Chapter 233: The Grotto-Heaven's True Dragon

At this moment, two clusters of golden radiance shone from Xiao Changlv's eyes as well.

The radiance flickered incessantly, exactly like the flames of the Delusion-Weaving Golden Eyes that Emperor Daye had displayed earlier!

Chen Lingxi suddenly understood.

'Emperor Daye must have taken over Xiao Changlv's avatar!' he thought. 'I wonder just what extraordinary power this avatar possesses.'

Chen Lingxi watched quietly, his consciousness still bound to Xiao Changlv's perspective.

"Xiao Changlv" walked out of the Volcano Immortal Pivot. He raised his head and gazed at the churning sea of clouds in the sky.

The two clusters of golden flame danced slowly in his eyes, and a smile Chen Lingxi knew all too well surfaced on his lips.

Calm and profound, the smile carried a majestic, world-disdaining aura. It was the unique demeanor of Emperor Daye, Ying Xian.

He stretched the avatar's limbs. In that instant, the terrifying blood energy surging around him like a vast ocean suddenly retracted, receding into his body like a tide until not a single trace leaked out.

From the outside, he looked like an ordinary man in his prime, bare-chested and heavily muscled, completely devoid of the suffocating, terrifying pressure from moments before.

Chen Lingxi waited quietly through Xiao Changlv's eyes.

After taking over the avatar, Emperor Daye did not leave the Volcano Immortal Pivot immediately. Instead, he sat cross-legged at the edge of the crater and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing, seemingly adjusting to the power of his new vessel.

The spiritual energy of the Volcano Immortal Pivot poured frantically into him like a rushing river, nourishing every inch of bone, muscle, and meridian in the avatar.

Three days passed.

During Chen Lingxi's fourth Vision Roaming, he saw Xiao Changlv... or rather, Emperor Daye, finally stand up from the Volcano Immortal Pivot.

He donned a black robe to cover his bare chest, then opened his mouth and exhaled a streak of blood energy.

He stepped onto the blood energy and was swept up into the sky, piercing the sea of clouds as he sped into the distance.

Chen Lingxi's perspective chased after that streak of blood energy, sweeping over thousands of miles of mountains and rivers before finally landing before the Ancestral Mountain west of Yuanjiang Prefecture City.

Emperor Daye had actually stepped into the Ancestral Mountain!

The Ancestral Mountain looked exactly the same as always. Churning thick fog completely shrouded the entire mountain!

Emperor Daye walked slowly through the dense mist, his steps unhurried.

The two clusters of golden flame flickered slowly in his eyes, piercing through the layers of fog as though searching for something.

'Why did Emperor Daye come to the Ancestral Mountain? Is he looking for Great Sage Luoyuan's incarnation?' Chen Lingxi wondered.

He thought for a moment before shaking his head. 'Regardless, Emperor Daye revealing his tracks right now is a good thing for me.'

He had originally planned to kill Ou Ningzi or Qing Yuechan first to seize the Celestial Ranking Spiritual Energy, waiting until he achieved the Dao Foundation before seeking out Emperor Daye.

But since Daoist Shu Rong couldn't find any trace of those two either, he wouldn't know where to start even if he wanted to kill them.

As Chen Lingxi thought this over, he stood up.

Circulating his Cloud Soaring Technique, Chen Lingxi took to the clouds!

'If anyone in this grotto-heaven knows everything, it has to be Emperor Daye, whose Mountains and Rivers Great Array covers the entire Weiji Grotto-Heaven. I'll go find him. I can see why he went to the Ancestral Mountain and ask him exactly where those people on the Celestial Ranking are!'

With that, Chen Lingxi flew at top speed, rushing toward Yuanjiang Prefecture.

—

Chen Lingxi traveled swiftly, heading straight for the Ancestral Mountain.

The Ancestral Mountain remained unchanged.

Chen Lingxi wove through the mountain mist until the thick fog ahead suddenly thinned.

He looked up and saw three mountain peaks towering within the haze.

The three peaks were arranged in a triangle, like three silent giants crouching beneath the starlight.

And at the summit of the tallest peak, a figure stood with his hands behind his back.

The man had a tall stature and broad shoulders. His black robe snapped wildly in the wind.

Though his back was to Chen Lingxi, an intimidating, majestic aura naturally rolled off him in all directions.

This person was none other than Xiao Changlv—or rather, Emperor Daye, Ying Xian.

Chen Lingxi stepped onto the peak and looked up at the figure.

Xiao Changlv slowly turned around.

The two clusters of golden flame danced slowly in his eyes. His gaze pierced the churning fog to land on Chen Lingxi.

A hint of surprise first flashed across his sharply defined face, rapidly shifting into a meaningful smile.

"It seems your aptitude is truly extraordinary," Xiao Changlv said slowly. "Even with the inheritance of a Great Divine Ability and its related spiritual items, whether an ordinary cultivator can successfully cultivate it remains unknown. Yet you have already formed your Profound Root. As long as you have enough spiritual qi and spiritual energy, you can establish your Dao Foundation... In other words, you already have one foot in the Dao Foundation realm!"

