After the Great Dao Died

When Chen Lingxi returned to the Marquis Residence, dusk had completely fallen.

Returning to his room, he placed the Incense Burner in the center of his desk, sat cross-legged on a woven mat, and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing. Once it steadied, he pressed his right palm against the burner’s lid.

The stream of cyan qi in his dantian circulated slowly, penetrating through his palm into the burner.

The dark-gold viscous liquid at the bottom of the burner trembled slightly, and a milky-white mist rose, cradling the fragment of purple qi in its center.

The purple qi drifted slowly within the mist.

’I should try to refine the purple qi, just like Lin Suri did.’

Chen Lingxi took a deep breath, channeled his spiritual qi, and reached into the mist, attempting to touch the wisp of purple qi.

The instant his spiritual qi touched the purple qi!

An incredibly sharp aura surged back along his spiritual qi, stabbing his meridians with a sharp pain. His fingertips went numb, and his spiritual qi collapsed.

The purple qi continued drifting in the mist, completely unperturbed.Chen Lingxi frowned, but he wasn’t discouraged.

He tried again.

This time, he condensed his spiritual qi until it was finer and tougher, like a needle, and slowly pierced it into the purple qi.

The purple qi trembled. The sharp aura struck back again, a few degrees fiercer than before, scattering his spiritual qi once more.

A third time.

A fourth.

A fifth.

Every attempt ended in failure.

That wisp of purple qi appeared tiny, but the power contained within it was unfathomable. Reaching his spiritual qi into it was like striking a rock with an egg—he couldn’t shake it in the slightest.

Chen Lingxi withdrew his palm and exhaled a long breath of stale air.

’This isn’t something that can be achieved in a single day.’

He shook his head, wrapped the Incense Burner back in rough cloth, and stored it under the desk.

Outside the window, moonlight flowed like water, spilling across the bluestone floor in a cool, desolate wash.

He stood up and walked out into the courtyard.

The night wind blew from afar, carrying the lingering fragrance of the garden’s fading flowers. It brushed against his face, delightfully cool.

He tilted his head and looked at the sky.

The moon was perfectly round, hanging in the middle of the sky alongside a few scattered stars that radiated a cold, faint light.

He stood firmly in the courtyard and assumed the starting stance of the Seven Forms of Halting War.

Mountain-Pulling Stance, River Entering Form. He executed them stance by stance. His qi and blood surged through his meridians as a crimson aura emanated from his body, weaving into a thin barrier of light around him.

He practiced his fist techniques in the courtyard for three rounds, then sat cross-legged and performed breathing exercises for half a shichen before slowly opening his eyes.

’I should just calm my mind and cultivate.’

Chen Lingxi told himself.

—

Over the following months, Chen Lingxi’s days settled into a routine.

He left the estate twice a month, departing at chenshi and returning at youshi.

The place he visited most often was the largest apothecary in the east of the city—Jiren Hall.

The reason, naturally, was for medicinal baths.

Jiren Hall certainly provided the medicinal baths martial artists required, but they were quite expensive.

The medicinal ingredients for a single bath cost two liang of silver.

Two liang of silver was enough to cover a lower-class commoner’s living expenses for half a year.

But here, it was only enough for a single bath. No wonder people often said that practicing martial arts was like entering a gold-melting furnace.

However, Chen Lingxi wasn’t exactly tight on money these days. His monthly allowance of thirty liang, combined with the twenty-odd liang he got from Wang Kong, was enough to let him soak ten or so times a month.

Although Jiren Hall’s medicinal baths weren’t as effective as those in the Marquis Residence, they were still equivalent to three days of breathing exercises.

If he wanted to advance his cultivation as quickly as possible, this silver couldn’t be saved.

Besides, Chen Lingxi had no other expenses anyway.

By the time the seventh month arrived, it was midsummer.

The locust tree in the courtyard had grown lush and dense, casting thick shade over the ground. It rustled when the wind blew, sounding like someone whispering.

