After the Great Dao Died

Ying Ju’s words faded. A long moment passed before the sound of the wind drifted over.

At first, the wind barely brushed past their ears, faint and phantom-like. In the blink of an eye, it closed in like a howling gale, thrashing the forest on Cuojin Mountain and whipping Lin Longyue’s disheveled hair back.

Sensing something, she forced back the needle-like agony piercing her mind and slowly lifted her head to gaze into the distance.

Amid the sprawling forest at the foot of the mountain stood an immensely tall, sturdy green pine. Its trunk was gnarled like wrought iron, its lush needles forming a dense canopy.

Upon the highest branch of that pine stood a man.

He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his figure straight as a spear, his robes snapping in the gale.

The setting sun hung right behind him, trembling on the edge of the horizon. The daylight was fading, and with the light at his back, the man’s face blurred into indiscernible shadow.

Yet even without seeing his features, Lin Longyue recognized him at a single glance.

A sudden, brilliant spark of utter joy flashed through her exhausted eyes, as if she had finally found the gate of life in a hopeless dead end!

Her lips parted as she tried to speak, but the words failed her...In that moment, her surging joy seemed to suppress the agonizing pain wracking her body. She simply stared in a daze at that figure, unable to tear her gaze away.

Beneath the setting sun, the figure raised his head and looked at Ying Ju.

The smile on Ying Ju’s martial features widened.

There was not a shred of surprise in that smile; it was as if he had expected the man’s arrival all along.

He tilted his head slightly, his gaze dropping onto Chen Lingxi as if examining an amusing piece of prey.

”You are the Spirit-Wielding General?”

He spoke slowly, his voice laced with the deep, crushing power of a Nine Revolutions martial artist’s qi and blood!

It was like an invisible drum being hammered in the void, shaking the air and making Lin Longyue’s eardrums ache!

Undisguised killing intent bled into Ying Ju’s tone. ”I’ve already bludgeoned two or three demonic freaks like you to death with my bare hands.”

With that, he reached out a hand!

The very instant he moved, a man in black leaped frantically from the forest, dropped to one knee, and presented a longbow with both hands.

The longbow was dark cyan from tip to tip. Its stave was several times thicker than a standard iron-core bow, bearing the faint, shifting grain of fine wood. The bowstring, forged from an unknown material, was a translucent silver as fine as a hair. The weapon looked immensely valuable, packed with explosive power. Just resting in the man’s palms, it radiated a piercing, bone-chilling killing intent.

Ying Ju took the longbow. He flicked the string lightly with one finger, sending a sharp twang ringing through the air.

”You are truly audacious, daring to murder my unruly sister,” Ying Ju said softly. His tone held neither grief nor rage, as if he were simply recounting a trivial affair that had nothing to do with him. ”She was indeed unruly, and I did not care for her much, but she could not be allowed to die at the hands of demonic freaks like you.

”My royal father was furious and ordered me to make this trip, which I find...”

He trailed off, a flicker of profound impatience passing through his eyes.

”...rather bothersome.”

Before the words even left his lips, he nocked an arrow and drew the bow!

His movements possessed the smooth, natural grace of floating clouds and flowing water, impossibly fast. He pulled the string into a full moon, the thick stave creaking under the immense strain.

His qi and blood erupted in a tremendous shockwave. A martial artist at Nine Revolutions Minor Completion had already purified their internal energies, burning away the impurities left behind by the Bronze-Red, Silver Bone, Golden Body, and Jade Qi realms until their qi and blood reached a state of flawless purity.

His qi and blood shone with a lustrous white hue. As it surged, the deep roar of rushing blood echoed around him, packing devastating power into his every movement!

Swoosh!

Ying Ju let the arrow fly! As the shaft tore through the sky, a visible white ring of compressed air exploded in its wake. The arrow’s sheer force shattered rocks and pulverized vegetation into ash along its path, hurtling toward Chen Lingxi like a shooting star plummeting from the mountain peak!

A Nine Revolutions martial artist was truly terrifying!

Watching from the sidelines, Lin Longyue could clearly sense the arrow’s apocalyptic power. Its sheer pressure drove fresh agony through her already broken body, yet her eyes brimmed with profound dread for the man in the tree.

”General...”

