After the Great Dao Died

Chen Lingxi opened the jade slip and saw eight names listed on it.

Bai Huzhong, thirty-second on the Celestial Ranking; Xi Lingqiao, twenty-sixth; Bai Qingchuan, nineteenth; Xi Yuan, tenth... These names floated within the jade slip, emitting a faint spiritual light. Behind each name lay a detailed location.

Chen Lingxi read them one by one, a hint of surprise in his eyes.

’Daoist Shu Rong was quite thorough in her work,’ he thought, continuing to read the rest of the names.

Aside from the members of the Xi and Bai Families he had specifically asked Daoist Shu Rong to investigate, there were four others.

Qiu Yue, ranked twenty-third, from the Southern Heaven Region; Cheng Ningze, ranked thirty-fifth, from the Great Xian Nation; Zhong Jin, ranked fourteenth, from the Dragon-Revering Sect; and Daoist Huotuo, ranked ninth, from Ehai.

Chen Lingxi’s gaze swept over these names before ultimately resting back on the four figures from the Xi and Bai Families.

”These few have quite a gap in their cultivation. Xi Yuan is ranked tenth, and Bai Qingchuan is nineteenth... I’m afraid I’m no match for them. Considering this, I should strike at Xi Lingqiao first.”

Chen Lingxi’s eyes burned with intensity.

He recalled that battle within the Absolute Perception Divine Chamber.

The Xi Family’s divine abilities truly had some merit. That Falling Sea Mystic Qi, the Victorious King Ruyi Precious Phase, and even that Sun World-Illuminating Method were all extraordinary.

Yet he had still won. Although he had relied on the profound mystery of the Delayed Light Flying Dagger, Xi Lingqiao had still fallen by his hand.

”If I kill Xi Lingqiao in the real world, I can seize the Celestial Ranking Spiritual Energy of the twenty-sixth rank.”

”I’ll just kill you again,” he murmured, tucking the jade slip into his robes.

He soared into the air on a cloud just as the distant morning sun slowly rose.

Chen Lingxi traveled all the way toward Nanhai Province. Halfway there, however, he landed on a mountain peak, his brow slightly furrowed.

With a flip of his palm, a precious mirror appeared in his hand.

It was the Three Profounds Mirror.

Mist churned across the surface of the mirror, flashing with two streaks of mystic light.

One light was black and the other white. The white light was extremely far from the starlight representing Chen Lingxi’s own position.

The black light, on the other hand, seemed to be approaching Nanhai Province as well.

”The black light represents Zhao Duanxuan.”

Chen Lingxi raised an eyebrow. He suddenly realized that Zhao Duanxuan seemed to be trying to meet up with Xi Lingqiao.

He took a deep breath.

”Fortunately I have this Three Profounds Mirror. Otherwise, if I had recklessly gone to kill Xi Lingqiao in hopes of claiming his Celestial Ranking Spiritual Energy and bumped straight into Zhao Duanxuan, I would probably have had to crush that golden finger bone just to survive.”

Chen Lingxi still clearly remembered that during his Absolute Perception Deduction, right after he captured Xi Lingqiao, Zhao Duanxuan had come striding across the surface of the sea with a presence like a blazing sun.

That man had walked out from the sunset’s afterglow. Every step he took had caused the entire ocean to tremble. That overwhelming pressure, that terrifying aura that suppressed even the thought of resistance—it remained fresh in his memory.

With his current cultivation, he was utterly unqualified to face Zhao Duanxuan head-on.

Chen Lingxi gave a slight shake of his head and took out the jade slip again. Looking it up and down, his gaze landed on another name.

It was the thirty-second-ranked Bai Huzhong of the Yutai Bai Family.

”This person is ranked lower than Xi Lingqiao. If I can kill him, I’ll still be able to obtain a considerable amount of spiritual energy.”

”In that case, I will go find him.”

Chen Lingxi memorized Bai Huzhong’s location from the jade slip, then turned back east, heading for Dongjiang Province.

He traveled continuously until he was three hundred li away from the valley recorded in the slip.

Arriving on his soaring cloud, Chen Lingxi slowly circulated his Method of Qi Observation. As he kept his eyes fixed in the distance, the technique soon sensed Bai Huzhong’s location.

He frowned slightly.

”Hm? Bai Huzhong isn’t alone.”

