After the Great Dao Died

Enveloped in Heavenly Light, Chen Lingxi looked like a celestial being draped in luminescence!

Rumble!

A terrifying aura erupted from his body, like a volcano that had slumbered for eons finally awakening.

The mountain rocks beneath his feet could not withstand this oppressive might and cracked inch by inch. Fissures spread madly in all directions from the soles of his boots, covering the entire cliff face like a spiderweb.

Crushed stones tumbled into the abyss, smashing against the jagged rocks at the bottom of the cliff with a muffled, thunderous echo.

Behind Chen Lingxi, the phantom of a Precious Visage sat suspended in the void. Its posture was solemn, its face blurred; only a wide robe of light could be faintly seen rippling slowly in the wind.

The Heavenly Light Precious Visage used Heavenly Light as a guide, blessing the user to condense a precious visage over their body.

As long as the visage remained unbroken, the physical body would remain unharmed.

Standing beneath the shroud of the visage, Chen Lingxi felt the irresistible and overwhelming power within him threatening to tear his body apart.

He raised his head, the eyes beneath his Ghost Mask shining as bright as two frigid stars.Chen Lingxi gazed at the frowning Crown Prince in the distance and laughed. ”This Purple True Precious Qi traveled all the way from the Capital... I will accept it as a gift from the Crown Prince!” Before his words even faded, his figure blurred into motion.

The mountain rocks within several zhang of his feet explosively shattered.

Crushed stones sprayed like rain, yet they could not penetrate within three inches of the Heavenly Light enveloping his body.

When the flying debris struck the edge of the visage, it was like hitting an invisible iron wall. The stones silently disintegrated into powder and drifted to the ground.

Chen Lingxi had already transformed into a streak of white light, hurtling straight toward Ying Chi!

The face of Ying Chi’s spiritual light avatar sank like still water.

His bright yellow brocade robe was illuminated by both the purple glow and the Heavenly Light. The intertwining light and shadow made his handsome, jade-like face appear even more ruthless.

”He still has such hidden depth...” Ying Chi narrowed his eyes, his voice perfectly calm.

A gust of mountain wind blew past, and Ying Chi abruptly raised his hand.

The purple glow around his body suddenly condensed, forming a sphere of purple light.

The sphere abruptly swelled. In the blink of an eye, it grew from the size of a fist into a purple wheel of light a full zhang in diameter.

The wheel of light spun madly in his palm. Countless purple lightning arcs, fine as hairs, shot out from its edge with a crackle, tearing visible scorch marks into the surrounding air. ”Go.”

He spat out that single word lightly, and the wheel of light flew from his hand. It expanded in the wind, transforming in the blink of an eye into a purple swath spanning several zhang, sweeping toward Chen Lingxi’s waist with a terrifying, apocalyptic might.

Wherever the purple light passed, rocks melted and vegetation turned to ash. The air was burned into a vacuum, emitting a piercing howl.

”Come!”

Chen Lingxi did not retreat.

Bolstered by the Heavenly Light Precious Visage, his five senses had been elevated to an inconceivable level.

In his eyes, the incoming purple wheel of light seemed to slow to a fraction of its speed. Every flow of radiance and the trajectory of every lightning arc was minutely clear.

He could even see a few extremely fine, faint cracks at the edge of the wheel—the exact spots where the Purple True Precious Qi had not yet fully solidified!

’The Heavenly Light Precious Visage sees through all methods... This talisman is far from as simple as I thought.’ Chen Lingxi marveled inwardly as his entire body shot toward the purple wheel of light like a cannonball fired from its barrel.

While still in midair, his right fist clenched tightly.

The golden glow of the Heavenly Light Precious Visage surged from his shoulder to his knuckles, layering over his fist again and again until it condensed into a blindingly bright golden astral fist. ”Break!”

He let out a furious roar and viciously threw his right fist.

There was nothing flashy about this strike. It was just a simple, straightforward punch.

