After the Great Dao died

Chapter 34 Gathering Purple Qi

The next morning, before dawn, Chen Lingxi got up.

He changed into a clean indigo short coat, with a leather belt around his waist and black cloth shoes on his feet.

His bag contained the incense burner, a few taels of silver, and a travel permit.

He pushed open the door, walked through the veranda, and exited the Marquis's residence through the side gate.

In the early morning in Yuanjiang Prefecture, the streets and alleys were quiet, with only the breakfast stalls open. Steam rose from the steamers on the stoves, and the aroma of steamed buns wafted in the morning breeze.

Chen Lingxi walked north along the long street and followed the road out of the city gate.

Outside the city are vast fields of farmland, with green wheat seedlings growing well.

He walked west along the official road for more than an hour and then reached the foot of the mountain.

Cuojinshan.

From a distance, the mountain looks like an inverted sword piercing the sky.

Only upon closer inspection can one appreciate its majesty—the mountain is steep, with exposed rocks, and only some low pines and shrubs growing in the crevices.

Above the mountainside, clouds and mist swirled, obscuring the view; only the reflection of the snow could be vaguely seen shimmering through the gaps in the clouds.

Chen Lingxi walked up the mountain path.

He had never traveled this road before; he was simply following his memory of the day he visited the place, heading west in the direction where the purple aura had fallen that day.

The mountain path was rugged and covered with loose stones, making it quite strenuous to walk.

Fortunately, with his current cultivation level of the Great Perfection of the Copper Crimson Realm, his physical strength is far superior to what it used to be, and he did not feel particularly tired as he climbed.

When he reached the middle of the mountain, he found a flat rock and sat down to rest.

A mountain breeze blew down from above, carrying the chill of the accumulated snow, causing the wisps of hair on his forehead to flutter slightly.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The air was crisp and clear, carrying the scent of pine needles and earth, along with a faint floral fragrance.

He then closed his eyes and began to breathe in the mountain breeze.

The spiritual energy in the dantian flows slowly, circulating through the meridians in rhythm with the breath.

But after only a few breaths, he frowned and opened his eyes.

"The spiritual energy on this mountain is too thin."

It's so thin you can barely feel it.

When he practiced breathing exercises in the Marquis's mansion, he felt that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was thin, but he could still catch a trace of it and slowly accumulate it.

But on this Cuojin Mountain, the spiritual energy seemed to have been sucked away by something, leaving it empty and without a trace.

"wrong."

Chen Lingxi stood up and looked around.

This mountain wilderness should be a beautiful and lush place, full of life and vitality.

But the spiritual energy is so scarce, which is really illogical.

"The spiritual energy here is so much thinner compared to that of the Marquis of Baosu's residence."

"What's different about the Marquis Baosu's residence?"

He stood there for a moment, lost in thought.

He immediately thought of the incense burner in his bag behind him.

"Perhaps this is why Lin distributed incense burners every day."

He took the bronze incense burner out of his bag, held it in his hands, and examined it carefully.

"He made everyone in the mansion burn incense every day. Perhaps the incense burner was not just for repelling insects and spreading fragrance, but for forming some kind of array, using the smoke as a medium to attract spiritual energy from all directions for his cultivation."

As soon as the idea popped into his head, he felt it made perfect sense.

He stopped thinking about it, put the incense burner away, and continued walking uphill.

The mountain road became steeper and steeper, the trees became denser and denser, and the light became dimmer and dimmer.

Chen Lingxi walked carefully, and after about two hours, the sun was already at its zenith.

With Chen Lingxi's current physique, he didn't need to rest. He crossed a mountain ridge, and the view suddenly opened up before him.

This is a relatively gentle hillside, covered with wild rhododendrons in full bloom, a vibrant red that looks like it's on fire.

Chen Lingxi stood on the hilltop, gazing into the distance.

The main peak of Cuojin Mountain is not far ahead. The mountain is steep and covered with snow, which shines brightly in the sunlight.

At the foot of the mountain, there is a winding mountain road, the very road that the carriages and horses I saw on the day of my visit had traveled.

He squinted for a moment, then looked away and continued westward.

"According to my memory of that day, after the purple aura was shattered by the swordsman, the fragments scattered in all directions. One of the larger fragments should have fallen in the direction where I am now."

As he walked, he kept an eye on his surroundings.

The mountains were extremely quiet, with only the sound of the wind and birdsong.

After walking for another half an hour, Chen Lingxi couldn't help but frown.

"I remember that the purple aura was chopped into many pieces and fell in all directions, like rain."

"I've walked for so long, why can't I see a single one?"

He pondered for a moment: "The purple aura in Lin Su's incense burner was far from coarse; he must have only obtained one fragment, and not even the coarsest one. So where did the other fragments go?"

Chen Lingxi was puzzled, and after a few breaths, she suddenly stopped.

