Chapter 319 Slaying Dao Foundation Late Stage

Bai Huan took a step forward!

Bright gold lightning darted from his pores, turning the night as bright as day.

He shot through the air, his robes snapping in the lightning. His imposing aura forced the surrounding clouds to a standstill, like a fierce beast breaking its shackles from the ancient Thunder Pool. The Dao Foundation Late Stage was truly terrifying!

Chen Lingxi stood his ground. His black brocade robes whipped and billowed in the oppressive lightning, the gold embroidery at his hem gleaming in the flashes.

He looked up! Pale gold lightning flowed in his eyes, his sharp edge completely exposed!

"Daoist Friend Bai."

"Please."

Bai Huan frowned, then gave a cold snort and pressed down his hand.

Bright gold lightning poured from his palm into the air, suddenly contracting from all sides to condense into the phantom of a lightning mountain a hundred zhang tall!

Spiritual Lightning Ray Mountain.

The mountain was formed from streaks of bright gold spiritual lightning intertwining and compressing together. Lightning surged endlessly across its cloud-like mass. As it descended, the bright gold swallowed all surrounding light, leaving only an overwhelmingly fierce white brilliance crashing down on Chen Lingxi from the heavens.

Before the mountain even arrived, its heavy, oppressive intent had already pressed down on Chen Lingxi's head, forcing his robes flat against his skin. Even the cliff beneath his feet cracked into several thin fissures, sending crushed stone tumbling down.

The twenty-odd divine senses watching from all directions collectively focused.

"Spiritual Lightning Ray Mountain—after Bai Huan's years of secluded retreat, the might of this divine power has grown even more overbearing."

"That man is only at the Dao Foundation Middle Stage. Taking this mountain head-on—"

"I'm afraid he'll be crushed to dust."

Lin Suri stood by the bluestone, worried.

He wanted to send a voice transmission telling Chen Lingxi to dodge, but the lightning mountain fell too fast. The moment the thought arose, the mountain was already less than ten zhang above Chen Lingxi's head.

Yet Chen Lingxi showed no trace of fear.

He looked up at the descending Spiritual Lightning Ray Mountain, the light in his eyes slowly brightening.

The mountain's might was boundless, but to him, it was entirely expected!

He had already witnessed it during his Absolute Perception Deduction.

Back then, he had clashed head-on against the lightning mountain with his Jade Tiger Rebellious Sea Sword Light, and both the sword light and the mountain had shattered.

But this time, he was prepared.

He flipped his hand.

Pale gold lightning spread out around him, and the Immortal Smiting Thunder Pool surfaced from the deepest depths of the lightning sea!

The immortal-smiting tribulation-grinding qi surged endlessly within the pool, like tens of millions of sharp blades grinding against each other, sparking countless fine arcs of lightning.

The Great Prison Furnace slowly rose from the deepest part of the Thunder Prison, its mouth wide open as boundless lightning poured from within.

He drew all the immortal-smiting tribulation-grinding qi into the Great Prison Furnace, turned its mouth upward, and rushed straight up to meet the descending lightning mountain.

The moment the bright gold lightning mountain pressed down into that tribulation-grinding qi!

"Sizzle!"

An ear-piercing screech erupted from the bottom of the lightning mountain.

Within the tribulation-grinding qi, the bright gold spiritual lightning melted, disintegrated, and collapsed inch by inch, turning into a sky full of fragmented light that spread all the way up from the mountain's base.

In just a few breaths, the hundred-zhang lightning mountain split down the middle. It collapsed into two masses of disintegrating bright gold light that crashed into the churning night outside Sunset Glow Mountain.

Bai Huan's pupils shrank.

"What kind of lightning is this?"

He clearly sensed the thousands of streaks of bright gold spiritual lightning within his Spiritual Lightning Ray Mountain melting beneath that pale gold tribulation-grinding qi far faster than he had anticipated.