Chen Lingxi stood up from the medicinal bath barrel. Water droplets rolled down his back and pooled into a small puddle on the bluestone floor.

He picked up the rough cloth towel draped over the edge of the barrel, dried his body, dressed, and let out a long breath.

The medicinal power had penetrated his skin, nourishing his muscles and bones. A warm sensation flowed slowly through his body, sweeping away the exhaustion from days of continuous cultivation.

”Refreshing.”

He murmured to himself.

His gaze then fell on the Small Musk Deer Skin Pouch he had prepared nearby.

Inside the pouch, very little Dragon-Drawing Powder remained.

’This is the last time I can take the Dragon-Drawing Powder. I wonder if I can break through the bottleneck and step into the Qi Circulation 3rd Floor?’

He poured the pinch of dark brown medicinal powder into his palm and swallowed it with warm water.

The moment the powder entered his stomach, that overwhelmingly powerful torrent of spiritual energy exploded once again, rampaging through his meridians.

The Concealed Edge Method circulated silently within him. The spiritual qi barrier steadily blocked the toxicity, only gathering and refining the violent spiritual energy bit by bit to draw it into his dantian.

Time passed, bit by bit.

Outside, the sun shifted west. The light filtering through the lattice windows slowly crawled from the eastern wall to the western wall, gradually fading into gloom.

When the last ray of daylight vanished from the horizon, Chen Lingxi opened his eyes.

He exhaled a long breath of stale air.

That breath condensed into a white arrow in the air, shooting straight out for over three chi before striking the wall and scattering into a thin mist.

In his dantian, the stream of cyan qi had grown from the thickness of a baby’s arm to that of an adult’s, thickening by more than a full circle.

It flowed slowly in his dantian, its color rich like jade, a faint luster swirling across its surface. It was like water in a deep pool—dark currents surged beneath, yet the surface remained perfectly calm.

Overjoyed, Chen Lingxi closed his eyes to look inward, carefully sensing the changes in his body.

’I’ve finally reached the Spiritual Qi 3rd Floor!’

It was different from the Spiritual Qi 2nd Floor.

At the Spiritual Qi 2nd Floor, the spiritual qi cleared the meridians and tempered the bone marrow, stripping away years of accumulation and stagnation bit by bit. It widened the meridians like riverbeds and infused the marrow with new vitality.

But the third floor...

He channeled his spiritual qi, letting it slowly drift along the surface of his bones.

Wherever the spiritual qi passed, the bones grew slightly hot. Countless tiny strands of spiritual energy seeped into the bone material, compressing and reinforcing the originally porous osseous tissue layer by layer.

The density of his bones increased at a visible rate.

They went from their original grayish-white to a translucent white, and from that translucence, a very faint, jade-like spiritual light began to shine through.

That spiritual light was extremely faint. If not for his inner sight, it would be almost impossible to detect.

’Spiritual Qi 3rd Floor. Tempering the bones, revealing spiritual light within.’

He murmured to himself, stood up, and stretched his limbs.

The bones all over his body popped and cracked with crisp sounds, like a string of firecrackers detonating inside him.

He formed his fingers into a sword gesture and activated the Cyan Edge Method.

A hazy cyan edge burst from his fingertips, as solid as a real sword, carving a cold, clear arc through the dim room.

The edge tore through the air with a hiss, slicing off a corner of the table. The severed surface was as smooth as a mirror.

He curled his fingers, retracting the remaining edge aura.

’I can use the Cyan Edge Method four or five times now.’

He estimated in his heart. Given the sheer volume of spiritual qi in his dantian, unleashing the Cyan Edge Method at full power four or five times would be no problem. If he only unleashed small bursts of the edge, he could sustain it seven or eight times.

’In a life-and-death struggle, this equals having many more trump cards to survive.’

He nodded in satisfaction, cleaned up the medicinal residue on the table, and pushed the door open to walk out.

