After the Great Dao died

Chapter 101 What is a Ding vessel?

Inside the Qiaojishan Cave.

Xu Qingru was thrown to a corner of the cave wall, her back pressed against the cold blue stone, her plain white dress already stained with mud and blood from the riverbank.

Her severed arm wound had been hastily sealed by Chen Lingxi's spiritual energy, and the bleeding had stopped.

However, the incomparably sharp and powerful aura of the green sword still lingered in her meridians.

It felt like countless fine needles were slowly moving through her meridians, and every movement caused her to break out in a cold sweat.

Chen Lingxi sat cross-legged on the bluestone opposite her, his face still bearing the ghost mask.

The legendary sword, wielded horizontally across his lap, exuded an awe-inspiring presence.

Xu Qingru took a moment to catch her breath, then raised her head. The pitiful, tearful look that had appeared on the riverbank was gone from her eyes, which were like autumn water; only a deathly calm remained.

She knew she couldn't escape.

A Qi cultivation level of five is like paper in front of this person. Even a Qi cultivation level five body cultivator like Jiang Xing had his head cut off with a single strike. Even at her peak, she was no match for this person.

Chen Lingxi finally looked up at her, her gaze calm as still water: "Who sealed you into the coffins?" Xu Qingru was silent for a few moments before slowly speaking: "Yun Jiao."

"Yun Jiao?" Chen Lingxi raised an eyebrow slightly.

He had certainly heard of that name.

Of the nineteen rebel kings in the Great Li Kingdom today, Xiao Changlu is the most powerful, followed by Wu Mohe.

The third rebel king was none other than Yun Jiao.

Xu Qingru nodded and said, "Yun Jiao, like us, is also someone who has passed away."

Those who are reborn are the great cultivators of the world who came to this grotto-heaven by walking through the Rebirth Pool.

Chen Lingxi remained calm and simply nodded slightly, signaling her to continue.

"My senior brother Jiang Xing and I are of far inferior background to the disciples of the famous sects of the Great Heaven and Earth. We have wasted many years in this cave, and have never had the opportunity to ascend the tower." Xu Qingru's voice became lower and lower: "Later, by chance, I obtained a fragment of a cauldron called the Taotie Jar."

The urn contained a life-devouring supernatural power, capable of consuming the vital energy of others to aid in cultivation.

The two of us... relied on this supernatural power to barely survive in this cave.

"Later we heard that the rebel king Yun Jiao was recruiting cultivators from minor sects and clans, promising them that if they helped him seize the cauldron, they would be able to obtain the opportunity to cultivate in the [Sea of ​​Calamity] after returning to the Great World." "You all joined him?" Chen Lingxi asked.

Xu Qingru nodded, then gave a bitter smile.

Chen Lingxi narrowed her eyes slightly: "Why would he do this?"

"I don't know." Xu Qingru shook her head: "After we were sealed in the coffin, our minds were in a daze. It wasn't until you pulled us out of the river that we realized we had been sunk to the bottom."

Chen Lingxi remained silent.

Yun Jiao was a rebel king, yet he bound these two cultivators to coffins and sold them to the court's eunuchs.

The eunuch then used the coffin as the key element of the formation, sinking it to the bottom of the Xia River to complete the formation.

"It seems these two are unaware that someone has used them to set up an array," Chen Lingxi thought to himself.

That eunuch was a member of the imperial palace, and naturally also a member of the court.

This Yun Jiao, the dignified third rebel king, actually colluded with the imperial court, selling the cultivators who had pledged allegiance to him to the court like commodities.

He pondered for a moment, suppressing these thoughts for the time being, and then suddenly asked, "You just said that you and Jiang Xing are from the Chu Tianxing Jiang family? What is that? And what is your background?"

Xu Qingru was slightly taken aback, seemingly not expecting Chen Lingxi to suddenly ask this, but still answered, "Chu Tianxing is a star in the vast world. The Jiang family is a small clan on Chu Tianxing."

I come from the Qingguan Sect, but it's a minor sect in the Fengxian Sea.

Chen Lingxi nodded, then suddenly changed the subject: "Just how vast is this world? And what powerful beings exist within it?"

