After the Great Dao Died

Chen Lingxi waited calmly, wanting to see exactly what Emperor Daye intended to do with those two Dao Foundation avatars.

To his disappointment, however, Emperor Daye kept his eyes closed the entire time, regulating his breath to heal his injuries.

The two Dao Foundation avatars simply remained trapped within the restriction.

Until a long time had passed...

Vision Roaming shattered.

The two Dao Foundation avatars and the golden flames dancing in Emperor Daye’s eyes all turned to fragmented light and shadow in an instant, fading from Chen Lingxi’s sight.

He opened his eyes. Before him were the same gloomy stone walls of the desolate mountain cave. Outside, the night wind howled, pouring through the cracks in the stone and gently fluttering his robes.

Chen Lingxi sat cross-legged on the bluestone, remaining silent for a long time.

The awe-inspiring might of Emperor Daye fighting one against four, suppressing those Dao Foundation avatars, still lingered in his mind.

The fog of the Heavenly Decline Law stretching for a hundred li!

Commanding the momentum of heaven and earth with a mere gesture!

”Emperor Daye, Ying Xian...”

”Dao Foundation Middle Stage...” he muttered to himself, his eyes flashing.

The gap between the Twelve Floors of Qi Circulation and the Dao Foundation seemed like a single step, yet that step was a heavenly chasm.

He had slain Daoist Huotuo in Nanche Prefecture City, appearing infinitely majestic. Yet he knew very well that if Daoist Huotuo hadn’t been overly arrogant and caught off guard by his Palace-Knocking Finger, and if the Third Profound of the True Edict of Approaching the Dao hadn’t been so peerlessly overbearing, the victor of that battle would have remained unknown.

Even though he had won, the victory was anything but easy.

And Daoist Huotuo was merely ranked fourteenth on the Celestial Ranking—a figure whose Dao Platform had just formed and who had yet to plant a Profound Root.

Compared to Emperor Daye’s might in fighting four Dao Foundation avatars at once and suppressing them all, it was simply fireflies compared to the bright moon.

”The gap is too big.” Chen Lingxi shook his head, temporarily suppressing these chaotic thoughts.

He closed his eyes and sank his mind into his Qi Sea.

Within the Qi Sea, the Celestial Ranking Spiritual Energy hovered peacefully in the center, radiating a warm, boundless light.

That light shone down upon the churning river of spiritual qi flowing within his Qi Sea, casting the entire space in brilliant colors.

Chen Lingxi had previously refined the Celestial Ranking Spiritual Energy of the fortieth, thirty-second, and twenty-third places. The spiritual qi in his Qi Sea had long since reached an astonishingly dense state.

Now, this fourteenth-place Celestial Ranking Spiritual Energy was several times more boundless than all the previous ones combined.

If he could fully refine it, his cultivation would surely climb another level and touch the threshold of the Dao Platform.

’The Dao Seed has formed. Next, I need to nourish it with a massive amount of spiritual qi to make it take root, sprout, grow branches, and blossom, eventually transforming into a towering Qi Sea Dao Platform.’

’This Celestial Ranking Spiritual Energy is the best resource for that right now.’

Taking a deep breath, Chen Lingxi stopped his wandering thoughts. Closing his eyes and focusing his mind, he circulated the Six Qi True Method and began to refine the fourteenth-place Celestial Ranking Spiritual Energy.

In the mountains there are no Jiazi markers; a season passed in a flash.

During this season, apart from his daily Vision Roaming of Emperor Daye, Chen Lingxi remained seated cross-legged in that desolate mountain cave, not moving a single inch.

Outside the cave, the sun rose and the moon set. The autumn winds picked up and died down, and the winter snow covered the ground and melted away. He remained completely oblivious to it all, simply refining that Celestial Ranking Spiritual Energy day after day.

The spiritual qi contained within that spiritual energy was far too boundless—so boundless that with his current cultivation, refining it remained quite strenuous.

Using the Six Qi True Method as a guide, he extracted the spiritual energy thread by thread, drawing it through his Meridians and into his Qi Sea to merge with the churning river of spiritual qi.

Over this season, that river had expanded several times over. Its surface was as broad as a sea, and its waters surged violently. The spiritual qi had been condensed to the extreme, exuding a deep and heavy spiritual light.

Meanwhile, the Dao Seed suspended above the spiritual river had undergone a highly noticeable transformation under this season’s nourishment.

The Dao Seed had grown from its initial size of a grain of rice to the size of a fist.

