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Novel: [The Primordial Law]
Volume 2: [Jiuli Insect Valley]
Chapter 72 (99): [Meeting the Emperor]
(72nd of Volume 2)
Translator: Shadow Knight AK
Editor: Shadow Knight AK
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This place was ominous. What the naked eye saw might not be the true appearance of the Yellow Mud Great Ship.
Li Weiyi once again activated the Heavenly Insight Eye Psychic Technique.
Simultaneously, all the Golden Vein on his body surfaced, dispelling all illusions and revealing the truth.
In his vision, a jade-white auspicious light rose.
The underground river channel remained dry, but the Yellow Mud Great Ship beneath his feet transformed into a pristine, unblemished Jade Boat, over thirty meters long. Its radiant glow enveloped the surrounding heavens and earth.
The Jade Boat was crystal clear, its structure exquisite, with countless scriptures and spiritual artifacts floating within.
"This... this is what a sacred boat worthy of a Official-level figure should look like. The Yellow Mud Great Ship's decay was merely an illusion, not its true form. This sacred vessel must be of incredibly high grade!"
Suppressing his astonishment, Li Weiyi couldn't help but wonder what level of cultivation the Official from a thousand years ago had reached.
Everything he had seen before was an illusion.
The real Official's Seal was not kept in a treasure chest but was as massive as a millstone, over two meters tall, and placed at the bow of the boat, silently radiating immense power.
The purple Cistanche was actually growing atop the Official's Seal, its flesh crystal clear and fragrant.
The Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth condensed into visible gaseous streams, flowing ceaselessly toward the Official's Seal. There, it was absorbed by the Cistanche.
"Swoosh!"
Li Weiyi swung his sword, slicing off a piece of the medicinal flesh and handing it to Yin Ershi Si: "Take this and give it to Yaoyin!"
The ancient skeleton lying beside the Official's Seal stirred. Its skull lifted, its hollow sockets fixed on Li Weiyi. Then, with a series of creaking sounds, its bones began to shift, and it slowly rose to its feet.
Li Weiyi's scalp prickled with terror. He quickly retreated.
"Just as I suspected - a malevolent entity."
This half-dead skeleton must have lured him here.
The skeleton, clad in a purple cloud-dragon official robe, didn't display any hostility after rising.
It didn't attack.
Instead, it straightened its robe, raised its hands to cover its knees, and knelt before Li Weiyi with utmost reverence, proclaiming in a loud voice, "Your subject, Zhu Qinfeng, Governor Official of Yanzhou, pays homage to the Son of Heaven, the Emperor!"
The skull slammed heavily against the ground with a resounding thump.
Its voice was slightly aged, but it didn't seem to come from its mouth. It sounded as if it originated from within the bones themselves, or perhaps from the very essence of heaven and earth.
If Yin Ershi Si and Yaoyin weren't still on the boat, Li Weiyi would have fled in terror, his sword trembling in his grasp. This ancient skeleton, whose origins were terrifying beyond measure, had clearly mistaken him for someone else!
Yin Ershi Si, unable to see the true scene or hear the true sounds, was cradling Yaoyin and feeding her Precious Medicine.
Li Weiyi slowly retreated toward them, his war sword held defensively.
The kneeling skeleton raised its head, its voice choked with sorrow.
"In the five-year war, Yan Province fell to the Dead and Departed. Darkness devoured the light. Your servant led all the soldiers and civilians to defend the provincial city, enduring three years of bitter fighting, yet no reinforcements ever arrived. Fifteen rescue teams sent out for help vanished without a trace."
"Three years of siege, one hundred and thirty-two major battles. Water and food ran out within the city. Of the million soldiers and civilians, only eighty thousand remained."
"I am guilty! I led the eighty thousand survivors, the wounded and crippled, to flee through the ancient underground river, abandoning the city. Yan Province fell completely... Alas... Woe..."
Li Weiyi felt the skeleton's desolate sorrow and heard the helplessness and pain in its voice.
Moved by its emotions, his fear lessened slightly. He calmed himself and began to wonder why the skeleton had mistaken him for the Son of Heaven, the Emperor.
For Zhu Qinfeng, the Governor of Yanzhou, the Son of Heaven could only be Zen Hai Guanwu.
Why would he think Li Weiyi was Zen Hai Guanwu?
The kneeling skeleton continued, "After entering the ancient underground river, we were pursued by the Cinder Spirit army. We fled here, where eighty thousand soldiers and civilians perished one after another. As I lay mortally wounded, I left this wisp of consciousness within the Official's Robe, awaiting the Son of Heaven's arrival to report everything. Even in death, I would have no regrets."