He had cultivated this Spiritual Lightning Ray Mountain for decades, refining the "heaviness" and "purity" within the bright gold spiritual lightning. Its descending momentum could crush the defensive methods of same-realm cultivators.

Yet there was an eerie power within that man's pale gold lightning qi that specifically countered lightning!

Immortal-smiting and tribulation-grinding, overcoming all lightning.

Bai Huan's heart chilled, and he immediately stopped holding back.

His eyes abruptly lit up, shooting two beams of blazing white light. Wherever the light passed, space twisted and qi flows turned chaotic. The beams swept straight toward Chen Lingxi!

Great Radiant Eye.

Under the gaze of these eyes, the trajectories of all spells, qi flows, and divine powers had nowhere to hide. If cultivated profoundly enough, they could even directly expose the critical nodes of an opponent's divine power.

Bai Huan had immersed himself in this path for over sixty years. He was confident that even same-realm cultivators at the Dao Foundation Late Stage would reveal their flaws beneath his eyes!

But when those two blazing white beams illuminated Chen Lingxi!

Chen Lingxi's figure blurred. His entire qi flow turned into a wisp of light smoke, dissipating the instant the light hit him, leaving not a single ripple of Dao Origin.

Hidden Edge Method!

Bai Huan frowned, his gaze shifting slightly.

The man had already appeared three zhang away, his qi flows condensing anew. He was like a stubborn rock hidden in the mountains, perfectly blending with the vegetation, leaking not a sliver of his sharp edge.

"What kind of technique is this? To be so profound? Could he have already entered the Profound Realm?"

Bai Huan gave a cold snort. Hesitating no longer, he flipped his right palm, shooting a three-inch cyan-white needle straight toward the center of Chen Lingxi's brow!

Radiant Qi Needle!

He had refined this needle with his own Dao Origin for decades. The Dao Origin attached to it was so heavy that even the defensive methods of same-realm cultivators would be pierced in a single strike.

The needle shot out silently, tearing straight through the void.

Watching the needle approach, Chen Lingxi stirred his mind.

The Abyssal Heaven Spiritual Sword rang out as it left its sheath, landing in his palm.

The remnant patterns of the hundred restrictions on the blade lit up simultaneously, and sword intent surged into the sky from its edge.

At this moment, the seventy-two treasured swords within his Dao Platform flew out in unison, slowly circling him with their tips pointing outward!

These were the seventy-two swords condensed from the Heaven-Dismissing Disc formed by the power of the Dao-Absorbing Fruit. Having been nurtured in his Dao Platform for months, they had long since merged flawlessly with his Dao Origin aura.

The Seventy-Two Qi Origin-Governing Great Array formed from within.

The seventy-two streams of sword qi formed a thin curtain protecting him; at the same time, he separated twenty-four of the swords and sent them falling toward the Radiant Qi Needle.

The first few swords struck the needle and were instantly deflected.

But every time the needle broke a sword, its momentum weakened by a fraction.

By the time the fourth sword fell, the needle's momentum had lost more than half its force!

When all twenty-four swords struck down in unison, the Radiant Qi Needle plummeted toward the old forest below.

Bai Huan's expression changed slightly.

Even among those at the Dao Foundation Late Stage, his Radiant Qi Needle had broken the defenses of same-realm cultivators. Now, its edge had actually been forcibly worn away by the sword momentum of someone at the Dao Foundation Middle Stage?

But before he could even gather his thoughts, Chen Lingxi spoke.

"Edict."

As the word fell, a profound spiritual light emerged in the void, flowing from the depths of his Dao Platform. It transformed into an edict driven entirely by the intent to "forbid" and "stop," bypassed the bright gold lightning, and landed squarely on the Five-Light Great Banner surrounding Bai Huan!

Heavenly Statute Edict!

"Treasures of this place shall not channel the five elements to transform the five directions."

The five-colored spiritual light on the Five-Light Great Banner abruptly stalled!

Where the red light enveloped, fire qi was not born; where the cyan light enveloped, wind and wood remained still; where the yellow light enveloped, earth qi did not sink; where the white light enveloped, metal qi lost its sharpness; where the black light enveloped, water qi did not flood.