Its entire body was still a verdant green, but the profound patterns that had originally only faintly circulated on its surface were now much clearer.

What shocked Chen Lingxi even more was that the Dao rhyme contained within the Dao Seed was now several times richer than before.

When he probed it with his spiritual sense, he could tell that a burgeoning profundity was gestating within the Dao Seed.

’The Dao Seed has grown to its limit,’ Chen Lingxi thought, looking inward at the fist-sized, verdant Dao Seed, a hint of enlightenment flashing in his eyes.

’To go any further, I need some sort of catalyst to guide it, allowing the Dao Seed to break out of its shell and transform into a true Dao Platform.’

’This is where my current bottleneck lies. It can no longer be broken through simply by accumulating spiritual qi.’

Thinking this, he slowly opened his eyes.

Daylight filtered in through the cave entrance, shining on his increasingly handsome face.

”The Twelve Floors of Qi Circulation... touching the Dao Platform.”

He muttered to himself, yet there wasn’t much joy in his tone.

At this moment, the spiritual qi in his Qi Sea had grown to its absolute limit, and the Dao Seed had been nourished to the extreme.

But the threshold of the Dao Platform still lay before him like a tightly shut door. No matter how he knocked, it wouldn’t budge.

’The Dao Platform realm can no longer be broken through just by accumulating spiritual qi.’

’It requires a Dao Foundation method to act as a guide, completely fusing the Qi Sea’s Dao Seed with my own essence, qi, and spirit. Only then can the Dao Seed break out of its shell and transform into a true Dao Platform.’

Thinking of this, Chen Lingxi’s mind stirred, and a cultivation method immediately surfaced in his head.

It was exactly the Dao Foundation method he had obtained long ago from the mysterious middle-aged man within the Black Banner.

[Dragon-Stripping Dao-Transforming One Qi True Incantation].

He had long memorized this method by heart, but at that time his cultivation was too shallow, his Qi Sea was unformed, and his Dao Seed had yet to condense, leaving him completely powerless to practice it.

But now, the time had come.

Chen Lingxi closed his eyes, and numerous profound characters surfaced in his mind.

’Dragon-Stripping Dao-Transforming One Qi True Incantation. Using this method to forge a Dao Platform is different from the rest.’

Ordinary Dao Foundation methods progressed step by step, using spiritual qi as bricks and the Dao Seed as a foundation to construct the Dao Platform layer by layer.

But this Dragon-Stripping True Formula did the exact opposite. It didn’t focus on ”constructing,” but rather on ”plundering”!

To strip the essence of heaven and earth and seize the opportunities of creation. Using ”spiritual energy” as firewood and one’s own Qi Sea as a furnace, it devoured and refined the creations of the world for one’s own use.

’There are so many cultivation methods in the world. I imagine there are quite a few that devour all things to cultivate oneself.’

’Just like eating people.’

’Devouring strong cultivators and using their spiritual energy to cultivate.’

’But this Dragon-Stripping Dao-Transforming One Qi True Incantation is different from those methods that devour everything for self-cultivation.’

Chen Lingxi’s eyes flickered, his thoughts racing.

’This cultivation method doesn’t devour the spiritual energy of ordinary cultivators; it is different from the Method of Life Devouring.’

’Its true essence lies in stripping the essence of heaven and earth and seizing the opportunities of creation!’

’The reason it is named Dragon-Stripping is that it uses the [Dragon] as a symbol. That is because the true dragons of heaven and earth represent the very essence of heaven and earth and the opportunities of creation.’

’Furthermore, according to the records of this method, there are still true natural creations in the world, such as heaven and earth Spiritual Artifacts, or fortune-bearing medicinal herbs...’

Chen Lingxi’s gaze burned brightly.

’And even if there is no such essence of heaven and earth or opportunities of creation... there’s nothing wrong with simply practicing this method as a regular Dao Foundation method.’

’Right now, inside this Weiji Grotto-Heaven, there are no such natural creations, but I can already switch to cultivating this method and attempt to achieve the Dao Platform!’

Taking a deep breath, Chen Lingxi closed his eyes, concentrated, and began to circulate the first layer of the Dragon-Stripping Dao-Transforming One Qi True Incantation.

Within his Qi Sea, the Dao Seed suspended above the spiritual river suddenly flared with golden light.

It was as if a profound, mighty force tightly wrapped around the Dao Seed, compressing, refining, and transforming it in an incredibly overbearing manner.

Chen Lingxi felt his Qi Sea churn violently at this moment.

