Chapter 420

Li Yi continued to fly with Shan Yi for another half day.

A magnificent and imposing city appeared before his eyes; it was flourishing like flowers in brocade, bustling with crowds, with dragons coming from all directions, nine rivers intersecting, thousand-story towers reaching the sky, god statues as large as mountains, golden palaces on Taihu Lake, and palaces stretching for a hundred miles—one could not see the end of it at a single glance.

This place was like the ancestral vein of a province, a place where the spiritual energy of heaven and earth converged.

"Dao Court!"

Li Yi's silver eyes looked toward a great mountain; the mountain was three thousand meters high, standing like a giant stele between heaven and earth, with two golden characters upon it. Although Li Yi's education did not allow him to recognize the content of those two characters, for some reason, the words "Dao Court" surfaced in his mind the moment he saw them.

This was not a supernatural power or spell, but a certain artistic conception that allowed one to grasp the meaning almost instantly.

Even in this Dharma-ending era, the land of the Dao Court still revealed a bit of its former prosperity and foundation.

"This is the place."

Li Yi immediately made up his mind to stay in this Dao Court for a while, to study the cultivation methods here properly, and if possible, to master a few spells and scavenge some good items.

In short, since he had come, he could not return empty-handed.

If his strength did not improve in this world, he would be finished once he returned to the Golden Academy.

"Shan Yi, go into the city and look around. Lan Ji, control the Thunder fighter jet to hover in the air, activate stealth mode, and give me twenty-four-hour uninterrupted scanning. Keep an eye out for the whereabouts of that Jin Dan cultivator. That Daoist followed me across the boundary; he won't let me go. Without the cross-dimensional device on me, he can't get back at all," Li Yi said.

"Understood, Master." The intelligent system Lan Ji in the Thunder fighter jet received the order, immediately controlled the jet to fly into the clouds, and then activated stealth.

Shan Yi landed on the ground at this moment.

After ten days and ten nights of continuous flight, Shan Yi was still full of spirit, its head constantly looking around, curiously sizing up this world.

As Li Yi descended from the sky riding the exotic beast, he immediately attracted the attention of many people.

When they looked at Li Yi, their expressions carried a hint of strangeness.

It wasn't that they were shocked by the exotic beast, but that in this Dharma-ending era, it was difficult enough for cultivators to feed themselves, let alone raise such a large creature—weren't they afraid of being eaten out of house and home?

Li Yi also paid a little attention to the people of this world at this moment.

They were very weak.

They were almost no different from ordinary people, with no energy fluctuations on their bodies. The only thing stronger about them than ordinary people was that their vitality was still relatively vigorous, perhaps because the foundation of their previous cultivation remained, making their bodies relatively robust, but that was all. In terms of physical fitness alone, they were far inferior to the martial artists of the Four Seas and Bazhou.

"They have been in this Dharma-ending era for too long, their bodies have degenerated, and I reckon even their cultivation realms have been lost," Li Yi thought to himself.

If the Four Seas and Bazhou only had sparse energy, then here, the cosmic energy was almost extinct. Staying here for a few days was fine, but if he stayed for a few years, Li Yi's body would also degenerate, and his realm would drop, because even if you did nothing, the cosmic energy in your body would constantly dissipate.

This dissipation could not be completely sealed; as long as you lived for a day, the energy in your body would constantly flow away.

The stronger a person's strength, the faster the energy loss, until finally, there was no energy left in the body, and one became a mortal of flesh and blood.

Li Yi had also gained a clear understanding of this within these ten-plus days.

However, he possessed the bloodline of a god and practiced both martial arts and genetic evolution; even if the cosmic energy in his body were lost, his strength would not decline much—this was where his advantage lay.

"I wonder how many years this world's Dharma-ending era has lasted."

Li Yi wanted to find someone to inquire about information, to thoroughly understand everything here, and then plan for himself.

He walked on the streets of the Ancestral Court.

The people here seemed to have adapted to this Dharma-ending era; the original green jade was now covered in mud, many originally magnificent buildings had developed many cracks, and without the nourishment of cosmic energy, the originally special materials had become fragile and unbearable. The walls no longer had exquisite reliefs, but were hung with cured meat and salted fish, which were being dried.