Looking closer, Chen Lingxi noticed another aura right beside Bai Huzhong. This aura was incredibly intense, surging and majestic—far stronger than Bai Huzhong’s.

Moreover, the two auras seemed to share the same origin, bearing a striking resemblance to one another.

”The one alongside Bai Huzhong should be Bai Qingchuan, ranked nineteenth on the Celestial Ranking.”

Chen Lingxi took out the jade slip.

The locations recorded on it for Bai Huzhong and Bai Qingchuan were not in the same place; they were separated by a thousand li.

Yet now, the two of them had converged here. They were likely working together to construct that Great Ferrying Array.

”These experts aren’t lifeless objects; their positions will inevitably change at any given moment. I need to be more careful.”

Chen Lingxi probed from afar with his Method of Qi Observation once more, confirming that the two were joining forces to construct a Great Ferrying Array.

’There’s no rush,’ he told himself. Finding a barren mountain, he located a towering ancient tree deep within the dense forest and sat cross-legged amid its lush foliage. Using the Hidden Edge Method to conceal all his aura, he sat there peacefully, as silent and lifeless as a rock.

He sat like that for over a month.

Time passed unnoticed in the mountains.

Autumn gave way to winter. The fallen leaves in the dense forest piled up in a thick layer before being covered in pure white by several heavy snowfalls.

Every day, he gazed toward that deep mountain from afar using his Method of Qi Observation, watching Bai Qingchuan and Bai Huzhong construct that Great Ferrying Array day after day.

He waited patiently, like a hunter lying in wait.

Until this very day.

Clouds churned in the sky, dropping heavy snow that once again wrapped the mountain forest in pure white.

Chen Lingxi opened his eyes and, as usual, focused his Method of Qi Observation on the distant Great Ferrying Array.

”Hm?”

A strange gleam flashed through his eyes. He sensed that Bai Huzhong had already summoned a cloud and was flying north. He was presumably heading to Dongjiang Prefecture in the north to purchase materials for the array.

Having finally waited for his opportunity, Chen Lingxi didn’t hesitate. He rose quietly, kept his aura reeled in with the Hidden Edge Method, and headed ahead to the valley outside Dongjiang Prefecture to wait in peace.

Bai Huzhong flew for roughly half an hour before finally arriving at the valley where Chen Lingxi was waiting.

Just as he flew his cloud over this valley...

Bai Huzhong suddenly frowned, looking down at the quiet valley beneath the clouds.

Right at that moment!

A flying dagger tore through the air. It arrived silently, without kicking up even the slightest sound of wind.

Only the hourglass at the end of the hilt was draining madly, and only the beam of light sealed within the blade shone to its absolute limits at this instant.

”Who is it?”

Bai Huzhong snorted coldly, sensing the faint spiritual qi radiating from the flying dagger.

”Which lowly rat dares plot against me?”

He casually waved his sleeve. A streak of spiritual qi shot out silently and landed effortlessly on the flying dagger, knocking the seemingly ordinary weapon aside!

But right at that moment.

The beam of light sealed within the flying dagger silently shot out, falling squarely onto Bai Huzhong.

In a flash.

A look of shock appeared on Bai Huzhong’s face!

He clearly felt as though his perception of time had been completely distorted.

At this moment, even the expression forming on his face became incredibly sluggish, and his blinking speed seemed to slow down tenfold.

At the same time, the circulation of spiritual qi within this avatar’s body became unbearably stagnant.

And right then, a terrifying aura suddenly erupted from the valley.

It was Chen Lingxi’s Heaven-Inviting Momentum!

Chen Lingxi leaped up, vaulting through the air.

Behind him, the indomitable phantom of a Great Sage suddenly opened its eyes.

An indescribably terrifying presence crushed toward Bai Huzhong like an invisible tidal wave.

Chen Lingxi hurtled over and flicked his fingers!

The thunderous roar of the Twelve Chimes of the Heavenly Drum blasted through the void. Twelve earth-shattering peals of thunder layered over his sword momentum, one after another!

In a flash, they blazed straight toward Bai Huzhong!

Bai Huzhong was, after all, a cultivator of the Twelfth Floor of Qi Circulation.

At this life-and-death juncture, he forcibly tore himself free from the time distortion of the Delayed Light Flying Dagger and forcibly activated a divine ability!

Jade Platform Seal!