Under that edict, the force field formed by the oppressive five-element qi entirely dispersed, leaving only five lusterless streaks of light circulating aimlessly above the banner.

Bai Huan's face finally darkened.

He tossed his hand up, bringing out the Amber Seal. The beast's mouth faced down, its suction locking straight onto Chen Lingxi's Dao Platform!

Chen Lingxi clearly sensed the pool of Dao Origin within his Dao Platform being dragged outward by the suction, drawn out bit by bit.

Chen Lingxi's brow twitched.

He flipped his left hand, and the Profound Binding Decree flew out from his Vast Void Pouch.

The golden decree grew in the wind, transforming into a chain of golden light that wrapped around the Amber Seal's beast mouth, forcibly severing the connection between the suction and his Dao Platform.

Bai Huan's expression grew even darker.

He took a deep breath, lightly clasping his hands in front of him. The bright gold lightning around him retracted as his entire body turned a blazing white. He then raised both hands high, seemingly supporting the sky.

The thunderclouds that had previously only covered Sunset Glow Mountain now expanded wildly across the heavens. The clouds churned, dyeing the sky of the entire secret realm a bright red-gold.

From the very depths of the red-gold clouds, a speck of radiant light was born before blossoming out, forming a massive array a thousand zhang across that ground its way down from the heavens.

All-Refining Heaven!

Beneath that array, qi flows were extinguished inch by inch. All spells, all arrays, and all operating qi flows would be "refined" away beneath it.

Chen Lingxi looked up, no fear in his eyes.

He pointed his index finger at the sky.

"The void of this place shall bear no crushing weight."

The Heavenly Statute Edict fell.

The thousand-zhang array continued to press down slowly from the heavens. However, starting from a hundred zhang above Chen Lingxi's head, a gap opened within the crushed void. The array's crushing momentum remained, but the void would no longer bear it.

It pressed down continuously, and the void split open inch by inch. The stalemate lasted for several breaths, yet that thousand-zhang array completely failed to drop within a hundred zhang of Chen Lingxi's head.

Bai Huan finally couldn't hold back.

"How is this possible?"

Even in same-realm battles at the Dao Foundation Late Stage, very few dared to take this All-Refining Heaven of his head-on.

Yet the man before him was clearly only at the Dao Foundation Middle Stage!

Bai Huan took a deep breath, no longer stubbornly trying to crush him with the array.

The bright gold lightning around him flowed once more as he simultaneously activated the Bai family's divine powers. The Jade Platform Seal pressed down from the void, the Upper Spirit Profound Light shot straight toward the center of Chen Lingxi's brow, and the Yuan-Expelling Array closed in from all directions, locking down that entire stretch of the void.

Killing intent stacked layer upon layer, blotting out the sky and covering the earth.

The light in Chen Lingxi's eyes sank.

He held back no longer.

The seventy-two treasured swords around him trembled in unison, their seventy-two streams of sword qi simultaneously retracting into the Abyssal Heaven Spiritual Sword at the center of the array. The light on the blade suddenly flared, its cyan-gold color flowing like something tangible.

At the same time, atop the Plundering Dragon Dao Platform in his body, the Thunder Prison Profound Root trembled violently. The Great Prison Furnace rose from the depths of the Thunder Prison, its mouth wide open as boundless lightning entirely merged into the Abyssal Heaven Spiritual Sword.

The layer of warm, pale gold patterns on the Heavenly Statute Profound Root lit up as well. Faint sounds of edicts flowed from it, converging into the blade.

Within the Inner Divine Palace, the phantom of the cyan-gold true dragon abruptly opened its eyes. Majestic essence qi flooded out from the depths of the palace, traveling along his meridians to his skin, flesh, fascia, and bones. A bone line resembling a dragon's spine rose on his back and shoulders, and his muscles bulged one by one, stretching his black brocade robes from the inside as essence qi surged around him like a mighty river.

