After the Great Dao Died

The three Jade Qi figures also moved at that exact moment.

Though a half-beat slower than Zhong Wuzhu, their reactions were still astonishingly fast.

The martial artist at Jade Qi Minor Completion swept a hand across his waist. With a sharp ring, his long saber left its sheath.

The blade was extremely long and narrow, shaped like an elongated willow leaf. A faint jade luster flowed across the steel, spreading from hilt to tip.

He stomped the ground, blurring into a jade afterimage that flew low over the earth. His long saber dragged a spark-scattering trench through the dirt as he slashed toward Xi Mu from the flank.

At the same time, the two martial artists at Initial Entry into Jade Qi flanked from left and right, their qi and blood surging like a tide.

The man on the left threw a double punch. Jade light erupted from his knuckles; his fist aura emitted a deep, resonant hum as it tore through the air, crossing the distance to strike straight at Chen Lingxi!

The man on the right leaped into the air, lashing out with legs like twin steel whips. Every kick carried enough force to shatter gold and split stone, weaving a barrage of leg shadows into an airtight net that dropped squarely over Chen Lingxi’s head.

Their coordination was flawless!

Zhong Wuzhu—the strongest among them, wielding his Jade-Suppressing Precious Body—charged the front. The long-saber martial artist at Jade Qi Minor Completion pinned down Xi Mu from the flank, leaving the two Initial Entry into Jade Qi martial artists to seal off Chen Lingxi’s retreat.The four men timed their strikes flawlessly, their angles and force leaving no gaps or wasted movement. The fist aura and leg shadows from the two Initial Entry into Jade Qi martial artists were already less than three zhang from Chen Lingxi.

The jade fist aura was scorching and the leg shadows fierce, churning the surrounding air into chaos.

His robes snapped back against the crushing wind, the loose hair beneath his Ghost Mask whipping wildly.

Yet he did not even furrow his brow.

He merely opened his mouth.

”Hah!”

The Dragon Roar Technique activated.

It sounded like a dragon’s cry!

The sound did not spread outward. Instead, it condensed into an invisible pillar of noise that crashed precisely into the ears of the two Initial Entry into Jade Qi martial artists.

The two men felt a sharp agony in their eardrums. A relentless ringing echoed through their skulls, as if a thousand-jin copper bell had just been struck directly inside their brains.

The sound erupted from within, exploding deep inside their craniums. The shockwave forced their surging qi and blood to an abrupt halt, stalling their momentum and leg shadows for a crucial beat.

One of them even gave a muffled grunt, a trace of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. Pushed to the Subtle stage, the Dragon Roar Technique shook not only the physical body, but the mind, will, and soul itself.

That single breath of hesitation opened a rift between life and death.

Chen Lingxi moved into that rift.

He drew his saber!

The moment the Gold-Slaughtering Precious Saber left its sheath, the world flared with sudden light.

Lightning, cyan glow, and Purple True Precious Qi intertwined upon the blade, condensing into an almost tangible four-chi saber aura.

Wherever the saber aura passed, the air was silently cleaved apart, leaving behind a vanishingly thin vacuum rift.

At the same time, his consciousness shifted.

’Stall Zhong Wuzhu!’

Xi Mu had already received his master’s intent.

The exact moment Chen Lingxi drew his blade, the Undying Willow Puppet moved silently.

With a blur, he blocked Zhong Wuzhu’s path. As spiritual qi surged around him, the fog within a radius of dozens of zhang rushed toward him as though all rivers run into the sea. He raised his right hand and traced a line through the empty air, causing the churning mist to instantly freeze into a wall of ice over a zhang thick and three zhang tall.

The ice wall stood tall and imposing, radiating a biting chill that frosted the dead grass within several zhang into a sickly white.

Zhong Wuzhu’s violently heavy charge slammed right into this wall of ice.

With a deafening boom, ice shards sprayed like rain. The zhang-thick ice wall shattered inch by inch under his collision, cracks spiderwebbing out from the point of impact in all directions.

