After the Great Dao Died

Chen Lingxi looked thoughtful.

’It seems my guess was right. These projected avatars are controlled by the true bodies of the experts in the Great Xuanzhuo Realm. If they wish to dissipate, they can do so in an instant.’

’It’s just that... I don’t know why the Dao Foundation avatar that fell into Emperor Daye’s hands cannot dissipate on its own.’

As he pondered, Xi Lan stood up.

Her cyan boots were ruined, exposing her toes. She hid the torn shoes behind her back and suddenly dropped to her knees.

”Immortal! Please take me as your disciple!”

Chen Lingxi snapped back to reality. Standing upon the cloud, he gazed down at Xi Lan.

He remained on the cloud, looking down at her.

She knelt among the crushed stones, tilting her face up to look at him. Within her tear-glistening eyes lay something he could not quite understand.

”Immortal, please take me as your disciple,” Xi Lan pleaded for the second time.

’Why does the Xi family want to capture this Xi Lan? Did they discover her anomalies?’

Chen Lingxi did not answer.

The Method of Qi Observation circulated within his eyes.

Chen Lingxi frowned slightly.

Even with his cultivation having formed the Plundering Dragon Dao Platform and his Method of Qi Observation having reached the Wondrous State, he still could not see through this young woman.

’By attacking those two figures from the Xi family, I accidentally forged good karma with this woman.’

’There are also many anomalies about this Xi Lan.’

Chen Lingxi pondered.

’Now that my Plundering Dragon Dao Platform is complete, I am only a hair’s breadth away from the Dao Foundation. That kind of spiritual opportunity shouldn’t be able to affect me anymore.’

’Xi Lan wants to take me as her master. If this girl with extraordinary aptitude is taught carefully, given time, she will surely achieve greatness.’

’If the profound mysteries on her body could corroborate with my own cultivation...’

’If I kept her by my side, I would have someone to talk to on this long, lonely path of cultivation.’

’Moreover... if Xi Lan makes a name for herself in the future, perhaps I could profit from it as well.’

Chen Lingxi’s thoughts drifted.

Then, he abruptly snapped awake.

’Something is wrong again.’

Chen Lingxi gently shook his head, a cold light flashing in his eyes.

He activated the Dragon Roar Technique within his Sea of Consciousness. A sharp pain pierced his mind, clearing his head, and he looked down at Xi Lan.

Xi Lan was still kneeling there, her face tilted up to look at him.

Seeing him shake his head and the fleeting cold light in his eyes, her nervousness deepened.

Right at that moment, she watched as cloud vapor suddenly surged beneath the immortal’s feet, lifting him into the sky. He transformed into a streak of flowing light, piercing through the sea of clouds and vanishing at the edge of the horizon in an instant.

The mountain wind howled past, swirling her loose black hair.

Xi Lan felt a wave of melancholy.

”Wait!”

”I dreamed that...” she cried out.

Chen Lingxi, however, feared that whatever Xi Lan was saying might affect his state of mind. He had already sealed his hearing and ridden the clouds away!

Chen Lingxi rode the clouds, traveling all the way south.

’That continuous stretch of mountains back there was a good place for cultivation.’

’It’s just a pity that it was discovered by those figures from the Que Star Xi Family, making it unsuitable for a long stay.’

’I still need to find a place to enter seclusion...’

After pondering for a moment, Chen Lingxi decided to head to the Heavenly Gate Sea.

The Heavenly Gate Sea was vast and deep, with heavy winds and waves on normal days. Even if cultivators wanted to investigate it, it would take them a lot of time. It was the perfect place to cultivate a Great Divine Ability.

He rode the clouds and mist all the way, finding a deserted, uninhabited island deep within the Heavenly Gate Sea.

Chen Lingxi sat cross-legged on the desolate island, closing his eyes to adjust his breathing.

’My current cultivation can already be considered extraordinary, only a sliver of enlightenment away from the Dao Foundation.’

’Yet the Dao Foundation Great Divine Ability that Xi Yuan unleashed through the projection of a spiritual artifact was still able to disrupt my aura, shake my Dao Platform, and inflict these minor injuries on me.’

’This goes to show just how extraordinary this Dao Foundation Great Divine Ability is.’