The moonlight in the courtyard was excellent.

The mid-seventh-month moon hung overhead, its clear radiance like water, illuminating the entire courtyard as bright as day.

Chen Lingxi stood in the courtyard, tilted his head to look at the sky, and took a deep breath.

The night wind was cool, carrying the rich scent of gardenias mixed with the smell of grass and soil. It was deeply refreshing.

He stretched his shoulders and back, stood firmly in the courtyard, and assumed the starting stance of the Seven Forms of Halting War.

Mountain-Pulling starts the furnace fire, River Entering calms the ocean waves, City-Collapsing sunders the earth, Concealed Edge enters Supreme Harmony.

The Fragment of the Seven Forms of Halting War stated clearly: the Mountain-Pulling Stance condensed qi and blood, while the River Entering Form made qi and blood boil like rolling waves!

’As for the third form, the City-Collapsing Stance... it’s somewhat similar to the Mountain-Collapsing Force, but more importantly... it can help a person break into the Silver Bone Realm!’

After three months of bitter cultivation, Chen Lingxi had already stepped into the perfect Bronze-Red stage, and was now capable of triggering Opening the Bronze Furnace, the hallmark of Bronze-Red perfection.

And now that he had entered the Spiritual Qi 3rd Floor, his foundation had grown immensely, and his physique had undergone a qualitative change.

’I will enter Silver Bone today as well.’

Chen Lingxi closed his eyes and focused his mind, running through the nine variations of the City-Collapsing Stance from the Fragment of the Seven Forms of Halting War in his head.

Then, he moved.

He started with the frame of the Mountain-Pulling Stance. His feet planted firmly, his spine curved like a bow, and his right arm slowly lifted upward as if embracing a massive object.

His qi and blood surged in response, flowing out from his dantian to fill his limbs and bones. A crimson aura emanated from his body, weaving into a barrier of light around him.

Immediately following, he shifted to the River Entering Form.

His body spun. His arms moved like a flood dragon parting the waters, and the qi and blood within him rushed like river tides—wave after wave, layer upon layer, ceaseless and unending.

His breathing grew rapid. The qi armor around his body flared brighter, the crimson flames flickering erratically.

And then—City-Collapsing.

He suddenly let out a low shout. His fists clenched tight, and the qi and blood in his body violently reversed, shifting from an outward surge to an inward collapse.

It was like a city tower collapsing inch by inch starting from its foundation, caving in and smashing all its bricks, stones, and rubble down toward the center of the earth.

That boiling, turbulent qi and blood was compressed, condensed, and settled in this single moment.

The scorching Bronze-Slurry Blood-Qi began to cool.

The crimson aura gradually faded, replaced by a silver-white, icy luster that faintly flickered across the surface of his qi armor, like moonlight falling on snow.

Bronze fire and silver threads intertwined in one place, like ice and fire sharing the same furnace, yin and yang converging as they slowly circulated within him.

Chen Lingxi shuddered violently.

He could clearly feel something forming inside his bones.

It was a flowing, silver-white marrow, slowly seeping out from deep within his bones like a clear spring. It flowed through the bone cavities, and wherever it passed, the bones were plated in a faint silver light.

Silver marrow had begun to form!

The hallmark of the Silver Bone Realm.

He withdrew his stance and stood straight, looking down at his hands.

The crimson qi armor on the surface of his body had mostly faded away, replaced by a layer of fine silver-white luminescence. It flickered faintly, like moonlight draped over his skin—icy and restrained.

From the outside, his qi and blood fluctuations had grown much thinner, making him look like a martial artist at the small-success stage of the Bronze-Red realm, or perhaps even weaker.

But he could clearly sense that the qi and blood hadn’t vanished. Instead, they had settled deep into his bones, transforming into silver marrow, hidden and concealed.

’The Silver Bone Realm.’

He muttered to himself, a hint of joy in his eyes.