The snow-white spiritual qi around his body erupted, condensing into a jade-colored halo above his head.

Runes flowed across the halo as it emanated a heavy, profound pressure to protect his body!

Chen Lingxi’s twelve lightning sword lights arrived in an instant!

The first sword struck the Jade Platform Seal, making the jade light shudder. The second sword followed closely, shattering its runes. The third, fourth, fifth... the twelve sword lights cascaded like twelve pale-gold waterfalls of lightning, slashing down upon the Jade Platform Seal with overwhelming force one after another.

Rumble!

Faced with these twelve sword lights infused with the Great Sage’s momentum and the Heavenly Drum’s thunder, the seemingly indestructible Jade Platform Seal was forcibly cleaved apart.

The jade-colored halo shattered with a boom, turning into a sky full of glowing dust.

Bai Huzhong’s expression changed drastically. Bringing his hands together in the air, he prepared to activate a second divine ability.

But...

Chen Lingxi had already closed to within three zhang of him. With his right fist clenched tight, the Great Sage phantom of the True Edict of Approaching the Dao behind him threw a punch as well.

The incredibly fierce essence qi on the edge of his fist rolled forward like a surging river!

The Great Sage presence of the Heaven-Inviting Momentum enveloped the surging essence qi, pouring it all into this single punch.

A punch!

Blasting out!

This punch was simply too fast!

Boom! A muffled, thunderous roar erupted. This unimaginably terrifying punch shattered the spontaneously gathered spiritual qi around Bai Huzhong’s body and landed solidly on his chest.

His sternum shattered inch by inch beneath the blow, and his entire body was sent flying backward.

Pushing the Wondrous State Cloud Soaring Technique to its limits, Chen Lingxi’s figure turned into a streak of mystic light, chasing straight after Bai Huzhong and closing the distance!

A look of shock surfaced on Bai Huzhong’s pale face. His divine sense stirred as if he wanted to say something.

But Chen Lingxi didn’t give him the chance to speak. A streak of green sword qi flicked from his fingertip and sank into Bai Huzhong’s forehead.

Bai Huzhong jolted, the light in his eyes completely extinguishing.

Following that, this avatar began to dissipate.

The very instant Bai Huzhong died, the Celestial Ranking high in the sky suddenly flared with a pale-gold light.

A profound surge of spiritual energy descended from the heavens, piercing straight into Chen Lingxi’s body.

On the Celestial Ranking, Chen Lingxi’s name climbed straight up, landing directly on the thirty-second rank.

Having lain in wait here, Chen Lingxi had used the Delayed Light Flying Dagger right from the start. Unleashing everything he had, he had defeated Bai Huzhong with the momentum of a sudden thunderbolt.

Meanwhile, inside an extremely luxurious palace, the cross-legged Bai Lingze suddenly opened his eyes.

A trace of coldness surfaced in his peach-blossom eyes.

Bai Huzhong’s aura had completely vanished from the Celestial Ranking.

He raised his head, his gaze piercing through layers of clouds to land on the names holding the fortieth and thirty-second ranks—”Weiji Grotto-Heaven, Chen Lingxi”.

He stared at it for a moment before a faint sneer touched his lips, and he slowly stood up.

Deep in the mountains, Bai Qingchuan sensed it as well.

At almost the exact moment Bai Huzhong was attacked, he stood up from the grand array. His silver-white spiritual qi erupted with a boom, and clouds instantly formed beneath his feet. His whole body turned into a streak of silver-white escaping light, hurtling toward the valley.

He came incredibly fast. He arrived so quickly that Chen Lingxi had only just grabbed Bai Huzhong’s Vast Void Pouch and used an absorption method to devour Bai Huzhong’s spiritual energy when he sensed that terrifying aura rapidly closing in from the distance.

”It’s Bai Qingchuan!”

”How is he so fast?”

Chen Lingxi frowned. He immediately activated the Cloud Soaring Technique, generating a wisp of cloud beneath his feet that flashed with lightning and radiated a scorching aura.

In the blink of an eye, Chen Lingxi had already soared into the sky!

But using some unknown method, Bai Qingchuan’s speed was pushed to the absolute limit, and he used some profound divine ability to lock onto Chen Lingxi’s position.

Even with Chen Lingxi reeling in his aura using the Hidden Edge Method, Bai Qingchuan still seemed able to sense where he was.

