After the Great Dao Died

Chen Lingxi narrowed his eyes. The golden light of the Great Sage Precious Phase blazed around him once more as he prepared to strike!

Yu Jiangwei hesitated no longer.

She extended her jade-white hands, and a streak of Profound Qi flared at her fingertips.

The Profound Qi was light purple. Though it appeared to be just a single wisp, it emanated a vast, terrifying Dao rhyme.

”Hmm? A spiritual qi projection?” Chen Lingxi was taken aback.

Just as Chen Lingxi was feeling bewildered, a strand of Daoist Shu Rong’s divine sense quietly reached him.

”Daoist friend, be careful. This Spiritual Artifact is called the [Profound-Splitting Qi Mother]. It is an extremely precious Spiritual Artifact from Zhuran Star.

”This treasure has no direct killing power, but it possesses an extremely bizarre use. It can split a cultivator’s single divine ability into thousands—turning one into ten, ten into a hundred. Moreover, each duplicated divine ability retains seventy to eighty percent of the original’s power.”

Chen Lingxi raised his eyebrows slightly.

Daoist Shu Rong continued, ”For ordinary divine abilities, such splitting doesn’t hold much significance. After all, dispersing the power is worse than a single condensed strike.

”But for certain specific divine abilities, this Profound-Splitting Qi Mother is an absolute weapon of slaughter.”

Just like right now.

Yu Jiangwei unreservedly poured her Dao Origin into the Profound-Splitting Qi Mother. In that instant, the light purple Profound Qi surged wildly, splitting from one into two, two into four, four into eight... In the blink of an eye, thirty-two identical streaks of Profound Qi condensed around her.

Suspended around her body, the thirty-two streaks of Profound Qi looked like thirty-two purple stars, pulsing with Dao rhyme.

At the same time, her two Substitute Dao Bodies each condensed a streak of Profound Qi as well.

Thirty-two plus two—a total of thirty-four streaks of Profound Qi hovered in the air, transforming into a series of blurred figures!

Those figures opened their eyes simultaneously.

Thirty-four pairs of eyes burning with dark purple light locked onto Chen Lingxi all at once.

An indescribable, terrifying killing intent instantly swept out, blotting out the sky.

The killing intent was too thick, too violent—it was as if thirty-four invisible sharp swords were hanging right above Chen Lingxi’s head!

It made his hair stand on end. The Plundering Dragon Dao Platform inside his body trembled madly, and the Weiji Thunder Radiance on his Thunder Prison Profound Root actually dimmed slightly under the oppressive killing intent!

”[Primary Killing Origin-Severing Art],” Yu Jiangwei said slowly, the thirty-four figures speaking in unison.

Their voices merged together like a bizarre chorus, echoing throughout the void.

The moment her voice fell, the thirty-four figures formed an extremely complex hand seal simultaneously.

As the seal took shape, the thirty-four streaks of Profound Qi flared to their absolute limits.

They contained a certain profound underlying truth, as though thirty-four invisible scissors were slowly opening in the void, intent on forcefully severing something from heaven and earth.

Chen Lingxi’s pupils suddenly shrank.

’The target locked on by these thirty-four streaks of Profound Qi is my Dao Platform!’

More accurately, it was the Dao Origin within his Dao Platform.

The sensation was incredibly bizarre. It felt as if an invisible pair of scissors was hanging inside his qi sea, directly above his Plundering Dragon Dao Platform. The moment those scissors snapped shut, they would forcibly snip and shatter the Dao Origin he had cultivated so painstakingly!

He instantly understood.

’The terrifying aspect of this Primary Killing Origin-Severing Art is that it can directly attack a cultivator’s Dao Foundation origin source.’

’Once the Dao Origin is severed and the Dao Platform is severely injured, a light consequence would be a drop in cultivation, while a heavy consequence would be the collapse of the Dao Foundation—hundreds of years of bitter cultivation destroyed in an instant.’

At this realization, alarm bells rang frantically in his mind.

The killing intent in Yu Jiangwei’s eyes blazed fiercely.

The reason she had been reluctant to use this divine ability was not out of stinginess, but because despite its immense power, it came with a massive drawback.

Once unleashed, the Profound-Splitting Qi Mother would also siphon away more than half of her own Dao Origin, severely crippling her combat strength for a short time.