Chen Lingxi stood just below the summit, facing Xiao Changlv from dozens of paces away.

He fell silent for a moment before saying softly, "I must also thank Emperor Daye for protecting my path."

This expression of gratitude wasn't mere false politeness.

Without the golden finger bone from Emperor Daye, he would have died at Bai Lingze's hands back in Nanche Prefecture City.

Not to mention when Zhao Duanxuan later attacked—Emperor Daye had been unable to protect himself, yet he still spared the concentration to trap Bai Lingze with the Heavenly Decline Law Great Divine Ability, buying Chen Lingxi the precious time needed to escape into the Storm Immortal Pivot.

Whatever Emperor Daye was scheming, he had never broken his word about protecting Chen Lingxi's path.

Hearing this, the golden flames in Xiao Changlv's eyes flickered slightly.

He turned his back again, resting his hands behind him as he gazed into the misty depths of the Ancestral Mountain. After a long silence, he finally spoke.

"You and I are natives of this Weiji Grotto-Heaven. On the path of cultivation, every step forward requires weathering countless hardships and seeking out numerous opportunities. To reach our current achievements, who knows how much we have suffered or how many life-and-death crises we have endured."

He paused, a sudden coldness entering his voice. "But what if we were from the Great Xuanzhuo Realm and belonged to a sect? If we managed to form a Profound Root, our sect would exhaust its resources to find opportunities and spiritual energy for us, helping us step fully into the Dao Foundation realm. For the disciples of those Noble Sect Immortal Gates, the path of cultivation is a smooth, open road. Their elders prepare all their resources, and their predecessors clear away every bottleneck."

His tone shifted, and the golden light in his eyes flared brighter. "But right now, the two of us are ultimately nothing more than wild dogs running ragged in this grotto-heaven! Even if we step into the Dao Foundation, we still have to fight for our lives on our own. All because the True Monarch of the Que Star Xi Family intends to refine this world, throwing us and the billions of living beings in this grotto-heaven into the Realm-Refining Furnace. We are to be reduced to Realm Essence to forge someone else's Dao."

"Chen Lingxi..." Xiao Changlv turned around slowly. His eyes, burning with golden flames, stared directly at Chen Lingxi as he asked, word by word, "Are you not furious?"

Standing below the summit, Chen Lingxi remained silent for a long time.

The mountain wind swept past, stirring his long hair.

He raised his head to meet Xiao Changlv's scorching gaze and suddenly shook his head slightly.

"What can the fury of the weak burn?" he said.

Xiao Changlv stared blankly for a moment, then took a deep breath and slowly nodded.

"You are right," he said. "The fury of the weak cannot even burn away the weeds on the ground. A Golden Core True Monarch like him commands Cauldron Vessels, rules the Queshi Stars, and has countless Dao Foundation and Golden Palace experts running errands for him. Even if we ignited all our rage into a blazing fire, in the eyes of such a figure, it would merely be the anger of ants—inconsequential and harmless."

He turned back around, gazing at the misty Ancestral Mountain with his hands behind his back. He was silent for a long time.

The dense fog atop the summit churned around him, just like the swirling thoughts in his mind.

"That is precisely why I spent twenty-three years." Xiao Changlv's voice carried a hint of emotion. "Relying on the marvels of the Delusion-Weaving Golden Eyes and various fortunate encounters, I forcibly cultivated my way to the middle stage of the Dao Foundation realm! Twenty-three years! From a mere mortal to the middle stage of the Dao Foundation—who knows how many trials and tribulations I endured, or how much blood and sweat I expended."

He paused, the golden flames in his eyes burning even brighter. "But now... the middle stage of the Dao Foundation is still far from enough to secure a sliver of a chance at survival!"

Xiao Changlv turned around, his scorching gaze fixed on Chen Lingxi.

Chen Lingxi gave a slight nod and said, "Since Emperor Daye is alone, it is naturally not enough. That is exactly why I came to find you today."

He paused, his tone growing solemn. "I intend to ascend the Celestial Ranking, seize the Celestial Ranking Spiritual Energy, and achieve the Dao Foundation."

Xiao Changlv raised an eyebrow at that.

He looked up at the Purple Qi Celestial Ranking towering magnificently in the sky.

Names flowed across the ranking, shrouded in a purple aura.

His gaze slowly swept across the list before finally stopping on the few names ranked below tenth.

"Ou Ningzi of the Southern Heaven Region, Qing Yuechan of Zhuran Star..." Xiao Changlv said slowly, his tone holding a measure of understanding. "The avatars of these two have also projected Profound Roots, but they haven't yet transformed their spiritual qi into Dao Origin or fully stepped into the Dao Foundation. Like you, they are on the final step of planting a Profound Root on the Dao Platform."

He withdrew his gaze and looked back at Chen Lingxi. "So, you want to kill one of these two, seize their Celestial Ranking Spiritual Energy, and achieve the Dao Foundation in one fell swoop?"

