After the Great Dao Died

The two men chatted for a long while before finally bidding each other farewell.

Chen Lingxi stood up and straightened his black robes. He took one last look at the young man sitting on the edge of the bed grinning at him, took a deep breath, and turned around. Pushing open the half-closed wooden door, he stepped out into the deep night.

Liu Changle watched the tall figure leave, not looking away until the wooden door slowly clicked shut, sealing off everything from the outside world.

Chen Lingxi returned once more to Cuojin Mountain. He resumed his cultivation with the Immortal Slough, elevating his cultivation base and accelerating his Absolute Perception Origin Supplementation progress.

’The time left for me in this Weiji Grotto-Heaven is growing shorter by the day. I need to complete my Absolute Perception progress as soon as possible,’ he thought.

At this moment, the arm of the Immortal Slough hovered in the air before him, radiating a warm, bright, pale-golden glow.

He circulated the Dragon-Stripping Dao-Transforming One Qi True Incantation, refining the boundless essence contained within the Immortal Slough thread by thread into his body. The energy flowed into his Plundering Dragon Dao Platform, nourishing the Profound Root that had grown into a towering tree.

Meanwhile, the Origin Supplementation progress of the Absolute Perception divine ability within the Divine Chamber climbed toward its endpoint, advancing at an agonizingly slow yet unwavering pace.

’Only when Absolute Perception is perfected can I try again,’ Chen Lingxi thought.

Time slipped away quietly amidst this silent, steadfast cultivation.

Over thirty days passed. On this particular day, Chen Lingxi sat with his eyes closed, refining the essence of the Immortal Slough.

He suddenly opened his eyes and brought out the Three Profounds Mirror.

On the surface of the Three Profounds Mirror, the white profound light representing Bai Lingze remained extremely far away, yet he sensed an aura rapidly approaching.

”A divine sense avatar?”

Chen Lingxi looked beyond the King of the East’s Traveling Palace.

Right at that moment, a beam of light descended not far away. It landed just outside the palace, revealing a tall, slender figure within.

The newcomer wore spotless white robes, completely free of dust. However, this was no body of flesh and blood, but rather a divine sense avatar condensed from pure spiritual qi.

The avatar’s face was dark and sinister, carrying an unshakable air of arrogance between his brows. It was Bai Lingze.

Bai Lingze had arrived using a divine sense avatar.

At this moment, Bai Lingze stood on the stone steps with his hands clasped behind his back, making no move to enter the hall.

He slightly raised his chin. His ethereal, transcendent eyes landed on Chen Lingxi as an incredibly faint smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

There was no kindness in that smile; instead, it carried an unvarnished, condescending mockery.

He looked Chen Lingxi up and down, gazing at him as if looking at a dying thing.

He fell silent for a moment before slowly speaking, his voice laced with an unpleasant arrogance, ”Chen Lingxi, I have come to see you today to bid you farewell.”

Chen Lingxi’s expression remained unchanged as he continued sitting on the throne of the King of the East.

Bai Lingze chuckled softly and said, ”Although we are inside this grotto-heaven, we did cross swords once. You can be considered my opponent.

”This Weiji Grotto-Heaven is ultimately nothing more than an object inside the furnace, and you, Chen Lingxi, are ultimately just a wisp of firewood feeding its flames.

”Now that the day of this grotto-heaven’s destruction is drawing ever closer, if I didn’t come to see you again, I’m afraid you would simply burn to ashes in that fire without me ever getting the chance.”

Chen Lingxi remained seated on the throne of the King of the East, his aura astonishing.

He gazed at Bai Lingze’s divine sense avatar from afar, his face as calm as still water, showing not a single ripple of emotion.

He didn’t speak, merely waiting quietly for Bai Lingze to continue.

Seeing him stay silent, the arrogance in Bai Lingze’s eyes deepened.

Pacing two steps with his hands behind his back, he spoke leisurely, ”That day on the Ancestral Mountain, you actually managed to clash head-on with my avatar using a newly-formed Profound Root.

”Thinking back on it carefully, you were merely borrowing the might of that Killing Power Cauldron Vessel Fragment. But in the end, all you did was force my avatar back. Without that Killing Power Cauldron Vessel Fragment, how could you possibly be my match?”

At this point, Bai Lingze suddenly shifted the subject, a subtle smugness creeping into the smile on his face.

