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Novel: [The Primordial Law]
Volume 4: [Shuangsheng Dao Sect (Twin Rice Sect)]
Chapter 28 (283): [The Blood-Stained Altar]
(28th of Volume 4)
Translator: Shadow Knight AK
Editor: Shadow Knight AK
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Tang Wanzhou said, "Ancient texts record that a single page of scriptures can restore vitality to an entire Fu Prefecture, dispelling all darkness."
Someone laughed: "Even if we only reclaim one Fu Prefecture, it's still a monumental achievement. Once that prefecture is completely stabilized, we can move on to the next. This is a legacy that will endure for a thousand generations!"
"Since the Calamity Crossing Temple supports the Zuoqiu Clan, let them fight in the Lingxiao Realm. We of the Snow Sword Tang Court will build our own Lingxiao Realm."
Tang Wanzhou silently walked towards the sixth mural, the final one.
"After the war ended, the new sect leader mobilized the entire sect to recover most of the Book of Radiant Stars, a total of thirty pages, which were stored in the Sacred Heart Layer of the Ancestral Court."
"Based on the contours of the Underground Immortal Mansion mapped by generations of sages throughout history, it spans three thousand four hundred miles from north to south and four thousand miles from east to west."
"We are still at least a thousand miles away from the Sacred Heart Layer."
Tang Wanzhou began discussing with the group of Martial-Mystic Path experts.
Li Weiyi, unable to join the conversation, retreated to the periphery and gazed up at the magnificent murals on the stone wall, a growing sense of doubt stirring within him.
His first doubt: There was no question that the Book of Radiant Stars' value for cultivation and its ability to dispel the Nether Realm of the Dead would drive any Transcendent to madness.
If he were Tang Wanzhou, he would have brought only the Snow Sword Tang Court's most core Martial-Mystic Cultivators to search for such a treasure.
Yet this expedition of thirty-eight riders included experts from various factions.
Outside the Starfire Altar, many opportunists had also tagged along.
Did Tang Wanzhou truly believe she could eliminate everyone after finding the Book of Radiant Stars?
His second doubt: The Bhagavata Sect had been destroyed, and violent unrest had erupted within their Ancestral Court. Was it truly possible the Book of Radiant Stars still remained in the Sacred Heart Layer?
Tang Wanzhou couldn't have failed to consider this.
Everything before him was clearly not her true objective.
What was she truly plotting?
Li Weiyi walked to the jade railing and looked down into the abyss below - a dark, empty void.
This is the interior of the Starfire Altar.
Jade railings form a circular corridor with a diameter exceeding a hundred feet. Layer upon layer descends like a path leading to the depths of the earth.
Li Weiyi picked up a stone, intending to test its depth.
But then he saw specks of light far below in the abyss.
The specks multiplied, growing brighter and brighter...
"That's..."
Li Weiyi held his breath, turning to the group of veteran Martial-Mystic Cultivator giants still in discussion.
"There's something down there!"
Alerted, everyone gathered around.
Someone threw down a stone lamp, which illuminated the darkness layer by layer as it fell.
"It's Fierce Insects! They're flying up! We need to leave now!" Tang Hu grabbed Li Weiyi and Tuoba Butuo by the wrists, preparing to pull them away.
This was Tang Wanzhou's secret mission!
Tang Hu, an elder of the Snow Sword Tang Court, was second only to Immortal Realm Giants.
Publicly, he was tasked with protecting Tuoba Butuo and Li Weiyi, but this was merely a smokescreen. In times of danger, Tang Hu's priority was to evacuate them immediately.
"Damn it! The stone door's closed!"
Tang Hu set the two men down, circulated his Spiritual Qi, and struck out with both palms.
"Boom!"
The previously unremarkable stone door erupted with dense Formation Scriptures, resembling a sea of characters. While blocking Tang Hu's palms, it unleashed a tidal wave of Qi.
Tang Hu remained rooted in place.
But Li Weiyi and Tuoba Butuo were sent flying like leaves, their heads ringing with a deafening roar that nearly knocked them unconscious.
They were not weak; it was simply that Tang Hu was too strong.
"Lord Tang Hu..." Tuoba Butuo shouted out.
Tang Hu was about to strike again when he heard the call. Turning, he saw that the two men he was supposed to protect had been left coughing up blood by the force of his palms and the Formation.
He had no choice but to retreat with them.
"Hiss... hiss..."
Within the altar, glowing Fierce Insect swarms flowed like streams of light, their piercing voices laced with Spiritual Power attacks.
Countless threads of Spiritual Power intertwined, a force even Dao Seed Realm Martial-Mystic Cultivators couldn't withstand. One man's face twisted with madness as his consciousness shattered.
He drew his blade and cleaved his companion in two at the waist.
Blood sprayed across the ground, staining it crimson.
For a moment, the scene descended into utter chaos.
Madam Wanyan released two Seven-Colored Flying Fireflies.
Old Man Shanze unleashed three Commander-Grade Strange Insects: Blood Jade Mantises.
The five Commander-Grade Strange Insects clashed with the swarm of glowing Fierce Insects.
Strangely, even as the Fierce Insects were constantly killed, they showed no fear of the five Commander-Grade Strange Insects.