Chen Lingxi stood before the bright gold lightning, no longer holding anything back.

He raised the Abyssal Heaven Spiritual Sword.

And slashed out with a single strike.

The seventy-two treasured swords all returned to the center of the array. The Jade Tiger Rebellious Sea Sword Light erupted from the blade. One split into ten, ten into a hundred, a hundred into a thousand—millions upon millions of cyan-gold sword rainbows arched across the vast sky, only to be drawn back together midway by the Seventy-Two Qi Origin-Governing Great Array, condensing into a single streak.

That single streak of sword light was no more than three chi long. It was cyan-gold and condensed to the point of being tangible. As it cut through the void, it produced no air currents and no sound of thunder. It merely left a single sword scar through Bai Huan's overlapping layers of killing intent.

Beneath Bai Huan's All-Refining Heaven array, all spells should have been "refined" away! But that three-chi sword light remained unaffected.

Bai Huan's Jade Platform Seal pressed down like a towering mountain! But that three-chi sword light remained unaffected.

The same went for the Upper Spirit Profound Light and the Yuan-Expelling Array; the three-chi sword light simply remained unaffected!

The sword light pierced straight through the layered killing intent, stabbing into Bai Huan's chest and tearing out through his back.

Bai Huan suddenly froze!

He lowered his head, staring at the hole in his chest and the Dao Origin slowly spilling from it. He opened his mouth as if to speak.

But before he could even let out a breath, the bright gold lightning around him began to collapse and dissolve inch by inch, starting from the hole!

His body toppled backward, plummeting from the top of the cliff. He passed through the red-gold thunderclouds that had yet to scatter, plunging toward the old forest.

During the fall, his bright gold lightning completely faded away. Only a white-clad corpse remained, crashing into the depths of the old forest and kicking up a sky full of fallen leaves.

Silence.

Absolute silence.

The twenty-odd divine senses that had converged from all directions and fallen upon this stretch of the void were now completely still.

Lin Suri stood by the bluestone, staring motionless at the void, unable to speak for a long time.

He naturally knew that Chen Lingxi's innate talent was extraordinary.

In the Weiji Grotto-Heaven, he had watched with his own eyes as Chen Lingxi struck down a cultivator at the Qi Circulation Tenth Floor with merely a Qi Circulation Ninth Floor cultivation base. He had also seen him shatter Bai Qieyun with a single stroke of his sword. But today!

Slaying a Dao Foundation Late Stage as a Dao Foundation Middle Stage?

This wasn't a battle between peers of the same realm, nor was it a spar, and he certainly hadn't relied on external forces to lay down an ambush formation.

This was a head-on confrontation where Bai Huan had exhausted his entire foundation, only to be defeated by Chen Lingxi!

"Daoist Brother Chen..." he murmured, unsure of what else to say.

Throughout the secret realm, the divine senses gathered from all directions finally recovered from their shock.

"He killed Bai Huan?"

Standing atop a mountain ridge in the eastern sky, an herb-gathering cultivator stared at the lingering sword scars, still clutching half a spiritual fruit he hadn't yet put away.

He had seen that man condense seventy-two swords into one. A single strike had pierced through Bai Huan's All-Refining Heaven, Jade Platform Seal, Upper Spirit Profound Light, and Yuan-Expelling Array. A single strike right through the heart—clean, efficient, and leaving no room for survival.

"A Dao Foundation Middle Stage killing a Dao Foundation Late Stage... Just who is this person?"

Above a stream to the south, another cultivator put away the bronze mirror in his palm and fell silent.

"Even among the geniuses of those great sects and True Monarch clans within the Nine Quarters, I have never heard of a Dao Foundation Middle Stage who could cross an entire realm using their own foundation to directly slay a Dao Foundation Late Stage. Just who is this person?"

Beneath a stone cliff to the north, two people exchanged a glance, both seeing the same thought in the other's eyes.

"The Slaughtering Sun Opportunity in this secret realm..."

"I'm afraid it won't fall to us anymore."