Yet, this seemingly ordinary punch contained the immense might of the Heavenly Light Precious Visage, the monstrous blood qi of the Jade Qi Realm, and the dense edge of the Cyan Edge Method!

The fist smashed into the purple wheel of light.

Boom!

It was as if two great suns had collided in the void. Blinding golden and purple light exploded simultaneously, dyeing the entire mountain peak into a distorted sea of radiance.

Terrifying shockwaves swept madly in all directions from the point of impact. Wherever they passed, rocks shattered, dead trees snapped, and a thick layer of topsoil was ripped away.

A few Silver Bone martial artists still lingering on the mountain path did not even have time to react before the residual shockwaves swept over them. They grunted and were sent flying backward, slamming heavily into distant rock walls where they coughed up blood and fell unconscious.

The purple wheel of light shattered inch by inch.

The exceptionally condensed Purple True Precious Qi was blasted apart by Chen Lingxi’s punch. It scattered like a purple firework blooming in the night sky, magnificent yet desolate.

Fragments of purple qi fluttered through the air. Whenever they landed on rocks, they burned bottomless holes; whenever they landed on dry grass, clusters of purple flames flared up. Chen Lingxi’s punching momentum did not stop.

Having smashed the purple wheel, his figure shot straight toward Ying Chi’s avatar like a golden meteor.

The Ghost Mask grew larger and clearer in Ying Chi’s vision, the frigid intent in the eyes beneath it almost solidifying into substance.

Ying Chi’s pupils shrank slightly.

He threw both hands forward, his ten fingers flicking continuously. Streaks of purple light arrows shot from his fingertips, hurtling toward Chen Lingxi like a torrential purple rainstorm blown backward.

Every light arrow was astoundingly fast, packing a terrifying piercing force capable of boring through solid metal and stone.

But Chen Lingxi did not dodge or evade.

The purple light arrows struck the Heavenly Light Precious Visage covering his body. Like raindrops striking a bronze bell, they stirred up tiny ripples but could not pierce through the layer of golden light.

The visage did not budge an inch. Its golden light flowed ceaselessly, blocking every single attack a full three inches away.

He crashed into the sky full of arrow rain like a frenzied golden rhinoceros charging into a sea of purple flowers. Wherever he passed, purple light shattered and arrow glares collapsed.

In the mere blink of an eye, he had closed to within three zhang of Ying Chi.

A trace of solemnity finally flashed through Ying Chi’s eyes. The flowing purple light around his body abruptly retracted, completely absorbed into his flesh. He looked just like a red-hot, purple-bronze statue, with dense purple light faintly shining beneath his skin.

He clenched his right fist tightly. The purple light at his knuckles condensed to the absolute limit, forming the phantom of a ferocious dragon’s head with its maw wide open and fangs fully bared.

Ying Chi shouted deeply and viciously threw his right fist.

The fist wind fractured the air, sending ripples outward. Its howl was deep and explosive, making one’s eardrums ache with pain.

Chen Lingxi’s right fist struck out at the exact same moment.

The two fists collided in the void.

A terrifying shockwave of sound, capable of tearing eardrums apart, exploded from the point of impact. It was as if someone had struck a heavenly bell right on the mountain peak.

Where the soundwave swept through, the clouds and mist within a dozen zhang were obliterated. The rocks were shattered inch by inch, tumbling into the abyss with a dull echo.

Under this punch, Ying Chi’s avatar was actually forced several steps back, the purple light on his right arm dimming significantly.

He raised his head, genuine horror appearing in his eyes for the first time.

But Chen Lingxi did not give him a chance to catch his breath. Closing the distance, he unleashed a continuous barrage of punches like a violent storm.

He smashed a fist into the left shoulder of Ying Chi’s avatar. The flowing purple light flickered violently, and the avatar’s left arm instantly dissipated! Punch after punch rained down on the right arm, the left knee, and the right knee. Completely losing its support, Ying Chi’s avatar crashed to the ground like a toppled purple-bronze statue.

