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Novel: [The Primordial Law]
Volume 2: [Jiuli Insect Valley]
Chapter 71 (98): [The Governor of Yanzhou]
(71st of Volume 2)
Translator: Shadow Knight AK
Editor: Shadow Knight AK
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"Does he have... Golden Vein Meridians?" Yaoyin asked.
The light in Yin Ershi Si's pupils dimmed as she replied coldly, "I'm afraid so. Otherwise, how could he, with only Eighth Spring cultivation, defeat a Nine Springs Pure Immortal Physique with Hundred Silver Veins?"
Yaoyin said, "But I heard that forging even one or two Golden Vein Meridians is an extraordinary achievement. He has one, two... I can't even count them all..."
Li Weiyi suddenly burst into laughter, "I understand! We were drawn here by that purple Cistanche and mistakenly entered this Ashen Domain. But why could we see it in the Spider Cave? If I'm not mistaken, we must rely on it to return."
"It is the root and source of everything!"
Illusions and deceptions in the Ashen Domain couldn't fool Li Weiyi's Heavenly Insight Eye under the illumination of his Golden Vein Meridians.
He found the correct location of the Purple Cistanche - It was not ahead, but behind them, near a distant sand dune. It was likely several miles away, but its purple glow could still be seen from afar.
It was like a purple divine lamp illuminating the depths of darkness.
"Follow closely behind me," Li Weiyi said, "Don't fall behind, and don't let any other thoughts or illusions distract you."
Li Weiyi maintained his Golden Vein Meridian and Heavenly Insight Eye, glancing at Yin Ershi Si and Yaoyin. His expression froze, and he immediately retracted his gaze, daring not to look again.
With one hand forming a finger seal and the other holding the Yellow Dragon Sword, he led the way, striding quickly toward the sand dune where the Cistanche grew.
After they had walked several hundred meters, a sudden wind arose.
"Shasha!"
The wind whipped up the black sand, revealing numerous sparks beneath. These sparks emitted an intense, fiery glow, like embers from an unextinguished campfire.
As the wind blew, the ash-like sand ignited, spreading across vast areas.
Yaoyin, her voice trembling with fear, exclaimed, "I remember now! Grandfather once said that in the Ashen Domain, the ash is merely a surface phenomenon. The true danger lies in the embers."
"What embers?"
Li Weiyi dared not turn around.
The Psychic technique taught by his Spirit Tablet Master was utterly treacherous, difficult to control.
Other Great Mind Masters' psychic power eyes were nowhere near as sinister. How could his possibly pierce through the veil so precisely?
Yaoyin stopped abruptly, her eyes wide with horror as she pointed at a burning sand dune in the distance: "Ember Spirits... Humanoid Ember Spirits..."
Li Weiyi had already seen them. A mile away on the sand dune, six humanoid figures had appeared.
Some were tall, reaching three or four meters, while others were child-sized. Their bodies seemed to be composed of burning Ember, glowing brightly in the wind and constantly emitting sparks.
'How strange... they don't even look like living beings.'
"They're coming... Run!"
Li Weiyi gasped, immediately activating the Clear Void Cicada-Chasing Step and sprinting toward the Cistanche at top speed.
Behind him, Yin Ershi Si grabbed Yaoyin and unleashed the speed of a Five Seas Realm Martial-Mystic Cultivator, each step covering several dozen feet.
The six Ember Spirits were incredibly fast.
As they charged, sparks filled the sky like a fiery rain against the night. They emitted inhuman roars that echoed through the Ashen Domain, stirring up dust and howling winds.
Yin Ershi Si was filled with regret. She shouldn't have agreed to Li Weiyi's request to bring Yaoyin here. These six Ember Spirits were far beyond her current cultivation level.
If they were caught, how could they possibly fight?
"Clang! Clang!"
A deep, resonant bell sound echoed through the air.
A massive camel, standing three or four meters tall, materialized from thin air. Half-transparent, half-solid, it raised its head proudly, its coat gleaming brightly.
Li Weiyi, shirtless, sat atop the camel and extended a hand toward her.
Yin Ershi Si reached out, grasped his hand for leverage, and, with Yaoyin in tow, leaped onto the camel's back. Though questions raced through her mind, this was no time to indulge her curiosity.
Escape was the only priority.
The wind howled in her ears as the camel's speed surpassed even that of some Strange Beasts.
In a matter of breaths, they would reach the base of the sand dune where the Cistanche grew.