The incense burner in his bag trembled slightly.

The tremor was so subtle that he would have barely noticed it had he not been paying close attention.

He quickly took the incense burner out of his bag and held it in his hands.

At the bottom of the incense burner, the layer of dark golden viscous liquid was slowly flowing, like a sleeping creature that had been awakened and was wriggling restlessly.

The milky white mist was gathering above the incense burner, tilting slightly in one direction, as if being drawn by something.

"This incense burner seems to respond."

Chen Ling was overjoyed and followed the direction of the tilting mist.

He walked through a dense forest and crossed a dry stream, and came to a cliff.

The cliff face is not high, about two or three zhang (approximately 6.6-7.6 meters), and it is covered with vines and moss.

The steam from the incense burner was pointing straight at this cliff face.

Chen Lingxi placed the incense burner aside and reached out to push aside the vines on the cliff face.

Behind the vines was a shallow crevice in the rock.

The crevice was so narrow that only two fingers could fit through it.

He inserted his fingers into the crack in the rock, groped around for a moment, and his fingertips touched something.

The thing was extremely small, no bigger than a peanut, and it felt cold to the touch, like a tiny pebble.

But the moment his fingertips touched it, an extremely sharp aura came from his fingertips, making his fingertips ache.

Chen Lingxi took a deep breath and pulled the thing out of the crevice.

It lay in his palm, gleaming with a faint purple light.

It is a fragment.

Fragments of purple aura.

However, it was only the size of a peanut and was located in a crevice between rocks.

But the aura it emitted sent a chill down Chen Lingxi's spine.

That sharp, fierce, and arrogant aura is of the same origin as the purple energy bursting forth from the treasure bottle of the young man on Mount Cuojin.

It's just much weaker.

Chen Lingxi dared not delay and quickly picked up the incense burner and placed the purple fragment into it.

The moment the fragments fell to the bottom of the furnace, the layer of dark golden viscous liquid began to boil, like a long-starved beast finally finding its prey.

Milky white mist billowed from the furnace, enveloping the fragments of purple energy layer by layer.

The fragments instantly transformed into purple mist, slowly drifting through the fog, struggling left and right, yet unable to break free from the fog's grasp.

"If these fragments of purple energy were any larger, I'm afraid my incense burner wouldn't be able to contain them."

He abandoned the idea of ​​searching for other fragments, carefully closed the incense burner, wrapped it in coarse cloth, and put it back into his bag.

He stood up and let out a long breath.

Dusk had fallen.

The clouds on the horizon were dyed a dark gold by the setting sun, and the outlines of the mountains gradually blurred in the twilight.

He stood in front of the cliff and glanced back at the way he had come.

The mountain road winds its way through the dense forest.

The wind blew down from the mountaintop, carrying the chill of the snow, making his clothes flutter.

He turned around and started walking down the mountain.

The incense burner lay quietly in the luggage.

At the bottom of the furnace, a wisp of purple mist slowly drifted through the milky white fog, like a tiny, trapped purple snake with nowhere to escape.

"It went so smoothly?"

Chen Lingxi walked down the mountain and saw the sun setting, with distant mountains looming in the distance and the Yuan River winding its way by.

Upon seeing the mountains and flowing water, his long-suppressed yearning for freedom suddenly ignited.

"Perhaps... we should just flee Yuanjiang Prefecture!"

Chen Lingxi stood in the countryside, motionless for a long time.

Only when his eyes regained their clarity did he shake his head slightly.

"Just as Liu Zhu said, the world is in chaos, the court has set up checkpoints everywhere, and the Marquis of Baosu's mansion has many powerful figures."

I escaped. If Lin Longyue is determined to kill me, I'm afraid I won't get far.

"Even if one were to escape the prefectures controlled by the imperial court, where could one go? With war raging everywhere, where could one find true freedom?"

Chen Ling's eyes gradually cleared.

He recalled Lin Longyue and Princess Yunhe, who always referred to him as "slave" when they spoke.

He remembered Zhao Yong, who wanted to use him as a medicinal ingredient.

Finally, he remembered Consort Chun, who had ruined his family!

"I now have time to breathe, and I have received the purple aura!"

With the Dragon-Inducing Powder in hand and the ability to purchase medicinal bath supplies outside the mansion, he will surely be able to break through to the third level of Qi Circulation within three months.

The third level of Qi cultivation, the Silver Bone Qi and Blood cultivation, the Azure Edge Technique, plus this incredibly powerful purple Qi!

At that time, I will no longer be at the mercy of others. If there are other opportunities, I can become even stronger. Why should I run away?

Why not... stir up trouble in Yuanjiang Prefecture, Jingji Prefecture, or even the capital, in order to seek revenge?

Chen Ling took a deep breath.

"Picking flowers, returning to the city, returning home!"