Chen Lingxi planted a foot on the avatar’s chest, pinning it firmly to the ground.

The golden glow of the Heavenly Light Precious Visage spread from Chen Lingxi to envelop Ying Chi’s avatar, trapping the Crown Prince’s spiritual light projection like a golden cage.

He raised his right fist high, the golden light on his knuckles thick and dense.

Ying Chi’s avatar lay on the ground, his handsome, jade-like face now twisted beyond recognition.

With all four limbs shattered, purple light leaked out from the stumps strand by strand, just like blood gushing from a wound.

Yet, two irrepressible flames of fury burned in his eyes.

”In this Qi-Depleted Grotto-Heaven, talismans are hard to find...” Ying Chi’s voice was brimming with rage. ”Did you get this talisman from Talisman Master Xi Yu? And you have a Xi Family puppet by your side...”

He paused, his fury-filled eyes locked dead onto Chen Lingxi’s Ghost Mask. ”Just who exactly are you?!”

Chen Lingxi looked down at him, the eyes beneath the Ghost Mask as calm as still water.

He did not answer, merely bringing his raised right fist smashing down.

Boom! The fist smashed right into the avatar’s head.

Wrapped in the golden light of the Heavenly Light Precious Visage and all the blood qi of the Jade Qi Realm, the strike descended from the heavens like a golden hammer weighing ten thousand jun.

With a massive boom, the avatar’s head shattered into pieces, just like a smashed purple jade gourd.

Fragments of purple qi sprayed from the exploded head. They fluttered through the sky, blooming over the mountain peak like purple fireworks.

The fragments varied in size; the larger ones were the size of pebbles or peanuts, while the smaller ones were like grains of rice. They flickered with faint purple light in the night sky as they drifted down onto rocks, dry grass, and into the abyss.

Having lost its head, the avatar’s body could no longer maintain its condensed form.

Like a retreating tide, the remaining purple light flooded madly out from its limbs and bones. The entire avatar turned transparent and blurry at a visible rate before finally transforming into a burst of purple light dust that was blown away by the mountain wind without a trace.

Only his voice echoed behind.

Only a single name, yet brimming with fury!

”Chen Lingxi!”

After that furious roar, the mountain returned to silence.

Only the scattered fragments of purple qi still flickered with a faint glow. Chen Lingxi stood in place, the golden light of the Heavenly Light Precious Visage and the afterimages of the purple qi fragments still lingering on his right fist.

”This kind of power...”

Chen Lingxi’s eyes sparkled. His gaze swept around the area, and he suddenly opened his mouth.

A streak of purple light spewed from his lips—it was precisely that strand of Purple True Precious Qi.

Like an awakened purple spirit snake, the purple qi slithered out from between his teeth, circled once in the air, and lunged toward the scattered purple qi fragments.

As if opening a wide maw to devour its prey, it swept up the fragments one by one.

With every purple qi fragment it swallowed, its body grew a fraction more solid and its color a shade richer.

Starting as a pale purple strand fine as silk, it gradually thickened to the size of a pinky finger and turned deep purple. Flickering and flowing in the night, it looked exactly like a real purple snake swimming through the void.

Moreover, this Purple True Precious Qi still contained a great deal of unrefined purple qi!

”This Crown Prince really did come to deliver me a gift!”

A smile appeared on the corner of Chen Lingxi’s mouth, but he had no time to savor this unexpected harvest.

Because on this mountain, another slaughter was still ongoing. The battlefield between Xi Mu and the female cultivator Luo Ran had already shifted from the mountainside to the summit.

Luo Ran’s plain white dress was in tatters, slashed by ice shards and sword marks. Cloud ropes and ice walls clashed madly across the mountain, each collision blasting a sky full of ice crystals and cloud wisps.

There was absolutely no expression on Xi Mu’s hollow face. He mechanically channeled one freezing spell after another, locking Luo Ran down completely.

