Chapter 149: Dao Foundation Cultivator?

Emperor Daye murmured softly, his voice just as decrepit.

The clusters of golden light in his eyes continued to swirl, and that unimaginably profound, ancient aura grew even richer.

At this very moment, Chen Lingxi was seeing through Emperor Daye's perspective.

Through Emperor Daye's eyes, the body of the woman before him was like a fully unfurled scroll; all her secrets were laid bare before his gaze!

Emperor Daye could clearly see her bones and meridians, her qi sea, and her Sea of Consciousness.

Even the trajectory of every trace of spiritual qi circulating through her body, along with the profound technique nodes, imprints, and bottlenecks it contained, was perfectly clear to him, leaving absolutely nothing hidden!

Chen Lingxi marveled at the sight.

But in the next instant, Emperor Daye gently waved his decrepit hand, as if brushing dust from a scroll.

With just that wave, a streak of spiritual light flashed into existence above the woman's head.

The spiritual light was faint at first, but it quickly turned incomparably radiant. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a small halo hovering three feet above her head.

It rotated slowly, pulsing with erratic light.

Within that halo, numerous scenes suddenly surfaced. It was just like the movies Chen Lingxi had watched in his previous life.

The mysterious woman's past cycled endlessly within the halo, scene after scene.

Then...

Chen Lingxi saw the woman's entire life.

He saw her as a young child.

Running barefoot along the ridges of a field, laughing constantly, her eyes curving into crescents as she revealed two sharp little canine teeth.

Behind her, a hunched old woman leaning on a cane shakily caught up and handed her an ear of wheat.

The scene was soundless, but the smile on the old woman's face was like the winter sun, incredibly warm.

Then the scene shifted. The girl stood before a mountain gate, with three characters carved into the stone:

Lotus Pool Manor!

She tilted her head up, gazing at the characters above the mountain gate, her eyes full of naive confusion.

A middle-aged woman stood beside her, whispering instructions before turning to leave. The girl cried, hugging the woman and refusing to let go. The woman hardened her heart, peeled the girl's hands away, and walked off without looking back.

Later, she joined the sect and practiced Daoist arts.

In the vision, she sat cross-legged in a quiet room. Wisps of spiritual qi seeped from her qi sea, coalescing into complex runes in the air.

Her face was pale, and cold sweat dripped down her forehead, but her eyes were frighteningly bright.

Failing over and over, starting over time and time again.

Later still, she seemed to achieve success in her cultivation. She entered several grotto-heavens, fighting others for secret treasures and fortuitous encounters.

Until she leaped into the Pool of Reincarnation and descended into this Qi-Depleted Grotto-Heaven.

In this Qi-Depleted Grotto-Heaven, she awakened during the Great Zhou Dynasty. She woke up in this grotto-heaven, lay dormant here, searched for opportunities here, and finally secured a Spirit Nurturing Wondrous Flower in Great Zhou, stepping into the Heaven-Facing Three Floors in one fell swoop!

And later...

Disaster struck without warning. She was captured by several vitality experts and delivered into Great Li's Imperial Palace.

From then on... her memories were a muddled haze as she remained locked in this place.

And at this very moment, Emperor Daye was using this bizarre method to flip through her memories. Everything in her past had become nothing more than countless fragmented scenes in his eyes.

'Such methods are truly astonishing.'

Chen Lingxi stared at Emperor Daye's eyes, which burned with golden flames.

Then, he suddenly heard a chanted verse.

Deep and distant, it sounded as if a supreme expert standing at the end of ancient time were reciting a profound scripture to him.

However, although the verse clearly entered his ears and he heard it very distinctly, it felt as if it were separated by a thick layer of water—hazy and indistinct, making it completely impossible for him to understand!

This feeling was far too strange.

Right at this moment, Emperor Daye suddenly retracted his finger, and the halo suspended over the woman's head quietly shattered.

The endless cycle of memory scenes ground to a halt at this moment, as if they had never existed.

The palace hall returned to silence.

Yet in Emperor Daye's palm, a streak of white light now rested.

Within that white light, there were surprisingly also continuous scenes. But the figure in the scenes had become blurry, as if it were no longer that woman.

And as the light in Emperor Daye's eyes flickered...

The scenes immediately changed!

The running girl in the vision turned into a boy, and the middle-aged woman who sent her to the immortal cave dwelling turned into an old man.

And Lotus Pool Manor also changed into Suspended Sea Observatory.