He tilted his head slightly, his gaze landing on Chen Lingxi as if he were showing off something he was incredibly proud of. ”Are you aware that my true body in the Great Xuanzhuo Realm has already reached the Dao Foundation Late Stage, having successfully cultivated three Profound Roots!

”This avatar of mine could not utilize my true divine abilities. I had no spiritual artifacts on me, and my Cauldron Vessel was not here either. That is why you found a loophole and managed to defeat me.

”And as for you, Chen Lingxi... do you know who my master is?

”It is none other than the prodigy of the Que Star Xi Family, Xi Hengsu!”

Xi Hengsu!

That peerless prodigy whom True Monarch Xi had placed such high hopes on, the one for whom the Realm Essence refined from this Weiji Grotto-Heaven was to be used to forge a Great Profound Golden Palace!

No wonder the divine abilities Bai Lingze used when fighting Chen Lingxi all belonged to the Que Star Xi Family.

Chen Lingxi’s expression remained completely unchanged.

Bai Lingze furrowed his brow and continued, ”Do you know who Xi Hengsu is? He is the true Dao child prodigy of the Xi Family! The reason the Que Star Xi Family is refining this grotto-heaven with the Realm-Refining Furnace is precisely to forge a Great Profound Golden Palace for him!

”And you, Chen Lingxi... you are merely nourishment for my master.”

The smile on Bai Lingze’s face grew even more radiant.

He thought that hearing this would cause Chen Lingxi to fly into a rage.

But to his surprise, the man’s expression didn’t change in the slightest.

Chen Lingxi raised his head, his lightning-lit eyes meeting Bai Lingze’s gaze, a very faint smile forming at the corner of his mouth.

”Bai Lingze, you made a special trip here just to mock me, but I know the real reason why.”

Bai Lingze furrowed his brow.

Chen Lingxi continued, ”You came here to extinguish the inner demon in your heart. You are terrified that your Dao heart will develop a bottleneck because you, Bai Lingze, lost to me, Chen Lingxi, and that it will hinder your future path of cultivation.

”You came here to take advantage of this grotto-heaven’s destruction, seeking to place the final straw on my shoulders. You want me to die in despair and bitter resentment.

”Only then can the inner demon haunting your Dao heart be completely wiped away...”

”Is that not so?”

Chen Lingxi maintained the smile on his lips. His eyes remained perfectly calm, yet they seemed capable of seeing through everything.

”But even so, you still lost to me in the end... You are a prodigy of the Yutai Bai Family, a disciple of the Dao child Xi Hengsu!

”You have cultivated profound divine abilities since childhood and have been nurtured by a famous master.

”But I, Chen Lingxi, only started cultivating halfway through my life. I was nothing more than a mortal in this Qi-Depleted Grotto-Heaven.

”Yet despite all of that, you still lost to me. It truly is a bit... laughable.”

The smile on Chen Lingxi’s face grew just a fraction wider.

Hearing this, the brilliant smile on Bai Lingze’s face instantly froze. A flash of fury flared in his ethereal eyes!

He was just about to speak...

When suddenly, a surge of ancient, primordial aura erupted in the distance.

Chen Lingxi’s pupils constricted slightly, and his expression changed dramatically!

Noticing this sudden shift, Bai Lingze couldn’t help but follow his gaze.

Then, he saw it.

Far off on the horizon, in the direction of the Heavenly Gate Sea, an unimaginably ancient aura was explosively blooming from the deepest depths of the ocean floor!

The aura shot up into the sky, tearing through millions of tons of seawater, splitting the churning sea of clouds, and shattering every obstacle in the Weiji Grotto-Heaven as it pierced straight into the highest heavens!

The Cauldron Vessel had emerged!

The Dao-Capturing Ancient Tree had finally revealed itself!

Chen Lingxi’s expression drastically shifted!

It wasn’t out of surprise, but because it had happened far too fast.

’I originally thought the void turbulence enveloping the Dao-Capturing Ancient Tree would take at least a year or two to completely dissipate. Never did I imagine that a mere thirty-odd days after I left the Heavenly Gate Sea, the ancient tree would already break through its final shackles and emerge ahead of time!’

Bai Lingze’s divine sense avatar also sensed that terrifying, ancient aura.

