After the Great Dao Died

The blood mist Rong Chun had dissolved into finally scattered.

Chen Lingxi stood before it, the spiritual qi around his body still surging restlessly.

’I suppose that settles the blood feud,’ Chen Lingxi thought, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Not far away, a jade bracelet had fallen from the blood mist and landed on the riverbank.

Moonlight spilled over the bracelet, coaxing a faint, incredibly soft halo from the lustrous white jade. As the light flowed, countless dense and intricate patterns could faintly be seen drifting slowly beneath its surface.

”This is Imperial Consort Chun’s Vast Expanse Treasure.”

Chen Lingxi used his divine sense and spiritual qi to draw the jade bracelet into his hand.

It felt slightly heavy in his grip and warm to the touch, a stark contrast to the cold, hard texture of ordinary jade.

He turned it over and examined it briefly before putting it away for the moment.

His mind, however, was not on the jade bracelet.The moment Rong Chun dissolved into blood mist, he had already quietly activated the Method of Life Devouring. ’Rong Chun was a cultivator at the Eighth Floor of Qi Circulation with immensely dense spiritual qi. Let’s see what benefits I stand to gain by devouring the life of an Eighth Floor cultivator with this Method of Life Devouring.’

The instant Chen Lingxi circulated the Method of Life Devouring, a torrent of spiritual qi rushed toward him from all directions. It transformed into cyan threads—barely visible to the naked eye—that frantically surged into his qi sea through his pores, his meridians, and the one hundred and eight vital apertures across his body.

This spiritual qi was simply too vast, so overwhelming that Chen Lingxi could feel his qi sea swelling under the pressure.

He hurriedly activated the Six Qi True Method, guiding that spiritual qi through a full circulation of his meridians while slowly gathering and compressing it thread by thread. He drew it into his spiritual pool, storing it away to be carefully refined later.

’Although the simplified Method of Life Devouring isn’t as tyrannical as the complete Taotie Urn divine ability, which can devour an opponent’s entire reserve of spiritual qi in an instant...’

’...even so, this residual spiritual qi from Rong Chun is worth several months of my usual bitter cultivation,’ he thought.

Chen Lingxi felt a surge of joy.

Right at that moment, a strange fluctuation suddenly pulsed from his Vast Void Pouch.

Chen Lingxi’s mind stirred, and he extended his divine sense into the pouch.

”The Host Star Stone?”

The Host Star Stone was lying quietly in a corner of the pouch. The spot on the stone where the characters for ”Rong Chun” had originally been carved was now completely blank.

Those two characters had quietly vanished, as if they had never existed at all. In their place, an extremely faint and subtle starlight now rippled across the stone’s surface.

It looked as though a genuine star from the heavens had been embedded into this tiny piece of stone, slowly radiating a clear, cool glow.

’The Fated Star has fallen, and the opportunity lies within this Host Star Stone.’

Chen Lingxi took out the Host Star Stone and infused his spiritual qi into it.

In an instant, he felt an indescribably heavy and profound power suffusing outward from the depths of the stone!

This power was entirely different from ordinary spiritual qi of heaven and earth. It was much deeper and heavier, faintly containing some ineffable, profound mystery of the Dao.

Bathed in this power, Chen Lingxi felt his qi sea begin to churn and surge entirely on its own.

The spiritual liquid within his qi sea seemed to jump for joy, cheering and yearning, waiting for him to thoroughly refine this power and make it his own!

”The Host Star Stone...” Chen Lingxi murmured the name, two blazing lights igniting in his eyes.

He took a deep breath, temporarily suppressing the agitation in his heart. His gaze swept across the riverbank before suddenly landing on a pile of jagged rocks not far away.

There, a tiny object lay quietly beside a smooth pebble.

”It’s that Lustrous White Heavenly Boat Rong Chun was riding,” Chen Lingxi said, his eyes lighting up.

Having lost the support of its master’s spiritual qi, it had shrunk to the size of a palm, and the flowing spiritual light upon its hull had dimmed.

Chen Lingxi sent out his divine sense and swept the small boat up.

He probed the boat with his divine sense, immediately channeling his spiritual qi to flow through the intricate, complex patterns carved into its interior.