If Chen Lingxi’s Great Sage Precious Phase hadn’t been so tyrannical, forcibly trampling her Fire-Igniting Dual Union Great Array to pieces, she absolutely would not have used such a highly depleting killing move at this critical moment in the fight for the Cauldron Vessel.

But now, she could no longer care about all that. Chen Lingxi had to die.

If this person didn’t die, it would be absolutely impossible for the Dao-Capturing Ancient Tree to fall into her hands.

The profound light of the thirty-four Primary Killing Origin-Severing Arts intertwined in the void, enveloping Chen Lingxi from above.

Chen Lingxi only felt his Plundering Dragon Dao Platform trembling violently. The Dao Origin within the Dao Platform actually began to surge and churn uncontrollably, and his Thunder Prison Profound Root quivered madly!

The Weiji Thunder Radiance instinctively tried to counterattack, but the moment the lightning touched the aura of that divine ability, it was silently ”snipped” to pieces by a bizarre force, dissipating into his qi sea.

Chen Lingxi took a deep breath. The two clusters of lightning in his eyes lit up to their absolute limits at this moment.

’Ordinary methods will absolutely be unable to resist this divine ability.’

He abruptly threw his head back, and a fine slit suddenly split open between his eyebrows.

Within that slit, an extremely radiant and tyrannical cluster of lightning was frantically condensing.

In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a vertical eye!

The eye was formed entirely from the purest Weiji lightning. Countless fine lightning runes were reflected deep within its pupil. It was precisely the second profound mechanism born from his Thunder Prison Profound Root!

[Thunder Prison Immortal Eye].

When Chen Lingxi planted his Profound Root into his Dao Platform, it gave birth to the profound mechanism [Immortal Smiting Thunder Pool]!

Later, when Chen Lingxi’s Profound Root transformed into a tree, it produced another profound mechanism: [Thunder Prison Immortal Eye]!

This was his first time activating this brand-new profound mechanism.

The moment the Immortal Eye opened, a dazzlingly bright, silver-white beam shot out from its pupil, shining directly toward the overwhelming Profound Qi divine ability.

Wherever the beam passed, the profound Dao rhyme of the Primary Killing Origin-Severing Art was forcefully pinned in place!

At the same time, within the Plundering Dragon Dao Platform in Chen Lingxi’s body, his boundlessly vigorous Dao Origin poured out like water from a burst dam. It flooded frantically into the Thunder Prison Immortal Eye, sustaining the power of that beam.

The Thunder Prison Immortal Eye consumed an extreme amount of Dao Origin. Even with his Profound Root having transformed into a tree, he could only maintain it for a few breaths at most.

’But a few breaths is already enough.’

At the exact same instant that Yu Jiangwei’s Primary Killing Origin-Severing Art was temporarily pinned by the Thunder Prison Immortal Eye, the Immortal Smiting Thunder Pool beneath Chen Lingxi’s feet suddenly churned!

Within the thunder pool, countless streaks of Weiji lightning condensed into a sword light at the very depths of the pool!

The sword light was only about an inch long, as fine as silk, but the lightning killing power contained within it had been condensed to an extremely terrifying degree.

As the sword light appeared, a world-destroying, razor-sharp sword intent surged into the sky, slashing a rift straight across the heavens through the sea of clouds surrounding the Immortal Smiting Thunder Pool.

”Wondrous State Thunder-Hiding Sword Light!”

Yu Jiangwei’s pupils shrank suddenly.

She recognized the origin of this sword light at a single glance.

[Jade Tiger Rebellious Sea Sword Light]!

This sword light was the ultimate art with the most potent killing power from the youth of Marquis Yuhu of the Thunder Pool. Rumor had it that, back in the day, Marquis Yuhu had used this single sword strike to slay an unknown number of formidable foes in the same realm across the Nine Quarters Great Domain. Wherever the sword light passed, all things were destroyed.

’This Chen Lingxi has actually comprehended the Jade Tiger Rebellious Sea Sword Light!’

At that moment, the sword light leaped out from the Immortal Smiting Thunder Pool. At first, it was only a single streak!

But the Abyssal Heaven Spiritual Sword autonomously hovered in front of the sword light. The remnant patterns of the hundred restrictive arrays on its blade lit up simultaneously, and an extremely pure Sword Dao True Intent surged out from the Abyssal Heaven Spiritual Sword, fusing into one with the Jade Tiger Rebellious Sea Sword Light.

In that instant, the sword light suddenly split, dividing from one into two, two into four, four into eight... In the blink of an eye, it transformed into nineteen sword lights.

