After the Great Dao Died

Inside the Main Hall, Lin Longyue waited with a furrowed brow.

The vermilion doors had been shut for a long time. The others in the hall were either chatting in low voices or sipping tea with lowered eyes. Only she sat perfectly straight, her gaze fixed entirely on the side doors, not wavering for a second.

Chu Linzi lounged in the chair opposite her, toying with a sheathed Short Blade. It twirled through her fingers like a butterfly. She occasionally glanced up at Lin Longyue but remained silent.

Yunhe Commandery and Yang Zhuri also shot occasional glances at the vermilion doors.

Just then, footsteps echoed from the side corridor.

The steps were unhurried—one heavy, one light.

Moments later, the old eunuch emerged from the passageway. Someone followed right behind him.

Chen Lingxi.

Though his clothes were dusted with dirt, he didn’t look disheveled. He trailed behind the old eunuch with his hands relaxed at his sides, his stride steady and his expression perfectly calm.

The hall instantly fell silent.Everyone was staring at him.

Lin Longyue’s brow smoothed out, though a trace of confusion lingered in her eyes.

The old eunuch walked into the center of the hall, offering no explanations. He simply gave a slight bow in Lin Longyue’s direction. ”Miss Lin, His Highness has ordered that this servant return with you.”

Without waiting for a reply, he retreated to the side of the hanging curtains, lowered his head, and stood still with his hands at his sides.

Return?

Lin Longyue’s pupils shrank slightly.

She was about to ask him to elaborate, but the old eunuch had already shut his eyes. He stood there like a mud idol and wooden statue, making it perfectly clear he wouldn’t speak another word.

Taking a deep breath, she swallowed the words at the tip of her tongue. She stood and bowed toward the eastern hall. ”Longyue takes her leave.”

As she turned, her gaze swept over Chen Lingxi.

Keeping his head down and his hands at his sides, he followed her.

Yunhe Commandery, Chu Linzi, and Yang Zhuri all wore different expressions, but a flash of astonishment passed through each of their eyes.

”This beast fighter... actually earned the Crown Prince’s pardon?” Though Yang Zhuri couldn’t make sense of it, his curiosity deepened.

Chen Lingxi kept his head down as he walked, accepting every one of those stares without letting anything show on his face.

After exiting the Main Hall and passing through several courtyards, they arrived at the palace gates.

Without breaking her stride, Lin Longyue walked straight toward the waiting Green-Curtained Carriage.

Liu Que was already holding the carriage curtain open. Seeing her approach, he opened his mouth to speak, only to be silenced by a sharp glare.

”Chen Lingxi.” Lin Longyue abruptly stopped and threw a look over her shoulder. ”You will ride with me.”

Her tone was flat, but left no room for argument.

Chen Lingxi murmured an acknowledgment and followed her into the carriage.

The curtain fell, blocking out the daylight.

Wisps of smoke from burning Agarwood Incense curled through the cabin.

The carriage slowly rolled forward, the wheels crunching softly against the gravel path.

Lin Longyue broke the silence. ”Was everything you said in the hall true? Was Qiu Chihu really swallowed up by some strange purple light from a Treasure Bottle?”

Chen Lingxi kept his head down and confirmed it.

Lin Longyue furrowed her brow, deep in thought.

The carriage remained silent for a long time.

Only the crunch of wheels on gravel and the occasional snort of the horses filtered in from outside the curtain.

The Agarwood Incense smoke drifted lazily between the two of them, gathering without dispersing.

After a long while, Lin Longyue suddenly chuckled. ”You have secrets. For someone like the Crown Prince to summon you and then just let you return to the manor so easily... that is anything but ordinary.”

Chen Lingxi kept his head bowed and said nothing.

”Having secrets doesn’t matter.” Lin Longyue’s face smoothed out again. ”As long as you work for me, even if you have secrets, I will open one eye and close the other.”

”Besides... you performed well as a beast fighter, and I naturally have a reward for you. From now on, in my West Courtyard, you are no longer a slave!”

Chen Lingxi feigned excitement as he thanked her, though inwardly he was somewhat surprised.

Lin Longyue seemed to have realized something. Was this... a show of goodwill?

The carriage wound its way down the mountain road. By the time they reached the foot of Mangyang Mountain, twilight had completely faded.

Throughout the journey, Lin Longyue rested with her eyes closed.

Chen Lingxi, however, spent the time doing everything he could to absorb the Dragon Roar Technique etched into his mind.

The last glow of the setting sun was swallowed by the night, and the silhouettes of the mountains gradually blurred into the gloom.

The carriage turned onto a dirt road flanked by a dense pine forest. The night wind howled through the trees, rustling the branches and leaves.

Right then—someone stepped out from the mountains!

