After the Great Dao died

Chapter 86 yielded very rich rewards.

Chen Lingxi picked up a jade box.

The jade box was only the size of a palm, pure white, with a tiny silver clasp set in the very center.

He unfastened the silver clasp, opened the box, and saw what was inside: a small, azure-blue stone the size of a fingernail.

The small stone's surface was as smooth as a mirror, yet within it lay a flowing spirit.

Chen Lingxi's expression shifted, and her eyes revealed a look of joy.

"The spiritual energy within this stone is so abundant."

The spiritual energy within this tiny stone is like a clear, gentle spring in the mountains; it can be refined with spiritual energy and used for cultivation.

"And it is extremely gentle—as if it were born for spiritual practice."

Chen Lingxi put the spirit stone back into the jade box, and then picked up the second and third jade boxes.

In fact, the item was exactly the same as the first one. When opened, it was a spirit stone the size of a fingernail, and it was also full of spirit.

"Three spirit stones." Chen Lingxi closed the three jade boxes one by one and put them into the Hongdong bag.

"The spiritual energy in these three spirit stones is even greater than that in the Gathering Elixir. With these spirit stones, plus the Six Qi True Method, even if the Pure and Subtle Qi Array cannot be set up immediately, the Qi Circulation Fifth Level is still within reach."

Seeing the road ahead filled Chen Lingxi with joy, and she turned her gaze to the two stone boxes.

The stone box was much larger than the jade box, about a foot square, and dark gray in color. He opened the lid of the first stone box, and inside was a layer of dark red velvet cloth, with a talisman placed neatly on top of the cloth.

The talisman was only about three inches long and two fingers wide. The paper was a pale gold color with a faint jade-like luster. Countless intricate patterns were drawn on it with some kind of dark silver ink.

Several characters were written vertically in the center of the talisman. The characters were slender and powerful, with the strokes as sharp as knives, penetrating the paper three inches deep.

He suddenly narrowed his eyes, and some fragments of text flashed through his mind.

The complete text of the Six True Methods includes an appendix titled "Talisman Texts," which records over four hundred types of talisman texts and their names commonly used by cultivators, for disciples to identify when traveling.

He carefully recalled the inscriptions and compared them one by one with the patterns on the talisman in front of him.

Ultimately, consulting a dictionary usually reveals the name most solemnly drawn on the talisman.

"【The Heavenly Light and Precious Appearance Talisman】".

"What are its uses?"

Chen Lingxi infused a trace of spirit into it.

The talisman was mysterious, and a real message suddenly flooded into his mind.

[Heavenly Light and Precious Image Talisman: Using heavenly light as a guide, one can bless oneself and form a precious image on the body. The precious image will not be broken, and the physical body will not be harmed.]

"There's absolutely no need to consult a dictionary."

A hint of surprise flashed in Chen Lingxi's eyes.

They opened the second stone box, which also contained a talisman.

"This second talisman is much simpler."

The lines on the second talisman are extremely simple and unadorned, outlining a dragon with its head held high and coiled in just a few strokes.

Although the dragon's form was simple, it was full of spirit. Its head was raised high, its eyes were wide open, its body was coiled like clouds, and there was a faint blue spiritual light flowing around it, as if it would take off from the talisman at any moment.

Chen Lingxi infused the spirit.

"【Dragon Qi Talisman】".

"[It gathers cloud energy and takes the form of a dragon, obeying commands like a subordinate spirit beast.]"

Chen Lingxi couldn't help but take a deep breath.

Although these two talismans are powerful, they require a sufficient spiritual foundation to activate.

When Xi Mu was in the Divine Chamber, he preferred to leave rather than use these two runes. This was probably because his Qi Sea was almost depleted due to his serious injuries, and he was simply unable to activate them.

To be precise, not only is Xi Mu powerless to activate it, but even Chen Lingxi is currently unable to activate it.

"I must step into the fifth level of Qi cultivation," he silently recited to himself.

He then thought of Consort Chun.