Meanwhile, in the void.

Chen Lingxi stood in place. The layer of majestic Dao Origin emanating from the Enemy-Slaughtering Spirit Wall around him was slowly dissipating, its energy returning entirely to his Dao Platform. Thunder Prison Heaven vanished from around his body, and the Thunder Prison Immortal Eye between his brows slowly closed.

The seventy-two treasured swords also began to scatter within his Dao Platform.

The might of the Cauldron Vessel formed by the Dao-Absorbing Fruit could not endure for long.

Chen Lingxi's face was slightly pale, and his breathing was somewhat chaotic.

He had poured almost his entire foundation into that previous sword strike, draining more than half the Dao Origin within his Dao Platform. Had Bai Huan held on for even a single breath longer, the victor would have been uncertain.

But in the end, he had won.

Chen Lingxi slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, sheathed his sword, and turned around.

It was then he saw Lin Suri.

By the side of the bluestone, the figure in the dark Daoist robe stood rooted to the spot, looking as though he had just regained his senses.

Chen Lingxi gave him a slight nod.

Only then did Lin Suri speak up. "Daoist Brother... it's been a long time!"

Chen Lingxi smiled but didn't reply.

He turned, sweeping his gaze across the secret realm. The twenty-odd streams of divine sense were still scattered in all directions, yet not a single person made a move.

He flipped his hand over.

The Abyssal Heaven Spiritual Sword flew out from his Dao Platform once more. It circled his body, the blade pointed outward, a cold light flowing endlessly along its spine.

Vigorous sword qi surged, radiating a chilling intent in all directions like a wheel of swords descending from the heavens.

The killing intent arrived before the blade even struck.

The sword light reflected on Chen Lingxi's face, casting an indescribably chilling aura over his handsome features.

He stood beside the spiritual sword, his gaze slowly sweeping across his surroundings without the slightest attempt to conceal it.

The herb-gathering cultivator in the eastern sky was the first to withdraw his divine sense.

The one above the southern stream fell silent for a moment before tucking his bronze mirror into his sleeve and darting back the way he came.

The two beneath the northern stone cliff exchanged a glance. Saying nothing, they retreated side by side.

Like dust blown away by a gust of wind, the remaining dozen or so divine senses scattered from the secret realm one after another.

Chen Lingxi remained where he was until the very last divine sense faded into the southwest. Only then did he slowly retract the sword qi around him.

Then, he turned and walked over to the bluestone.

Watching him approach, Lin Suri finally couldn't help asking, "Daoist Brother, why are you here? That was too perilous just now. How did you dare to make a move against Bai Huan?"

Chen Lingxi sat down opposite him. Taking a jade bottle from his sleeve, he swallowed a healing pill and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing for a moment before slowly exhaling a breath of stale air.

"If I hadn't come, wouldn't you have been surrounded and killed right here?"

Lin Suri fell silent for a moment, a faint smile appearing on his face.

The two sat by the bluestone. The night wind blew through the old forest, brushing past Chen Lingxi's robes, which were still tinged with the intent of thunder, and sweeping across the cloud patterns on Lin Suri's Daoist robes.

In the distance, Bai Huan's corpse lay quietly in the depths of the old forest. The bright gold lightning around his body had entirely dissipated, leaving behind only a corpse in white robes.

His three magical treasures lay scattered nearby; at this moment, no one dared to pick them up.

Chen Lingxi looked up at the sky, which had finally calmed. A spiritual mist still shrouded the outside of the secret realm.

"How many days until the secret realm opens?"

Lin Suri did a quick calculation. "Ten days at most."

Chen Lingxi nodded slightly. Leaning back against the bluestone, he slowly closed his eyes.

"During these ten days, I won't make another move," he said. "If those cultivators know what's good for them, they'll go their own ways. But if there are still those who aren't afraid of death... then I'll just kill them."

Lin Suri took a deep breath. "Daoist Brother! When did you arrive in the Great Xuanzhuo Realm?"