After the Great Dao Died

Chen Lingxi took the Jade Slip and slowly opened it.

The moment it fully unfurled, he shuddered.

A name was already engraved on the jade.

The characters shimmered with a faint golden light.

[Wu Mohe]!

At the same time, information strangely flooded his mind, as if someone were whispering directly inside his skull, reciting every word with perfect clarity.

Chen Lingxi was astonished.

’Is this the [Qi-Practicing Jade Precept Book] Wu Mohe mentioned earlier?’

According to the information in his mind, Jade Precept Books were treasures scattered across the world, artifacts designed to bind cultivators to their agreements.

’With this treasure, one can bind a Qi Circulation cultivator.’If the signer of a Jade Precept Book fails to fulfill their promise, they will suffer [divine retribution].’

Divine retribution!

He had wondered earlier why both Wu Mohe’s deal with Lin Suri and his own arrangement relied on seemingly empty promises, yet the man showed no fear of being cheated.

’So it was because of this Jade Precept Book.’

Chen Lingxi looked down at the Jade Slip in his hand, a growing yearning for that mysterious, magnificent wider world blooming in his chest.

This Jade Precept Book was merely an insignificant trinket in the greater world, yet it possessed such miraculous power.

What kind of breathtaking places were the Daoxia Academy that Lin Suri had mentioned, or the Southern Heaven Region and Ehai that Ying Chi spoke of?

The wider world was like a boundless treasure trove hidden behind the clouds—full of opportunities, full of possibilities.

Suppressing his excitement, he returned his focus to the Jade Precept Book.

”Three Qi-Gathering Pills in exchange for Daoist Friend taking action on my behalf once.”

This line of text suddenly lit up on the Jade Precept Book, glowing with a faint azure light.

The torrent of information flowed steadily, detailing the terms of the transaction one by one.

The number of Qi-Gathering Pills, the number of times he needed to act, the penalty for breaking the contract, and the time limit for fulfillment—every clause was perfectly clear, leaving no room for ambiguity.

Chen Lingxi read through it word by word. Confirming there were no errors, he no longer hesitated.

As he channeled his spiritual qi, a faint, thread-like azure glow emerged from his fingertip. He slowly carved his name onto the Jade Precept Book.

Chen Lingxi.

As the final stroke fell, the Jade Slip trembled violently.

Chen Lingxi suddenly felt a pair of eyes watching him from the unknown void.

The gaze was mysterious and entirely devoid of emotion, yet it carried an ineffable sense of nobility and immense power, fixing upon a lowly Qi Circulation cultivator like him!

Right at that moment, an exceptionally crisp chime of ringing jade pulled his thoughts back to reality.

The Jade Slip silently split into two halves right down the middle.

One half transformed into a streak of flowing light that shot into the sky, vanishing deep into the clouds without a trace.

The other half landed gently in Chen Lingxi’s palm. It was smooth as suet, swirling with azure light.

Immediately after, another ripple of energy emanated from the Jade Precept Book.

Spiritual energy surged in the empty air, and a small wooden box materialized out of nothing, hovering right in front of him.

Chen Lingxi reached out, took the wooden box, and opened the lid.

Inside sat three neatly arranged pills. Their pristine white bodies were completely flawless, yet they looked entirely unremarkable in the morning light—like three ordinary pearls devoid of any miraculous properties.

But the moment Chen Lingxi probed the pills with his spiritual qi...

His heart gave a violent jolt.

The spiritual energy contained within the pills was so abundant it practically overflowed.

With just a fleeting touch of his qi, an overwhelming torrent of spiritual energy surged backward through his fingertips. It rushed along his meridians straight into his dantian, stimulating that wisp of azure qi until it swelled and trembled frantically.

He hurriedly withdrew his qi, snapped the box shut, and took a deep breath.

”No wonder they’re called Qi-Gathering Pills.”

He muttered softly to himself.

Seeing him put away the pills, the scholar glanced up at the sky, as if looking toward where the streak of light had disappeared.

Then, he cupped his fist in a bow to Chen Lingxi and respectfully said, ”General, please permit me to take my leave.”

Chen Lingxi gave a slight nod.

The scholar straightened up, offered no further words, and turned to quickly depart down the mountain path.

Only Chen Lingxi was left standing alone on the riverbank.

He stowed the half Jade Precept Book and the wooden box together into his Cosmos Bag, a smile finally creeping onto his face. ”I didn’t expect it to go so smoothly.”

With that, Chen Lingxi also made his way down the mountain.

The mountain path of Cuojin Mountain twisted and turned, flanked by dense pine forests. Morning mist lingered stubbornly among the trees, cloaking the entire mountain in a hazy, gray stillness.

’It’s been a few days since I went back; the Baosu Marquis Residence probably thinks I’ve fled.’

He remembered that he hadn’t asked Lin Longyue for leave this time, nor had he informed Liu Que.

