After the Great Dao Died

Chen Lingxi quietly returned to Cuojin Mountain and activated the Absolute Perception Divine Ability!

Instantly, the two bright mirrors suspended in the void of the Divine Chamber flared with light.

One burned blazing gold like the sun, the other silvery white like the moon. Together, they cast dazzling pillars of light, illuminating the body his consciousness had formed within the Divine Chamber.

He immediately felt the world flip upside down. Light and shadow blurred as an unimaginably massive force swept him up, plunging him into the churning thick fog deep within the Divine Chamber.

When his vision cleared, Chen Lingxi was standing amid the mountains of the Divine Chamber. The two treasure mirrors hung high above like the sun and moon, bathing the peaks in a clear, pure radiance.

He rested for a moment. Once the slight dizziness faded, he left Cuojin Mountain without hesitation.

’There are still three days before the Ancestral Mountain Maternal Qi emerges. I might as well go fleece the Credit Peddler while I can,’ he thought.

Chen Lingxi had not forgotten the Credit Peddler.

The man was an absolute mystery. He possessed an endless stream of treasures, yet strangely, he only ever asked to be repaid with a ”future treasure.”

Ever since encountering him on Ancestral Mountain during his last use of Absolute Perception, Chen Lingxi could not shake the feeling that the Credit Peddler hid many profound and wondrous secrets.’This Credit Peddler is no ordinary seeker of truth... He must be incredibly powerful, quite possibly on par with figures like Imperial Consort Chun and Xi Yu,’ he thought. ’But since I don’t have to pay a real price in the Absolute Perception Divine Chamber, I can safely test him again. If I can get a treasure for free, that would be perfect.’

He walked out of the King of the East’s Traveling Palace, bent his knees, and leaped. He instantly cleared dozens of zhang, landing on the mountain path before heading straight toward Ancestral Mountain.

Ancestral Mountain was shrouded in thick fog year-round. From a distance, it looked like a giant beast crouching by the Yuanjiang River. The gray mist churned like ocean waves, completely obscuring everything above the mountainside.

Chen Lingxi stepped into the mist. The trees lining the mountain path were reduced to blurry silhouettes in the fog, and even the sound of the wind was entirely shut out. A deathly silence hung over everything.

After walking for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the fog ahead suddenly began to churn violently, as if something were stirring deep within the sea of mist.

Chen Lingxi stopped and looked up, spotting a stone sitting beside the path not far ahead.

The stone was about half the height of a man and completely dusty gray. It looked just like any other ordinary rock found on the mountain, entirely unremarkable.

Chen Lingxi, of course, recognized it.

During his last use of Absolute Perception, the Credit Peddler had walked right out of this very stone.

Sure enough, a few breaths later, a faint ripple spread across the stone’s surface, like a pebble breaking the calm of a pond to send out layer upon layer of ripples.

A thin crack opened right in the center of the stone, leaking a faint green light. The fissure widened, and the rock face contorted like kneaded clay until a figure finally stepped out.

He was dressed in his usual peddler’s garb, a smile on his face. It was none other than the Credit Peddler!

The Credit Peddler stepped free of the stone and looked up at Chen Lingxi.

Wearing his signature sly smile, his bright eyes swept up and down Chen Lingxi. He suddenly extended his right hand, his thumb rapidly tapping against the joints of his index and middle fingers to perform a quick calculation.

Chen Lingxi watched him impassively.

But this time, the Credit Peddler’s brow furrowed.

His rapidly tapping fingers suddenly halted, freezing right on the second joint of his middle finger.

A dozen breaths passed.

The Credit Peddler finally looked up, his clear eyes revealing a flash of genuine surprise for the first time.

”How strange,” he muttered under his breath, pinching his fingers to calculate once more.

His fingers moved even faster this time, but his frown only deepened.

A few breaths later, the Credit Peddler lowered his hand. The sly grin had faded somewhat, replaced by an indescribably odd expression as he stared at Chen Lingxi.

For a moment, he could not actually divine what the man in front of him wanted. Or rather, this person was just too bizarre.

’This guy actually wants absolutely everything...’ the Credit Peddler marveled inwardly.

He had met countless cultivators. Some sought cultivation methods, some sought medicinal pills, some sought magical artifacts, and some sought to extend their lifespans.

Whoever came to strike a deal with him always had a specific desire in mind, which he could deduce with a simple pinch of his fingers.

Yet this person before him... no matter how he calculated, all he saw was a hazy chaos.

And within that chaos lay so many different desires that he could not get a clear reading.

’He wants methods, he wants pills, he wants artifacts, he wants formations. It’s as if he wants to hoard every good thing in this world,’ the peddler thought.