As the final words faded, the skeleton's shoulders and neck bones snapped simultaneously, causing its head to droop completely. It fell silent.
"So, he was merely a wisp of consciousness, waiting here for the Son of Heaven he revered."
Li Weiyi's fear vanished, replaced by profound emotion. He stepped forward, a sense of respect welling up within him.
Despite giving everything, Yan Province had still fallen.
A thousand years of consciousness, waiting only for the sovereign.
Only upon seeing the sovereign would he finally breathe his last.
Spirit Tablet Master, who had been monitoring the surroundings with Mental Power, spoke from within the Dao Ancestor Tai Chi Fish: "If I'm not mistaken, Zen Hai Guanwu left something on you. That's why Zhu Qinfeng mistook you for her."
Li Weiyi nodded gently, straining to recall every detail of his encounters with Zen Hai Guanwu.
Even if she had left something, it should have been his blood, which she had absorbed.
"What could it be?" he murmured to himself.
Spirit Tablet Master said, "Zen Hai Guanwu's cultivation far surpasses ours, reaching a level we three cannot fathom. Her methods must be incredibly subtle and sophisticated. However, she is currently very weak, while your cultivation is rapidly advancing. You should be ahead of her now. Find her quickly and eliminate this threat."
In Li Weiyi's mind, the image of the red-robed celestial maiden on the tombstone flashed, followed by the White Bone Demon in the tomb, and finally, Qi Shanshan's figure.
"So she secretly tampered with me."
Facing Zen Hai Guanwu, a being who stood at the pinnacle of the world, Li Weiyi felt immense pressure, considering her his greatest enemy. But now was clearly not the time to ponder how to defeat her.
Escaping this place was the immediate priority.
"I understand. It's the official robe."
Master Coffin's voice suddenly rang out.
"Zhu Qinfeng's remnant consciousness used the Law energy within the Cistanche to activate the Official's Robe, opening the Purple Mist Passage and drawing you here. I once served as an Official myself. Even when dormant, the robe can still be used once or twice as long as the flame of consciousness within it hasn't been extinguished."
"Weiyi, put on the official robe and use your Mental Power to check if any of Zhu Qinfeng's remnant consciousness remains. If there is, immediately activate it with your Spiritual Qi."
Li Weiyi retracted his Heavenly Insight Eye, and the Golden Vein on his body faded, turning dim.
The dazzling Spiritual Artifact Jade Boat beneath his feet instantly transformed back into the Yellow Mud Great Ship, making it impossible to distinguish reality from illusion.
After bowing three times, Li Weiyi knelt down and quickly stripped the purple official robe from the skeletal figure, racing against time.
At the same time, he shouted, "You take Yaoyin and get off the ship first! Wait for me!"
Yin Ershi Si didn't understand but guessed Li Weiyi must have found a way to escape. She immediately picked up Yaoyin and jumped off the Yellow Mud Great Ship.
Li Weiyi quickly put on the purple official robe. The front and back were embroidered with cloud-dragon patterns, the wide sleeves were adorned with silver buttons, and a broad brocade belt around his waist was studded with exotic gemstones and jade pendants.
The official robe could automatically adjust its size to fit the wearer's body.
"Whoosh!"
Li Weiyi put on the official hat, formed a hand seal, and channeled Mental Power Spiritual Light into the robe.
Using his Psychic Power to perceive, a vast, dark world within the robe appeared in his mind.
In the darkness, he could see Zhu Qinfeng's scattered remnants consciousness, rapidly fading and extinguishing.
"Excellent! As long as these scattered remnants consciousness haven't completely extinguished, I can activate the robe one more time."
Li Weiyi jumped off the Yellow Mud Great Ship, disregarding whether he was exposing himself. He activated the spatial power of the Buddha's Relic, pulling the entire ship into the Blood Mud Space.
Yin Ershi Si watched the Yellow Mud Great Ship vanish into thin air, her eyes widening in shock.
Li Weiyi's arms trembled as all eight acupoints in his body surged with Spiritual Power, pouring it into his official robe.
The vast, empty space within the robe was like a bottomless pit, never filling completely.
Seeing Zhu Qinfeng's flame of consciousness rapidly dim, Li Weiyi broke out in a cold sweat, "What are you waiting for? Help me! Pour all your Spiritual Qi into the robe!" he shouted.
Yin Ershi Si snapped out of her daze and stepped forward without a word, pressing her palm against Li Weiyi's back and channeling her own surging Spiritual Qi into him.
"It won't work," she said, "The Official's Robe has fallen dormant. My Spiritual Qi can't penetrate it."
"Then why can I?" Li Weiyi muttered to himself, his gaze suspicious.
He thought, 'Could this be related to the thing Zen Hai Guanwu left inside me?'