The question came as abruptly as Xu Qingru was taken aback, a hint of doubt flashing in her clear, autumn-water-like eyes.

In her view, although the person in front of her was only at the fifth level of Qi cultivation, his techniques had reached the intermediate level, and his spiritual energy was extremely profound.

Such a person must be a genius in this world, to ask such a question?

But her life was in this man's hands, and she dared not refuse to answer.

She remained silent for a few moments before slowly speaking: "The vast world... is boundless."

"But the void changed, the heavens and earth shattered, and were divided into many, many more heavens and earths."

The flow of spiritual energy, facilitating the passage of countless realms through which spiritual artifacts can be used, is what cultivators seeking truth refer to as the Great Heaven and Earth.

"The vast universe is... [the Great, Mysterious, and Pure Heaven]."

Her voice grew lower and lower: "It is also known as the [Great Mysterious Cleansing Realm]." "The Great Mysterious Cleansing Heaven..." Chen Lingxi silently recited the name in her heart, feeling that these words seemed to contain some kind of indescribable mystery, and just reciting them made people's minds tremble slightly.

"There are many sects and immortal clans in the Great Heaven and Earth," Xu Qingru continued. "In the Great Xuanzhuo Realm, there are True Lords, Mysterious Lords, or the legendary Heavenly Lords and Immortal Lords."

It is said that the Nascent Soul Mystic Lord cultivated to the Mystic Throne of the Heavens, sitting high in the heavens, his nobility beyond description.

"But these figures are ethereal and unattainable to me; I can only look up to them."

Chen Lingxi listened quietly, her face expressionless, but her heart was churning with turbulent emotions.

The vast and mysterious heavens.

The Great Mysterious Cleansing Realm.

Xuanjun is a Nascent Soul cultivator!

These names were completely unfamiliar to him, yet they only fueled his growing longing for that mysterious and magnificent world.

True Lord, Mysterious Lord!

Golden Core, Nascent Soul!

The terms "Heavenly Lord" and "Immortal Lord," which only existed in the conversations of Lin Suri, Ying Chi, and others, were now spoken by Xu Qingru, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, filling in some of the vague picture of the world in his mind.

He pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "You said Yun Jiao was also a person who had passed away. What was his cultivation level?"

Xu Qingru shook her head: "I don't know."

Yun Jiao is an extremely mysterious person who has never revealed his true cultivation level in front of others.

But as far as I know, he has at least three Qi-level experts under his command who are completely obedient to him and dare not disobey him in the slightest.

For someone at the sixth level of Qi cultivation to command such respect, their cultivation level must be... at least at the upper third level.

Go up to the third floor.

Chen Lingxi silently repeated these three words in her heart, her brows furrowing slightly.

Another person who went up to the third floor.

Consort Chun's Qi cultivation level was at the eighth level, Xi Yu's was at the eighth or even ninth level, and now Yun Jiao has emerged, whose Qi cultivation level is at least at the seventh level.

There seemed to be far more cultivators on the upper three floors of this grotto than he had expected.

"Where is Yun Jiao now?" Chen Lingxi asked again. "Qianqing Prefecture," Xu Qingru replied. "He commands 80,000 troops and occupies the three prefectures of Qing, Zhong, and Xu, and has been in a standoff with the imperial army for several years."

Chen Lingxi nodded and memorized all the information.

After asking a few more questions about the powerful figures under Yun Jiao's command, Xu Qingru answered them one by one, without hiding anything.

In addition, Chen Lingxi asked many questions about the Great Xuan Cleansing Realm, and Xu Qingru had no choice but to answer them one by one.

Finally, Chen Lingxi asked again what a ding vessel was.

Xu Qingru grew increasingly puzzled, her eyes fixed on the masked man before her, her brows furrowed slightly.

This person just asked about the vastness of the universe and about common cultivation knowledge such as the Mysterious Lord and the True Lord. Now he is asking what the cauldron is. He is like a child who has just entered the path of cultivation asking his teacher for knowledge. He is not like a cultivator at the fifth level of Qi cultivation at all.