The Credit Peddler could not help but give Chen Lingxi a few extra glances, finding the man simply too greedy.

Since he could not figure it out, he simply gave up trying.

”I am the Credit Peddler, and my load holds a myriad of wonders!” he declared, retracting his fingers with a broad grin. ”Fellow Daoist, what is it that you seek?”

Chen Lingxi feigned surprise and lowered his head as if deep in thought.

He really was thinking. Over a dozen breaths passed before he recalled the impending battle for the Mother Qi and finally looked up. ”I want a treasure. The greater its power, the better.”

A sharp gleam flashed through the Credit Peddler’s eyes, and he began calculating on his fingers again.

This time, he figured it out extremely fast. His thumb tapped across his joints a few times, and that sly smile returned to his face.

He looked up, beaming at Chen Lingxi. ”And just how great is ’great’?”

Chen Lingxi did not bat an eye. ”Preferably, something that can kill a cultivator of the Heaven-Facing Three Floors,” he said flatly.

The smile on the Credit Peddler’s face stiffened instantly.

A bizarre expression flitted across his handsome features. It looked as though he wanted to laugh but could not, and wanted to get angry but felt it was not worth the effort.

He looked Chen Lingxi up and down, his gaze sweeping from head to toe and back again. His eyes practically screamed, ’Are you messing with me?’

It took a long time before the Credit Peddler finally spoke. ”Fellow Daoist, you are merely at the Qi Circulation 6th Floor. A Qi Circulation 6th Floor cultivator trying to kill a Heaven-Facing Three Floors expert?”

He paused and shook his head, his tone absolute. ”That is nothing but an idiot’s daydream.”

Chen Lingxi’s expression remained unchanged. Taking a step back, he offered, ”Something that can kill someone at the Qi Circulation 9th Floor would be acceptable too.”

The Credit Peddler stayed silent, just staring at him. There was no emotion on his clear, handsome face; he neither nodded nor shook his head, just quietly watching him.

His bright eyes even held a trace of exasperation, as if he were looking at a clueless greenhorn demanding an astronomical price.

A Qi Circulation 6th Floor cultivator wanting to kill a 9th Floor master? Did he think he was the personal disciple of some True Lord? That he carried a Killing Power Cauldron Vessel?

He could not even be bothered to speak.

Seeing his silence, Chen Lingxi took one more step back. ”In that case, I suppose I could make do with something that can defeat a Qi Circulation 7th Floor cultivator.”

This time, the exasperation vanished from the Credit Peddler’s face.

He nodded with a smile. ”I do indeed have an immensely powerful treasure right here, but you will need to exchange something for it.”

Chen Lingxi nodded in agreement and, just like last time, asked what that something was.

The Credit Peddler smiled again. ”Just trade it for an item you will obtain in the future.”

Just as expected, that same line again.

Chen Lingxi’s heart stirred, but keeping a straight face, he nodded once more.

He was not afraid of the peddler claiming a future treasure; he was only afraid the man would refuse the deal. After all, this was the Absolute Perception Divine Chamber. No matter what the Credit Peddler asked for, Chen Lingxi would not have to actually hand it over.

Seeing him agree so readily, the peddler’s smile grew even more radiant.

Reaching inside his coarse short-jacket, he pulled out a wooden box.

The box was only the size of a palm, crafted from dark wood without any carvings. Only a small copper clasp held it shut. It looked like an old, unremarkable wooden casket that an ordinary family might use to store odds and ends.

The Credit Peddler handed it to Chen Lingxi.

Chen Lingxi took the box and gently flicked the copper clasp. The lid sprang open.

Twenty-four beads rested inside.

They were about the size of a thumb, dark gold in color, with surfaces as smooth as mirrors. They gave off a clear, cold gleam in the mist.

Each bead was carved with intricate, eerie patterns that linked together, seeming to flow with spiritual light, as if a glowing net had been woven across their surfaces.

What alarmed Chen Lingxi even more was the strange, faint resonance between the twenty-four beads. It was as if they were not independent objects, but different components of a single artifact set. Missing even one would drastically reduce their overall power.

”These are the Lord’s Demon-Slaying Twenty-Four Mystic Beads,” the Credit Peddler’s voice drifted over, carrying a hint of pride. ”I crafted them by observing a great figure’s treasure and imitating its divine intent.”

”This treasure only requires the tiniest sliver of spiritual qi to trigger instantly. Once unleashed, all twenty-four beads fire at once, descending like twenty-four strikes of the Lord’s demon-slaying power. Its might is easily enough to help you overcome a 7th Floor noble cultivator.” He paused here, his tone suddenly shifting to one of regret. ”However, after that single use, these Twenty-Four Mystic Beads will turn to dust and scatter in the wind.”