Chen Lingxi nodded.

The golden flames in Xiao Changlv's eyes flickered slightly. He remained silent for several breaths before abruptly asking, "Are you confident you can defeat them?"

Chen Lingxi nodded!

His eyes were exceptionally resolute.

With his current cultivation, having achieved great mastery of the Thunder Prison Heaven and possessing numerous profound foundations, if he couldn't even defeat other experts at the same tier, how could he possibly speak of escaping the great calamity of the Realm-Refining Furnace?

A moment later, a hint of doubt crossed his mind. He looked up and asked, "Does Emperor Daye... know where these two are?"

Chen Lingxi truly held onto a bit of hope.

Emperor Daye had turned the mountains and rivers into an array. That world-shaking grand formation spanning the entirety of Great Li could harvest the vital essence of countless living beings—perhaps it could detect the whereabouts of these two.

If he could learn the exact locations of Ou Ningzi and Qing Yuechan from him, he wouldn't need to waste time searching blindly.

But Xiao Changlv shook his head.

"The Weiji Grotto-Heaven is incredibly vast. I am not omniscient," he said. "Though the Mountains and Rivers Great Array can sense the flow of worldly spiritual energy, those descending experts from the Great Xuanzhuo Realm all possess their own methods of concealment. Especially people like Ou Ningzi and Qing Yuechan—they have Dao Foundation experts by their sides, so masking their auras isn't difficult."

Hearing this, Chen Lingxi couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed.

If even Emperor Daye couldn't track them down, relying on himself alone would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

However, a faint smile appeared on Xiao Changlv's lips.

The smile was unhurried, as though everything was firmly within his grasp.

Standing atop the summit with his hands behind his back, the golden flames flickering slowly in his eyes, he suddenly said, "Why go looking for them?"

Chen Lingxi blanked slightly.

"Let them come looking for me!" Xiao Changlv continued. "Then I will naturally know where they are."

His tone was calm, as if he had already meticulously calculated everything!

Just as his voice fell, Emperor Daye suddenly moved!

He still wore Xiao Changlv's appearance, bare-chested with muscles knotted like dragons, but that majestic, world-disdaining aura was completely unlike Xiao Changlv's.

He slowly raised his right hand. A cluster of incredibly pure light swirled gently within his palm.

Though the light was only the size of a fist, the power contained within it made Chen Lingxi take a deep breath.

That power was immensely heavy and boundless, terrifying beyond compare.

'The aura of the Immortal Slough,' he thought.

During Vision Roaming, he had seen Emperor Daye use the vital essence of the Immortal Slough to nourish his body countless times. He couldn't be more familiar with that pale golden halo.

Yet the power contained within this cluster of Immortal Slough aura was purer and more majestic than anything he had ever sensed in his previous Vision Roamings.

'It seems Emperor Daye's control over the Immortal Slough has deepened,' Chen Lingxi thought. 'But... if Emperor Daye truly wants to help me, why not lend me the Immortal Slough to break through?'

The spiritual energy of the Immortal Slough was boundlessly vast. If he had the Immortal Slough aiding his cultivation, what difficulty would there be in establishing a Dao Platform and planting a Profound Root?

He grew vigilant inwardly.

Instead of immediately activating the cluster of Immortal Slough aura, Xiao Changlv raised his head and gazed up at the churning sea of clouds in the sky.

The two golden flames in his eyes flickered slowly, and deep within his pupils, countless intricate array patterns faintly swirled.

Following his gaze, Chen Lingxi witnessed a truly astonishing scene.

With the Ancestral Mountain at the center, the mountains, rivers, sea of clouds, and sky for thousands of miles around all lit up with array patterns at this exact moment.

Like an earth-shattering spiderweb, those array patterns extended outward from beneath Xiao Changlv's feet, densely covering the entire world.

It was the very same grand formation that covered the Weiji Grotto-Heaven!

This was Emperor Daye's handiwork!

Using the mountains and rivers as an array, the Immortal Slough as fuel, and the Immortal Pivot as the core!

Using his own Dao Origin as a guide, he drove that cluster of Immortal Slough aura straight into the heaven-shaking grand formation.

Following the veins of the grand formation, that aura radiated out in all directions. It was silent, yet completely impossible to ignore.

The ripples formed by the Immortal Slough's aura passed through mountains, crossed rivers, and swept through the sea of clouds, surging toward every corner of the Weiji Grotto-Heaven.

Watching all of this with the Method of Qi Observation, Chen Lingxi couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath.

Wherever the Immortal Slough's aura passed, it actually provoked several incredibly obscure yet immensely powerful divine senses.

Those divine senses had originally been lying dormant in various places, tightly concealed by their respective hiding techniques. Yet, lured by the Immortal Slough's aura, they all awakened from their dormancy, reaching toward the Ancestral Mountain like sharks smelling blood!

Chen Lingxi instantly understood.

'Emperor Daye... wants to use the Immortal Slough to lure out all the hidden experts in the grotto-heaven!'