Chen Lingxi closed his eyes to heal his wounds. Only after a long while did he restore his condition to its peak.

’Before entering seclusion, let me first use Vision Roaming on Emperor Daye.’

Amidst his thoughts, Chen Lingxi sank a strand of consciousness into the Divine Chamber deep in his mind, activating the Vision Roaming Divine Ability!

His perspective tore through the void. He saw Emperor Daye, Ying Xian, sitting cross-legged in the middle of a void. The pale golden essence of the Immortal Slough lingered around his body like a thin, unyielding mist.

Not far in front of him, right in the center of the hall, hung four figures firmly bound by golden restrictive spells.

Those four figures were Luan Shu of the Calamity Sea, Daoist Zhuxu of Zhuming Grotto-Heaven, and the other two Dao Foundation avatars from the Great Xuanzhuo Realm whose traces he had tracked down and captured in one fell swoop over the past two years.

Emperor Daye sat cross-legged before the four avatars with his eyes tightly shut. The grayish-white mist of the Heavenly Decline Law slowly drifted around him like a swimming dragon.

As the mist pulsed, extremely pure Dao Origin was stripped from the four avatars and flowed into Emperor Daye’s body.

Chen Lingxi watched for a moment and was just about to retract his Vision Roaming when Emperor Daye suddenly opened his eyes.

The four imprisoned avatars reflected in his eyes that burned with golden flames, and a very faint smile played at the corners of his mouth.

Ying Xian slowly stood up. With a sweep of his sleeve, the four avatars were lifted into the air by the golden restrictions, floating behind him.

’Where is Emperor Daye going?’

Chen Lingxi’s heart stirred.

He watched as Emperor Daye parted the clouds and mist, treading on a rainbow the whole way. His speed was incomparably fast; in just a few hours, he arrived at a vast ocean region.

Deep within that ocean region, he brought the rainbow light down above a volcanic archipelago. Leading the four avatars, he descended toward the crater of the most majestic volcano among them.

The volcano was incredibly towering. Its entire body was pitch black, and not a single blade of grass grew on its walls—nothing but jagged volcanic rock.

Thick smoke billowed from the crater, and the searing waves of heat boiled the seawater for dozens of miles around into a vast expanse of white mist.

Emperor Daye led the four Dao Foundation avatars and flew straight into the mouth of the volcano.

Chen Lingxi’s gaze followed his figure, penetrating the roiling smoke and the scorching magma, landing in the deepest depths of the volcano.

’Hmm?’

’What is this?’

Chen Lingxi’s mind focused sharply!

Through Emperor Daye’s perspective, he clearly heard the sounds of a beating heart!

The heartbeat was incredibly deep and heavy, as if a giant drum was being beaten deep underground!

Thump, thump, thump!

It made the entire volcano tremble slightly and sent ripples across the churning magma.

The sound was overwhelmingly heavy, as if the volcano itself were a beating heart.

Emperor Daye landed on a jutting rock platform at the bottom of the volcano. With a sweep of his sleeve, he suspended the four Dao Foundation avatars in front of him.

The two clusters of golden flames in his eyes slowly flickered, gradually syncing with the rhythm of the heartbeat.

Then, he raised his hand and tossed the four avatars, one by one, into the deepest part of the crater.

The moment the four Dao Foundation avatars touched the boiling magma, they melted into it silently, like snow cast into a furnace.

And with their dissolution, the heartbeat grew even deeper and more powerful.

Then...

Through Emperor Daye’s eyes, Chen Lingxi saw a figure sitting cross-legged right in the center of the churning magma at the very bottom of the volcano.

The figure was tall and bare-chested. His skin was the color of ancient bronze, his muscles bulging and knotted like dragons.

His eyes were shut tight. Enveloped by a faint golden halo, he let the scorching magma seethe and surge around him, yet not a single strand of his hair was singed.

His face had sharp, distinct features, radiating a grand, imposing aura that looked down upon the world.

’Xiao Changlv!’

Chen Lingxi’s heart gave a violent jolt, and his Vision Roaming shattered at that exact moment.

He snapped his eyes open, his gaze filled with irrepressible shock.

To think that Xiao Changlv was sitting cross-legged within the crater in the deepest parts of the Heavenly Gate Sea...