The person’s footsteps were incredibly heavy. With every step on the mountain rocks, the ground trembled faintly.

Startled night birds burst from the pines, flapping their wings as they circled and shrieked in the dark.

An intense surge of qi and blood radiated from those footsteps—indescribable and elusive, it made it feel as though what was walking out of the mountains wasn’t a person at all, but a primordial beast that had just broken its chains!

Someone was there!

Since he was still inside the Thorough Awakening space, Chen Lingxi didn’t feel all that much fear.

He pulled aside the curtain and peered out carefully.

Under the thin moonlight, the first thing he saw was a pair of hands!

Those hands reached out from the shadows of the pine forest. The skin was a bizarre jade color, gleaming under the moonlight like actual jade, as if they weren’t made of flesh and blood at all, but carved from stone!

A strange, jade-like flow of qi and blood twisted and drifted around them, faint but unmistakably rolling outward!

’What level of cultivation is this?’ Chen Lingxi was immediately shocked.

Then, he saw those hands shove against the empty air!

It was a push that felt like it could topple a mountain. An impossibly violent surge of qi and blood erupted from the palms, transforming into a raging gale!

It was no ordinary wind; it was a visible, jade-colored storm woven together by countless fine threads of qi and blood!

Wherever the storm swept past, pine trees snapped in half, boulders shattered into powder, and a deep trench was plowed straight into the road!

The storm barreled toward the carriage, its terrifyingly violent power overwhelming everything in its path!

It was too fast.

And too strong.

Chen Lingxi only had enough time to push the strand of green qi in his dantian to its absolute limit, shielding his internal organs.

But the moment the storm of qi and blood hit, the green qi shattered inch by inch like paper.

An unstoppable, colossal force smashed into his chest. His own qi and blood boiled over, and with a sweet taste flooding his throat, he spat out a mouthful of blood.

The power was simply too overwhelming; Chen Lingxi had no way to fight back.

Swept up by the force, he was thrown right out of the carriage. His back slammed against the trunk of an old pine tree before he slumped to the ground.

Lin Longyue was also caught in the terrifying shockwave, sent flying like a kite with a snapped string.

She landed not far from Chen Lingxi, tumbled a couple of times, and passed out entirely.

Her forehead had cracked against a rock, leaving a cut about a cun long. Blood seeped out, trailing down her pale cheek to drip into the dirt.

That blood... was actually fragrant.

It wasn’t the usual coppery sweetness of blood, but an incredibly faint, ethereal floral scent—ethereal, yet unmistakably clear.

It was like a lone plum blossom blooming in the snowy night, radiating a chillingly crisp perfume.

Carried on the night breeze, the scent mixed with the smell of dirt and pine needles. When it reached Chen Lingxi’s nose, it instantly triggered an indescribable, mouth-watering craving.

Just then, a voice rang out from the nearby mountain.

”Do not damage that great medicine.”

The voice wasn’t loud, but it echoed clearly in everyone’s ears.

The tone was as flat as still water, as if instructing someone on the most trivial matter in the world.

Yet the exact moment those words fell, the qi and blood bearing down on Lin Longyue abruptly vanished!

It was as if an invisible hand had clamped around the throat of the jade-colored storm. It ground to a dead halt three chi from Lin Longyue, receding like the tide until it dissolved completely into the night.

Great medicine.

Those two words struck Chen Lingxi’s ears.

Before he had time to think, the storm of qi and blood surged straight for him. The jade-colored energy slammed into his body like a flooding river bursting its banks.

He heard the sound of his own bones snapping. He heard the sizzle of his blood boiling under intense heat. He heard his own heart stop beating against the crushing pressure.

All of his senses abruptly vanished.

Chen Lingxi died!

Boom!

High in the sky, the two precious mirrors suddenly erupted with blinding light!

Two pillars of light crashed down simultaneously, illuminating Chen Lingxi’s shattered corpse.

As the light swirled, the void began to twist, crack, and disintegrate. The mountains and rivers rolled backward, the pine forest crumbled to dust, and every single thing in the world was pulverized into fine powder, vanishing into nothingness.

Thorough Awakening—ended.

”Steal the spiritual awareness of heaven and earth, extract the spiritual essence of past and present.”

Chen Lingxi stood inside the Divine Chamber as the tadpole-like text flashed before his eyes.

His consciousness condensed into a human form, suspended above the churning fog.

The two bright mirrors still hung high in the void. Gold and silver light intertwined as they spilled downward, brightly illuminating his conscious body. Several objects flashed before him, spinning endlessly like a lantern carousel.

There were the five Silver-White Pills, perfectly round like pearls, with faint silver patterns swirling across their surfaces.

There was the Spiritual Qi Jade Bead, flawlessly white through and through, with a faint wisp of green qi slithering inside it like a snake.

