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Novel: [The Primordial Law]
Volume 2: [Jiuli Insect Valley]
Chapter 2 (29): [Burial Immortal Town]
(2nd of Volume 2)
Translator: Shadow Knight AK
Editor: Shadow Knight AK
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To the east of Zangxian (Burial Immortal) Town, the Shui River, two hundred foot wide, plunges as though broken off, forming a spectacular cliff waterfall like the severed head of a giant dragon.
This is how the place got its name: "Dragon-Slaying Mouth."
The Jiuli tribe, after dredging up coffins from another world in the Blood Sea Coffin Dock, must carry them across two hundred miles of the perilous Death-Spirit Mist Domain, then climb a narrow path of stone steps to reach Dragon-Slaying Mouth.
Only here can they board the massive warships already prepared to transport the otherworldly coffins downstream to the various tribal cities.
As Shi Jiuzhai stepped into Zangxian Town, the gray mist cloud shrouding the three of them dispersed.
"Bang! Bang!"
Li Weiyi and Gao Huan were thrown down onto the ground.
…..
"Respectful greetings to Master!"
Three martial masters from the Earth Wolf King Army - Xing Wanxing, Fang Tong, and Yan Qingqing - hurried forward and bowed deeply to Shi Jiuzhai.
They had arrived in Zangxian Town a day earlier, leading over a thousand soldiers, and had already slaughtered more than two hundred Jiuli tribesmen who were stationed in town to provide support, food, supplies, and docking. The corpses had been piled up in the marketplace into a bloody little mountain.
Xing Wanxing, Shi Jiuzhai's tenth disciple and one of his treasurers, was short and rotund. Smiling, he reported:"Those who needed questioning have all been interrogated thoroughly. This time, the ones going to the Blood Sea for coffin retrieval are the Cangli Tribe of the Jiuli. They are led by their number one expert of this cycle, Li Songlin, with the tribe's greatest prodigy in nearly a thousand years, Cang Li, accompanying."
"I only care about how much money we can make this time," Shi Jiuzhai said.
Xing Wanxing had already calculated everything clearly: "Li Songlin brought five thousand people. Conservatively, they'll recover at least a thousand coffins. If we seize them all, even a million Yongquan coins would be a modest estimate."
"They say otherworldly coffins are so costly that only great cultivators can afford to dabble in them. Truly treasures worth a fortune, yielding massive profits with no capital investment." Shi Jiuzhai's mood brightened considerably.
Xing Wanxing added with a sycophantic grin: "If there are especially rare coffins among them, a single one could sell for a million Yongquan coins - equivalent to ten million in silver."
"Moreover, only a future tribal chief is entitled to bear the tribe's name. If we can capture Cang Li, won't the Cangli Tribe obediently pay another million Yongquan coins in ransom?"
Shi Jiuzhai's mood soared.
The long journey seemed worthwhile after all!
Yan Qingqing, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, possessed a voluptuous and graceful figure, with flirtatious eyes full of watery charm. Of a canine-type mixed-blood race, her furry ears twitched, and a fiery-red tail swayed from beneath her skirt.
She coyly reminded him: "Master, our main purpose this trip isn't just for money."
"Who says it isn't? I, for one, am here for money."
Tens of millions in silver - how could Shi Jiuzhai not be tempted?
Even sect masters of colossal clans like Longmen or Zuoqiu, who ruled entire provinces, would covet such wealth.
To maintain an army this large, how could it be done without provisions and pay?
…...
After being hurled to the ground, Li Weiyi quickly rose, noticing Shi Jiuzhai and the other three had withdrawn to speak in secret.
His eyes swept the surroundings swiftly.
All around were burly men in brown monk-like robes, most armed, with a few hulking half-beast, half-human creatures making up about a tenth.
All looked fierce and violent.
Yet when their eyes fell upon Li Weiyi and Gao Huan, they revealed doubt - or fear.
Li Weiyi instantly had an idea.
He deliberately put on a proud, vicious air and beckoned to one of the more timid-looking men: "You. Yes, you. Come here!"
Gao Huan didn't understand his words, but the arrogance in Li Weiyi's tone and demeanor nearly made his heart leap out in fright.
The timid man shuffled over nervously, forcing a smile, his mood even more unsettled than Gao Huan's.
Pointing at Shi Jiuzhai in the distance, Li Weiyi asked, "You know who we are?"
"Yes, yes, of course," the man replied hastily.
"Then tell me," Li Weiyi pressed.
In truth, the man had no idea who Li Weiyi and Gao Huan were. Everyone here had only just been transferred from the Earth Wolf King Army and marched thousands of miles to reach Zangxian Town the previous day.
But since they had been carried back in a mist cloud by the dreaded King Jiuzhai himself, how could they be ordinary?
Not daring to offend them, the man said honestly: "We all just arrived yesterday. We've been cleaning and setting up all night, with no time to rest."
"Forgive my ignorance, I do not know your esteemed identities."