The arrow screamed straight for Chen Lingxi!

Having loosed the shot, Ying Ju looked perfectly serene.

He stood tall on the mountain peak with his bow in hand, his robes snapping in the wind and his dense qi and blood churning violently around him.

”This single arrow will end the demonic freak...”

His eyes were completely placid. He had long since learned the true strength of this so-called Spirit-Wielding General from Ying Chi.

He could already picture the arrow skewering the man and knocking his corpse from the pine tree.

Just then, Chen Lingxi flicked his finger.

The moment he flicked it, a hazy strand of sword qi erupted from the Profound-Pointing Sword Furnace at his fingertip! It started out as thin as a thread of silk, but expanded wildly in the wind, instantly morphing into a three-foot-long cyan sword aura!

Faint arcs of pale golden lightning wrapped around the blade of energy, crackling sharply. This was the perfect fusion of the Cyan Edge Method and the thunder precious qi!

The sword qi and the arrow slammed into each other in midair!

Boom!

With an explosive boom, the arrow aimed at Chen Lingxi shattered inch by inch, dissolving into a shower of glimmering dust!

Yet the cyan sword aura barely lost any momentum. It slashed straight into the distant cliff face, gouging out a bottomless trench as pulverized rock rained down.

Astonishment flashed across Ying Ju’s face.

A flicker of genuine seriousness entered his eyes.

He narrowed his eyes, though he still did not take the threat to heart.

Right then, the deafening roar of surging qi and blood erupted from the forest behind Ying Ju.

Deep in those woods, over twenty military experts unleashed their crushing qi and blood, and among them stood another Nine Revolutions powerhouse!

The violent fluctuations rippled out from the trees in endless waves. Like a rising tide, each surge of power was heavier and more overwhelming than the last! Ying Ju firmly believed in the principle that even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit.

He had come under orders from the King of the East to hunt down Commandery Princess Yunhe’s murderer. He had brought this overwhelming force even though the Crown Prince had assured him that the Spirit-Wielding General’s cultivation fell far short of the Nine Revolutions realm!

Yet he had still brought his most formidable core retinue.

Those twenty-odd experts were battle-hardened veterans who had charged through countless bloody battlefields at his side.

The Nine Revolutions expert in their ranks was his most capable general. While the man had not yet reached Nine Revolutions Minor Completion like Ying Ju himself, his strength was far beyond that of any ordinary warrior.

”Being a bit stronger just makes this better. Killing a demonic freak like you and sending your corpse to the capital will earn me some merit,” Ying Ju said softly. He clasped his hands behind his back, supreme confidence shining in his eyes.

He stared at the figure perched in the pine tree, a smirk lifting his lips. He was looking at prey already hopelessly snared in a net.

Ying Ju opened his mouth to give the order.

But at that exact moment, the Spirit-Wielding General suddenly took a step forward, stepping right off the branch and into thin air.

He conjured no clouds and summoned no flying light to catch him. He just stepped out, as casually as if he were strolling across flat ground.

Then, an astonishing sight unfolded.

A tiny boat materialized beneath his foot and rapidly expanded, a miraculous sight. At first, it was barely the size of a palm, carved from flawlessly white jade. In an instant, it swelled into a true flying skiff over ten feet long.

Faint, gentle spiritual light flowed along the hull as the skiff floated gracefully in the void!

Its jade-white hull curved sharply upward at the prow, resembling a crescent moon plucked from the sky.

It was an absolute marvel!

Ying Ju barely had time to register his shock.

Swoosh!

Standing upon his skiff, the Spirit-Wielding General transformed into a streak of blistering light and shot directly at Ying Ju!

The speed was incomprehensible. With her injured body, throbbing headache, and damaged vision, Lin Longyue could only see a flash of blinding white light closing in.

The white light tore through the sky, dragging a long, brilliant tail behind it like a crashing meteor. It crossed the distance before anyone could even blink.

Ying Ju’s face violently changed color.

He could feel the frenzied aura of qi and blood radiating from the Spirit-Wielding General within that white light, accompanied by a world-crushing pressure!

