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Novel: [The Primordial Law]
Volume 1: [Nether Realm of the Dead]
Chapter 13: [The Red-Robed Fairy]
(13th of Volume 1)
Translator: Shadow Knight AK
Editor: Shadow Knight AK
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After the Nethercloud dissipated, wisps of Nether Mist still lingered in the Graveyard Forest, but they no longer blanketed the sky and earth as before.
The visibility had improved, offering a clearer, more expansive view, creating the eerie sensation of wandering through a mass grave.
The burial mounds, each seven or eight meters high, were scattered across the ground.
Ancient, imposing stone steles towered above Li Weiyi, as he walked past them.
Some steles were adorned with Ghost Banners, others with Yin Banners, their eerie whispers carried by the wind.
Who were buried here?
Why were they buried on a ship?
Was it meant to carry them back to their ancestral roots?
Or was it a unique burial method?
How did they die?
And who built these mounds and erected these steles?
Where did the builders go?
The Bronze Ship was filled with mysteries.
It must be holding an ancient and tragic tale, one whose origins were unknown, whose past glory was unfathomable, and whose thousand-year slumber on Earth remained unexplained.
Was it now returning to its point of origin?
Or was it resuming its ancient voyage?
Filled with curiosity and a thirst for knowledge, Li Weiyi searched the Graveyard Forest for half an hour before finally hearing the sound of wind chimes.
"Ding ding!"
The bone wind chimes, suspended from a three-meter-tall cyan stone stele, produced a crisp, melodious sound.
Though made of bone, they were as clear and translucent as jade, etched with indecipherable arcane symbols.
The string connecting the chimes was woven from silver thread, enduring for millennia without being decayed.
On the cyan stone stele, a painting, created with an unknown pigment, remained vibrant and lifelike without fading.
In the painting, auspicious clouds shimmered in rainbow hues, while a celestial maiden stood in ethereal beauty.
Like a fairy gazing down at the mortal world from atop the clouds, she wore a crimson robe, her cloud-like hair adorned with exquisite ornaments. Her eyes were so vivid that one might believe she could step right out of the stone stele.
"Could it be that this tomb truly house the remains of a peerless celestial maiden from ancient times?"
Li Weiyi's gaze returned to the bone wind chimes, and he considered taking them down for closer study.
Surely these counted as an immortal treasure, didn't they?
"Whoosh!"
With a powerful thrust from his legs, he leaped into the air.
Suddenly, a surge of Scorching Qi Flow erupted from the sole of his right foot, making his body feel weightless.
He soared through the air, effortlessly leaping to the top of the three-meter-tall stone stele.
He wobbled slightly as he steadied himself.
Li Weiyi held his breath, gazing down from the height of a first-story building. He could hardly believe it.
After cultivating to Transcendent Realm, could he now walk on walls and roofs?
The feeling was exhilarating, enough to stir anyone's heart and fill them with pride.
After calming himself, Li Weiyi reached out to pluck the wind chimes.
But the moment his hand brushed against the bone chimes, a wave of dizziness washed over him.
A vision of a peerlessly beautiful red-robed celestial maiden appeared before his eyes.
Her slender, stunning figure, layered and overlapping, pressed down upon him relentlessly.
"Thud!"
Li Weiyi tumbled from the stone tablet, his head spinning violently, as if he'd spent hours riding on a bumpy mountain road.
"This thing is definitely cursed! I shouldn't have touched it!"
If it were so easy to pluck, the bone wind chimes would have been taken long ago by other research team members. Why would they still be here now?
But Li Weiyi was driven by an insatiable curiosity and thirst for exploration, which had compelled him to risk this dangerous attempt.
He practiced the Yuxu Breathing Technique, channeling the Scorching Qi Flow from the sole of his right foot along the Silver Veins toward his head.
After a moment, the dizziness subsided, and he recovered.
Li Weiyi bowed respectfully to the image on the stone tablet: "Junior has no intention of offending you, Senior. Please don't take offense... Hmm, I'll need to retrieve the Dao Ancestor's Tai Chi Fish and the Yellow Dragon Sword. I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you again. As a celestial being, Senior, you surely won't stoop to the level of a mere mortal, will you?"
After three solemn bows, Li Weiyi climbed onto the massive burial mound behind the stone tablet.
"Senior Brother should not have buried them too deep... Found it!"
Inch by inch, Li Weiyi searched through the ashen-gray soil. Finally, at the top of the mound, he felt a hard metallic object.
Brushing away the dirt, he discovered it was the Dao Ancestor's Tai Chi Fish.
Each eye - one azure, the other crimson - was only the size of a bean.