"Several cultivators surrounded and killed Consort Chun—it seems that Xi Mu's accumulation was originally much deeper, but it has all been used up, leaving only these few talismans that he was too weak to activate after being seriously injured."

As he pondered this, he put the two stone boxes into his Hongdong bag, his gaze finally settling on the wooden box.

He opened the wooden box.

The box was lined with a layer of dark velvet, and a ring lay quietly on the velvet.

The ring was extremely small and thin, with a dark silver color throughout. There were no patterns on the ring, except for a black bead smaller than a grain of rice embedded in the very center.

Chen Lingxi picked up the ring, her expression shifting slightly.

The progress of complete awareness in my mind suddenly increased from 2% to 34%!

It's a much greater improvement than that mysterious stone!

"This is actually a treasure!" Overjoyed, Chen Lingxi channeled a wisp of spiritual energy into it.

Then his expression changed drastically!

The spiritual energy sensed the magic array within the ring treasure.

Layer upon layer, the intricate patterns were enough to make one's scalp tingle. Each pattern was interconnected with dozens of other patterns, like a maze woven from spider silk, making it difficult for his spirit to move an inch within it.

Chen Ling washed away her spiritual energy and exhaled a long breath.

"This is an extraordinary treasure. With my current cultivation level of the fourth level of Qi Circulation, I simply cannot refine it."

"I'm afraid Xi Mu hasn't refined it either," he muttered to himself.

Even with his cultivation at the sixth level of Qi cultivation, Xi Muxing was unable to refine this ring, indicating that to completely control it, one would need at least the perfect sixth level of Qi cultivation, or even the third level.

"There's no rush."

Chen Lingxi placed the ring back into the wooden box, closed the lid, and put it into his Qiankun bag.

If one has the opportunity to reach the sixth floor or even higher in the future, it is not too late to refine this item.

Then he took out another talisman.

"This talisman is a treasure that Xi Mu held in his hand to resist me, but he didn't have time to activate it."

The talisman was only about an inch square, with only a few drops of bright red on its surface, whether it was blood or crimson ink, and no other inscriptions.

"This talisman is rather strange."

Chen Lingxi released a wisp of spiritual energy from her fingertips and placed it on the surface of the talisman.

The moment the spiritual energy touched the talisman, a sudden change occurred!

The few drops of blood on the talisman suddenly lit up, and the blood light did not spread outward, but went straight into his brow!

Chen Lingxi felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, and then a scene exploded in his mind.

He saw a person standing on the clouds. The person was beautiful, but her face was blurred in the clouds and could not be seen clearly. He could only see that her long dress was swaying, like a fairy in the clouds.

His body was filled with spiritual energy, and his aura was so powerful that it made people's hearts tremble. Then, in the scene, the person pressed down from the sky, and the entire sea of ​​clouds suddenly separated from it, as if an invisible giant hand reached down from the sky, its five fingers joined together like a knife, and cut the boundless sea of ​​clouds in two!

Where the sea of ​​clouds parted, a tornado shot into the sky, engulfing everything around it—clouds, rocks, trees—and pulverizing it!

Where the tornado passed, the sky darkened and the brilliance of the sun and moon was swallowed up, leaving only that figure standing in the clouds!

"Xi Yu————"

The scene shattered, and Chen Lingxi suddenly opened her eyes.

He looked down at the dark red talisman in his left palm, where blood was still slowly flowing.

"This talisman contains the power of Xi Yu's palm strike."

Chen Ling realized: "It should be Xi Yu who gave it to Xi Mu, but its power seems to have been slightly depleted."

Such a palm strike, even when sealed into a talisman, had its power largely dissipated, and the remaining strength was far beyond what an ordinary cultivator at the sixth level of cultivation could withstand.

Xi Mu probably intended to use this talisman as his last trump card to save his life in a life-or-death situation, but he didn't even have the chance to use it before it fell into his hands.

Chen Lingxi took a deep breath and carefully put the talisman into her bosom.