He blanked for a moment before undisguised ecstasy rushed across his face.

He turned his head, fixing his ethereal eyes dead on Chen Lingxi as he suddenly burst into uproarious laughter.

After laughing, two rays of icy killing intent abruptly shot from his eyes as he looked down at him.

”Chen Lingxi, you are about to die!” he said slowly, enunciating every word.

”Just wait here.

”Wait for the ownership of the Cauldron Vessel to be settled, and wait for the flames of the furnace to burn right up to your feet.

”When that time comes, you will finally understand what true despair is.”

His words faded into the air.

Chen Lingxi, however, merely shook his head. With a flick of his finger, a streak of sword qi soared out and completely shredded Bai Lingze’s divine sense avatar.

The avatar dispersed, breaking down into fine specks of white light that were scattered without a trace by the night wind.

Only that dark, arrogant gaze lingered in the void for one final moment before vanishing completely.

Chen Lingxi stood up on the stone steps. Looking toward the horizon where the sky had already been dyed dark gold by that ancient aura, the lightning in his eyes flickered uncertainly. He remained silent for a long time.

The Cauldron Vessel had emerged far too soon.

He originally believed he still had time—time to lay out his plans calmly, time to cultivate at a steady pace, and time to wait for the Absolute Perception divine ability to reach perfected Origin Supplementation so he could deduce his final chance of survival within the Divine Chamber.

But now, this greatest of variables had abruptly crashed down, like a massive invisible hand violently sweeping every piece off his chessboard.

He took a deep breath, suppressing his surging emotions and forcing himself to calm down.

’Now that the Dao-Capturing Ancient Tree has appeared, the eyes of the entire Weiji Grotto-Heaven will be focused on the Heavenly Gate Sea,’ he thought.

’Zhao Duanxuan, Bai Lingze, Yu Jiangwei, and Liu Chengfeng will all rush there immediately.’

’Once the Cauldron Vessel’s ownership is determined, this grotto-heaven might just...’

He was out of time.

Chen Lingxi lowered his head in thought for a moment before flicking his sleeves!

In an instant, the heavy, boundless ripples of Dao origin surrounding him blossomed outward without any restraint.

The Plundering Dragon Dao Platform spun madly as the Thunder Prison Profound Root trembled violently. Countless streaks of blindingly bright Weiji Thunder Radiance spewed from the Profound Root, churning and condensing madly around him until they wrapped him from head to toe like a shroud of lightning.

He stood straight up. His lightning-lit eyes pierced through the churning sea of clouds, looking directly toward the Heavenly Gate Sea.

’Since this cannot be avoided, I will involve myself in it!’

’Seizing the Cauldron Vessel might just give me enough to complete the Absolute Perception progress,’ he pondered inwardly.

At the same time, Chen Lingxi used the jade slip left by Emperor Daye to contact the Emperor.

A faint spiritual light flashed across the jade slip, and an imperceptible pulse of divine sense transmitted directly into his Sea of Consciousness.

It was a reply from Emperor Daye, Ying Xian—steady, brief, and containing only a few words.

The two communicated in secret, leaving the exact nature of their exchange unknown.

Chen Lingxi put the jade slip away, the lightning in his eyes growing even more concentrated.

And right now, countless powerhouses were all heading toward the Heavenly Gate Sea.

Chen Lingxi could sense terrifying auras in the void—some heavy, some piercingly sharp, some bizarre—rapidly converging toward the Heavenly Gate Sea from all directions.

The auras varied in strength; the powerful ones blazed across the sky like a brilliant sun, while the weaker ones streaked through the air like meteors chasing the moon.

Nearly every powerhouse in the entire Weiji Grotto-Heaven had been startled by this sudden upheaval.

Chen Lingxi narrowed his eyes, an incredibly cold glint flashing through his lightning-lit pupils.

He raised his head, gazing in the direction of the Heavenly Gate Sea.

’I want to see for myself just how strong my current cultivation really is!’

With that thought, Chen Lingxi no longer suppressed the Thunder Prison Heaven Dao origin that had built up to its absolute peak around his body. The azure cloud mingled with lightning beneath his feet erupted with a boom, carrying his body up into the sky.

He transformed into a blindingly bright rainbow of lightning, tearing through the churning sea of clouds as he too set off for the Heavenly Gate Sea!