After the Great Dao died

Chapter Ninety-Nine: The Great Emperor! Using Mountains and Rivers as Battlefields!

Chen Lingxi continued his meditation with his eyes closed until June arrived.

Time passes slowly in the mountains.

After his name was carved on the Star Stone that day, Chen Lingxi secluded himself in the Qiaoji Mountain cave for more than two months.

The Pure and Subtle Qi Array operates day and night, and the spiritual pool in his Qi Sea surges like boiling water, allowing his Qi cultivation to make significant progress.

At this moment, he was carefully studying the Qingmiao Pivot Qi Formation when Chen Lingxi's ears suddenly twitched slightly.

After reaching the fifth level of Qi cultivation, his five senses became incredibly sharp.

Within a radius of a hundred feet, the swaying of every blade of grass and the chirping of every insect and bird could not escape his perception.

At that moment, he heard a very faint sound of footsteps.

The sound was so faint and subtle that it would have been almost impossible to detect if he hadn't been fully focused.

"This is..." Chen Lingxi raised an eyebrow slightly.

Chen Lingxi stood up and walked to the cave entrance. Xi Mu, who was guarding the entrance, sensed his master's movement, silently stepped aside, and followed behind Chen Lingxi. The two figures quietly entered the mountain path.

They moved very quickly and reached the mountainside in no time.

There was a grove of low pine trees, their dense needles completely concealing his figure.

Chen Lingxi hid behind a sturdy, short pine tree, parted a few pine needles, and looked down the mountain path.

Just then, the footsteps grew closer.

At the bend in the mountain path, several wooden beams as thick as a child's arm came into view.

Beneath the wooden beam was a coffin.

The coffin was enormous, more than three feet longer and more than two feet wider than an ordinary coffin.

But what Chen Lingxi cared about even more was the person carrying the coffin.

There were eight people carrying the coffin, all of them strong and burly men.

They carried the heavy lifting bar, as thick as a child's arm, their steps so synchronized they seemed like one person.

Their breathing was extremely deep and long; each inhale filled their chests to bursting, and their exhales were like whales spewing water, causing wisps of very faint white mist to condense in the air. As they walked, a faint silvery-white light emanated from the backs of their exposed hands and necks.

"Eight Silver Bones!"

"This coffin is strange."

Chen Lingxi was somewhat surprised.

Warriors at the Silver Bone Realm are qualified to hold positions such as centurion in the Dali Army.

Back then, He Duan, the instructor of the west courtyard of the Marquis of Baosu's mansion, was only a newcomer to the Silver Bone Realm, yet he was already a prominent figure in the mansion.

And these eight people in front of us are just laborers used to carry the coffin?

His gaze passed over the eight silver-bone warriors carrying the coffin and landed at the very front of the procession.

Two people on horseback led the way.

Both horses were tall and black, with manes as black as satin.

Each horse was occupied by a man, both dressed in black close-fitting clothes, with swords at their waists, their auras deep and unfathomable.

Their faces were completely obscured by their straw hats, making them difficult to see clearly. However, as they rode their horses, a faint golden light emanated from deep within their bones. The golden light was not intense; it was merely a very faint and thin layer, hanging almost imperceptibly on their bodies, so profound that it was unsettling.

"Golden Body!"

Two golden-bodied figures led the way, while eight silver-bone warriors carried the coffin.

Who was in that coffin?

Chen Lingxi, filled with curiosity, quietly activated the Qi Observation Technique from the Six Qi True Method.

The spiritual energy emerges from the dantian, travels upwards along the meridians, and flows into the eyes.

In an instant, the mountains and forests in front of him suddenly changed color.

But Chen Lingxi's gaze fell on the coffin.

Under the method of observing Qi, two streams of spiritual Qi were circulating inside the coffin!

The two streams of spiritual energy were extremely faint, like a flickering candle flame, trembling slightly deep within the coffin.

Chen Lingxi's breath hitched slightly.

He was all too familiar with this way of circulating spiritual energy. A cultivator!

Lying in this coffin are two cultivators!

He frowned slightly, withdrew his Qi observation technique, and turned his gaze back to the coffin itself.

