After the Great Dao died

Chapter 78 Jade Qi

The North Courtyard of the Marquis of Baosu's Residence.

In the most inconspicuous place, there is a small Taoist temple.

Although the Taoist temple was small, it had a strong Taoist atmosphere.

Blue bricks and gray tiles, flying eaves and upturned corners, with a stone plaque hanging under the eaves.

The three characters of "Xuantong Temple" are carved with great care, the strokes are slender and elegant, and they convey a sense of otherworldly grace.

There is another couplet on each side.

The first line reads, "Severing the three corpses, one attains the Dao and cultivates," while the second line reads, "Refining to the profound and entering the gate of the mystical."

The words subtly conveyed an inexplicable mystery, as if this small Taoist temple truly held some extraordinary Taoist secrets.

Chen Lingxi stood behind a low wall, using the cover of a few old pine trees to gaze at the Taoist temple in the distance.

It was midday, and the Baosu Marquis's residence was still busy preparing to welcome Consort Chun.

However, the vast majority of people were concentrated in the East Courtyard, while there were hardly any people in the North Courtyard.

He slipped out from behind the low wall, the Concealed Edge Technique flowing silently through his body, the spiritual liquid in his dantian completely enveloped by that invisible barrier.

He scaled the wall and entered the courtyard, disappearing silently into the depths of the north courtyard like a raccoon dog.

The doors of the Taoist temple were tightly closed, and Chen Lingxi quietly sensed her surroundings.

Upon reaching the fourth floor of the Qi Circulation Hall, his senses became even more acute.

At this moment, he frowned slightly, his eyes showing surprise.

Above the Xuan Tong Temple, one could see that there was a swirling, turbid, and filthy Qi.

It was so faint that cultivators would not be able to detect it at all unless they used secret techniques such as observation to examine it closely.

It seeped out from the Taoist temple in wisps, like an extremely thin wisp of black smoke, slowly swirling in the void, condensing and not dissipating.

"Is it emanating from that demon banner?"

Chen Lingxi became increasingly cautious in using the Concealed Edge Technique, quietly scaling the wall and entering the courtyard.

The courtyard seemed ordinary, with a few dwarf pine trees planted in the corner and a few withered leaves on the bluestone ground.

But in his view, this eeriness permeated everything.

The foul odor seeped out from the east wall of the Taoist temple, as if there were living creatures slowly wriggling between the bricks.

Chen Lingxi frowned and pondered for a moment, then silently slid behind an old locust tree in the courtyard. Using the thick trunk as cover, she climbed the high wall like a spider, using both hands and feet.

He climbed up the high wall on the east side of the Taoist temple and looked inside through the tiny window on the side.

Upon seeing this, his pupils suddenly contracted.

The interior of the Taoist temple was extremely strange.

Ordinary Taoist temples enshrine Taoist deities.

However, what was enshrined in the main hall of Xuantong Temple was a large banner.

The banner was as black as ink, and it was unknown what material it was made of.

The banner was extremely large and tall, hanging from the top of the temple to the ground, like a black waterfall cascading down from the heavens.

The banner was covered with countless runes, the patterns of which were extremely intricate, layered and interconnected, exuding an inexplicable eeriness.

To Chen Lingxi's astonishment, those talismans seemed to be alive!

They were not ordinary vermilion ink marks, but rather like some kind of deep red liquid, slowly flowing on the surface of the banner.

Just like blood in a vein, flowing from one pattern to another, from one talisman to another.

Chen Lingxi held her breath, activating her spiritual power to the extreme, and carefully examined the area using her observation skills.

Then, he realized it.

The demon banner was actually filled with a dense spiritual energy!

"It doesn't seem to be a fragment of a cauldron; it looks more like a strange treasure."

Chen Lingxi thought to himself, "I wonder if I can refine this demon banner?"

He had experience refining spirit arrows and understood that the key to controlling such a wondrous treasure lay in whether he could refine the magic array within it.

This demon banner can prolong life, and it contains such rich spiritual energy that it must be a rare and precious treasure.

If one can obtain it and refine it to remove its impurities, it should become a great help.