He offered a silent word of praise.

’Rong Chun suffered such severe injuries. If not for this heavenly boat, she would never have been able to flee this far. This is indeed a fine treasure.’

Chen Lingxi stored the heavenly boat in his Vast Void Pouch, then sent his divine sense into the jade bracelet he had taken from Rong Chun.

The restrictions on the jade bracelet had naturally dissipated the moment Rong Chun died.

His divine sense swept into it without any resistance. In an instant, everything within the bracelet’s small pocket space was clearly reflected in his mind.

He frowned slightly.

The Mirror Listening Treasure was nowhere to be found inside this jade bracelet!

He had assumed that Imperial Consort Chun would undoubtedly keep her Mirror Listening Cauldron Vessel—the treasure capable of divining good and ill fortune—on her person at all times. To his surprise, this wasn’t the case. ’This is a bit strange,’ Chen Lingxi thought, feeling somewhat disappointed.

He had expected to seize the Mirror Listening Cauldron Vessel upon killing Rong Chun.

Even when Lin Suri and Wu Mohe were corresponding, they had mentioned that possessing this Mirror Listening treasure would make fighting for other Cauldron Vessels far easier in the future.

Furthermore, Rong Chun’s ability to control all the officials in the Great Li imperial court and decide a person’s life or death with a single word relied entirely on the Mirror Listening ability of this Cauldron Vessel Fragment.

Yet now, this treasure was absent from her Vast Expanse jade bracelet.

He suddenly recalled the abrupt white light that had descended upon Rong Chun during the Fated Star illusion.

’There are other Qi Circulation cultivators in the palace. Perhaps this Mirror Listening Cauldron Vessel isn’t controlled by Rong Chun alone.’

Chen Lingxi temporarily pushed these thoughts aside.

His attention was soon drawn by the other treasures inside the jade bracelet.

’There are quite a few treasures in this jade bracelet.’

The space within the bracelet wasn’t overly large—only about a zhang square—but it was packed with a dazzling array of items.

There were spirit mushrooms and spirit grasses brimming with spiritual qi, a full nineteen spirit stones the size of fingernails, and numerous bottles and jars sealed with various pills and elixirs. Chen Lingxi swept his divine sense over the treasures one by one, raising his brow slightly.

”As expected of an Imperial Consort,” he muttered to himself.

”However...” Chen Lingxi examined the treasures over and over again, his frown deepening. ”Although these spiritual qi treasures and pills are precious, Imperial Consort Chun’s foundation hardly seems substantial.”

The Eighth Floor of Qi Circulation could already be considered extremely formidable within this Qi-Depleted Grotto-Heaven.

Even the likes of Lin Suri and Lu Baizhong were currently only at the Seventh Floor of Qi Circulation.

With their opportunities and foundations, even those two had managed to gather a wealth of treasures from this grotto-heaven.

But what about this Rong Chun?

She was at the Eighth Floor of Qi Circulation, yet aside from that terrifyingly powerful Sacred Character Rune, there were barely any decent treasures inside this jade bracelet.

A Qi Circulation Eighth Floor cultivator, a noble consort who could summon the wind and rain in the Great Li imperial court, actually carried so little on her person?

The more Chen Lingxi thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed.

He suddenly remembered Rong Chun’s crazed, deranged demeanor just before her death.

’If Rong Chun really is just a clone like she claimed...’ Chen Lingxi silently repeated those words in his mind, then gently shook his head. ’If Rong Chun is truly just a clone, could she have possibly fooled the Host Star Stone Cauldron Vessel?’

The fading of her name from the Host Star Stone proved the Fated Star had fallen, confirming beyond a doubt that Rong Chun was dead.

’I shouldn’t overthink it. Rong Chun is definitely dead.’

Chen Lingxi shook his head and delayed no longer, leaping into the air.

A Qi Sea Whirlpool exploded beneath his feet, lifting his body high into the air.

He walked through the air, his robes snapping loudly in the night wind as he flew toward the three towering mountains in the distance.

Upon reaching the first mountain, he found a cave set into a cliff face.

This time, he made no effort to conceal his presence. He simply brought the Host Star Stone out again and infused a wisp of spiritual qi into it.

