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Novel: [The Primordial Law]
Volume 3: [Qiu Prefecture Lantern Festival]
Chapter 4 (148): [Encountering the Ember Spirit Again]
(4th of Volume 3)
Translator: Shadow Knight AK
Editor: Shadow Knight AK
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Though the Nether Realm of the Dead was perpetually shrouded in darkness, it was densely vegetated, with towering trees hundreds of meters tall. Their trunks, branches, and leaves were all a somber gray, nourished by the unique Yin energy of the Nether Realm.
The mountain range rose sharply, its terrain treacherous. Even near the base, cliffs and deep valleys abounded, threatening instant death with a single misstep.
Along the way, Li Weiyi discovered numerous signs of battle.
Trees had been felled by swords and axes, mountain walls cleaved by battle blades.
Bloodstains and fragments of robes and Spiritual Artifacts littered many areas.
The battles had occurred at different times, which could be deduced from the varying degrees of bloodstain dryness. The earliest fight had taken place a month ago, while the most recent was twenty days prior.
Li Weiyi mused, "It seems our assessment was accurate. The young Martial-Mystic Cultivators from various factions in Burial Immortal Town did indeed take this path to leave Li Prefecture. But why has there been constant fighting? Is it infighting among the factions, or have they encountered unknown dangers within the Nether Realm?"
Li Ling sat in meditation on Zouwu's back, a copper Nether Lamp resting on the tiger-headed beast. Its blue light enveloped both rider and mount.
She reminded him, "Have you noticed anything strange?"
Li Weiyi nodded: "In the past few dozen miles, we've found traces of over a dozen battles, yet we haven't seen a single corpse. It's impossible that their comrades carried them all away; there should have been some left behind."
Li Ling spoke in the unique, serene tone of the Zen Hai Guanwu: "Many Martial-Mystic Cultivators who dies in the Nether Realm of the Dead transform into mindless Dead Spirits. The Nether Realm's dark power corrodes their corpses and also corrupts their souls."
"This dark power is all around us, everywhere."
"You mean all the Martial-Mystic Cultivators who died here have become Dead Spirits?" Li Weiyi was horrified.
He immediately circulated his Spiritual Power, extending his senses outward, fearing a horde of terrifying humanoid monsters would leap out of the darkness.
Li Ling said, "Something still feels wrong! Normally, when a corpse transforms into a Dead Spirit, its initial intelligence is extremely low, its consciousness weak. It should remain rooted to the spot. But we haven't seen a single one along the way. It's too clean!"
Her words made Li Weiyi uneasy, as if a cold wind was blowing down his back. After returning to Zouwu's back, he retrieved the High-Grade spiritual Artifact, the Azure Yin Banner, and unfurled a protective azure formation light curtain.
Dozens of armored Dead Spirits emerged from the Yin Banner, forming a protective circle around them.
'Using Dead Spirits to deal with Dead Spirits.'
The Mangshan Mountain Range stretched endlessly. To leave the Nether Realm along this path and reach Zhi Prefecture was a journey of over a thousand miles.
As they traveled, Li Weiyi continuously circulated his Spiritual Qi to nourish his lung lobes and drank the Golden Spring to temper his bones, unwilling to waste a moment. He actively prepared to break through to the Second Stage of the Five Seas Realm.
Only by reaching the Second Stage of the Five Seas Realm, cultivating Third-Level Spiritual Qi, and achieving Battle Technique Ideation Manifestation could one truly be considered a top-tier expert among the younger generation.
Only then would he feel confident enough to contend with the other young prodigies.
Beside him, Zen Hai Guanwu absorbed the fresh blood she had just obtained from him.
Her physical body had already solidified.
She needed only a small amount of blood to deceive the Yang Realm's order, allowing her to manifest in this world in a life-like state during the Nether Realm's time, which occurred during the day and night.
The two traveled another ten miles.
From a distance, Zen Hai Guanwu heard a rustling sound in the darkness. Gazing into the dense forest ahead, she spotted five figures moving through the trees, appearing and disappearing several miles away.
With a flick of her finger, the Nether Lamp's light dimmed, plunging the surrounding dozen yards into darkness.
Li Weiyi opened his eyes and looked in the direction of her gaze: "What's wrong?"
The Nether Realm's darkness severely impaired the vision of Martial-Mystic Cultivators.
Li Weiyi activated the Heavenly Eye in his forehead, barely able to make out figures several miles away. It was no surprise he couldn't match the Zen Hai Guanwu's vision; her divine aura alone was beyond the reach of even Immortal Realm Martial-Mystic Cultivators.