Chen Lingxi looked down at the twenty-four dark gold beads in the box, then picked one up.

It was slightly heavy in his hand and cold to the touch, like gripping a pebble dredged from the depths of a freezing pool.

He tentatively channeled a minuscule thread of his spiritual qi into it. In an instant, the patterns on the mystic bead ignited, shifting from dark gold to brilliant gold, then to blinding white, before finally settling into a nearly transparent, pale golden light.

At the same time, the other twenty-three beads in the box lit up, shining together in the mist like twenty-four tiny stars.

Chen Lingxi could feel a dense, mysterious power circulating among the beads, like twenty-four small streams emptying into the same lake. The pressure built, growing heavier and fuller, waiting only for the floodgates to open to transform into an apocalyptic torrent.

He hastily withdrew his spiritual qi. The light on the twenty-four mystic beads receded like the tide, and in the blink of an eye, they returned to their original dark gold appearance.

He remained silent for a moment, then gave a slight nod.

It could only be used once.

That was not really a surprise.

A treasure that allowed a Qi Circulation 6th Floor cultivator to defeat someone at the 7th Floor could never be ordinary. If it could be used repeatedly, it would be a supreme artifact—and it would not have fallen into his hands so easily.

”Since that is settled, the deal is struck,” the peddler said. ”Fellow Daoist, we only make this exchange once. The next time we meet, I will be coming to collect that treasure.”

Seeing him accept the item, the Credit Peddler’s smile shone even brighter. He cupped his hands in a salute, took a step back, and his body dissolved like melting mist, sinking inch by inch back into the stone behind him.

A moment later, the stone returned to its dusty gray state, completely devoid of anything unusual.

Chen Lingxi stored the wooden box in his Vast Void Pouch, then turned and walked away.

After sinking into the stone, the Credit Peddler did not immediately leave.

He sat cross-legged in a dark void, surrounded by a bizarre space woven from fine specks of light and fog.

The sly grin had completely vanished from his face, replaced by total confusion.

He pinched his fingers to calculate again, and then again, his bright eyes wide with surprise.

”I made an agreement with that person to obtain the Six Qi True Method,” he muttered to himself. ”I clearly foresaw that a ’potential’ person in this Grotto-Heaven would need this wondrous technique! So why hasn’t anyone shown up...”

He shook his head and let out a sigh. ”Strange, how strange...”

Before his words could fade, his figure vanished entirely into the dark void. Only a few faint wisps of gray mist lingered on the surface of the stone for a moment before they too dissipated.

Chen Lingxi exited Ancestral Mountain, but he did not head down right away. Standing at the foot of the fog-shrouded peak, a sudden thought crossed his mind.

’The Mother Qi emerges in three days. I should familiarize myself with the terrain of Ancestral Mountain first. It will give me a better edge when the fight breaks out,’ he decided.

With that thought in mind, he wasted no time. Taking a deep breath, he circulated both his Jade Qi Realm blood energy and his Qi Circulation 6th Floor spiritual qi simultaneously.

The two forces ran perfectly parallel within him. His blood energy boiled like steam, while his spiritual qi flowed like a river forming a vortex, pushing his speed to an astonishing level.

With a light tap of his toe against the ground, he shot several zhang into the air and dashed forward for over a dozen zhang. The wind filled his robes, making them snap loudly. He moved like a wisp of green smoke flying low to the ground, darting rapidly through the thick fog.

Ancestral Mountain was not particularly massive; it only spanned a few li from the base to the peak.

Chen Lingxi traversed many corners of the mountain, carefully committing them to memory.

It took him a full five or six hours to roughly map out the terrain.

The mountain had three main peaks arranged in a triangle.

Between the three peaks lay a bottomless gorge where the fog was the thickest, so dense you could not even see your hand in front of your face.

Several streams cut across the mountainside, their jade-green waters faintly visible through the mist.

The peak was extremely flat, like an overturned bowl, dotted with a few twisted old pines. Their needles were a vibrant, dripping green, without a trace of yellow despite the heavy fog engulfing the summit. He also memorized all the boulders, caves, cliffs, and dense woods. Only when he was certain he knew them like the back of his hand did he finally descend.

By the time he returned to the cliffside cave on Cuojin Mountain, the night had fully settled in.

Outside, the northern wind cut like a knife, sweeping up broken snow and slamming it against the cliff face with a rustling hiss.

Chen Lingxi sat cross-legged on the flat bluestone in the center of the cave. He closed his eyes, focused his mind, and sank his consciousness into his Qiankun Pouch.

His hand reached inside, and when he pulled it out, he was holding an urn.

It was the Cauldron Vessel Fragment—the Taotie Urn!