Just like before, it appeared to be an ordinary ancient ornament, devoid of any special spiritual energy.
"This fish eye... is this the Buddha's Relic everyone's been coveting? And its microscopic form really is a planet?"
How should he activate it?
Before Li Weiyi could put the Dao Ancestor's Tai Chi Fish back around his neck, the wind chimes on the stone tablet suddenly clanged loudly. A chilling sense of danger washed over him, raising every hair on his body. It felt like a blade at his back, enveloped in icy cold.
"This is bad..."
"Chi! Chi!"
He didn't even have time to escape.
From the grave soil beneath him, countless strands of black hair sprouted, wrapping around his legs.
"Is this a zombie? But I clearly paid my respects just now... This senior is far too petty!"
The black hair grew at an astonishing rate, climbing from his legs to his waist, then spreading to his hands and head.
Li Weiyi channeled the Scorching Qi Flow from the sole of his right foot, surging it through the thirteen Silver Veins that crisscrossed his body.
He unleashed his full strength, tearing and struggling against the hair.
He held out for only a single breath.
With a loud thump, the black hair pulled him over, sending him crashing to the ground and sinking into the depths of the grave soil.
"Damn it!"
"What on earth is happening?"
Senior Sister Cai and the others had dug up graves to create farmland, committing far more egregious acts, yet they hadn't incurred such a terrifying curse.
He had only come to retrieve what belonged to him - how had he provoked such a monstrous evil?
Could it truly be that he had inadvertently offended a petty ghost?
....
"Brother Meng, Lao Liu and the others have been working for seven days straight to repair the generator. You should tell Captain Gao to treat them with two good meals. We absolutely have to celebrate today, right?"
Chen Hong followed Zhao Meng, requesting recognition for the engineering team members.
"Of course. They deserve the highest honors."
Zhao Meng stepped into the compartment housing the freezer, his expression immediately changed.
He saw Lao Liu and several other engineering team members lying unconscious on the floor, while Xie Jin stood inside with his hands clasped behind his back.
The compartment was messy and dimly lit, but Zhao Meng could still clearly see Xie Jin's cold, mocking smile.
"Bang!"
A burly Security Team member, over six feet tall, had been lying in ambush to the left of the door.
He swung a steel pipe, slamming it hard against the doorframe. If Zhao Meng had reacted even a fraction of a second slower, his skull would have been crushed.
"Ambush! Get out of here!"
Zhao Meng warned Chen Hong and immediately retreated from the freezer compartment, preparing to raise his pistol.
Another Security Team member, lying in wait outside, leaped forward and wrapped his arms around Zhao Meng's upper torso and arms from behind, growling as he tried to slam Zhao Meng against the compartment wall.
But Zhao Meng had been training in martial arts since childhood and had served in the military for years.
His reflexes were lightning-fast.
Before he could be slammed against the wall, Zhao Meng planted his feet against it and pushed off with all his might, sending both himself and the Security Team member crashing heavily to the ground.
Having broken free, Zhao Meng quickly flipped around and threw a punch like a hammer.
"Bang!"
The fist landed squarely on the face of the Security Team member who had been holding him, knocking him unconscious.
Blood gushed from the man's mouth.
Another Security Team member, wielding an iron pipe, charged forward and swung it down with a heavy blow.
Zhao Meng didn't have time to find a gun.
He rolled forward, kicking the man in the groin.
A scream echoed as the iron pipe clattered to the ground, and the Security Team member collapsed to his knees, legs trembling.
Zhao Meng picked up the iron pipe and simultaneously elbowed the man in the temple, sending him sprawling sideways.
In an instant, he had taken down two ambushers.
Before Zhao Meng could fully stand, the third hidden assailant rushed out, firing a stun gun at his chest.
"Zzzzt!"
Zhao Meng's body convulsed violently, his muscles numbing, his limbs frozen.
Directly ahead, Xie Jin sprinted forward, leaping into the air and driving his knee into Zhao Meng's chest with all his weight behind it.
This was a flying knee strike!
If it landed, Zhao Meng's ribs would shatter, his heart would rupture.
In this desperate, life-or-death situation, Zhao Meng managed to wrench free from the stun gun's grip and roll sideways.
Even though his entire body felt weak and numb, his powerful will to survive drove him to bite his tongue, forcing himself to stay alert.
With a surge of power he hurled the iron pipe.
"Thud!"
The pipe struck the third ambusher's hand, and the stun gun clattered to the ground.
Zhao Meng seized the rifle from the ground, chambered a round, and aimed at Xie Jin, who had just landed.
His face was grim, and murder gleamed in his eyes.