The instant his spiritual qi entered the stone, the starlight upon its surface suddenly flared brilliantly. It was as if a true star had been ignited, casting a radiant, starry river across the entire cave.

An ancient aura gushed from the stone, as though millions of years of accumulated time had been poured out all at once.

In a flash, he sensed the profound opportunity within.

There were a full three unimaginably powerful auras coiled deep within the Host Star Stone! ’The fall of the Fated Star has left three opportunities inside this Host Star Stone.’

The first aura hung in the very center of the Host Star space.

It was an incredibly heavy mass of spiritual qi, so condensed it was almost tangible, and carrying a hidden Dao mystery. This was the very aura Chen Lingxi had sensed earlier.

The second aura was coiled on the eastern side of the Host Star space. Shockingly, countless characters flowed within it.

’It’s actually a spell technique.’

The moment Chen Lingxi’s divine sense brushed against that aura, countless words flooded into his Sea of Consciousness.

A few breaths of time passed, and Chen Lingxi let out a long exhale.

’Heaven-Seizing Seal!’

’Seizing the spiritual essence of heaven and earth to form a massive hand seal that blots out the sky, suppressing all enemies... This is Imperial Consort Chun’s spell technique.’

In the Absolute Perception Deduction, Imperial Consort Chun had used this technique multiple times.

This spell technique was truly extraordinary. In terms of pure killing power alone, it was likely much stronger than his Cyan Edge Method.

’If I can master this technique, I’ll have gained another offensive method.’ As Chen Lingxi pondered, his divine sense fell upon the third aura.

It was also a spell technique, yet it was completely different from the Heaven-Seizing Seal.

When Chen Lingxi probed it with his divine sense, a sensation of weightless agility washed over his face.

’Cloud-Soaring Technique.’

Chen Lingxi was surprised. ’The Cauldron Vessel truly has a spirit. It knows exactly what I’m lacking right now.’

The Cloud-Soaring Technique gathered the cloud qi of heaven and earth beneath one’s feet, transforming it into a soaring cloud carriage to fly through the air!

Compared to his current, clumsy method of relying solely on the thrust generated by his Qi Sea Whirlpool to walk through the sky, this Cloud-Soaring Technique was unfathomably more profound.

Although the Qi Sea Whirlpool also allowed him to fly, it was far too crude. Not only did it consume a massive amount of spiritual qi, but it wasn’t particularly fast, either—something he had keenly experienced while chasing Rong Chun just moments ago.

If Rong Chun hadn’t already been heavily injured and drained of spiritual qi, he would never have been able to catch her based on the speed of her heavenly boat alone.

But with this Cloud-Soaring Technique, given his current density of spiritual qi at the Seventh Floor of Qi Circulation, his flying speed would be at least several times faster than before.

’Two spell techniques, both extraordinary... But more importantly, the opportunity inside this Host Star Stone can help me step into the Eighth Floor realm!’

Chen Lingxi looked down at the stone in his palm, which was still swirling with starlight, his eyes growing brighter. After a brief moment of thought, a plan formed in his mind.

’Refining this Fated Star spiritual qi will take about a month’s time.’

The cluster of spiritual qi coiled in the very center of the Host Star Stone was simply too vast, and the Dao mysteries contained within it were far too profound.

Even though he now possessed Spiritual Aperture Aptitude, thoroughly refining it and integrating it into his own qi sea was absolutely not something that could be accomplished overnight.

A month’s time was already an optimistic estimate.

’I now possess the Method of Life Devouring...’ Chen Lingxi pondered. ’I can temporarily rely on this Method of Life Devouring to cultivate!’

There were still many truth-seekers within the Ancestral Mountain.

In his eyes, those people were nothing more than walking great elixirs.

The spiritual qi and cultivation bases they possessed could all be devoured, refined, and claimed for his own use through the Method of Life Devouring.

If he could use these truth-seekers as great elixirs to push his cultivation to the peak of the Seventh Floor of Qi Circulation before leaving the Ancestral Mountain...