And finally, there was the musk deer skin bag, glowing with a soft, jade-like azure light.

’Three items. I can choose one to bring back to the real world.’

Without overthinking it, Chen Lingxi reached out and grabbed the Cosmos Bag.

It felt smooth and rich as fat to the touch. Azure light spilled from the bag, crawling up his fingertips and enveloping his conscious body in a soft glow.

High in the void of the Divine Chamber, countless hairline fractures appeared across the surfaces of the sun and moon mirrors. The cracks spread from the center to the edges, layering over one another like a spiderweb.

A crisp shattering sound followed.

The two bright mirrors shattered completely, turning into countless tiny flecks of light that drifted down through the void of the Divine Chamber before fading into nothingness.

The Cosmos Bag unexpectedly left his body. It hung in the air of the Divine Chamber, its swirling azure light painting the surrounding fog in shades of emerald.

The bag vibrated slightly for a moment before settling back down, suspended quietly like an azure star.

Then the Divine Chamber itself vanished!

Chen Lingxi suddenly snapped his eyes open!

He gasped for air, his chest heaving violently, his clothes drenched in cold sweat.

He was sitting on the yellow dirt floor of the Beast-Fighting Palace. Directly above him hung the gleaming white jade bottle, cascading purple light like a waterfall.

The two bright mirrors were no longer in the sky; only the light of the jade bottle illuminated the massive hall.

He was back.

He had returned once again to the Beast-Fighting Palace.

”Cauldron Artifact’s serendipity, where shall it land?”

Right in front of him, the Venerable Cauldron’s massive human face was staring down at him.

Chen Lingxi kept his mind calm.

He patted his waist. The musk deer skin bag was nowhere to be found.

It wasn’t on his waist; it was resting quietly in the void of his Divine Chamber, waiting to appear in his hand with a single thought.

Taking a deep breath, he turned to look beside him.

Qiu Chihu’s corpse had long since vanished, leaving behind nothing but his luxurious robes piled limply on the ground.

The Gold-Slaughtering Precious Saber was planted point-first in the yellow dirt, its hilt still trembling slightly.

Though the silver patterns on the blade were dim, the edge remained terrifyingly sharp.

Chen Lingxi stepped forward, yanked the Gold-Slaughtering Precious Saber free, and hoisted the blade above his head with both hands.

”I beseech the Venerable Cauldron, let the serendipity land upon this precious saber.”

As his words fell, the surging spiritual essence of heaven and earth flared to life. An ancient, primeval aura flooded in, pouring into the Gold-Slaughtering Precious Saber like water breaking through a dam!

The aura was incredibly dense—so thick it almost felt tangible as it swirled endlessly around the blade.

The precious saber began to shake violently, humming and vibrating!

Holding the saber in both hands, Chen Lingxi felt it growing heavier and heavier, as if thousands of catties of force were converging on it from all directions.

A few breaths later, the trembling slowly died down.

Chen Lingxi lowered his eyes to examine the saber, only to see that the silver patterns on the blade had undergone a massive transformation.

The once-dim silver markings were now shimmering with a faint golden light.

’This saber is far sharper now, and that primeval aura seems to have granted it some unique abilities.’

’But... now isn’t the time to study it.’

Chen Lingxi sheathed the saber and looked up.

The Venerable Cauldron’s floating face was caught by a mountain breeze, instantly scattering into nothingness.

In the spot where the face vanished, a massive gate silently materialized in the empty air.

The Cauldron Artifact’s gate had appeared once more, towering majestically.

Its doors were shut tight, studded with copper nails that shone like stars. The primeval aura swirling across the lintel seemed to be calling out to him, urging him to step through and return to the real world.

With a mere thought, the Cosmos Bag resting in the void of his Divine Chamber instantly appeared in his palm.

He grabbed the saber, and with another thought, the blade transformed into a streak of light, sinking into the Cosmos Bag and vanishing from sight.

Next, he packed away the Spiritual Qi Jade Bead, the five Silver-White Pills, and a thick stack of banknotes he fished out of Qiu Chihu’s robes on the ground.

The banknotes amounted to roughly a thousand taels. Crisp and stamped with official seals, they sank into the azure light of the bag’s inner space, resting right next to the saber and the pills.

With that done, Chen Lingxi recalled the Cosmos Bag into the void of his Divine Chamber. He then sat down cross-legged on the spot, closed his eyes, and resumed cultivating the Dragon Roar Technique.

It wasn’t until half a shichen later that he slowly opened his eyes.

”Ha!” he exhaled softly, the sound of his breath carrying the faint roar of a dragon.

”I think I’ve grasped it. This should be enough.”

He stood up and stepped out through the Cauldron Artifact’s gate!