There were also many people setting up stalls by the roadside, doing business. Some sold cloth, some sold food, and some set up stalls to sell antiques. Those antiques were not simple goods; they were all incredible magic tools in the past, but now they could only be used as ornaments if bought back.

"Take a look, high-quality storage magic tools."

Li Yi passed by a stall and took a few looks, and a bald Daoist immediately enthusiastically promoted his goods.

"Your storage magic tools haven't been nourished for a long time; they are already broken." Li Yi glanced at them and saw that almost everything on the bald Daoist's stall had cracks.

Although these cracks were very small, they could not escape his eyes.

These magic tools might have been extraordinary in the past, but after experiencing too much time in the Dharma-ending era, the magic tools had completely rotted; as long as you exerted a little force, these magic tools would shatter directly.

Seeing that he had been seen through, the bald Daoist was not annoyed, but just smiled awkwardly: "In this day and age, where can you find an intact magic tool? It's already quite good to be able to maintain a little spirituality, but aren't I selling them cheaply?"

As he spoke, his eyes rolled over Li Yi.

Then, when he saw the storage magic tool on Li Yi's wrist, his eyes couldn't help but light up: "This fellow Daoist, the craftsmanship of your storage magic tool is good, the style is very familiar, and it is well-nourished. It should still have storage capacity, right? Incredible, to think there is still someone in this day and age who can afford to nourish a magic tool."

"Just looking at your attire, fellow Daoist, I understand. This is the treasure of my Dao Tool Sect, the Qiankun Cauldron. This object has the ability to swallow heaven and earth and refine all things. Unfortunately, after following me, it has gone from bad to worse. Not only has the furnace fire extinguished, but even the artifact spirit abandoned me one night. If it continues like this, I'm afraid this Qiankun Cauldron will shatter sooner or later. If you want it today, fellow Daoist, I will sell it to you for ten spirit stones."

This bald Daoist gritted his teeth and took out a small bronze cauldron covered in dust from his bosom with great heartache.

It was covered with various inscriptions and patterns of the sun, moon, and stars. Although it looked unremarkable, it was full of an ancient and simple feeling.

Li Yi's silver eyes looked at it and found that this thing was somewhat similar to the incomplete knife coin in his hand—the same bronze material, the same inscriptions.

However, this item was different from the other things on the stall; it had very few cracks and looked well-preserved.

But why did it look more and more like a ten-yuan handicraft from Earth?

"You aren't trying to trick me, are you?" Li Yi asked suspiciously.

The bald Daoist immediately became anxious: "This old Daoist is the last elder of the Dao Tool Sect, known as the handsome and dashing, pretty gentleman, Tang Yi. If it weren't for the decline of my family, why would I be selling these magic treasures on the street? Don't look at my goods as bad, but my business is genuine. If placed before the Dharma-ending era, the treasures of the Dao Tool Sect would be hard to find for a thousand gold."

"If you don't believe me, Elder Wu of the Hundred Dao Sect over there, and Sect Master Liu of the Three Flower Sect over there, can serve as witnesses for me."

Then he pointed to a fat Daoist and a middle-aged woman.

"It's not that I don't believe you, I just haven't seen any handsome and dashing pretty gentleman who is bald," Li Yi said.

The bald Daoist's face immediately flushed red: "Baldness is something that can't be helped. Besides, I don't want to lose my hair either. I usually use ginger to wipe my scalp, but it's useless..."

He rambled on and on, saying that cultivators shouldn't care too much about their appearance, that being bald had its benefits—at least it was cool in hot weather—and that it was enough to have been dashing in the past.

"Alright, alright, stop talking. I want to inspect the goods. If the thing is real, I'll buy it, okay?" Li Yi said.

"That's more like it." The bald Daoist stopped his nagging and handed the Qiankun Cauldron to Li Yi.

Li Yi couldn't see any clues, so he directly used the Guidance Art to try to pour cosmic energy into the Qiankun Cauldron. If this thing were really useful, it would naturally show its supernatural aspects. If it were completely rotted, it wouldn't be able to withstand cosmic energy at all and would directly... Crack.

A crisp sound rang out, and the Qiankun Cauldron, which had been described as miraculous, split open in Li Yi's hand.

It split directly into two halves; one Qiankun Cauldron became two.

"..." Li Yi looked at the bald Daoist, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"No."