The pressure was absolute. It slammed into his shoulders like an invisible mountain crashing down from the heavens, crushing him so hard that the mighty Nine Revolutions qi and blood flowing through his veins slightly stagnated. This oppressive weight felt like a god descending to the mortal realm—it was utterly unlike any of the demonic freaks Ying Ju had slaughtered before.

This was the sheer profundity of the Qi Circulation 8th Floor...

Divine might!

The experts in the forest behind him felt the exact same crushing pressure.

The other Nine Revolutions powerhouse, whose strength was only a hair weaker than Ying Ju’s, blanched.

He raised his head, his gaze piercing through the dense canopy to lock onto the figure riding the skiff. His pupils shrank to pinpricks as he roared a command, ”Protect His Highness!”

The retinue of experts moved as one.

Their internal energies erupted violently, sending pillars of jade-colored qi and blood blasting out of the forest and into the sky.

The twenty-odd streams of power merged together into an inverted flood of qi and blood, surging up to engulf Chen Lingxi.

The roaring hum of circulating qi and blood was as dense as a torrential downpour, vibrating like a swarm of furious hornets!

But their speed was nothing compared to the Spirit-Wielding General’s.

In a matter of breaths, Chen Lingxi’s flying skiff shot into the sky! At the same time, the clouds above violently churned and roiled.

The sprawling cloud layers spun and thrashed as if stirred by the giant hand of a god, rapidly forming into a colossal vortex in the void.

Spiritual light erupted from the center of the vortex. It tore out from the depths and blasted straight into the sky, carrying an indescribable pressure.

”Heaven-Seizing Seal!”

The terrifying technique erupted, instantly bridging the distance of several li. It condensed the spiritual energy in the air above the mountain peak into a massive hand seal.

The hand seal spanned a full ten zhang across. Every finger was perfectly formed, and the lines etched across its palm were clearly visible down to the finest detail. It looked exactly like the hand of a true god reaching down from the heavens.

Ribbons of cyan, gold, and silver light wound between the massive fingers. In the center of its palm, a hyper-condensed vortex of spiritual energy spun frantically.

With every rotation, the vortex devoured even more of the surrounding heaven and earth spiritual energy, causing the giant hand to grow ever more solid and massive.

”What on earth is that!”

The palm was terrifying. Ying Ju’s expression contorted again, his heart pounding in fear.

He stared up at the colossal hand descending from the sky, true horror showing in his eyes for the very first time.

The Heir of the King of the East pushed his qi and blood to the absolute limit, trying to fend off the colossal palm. He drew on his Nine Revolutions Minor Completion qi and blood without reservation, condensing it into a blood-red barrier several inches thick over his body.

The dense barrier was so solid it was nearly physical, with every single inch packed with terrifying power!

Yet as the massive hand crashed down and reached for him, he felt its devastating energy, and his heart sank.

Before the hand even touched him, its majestic pressure crashed down over his head like an invisible tidal wave.

Ying Ju let out a muffled groan.

The rock beneath his feet fractured and spiderwebbed under the crushing weight, sending stone splinters flying like rain. His spine bowed slightly under the pressure, and his legs were involuntarily driven several inches deep into the mountain stone.

His qi and blood barrier instantly shattered. The mighty Nine Revolutions shield he was so proud of was nothing but thin paper before the massive Heaven-Seizing Seal, torn to shreds without a sound.

The terrifying pressure completely paralyzed his Nine Revolutions qi and blood. The power within his meridians froze like a frozen river; no matter how desperately he tried to push it, he couldn’t circulate it a single fraction.

Pinned helplessly in place by the overwhelming pressure, he couldn’t even lift a single finger.

The experts rushing to save him hadn’t even reached him yet.

The other Nine Revolutions warrior had already burst from the tree line, his qi and blood boiling furiously. He pulled back his arm, preparing to smash his fist into the massive Heaven-Seizing Seal, but he was too late.

The other twenty-odd military experts hadn’t even cleared the forest. Their varied columns of qi and blood wove together into an impenetrable net of power, but the hand seal simply fell too fast. They could all only watch as...

The colossal hand of clouds snatched him!

Just like a human hand snatching an ant!

The impossibly arrogant Heir was seized within the terrifying grip of the massive hand seal and lifted straight into the sky!

The five massive fingers tightened their grip. No matter how Ying Ju writhed or how desperately he pushed his remaining qi and blood, he couldn’t budge the massive hand seal a single fraction.

