After the Great Dao Died

Chen Lingxi did not immediately circulate his energy to refine the Immortal Pivot’s spiritual essence surging into his body. Instead, he simply allowed the water to buoy him as he sank toward the bottom of the lake.

Deep underwater, an emerald halo enveloped him. The warm, gentle light acted like a thick garment of gauze, soothing his injuries.

He closed his eyes, but countless scenes involuntarily churned in his mind.

”Zhao Duanxuan, Bai Lingze...”

Chen Lingxi took a deep breath.

He could still recall the vivid images.

Zhao Duanxuan’s avatar stepping out of the shattered grand sun, bringing a palm down as if swatting a flying insect in the void.

Bai Lingze looking down on him amid the sonic waves of the Hymn of the Divine Being, his eyes filled with a casual, arrogant killing intent...

’An ant still has a life to lose. You had better hope I do not escape,’ he thought silently.

He silently repeated those two names, the killing intent in his eyes burning quiet yet fierce, like a prairie fire sparked from a single ember.

Since he began cultivating, he had never harbored such intense killing intent toward anyone.

A faint coldness surfaced at the corners of his mouth.

The darkness of night gradually faded, and morning light slowly rose from the edge of the sea.

Shimmering ripples appeared on the clear, emerald surface of the lake. The water silently washed away the blood scabs and scorch marks on Chen Lingxi’s body, while the Dao Origin that Zhao Duanxuan had left lingering inside him was ground away bit by bit by the spiritual essence of the Lake Immortal Pivot.

Two months quietly passed.

During these two months, Chen Lingxi remained sunken deep in the heart of the lake, entirely motionless.

Day after day, the majestic life energy in the lake washed over his body, completely obliterating the residual Dao Origin within him.

Nourished by this majestic spiritual essence, the Plundering Dragon Dao Platform became even more profound and condensed than before his injuries.

The profound patterns on the Dao Platform grew increasingly clear, and the Dao Seed entrenched upon it slowly grew stronger.

His physical body had also been blessed by disaster. Under the nourishment of this spiritual essence, the bones shattered by Zhao Duanxuan’s palm strike grew far tougher than before.

A very faint, gentle jade-like luster flowed beneath his skin. With every breath, he inhaled and exhaled an even more majestic volume of vital essence.

While healing in the heart of the lake, Chen Lingxi had not slacked in his cultivation in the slightest.

Every day, aside from circulating the Plundering Dragon True Art to refine the spiritual essence of the Lake Immortal Pivot, he used the Divine Chamber’s Vision Roaming Divine Ability to spy on Emperor Daye’s location.

But what made his heart gradually sink was that during those two months of Vision Roaming, he could not sense a single trace of Emperor Daye, Ying Xian.

’There are only two possibilities.’

’Either Emperor Daye has already perished, or he is no longer within my Vision Roaming range.’

Chen Lingxi couldn’t help but frown.

Having reached the Twelve Floors of Qi Circulation, his Vision Roaming range had already expanded to forty thousand li in every direction.

Yet even with such vast perception, he couldn’t find a single trace of Emperor Daye.

Where had he gone?

Could he truly have perished at the hands of Zhao Duanxuan?

But on second thought, he felt it was unlikely.

What kind of figure was Emperor Daye? With the Mountains and Rivers Great Array, the Immortal Slough, and the Delusion-Weaving Golden Eyes, backed by the heaven and earth power of this Weiji Grotto-Heaven, his Dao Foundation Middle Stage cultivation was more than enough to suppress Zhao Duanxuan before the latter reached the Dao Foundation Middle Stage.

How could such a figure perish so easily?

During this time, Chen Lingxi also used Vision Roaming on Daoist Shu Rong, only to discover that she was still searching for traces of the Immortal Slough.

If Emperor Daye were dead, the Immortal Slough would most likely have fallen into the hands of the Xi and Bai clans. Why would Daoist Shu Rong still be searching for it?

It was evident that the Immortal Slough had not yet fallen into anyone’s hands.

The lake was tranquil, its spiritual essence flowing like silk.

Sitting cross-legged deep in the heart of the lake, Chen Lingxi’s eyes flickered with light.

After a long time, he exhaled a long breath of turbid air.

”Emperor Daye, Ying Xian, is my enemy.”

Although his parents had died directly because of Rong Chun’s Mirror Listening words, the one wielding the Mirror Listening Cauldron Vessel Fragment at that time was already Emperor Daye.

Ultimately, the root of the Mirror Listening prophecy that had destroyed the Chen family still lay with Emperor Daye.

Yet, in the cracks of this Weiji Grotto-Heaven, amid the deadly trap where numerous experts of the Great Xuanzhuo Realm were glaring like hungry tigers eyeing their prey, Emperor Daye was the only person who had protected his Dao.

Were it not for that golden finger bone, and were it not for the Heavenly Decline Law Great Divine Ability that had trapped Bai Lingze, he, Chen Lingxi, would have died many times over.

’Emperor Daye protecting me naturally isn’t entirely out of goodwill. It is highly likely he is plotting against me.’

Chen Lingxi frowned in thought...