The bald Daoist immediately collapsed on the ground in grief and despair, then wailed loudly: "Master, the disciple is incompetent, the inheritance of the Dao Tool Sect has been cut off in my hands... The Qiankun Cauldron is gone, and the Dao Tool Sect is gone too. The disciple originally wanted to find a good home for the Qiankun Cauldron so that the inheritance would at least not be cut off in the future, but I never expected that in the end, the white-haired would send off the black-haired."

Wait, you don't have any hair at all, how can the white-haired send off the black-haired?

"Think of me, Tang Yi, cultivating the Dao at three, opening the five qi in my chest at seven, condensing the five qi at fifteen, and condensing the three flowers at thirty-seven. At worst, I would be an achiever of the Dao in the future, but I never expected to experience the Dharma-ending era, and now I have fallen to this point, unable to even protect the Qiankun Cauldron. It would be better to just die."

He was hit hard, and while crying, he ran toward the wall behind him.

"Elder Tang, calm down, that wall is very fragile, you'll have to pay for it if you break it."

"Die, it's better to die. The Sect Master of the Qingshan Sect starved to death on the street last month, still clutching the Qingting Record before he died, and there wasn't even anyone in his sect to collect his body."

"Sigh, in this world, the sooner you die, the sooner you are liberated."

The others setting up stalls nearby also sighed with emotion. None of them went to stop Tang Yi from committing suicide.

There were too many cultivators committing suicide in this day and age, and it was a common occurrence in this Dao Court.

"It's just a broken thing, it's not worth committing suicide over." Li Yi immediately exerted his Gang Qi, grabbed the air, and restrained this Tang Yi.

"Let me go, let me go, this old Daoist has already made up his mind to die today, just let me go." The bald Daoist struggled hard, but it was of no use. His body was weak, how could he break free from Li Yi's Gang Qi restraint?

However, the silver Gang Qi appeared on the street, and the people setting up stalls nearby were stunned for a moment, but then discovered the clues.

"Wait, that silver aura is not magic power, there is no sign of weakness at all."

"Not magic power, then what is it?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen it before, but I feel like it's an unprecedented way of cultivation."

"Could it be that someone has opened up a new method in the Dharma-ending era and continued the path?"

For a moment, the cultivators setting up stalls were all excited. They had been in this Dharma-ending era for many years, and fewer and fewer people could perform spells. To this day, the vast majority of people had become mortals. During this period, it wasn't that no one had thought of finding another way and creating a new method.

But without exception, they all failed.

If someone really created a new method, then in this Dharma-ending era, it would be an earth-shattering feat that could be recorded in the history of cultivation, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them the Dao Ancestor of the Dharma-ending era.

Pairs of fiery eyes looked at Li Yi, and at the same time, a spark of hope burned again.

Li Yi finally controlled the bald Daoist who wanted to commit suicide and said: "Boss, business was going well, why commit suicide? The thing is broken, I'll pay you, okay?"

"This is not a question of compensation, this old Daoist has no desire to live." The bald Daoist still wanted to die, wailing loudly.

"Double, I'll pay you double, I'll give you twenty spirit stones," Li Yi said.

"Are you sure you'll pay me twenty spirit stones?" The bald Daoist's crying stopped immediately, and he turned his head, asking with full expectation.

Li Yi said: "Sure, sure, let's talk properly, just don't seek death. You are an elder anyway, how can you be so fragile?"

He was now a little suspicious of whether he was being scammed.

The bald Daoist immediately knelt on the ground with a thud: "Benefactor, please accept a bow from this old Daoist."

"No need, no need." Li Yi hurriedly helped him up again.

Then he took out some spirit stones from his storage magic tool and placed them on his stall. These spirit stones were not his, but from Lin Caiyi's storage magic tool.

The Dharma-ending cultivation world and the Profound Immortal world had similarities to a certain extent; the currency system was spirit stones.

But this was also normal.

The essence of spirit stones was stones full of spiritual energy, which had value in any cultivation world.

"Wow, it's really spirit stones, white and shiny spirit stones, I can feel the fluctuation of spiritual energy here."

"Hurry up and take a few more breaths, I haven't seen spirit stones for how many years, the last time I saw spirit stones was at an auction three years ago."

"The spiritual energy contained in that spirit stone is so rich, this, this Dharma-ending era has been here for so many years, how can there still be spirit stones of such quality?"