The numerous memory scenes were gradually rewritten, following the intense light in Emperor Daye's eyes.

Chen Lingxi instantly understood.

'This Emperor Daye is actually fabricating memories.'

Right at this moment, Vision Roaming violently shattered!

Chen Lingxi snapped awake from his Vision Roaming, drawing in a sharp breath.

His head throbbed as if it were splitting apart, and his mind felt entirely drained. Golden stars danced wildly before his eyes, and his ears rang with a deafening roar.

Furthermore, this Vision Roaming had only lasted for fifteen minutes. 'It seems the duration of my Vision Roaming still depends on the target's cultivation.'

'When I used Vision Roaming on Lin Suri, lasting half an hour was no problem at all.'

'But using it on Emperor Daye, I could only last for fifteen minutes of time.'

He slowly shook his head.

The things he had just seen felt like a bizarre, grotesque nightmare, still lingering before his eyes and refusing to fade.

The candlelight in that palace hall, the densely packed severed limbs on the dozens of long red sandalwood tables, those carefully annotated profound arts, secret techniques, and sect origins, as well as that woman in plain clothes...

These various scenes echoed in his mind, impossible to wave away.

Chen Lingxi closed his eyes, recalling the two clusters of golden flames slowly dancing in Emperor Daye's eyes and the ancient aura they revealed.

'That kind of ancient grandeur is undoubtedly a Cauldron Vessel Fragment.'

He had seen many Cauldron Vessel Fragments before.

The Time Candle, the Crown Prince's Beast-Fighting Palace, the Host Star Stone, the Taotie Urn...

The mighty power contained within the various Cauldron Vessel Fragments differed, but they shared a common trait. That was their ancient and heavy nature, carrying a vast feeling of being as old as heaven and earth itself.

'The aura radiating from the two golden flames in Emperor Daye's eyes is extremely similar to the aura given off by Cauldron Vessel Fragments.'

'It's just...'

Chen Lingxi's eyes flickered. 'It's just far more ancient, and far more terrifying.'

At this thought, the light in his eyes suddenly grew brighter.

'That grandeur, that ancient aura, those unimaginably profound Dao ripples—they are actually far deeper than any Cauldron Vessel Fragment I've ever seen.'

'Contained without erupting, yet incomparably profound.'

Chen Lingxi suddenly thought of a possibility, and his pupils slightly contracted.

'No, Emperor Daye uses it to peek into others' memories, and even fabricate memories to force onto others.'

'For it to be so profound and possess such an aura of the Great Dao...'

'That is no ordinary Cauldron Vessel Fragment. It is highly likely to be a... complete Cauldron Vessel!'

As Chen Lingxi thought of this, a fierce light erupted in his eyes. The power of the Cauldron Vessels within the fragments was like a candle in the wind. Though it possessed lingering might, it was dim and weak, liable to dissipate completely at any moment. The fragments even carried a sense of decay, and it was exactly this stench of rot that brought about a cauldron calamity!

But the two clusters of golden flames in Emperor Daye's eyes were like two golden suns, so brilliant that one couldn't look directly at them.

The mighty power they contained was abundant, heavy, and incredibly enduring—absolutely beyond compare with those ordinary top-tier fragments.

'So... the Cauldron Vessel that the many reincarnators entered this grotto-heaven to find actually already has a master, and it is Emperor Daye?'

A sense of absurdity suddenly rose in Chen Lingxi's heart.

These reincarnators hadn't hesitated to damage their Dao Foundations and abandon their past cultivation, struggling bitterly and even fighting with their lives on the line in this grotto-heaven.

And all for a single, shared goal.

Which was seeking truth and inquiring about the cauldrons, then refining it to forge a far broader path in the Dao.

But now, it seemed this Cauldron Vessel already had an owner.

If so, then weren't all their years of struggling, scheming, slaughtering, and enduring just an empty joke?

Chen Lingxi shook his head with a sigh, but a flash of inspiration sparked in his mind as he thought of another possibility.

'When the King of the East killed that Qi Circulation Tenth Floor cultivator and sent him into the palace, it seems that was eight or nine years ago.'

'Eight or nine years ago, this Emperor Daye had already obtained the Cauldron Vessel?'

'Or perhaps, there is more than one complete Cauldron Vessel in this grotto-heaven?'

Chen Lingxi speculated like this, and then his thoughts extended to the grotto-heaven itself.