"Awooo!"
The largest Ember Spirit let out a long howl, then spewed a fiery dragon of sparks from its mouth. It snaked through the air, swiftly pursuing the camel ahead.
Yin Ershi Si turned to face the threat, channeling her spiritual Qi into a mirror-shaped spiritual artifact.
A bright beam of light shot from the mirror's surface, colliding with the fiery dragon.
"Boom!"
The dragon exploded, scattering into a dazzling and dangerous rain of fire.
Li Weiyi unfurled his Ghost Banner, releasing a Nether Mist that shielded them from the falling embers.
As they drew closer to the Cistanche, Li Weiyi's eyelids narrowed. He realized they were approaching a dried-up ancient river channel, over a hundred meters wide, with a seven- or eight-meter drop from the riverbank to the riverbed.
The Cistanche grew on a massive yellow mud ship stranded in the riverbed, its roots entwined with a skull.
The camel stopped at the riverbank, and Li Weiyi dared not go further.
The scene before him was too eerie, too unnatural. He felt he had been deliberately lured here, just as he had been trapped in the Spider Cave.
Yin Ershi Si's gaze sharpened.
"A dried-up river in the Ashen Domain, that yellow mud ship... nothing about this seems right. Are you sure we should proceed?"
Li Weiyi frowned, glancing back at the pursuing Ember Spirits.
The six Ember Spirits continued their relentless pursuit, their roars echoing through the air.
"I... I'll try," Yaoyin suddenly said.
"Grandfather said I'm destined to have some connection with the Ashen Domain..."
She stood up on the Camel's back, facing backward, and activated her unique bloodline.
A wave of Ice Soul Cold Qi, so frigid it made Li Weiyi and Yin Ershi Si's skin ache, erupted from her.
"Crack! Crack!"
Dense cracks spread across Yaoyin's jade-white skin, starting from her fingertips and feet, creeping up her slender neck, and finally spiderwebbing across her flawless face.
The cracks converged at her sapphire-blue eyes.
"Whoosh!"
A brilliant azure light burst from her pupils, illuminating the darkness and faintly echoing with a piercing cry. The frigid aura surged toward the six Ember Spirits.
The pursuing Ember Spirits, sensing the presence of their natural enemy, froze in place, then slowly retreated.
After only a moment, blood streamed from Yaoyin's eyes. She slumped back onto the Camel's back, collapsing into Yin Ershi Si's arms.
Li Weiyi had clearly felt an extraordinary surge of demonic energy from her just moments before.
He looked at Yin Ershi Si in surprise.
"Don't look at me! I only found out today that she had this trick up her sleeve too." Yin Ershi Si stroked the ice crack patterns on Yaoyin's body, her heart aching as she saw her eyes tightly closed and her breath barely a thread.
Li Weiyi said, "You didn't know? Aren't you her sister?"
"Cousin!" Yin Ershi Si corrected, her gaze then falling on the yellow mud ship stranded on the riverbed, "Her condition is critical. She might not make it. Last time in the Spider Cave, her Ice Soul Cold Qi erupted, and you saved her by feeding her a mouthful of Cistanche. I think... we might not have any other choice..."
"No need to say more. I understand. Let's go!"
Li Weiyi wasn't a heartless person. Besides, they needed to investigate the yellow mud ship anyway to escape the Ashen Domain.
The Camel leaped, landing on the dry riverbed. The riverbed was covered in pebbles, with only a thin layer of black sand.
Finally, there was a sense of solid ground beneath their feet.
The yellow mud ship was about thirty meters long, reduced to a crude hull structure.
Perhaps after being stranded here for too long, its intricate details had decayed into mud.
Reaching the ship's underside, Li Weiyi stowed the Camel in the Evil Camel Bell.
Looking back, she saw the six Ash Spirits standing on the opposite bank, glaring at them menacingly but daring not to enter the riverbed.
"If I'd known this world was even stranger and more dangerous than I imagined, I never would have been so greedy," Li Weiyi sighed, turning to Yin Ershi Si, who was holding Yaoyin, "Wait here. I'll go ahead and scout."
"What's the point? We can't escape. We'll die anyway."
Yin Ershi Si leaped forward, landing on the yellow mud ship before Li Weiyi.
Setting Yaoyin down, she held up a mirror-shaped spiritual artifact and cautiously approached the skeletal remains at the ship's bow.