Silently approaching within a mile of the five figures, Li Weiyi finally made out their identities: "The three elders in ironclad armor, wielding crude sabers, are likely Five Seas Realm experts from the San Chen Palace's Ironclad Army. The young woman in the white martial robe, judging by its style, belongs to the Sui Sect."
Li Ling's voice echoed, "That's Sheng Tianyin, a young prodigy from the Sheng Clan, the second most influential family in the Sui Sect. She ranks among the top twenty of her generation in the entire sect."
"The fifth one is even more formidable: Chi Yongsheng, the second-ranked young talent of the Chi (Scarlet) Li Tribe, at the Fourth Stage of the Five Seas Realm."
Li Weiyi glanced at her, focusing on her eyes.
"Strange. Why would these five be together? Logically, young Martial-Mystic Cultivators from major factions should have left twenty days ago. Why are they still here?"
"Rather than asking me, why don't you go find out for yourself?" Li Ling's voice was soft and ethereal, impossible to tell who had spoken.
"Very well."
Li Weiyi, driven by an insatiable curiosity and thirst for knowledge, activated the Nightwalker's Garment's stealth power, concealed two spiritual artifact battle weapons beneath her robe, and silently crept forward.
Approaching within a few dozen meters, Li Weiyi stopped to observe again.
Five figures moved through the forest, each wielding a spiritual artifact battle weapon.
They didn't speak to each other, maintaining an eerie silence.
This was too strange.
Normal people wouldn't behave like this in the dark Nether Realm.
"Could they have already become Dead Spirits?"
Li Weiyi's curiosity intensified. He picked up a pebble, enveloped it in Spiritual Qi, and
hurled it forward.
"Boom!"
The pebble struck the chest of an Elder from the San Chen Palace, shattering against his iron-cloth battle armor. But the pebble's impact, like a cannonball, sent the Five Seas Realm Elder flying backward, his broadsword tumbling with him.
The remaining four figures roared in unison, their gazes sweeping toward Li Weiyi's hidden position, searching for the attacker.
Their eyes were sharp, their essence, qi, and spirit vibrant - nothing like the hazy, listless state of a Dead Spirit.
At the signal of Chi Yongsheng, the highest-ranking among them, two Elders from the San Chen Palace, radiating Five Seas Realm energy, charged forward with their broadswords drawn. Though they couldn't see Li Weiyi, they knew the pebble's trajectory.
The two Elders slashed wildly in all directions, their sword qi extending several meters, the blades illuminated by Spiritual Qi like flashes of lightning in the darkness.
After observing for a moment, Li Weiyi stopped dodging. He pulled the Iron Book from his robe and flung it forward.
"Swish! Swish!"
Thirty-five pages of the iron book, enveloped in Spiritual Qi and resembling thirty-five glowing orbs, sent the two Elders of the San Chen Palace flying.
Their physical bodies were severely damaged, and sparks, strikingly visible in the darkness, flew from their wounds.
Li Weiyi's eyes widened in astonishment.
Chi Yongsheng and Sheng Tianyin arrived swiftly, one after the other.
He was tall and muscular, she graceful and slender. Both radiated powerful, dense Spiritual Qi, their eyes blazing with killing intent.
Before they even reached him, a storm of Spiritual Qi had already swept over Li Weiyi.
The two torrents of Spiritual Qi were overwhelming, nearly knocking him off his feet. He had to exert all his strength to maintain his stance, rooting himself firmly to the ground.
"Roar!"
Chi Yongsheng roared, his voice indistinguishable from thunder. Li Weiyi's eardrums threatened to shatter.
Facing a Fourth Stage of the Five Seas Realm cultivator, Li Weiyi dared not show the slightest carelessness. He immediately drew his High-Grade spiritual Artifact, the Heavenflame Blade, and poured all his Spiritual Qi into it.
The blade transformed into a scorching cloud of fire, slashing directly at Chi Yongsheng's waist.
Chi Yongsheng didn't meet the blade head-on. Instead, he leaped into the air to dodge, then unleashed a palm strike that descended like a metal seal, crashing down on Li Weiyi's head.
He wore armor, his palm covered by a metal gauntlet that resembled a five-fingered iron stamp.
"Not good! He has combat intelligence. Isn't he a Dead Spirit?"
It was too late to change his stance and defend. Chi Yongsheng was at the Fourth Stage of the Five Seas Realm, far beyond the capabilities of ordinary Martial-Mystic Cultivators at the same level.
Li Weiyi immediately activated the Clear Void Cicada Chase Step, his feet moving like phantom shadows as he dodged Chi Yongsheng's palm strike with a hair's breadth to spare.