And at this moment, Luo Ran also witnessed the scene of Ying Chi’s avatar being blasted to death.

Her pupils abruptly shrank, and she immediately retreated in a burst of speed.

Her figure moved like a wisp of white smoke scattered by the wind as she tried to break free from Xi Mu’s ice array.

But how could Xi Mu let her get her wish?

Receiving Chen Lingxi’s mental command, Xi Mu forcefully clapped his hands together in the void. The clouds and mist within a hundred zhang were seemingly grabbed by an invisible giant hand, instantly freezing into an inverted ice prison that trapped Luo Ran alongside himself.

Luo Ran gritted her silver teeth and gently brushed her right hand across her waist.

A ring was summoned from her Vast Void Pouch.

The ring was exceedingly small and thin. Its entire body was dark silver, and embedded in its face was a black bead smaller than a grain of rice.

This was her greatest trump card—the magical artifact, the Profound-Pointing Sword Furnace. Though called a sword furnace, it was actually a ring.

The ring slipped onto her right index finger, and Luo Ran pointed at the sky.

The tiny black bead abruptly lit up, and an extremely fine, faint sword light shot out from it.

At first, the sword light was barely an inch long and as thin as a silver needle. But it grew in the wind, transforming in the blink of an eye into a green-jade sword light a zhang long, circling and pulsing at her fingertip.

”Go,” she shouted lightly. The sword light flew from her finger, moving inconceivably fast. It left a green-jade afterimage in the air as it slashed straight toward Xi Mu.

Layers of ice walls surged around Xi Mu. Ice barriers several chi thick erected themselves in front of him like suspended ice shields.

But the sword light was too sharp. So sharp that the ice walls were like thin paper before it.

Cracking sounds rang out endlessly. The first ice wall shattered on impact, the second split down the middle. The third, fourth, fifth... Wherever the sword light passed, ice shards sprayed like rain. In just the blink of an eye, seven or eight ice walls were completely cleaved apart by the green-jade sword light.

Its momentum undiminished, the sword light slashed straight for Xi Mu’s neck.

Xi Mu’s figure swayed, barely dodging the direct edge of the sword light.

However, the sword light brushed past his shoulder, severing his entire left arm cleanly at the joint.

Spiritual qi surged from the severed stump as the vital energy of the Undying Willow Branch madly tried to repair the wound. Yet, the piercing sharpness embedded within the sword light actually slashed apart the mending granulation tissue, leaving the wound utterly unable to heal. Having unleashed this sword light, Luo Ran’s face turned extremely pale, as if her spiritual qi had been severely depleted.

She had never fully refined such a treasure; forcefully driving it resulted in exactly this outcome.

This was precisely why she had not used the sword furnace until absolutely necessary.

Now that she had forced Xi Mu back, she wanted to flee...

Except... the visage on Chen Lingxi’s body had yet to fade, and he had already arrived!

Cloaked in the golden glow of the Heavenly Light Precious Visage, Chen Lingxi smashed his way in through a gap in the ice prison.

The Gold-Slaughtering Precious Saber was already gripped in his hand. The faint golden patterns on the blade shone blindingly bright, fine lightning crackled, and the cyan glow of the Cyan Edge Method intertwined with the golden light of Profound Qi. Together, they condensed into an unstable, pulsing saber astral upon the blade.

He closed in on Luo Ran and swung his saber in a brutal slash.

The strike was inconceivably fast.

Luo Ran’s pupils shrank. The remaining spiritual qi in her body surged madly, devouring the spiritual essence of her 6th Floor Golden Blood to generate even more spiritual qi.

Such a method damaged one’s foundation, but she had no other choice.

Her fingertips flicked continuously, firing three consecutive streaks of sword light through the mist. Each one was as fast as lightning, shooting toward Chen Lingxi in a triangular formation. Yet Chen Lingxi did not evade in the slightest. The golden glow of the Heavenly Light Precious Visage condensed into an armor of light several inches thick over his body, and he crashed headlong into the three streaks of sword light.