To have become a Hidden One, Yin Ershi Si naturally possessed considerable courage, but now her back grew colder, her head and feet icy.
...
For the skeletal remains, who had sat here for who knew how many years, wore an Official's Robe that was utterly spotless, as if it had just been freshly donned.
Illuminated by the purple glow of the Cistanche above, the robe shimmered with iridescent light. The cloud-dragon pattern on the chest patch came to life, the dragon's form agile and powerful as it soared through the clouds.
Beneath the robe lay only a skeleton, its owner long dead.
Li Weiyi leaped onto the ship a moment later, glancing toward the bow. He found Yin Ershi Si fearlessly rummaging through the skeletal remains, utterly uninhibited. He couldn't help but admire her audacity.
"Anything?" he asked once he was sure there was no danger.
Yin Ershi Si reached into the chest of the skeletal official robe and pulled out a golden imperial decree.
When she opened it, the characters floated into view. After carefully reading it, she said, "Indeed, an Official, matching the pattern on the robe's patch... This is his appointment decree... Governor of the Yan Prefecture..."
"Yan Prefecture was one of the Nine Provinces ruled by the Jiu Li Clan a thousand years ago, long since swallowed by the Nether.Realm of the Dead. Could he have died a thousand years ago? But why would he have come here by boat and died here?"
Li Weiyi gazed at the winding, wide river channel: "Could this ancient river channel connect to Yan Prefecture underground?"
"It's possible."
Yin Ershi Si found a crucial piece of information on the decree.
"It's indeed from a thousand years ago. The appointment was signed by Zen Hai Guanwu and sealed with her Son of Heaven's Imperial Seal."
The name Zen Hai Guanwu stirred Li Weiyi deeply. He hurried forward, "Let me see."
After handing the decree to Li Weiyi, Yin Ershi Si continued searching. Beneath the skeleton's right hand, she found a square treasure chest. A look of excitement flashed across her face.
"This... could this be the legendary Official's Seal?"
"Why are you so excited? You can't exactly use it to take office," Li Weiyi said with a chuckle, closing the decree.
With no danger in sight, her mood improved considerably.
Yin Ershi Si said, "You truly know nothing! The two most important treasures that allow an official to suppress an entire prefecture are the Official's Robe and Seal - both priceless spiritual artifacts."
"The Official's Robe represents defense and speed. Look at the cloud dragon on the patch. Legend says a true dragon soul is sealed within, serving as the Official's mount. You should know that Zen Hai Guanwu once slaughtered a dragon, dividing its soul into three hundred parts to forge three hundred sets of Official's Robes."
"The Official's Seal, on the other hand, is primarily offensive, capable of shaking mountains and moving oceans."
"A thousand years ago, these three hundred sets of warriors made the Lingxiao Palace's rule as solid as a rock, forcing Demon Kings and the Ancient Myriad Sects to remain dormant. Unlike today's Officials, who are like clay figures, no one takes them seriously."
Li Weiyi immediately stopped underestimating the situation and leaned forward, his expression serious.
"Before entering the Spider Cave, you promised everything inside would be mine."
"I only said the Cistanche would be yours. I don't want a single bit of the precious medicine."
Yin Ershi Si opened the treasure chest containing the Official's Seal. After retrieving the seal, her joy vanished, and she sighed.
"Fine, it's yours. But that means the debt you owe me is settled!"
"Deal!"
Li Weiyi knew this was a huge bargain and immediately agreed.
Yin Ershi Si, her scheme successful, chuckled: "I forgot to mention that the Official's Robe and Seal on his body have already fallen dormant."
"You see, before each Official takes office, they need Zen Hai Guanwu to personally activate these two treasures to gain their battle prowess. Once their term ends, the treasures automatically fall dormant and must be returned to the imperial court."
"A thousand years ago, the Lingxiao Realm's calamity, which led to the fall of nearly three hundred prefectures, was largely due to Zen Hai Guanwu's disappearance. As the Officials' terms expired, their Robes and Seals lost their power."
"If the Officials still possessed the power of their Robes and Seals, they could have easily defended one or two hundred prefectures. Instead, only twenty-eight remain."
"No backing out! Anyway, that debt of several hundred million Copper Coins is now wiped clean!"
Li Weiyi's mind raced, considering countless possibilities.
Finally, he nodded, his gaze fixed on the Cistanche growing atop the skeletal head.
He wanted to know why it could project into the Spider Cave.
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END OF CHAPTER
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