Then, once he left the Ancestral Mountain and found a safe location, he could use the profound opportunity sealed within this Host Star Stone to forcefully push his cultivation into the Eighth Floor of Qi Circulation in one fell swoop.

The Eighth Floor of Qi Circulation! When the time came, with both the profound mystery of True Intent and the profound mystery of divine might reinforcing him simultaneously, his combat strength would inevitably undergo another qualitative leap.

Having made up his mind, Chen Lingxi stopped dwelling on it.

He sat back down cross-legged, placed the Host Star Stone by his knee, and channeled a wisp of spiritual qi toward the two auras recording the Cloud-Soaring Technique and the Heaven-Seizing Seal.

He would cultivate the Cloud-Soaring Technique and the Heaven-Seizing Seal right here!

First was the Cloud-Soaring Technique. The method of this spell technique wasn’t particularly obscure; for Chen Lingxi, it could even be called extremely simple.

’I’ve merely read through it a few times, and I’ve already grasped the basics of this technique,’ he marveled inwardly.

Only today did he truly understand why the Spiritual Aperture Aptitude was so extraordinary.

In the past, when he had cultivated the Cyan Edge Method, although it had gone smoothly enough, he had still spent several days of bitter effort just to step into the Initial Sensation Stage.

Back then, he had simply assumed it was because his comprehension was decent and he had the foundation of his past life’s experiences that he learned faster than ordinary people.

But now, with this Spiritual Aperture Aptitude, he finally experienced what it truly meant to have extraordinary talent.

While this Cloud-Soaring Technique wasn’t incredibly profound, it was definitely beyond comparison to ordinary spell techniques.

If it were the past, it would have taken him at least ten days to comprehend its bottlenecks, secrets, and spiritual qi circulation methods just to touch upon the threshold. Yet now, he had merely read through it a few times and attempted it briefly, and he could already forcefully activate it.

Although he was still far from truly mastering it and driving the Cloud-Soaring Technique to race through the sea of clouds, he could already be considered to have grasped its basics.

He suppressed the awe in his heart and directed his divine sense toward the method of the Heaven-Seizing Seal.

Upon looking at it, he frowned. The Heaven-Seizing Seal spell technique could be called unfathomably profound.

The spiritual qi circulation method it described was extremely obscure and abstruse.

It focused on using one’s own spiritual qi as a guide to connect with the spiritual essence of heaven and earth within a radius of hundreds of zhang, seizing all the ambient spiritual energy, cloud qi, water vapor, mist, and even the faint qi emitted by the plants and mountains scattered in the void!

It would then condense in the palm to form a massive spiritual qi hand seal.

Once that hand seal struck down, it would be utterly unstoppable.

However, this technique involved dozens of extremely delicate spiritual qi bottlenecks, making it quite obscure and profound.

If an ordinary Seventh Floor cultivator wanted to comprehend this spell technique, it would take them at least one or two months, or perhaps even three to five months of deduction, just to grasp a sliver of its profound mysteries and barely step over the threshold.

But Chen Lingxi had only studied it for half a day!

He then extended his hand, his right palm facing the sky, his five fingers slightly spread. In an instant, countless streams of cloud qi, water vapor, and mist, along with the faint qi emitted by the rocks and vegetation, were drawn in by this palm, surging, condensing, and compressing above it.

Chen Lingxi gave a low shout, flipped his palm over, and struck empty air in the direction of the winding stream outside the cave.

The palm struck down!

All the spiritual essence he had seized erupted at that moment, transforming into a massive hand seal several zhang wide. Wrapped in boundless might, it blasted out of the cave and crushed down toward the stream!

Rumble!

The hand seal landed on the stream with a deafening crash!

The originally peacefully flowing stream was blasted apart by the palm. A pillar of water several zhang high shot into the sky, sending spray flying in all directions and glistening with a sparkling white light under the starlight.

’This spell technique is indeed formidable,’ Chen Lingxi thought.

Chen Lingxi was quite satisfied.

Right at that moment, a crack of thunder suddenly exploded in the distance.

Immediately following that!

A bolt of pale golden lightning lit up from behind a distant mountain ridge. In the blink of an eye, it tore across several li of the sky, crashing directly toward Chen Lingxi’s location. Chen Lingxi’s eyes flickered, and he looked up, faintly making out a slender figure within that pale golden lightning.