The sword light slammed into the light armor, producing an ear-piercing clang of clashing metal. The light armor flickered violently, actually being slashed into cracks by the three streaks of spiritual light.

But though cracks formed, the light armor did not shatter.

Chen Lingxi smashed through the first two sword lights, but the third swept past his side, slashing straight into the Gold-Slaughtering Precious Saber in his right hand.

Under this strike, the precious saber that had accompanied him for so long let out a wail of sorrow. The faint golden patterns on its blade flickered violently a few times before the weapon snapped right down the middle.

The severed half of the blade flew off and embedded itself in a distant ice wall, its hilt still trembling slightly. The cross-section was as smooth as a mirror; it had actually been sliced cleanly off by that single streak of sword light.

Chen Lingxi groaned muffledly. The recoil from the strike tore the webbing of his right hand, and blood trickled down his fingers.

However, he used this exact opportunity to close within five chi of Luo Ran.

At this moment, for someone like Chen Lingxi, this distance was the distance between life and death.

He discarded the broken saber and tightly clenched his right fist. The golden glow of the Heavenly Light Precious Visage and the blood qi of the Jade Qi Realm intertwined and condensed over his knuckles, transforming into a brilliant golden astral fist.

”Die!”

There was nothing flashy about this punch, no technique at all—only the purest power and the most direct killing intent. The fist slammed right into Luo Ran’s chest.

In that moment, Luo Ran’s gentle face finally lost all its color.

Her remaining spiritual qi churned as she tried to condense one final protective cloud barrier. But in front of Chen Lingxi’s astral fist, that barrier was like a thin mist—pierced straight through.

Boom!

The astral fist drove right through her body, blowing out her back. A cloud of blood mist sprayed from behind her, dyeing her tattered white dress a shocking dark red.

The light in her eyes froze in that instant. Her body plummeted from the mountain peak like a kite with a snapped string, smashing heavily against the jagged rocks below.

Chen Lingxi dropped down after her, planting a foot beside her as he looked down at this cultivator under the Crown Prince’s command.

She did not die immediately. Supported by the spiritual essence of her Golden Blood, the vitality of a Qi Circulation 6th Floor cultivator was simply too tyrannical. Even with her chest caved in and her heart shattered, she still clung to a breath of life.

Her gaze was completely devoid of its previous aloofness; instead, it held a trace of pleading...

”Exalted Cultivator! Milord!”

”I come from a minor sect, I had no choice in this...”

Chen Lingxi paid her absolutely no heed and stomped his foot down! The female cultivator’s head exploded.

Xi Mu, holding his severed arm, jumped down behind him and reattached the limb himself.

The Undying Willow Branch surged with profound vitality from within Xi Mu’s body, fusing the severed arm back into place.

Chen Lingxi crouched down, rummaged through Luo Ran’s corpse, and untied the palm-sized, dark gray Vast Void Pouch from her waist. He also pulled off that sword qi ring.

Since Luo Ran was dead, the restrictions on the Vast Void Pouch dissipated as well. Chen Lingxi injected his spiritual qi, probing the space inside completely unhindered.

Sure enough, there were several treasures inside that contained extremely dense spiritual qi.

He had no time to examine them closely, simply sweeping all of them into his own Qiankun pouch.

’Now that the Crown Prince has seen my hidden depths today, he will definitely use everything in his power to kill me. I cannot stay at Mount Qiaoji or even within Jingji Province for the time being.’

Chen Lingxi’s eyes flickered. ’I’ll go hide out in Lunan Province’s Nanju Twelve Mountains for a while.’

He immediately returned to the Mount Qiaoji Cave, grabbed various array-formation materials, and prepared to head down the mountain.

Just at that moment, however, he suddenly frowned.

Two people had arrived outside the cave. Yet he hadn’t sensed them at all.