’Neither friend nor foe; both an enemy and a Daoist Friend,’ Chen Lingxi thought silently, the light in his eyes growing a bit clearer.

Within this Weiji Grotto-Heaven, Emperor Daye was perhaps the only ”person” standing on the same side as him.

Both were native mortals, both were ants struggling to survive beneath that Realm-Refining Furnace, and both were bitterly seeking a sliver of hope in the cracks.

Since that was the case, he only needed to focus on moving forward with all his might.

Deep in the heart of the lake, Chen Lingxi slowly stood up.

The water slipped from his shoulders, stirring up ripples on the clear surface.

He had healed his injuries in this Lake Immortal Pivot. The Plundering Dragon Dao Platform was even more tyrannical than before, and his physical body had fully recovered to its original state.

It was time to make another trip to the Storm Immortal Pivot.

He was going to cultivate the Thunder Prison Heaven Great Divine Ability in the Storm Immortal Pivot, plant his Profound Root, and ascend to the Dao Foundation!

Chen Lingxi stepped out of the water. The pale golden lightning once again swirled around him, wrapping him entirely from head to toe.

He silently activated the Cloud Soaring Technique beneath his feet, stirring a wave across the lake’s surface. He transformed into a pale golden rainbow that shot straight into the highest heavens, heading directly for the Storm Immortal Pivot!

—

The Storm Immortal Pivot still hung high in the sky, with lightning flashing and hurricanes howling.

As Chen Lingxi stepped inside, the surging Weiji lightning rushed toward him, snaking madly around his body without harming him in the slightest.

He sat cross-legged in the very center of the storm, took the Thunder Prison Spirit Branch from his Vast Void Pouch, held it in his hand, and sank his divine sense into the Great Divine Ability Spiritual Wall.

Thunder Prison Heaven, a Great Divine Ability of supreme killing power belonging to the Supreme Brilliance Extreme Jade Dao.

By gathering the profound lightning of heaven and earth, a thunder prison was formed. Within this lightning, the master of the thunder prison was like a descending deity, possessing unparalleled killing power.

Chen Lingxi closed his eyes and concentrated, circulating the method of the Great Divine Ability. The Weiji lightning churning in the storm poured madly into his body like rushing rivers.

The Dao rhythm contained within that lightning was too majestic and too pure. It surged into the Plundering Dragon Dao Platform, intertwining with his own lightning precious qi as it was continuously refined.

The profound vortex on the Dao Platform spun rapidly, devouring the incoming lightning power before feeding it back into the Thunder Prison Spirit Branch.

Under this unrestrained infusion, the Thunder Prison Spirit Branch melted at a visible rate, transforming into a trace of incomparably pure lightning vital essence that merged into his Qi Sea, fusing perfectly with the method of the Great Divine Ability.

One day, two days, three days... Time quietly slipped away amid this ceaseless storm.

Chen Lingxi sat cross-legged, the lightning surging around him forming a pillar of light that connected heaven and earth, enveloping him within.

The method for the Thunder Prison Heaven Great Divine Ability flowed through his Sea of Consciousness. Under the scouring of the Weiji lightning, every bottleneck and secret became clear and transparent—like parting the clouds to see the sun, suddenly opening up to wide light.

The Supreme Brilliance Extreme Jade Dao was precisely the Dao of Lightning!

Within this Storm Immortal Pivot, Chen Lingxi comprehended its lightning True Intent.

The might of divine retribution, the sound of heavenly drums, the wrath of a god’s cry, the destruction of an immortal’s smiting... various lightning profundities and the method of the Great Divine Ability were thus deeply branded into the depths of his Sea of Consciousness.

He didn’t know how much time had passed.

On this day, an indescribable light suddenly flared up from the Plundering Dragon Dao Platform inside Chen Lingxi’s body.

The radiance was dazzling, illuminating the entire Storm Immortal Pivot into a blinding expanse of pale gold.

In the very center of the light, the Thunder Prison Spirit Branch had completely dissolved. Bolts of lightning continually flashed, like the breaths of true dragons!

The Great Divine Ability was about to form a Profound Root!

Once the Profound Root was formed, the Dao Platform would no longer be an ordinary Dao Platform, but a Great Divine Ability Dao Platform bearing the profound mysteries of the Great Dao.

Once the Profound Root fully took root in the Dao Platform, the rolling spiritual qi in Chen Lingxi’s Qi Sea would transform into Dao Origin.

At that time, every movement he made would be accompanied by the Great Dao, and his combat prowess would skyrocket to unimaginable heights.

The two clusters of pale golden lightning in Chen Lingxi’s eyes suddenly blazed bright.

He took a deep breath, cultivating the Great Divine Ability! Nurturing the Profound Root!

Many more days passed, and the space around Chen Lingxi transformed into overlapping layers of Thunder Prisons!

A terrifying, profound aura of Dao rhythm flowed outward!

Lightning entered his body as the Great Divine Ability circulated.

Chen Lingxi sat peacefully like this. The pale golden lightning churning around him grew increasingly blazing, as if a genuine lightning sun were slowly rising from within this Storm Immortal Pivot.

The Great Divine Ability had been achieved!