Like nineteen lightning dragons breaking free from their shackles, the nineteen sword lights roared forward, sweeping toward the thirty-two Profound Qi avatars in the void.

Wherever the sword light passed, those Profound Qi avatars split by the Profound-Splitting Qi Mother couldn’t even hold on for a single breath. They were instantly shredded to dust by the incomparably tyrannical lightning sword intent.

Right at this moment, two more dazzling silver-white beams shone out from the Thunder Prison Immortal Eye between Chen Lingxi’s eyebrows!

The beams didn’t shoot toward the remaining dark purple giant net. Instead, they split into two paths—one shooting toward Yu Jiangwei’s true body, and the other shooting toward the Substitute Dao Body on her right.

The beams were fast to the extreme. Almost the instant they were fired, they pierced the distance of the void and stabbed straight between the eyebrows of both Yu Jiangweis.

Yu Jiangwei’s entire body shuddered violently.

She only felt an extremely tyrannical and incredibly pure lightning power frantically flood into her Sea of Consciousness and her Dao Platform along with the beam.

It then solidified the Dao Origin within her Dao Platform!

Yu Jiangwei’s Dao Origin stagnated!

In that exact moment of stagnation, the Immortal Smiting Thunder Pool beneath Chen Lingxi’s feet churned to its limit.

Within the thunder pool, the Weiji lightning gathered madly, condensing another Jade Tiger Rebellious Sea Sword Light.

He took a step forward, and the sword light moved with him as naturally as his own arm. Carrying a world-destroying lightning killing power, it slashed viciously toward the two Yu Jiangweis.

Yu Jiangwei gritted her teeth and forcefully broke free from the restraints of the Thunder Prison Immortal Eye. She and her Substitute Dao Body raised their hands simultaneously, bringing them together in the empty air before them.

An incomparably thick mist barrier appeared out of thin air in front of her, attempting to block the sword strike.

But the Jade Tiger Rebellious Sea Sword Light was far too tyrannical.

The sword light slashed against the mist barrier. With an extremely crisp shattering sound, the barrier collapsed inch by inch, turning into sky-filling fragments of mist.

The sword light continued with unabated momentum. It pierced through the barrier, tore through the remaining protective profound light around Yu Jiangwei’s true body, and struck her viciously.

Yu Jiangwei let out a muffled groan. Her true body was sent flying backward by the slash, and the deep, vast Dao Origin fluctuations around her completely collapsed.

Her Substitute Dao Body also became blurry and transparent in tandem, ultimately turning into an extremely faint mist that silently dissipated into the void.

She had lost!

A Heaven’s Pride of Zhuran Star, a figure who had made a name for herself even in the Land of Nine Palaces, had been defeated at Chen Lingxi’s hands!

Chen Lingxi returned his sword to its sheath. Standing amid the lingering lightning, he gasped for breath.

The Dao Origin in his body was almost completely exhausted. Activating the Thunder Prison Immortal Eye and the Jade Tiger Rebellious Sea Sword Light in succession had nearly drained his Plundering Dragon Dao Platform dry.

The phantom image of Yu Jiangwei’s true body did not dissipate immediately.

She stood within the churning mist, the contours of her body now extremely blurred. Yet her eyes, deep as the abyss, still pierced through the mist to fall upon Chen Lingxi. There was no resentment in her gaze; instead, a trace of deeply complex emotion and wistful admiration flashed past.

She remained silent for a moment before slowly shaking her head.

”To be able to cultivate to such a realm in a land devoid of qi, to be able to defeat this avatar of mine, Yu Jiangwei...” she spoke softly, her voice already extremely weak. ”Daoist friend Chen, you are indeed extraordinary.”

She paused, the wistful admiration in her eyes growing even deeper. ”It’s just a pity that you are someone from this Weiji Grotto-Heaven.

”If you had been born in the Great Xuanzhuo Realm and joined my Zhuran Star, given time, it wouldn’t be impossible for you to prove the Dao of the Golden Portal.

”But now... the grotto-heaven is about to perish. Even if you defeated me, what difference does it make?”

She shook her head slightly, and her phantom image began to dissipate.

In the void! Purple light circulated upon the Celestial Ranking. Chen Lingxi’s name leaped up from the sixth rank, landing securely in the third position.

A streak of Celestial Ranking Spiritual Energy—even more majestic and purer than before—descended from the sky.