But though the wall broke, Zhong Wuzhu’s momentum stalled for a fraction of a second.

He snorted in rage, clenching his right fist. Beneath his jade-like armor, his jade aura nebula spun madly as he unleashed a punch that blasted the remaining ice into absolute powder.

Yet Xi Mu’s second technique had already arrived. The fog instantly condensed at Zhong Wuzhu’s feet, transforming into countless ice chains as thick as a child’s arm that slithered up his legs like living things.

As Chen Lingxi’s long saber slashed down, the leading Jade Qi martial artist felt his momentum falter and was forced to retreat explosively.

Meanwhile, Chen Lingxi’s figure wavered where he stood, vanishing on the spot like a wisp of blue smoke.

He dodged the fist aura blasted out by the martial artist on the left. The aura brushed past his robes and smashed into a waist-high boulder several zhang behind him, blowing the rock to pieces in a hail of flying debris.

He then evaded the midair kicks from the martial artist on the right, tapping his toe lightly on the ground. He twisted through the air in an eerie arc, slipping right through the airtight net of legs.

At the same time, he raised his left hand, his five fingers clenching the empty air. [Qi Sea Whirlpool]!

The Qi Sea Whirlpool erupted instantly, an irresistible and overwhelming suction surging from his palm.

The suction was formless and immaterial, yet staggeringly heavy. Like an unseen giant hand descending from the heavens, it dropped squarely onto the head of one of the Initial Entry into Jade Qi martial artists.

Just as the martial artist was about to turn and pursue, the suction trapped him. His entire body suddenly sank, as though a mountain had been dropped onto his shoulders, and his legs involuntarily lagged for a half-beat.

That half-beat was enough to decide his life and death.

In that exact moment, Chen Lingxi reversed the Gold-Slaughtering Precious Saber in his right hand.

The blade slashed upward diagonally from bottom right to top left. It was unimaginably fast, carving a breathtaking yet terrifying three-colored arc through the night.

The Jade Qi expert did not even have time to track the blade’s trajectory; acting purely on instinct, he pushed his jade qi and blood to their absolute limits to condense a thick, jade-like blood barrier in front of him.

The barrier looked indestructible, yet against the piercing edge of the Purple True Precious Qi and the Cyan Edge Method, it was as flimsy as thin paper.

With a soft hiss, the blade light silently cleaved the barrier apart.

The martial artist shuddered violently, looking down at the massive gash stretching diagonally across his chest from his ribs to his shoulder.

An Initial Entry into Jade Qi expert, dead. Chen Lingxi had killed the man in a single strike, but he had no time to catch his breath.

The other Initial Entry into Jade Qi martial artist from the left was already pouncing on him from behind.

At the same time, the long-saber wielder at Jade Qi Minor Completion made his move.

Having been briefly stalled by Xi Mu’s ice wall, he had just broken through the final icy obstacle. Like a jade afterimage sweeping low over the ground, he burst out of the lingering fog.

He raised his willow-leaf saber high. The jade luster on the blade boiled, and as he slashed down, the saber aura cascaded like a jade waterfall dropping from the sky, chopping straight toward Chen Lingxi’s head.

Pincered from front and back, from above and below, the combined assault sealed off all of Chen Lingxi’s escape routes.

Yet Chen Lingxi did not retreat.

He tapped his right foot lightly against the still-falling corpse. His step shattered the body to pieces, and using the momentum, he launched himself forward at a slant, narrowly evading the brunt of the trailing martial artist’s fist aura.

But the shockwave of the fist aura still clipped his back.

A heavy pressure struck his spine, and a faint sweetness crept up his throat as a mouthful of blood nearly surged out.

He forcefully swallowed the blood down, twisting his body in midair to avoid the jade saber aura cleaving down at his head.

The saber aura grazed past his right shoulder, slicing away a large chunk of his robes to expose the flesh beneath. It struck the spot where he had just stood, cleaving a boulder perfectly in half. The cut was as smooth as a mirror, sending stone dust cascading down.