'Thinking carefully, this grotto-heaven truly is extraordinary.'

Chen Lingxi stood up. His divine sense flowed, ascending into the sky to gaze over the vast world!

'There is a Cauldron Vessel left behind in this grotto-heaven, drawing in many reincarnators.'

'There are also many Cauldron Vessel Fragments, which can be considered extraordinary opportunities for cultivators.'

'And there are even ordinary mortals like Lin Longyue, who incubate Profound Qi within their bodies.'

Chen Lingxi's consciousness fell upon the streak of Profound Qi in his own qi sea. Although he had subsequently acquired Sword Edge Qi and Lightning Qi...

When it came to profundity, those two streaks of precious qi were vastly inferior to the Profound Qi.

Just its ability to amplify the power of spells alone proved that even if this kind of precious qi were placed in the Greater World, it would likely be a one-in-a-million stroke of good fortune.

'Beyond that, there's even the Immortal Slough!' The words "Immortal Slough" flashed through Chen Lingxi's mind.

'The opportunity of the Immortal Slough is clearly even more precious than an ordinary Cauldron Vessel.'

'Otherwise, the Pool Soul Courtyard of the Under-Dao Academy wouldn't value the Immortal Slough opportunity so highly, even going so far as to use the Myriad Realms Projection to project themselves here!'

Chen Lingxi narrowed his eyes in deep thought, gradually piecing everything together into a clear train of logic.

This Qi-Depleted Grotto-Heaven seemed devoid of spiritual mechanisms and barren of spiritual qi, but the sheer number and value of the opportunities hidden within were enough to make those lofty cultivators in the Greater World cast their gazes upon it.

Cauldron Vessels, the Immortal Slough, precious qi, Mother Qi...

Based solely on his own experiences, he had already come into contact with so many extraordinary treasures.

And this world was vast; who knew how many more opportunities were still hidden within it?

These opportunities were things that countless cultivators in the Greater World could only dream of, yet they were all concentrated in this one small grotto-heaven.

This was absolutely no coincidence.

'There's also that mysterious Cauldron Vessel in Emperor Daye's hands, actually capable of fabricating memories.'

Such methods could no longer be described merely with the word "comprehensive." Extracting a person's memories, altering and rewriting them, and then injecting those memories into the mind of someone else, completely turning them into a person who had never existed.

Such unbelievable methods were almost impossible to comprehend.

'It seems I haven't even experienced a ten-thousandth of the profundity of Cauldron Vessels.'

Thinking of this, Chen Lingxi suddenly recalled those three identical Heavenly Boats, along with the three mysterious women who practiced the exact same arts as Rong Chun.

Combined with Emperor Daye's muttering just now, he finally figured out many things.

For example, Great Li's Imperial Consort Chun, who had reached the Eighth Floor of Qi Circulation, as well as those three Heavenly Boat women.

'He used the plain-clothed woman's memories as a blueprint, fabricated a complete set of cultivation experiences, and then implanted these memories into other people's bodies.'

'Creating one Imperial Consort Chun after another.'

'These imperial consorts believed they came from Ehai, believed they cultivated the Heaven-Seizing Seal, and believed they were reincarnators sent by their sect to seek truth and inquire about the cauldrons.'

'But in reality, they were nothing more than the puppets of Emperor Daye, the master of the Cauldron Vessel!'

'And then there's Crown Prince Ying Chi...'

Chen Lingxi suddenly recalled the severed limbs of a Southern Heaven Region cultivator on that sandalwood table. That corpse's chest had been cut open, and its heart was still beating, golden light flowing across its surface as it expounded its origins.

'That cultivator named Zhuo Fengxiu came from the Southern Heaven Region of the Great Xuanzhuo Realm, practicing the Profound Ming Dao Formula and the Purple Light Golden Wheel Divine Ability!'

And among the Crown Prince's offensive methods, the Purple Light Golden Wheel was one of them!

'Ridiculous! How ridiculous!'

Chen Lingxi took a deep breath.

Crown Prince Ying Chi believed he came from the Southern Heaven Region, believed he was a reincarnator sent by his sect to seek truth and inquire about the cauldrons, and believed he shouldered the mission of seizing the Cauldron Vessel.

He painstakingly cultivated in this boundless grotto-heaven, running about everywhere, hosting beast-fighting banquets, and using Cauldron Vessel Fragments to nourish the Purple True Treasure Vase, barely daring to slack off for a single day.