Only a short quarter of an hour passed.

Bai Qingchuan had almost caught up to him.

”You killed a member of my Bai Family and still think you can leave?”

And his terrifying divine sense had already transformed into overlapping thunderclaps that crashed into Chen Lingxi’s ears!

”This Bai Qingchuan is much stronger than Bai Huzhong, and he came prepared...”

Chen Lingxi turned his head and saw Bai Qingchuan arriving within a streak of mystic light, his hands clasped behind his back.

Dressed in a moon-white robe, his face was dark and ruthless. The silver-white spiritual qi around him spread out in all directions like countless fine silver needles, shrouding the entire void in a bone-chilling pressure.

Despite both being cultivators of the Twelfth Floor of Qi Circulation, Bai Qingchuan was more than just a tier stronger than Bai Huzhong.

Just by him standing there within that mystic light, the pressure of his spiritual qi caused Chen Lingxi’s own spiritual qi to stagnate.

...

The distance between the two of them was already too close.

Bai Qingchuan struck out his right palm in the air, and that silver-white spiritual qi crushed down on Chen Lingxi’s head like a silver waterfall.

Chen Lingxi flicked his fingers. His own spiritual qi surged upward, forming a spiritual qi longsword.

The Great Sage momentum of his Heaven-Inviting Momentum violently erupted. The mountain-sized Flower of Golden Essence above his head suddenly bloomed at this exact moment, sending surging essence qi flooding through his limbs and bones like a burst dam.

Chen Lingxi slashed out with his sword. The thunder of the Twelve Chimes of the Heavenly Drum blasted out from the blade as the sword light violently collided with the silver-white spiritual qi.

With a loud boom, Chen Lingxi only felt a terrifying force pour backward from his blade.

That force was countless times stronger than Bai Huzhong’s Jade Platform Seal! It ruptured the webbing between his thumb and forefinger and threw his internal qi into chaos!

”He truly lives up to his rank as nineteenth.”

Having exchanged just one divine ability, Chen Lingxi knew he was no match for Bai Qingchuan.

Bai Qingchuan’s spiritual qi was astonishingly deep. Every palm strike he unleashed contained terrifying strength capable of toppling mountains, and a profoundly mystic divine ability power was mixed into his palm momentum.

Chen Lingxi clashed with him head-on a few more times, quickly feeling the circulation of his own spiritual qi turn sluggish.

”I can’t drag this fight out, or I might just die by his hands.”

With a shift in thought, he waved his sleeve, tossing Bai Huzhong’s Vast Void Pouch out to plummet through the void.

’Bai Qingchuan being able to lock onto my position must mean there is a trick to this Vast Void Pouch!’

Thinking this, Chen Lingxi suddenly manifested the Longevity Bridge beneath his feet, which carried him away as a streak of pale-gold light hurtling into the distance.

Bai Qingchuan stood atop the mountain peak with his hands behind his back. He watched the fleeing streak of pale-gold light, murderous intent flickering in his eyes.

Meanwhile, his own mystic escaping light had already dissipated, and his speed slowed down.

Chen Lingxi’s Wondrous State Cloud Soaring Technique, however, remained extremely fast.

”This guy is smart. He abandoned the Vast Void Pouch...”

”Now that my essence qi mystic light has dissipated, I won’t be able to catch up to him right away... But I refuse to believe that a mere cultivator of the Qi Circulation Eleventh Floor can surpass me in the depth of his spiritual qi.”

Bai Qingchuan was just about to pursue him when he suddenly stopped in his tracks. Frowning, he turned his head to look back the way he had come.

He sensed the aura of another expert approaching the direction of the Great Ferrying Array.

The aura was extremely concealed. Had he not left a wisp of his divine sense on the array, he wouldn’t have been able to detect it at all.

”Is it Chen Lingxi’s accomplice, or some other rat? Are they trying to destroy my Great Ferrying Array?”

Bai Qingchuan snorted coldly.

That array was the Bai Family’s key reliance in this realm. If someone took the opportunity to destroy it, it would be difficult to explain to Bai Lingze.

Bai Qingchuan snorted coldly again and finally withdrew his steps.

”Once the Great Ferrying Array is fully completed, I will go kill you.”

Bai Qingchuan glanced in the direction Chen Lingxi had fled, then turned and headed back to where the array was located.