For a time, the nearby cultivators were shocked.

And so many spirit stones were already more than twenty, at least two hundred if divided, which was an amazing wealth in the Dao Court, especially in the Dharma-ending era, spirit stones were becoming more and more precious, after all, this thing would also lose spiritual energy, and it was difficult to preserve it for a long time.

The bald Daoist was also shocked, looking at Li Yi with an incredible expression.

He felt that Li Yi didn't look like a person from this world at all, but rather like someone who had suddenly arrived here from some place full of spiritual energy.

Li Yi also noticed the strange looks of the people around him, but he didn't care too much, because he could control the risks of this world. After all, it was Dharma-ending cultivation, even if these people were all experts in the past, their realms had declined severely now, and they didn't pose a threat.

"It's now."

However, at this moment, suddenly a flying sword flew directly from outside the city, extremely fast, heading straight for Li Yi's head.

The Jin Dan cultivator Zhang Yihua, who had been lurking for many days, had found the opportunity to strike at this moment and decided to behead Li Yi with his sword.

Li Yi's soul gave a warning instantly.

Flying sword?

The bald Daoist on the side reacted faster than Li Yi at this moment. A crystal-clear phantom flower bloomed on top of his head. The flower withered and fell, with only one leaf left swaying, but even so, this phantom flower still shone with light.

Instantly.

The spirit stones around immediately turned into streams of refined energy and injected into it, restoring a bit of vitality to this flower that was about to wither.

"Hum."

The flying sword arrived in an instant, but was grabbed by this bald Daoist with his bare hands, unable to break free at all.

Huh?

Li Yi's eyes widened instantly.

He recognized this flying sword; it was the flying sword of that Jin Dan cultivator.

He didn't expect that after so many days, that Jin Dan cultivator was still following him, wanting to sneak attack and kill him.

Zhang Yihua, seeing this scene with his spiritual sense, was so scared that his face turned pale.

Grabbing a high-grade spirit sword with bare hands? What kind of monster is this?

Wasn't it agreed that it was a Dharma-ending world? Why would such a powerful cultivator appear?

Run!

Almost without hesitation, Zhang Yihua turned into a ray of light and moved away rapidly.

"You ruined the foundation of this old Daoist's Dao, this old Daoist will slaughter you." The bald Daoist's eyes were red at this moment, as if he had fallen into the demonic path instantly. He opened his mouth and spat, and a wild wind surged out, reaching a hundred miles away in an instant.

The wind was not an ordinary wind, but a turbid breath of a cultivator, blowing into the seven orifices, ruining the primordial spirit, and eliminating the seven souls, which was the most vicious.

Ah!

Hit by this wild wind, Zhang Yihua let out a scream. His body's vitality was extinguished, his Jin Dan dimmed, and then shattered. In an instant, his soul flew away and scattered, leaving only a useless shell falling from mid-air.

A Jin Dan cultivator was blown to death by the bald Daoist with one breath just like that?

And the bald Daoist, after spitting out this turbid breath, had the phantom flower on his head completely wither, but he seemed to have regained his youth, twenty years younger, no longer looking old, but like a young man in his thirties, only his head was still bald... his hair didn't grow out.

"Twenty spirit stones can only do this much."

The bald Daoist then squatted on the ground decadently, and seeing the spirit stones that had turned into powder, he couldn't help but wipe his tears. Then he grabbed the powder and carefully put it into a cloth bag. Maybe he could take it out and lick it when he was hungry in the future to satisfy his craving.

Li Yi looked at him, then looked at the Jin Dan cultivator who died outside the city, and many question marks appeared on his head.

No.

Did you just suddenly cheat?

Wasn't it agreed that it was a mortal body, an ordinary person, and a fallen realm? How did you become so fierce immediately after getting the spirit stones? You could blow a Jin Dan cultivator to death with one breath and grab a high-grade flying sword with your bare hands.

Is this still the Dharma-ending era?

"Go, bring back the corpse of that Jin Dan cultivator." Li Yi woke up and immediately ordered Shan Yi.

Although that Jin Dan cultivator was dead, his treasures were still there and not damaged. It would be a pity if they were picked up by others.

After receiving the order, Shan Yi immediately flapped its wings and flew away.

Afterwards, Li Yi looked at the bald Daoist in front of him seriously and asked: "Boss, why did you save me just now?"