After the Great Dao died

Chapter 104 The Crown Prince Arrives in Person

The crown prince sat upright on the rosewood throne, the shadow behind him as dark as ink, with only his bright yellow brocade robe gleaming slightly in the candlelight.

At this moment, his eyes reflected a hazy blue mist.

The mist emanated from the thumb ring on his fingertip.

The light gathered three feet in front of him, solidifying and not dissipating, like a small mirror lake confined in the void.

The lake reflects the scenery of Qiaoji Mountain.

He saw Zhong Wuzhu, the Crown Prince Martial Master who had cultivated the Zhenyu Treasure Body and whose body was as white as jade, Chen Lingxi with a ghost mask on his face, and the Qi Circulation Level 6 cultivator beside him!

He also witnessed Chen Lingxi and the cultivators at the sixth level of the Qi Circulation Realm killing four of his Jade Qi masters!

There's even Zhong Wuzhu, who can rival a cultivator on the sixth floor!

Ying Chi's face was as still as water.

Although he had never seen Chen Lingxi wearing the ghost mask, he knew that Chen Lingxi was wielding the Golden Slaughtering Sword and that there was a mist cultivator by his side because he had spied on Lu Baizhong's report from Zhuo Diao Temple when he intercepted Chen Lingxi.

Ying Chi took a deep breath. That day, in the East Hall of the Beast Fighting Palace, this official slave stood before him, discussing the Dragon He Technique and his origins from the Southern Heaven Domain!

At that time, the man was calm and composed, with extraordinary eyesight, and his aura was not dissipated. He felt that this was a person who had concealed his cultivation and came from the great world.

It wasn't until later, when Yang Zhuri, Princess Yunhe, Chu Linzi, and all the other "great medicines" beside Lin Longyue died, that he remembered that this "senior" seemed to be lurking in the Baosu Marquis's mansion.

Suspicious, he sent his cultivators to investigate and found that the residual spiritual energy fluctuations in Princess Yunhe and the others were only at the sixth level of Qi cultivation!

He thought Chen Ling couldn't even reach the sixth level of Qi cultivation, so he came here to test him and finally found out his true strength!

When Lu Baizhong intercepted and killed him, this man was only at the fourth level of the Qi cultivation stage.

Although it's a trump card to save your life, it's still only at the fourth level of Qi cultivation!

As Ying Chi thought of this, the coldness in his eyes intensified.

Until today.

Before Zhong Wuzhu died, he crushed the jade pendant. The spiritual sand from the jade pendant connected with the precious ring on his finger, and he then saw many scenes on Qiaoji Mountain.

"Only a few months after Lu Baizhong's ambush, this man has already reached the fifth level of the Qi Circulation Realm!"

His eyes flickered, and he saw the Golden-Slaying Saber, the Sun-Chasing Spirit Arrow, and the wisp of Purple True Treasure Qi in Chen Lingxi's hands! This Chen Lingxi had taken advantage of him for who knows how much!

If Yang Zhuri, Princess Yunhe, and others hadn't been killed one after another, he would probably still be in the dark.

He even killed four of his jade spirits today.

Ying Chi sat upright on the crown prince's throne, his eyes filled with murderous intent.

"As a disciple of the Southern Heaven Domain, how could I be deceived by such an unknown person?"

He stroked the ring on his hand, his eyes like a bottomless abyss.

Thinking of this, the two vortexes in Ying Chi's eyes began to spin violently.

A faint golden light flickered deep within the vortex, like two enraged dragons roaring and churning in the depths of its pupils.

Just then.

From the thick shadows behind him, the pale-faced, beardless Zhuo Diaosi quietly approached.

"Luo Ran has already headed to Qiaoji Mountain." His slightly cloudy eyes gazed at the lapis lazuli bricks beneath his feet. "But that Ice Manipulator Immortal..."

The prince narrowed his eyes, pondering for a moment. "Luo Ran is gone... let her lead away the cultivator from the sixth level of the Spirit Qi Realm."

"As for Chen Lingxi... he still has a hidden strength that is quite extraordinary. If we don't draw it out, even if you find him and kill him when I'm not around, it will be difficult."

He gently shook his head, reached out, and his slender, fair hand gently clenched in mid-air.

With that grasp, a precious bottle suddenly appeared in his palm.