Just then, a soft creaking sound came from the side door of the main hall.

Chen Lingxi immediately shrank even more, becoming like a piece of moss growing on the wall, blending into the high wall.

He peered through the crack in the wall toward the direction from which the sound was coming.

The side door was pushed open.

A person came out from behind the door.

The man was extremely old and frail, looking shaky, hunched over, and walking with a stagger, as if a gust of wind could blow him over.

His face was covered with deep wrinkles, his eyes were sunken, his jawline was high, and his lips were so dry that they could not cover his gums.

Yet this elderly man, nearing the end of his life, was carrying a large basin of blood and flesh.

The flesh and blood were still steaming, emitting a pungent stench, dripping from the rim of the basin and leaving a dark red, wet trail on the ground.

The old man walked to the large banner in the hall, placed the basin of blood and flesh in his hand on the altar, took a step back, and stood with his hands at his sides.

Instantly, the talismans on the banner seemed to come alive!

Countless crimson silk threads burst forth from the banner, like thousands of tiny tentacles, dancing wildly in the air.

The threads probed into the basin of flesh and blood, devouring it greedily like hungry wolves pouncing on their prey.

The flesh and blood diminished at a visible rate, being sucked dry by those red threads like peeling away layers, until only a pile of pale bone fragments remained.

The bone fragments turned to dust and dissipated into the air, leaving not a trace.

Chen Lingxi's pupils contracted.

Because he saw a section of finger among the flesh and blood, with a piece of nail polish still remaining on the fingernail.

The nail polish was an extremely pale pink, yet it stood out starkly in the dimly lit palace. It was a woman's finger, and a young woman's finger at that.

He only had time to glance at it before the red silk threads on the banner completely swallowed him up.

"This flesh and blood—" Chen Lingxi narrowed her eyes slightly.

Just then, the trembling old man seemed to sense something and suddenly turned his head strangely, looking at the small window and at Chen Lingxi!

Two eerie, ghostly flames were now burning in the old man's cloudy eyes.

"Hmm? He sensed me?"

A sudden sense of alarm arose in Chen Lingxi's heart!

In the next instant, the old man's body was enveloped in a surge of qi and blood, and a terrifying power suddenly erupted!

His hunched body suddenly straightened up, like a famous sword that had been buried in the soil for countless years suddenly being drawn from its sheath, revealing its sharpness!

The bluestone floor beneath his feet could not withstand the force and cracked inch by inch, sending fragments flying everywhere!

He shot towards the window like a cannonball!

The force of this collision was overwhelming. Even Zhao Yong's full-force attack, when he was at the peak of his golden body, paled in comparison to this collision. It was not the kind of power that this old man could unleash!

Chen Ling's expression remained unchanged, her composure unchanged.

He reached out with his right hand in the air, and the Golden Slaughtering Saber was already in his palm.

He let out a soft shout, and a dragon's roar exploded from his throat!

The Dragon's Roar Technique!

The soft utterance reached the old man's ears, causing him to pause slightly, and the two clusters of will-o'-the-wisps in his eyes flickered.

In the blink of an eye, the old man broke free from the Dragon's Roar Technique's influence and charged toward Chen Lingxi again.

But this was the very moment Chen Lingxi had been waiting for!

The instant the Dragon's Roar Technique landed, he opened his mouth and exhaled a stream of Purple True Treasure Qi!

The purple light, as fine as cow's hair, was as dazzling as sunlight, shining directly at the old man's face.

At the same time, Chen Ling pushed off the wall with both feet, and his body shot away like an arrow!

He wanted to take advantage of the gap created by the combined attacks of the dragon's roar and the Purple True Treasure Qi to leave the Taoist temple.

But the old man shattered the Purple True Treasure Qi with a single punch!

His withered fist struck the purple light like a heavy hammer hitting glass; the purple light shattered inch by inch, turning into countless tiny fragments of light that dissipated into the air.

The Dragon's Roar technique only made him frown slightly; it couldn't harm him in the slightest!

His body burst through the wall, sending bricks and stones flying like rain.

Using that earth-shattering momentum, he unleashed a palm strike in mid-air towards the retreating Chen Lingxi!

