, was like a fish navigating through a raging tempest. Always dodging by a hair’s breadth just before a fist aura reached him, he countered from the flanks with divine powers like the Heaven-Seizing Seal and the Cyan Edge Method.

Their battle was too intense, completely surpassing the realm of comprehension for ordinary Qi Circulation cultivators.

Amidst the fierce combat, Chen Lingxi spotted an opening.

When Daoist Huotuo threw a punch, his momentum spent and his new strength yet to be generated...

Chen Lingxi flicked his wrist! An amber streak of light shot through the air without a sound!

It was none other than the Delayed Light Flying Dagger!

The flying dagger was as fast as lightning, the beam of light sealed within its blade glowing to the extreme.

However, Daoist Huotuo was ultimately someone who had condensed a Dao Platform.

His perception of surrounding auras was sharpened to an utterly frightening degree.

The moment the Delayed Light Flying Dagger closed within three zhang of him, it was detected by the near-tangible layer of Vermilion True Qi covering his body.

”There’s something weird about this flying dagger!”

Daoist Huotuo snorted coldly. Without even turning around, he slightly tilted his head and spat!

An incredibly dense crimson true qi shot from his mouth like a living creature. Turning nimbly in the air, the true qi precisely struck the amber flying dagger!

The horrifying heat contained within the true qi instantly burned away the spiritual qi clinging to the dagger. Though the blade wasn’t destroyed, it was knocked off course, tumbling through the air several times before falling powerlessly to the ground and stabbing into a scorched rock.

The previously unfailing Delayed Light Flying Dagger, with its profound radiance capable of distorting time, was actually blocked by Daoist Huotuo’s flames in such a brutal yet precise manner!

Having shattered the dagger’s momentum with a single roar, a savage grin surfaced on Daoist Huotuo’s flame-wreathed face.

”Die!”

Daoist Huotuo unleashed an earth-shaking roar, pushing his surrounding flame spiritual power to the limit.

He thrust out both fists simultaneously! Two pillar-like pale blue fist auras roared like a pair of flame dragons breaking their chains, crashing toward Chen Lingxi!

And right as this momentum built to its peak, Chen Lingxi finally stopped his retreat.

He raised his head, facing the two world-destroying fist auras, a trace of almost fanatical battle intent appearing in his eyes.

”Now is the time! This Daoist Huotuo has exhausted his reserves and has no room left to hold back!”

Sensing Daoist Huotuo’s terrifying momentum, joy actually surfaced on Chen Lingqi’s face.

”If that’s the case, then I don’t need to worry about Daoist Huotuo dodging!”

Within the Inner Divine Palace inside Chen Lingxi’s body, the phantom of Great Sage Yaotian that had been sitting cross-legged suddenly opened its eyes!

An unprecedented, utterly vast Great Sage momentum erupted from Chen Lingxi’s body at this very moment!

And at this moment, Chen Lingxi raised his right hand!

He extended a single index finger!

The billowing vital energy around him, the majestic power descending from the Great Sage phantom in his Inner Divine Palace, and even the surging spiritual qi in his Qi Sea—all of it madly converged toward his right index finger!

In the blink of an eye, his index finger flared with blinding golden light!

Palace Knocking’s Third Profound mechanism.

[Palace-Knocking Finger!]

And so, this finger gently tapped toward the two roaring flame dragons!

Edict!

Chen Lingxi stepped forward and brought his finger down!

A terrifying aura bloomed outward from the strike!

”What divine power is this?”

Sensing the aura blooming from this finger, Daoist Huotuo was greatly alarmed!

He wanted to dodge, to recall the fire bell to protect himself, but he was horrified to discover that this punch, which carried all of his cultivation, had no way of turning back!

Then, fist and finger collided!

He only felt an equally terrifying power pour into his body, turning his arm into nothingness.

Immediately after, it effortlessly pierced through his final layer of protective true qi and incomparably precisely penetrated the center of his brow!

The next instant!

His massive, flaming body abruptly froze in place. The pale blue flames around him rapidly extinguished and dissipated like a receding tide.

He circulated his divine sense, seemingly wanting to look at the hole in his brow, but his head was already beginning to turn into motes of spiritual light, crumbling inch by inch!

Unbelievable horror lingered in his eyes!

Then, his entire avatar violently exploded beneath the residual might of that golden finger beam!

Thoroughly perishing!

High in the sky, the gold-and-purple intertwined Celestial Ranking simultaneously erupted with blinding light!