The bottle was no bigger than the palm of my hand, and its entire body was pure white. A faint, swirling light emanated from its surface, as if a very thin layer of moonlight had been trapped on the bottle's wall.

With the bottle mouth facing down, the purple true treasure energy inside flowed out, exuding astonishing power.

The purple aura surged within the bottle, like a purple dragon imprisoned in a glass cup, roaring and struggling, trying to break free from the shackles of this small space.

The moment the treasure vase appeared, the air in the entire palace seemed to freeze.

The eunuch lowered his head even further.

Ying Chi held the treasure bottle, his gaze falling on the purple light flowing across its surface.

Immediately, a wisp of spiritual energy slowly flowed into the ring on his fingertip.

The dark-colored bead on the front of the ring trembled slightly, and layers of light shone from its surface. Ying Chi looked at the swirling mist before him with a cold gaze.

"Zhong Wuzhu and the others died too quickly just now."

He paused, glanced down at the Purple True Treasure Bottle, and a faint glint of light flashed in his eyes.

"I only need to hold them off for a moment, and then I can use this Purple True Treasure Qi..."

Before he could finish speaking, the two golden vortexes in his eyes suddenly began to spin faster.

From the depths of that vortex, golden light surged forth, like two volcanoes about to erupt, dazzling and impossible to look directly at.

He said no more, only lowered his head, and spiritual energy rose from the dantian around his body.

At this moment, the light on the vase shone brightly, and purple radiance burst forth from the vase, turning the entire palace into a magnificent yet terrifying purple.

-

Chen Lingxi, far away at Qiaoji Mountain, was squatting among those jade-like corpses.

Chen Lingxi searched the bodies and found all their belongings.

A precious sword, extremely valuable qi and blood elixirs, and silver notes. Just then, specks of blue light floated in the surrounding air.

Those halos were extremely faint and subtle, like countless tiny fireflies silently dancing in the night.

Chen Lingxi's expression shifted slightly as she looked at the jade sand.

The halos gathered more and more, becoming denser and denser, converging from all directions like rivers flowing into the sea. They gathered, swirled, and condensed three zhang in front of him, eventually transforming into a blue human figure.

A figure slowly emerged from the blue light.

Chen Lingxi suddenly remembered the incarnation of Wu Mohe's spiritual energy that he had seen at Cuojin Mountain.

"This figure is also a manifestation of a similar wondrous technique."

The man was dressed in a bright yellow brocade robe, with a white jade belt around his waist, a purple-gold crown on his head, and a pair of black leather boots on his feet.

The brocade robe was embroidered with intricate cloud and dragon patterns in gold thread, which seemed to come alive under the blue halo. The clouds were floating, the dragons were swimming, and they were breathing out a cold, eerie light.

Chen Lingxi's face was exceptionally handsome, with a face like jade, eyebrows like distant mountains, and eyes like bright stars.

But at this moment, there was no warmth in those eyes, only a bottomless chill.

It was none other than Crown Prince Ying Chi! Ying Chi stood in the blue halo, his hands behind his back, his gaze cold and fixed on Chen Lingxi.

"But I never imagined that the so-called senior who could see through my cultivation and even use the Dragon Cry Technique..." His voice suppressed an almost overflowing anger, like a volcano suppressed under thin ice.

"He's just a petty thief at the fifth level of Qi cultivation."

He paused, his eyes sweeping over Chen Lingxi's body, his gaze passing over the Golden Slaughtering Saber at his waist, over the spiritual energy fluctuations around him that had not yet been fully subdued, and over the several jade-like corpses lying haphazardly at his feet.

His gaze held only pure, undisguised murderous intent.

"However, I am curious," Ying Chi continued, "how do you know about the Dragon Cry Technique of my Southern Heaven Domain? And how can you see through my origins?"

This problem had troubled him for a long time.

Chen Lingxi looked Ying Chi up and down, and a smile appeared on the face beneath the ghost mask.

The smile peeked out from the lower edge of the mask; only the slightly upturned corners of his mouth were visible, yet it was enough to convey his composure at that moment.

"That day, the Crown Prince wanted to kill me," Chen Lingxi said calmly and unhurriedly. "If I hadn't used some methods, wouldn't I have died at the Crown Prince's hands?"

Ying Chi sneered: "Now, you should not hesitate to tell me your origins."