Are there any cultivators of the Great Profound Cleansing Realm who are unaware of the cauldron?

But she was now in someone else's hands, her Qi Sea sealed, and the lingering aura of the Qingfeng sword energy from her severed arm still throbbed in her meridians. Even with a thousand questions, she dared not ask any more. She could only lower her eyes, suppress the doubt in her heart, and slowly answer...

"No one knows where the tripod came from; it seems to have existed since ancient times."

She paused, then said, "The wonder of the cauldron is as profound as the mysteries of the Great Dao, so subtle and wondrous that it cannot be described in words."

"Moreover, the cauldron recognizes its master and is not limited to cultivation level. One can cultivate by circulating Qi, and the same applies to the Dao Foundation, Golden Palace, and Golden Core stages."

However, even among ritual vessels, there are differences in strength. The same ritual vessel, when used for circulating Qi, can exert far less power compared to the stages of Dao Foundation or Golden Palace.

At this point, she paused for a moment, then said, "Let me give you an example."

Her voice became a little calmer, but when she mentioned that name, her tone involuntarily carried a hint of awe: "For example, the most famous Golden Elixir Cauldron in the Great Profound Cleansing Heaven, the Daoist Master's [Heaven-Stabilizing Brush]."

Chen Lingxi sat upright on the blue stone, his expression unreadable beneath the ghost mask, only nodding slightly.

Xu Qingru then continued, "It is said that when the Daoist Master was in the Golden Palace, he had already obtained the cauldron and the Heaven-Stabilizing Brush."

At that time, there was a Daoist named Miao Dao on Yanduo Mountain who had a Daoist dispute with the Daoist master.

"Yan Duoshan once seized the treasure of the Daoist Academy disciple Li Que. The Daoist Master then used the Heaven-Fixing Brush to determine the destiny of the Daoist Miao Daoren."

She straightened up slightly, her voice filled with awe: "That destiny is nothing more than two words: 'Separation from loved ones'."

Later, Liu Junhe, the most beloved disciple of Daoist Miao, made rapid progress in his cultivation, but was corrupted by greed. He stole Daoist Miao's most prized treasure, the Sky-Connecting Shuttle, and thus betrayed his sect.

As she said this, she shook her head slightly, her tone filled with emotion: "The Heaven-Stabilizing Brush was already extraordinary when it was in the Golden Palace, but I never expected that after the Daoist Master broke through to the Golden Core stage, there would be more news."

"When the Daoist Master attained the position of True Lord, he used the Heaven-Fixing Brush to determine the destiny of Xu Jingzhen, the chief of the Daoist Palace, which was named 'Myriad Laws Profound.'" As she spoke these four words, a hint of undisguised envy flashed in her eyes, which were as clear as autumn water: "Under this destiny, Xu Jingzhen can understand all laws at a glance and can integrate them. This is the Golden Palace Technique. Practicing it will lead to a wonderful realm, and he can even innovate upon it."

With the mandate of the Heavenly Mandate of [Mysterious Understanding of All Laws], Xu Jingzhen has now cultivated to the Golden Palace Perfection, and is only one step away from the position of True Lord.

Chen Lingxi sat motionless, but couldn't help taking a deep breath beneath the ghost mask.

The Heaven-Stabilizing Brush, it's the Heaven-Stabilizing Brush again.

During his travels, he overheard the woman in red promising Lin Suri that if he could find the immortal's body, she would ask the Daoist master to use the Heaven-Fixing Brush to establish the path of "cultivating all methods" for Lin Suri.

At the time, he thought it was just a promise of a chance encounter, but now, hearing Xu Qingru say this, he realized that the Heaven-Stabilizing Brush actually possessed such incredible power.

Determining one's fate with a single word can decide one's path.

At the Golden Palace, the destiny of "separation from loved ones" can be determined, causing master and disciple to turn against each other and junior brothers to kill each other.

At the Golden Core stage, one can establish the "Myriad Laws Profound Understanding," granting a cultivator the supernatural power to comprehend all laws at a glance.

Such methods are beyond description; they are simply transforming fate and seizing control of destiny.

He didn't show it on his face, but he firmly memorized the four words "Daoist Master of the Dao".