"Bang!"
"Crack..."
From the shadows behind him, Chen Hong emerged, wielding a steel rod wrapped in black cloth.
With all his power, he slammed the rod into Zhao Meng's right shoulder, near the joint.
The sound of bone shattering echoed.
Even Zhao Meng's iron-tower physique couldn't withstand the blow.
He roared in agony, his body slumping as the rifle clattered to the ground.
He fought to stay upright, slowly turning around. His lips trembled as he stared at Chen Hong with disbelief.
No one knew Zhao Meng's true strength better than Chen Hong, so he couldn't afford to show mercy.
He had to be swift and ruthless.
All traces of Chen Hong's usual sunny smile had vanished, replaced by a stern, icy expression.
He swung the steel rod again, striking Zhao Meng's knees, the only support left for his body.
"Bang!"
The kneecaps exploded, and his legs buckled backward.
Zhao Meng could no longer stand, nearly passing out from the pain.
Chen Hong dropped the steel rod, picked up the rifle, and checked the remaining bullets before finally relaxing.
Gazing at Zhao Meng's ashen face, his eyes blazing with anger, confusion, and resentment, Chen Hong felt a surge of displeasure.
He rebuked him, "I know what you want to say. But isn't this all your fault?"
"Didn't i suggested you to lead the brothers to kill Gao Xin and then become the Captain of the research vessel, or even the Captain of the entire Bronze Ship? Then everyone on board would have to obey us. They'd have to do whatever we told them. If we told them to kneel, they wouldn't dare stand."
"Those useless old, weak, sick, and disabled should all be killed off as soon as possible. They're just wasting food."
"As long as we control the supplies and their distribution, we can do whatever we want and survive until the end. But..."
"You're too rigid! You have no ambition or the slightest hint of a warlord's spirit. You're still bound by those old rules and restrictions. Since you won't take action, I'll have to. I don't want to die."
Xie Jin glanced warily at the rifle in Chen Hong's hand and forced a smile: "Well done. With Zhao Meng dealt with, the rest of the crew poses no threat. Give me the gun, and I'll ask my cousin to give you the credit for this."
"It's better if I keep this gun for now."
Chen Hong wasn't stupid. He knew better than to hand over the rifle. While keeping an eye on Xie Jin, he began stripping off Zhao Meng's outer coat.
Beneath the coat lay a purple leather soft armor. A bloody five-fingered handprint was emblazoned on the chest, and strange scriptures, resembling the symbol of a mysterious organization, were etched into the palm.
When Chen Hong touched the soft armor, a chill ran through his fingers.
"This must be the corpse-skin armor he stripped from those bone-white humans. It hasn't decayed in a thousand years - it's definitely a treasure. No wonder he broke free from the stun gun."
Chen Hong was overjoyed.
He stripped the corpse-skin armor from Zhao Meng and put it on himself.
The armor seemed to adjust to fit him perfectly, even though his physique was far less imposing than Zhao Meng's.
Xie Jin knew there was nothing he could do to stop Chen Hong for now. He suppressed his anger and said calmly, "Hurry and search him. Is the Buddha's Relic on him?"
After a thorough search, Chen Hong's face fell: "I'm afraid the Buddha's Relic is still with his Junior Brother."
Zhao Meng, who had resigned himself to his fate, instantly flared with rage: "Chen Hong, if you dare harm my Junior Brother, I'll make sure you die without a complete corpse!"
Chen Hong gave him a pitying look: "I'll believe you when you can stand up, Brother Meng. You taught me to be bold and decisive, to fight without fear, not to be a powerless rage-aholic. How could you forget your own lessons?"
Xie Jin walked over and stomped on Zhao Meng's chest, twisting his foot down with all his might. He leaned down and sneered, "You're so agitated. Looks like the Buddha's Relic must be with him, right?"
Zhao Meng, fueled by some unknown surge of strength, tried to push himself up with his uninjured arm.
But he was no match for Xie Jin.
Chen Hong said, "Forget it. Why bother with a cripple? We haven't fully secured the situation yet. Don't waste time here."
Xie Jin watched Chen Hong, who had left with his gun drawn, then knelt down and searched Zhao Meng's body again.
Naturally, he found nothing.
"Tie them all up and take them to the deck. By the way, has anyone seen Cai Yutong?"
Xie Jin lacked Xie Tianshu's grand ambitions.
In his eyes, capturing Cai Yutong was more important than anything else, even the Buddha's Relic.
A Security Team member replied, "She seems to have gone to the cultivation area with those graduate students. She didn't eat the drugged breakfast."
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END OF CHAPTER
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