In the past, he would have returned within a day at most when leaving the estate to run errands, yet several days had already passed.

With Lin Longyue’s suspicious nature, people had likely already been sent to scour the city for him.

He gently shook his head.

Up in the sky, two precious mirrors hung high like the sun and moon. Golden and silver light complemented one another, bathing all of Cuojin Mountain in a bizarre halo.

This was the Thorough Awakening Spiritual Chamber. There was no need to overthink things.

’I’ll go check on Liujie Alley first.’

One shichen later, Liujie Alley was just up ahead.

It was still the same desolate alleyway.

Chen Lingxi stood before the willow tree, looking up at the abnormally massive plant.

The trunk towered nine zhang high, and its main body, two chi thick, was gnarled like a dragon.

Its branches and leaves were still lush and verdant. In this bleak season of late autumn, there wasn’t the slightest hint of yellowing; instead, it was so green it looked ready to drip emerald hues.

It was as if this single tree had monopolized all the vitality in the entire alley.

He took a deep breath, reached out, and slowly rested his palm against the rough bark.

He urged the wisp of azure qi in his dantian forward, driving it through his meridians and injecting it into the willow tree.

The moment the qi entered the tree!

Chen Lingxi was instantly startled, his brow furrowing deeply!

He witnessed an astonishing scene.

The willow’s roots reached deep underground. The massive network resembled a giant inverted web, spreading out in all directions from the base of the tree.

Thousands upon thousands of roots were densely packed together, almost entirely covering the ground beneath Liujie Alley.

And the very tip of every single root was pierced right into a pool of blood.

Yes, blood.

Real, dark red blood that gave off a foul, metallic stench.

They looked like blood-colored pearls buried beneath the earth, strung together by the willow’s roots as the tree slowly drained something from them.

’There’s this much blood beneath the earth?’

The blood was absorbed by the roots, channeled upwards along their veins to merge into the trunk, and then transported into every branch and leaf.

The entire willow tree was like a monster that fed on blood!

’What is going on with this tree?’

Chen Lingxi was slightly dazed.

Right then, a stream of bizarre information flowed backward along his qi and poured into his mind.

’Sacrifice to the Undying Willow! Within the reach of its roots, sacrifice three mortal lives in exchange for a single willow leaf.’

Chen Lingxi froze.

Undying Willow?

Sacrifice three mortal lives?

He subconsciously looked down toward the nearby pile of rubble.

Wang Kong and those two thugs—that was exactly three lives.

He looked up to see a single willow leaf slowly drifting down from the canopy.

The leaf was slender as a brow and a deep, azure-green, shimmering with a faint, lustrous glow. It spiraled in the morning wind before gently landing in his palm.

At the same time, the effects of the leaf surfaced clearly in his mind, as if someone had carved the knowledge directly into him using qi.

[Hold the willow leaf in the mouth to heal minor injuries.]

Chen Lingxi raised an eyebrow, holding the leaf up to his eyes to study it for a moment.

A cool sensation spread across his palm, like he was gripping a thin piece of green jade.

His right hand still hadn’t left the willow tree.

Right then, the canopy suddenly trembled.

It was like a lazy behemoth whose sweet dreams had been disturbed, reluctantly rolling over.

Thousands of branches swayed in unison, as if swept by a heavy gale.

Immediately after, a supple willow shoot and a completely bare willow branch reached down from the canopy side by side.

The willow shoot was a vibrant, dripping green and as pliant as silk. It swayed gently in the morning breeze like an emerald ribbon.

The branch, however, was withered and completely bare, stripped of every last leaf. Only a faint trace of green remained at the very tip, as if telling Chen Lingxi that it was still alive.

The two hung right in front of him, neither too high nor too low, well within arm’s reach.

It was as if they were telling him.

Shoot or branch. Choose one.

Chen Lingxi raised an eyebrow.

’A reward, even without a sacrifice?’

’Why is that?’

The shoot and the branch hanging before his eyes clearly had nothing to do with the sacrifices.

Unable to figure it out immediately, he decided not to overthink it. He looked down at the bare branch, then at the vibrant, verdant shoot.

The branch was withered, the shoot emerald green; they looked like the two opposing extremes of life and death.

He didn’t hesitate. Reaching out, he gently plucked the green shoot.

It was supple in his hand and warm to the touch, like holding a tender twig snapped off fresh in the spring. It didn’t feel like something from late autumn at all.

At that exact moment, the bare branch slowly withdrew, vanishing back into the dense canopy until it could no longer be seen.

Then, the information about the shoot flowed into Chen Lingxi’s mind.

’Undying Willow shoot... if I refine it with my qi, it can endure a fatal blow in my place?’

Endure a fatal blow in my place.

Those words echoed over and over in his head.

He looked down at the seemingly ordinary shoot in his hand.

It quivered slightly in his palm, giving off a faint warmth like a living creature.

Chen Lingxi was overjoyed.