"But since you walk with King Jiuzhai, you must be extraordinary figures we can only look up to."
Li Weiyi breathed a sigh of relief and clapped the man's chest: "Good. We are King Jiuzhai's personal attendants."
"Do you have any food?"
"Yes, yes, right away…"
The man hurried off, and Li Weiyi pulled Gao Huan along in his wake.
He had no desire to linger under Jiuzhai's nose, lest his disguise be exposed.
Fortunately, Shi Jiuzhai was meeting with a secret guest, discussing plans for seizing the otherworldly coffins, and paid them no attention.
That guest, clad in silver robes and a white shirt, wore a black Buddha-headed mask.
From his upright figure and the delicate, fair hands holding a flute, he seemed quite young.
Yet this young man, in front of the dreaded Shi Jiuzhai, stood with hands clasped behind his back, not arrogant but utterly unafraid.
He said: "The Sect Master's order is not just to seize coffins but to kill them all. Only if it's sufficiently bloody can we plunge Lizhou into chaos."
Shi Jiuzhai frowned, displeased: "You nobles of those great clans are crueler than thieves like us. Before, you didn't say we had to kill them all. That includes Li Songlin, the tribe's champion, and five thousand tribesmen…"
The masked guest sneered: "What's wrong? You're afraid? Afraid of stirring up the old monsters of Jiuli Mountain and Jiuli City?"
Shi Jiuzhai shook his head, "What I mean is: coffin-plundering has its price, killing has its price. Add more money!"
….....
Led by the timid man, Li Weiyi and Gao Huan feasted in the Earth Wolf King Army's crude cookhouse, quickly restoring their strength and spirits.
While Gao Huan stuffed food into bundles to prepare for escape, he whispered, "On the way here, I saw the town square - blood everywhere, corpses piled high. It was terrifying! These people are no Buddhists. We need to get out, fast."
Li Weiyi replied, "Their monk-like robes are all brand new, clearly made recently. Knowing only they themselves would wear such garments, Jiuzhai mistook us as his men."
"If I'm right, those three eaten by the Thousand-Headed Dragon Vine were indeed scouts sent out."
"Also, though they call themselves the Earth Wolf King Army, their discipline is chaotic, their aura fierce and unruly. They are not a proper army."
"And third, I've observed - this abandoned town is sealed at every exit. Escaping unseen will not be easy. If we're caught, even our flimsy cover will be gone."
Gao Huan was astonished. "On the way, all I thought about was food. I didn't expect you to notice so much."
"Not just that," Li Weiyi continued, "They've hidden themselves here for one purpose - to ambush the coffin-bearers. From the pace I calculated earlier, that team will arrive in no less than two hours."
"Then I get it!" Gao Huan said, "When the fighting breaks out, that's our chance to slip away."
"Exactly."
But Li Weiyi frowne: "But one thing I don't get - with so many hiding here. How do they avoid detection? That coffin-bearing team surely has experts with keen senses."
Meanwhile, at the corpse-mountain in the town center, Shi Jiuzhai formed seals with his hands, exhaling a breath of gray mist that spread outward. A nearly transparent pearl emerged from his body, floating into the air above the town.
"Boom!"
His palm struck the ground.
Flames of magical power surged into the earth, igniting the ground for tens of zhang around.
Heat waves roared through the streets.
Blood-qi steamed from the corpse-mountain, rising like crimson smoke toward the hovering pearl.
As it absorbed the energy, scripture-like glyphs radiated outward, until the entire Zangxian Town was shrouded in scripture.
"Spread the order. Wait until half the Cangli team arrives, before taking action - split them in two and kill them all. Leave no one alive." Shi Jiuzhai's cold, domineering voice chilled the air.
From the nearby cookhouse, Li Weiyi overheard the order. His face turned grim.
Now he understood - the "timid" man had only feared Jiuzhai's terrifying power and killing intent, and by extension feared those close to him.
"Kill them all, leave none alive. Just how many lives do they mean to take?"
Gao Huan despaired: "I suddenly feel… survival is equally cruel everywhere. Either toil like an ox, or be slaughtered like a pig. Only by rising above all can one truly live."
…....
Two hours later.
The Cangli coffin-bearing team arrived at the base of Dragon-Slaying Mouth's waterfall.
The cascade thundered, air damp and heavy.
At the very front walked a barefoot maiden, beautiful as a spirit of the night mist. With slender jade fingers, she held an ancient bronze lamp glowing with dim blue phosphorescence. Nine silver bangles jingled on her wrist.
Though barefoot, her skin was like flawless jade, untouched by the rough stones.
Her every step was light, silent, yet spanned more than a feet, leaving blue misty trails beneath her feet.
She was Li Ling, the "Nether Light Guide" of the Cangli coffin team, heir to the priesthood, able to use the Netherlight to find a path through the Death-Spirit Mist Domain and lead her tribe safely to and from the Blood Sea Coffin Dock.
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END OF CHAPTER
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