Chen Lingxi remained silent. Ying Chi didn't care either; he shifted his gaze from Chen Lingxi to Xi Mu, who was not far away.

Ying Chi looked at Xi Mu, then at the churning mist: "Mist Swallowing Technique."

"Are you a member of the Que Xing Xi family?"

Xi Mu remained silent and did not answer.

His handsome face was completely expressionless.

Ying Chizai took a close look at Xi Mu, his gaze settling on Xi Mu's eyes.

Those eyes were empty and lifeless; though a glimmer of light flickered deep within their pupils, there was not a trace of the vitality a living person should possess.

Ying Chi's pupils contracted slightly.

"Is this member of the Xi family a puppet?"

His sneer deepened.

He raised his head and looked at Chen Lingxi again, his eyes now showing a hint of schadenfreude.

"The Xi family is the most vengeful," Ying Chi said. "The Xi family patriarch is also the most protective of his own and the most unreasonable. Your creation of Xi family members as puppets is a great disgrace to the Xi family."

He paused, a hint of amusement in his voice: "Once we leave this grotto..."

He rolled his eyes, his gaze contemptuous: "You dare not reveal your sect, you are nothing more than a minor sect. Once you leave this grotto-heaven, your master and sect will probably be refined into a grain of world essence by that Xi family's World-Transforming Furnace."

Chen Lingxi remained silent for a few moments, then suddenly laughed: "Did the Crown Prince come here just to spout this nonsense?"

Ying Chi did not answer, but stood with his hands behind his back, the cold smile still on his lips, but his eyes had become even more somber.

Chen Ling met his gaze and smiled, "From our previous encounters, I know the Crown Prince's methods. I also know his arrogance, but now, the Crown Prince has come in person to spout all this nonsense to me..."

He then abruptly changed the subject: "The Crown Prince is far away in the capital and cannot make it here."

However, there must be a backup plan left by the Crown Prince in Yuanjiang Prefecture.

So, the Crown Prince is stalling for time, waiting for his backup plan to arrive at Qiaoji Mountain?

Ying Chi nodded frankly: "That's exactly right."

His eyes flashed with murderous intent: "Since you know my Southern Heaven Domain, you must know how vast and powerful it is! In fact, my Southern Heaven Lord has been immortal for three thousand years and is a True Monarch..."

He paused, his tone carrying an innate arrogance: "I am a disciple of the Southern Heaven Domain, naturally I am noble. But you dare to mock me, so I will kill you."

He finished speaking and then let out a cold snort, a snort that seemed to suppress anger and murderous intent.

"When you faced Lu Baizhong, you revealed a hidden strength. I have come here today to deplete that strength."

"Then when I come to Yuanjiang Prefecture again, I will capture you alive and then ask you about your lineage and background."

"When I leave this grotto, I will take your remnant soul with me."

As he said this, a faint, cold smile appeared on his handsome, jade-like face.

"Then I will show you what a superior sect is and what a noble cultivation is!"

What does it mean that one's superior sect cannot be deceived?

What does it mean that one's noble character cannot be insulted?

"Everyone connected to you will be wiped out by my Southern Heavenly Domain!"

In the end, every word he spoke was resolute and forceful.

"Your sect, esteemed cultivator." Chen Lingxi repeated these four words, then shook his head. He stood with his sword at his side, his back ramrod straight, and his eyes beneath the ghost mask met Ying Chi's gaze without flinching.

"I am now at odds with the Crown Prince," he said. "Whether it's the Upper Sect or your esteemed sect."

"Even if the Crown Prince wants to kill me, I will never offer my neck for execution."

As he spoke, the method of observing the flow of Qi appeared in his eyes.

Looking at his black clothes, he noticed that there were a few specks of unlit jade dust on them, their spiritual energy extremely faint, hidden among the equally faint spiritual energy around him.

If one uses the method of observing Qi, it is extremely difficult to detect!

"Fellow Daoist!" Chen Lingxi withdrew his Qi Observation Technique and grinned, "You attached this spiritual light to me; if I escape, you must use this light to track me down!"

"But you...you're overthinking it." Chen Lingxi said calmly, "I...won't run away."

But his eyes were extremely sharp as he stared directly at Ying Chi: "Since you want to kill me, I will fight you."

Now that I have killed four of your Jade Qi cultivators... I will wait here for the Crown Prince's contingency plan left in Yuanjiang Prefecture.