Chen Lingxi landed, and before he could even steady himself, the Initial Entry into Jade Qi martial artist lunged at him again.

Clearly seeing red, the man unleashed a furious storm of punches, every strike aimed mercilessly at Chen Lingxi’s throat, heart, and temples.

Each fist carried the full cultivation of an Initial Entry into Jade Qi expert. The deep, thrumming hum of his aura tore through the air, throwing the atmosphere into total disarray.

Chen Lingxi retreated seven continuous steps.

Every step landed perfectly in the gaps where the enemy’s momentum was exhausted but had not yet renewed. By the seventh step, his back was pressed against a jagged outcropping of rock.

Seeing that he had nowhere left to run, the martial artist’s eyes surged with killing intent. Storing maximum force in his right fist, he threw a punch straight at Chen Lingxi’s face.

”Die!”

The punch was incredibly heavy. Even before the aura hit, the sheer wind pressure made the loose hair beneath Chen Lingxi’s Ghost Mask stand on end.

But Chen Lingxi suddenly stopped retreating.

He raised his left hand, his five fingers clenching the empty air.

The Qi Sea Whirlpool erupted. An irresistible and overwhelming suction poured from his palm, forcibly dragging the incoming fist aura several inches off course.

The punch blasted past Chen Lingxi’s ear and smashed into the rock behind him, shattering it into pieces and raining gravel down around them.

With his strike missing its mark, the martial artist’s body pitched forward involuntarily.

In the moment of that stumble, the long saber in Chen Lingxi’s right hand moved.

It lashed up diagonally from bottom right to top left. It was too fast—so fast that only a three-colored blur reflected in the martial artist’s pupils.

The blade light swept past his throat, jaw, and face, exiting through the crown of his skull and pulling a fine mist of blood into the air behind it.

The martial artist froze in place. His eyes went wide, overflowing with disbelief.

Then, his body split down the middle, collapsing to both sides as a fountain of blood painted the rocks beneath his feet a dark red.

Another one dead.

Chen Lingxi had killed him in a single stroke, but still, there was no time to breathe.

Right then, he abruptly tilted his head.

A jade saber aura cleaved silently toward him from behind. It was entirely too stealthy, devoid of even the faintest whisper of wind—like a viper lurking in the shadows finally baring its fangs.

The sinister face of the Jade Qi Minor Completion martial artist flickered behind the blade light, a cruel smirk already curving his lips.

Chen Lingxi’s pupils contracted slightly, and he bent his knees to jump.

Driven by the profound mechanics of [Qi Flow Eruption], Chen Lingxi’s body lifted into the air with eerie, blinding speed.

At the same time, the light of a spiritual arrow flashed. Revealing its deadly edge, it bypassed the man’s front guard and pierced right between his ribs!

The long-saber wielder grunted, a piercing agony flaring from his right ribs that forced his grip on the hilt to subconsciously loosen.

Chen Lingxi had been waiting for this exact moment.

Borne by the Qi Flow Eruption, Chen Lingxi shifted his angle in midair with uncanny grace, shooting forward seven or eight zhang. Simultaneously, he raised his left hand, pressing his index and middle fingers together like a sword!

Driven to the Subtle stage, the sharp edge of the Cyan Edge Method condensed into a nearly tangible cyan sword aura that hissed at his fingertips.

Raising his hand, he flicked his finger toward the center of the martial artist’s brow—as casually as one might flick a fallen petal from their lapel!

The cyan glow shot from his fingers with inconceivable speed. It drew a vanishingly faint cyan line through the air before sinking silently into the center of the man’s brow.

The martial artist convulsed, his eyes snapping wide open. A hole the size of a finger had appeared right between them. Blood gurgled from the wound, running down the bridge of his nose and dripping onto the blood-soaked rocks below.

Three ordinary Jade Qi experts were now dead.