As this palm strike was unleashed, visible ripples appeared in the void!

With a single palm strike, it was as if an invisible mountain of flesh had descended from the sky, intending to suppress Chen Lingxi beneath its palm!

Before the palm strike even reached him, Chen Lingxi felt his blood and qi suddenly stagnate.

Chen Lingxi suddenly drew his sword!

The moment the Demon Slayer Sword was drawn, the pale gold patterns on its blade suddenly blazed brightly!

Thin bolts of lightning, as fine as hair, shot out from the patterns, crackling and swirling along the blade!

At the same time, the azure light of the Azure Edge Technique clung to the blade, and the Purple True Treasure Qi once again burst forth from his mouth, causing the Golden Soup Qi and Blood to surge like a tide!

Thunder, cyan light, purple light, and golden blood intertwined as a single slash was unleashed!

This deadly strike clashed head-on with the old man's palm.

The instant the blade and palm collided, Chen Lingxi felt an overwhelming force surge from the blade, as if he had been struck head-on by a real mountain!

The lightning and azure light on the Slaughtering Gold Saber were shattered inch by inch by the palm wind, disintegrating into countless fine light fragments!

His wrist trembled violently, his hand split open, and blood flowed down the hilt of the knife.

However, the force of the old man's palm strike was largely neutralized by his knife strike.

Using the force of the recoil, he floated backward several feet, let out a muffled groan, and left the temple!

The terrifying explosion startled the guests in the Silver Peace Courtyard.

Streams of qi and spiritual energy stirred and rushed from the direction of Yin'an Courtyard toward the North Courtyard!

The old man in the temple did not give chase. He simply stood on the ruins, his hands behind his back, watching the direction Chen Lingxi had fled in, the two clusters of ghostly fire in his eyes slowly dying out.

Chen Lingxi jumped out of the temple, his Concealed Edge Technique circulating wildly within his body, completely enveloping his aura, and sped northward.

He entered Yuanjiang from the North Courtyard, and using the river as cover, drifted out of the city and arrived at Cuojin Mountain.

He breathed a sigh of relief only after entering the cave in the cliff face.

Inside the cave, Chen Lingxi sat cross-legged, moved his spirit, and regulated his breathing to heal his injuries.

Although the palm strike just now did not land properly, the old man's qi and blood were too powerful. The mere force of the palm strike had already caused his internal organs to churn and his meridians to ache faintly.

"That old man is at least a person who has achieved the highest level of Qi cultivation."

"But I don't know why he didn't pursue me. If he had, my awakening this time would have been shattered."

Chen Lingxi pondered to himself.

Zhao Yong's golden body was perfected; when he activated his golden blood and qi, it shone like the sun, and his purple-golden wheel was indestructible, making him extremely powerful.

But the old man's palm strike was several times stronger than Zhao Yong's.

In the Jade Qi Realm, one's Qi and blood transform into jade-like substance, becoming translucent both inside and out. One becomes as light as a swallow, able to stand on the back of a crane without falling. Upon reaching the Great Perfection of Jade Qi, one can further condense the jade-like Qi and blood into various forms, such as fists, palms, knives, or swords, possessing boundless power.

He caught his breath and then remembered the pitch-black demon banner.

"That demon banner was not a fragment of a cauldron, but a treasure."

If one can refine the abundant spiritual energy contained within, its power will undoubtedly be extraordinary.

However, the old man's cultivation was too terrifying. With his current strength of the fourth level of Qi cultivation and the minor completion of the Golden Body, forcibly trying to take it would be suicide.

"Moreover—I never saw the bells ring."

Chen Lingxi frowned, recalling the strange flow emanating from the large banner.

Being constantly eroded by that power, thus prolonging one's life—

"Lin Zhongming should not be overlooked."

Chen Lingxi shook her head: "It seems we still need to use Zhao Yong's big medicine."

He stopped thinking about it and continued to heal his wounds.

Two days later, Chen Lingxi suddenly opened her eyes, her brows furrowed slightly!

"The spiritual energy fluctuations are so intense, are people engaged in a magical battle?"