The coffin was covered with intricate patterns, which were layered and interconnected, forming a surprisingly exquisite magic array!

Chen Lingxi has been studying the formation diagram of the Qingmiao Pivot Qi Formation day and night for some time now, and his understanding of formations is already different from before.

He immediately recognized that the patterns on the coffin were not ordinary coffin decorations, but a magic array used to seal spiritual energy.

"That's interesting."

The procession carrying the coffin wound its way up the mountain path, and was about to pass the grove of low pine trees where Chen Lingxi was hiding.

Chen Lingxi lowered his body even further, the Concealed Edge Technique flowing silently within his body, making him like a piece of moss growing at the base of a dwarf pine, blending into the mountain forest.

The footsteps of eight silver-bone warriors echoed in unison as they passed by him on the mountain path less than ten feet away.

The two golden figures rode past on horseback, the snorting of the horses and the crisp sound of their iron hooves striking the rocks were so clear they seemed to be right next to my ears.

But no one noticed him. The group walked further and further away, heading down the mountain.

Chen Lingxi emerged from behind the dwarf pine tree, watching the dark blue coffin disappear into the dense forest at the end of the mountain path, surrounded by a group of people, and frowned slightly.

He hesitated for a few moments, but finally followed after them.

With the Hidden Edge Technique circulating to its fullest extent within his body, his figure became like an invisible shadow, trailing far behind the group, maintaining a distance of approximately several miles.

The group descended Qiaoji Mountain but did not enter Yuanjiang Prefecture. Instead, they headed west along the official road outside the city.

The procession moved extremely fast. The two golden-bodied figures rode ahead on horseback, followed closely by eight silver-bone warriors carrying coffins, their steps swift and uninterrupted.

Pedestrians occasionally passed by on the roadside, but upon seeing the coffin-carrying procession, they all made way, not daring to glance at it for long.

After traveling for several hours, the sun had already moved to the west, and the afterglow of the setting sun dyed the clouds on the horizon a dark gold.

The group finally stopped at a riverbank.

It was a long river, narrower than the Yuan River but much wider than an ordinary stream, its water a clear, jade-green hue, shimmering in the twilight.

"This is... Xia He?"

Chen Lingxi hid among the reeds on a high slope by the river, gazing at the river in the distance. Over the past six months, he had traveled back and forth between Yuanjiang Prefecture and the surrounding mountains, and had become quite familiar with the mountains and rivers of this area.

The Xia River originates from the Twelve Mountains in the south of Lunan Prefecture, meanders for over a hundred miles from west to east, and eventually flows into the Yuan River.

The group stopped on a riverbank in Xiahe.

Chen Lingxi turned her gaze away from the river, her pupils contracting slightly.

There were people on the riverbank again.

That was a eunuch.

The eunuch was about forty years old, with a fair complexion and no beard.

But what truly startled Chen Lingxi was the aura emanating from the eunuch.

This person stood there, his aura chaotic yet brimming with jade-like energy, extremely powerful.

"A person of refined elegance?"

Chen Lingxi became increasingly curious.

Such a refined and elegant figure, whom we rarely see, has appeared here? At this moment, the coffin-carrying procession has reached the eunuch.

The eunuch gently raised the whisk in his hand, and the two golden figures dismounted and bowed to him.

Eight silver-bone warriors slowly lowered the dark blue coffin from their shoulders and placed it on several round logs that had been prepared on the riverbank.

The eunuch glanced at the giant coffin, pointed towards the river, and whispered, "...The time has come. Sink it."

The two golden figures responded and waved to the eight silver-bone warriors, who then lifted the giant coffin again and walked step by step toward the river.

They carried the giant coffin, inch by inch, closer and closer to the deep, dark water in the very center of the river.

The eunuch stood on the riverbank, watching the giant coffin being carried to the depths of the river. Suddenly, he reached into his robe and took out a compass.

The compass was about the size of a palm and was covered with intricate patterns.

In the center of the plate, there were also very thin and faint rays of light flowing around, like countless tiny fish swimming on the plate.

Chen Lingxi felt a jolt in her heart, sensing something amiss.

He has been studying the Pure and Subtle Qi Array recorded on the bamboo slip day and night for some time now. From the beginning of array formation to being able to barely set up the first layer of the array, he has already exhausted countless efforts.