This is different from the Moonlight Treasure Talisman and the Dragon Qi Treasure Talisman. Although those two talismans are powerful, they require a cultivation level of the fifth level of Qi circulation or even higher to activate.

This blood talisman, which sealed the power of Xi Yu's palm strike, didn't require much spiritual activation; the fourth floor was probably enough.

"The income is very generous."

Chen Lingxi carefully put away all the treasures.

Three spirit stones, two talismans, a mysterious ring, a blood talisman that sealed the power of Xi Yu's palm strike, plus Xi Mu's Hongdong bag—

"After painstakingly seeking opportunities with the help of Jianyou and Chejue for about a year, what I gained was less than what I gained from killing a single cultivator."

Chen Ling sighed inwardly.

He stood up, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.

There is also a mysterious treasure hidden deep within the body of the young lady of the Baosu Marquis's mansion, a treasure that even Crown Prince Ying Chi had not noticed, Princess Yunhe had not touched despite her daily practice of absorbing qi, and Lin Longyue herself was completely unaware of—

precious.

On the twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Imperial Concubine had not yet entered Yuanjiang Prefecture.

The long street had been cleared, and armored soldiers stood with their spears in hand.

Even before the Imperial Concubine arrived, Yuanjiang Prefecture had already made thorough preparations.

Chen Lingxi was hiding in the shadows of a rooftop, about to enter the Baosu Marquis's residence to see Lin Longyue.

Just then, he saw a blue-curtained carriage drive up from the Marquis's residence, pulled by the chestnut-colored horse of the Marquis of Baosu's residence, waiting peacefully on the street.

"This is Lin Longyue's carriage."

Chen Lingxi raised an eyebrow.

Before long, a person came out from the side gate. Today, the person was dressed up in finery, with a slender figure and her black hair tied back with a silver hairpin, which made her look quite charming.

It was Lin Longyue.

She boarded the carriage alone, the curtain was lowered, and the carriage rumbled along, heading towards the outskirts of the city.

Chen Lingxi trailed far behind the car.

The carriage left the city gate and headed west along the main road, then turned onto a side road.

The willows on both sides of the fork in the road had lost all their leaves, and their bare branches trembled in the wind.

At the end of the fork in the road is the Yuanjiang River. This area is flat, backed by mountains and facing the water, with beautiful scenery, so many noble residences have been built here.

The courtyard with its white walls and black tiles is partially hidden among the bare trees in winter, like a watercolor painting with too little ink.

The carriage stopped in front of a villa.

Lin Longyue got out of the car and was greeted by a manager-like figure.

Chen Lingxi hid in an old locust tree outside the courtyard, using the lush locust branches for cover as she peered into the courtyard.

This villa is not large, with three courtyards, but it is built with great care.

The artificial mountain made of Taihu stones is exquisite and translucent, a thin layer of ice has formed on the winding pond, and several wintersweet trees on the pond are in full bloom.

The main hall had its doors wide open, and many people were already seated inside.

Chen Ling silently scaled the courtyard wall and arrived at the narrow corridor on the side. However, with the Concealed Edge Technique activated to its maximum, his figure became like an invisible shadow, clinging to the outside of the window paper.

He peered through the crack in the window and could see everyone in the hall clearly.

A young woman, around twenty years old, was sitting to the side.

She was extremely tall, with straight shoulders and back like a spear. She wore a black, close-fitting outfit, and her hair was adorned with only a silver hairpin, with no other ornaments.

A long, undecorated sword hung at her waist. She was not particularly beautiful, yet she possessed an inexplicable and imposing air of heroism.

The daughter of the lord of the manor, Chu Linzi.

Princess Yunhe sat in the main seat to Chu Linzi's right, still looking languid.

Today she wore a pale yellow dress and held a bronze hand warmer in her hands. The lid of the warmer was carved into the head of a mythical lion, and wisps of sandalwood smoke wafted from its mouth and nose.

She tilted her head slightly, a faint smile playing on her lips, listening to the person beside her.

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