All of this had happened in the span of a few breaths.

Chen Lingxi landed and lowered his hand, retracting the remaining cyan glow into his body before turning around.

Zhong Wuzhu was still locked in combat with Xi Mu.

This figure at Jade Qi Peak Completion was truly tyrannical to the extreme. Activating his Jade-Suppressing Precious Body, he looked like a genuine deity carved from jade. Every punch carried ten thousand jun of force, and wherever his fist aura swept past, even a small hill would have a crater blown out of it.

The ice walls, shields, and spears condensed by Xi Mu were like papier-mâché before him. He shattered them with a single punch and pulverized them with a single kick.

Yet Xi Mu kept him desperately pinned down, completely unable to break free.

Watching the other three die one by one, he was consumed by fury and unleashed an earth-shaking roar.

The roar contained the full blood vitality of a Jade Qi Peak Completion expert. The sound wave exploded outward like an invisible giant hammer, rattling the trees in the forest, shattering the fresh ice spears Xi Mu had just formed, and leaving the stones humming for dozens of zhang.

But Chen Lingxi did not even furrow his brow. He simply took large, steady strides toward the man, his Gold-Slaughtering Precious Saber drawn once more.

He poured the spiritual qi pooled in his qi sea into the blade without holding anything back. The precious saber ignited, the three-colored saber aura fusing into a flickering, volatile edge along the steel.

Right then, having caught his master’s intent, Xi Mu stopped bothering with ice walls and shields to stall Zhong Wuzhu. Instead, he abruptly shifted his technique.

He clasped his hands loosely in front of him, interlacing his ten fingers. As spiritual qi surged, the churning fog around him instantly transformed.

The once loose, formless mist looked as though an invisible hand were violently pulling and weaving it together, forging dozens of fog chains as thick as a child’s arm.

Those chains lashed toward Zhong Wuzhu from all directions, wrapping him up in layer upon layer.

Zhong Wuzhu’s eyes bulged with rage, pushing his Jade-Suppressing Precious Body to break free.

The jade aura nebula inside him spun madly as jade qi and blood erupted from every pore, shattering the fog chains wrapped around him piece by piece.

But Xi Mu was not aiming to trap him for long with the Method of Mist Binding—he only needed to hold him for a split second.

And a split second was enough.

Chen Lingxi had already closed to within three chi of Zhong Wuzhu.

The distance was far too close.

He curled the fingers of his left hand into a fist, and the qi and blood of the Jade Qi Realm exploded from the very marrow of his bones. His internal jade-like vitality erupted like a volcano that had been suppressed for ages, transforming into a terrifyingly boundless force that condensed right onto his long saber.

One slash to shatter the Jade-Suppressing Precious Body!

Followed instantly by a punch!

The fist smashed solidly into Zhong Wuzhu’s chest!

Zhong Wuzhu gave a muffled groan, vomiting blood.

Yet Chen Lingxi’s assault did not let up in the slightest!

Purple True Precious Qi!

The purple light struck like a violet lightning bolt, stabbing perfectly into Zhong Wuzhu’s chest!

The light sank into the fractured Precious Body and vanished inside Zhong Wuzhu.

Zhong Wuzhu’s entire body seized with violent tremors, and a mouthful of boiling blood welled up in his throat!

And then... this Crown Prince’s martial instructor, this Jade Qi Peak Completion powerhouse, this entity who had cultivated the Jade-Suppressing Precious Body and could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a cultivator at the Qi Circulation 6th Floor, slumped to his knees. His kneecaps crashed into the stone, shattering the rocks beneath him.

Chen Lingxi looked down at him from above, his right hand holding the long saber high in the air. He swung the blade, slashing down.

Zhong Wuzhu’s head hit the ground!

All four Jade Qi experts had now been killed.

In the Crown Prince’s Eastern Palace, Ying Chi, who had been cultivating with his eyes closed, suddenly snapped them open.

Murderous intent radiated from his gaze!

”Chen Lingxi!”