The man arrived treading upon lightning. His robes snapped fiercely, and the intense lightning surrounding his body painted half the sky in a blinding, pale gold hue.

With red lips and white teeth, his handsome features seemed too flawless to belong to anyone in the mortal world.

A long silver-white sword hung at his waist, a layer of pale golden lightning still crackling and fizzing across its scabbard.

It was none other than Lu Baizhong!

Lu Baizhong stepped out of the lightning and landed on a boulder several dozen zhang away from Chen Lingxi, the hem of his robes fluttering gently in the night wind.

His right hand rested on his sword hilt. Intense battle intent raged in his eyes, blazing like two spheres of pale golden fire.

Within that battle intent, there was also a deep, overwhelming excitement!

’This person... is certainly different from ordinary Qi Circulation figures.’

Chen Lingxi sighed inwardly.

Lu Baizhong was like a Dao fanatic!

Aside from cultivating the Dao and seizing opportunities, he seemed utterly disinterested in everything else. In his eyes, mortals were nothing but ants; he would wipe them out if he felt like it, and simply ignore them if he couldn’t be bothered.

When facing other truth-seekers, if they were capable of fighting him, his battle intent would soar, and he would draw his sword and strike.

Even against those weaker than him, he would still sweep them away with his sword, showing absolutely no mercy.

And when he encountered someone stronger than himself...

Just like Imperial Consort Chun, who had previously looked down upon everyone, leaving all the numerous figures too terrified to strike first!

Even then, this Lu Baizhong had been the first to attack, without the slightest hint of fear.

This man was born for battle.

’He’s quite the character.’

As Chen Lingxi’s thoughts reached this point, his mind suddenly stirred.

The Method of Qi Observation silently activated in his eyes. His gaze pierced through that layer of pale golden lightning and through Lu Baizhong’s moon-white robes, landing deep within his qi sea.

And then, he saw that streak of lightning precious qi.

That lightning precious qi had already fully matured. Lu Baizhong sensed his gaze, and his aura surged even higher!

Chen Lingxi walked out of the cave and said, ”The lightning precious qi inside your body has matured. I can use it.”

Lu Baizhong said nothing.

Fierce lightning raged around his body as he pressed his thumb against his sword hilt, pushing the blade out an inch. The ringing hum of the sword accompanied the roaring thunder.

Chen Lingxi stood silently, yet a look of pleasant surprise filled his eyes!

That lightning precious qi was simply too powerful. If he could obtain it and cultivate a lightning spell technique... his killing power would increase significantly yet again!

He met Lu Baizhong’s eyes, which were burning with battle intent.

The golden light of his Profound Qi and the silver-white glow of his Sword Edge Qi seeped from his body thread by thread, intertwining and wrapping around him.

There were no unnecessary words exchanged between the two.

Lu Baizhong moved first!

His thumb gave a light push against the crossguard, and the long silver-white sword sprang from its sheath with a sharp clang.

The moment the blade left its scabbard, countless tiny pale golden electrical arcs danced off the metal, crackling and tearing the air within several zhang into countless fine, scorched trails. His figure blurred, and he transformed into a humanoid bolt of lightning, trailing a long pale golden wake as he crashed directly toward Chen Lingxi!

Chen Lingxi made a grasping motion in the void, and an ordinary iron saber from his Vast Void Pouch flipped into his hand. The cyan edge of the Cyan Edge Method seeped from the blade, closely followed by the silver-white radiance of the Sword Edge Qi, while his Purple True Precious Qi coiled around the steel like a swimming purple dragon!

The three colors intertwined, transforming into a gorgeous, flickering blade aura.

He activated the Cloud-Soaring Technique under his feet, and a cluster of pale cyan cloud qi materialized beneath his soles, lifting him up. Instead of retreating, he advanced, crashing head-on into that pale golden lightning!

Saber and sword clashed.

With a thunderous boom, the pale golden lightning and the three-colored blade aura violently collided in the void, detonating into a blinding sphere of light.

A terrifying shockwave swept frantically in all directions...

The two exchanged no words—their great battle had already begun!