If that palm had landed squarely, even an iron man would have been shattered.
Sheng Tianyin and Chi Yongsheng's coordination was flawless.
She followed closely behind, having already prepared a torrential downpour of sword qi to slice Li Weiyi's body into pieces or grind him into pulp.
Li Weiyi had numerous protective treasures, all of which he activated simultaneously.
Then, he charged headfirst into the sword qi storm, unleashing a domineering slash with the Taiyi Sea-Opening technique.
"Boom!"
The blade's light briefly tore through the darkness, like a full moon standing on the ground.
Sheng Tianyin desperately tried to defend, but her strength couldn't match Li Weiyi's.
Her war sword shattered, and her delicate body was sent flying. The arm holding the sword was severed cleanly at the shoulder.
She was one of the top twenty young talents of the Sui Sect, her combat prowess far exceeding that of ordinary Third Realm Martial-Mystic Cultivators in the Five Seas Realm.
Li Weiyi, despite having severely wounded such a formidable opponent with a single strike, felt no joy.
Because Sheng Tianyin hadn't even used the most powerful state available to Martial-Mystic Cultivators in the Third Realm of the Five Seas Realm - Battle Intent Technique Manifestation.
It was as if she didn't know how.
Instead of blood, countless bright sparks spilled from her severed arm.
After collapsing to the ground, she let out a strange cry, seemingly oblivious to the pain, and suddenly flipped back to her feet. The severed arm on the ground transformed into a long serpent of sparks that flew back and reattached itself, instantly restoring her limb.
"This..."
Li Weiyi stared into the flames in Sheng Tianyin's eyes, a familiar feeling stirring within him.
"Da-da."
Footsteps grew more rapid and dense as the remaining opponents closed in for a coordinated attack.
Sheng Tianyin joined forces with three Elders from the San Chen Palace, unleashing torrents of Spiritual Qi and raining down their swords. Li Weiyi, fighting one against four, grew increasingly alarmed.
They seemed impervious to injury; the Heavenflame Blade struck them, but their wounds quickly healed.
Chi Yongsheng, the most powerful among them, circled the battlefield's edge like a venomous snake, his eyes scanning for a fatal opening.
At this moment, the Zouwu Beast approached.
Zen Hai Guanwu, seated on its back, had already figured out what was happening.
Her slender, graceful fingers glowed with Lingguang as she drew a talismanic rune and flicked it out.
"Whoosh! Whoosh..."
Each rune she struck suppressed a person, causing them to collapse to the ground.
Chi Yongsheng's eyes flashed with alarm.
Sensing the danger, he glanced at the girl on the Zouwu's back. Two flames erupted beneath his feet, propelling him at lightning speed toward the depths of the Nether Realm.
"Trying to escape now? Isn't it a bit too late?"
Li Weiyi, wearing his Wind-Riding Boots, shifted sideways like a phantom, intercepting his path.
"Get out of my way!"
Chi Yongsheng roared, spewing sparks from his mouth as he unleashed a full-power punch.
The brilliance radiating from his fist illuminated several miles around, energy boiling, and his qi shattered mountains and rivers - the power of a Fourth Stage of the Five Seas Realm expert.
Li Weiyi had been itching for a good fight.
Unfazed, he gripped his blade with both hands and slashed downward.
"Boom!"
The blade met the iron fist with a clang like two iron mountains colliding.
Li Weiyi was driven back twenty yards, his fingers numb and struggling to maintain his grip on his blade...
"Excellent. Let's go again."
Li Weiyi's physical recovery was astonishingly rapid. As his Spiritual Power and Immortal Haze flowed through his Meridian Veins and circulated around his arms, the pain and numbness vanished by more than half. After a second circulation, he was fully recovered.
This recovery speed was the foundation of his confidence in defying three cultivation realms to fight an opponent above him.
Before Chi Yongsheng could react, a talismanic rune unleashed by Zen Hai Guanwu struck him, freezing him in place.
He stood motionless.
Zen Hai Guanwu flew before him and punched him squarely in the chest, striking the Tanzhong Acupoint.
"Boom!"
The force of the punch, infused with Spiritual Qi, caused countless cracks to appear across Chi Yongsheng's body.
A monstrous creature, its body crackling with sparks, flew out of him and crashed heavily to the ground behind him.
The creature remained immobile, for the rune was targeted at it, not Chi Yongsheng. It finally roared out in terror, "Who are you? What is this rune?"
"A Ember Spirit can speak?"
Li Weiyi recognized the creature instantly, having encountered Dead Spirits in the Ashen Region deep beneath the Hidden Sect.
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END OF CHAPTER
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