He wanted to take this opportunity to eliminate the Crown Prince's backup plan and weaken his power.

Ying Chi was taken aback. After a few moments, he suddenly chuckled softly.

He turned his head and looked at Xi Mu, who was standing to the side, his eyes revealing undisguised disdain.

"Just this puppet?"

His light chuckle turned into a loud laugh, as if he were laughing at a naive child who had boasted to him!

Just then, footsteps sounded in the night.

The footsteps were extremely light, coming from the depths of the distant mountains and forests, carried by the mountain wind, and almost indistinguishable unless one listened carefully.

The pace of his footsteps was neither hurried nor slow, treading steadily and calmly among the gravel and withered grass.

Chen Lingxi looked in the direction of the sound.

A woman slowly walked out of the night.

She wore a plain white dress, the hem of which reached the ground and swayed slightly in the night breeze.

She wasn't particularly stunning; she had gentle features and a pretty face, and looked to be only in her early twenties.

Yet, wisps of mist swirled and flowed around her. The mist was extremely faint and thin, like a veil woven from moonlight and mountain mist, enveloping her in a mysterious halo.

What truly made Chen Lingxi take this seriously was the spiritual energy fluctuation emanating from the woman's body.

The fluctuations were extremely deep and thick, like a bottomless, icy pool.

This fluctuation was in no way weaker than that of Xi Mu.

The woman walked to the side of Ying Chi's spiritual avatar, stopped, and bowed slightly to Ying Chi, her posture respectful but without speaking.

Her eyes were fixed on Chen Lingxi, her gaze calm and unreadable.

She glanced at Chen Lingxi, then at Xi Mu not far away, and tilted her head slightly, seemingly waiting for Ying Chi to give an order.

Chen Lingxi looked at the woman, then suddenly narrowed his eyes: "Sixth level of Qi cultivation?"

He nodded, his tone tinged with approval, but then suddenly said, "Only one person?"

"Of course, Luo Ran isn't the only one."

The Crown Prince, in his incarnation, shook his head.

The moment he finished speaking, the world changed abruptly. A dazzling purple light descended from the distant sky! It arrived in the blink of an eye!

The purple light came without warning. One moment it was a silent night, and the next it exploded like a purple sun on the mountaintop.

A purple light shot into the sky, dyeing half the sky a magnificent yet terrifying purple.

The spiritual energy fluctuations contained within that purple light were terrifying.

Although much of it was consumed in the distant sky, it was still condensed to the extreme, as if every drop contained the power to destroy the world.

It's just a bit slow.

The purple light surged, swirled, and condensed in the air, eventually transforming into thick purple pillars that rushed towards Ying Chi's spiritual avatar from all directions.

The beams of light entered his chest, his limbs, and the top of his head, flowing into his body like rivers flowing into the sea.

Ying Chi's originally somewhat illusory spiritual avatar solidified a bit the instant the purple light entered his body.

At this moment, his avatar was no longer the faint, indistinct figure it had been just moments before.

His robes shimmered with a purple light, his skin glowed with a faint purple light, and the two golden vortexes in his eyes intertwined with the purple light, presenting an extremely eerie golden-purple hue.

He stood there, his robes fluttering, radiating a fierce purple light, like a thunder and fire deity descending from the heavens to the mortal world, his imposing presence so overwhelming that no one dared to look him in the eye. Luo Ran stepped back, standing to the side with her hands at her sides, a hint of awe flashing in her gentle eyes.

Ying Chi raised his head and looked directly at Chen Lingxi.

The swirling gold and purple vortex in his eyes spun slowly, and deep within his pupils was reflected Chen Lingxi's face, which was covered by a ghost mask.

At this moment, his sharp edge was fully revealed, and a chilling aura emanated from his body!

"Enter my grasp..." His voice, cutting through the howling mountain wind, reached Chen Lingxi's ears clearly: "You can't escape!"

As he spoke, the prince raised his hands, which had been behind his back.

He slightly spread the five fingers of his right hand, palm facing upward, and a ball of extremely condensed purple light slowly rotated in his palm.

The ball of light was no bigger than a fist, but it was so bright that it was blinding.

The air around the sphere of light was scorched and distorted by this force, emitting a very faint hissing sound.

At the same time, the female cultivator Luo Ran also made a move.