The name [Daoist Huotuo of the Calamity Sea], which originally ranked fourteenth, completely dissipated.

And the name [Weiji Grotto-Heaven’s Chen Lingxi] bloomed with resplendent golden light, leaping up to take his place!

He successfully ascended to fourteenth place on the Celestial Ranking!

Another stream of Celestial Ranking Spiritual Energy, even purer and more majestic than before, descended from the sky and poured directly into the crown of his head like sudden enlightenment!

All of this happened too fast, too inconceivably.

From Chen Lingxi’s arrival to the fall of the insufferably arrogant Daoist Huotuo’s avatar, it had taken no more than a few dozen breaths of time.

Across the entirety of Nanche Prefecture City, the flames that had originally been wreaking havoc seemed to grow sluggish after losing their master. Only billowing thick smoke and the lingering, terrifying coercion remained over the ruins.

Outside Nanche Prefecture City, atop the mountain peak, there was dead silence.

The two experts from Zhuran Star looked at each other in dismay, their eyes filled with unbelievable shock.

”This person... is actually this powerful?”

The man with the azure mark on his forehead was the first to break the silence.

Just a moment ago, he had asserted that Chen Lingxi’s departure was purely to throw his life away. Yet in the blink of an eye, the impossibly arrogant avatar of Daoist Huotuo was suppressed and killed by this person with a single finger.

An expert of Ehai, a figure who had already completed their Dao Platform!

To actually be defeated just like that at the hands of a native cultivator at the Twelfth Floor of Qi Circulation who had yet to condense a Dao Platform?

The woman surrounded by pale purple mist also had a face full of astonishment.

Yu Jiangwei stood at the very front, a trace of surprise similarly flashing through her abyss-like eyes.

For a mere native cultivator of Weiji Grotto-Heaven to actually have such a profound foundation.

”A terrifying physical body, a domineering momentum... and that final slaughtering technique that gathered all his essence, qi, and spirit to settle the outcome with a single finger... This person is rather interesting.”

Her eyes flickering, she suddenly turned her head, her gaze landing on Lin Longyue behind her.

”This Weiji Grotto-Heaven, an abandoned land depleted of spiritual energy, can actually give birth to such unexpected figures one after another?”

No expression could be seen on this Dao Foundation expert’s face, which was obscured by profound mist. She merely shook her head gently.

Then... she extended a single finger. The finger was long, slender, and fair, like a piece of exquisite jade.

Afterward, she slowly bent her finger toward the ruined prefectural city and flicked!

This flick seemed casual and understated.

However, the instant she flicked her finger, the world changed colors!

An indescribably terrifying spiritual energy descended from the void like a reversed heavenly river!

The clouds in the sky suddenly churned, forming a massive vortex that covered the entire prefectural city!

An aura profound to the extreme spread out from the center of the vortex, shrouding the whole world!

Deep within the vortex, a hand could faintly be seen slowly surfacing.

The hand was incomparably huge, blotting out the sun. Just its surfacing outline was enough to make the earth below tremble, causing the already ruined city walls to begin collapsing inch by inch.

That hand made the exact same flicking motion, and atop its massive fingertip, it looked as though a star compressed hundreds of millions of times over was burning!

The light was too intense, so intense that people simply couldn’t look at it directly!

Blazing light and heat gushed from the fingertip, as if seeking to completely ignite this entire Grotto-Heaven!

That seemingly casual finger strike, which in reality condensed terrifying Dao Origin, transformed into a scorching, blazing white beam of light. From above the nine heavens, it crashed down toward the location of the Under-Dao Academy’s Great Ferrying Array!

If this finger landed, never mind these few ruined streets—half the prefectural city would likely be completely destroyed!

Chen Lingxi sensed it the moment the finger fell.

He only felt an unprecedented, near-suffocating sense of horrifying crisis completely submerge him like a freezing tide.

He whipped around and raised his head, looking toward the destructive beam falling from the void and the god-like, massive hand deep within the vortex.

Raging waves churned in his heart.

’Is this the might of the fourth on the Celestial Ranking?’

”This person is even stronger than Bai Lingze! Yet she only ranks fourth...”

”For what reason?”

Chen Lingxi connected his divine sense to his Vast Void Pouch, landing on Emperor Daye’s Golden Finger Bone.

The might of this finger far exceeded the scope of what he could currently contend against.

The level of this Yu Jiangwei from Zhuran Star’s strength also far surpassed his previous expectations!