But he had never imagined that his memories were actually fake, and his life was fake as well.

Even the Southern Heaven Region sect inheritance he was so proud of was nothing more than a scrap of lies casually fabricated by the master of the Cauldron Vessel.

This thought made an indescribable chill rise in Chen Lingxi's heart.

'Am I even real?'

Chen Lingxi furrowed his brow tightly. Then, he suddenly thought of the Divine Chamber in his mind.

'The Divine Chamber is profound, practically turning the illusory into reality, eternally validated upon its first manifestation!'

'No matter how profound Emperor Daye's Cauldron Vessel is, it fundamentally cannot compare to the Divine Chamber.'

Reaching this point in his thoughts, Chen Lingxi finally relaxed.

He then shifted his thoughts...

Just what level of cultivation did this Emperor Daye possess?

'I was only able to use Vision Roaming on Emperor Daye by using Xiao Changlv's Entering Profound blood essence as a karmic medium.'

'This proves that Emperor Daye must be at the cultivation of the Heaven-Facing Three Floors.'

'Only those at the Heaven-Facing Three Floors and the Dao Foundation Realm require a karmic medium to serve as an anchor for the binding.'

'Then, is it possible that Emperor Daye is a Dao Foundation cultivator?'

Thinking of this, Chen Lingxi shook his head slightly.

How powerful were Dao Foundation cultivators! Let alone in this Qi-Depleted Grotto-Heaven, even in the Greater World, Dao Foundation cultivators were true major experts.

They had already fully condensed the cultivation of the Twelve Floors of Qi Circulation, transforming it into the foundation of the Great Dao and the platform for inquiring about the Dao!

Their entire body's spiritual qi would metamorphose into Dao Essence!

Every movement of their hands and feet carried the might to trigger the momentum of heaven and earth.

Take, for example, the scene Chen Lingxi had witnessed when using Vision Roaming on Liu Changle.

The Sun Observation Peak where Liu Changle stayed was suppressed so hard by Huang Yuefeng that they couldn't even lift their heads. The reason for this was simply because Huang Yuefeng had recently gained the backing of a Dao Foundation cultivator.

Just a single Dao Foundation cultivator was enough to cause a sect's faction to skyrocket in power.

From this, the extraordinary nature of the Dao Foundation could be seen.

And within this grotto-heaven, among the many reincarnators Chen Lingxi had seen, excluding Emperor Daye, the strongest were merely Xi Yuan, Rong Chun, and those three Heavenly Boat women.

They were all merely at the Eighth Floor of Qi Circulation.

Yet the Dao Foundation Realm surpassed the twelfth floor by an unknown magnitude!

The Six Qi True Method recorded that to achieve the Dao Foundation from the twelve floors of Qi Circulation, one had to cultivate a Dao Foundation divine ability and transform it into a divine ability root, known as the Profound Root! Once that Profound Root took root in the Dao Embryo, it was like a towering giant tree taking root in the earth; from then on, a cultivator's combat strength, lifespan, and spiritual qi would undergo a qualitative transformation.

A Dao Foundation cultivator's combat strength, compared to a Qi Circulation cultivator, was like the bright moon compared to a firefly; they could not be spoken of in the same breath.

If this Emperor Daye truly was a Dao Foundation cultivator, then the numerous reincarnators were all nothing more than a joke.

They painstakingly plotted and desperately slaughtered each other in the Qi-Depleted Grotto-Heaven, believing they were fighting over the Cauldron Vessel opportunity...

Yet Emperor Daye, possessing Dao Foundation cultivation, sat securely deep within the imperial palace, coldly watching them butcher one another like beasts locked in a fighting cage.

He thought this, but soon felt it wasn't right.

Dao Foundation cultivators had lifespans of eight hundred years.

But that Emperor Daye looked so incredibly aged, just like a candle in the wind, completely unlike a legendary Dao Foundation major cultivator.

'As long as he isn't a Dao Foundation cultivator, it's fine.'

Chen Lingxi's mind brimmed with questions, tangled like a knotted ball of hemp.

'There is also one most important matter, and that is just who exactly this cultivator that possessed Emperor Daye's body is.'

Unable to piece it together, Chen Lingxi simply pushed the thought aside. He looked up at the sky.

'In another two to four hours, Xiao Zhushan will come looking for me so we can go kill the Crown Prince together.'

'This time, I might as well capture Crown Prince Ying Chi alive and see if I can pry anything out of him.'