”Your Highness!” someone roared furiously. It was the other Nine Revolutions powerhouse.

His eyes practically tore open with rage. He stomped fiercely onto the mountain stone, shattering it beneath his feet, and launched himself into the air like a cannonball. His rippling qi and blood formed a bloody pillar of light shooting into the sky as he unleashed a devastating punch!

A visible white ring of compressed air exploded outward as his fist tore through the sky, attempting to block the terrifying hand seal and save Ying Ju.

But at that exact moment, a streak of sword qi shot out of nowhere.

The blade of energy was cyan-green and as thin as a silk thread. It sheared through the sky, leaving only an incredibly faint, hair-thin cyan afterimage in its wake. It moved so quickly that even the Nine Revolutions powerhouse couldn’t track its trajectory.

It carried unimaginable power!

Swish! Just a soft hiss!

The sword qi instantly pierced through the protective qi and blood of this expert who had yet to reach Nine Revolutions Minor Completion, passed straight through the center of his forehead, and blew out the back of his skull in a shower of bloody mist!

The Nine Revolutions powerhouse convulsed violently. His eyes shot wide open, and the light within them vanished forever.

His soaring body plummeted back down like a falling meteor, crashing straight into the forest and kicking up a cloud of dust.

”This...”

Lin Longyue stared in absolute shock, completely at a loss for how to react.

Kneeling on the ground, she looked up, watching the corpse of the Nine Revolutions expert drop from the sky and watching the colossal Heaven-Seizing Seal carry a helpless Ying Ju higher into the air.

It all happened far too fast, so fast that her thoughts couldn’t even keep up.

Meanwhile, another incredibly fast streak of light shot out from the flying skiff.

This streak of light was pale gold, faintly laced with arcs of lightning. It moved so fast that the naked eye could only capture a blurred afterimage.

Within that beam of light there seemed to be a human figure. Wrapped in surging brilliance, it plunged straight into the woods.

Wreathed in heavy mist, the figure moved like a ghost, crossing several zhang with every flicker. Instantly, the fluctuations of qi and blood within the forest grew even more violent.

Bloodcurdling screams echoed through the trees, rising and falling one after another.

The qi and blood fluctuations of the twenty-odd military experts began to dwindle.

Growing fewer and fewer!

Then another string of furious explosions rocked the area!

Blinding flares of light erupted through the trees, accompanied by the harsh clanging of clashing metal and the deafening crack of shattering boulders.

The light and noise intertwined, turning the dense forest into a slaughterhouse!

Lin Longyue sucked in a deep breath, her chest heaving violently.

Barely able to support her weakened body, she looked back up toward the massive hand of clouds in the sky.

Caught in its grip, Ying Ju was struggling fiercely.

His qi and blood boiled, fighting to break free from the massive hand seal’s bonds.

But the sheer strength contained within the massive hand was far too much. Ying Ju couldn’t break free at all. Like a moth trapped in a palm, no matter how hard he fluttered his wings, his struggles were entirely futile!

Dozens of breaths passed.

The commotion in the forest gradually died down.

The screams, the explosions, and the thunderous collisions of qi and blood all faded into the night wind.

The forest, which had been boiling with noise just moments ago, returned to absolute silence. Only a few wisps of residual spiritual light drifted lazily through the trees like will-o’-the-wisps.

The pale golden beam of light shot back out of the woods, fast as lightning. In the blink of an eye, it arrived directly in front of the massive hand of clouds.

”General!” Lin Longyue still hadn’t seen the man’s face, but she had a clear view of his back.

He stood before the massive hand of clouds, facing away from her, a longsword belted at his waist.

Incredibly faint traces of golden lightning patterns slowly flowed across the sword scabbard.

His back was as straight as a pine, his robes snapped wildly in the night wind, and his aura was as deep as an abyss.

This was the Spirit-Wielding General she had longed for day and night.

She watched the tall figure of the Spirit-Wielding General standing before the massive hand of clouds. Clasping his hands behind his back, he tilted his head slightly, his gaze dropping onto Ying Ju, who was clutched tightly in the hand seal’s grip.

His expression was perfectly serene.

It was exactly like looking at a struggling ant.