Drawn by this power, the originally calm river of spiritual qi spun madly, turning into a massive whirlpool.

The center of the whirlpool was precisely that Dao Seed, continuously compressed by the golden light.

Spiritual qi madly converged toward the Dao Seed, just like all rivers run into the sea. With every thread that flowed in, the golden light on the Dao Seed burned a degree brighter, and something inside the Dao Seed grew a degree stronger.

This process was agonizingly painful.

Chen Lingxi felt as if his Qi Sea was going to be torn apart. That frantically spinning whirlpool of spiritual qi was like countless sharp blades, constantly cutting and tearing within his Qi Sea.

A fine layer of cold sweat seeped from his forehead, and his face grew a few shades paler.

Yet his gaze remained resolute, without the slightest waver.

He clenched his jaw, pushing the Dragon-Stripping True Formula to its absolute limits.

The spiritual qi in his Qi Sea madly surged toward the Dao Seed like moths to a flame. Under this reckless nourishment, the Dao Seed finally began to undergo a qualitative change.

The verdant light on the surface of the Dao Seed began to grow increasingly intense.

Under this frantic compression, the initially fist-sized Dao Seed actually began to shrink at a visible rate.

It shrank from the size of a fist to the size of an egg, then from the size of an egg to the size of a longan, and finally, down to the size of a grain of rice.

Yet the power contained within that rice-sized Dao Seed was several times more terrifying than the fist-sized one had been.

Right at that moment, the rice-sized Dao Seed suddenly trembled.

An indescribably boundless force explosively erupted from deep within the Dao Seed.

And then...

It detonated!

The instant the Dao Seed exploded, an indescribable light suddenly flared within Chen Lingxi’s Qi Sea.

The light lasted for a few breaths before slowly dissipating.

When the light faded, a Dao Platform had appeared within Chen Lingxi’s Qi Sea.

That Dao Platform was suspended directly above the spiritual river, its entire body still a verdant green.

At the very bottom of the Dao Platform, upon the azure base, a fierce and ruthless aura could be faintly seen brewing.

This was the Dao Platform condensed by the first layer of the Dragon-Stripping Dao-Transforming One Qi True Incantation.

[Plundering Dragon Dao Platform].

Chen Lingxi slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a long breath of turbid air.

He could clearly sense that the power contained within his Dao Platform was completely different from what his Qi Sea had held before.

The moment the Dao Platform was complete, the spiritual qi inside his body underwent a qualitative transformation.

Although it hadn’t yet transformed into true Dao Origin, it was already several times more condensed than when he was at the Twelve Floors of Qi Circulation.

”So this is the Dao Platform realm of the Twelfth Floor,” Chen Lingxi murmured to himself, an undisguisable flash of joy in his eyes.

”Although I haven’t planted a Profound Root yet, in terms of sheer condensation and boundlessness of spiritual qi alone, it is far beyond what the Twelve Floors of Qi Circulation could compare to.”

With a mere thought, he tried activating that Plundering Dragon Dao Platform.

The Dao Platform instantly lit up, its profound patterns bursting with blinding golden light.

The ferocious and slaughtering mighty force entrenched upon the Dao Platform also bloomed with profundity at this moment. An indescribably terrifying suction surged out from the Dao Platform, madly spreading in all directions.

Wherever that suction passed, the residual spiritual qi in the cave, the faint spiritual energy contained within the rocks, and even the tiny bits of spiritual qi Chen Lingxi himself naturally emanated were forcibly seized. Just like all rivers run into the sea, they merged into that Dao Platform!

”As expected of the Dragon-Stripping True Formula,” Chen Lingxi praised from the bottom of his heart, slowly reining in the Dao Platform’s suction.

He felt an unprecedented, powerful force surging and flowing within him with every movement he made.

’The Dao Platform is formed. Next is planting the Profound Root to completely step into the Dao Foundation Realm.’

’And to plant a Profound Root, I must cultivate a Great Divine Ability, transforming that Great Divine Ability into a Profound Root and planting it into the Dao Platform.’

Thinking of this, Chen Lingxi flipped his palm and took out the communication jade pendant gifted to him by Lin Suri from his Vast Void Pouch.

He injected a sliver of spiritual sense into the jade pendant, closed his eyes to concentrate, and sent a message to Lin Suri.

”Daoist Brother Lin, I have emerged from seclusion.

”I wonder if that Thunder Prison Spirit Branch and the Chixuan Thunder Great Divine Ability Spiritual Wall have descended yet?”