Chen Lingxi then asked what the fragments of the cauldron artifact were. This time, Xu Qingru did not hesitate and continued to answer: "When a cultivator obtains a cauldron artifact to cultivate, if he dies, the cauldron artifact will turn into many fragments, fall into the void turbulence, and then be scattered to many corners of the Great World, or fall into many cave heavens and secret realms."

She paused, her tone now tinged with speculation: "Or perhaps, some owners of cauldrons, in search of opportunities, will voluntarily scatter their cauldrons throughout the myriad realms."

"As long as the original owner of the cauldron lives, even the fragments will be under their control."

As she said this, she suddenly looked up, as if she had remembered something, and whispered, "For example... the Taotie urn we obtained."

She pursed her lips and continued to explain, "We suspect that the Taotie urn is like this."

"This master of the cauldron, using the fragments of the cauldron, devours the power of our sacrifices to aid his cultivation."

Upon hearing this, Chen Lingxi had a general understanding of the situation.

The Candle of Time, the Palace of Fighting Beasts, the Star Stone, and even the Taotie Jar are all fragments of ancient bronze vessels.

Their owners may have died, their cauldrons shattered and scattered throughout the myriad worlds; or they may still be alive, deliberately breaking their cauldrons and scattering them everywhere, using the fragments to absorb the power of sacrifices to aid their own cultivation.

Regardless of the type, these fragments of the cauldron retain some of the original cauldron's power, exchanging lifespan, life force, and spiritual energy for various opportunities.

He pondered for a moment, finally gaining some understanding of the bronze vessel, and then changed the subject: "Where is that Taotie urn now?"

Upon hearing this, a faint glimmer of light flashed in Xu Qingru's eyes, as if a dying person had grasped a sliver of life. She quickly replied, "It's in our cave. If you can let me go back, I will definitely bring back the Taotie Jar and present it to you."

In addition, they will also bring back three spirit stones and one precious pill.

When she said "Let me go back," her voice still carried a hint of cautious probing. Her eyes, as clear as autumn water, looked at Chen Lingxi with pleading and entreaty in them.

Chen Lingxi sat upright on the bluestone, his eyes beneath the ghost mask revealing no emotion.

He thought for a moment, but did not agree. He simply stood up, walked to Xu Qingru, and extended his hand.

Xu Qingru thought he was going to break the seal on her, and a hint of surprise appeared in her eyes, when she felt a sharp pain in her lower abdomen.

A faint, extremely fine blue light emanated from Chen Lingxi's fingertips. The incomparably sharp Azure Blade Technique pierced through her Qi Sea with a gentle thrust.

Xu Qingru trembled violently. She opened her mouth to scream, but the pain prevented her from making a sound. She felt the spiritual energy in her dantian leaking out like water bursting its banks, gushing out through the breach and dissipating into the void.

She collapsed to the ground, her beautiful face devoid of color, reduced to a deathly pale ashes.

Chen Ling withdrew his fingers, bent down, grabbed the back of her collar, lifted her up, and strode out of the cave. Outside the cave, night had fallen, and the mountain wind howled through the forest.

He carried Xu Qingru over two mountain peaks and found a very secluded cave.

He threw Xu Qingru into the cave, stepped outside, and placed his hands on a massive boulder weighing ten thousand pounds at the cave entrance. His Jade Qi Realm cultivation erupted, and a jade-like luster flashed around him. He pushed the boulder inch by inch, sealing the cave entrance completely, leaving only a few extremely thin and narrow gaps that barely allowed a sliver of sunlight and air to pass through.

Chen Lingxi stood outside the cave entrance, his hands behind his back, gazing at the sealed boulder. He muttered to himself, "My strength is not yet sufficient. When I am stronger, I will go and see if Xu Qingru is lying."

"Even if a cultivator at the fifth level of Qi cultivation has a broken Qi Sea, his physical body and spiritual Qi have been transformed. He will not die if he does not eat for three months."

I'll send her some dry food in a few days.

Chen Lingxi's eyes flashed with a cold, eerie light.

"Those who wanted to kill me deserve this fate, which is only natural."