’This Xiao Changlv is a clone created by Emperor Daye using the Myriad Breeding Dao-Seeding Marvelous Lotus Qi...’

Chen Lingxi took a deep breath.

’Just what is Emperor Daye plotting?’ he asked himself, light flickering in his eyes.

’The depth of this man’s scheming far exceeds my imagination, but looking at it now, I still underestimated Emperor Daye.’

Using the rivers and mountains as a formation to seize the life essence of hundreds of millions of living beings;

Using the Immortal Slough as a foundation to nurture that Space-Disrupting Flower, cultivating his own peerless inner reserves;

And now using Dao Foundation avatars as nourishment to feed this clone...

His many schemes intertwined with each other, forming a massive, all-encompassing net that shrouded this entire Weiji Grotto-Heaven within it.

’There must be something bizarre about this volcano.’

Chen Lingxi pondered for a long time, then closed his eyes to cultivate again.

Ten days later, Chen Lingxi used Vision Roaming on Emperor Daye again and confirmed that the emperor had long since left the mysterious crater.

Only then did he sink a strand of consciousness into the Divine Chamber, landing it upon the Absolute Perception divine ability.

Over the past two years, his cultivation had advanced greatly. The Plundering Dragon Dao Platform was complete, and his practice of the Great Divine Ability and refinement of the Thunder Prison Spirit Branch had also made progress.

The essence-replenishing progress of the Absolute Perception divine ability had also long since reached completion.

With a slight shift in his thoughts, he felt his consciousness instantly pulled by a profound force, subsequently falling into his physical shell within the Divine Chamber.

Two bright mirrors hung high in the sky—one blazing gold like the great sun, one silvery white like the bright moon. Brilliant pillars of light cascaded down upon this world that only he could see.

He took a deep breath, summoned a cloud, and soared rapidly toward the Northern Sea.

’I need to make a trip to that crater and see for myself exactly what secrets are hidden inside.’

The celestial winds howled in his ears, with millions of acres of azure waves stretching beneath his feet.

It did not take long before the volcanic archipelago appeared in the distance.

Chen Lingxi lowered his cloud above the most towering crater and peered down...

Thick smoke billowed from the mouth of the volcano, and searing waves of heat blasted against his face.

’This is the place.’

Chen Lingxi did not hesitate. The spiritual qi around his body surged, and pale golden lightning surfaced around him, completely isolating the scorching heat.

He stepped down through the air, plummeting straight into the crater like a pale golden meteor.

Passing through the churning smoke and the blistering magma, he landed on a jutting rock platform at the bottom.

At this moment, the heartbeat became even clearer. It sounded as if a divine being were beating a war drum, making the entire volcano tremble.

He looked toward the source of the heartbeat and saw the bare-chested figure sitting right in the middle of the roiling magma.

It was exactly Xiao Changlv, identical to what he had seen when Emperor Daye descended here.

’Xiao Changlv really is inside.’

However, unlike when he used Vision Roaming, he now saw an incredibly profound formation rune slowly circulating beneath Xiao Changlv.

The very center of the formation runes was exactly where Xiao Changlv sat.

With every rotation of the runes, an immensely majestic spiritual opportunity was extracted from the depths of the volcano and fed into Xiao Changlv’s body.

Chen Lingxi’s gaze moved past Xiao Changlv and landed on the crater walls behind him, which were dyed a crimson red by the magma.

Then he saw it...

The volcano walls were actually densely carved with runes.

Those runes overlapped layer upon layer, linking together to form a colossal array.

’Could it be...’

Chen Lingxi’s mind raced. He flew right out of the crater, ascending ten thousand zhang into the sky. Activating his Method of Qi Observation, he captured the formation runes within the volcano.

He then discovered that the lines of the giant array spread from the crater walls down to the bottom, and from the bottom extending deep into the earth, just like a world-encompassing spiderweb...

Densely packed, it stretched outward without end.

Chen Lingxi sucked in a breath of cold air.

’This crater is the exact center of that spiderweb. It is the array eye of the entire great formation.’

’Or rather, Emperor Daye used this volcano to construct the entire grand array, spreading it across the whole Weiji Grotto-Heaven!’