It transformed into a dazzling golden pillar of light, piercing straight into his crown, flooding into his limbs and bones, and gathering in the nearly drained Plundering Dragon Dao Platform.

The spiritual energy was incredibly potent, surging madly within his Dao Platform.

’This Celestial Ranking truly delivers help in the hour of need.’

Chen Lingxi circulated the Dragon-Stripping Dao-Transforming One Qi True Incantation, refining a bit of that Celestial Ranking Spiritual Energy.

He immediately felt the Dao Origin within his Dao Platform recover by nearly half.

Right at this moment, Chen Lingxi raised his head, looking further into the sky above the Heavenly Gate Sea.

The void over there had long been churned into a state of chaos. Spiritual light and Dao Origin clashed wildly, stirring up terrifying ripples that blotted out the sun and sky.

Zhao Duanxuan stood with his hands clasped behind his back under that brilliant, blazing sun. The deep, vast Dao Origin fluctuations around his body were like an abyss, like an ocean.

As the sun behind him rotated, a terrifying Dao Origin capable of incinerating all things erupted with a boom. It evaporated the surrounding sea of clouds into nothingness and boiled the seawater of the Heavenly Gate Sea below into a churning frenzy.

And above his head hung a towering mountain Spiritual Artifact. The mountain was entirely dark gold, carved with densely packed ancient runes, and it pulsed with a vast aura that suppressed all things.

The mountain pressed downward, carrying a terrifying physical force as it smashed viciously toward Emperor Daye, Ying Xian.

Emperor Daye, Ying Xian, still stood with his hands behind his back on his golden chariot.

The grayish-white mist of the Heavenly Decline Law around him was churning madly, mutually eroding and wearing away against the scorching light radiating from the sun behind Zhao Duanxuan.

When the mist of the Heavenly Decline Law touched the sunlight, it sizzled as more than half of it was burned away. Yet, the mist continued to surge endlessly from Emperor Daye’s body. Like an eternally insatiable Taotie, it ground away the sun’s power layer by layer.

At the same time, the Profound Root phantom of the Age-Dial Reversal Great Divine Ability behind him was slowly circulating. A bizarre Dao rhyme that reversed the years and turned back time permeated outward from his Profound Root.

It made Emperor Daye increasingly formidable, his Dao Origin increasingly abundant.

The two of them engaged in a frenzied clash in the sky above the Heavenly Gate Sea.

The great sun collided with the Heavenly Decline Law; the mountain stood at a stalemate with the Age-Dial Reversal. Every collision sparked terrifying light capable of tearing the heavens apart, and every exchange of blows shook the entire Heavenly Gate Sea, causing its waters to churn and flow backward.

That level of clash had long surpassed the scope of understanding for ordinary Early Dao Foundation cultivators.

’These two can be considered evenly matched.’

Chen Lingxi withdrew his gaze, no longer watching that earth-shattering battle.

He turned around, his gaze piercing through the churning seawater to look toward the depths of the Heavenly Gate Sea.

The Dao-Capturing Ancient Tree still stood quietly at the bottom of the gloomy sea. The layer of pale golden light on its trunk grew increasingly brilliant. On those branches knotted like dragons, the bronze leaves trembled gently, and an extremely pure, ancient Dao rhyme permeated from within them.

’The turbulent void currents surrounding the ancient tree have completely dissipated. The Dao-Capturing Ancient Tree has fully emerged.’

Chen Lingxi took a deep breath. With lightning wreathing his body, he silently activated the lightning-laced Azure Cloud beneath his feet, letting it support his figure as he sank into the depths of the Heavenly Gate Sea.

The seawater parted on its own around him.

He sank all the way down, passing through the seawater endlessly churned by the great battle between Zhao Duanxuan and Emperor Daye, and crossing the dark, lightless deep sea, until he finally landed in front of the Dao-Capturing Ancient Tree.

’The Cauldron Vessel... is right in front of my eyes.’

Chen Lingxi’s emotions surged like a tide.

He reached his hand out, just about to touch that complete Cauldron Vessel.

Right at this moment!

Heaven and earth underwent a sudden change!

In the void, a terrifying pressure blossomed, manifesting and descending to shroud the Heavenly Gate Sea.

Chen Lingxi couldn’t help but lift his head. His Method of Qi Observation pierced through the deep sea as he looked up toward the void.

To his surprise, he saw that at some unknown point, a human face had actually appeared in the void!

Chen Lingxi’s gaze flickered...

’True Lord!’