With no time to dwell on it, Li Weiyi activated the Jade Void Breathing Technique, pushing the eight acupoints in his body to their limit.
His body was completely illuminated by Spiritual Power, and his Spiritual Qi transformed into radiant clouds that swirled around him.
"His Spiritual Power and Spiritual Qi are actually entering the Official's Robe. Could he be a descendant of Zen Hai Guanwu? But I never heard of Zen Hai Guanwu having a Dao companion. How could she have descendants?" Yin Ershi Si was utterly baffled.
"Boom!"
A wisp of Purple Mist overflowed from Li Weiyi's official robe, coalescing into a purple cloud.
A look of wild joy spread across Li Weiyi's face. He shouted, "Follow me!"
Grabbing Yin Ershi Si, the three vanished into the Purple Mist.
"Whoosh!"
In the next instant, they reappeared in the pitch-black Spider Cave.
The sound of the underground Blood River's current echoed in their ears.
Yin Ershi Si produced a blood-red gem, illuminating their surroundings. She let out a long sigh of relief.
"We're finally back! How did you do it? How did you know the Official's Robe could bring us back? And why could your Spiritual Power activate it?"
Inside the robe, Zhu Qinfeng's Flame consciousness had completely extinguished, and Li Weiyi's Spiritual Power could no longer be infused into it.
The Purple Mist enveloping the robe rapidly dissipated.
Li Weiyi didn't immediately answer Yin Ershi Si's questions. Instead, he scanned their surroundings. The Ashen Domain had vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed. If he weren't wearing the Official's Robe, he might have even suspected the entire experience had been a hallucination.
Ahead, on the stone wall, was a cave the size of a human face.
Spiderwebs clung to the cave's entrance.
He could sense the Four-Winged Spider King's aura deep within, hidden far inside.
The Four-Winged Spider King, possessing intelligence, had sensed the presence of a Five Seas Realm Martial-Mystic Cultivator and was hiding, too afraid to emerge.
Li Weiyi shook his head in disappointment.
He had even learned Insect Scriptures from Spirit Tablet Master, preparing to capture the Four-Winged Spider King and gift it to Senior Sister Cai. But it was too cowardly to show itself. It seemed even fierce insects were bullies who preyed on the weak.
They boarded a flatboat and, propelled by Yin Ershi Si's Spiritual Qi, navigated upstream.
Emerging from the Spider Cave, Li Weiyi had already removed his Official's robe, neatly folding it.
In a calm but threatening tone, he said, "Everything you've seen today must rot in your stomach. If a third... or fourth person learns of this, you should understand the consequences."
Yin Ershi Si stood at the boat's bow, her brow furrowed, "Is that all? Just a threat? The secrets you carry, I sense that if they were to leak, they would ignite a storm in the Martial Path world."
"Go ahead and tell Hidden Lord! I guarantee I'll live just fine, but you might not be so lucky!" Li Weiyi retorted, "I'm not killing you to silence you out of mercy. It's because I trust you."
Yin Ershi Si's heart stirred slightly, but she quickly suppressed the corners of her mouth that threatened to curl upward.
"I have a bad feeling about this. Something is amiss, especially since the Ashen Domain doesn't seem to be far away. We should report this to Hidden Lord."
Li Weiyi naturally didn't believe that his current cultivation, even with the power of the official robe, could traverse such a vast underground space.
Therefore, he agreed with her assessment: the Ashen Domain must be nearby.
"Let's concoct a story, rehearse our alibis, and then tell the Hidden Lord what we can."
Li Weiyi was still wary of Yin Ershi Si and added, "The Hidden Lord was the Divine Hidden One of the previous sixty-year cycle, while I am the Divine Hidden One of this cycle. You must obey me, not him."
Yin Ershi Si rolled her eyes, wanting to tell him, "You're not even the Divine Hidden One yet."
Li Weiyi noticed the eyeball beneath Yaoyin's eyelid move, "Since you're awake, stop pretending. The three of us will rehearse our alibis together. You're most likely Yin Ershi Liu, and from now on, you must obey me. You should know better than I do the consequences of betraying the Divine Hidden One."
Yaoyin sat up, her skin's icy cracks completely vanished, restored to its supple, delicate state. The Cistanche's medicinal properties had indeed suppressed the Ice Soul Cold Qi within her.
In a melodious, enchanting voice, she declared, "Very well, Yaoyin vows eternal loyalty to the Divine Hidden One."
Li Weiyi nodded in satisfaction.
"What a display of official authority! No wonder they say that once you've worn an official robe, you can never truly take it off for the rest of your life!" Yin Ershi Si sneered sarcastically.
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END OF CHAPTER
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