With a swift movement, she swept across several meters like a wisp of white smoke, closing in on Xi Mu.

She moved with incredible speed, so fast that ordinary martial artists could only see a white blur streaking through the air. She brought her hands together in front of her, her fingers interlaced, and streams of white spiritual energy flowed from her sleeves.

The spiritual energy surged, condensed, and transformed before her like a living thing, instantly turning into dozens of cloud ropes as thick as a child's arm.

The cloud threads wrapped around Xi Mu from all directions, enveloping him in layers upon layers.

Xi Mu's spiritual energy surged, and the mist condensed in front of him into ice walls, ice shields, and ice spears, which collided with the cloud rope, bursting out with a muffled explosion.

The woman subtly suppressed Xi Mu.

Ying Chi's spiritual avatar also moved at this moment.

The crown prince made a sudden move, taking a step forward.

The rocks beneath his feet, stained purple by the light, were cracking inch by inch.

He clenched his fist, his right fist tightly gripped, and a brilliant purple light shone from the knuckles.

The purple light did not spread outwards, but instead tightly enveloped his fist, like a layer of fist armor condensed from the true purple energy.

He threw a punch, the fist energy piercing the air, the purple light blazing, like a purple meteor falling from the heavens, carrying world-destroying power, crashing down on Chen Lingxi.

That punch was so fast that Chen Lingxi only felt a blinding purple light suddenly appear before his eyes. The purple light spread out and swallowed up his entire vision.

Before the fist even arrived, the force of the punch had already caused his robes to billow backward.

As the fist passed, the air was compressed into a visible white ring that spread outwards with a roar, blowing away all the withered grass, pebbles, and fallen leaves on the slope.

Chen Lingxi's pupils contracted slightly.

The power of this punch is no less than that of Zhong Wuzhu!

Chen Lingxi's thoughts flashed, but her figure shot out diagonally like an arrow released from a bow.

The spiritual energy vortex and the jade energy and blood suddenly surged forth.

Then, it twisted in mid-air in a strange arc, barely avoiding the direct hit of the purple fist energy.

The purple light of the fist grazed past his right shoulder and slammed into the rocky cliff several feet behind him.

The rock, which was about half a person tall, was shattered into pieces by this punch, and the fragments flew like rain, hitting the surrounding tree trunks with dull thuds.

Chen Lingxi barely dodged the Crown Prince's terrifying punch, changing direction several times in mid-air before landing on an old pine tree.

Ying Chi's avatar smiled slightly as he looked at him from afar: "What is your hidden strength? If you don't use that hidden strength, I can kill you in three moves!" But at this moment, Chen Lingxi showed no fear whatsoever!

He suddenly shook his head and muttered to himself, "I thought we'd have to use the Xi Yu talisman."

He paused, then raised his head to look at the purple light avatar striding towards him, a faint smile flashing in his eyes: "I never expected it to be this simple?"

Before he finished speaking, Chen Lingxi's body suddenly shone with a bright spiritual light!

The spiritual energy in his dantian was being consumed rapidly, and a talisman suddenly burst into flames in his hand.

The talisman burned extremely fast, from the edge to the center, from the talisman paper to the talisman pattern, it turned into a handful of ashes in an instant!

But the ashes did not scatter; instead, they hovered in mid-air, drawn by an invisible force, rotating, condensing, and changing.

A faint, soft golden light shone from the ashes.

The faint light, which was initially no bigger than a pinhead, quickly intensified and transformed into a small golden sun, which slowly rose in his palm.

Golden light emanated from his palm, enveloping him from head to toe, flowing endlessly and condensing without dissipating, faintly outlining a phantom image about ten feet tall behind him.

The illusory figure was blurry but vaguely human-shaped, sitting upright in the void behind him, like a celestial jade statue seated on a throne, solemn and majestic!

It is precisely from Xi Mu's profound knowledge... [Heavenly Light Treasure Talisman]!

Under this radiant light, Chen Lingxi appeared like a celestial being draped in light, exuding immense power.

He suppressed his smile and took a step forward.

With that step, the rocks beneath his feet cracked inch by inch, and the jade energy and blood condensed into a thick protective shield several inches thick on his body. This shield was further enhanced by the golden light of the Heavenly Radiance, layer upon layer, making it indestructible!

"Your Highness, I'd like to see how you defeat me in three moves!"