Even so, he already possessed a rudimentary understanding of formations. At this moment, he immediately recognized the extraordinary nature of the compass.

"That's... a treasure for setting up and controlling an array; it's the array's core!"

The eunuch tucked the whisk into his waistband, then placed one hand on the compass and made a light, haphazard gesture towards the depths of the river.

The compass suddenly lit up.

Chen Lingxi held her breath.

They saw many array formations and hand seals fly out of the void and fall into the river.

Until the light on the compass gradually dimmed.

The eunuch put the compass back into his pocket, turned around, nodded slightly to the two golden figures, and whispered something.

The two men mounted their horses and, leading the eight silver-bone warriors, returned along the official road in the direction they had come from.

The eunuch himself mounted a black horse that had appeared on the riverbank at some unknown time. He shook the reins, and the horse's hooves clattered as it soon disappeared into the twilight at the end of the official road.

The riverbank returned to silence.

After a long while, Chen Lingxi emerged from the reeds. Night had fallen, and the surface of the Xia River shimmered under the cold moonlight.

He walked to the riverbank and stood on the pebble beach.

A moment later, he quietly activated the Qi Observation Technique.

As the spiritual energy entered his eyes, the river before him suddenly changed its appearance.

From the depths of the river where the coffin had sunk, a dense spiritual aura was rising!

The spiritual energy was mixed with the river water, and ordinary people could not detect anything unusual with the naked eye.

However, under the technique of observing Qi, the river water was like a boiling cauldron, with swirling spiritual Qi surging within it.

The spiritual energy surged from the depths of the riverbed, coiling, condensing, and spreading in the water. Finally, it rose to a height of about ten feet above the river surface, where it transformed into a very thin layer of mist that slowly swirled in the night breeze and lingered for a long time.

Chen Lingxi's gaze was immediately fixed on him.

He stood on the pebble beach, staring blankly at the surging spiritual energy.

After a long while, he suddenly frowned.

"No..." he muttered to himself. Since obtaining the bamboo slips, although he had only studied them for a few months and his skill in setting up formations was not very high, he had barely managed to enter the basics.

At this moment, as he stood on the banks of the Xia River, using the art of observing Qi to carefully examine the flow of spiritual energy in the surrounding world, he vaguely sensed an extremely hidden array node!

The more he looked, the more alarmed he became.

He sensed that the terrain and river course within an unknown radius of several miles had been reorganized by an extremely sophisticated method.

Those seemingly ordinary river curves, river bends, and the undulating mountains on both sides all subtly correspond to some extremely profound principles of formations.

Emperor Daye extensively constructed canals, which crisscrossed like the lines on a chessboard.

The newly opened Xiahe waterway, the giant coffin that sank to the bottom of the river...

Chen Lingxi turned her gaze away from the river and suddenly remembered a sentence from that manifesto.

"An imperial edict was issued to all the prefectures, ordering the construction of the Grand Canal. Iron shackles and chains bound the flesh and blood of the common people; whips lashed out, driving the people to the Yellow Springs."

"In two years, forty-nine canals were built! Mountains were dug and valleys filled, and the graves of countless people were destroyed; dikes were breached and rivers were cut off, and the fields and houses of thousands of villages were ruined."

Chen Lingxi's breathing suddenly became heavier.

"Canals, eunuchs, formations..." A bizarre yet vaguely explainable conjecture suddenly popped into his mind.

Emperor Daye.

Emperor Daye ascended the throne more than 30 years ago, before Xiao Changlu raised an army and before the world was in chaos.

Until he began to expand the canals.

He ignored the advice of senior officials who risked their lives to remonstrate with him.

Even after rebellions broke out, this Emperor Daye continued to dig new waterways at all costs, emptying the national treasury, undermining the foundation of the state, and driving tens of millions of people to their deaths.

Why?

"Are these canals, mountains, rivers, and seas part of a formation?"

Chen Lingxi took a deep breath and forcefully suppressed the turbid air that surged into her chest.

"Who exactly is this Emperor Daye?"

P.S.: An extra chapter was added yesterday when the monthly votes reached 100.