They grew fiercer with each passing moment, refusing to retreat.
Old Man Shanze roared, "They're Netherworld Mayflies! One of the most terrifying General-Grade Ferocious Insects! There are too many of them! They specialize in Spiritual Power attacks and can control the minds of Martial-Mystic Cultivators!"
Tang Wanzhou watched the chaotic battle unfold before her, her expression calm. She flashed dozens of meters away and, with a single finger, struck down a Martial-Mystic Cultivator whose mind had been overwhelmed, sending him crashing to the ground.
Tang Hu appeared beside her with Li Weiyi and Tuoba Butuo: "The entrance has been sealed by a Formation! It's likely the work of a Holy Spiritual Master!"
Hearing this, Li Weiyi and Tuoba Butuo's hearts turned cold, and goosebumps erupted across their bodies.
"How could a Holy Spiritual Master be in the Underground Immortal Mansion? Someone of that level shouldn't even be able to enter!" Tuoba Butuo exclaimed.
"What if they were already inside?"
As Tang Wanzhou spoke, he sensed something and looked up.
Tuoba Butuo's mind reeled in terror, his eyes nearly popping out of his sockets.
At the edge of the railing on the upper level, two ancient figures appeared, identical twins standing side by side. They stood in the darkness, staring down at Tang Wanzhou.
One of them let out a dry chuckle: "As expected of Tang Wanzhou, the Snow-Pressed Ruler of the Fourteen Prefectures of the Southern Territory. Even in such a perilous situation, you remain calm."
"Perilous? Because of those Netherworld Mayflies? Or because of you?" Tang Wanzhou retorted.
Li Weiyi released Big Phoenix.
Its body expanded, transforming into a giant butterfly two or three meters long. A terrifying aura, comparable to an Immortal Realm Martial-Mystic Cultivator, erupted from within it, charging into the swarm of Netherworld Mayflies.
The fierce insects immediately scattered, too terrified to attack Big Phoenix.
Some of the mayflies fell to the ground, trembling uncontrollably, unable to take flight.
"Is this a Heretical Sect?"
"Who cares who they are? Let's kill them first!"
The Martial-Mystic Cultivators gradually recovered, each releasing their battle intent.
Several of them launched attacks at the two Elders standing above.
The Elders activated their movement techniques and fled higher.
"Clang!"
The sound of a sword rang out.
The Divine Snow Sword transformed into a streak of sword light, piercing through the Formations, smashing through the stone door at the entrance, and soaring from the Starfire Altar into the air.
It then arced back, returning to the altar's interior and landing in her hand.
Tang Wanzhou's voice echoed through the altar: "Ambush! Retreat immediately! I'll hold them off!"
"No one leaves here today."
An ancient voice boomed from above.
This was followed by a chorus of bone-chilling roars.
In the darkness above the altar, a third Elder appeared, waving a Ghost Banner.
Countless Dead Spirit Ghosts, their eyes burning with Ghost Fire, surged forth from the banner, diving down at breakneck speed to surround the Martial-Mystic Cultivators Tang Wanzhou had brought.
Chaos erupted once more.
Tang Hu was the first to break through the stone door, pulling Li Weiyi and Tuoba Butuo with him. They emerged onto the altar's surface, leaping and soaring into the air.
"Big Phoenix is still inside!"
Li Weiyi hadn't even had time to retrieve it before Tang Hu had pulled him away.
"Don't worry, the Young Lord will bring it out... Ah..."
From the altar, a dazzling chain of Spiritual Light shot out, flying dozens of meters before wrapping around Tang Hu's waist and abdomen in mid-air.
The Spiritual Light chain was scorching hot, burning with flames that caused Tang Hu's armor to sizzle.
"Whoosh!"
A second chain of Spiritual Light flew out, wrapping around Tang Hu's neck.
"Hurry... leave..."
Tang Hu struck a palm on each of Li Weiyi and Tuoba Butuo's backs, sending forth a surge of Spiritual Qi that propelled them several kilometers away, into the thorny thickets of the Nether Spirit Plain.
"Lord Tang Hu!"
Li Weiyi and Tuoba Bututo stood up and turned back.
They saw Tang Hu being ensnared by chain after chain of Spiritual Light, his mouth emitting a trapped beast's roar. He was then violently pulled back toward the altar, his body exploding into a Blood Mist that transformed into an armored skeleton atop the altar.
A top-tier Dao Seed Realm expert had been killed in mere breaths.
"It's a Holy Spiritual Master... Li Weiyi, let's get out of here!"
Tuoba Butuo and Li Weiyi, whose eyes were as cold as ice, fled across the Nether Spirit Plain at top speed.
From the altar entrance behind them, Martial-Mystic Cultivators kept rushing out, only to be dragged back by chains of Spiritual Light.
Escape was impossible.
Tuoba Butuo and Li Weiyi released their Spiritual Qi to protect their bodies as they sprinted through the thorny thicket.
From the altar behind them came a constant stream of screams.
The farther they ran, the more Li Weiyi felt something was wrong: "Why is it so quiet? What about those Martial-Mystic Cultivators who were trying to fish in troubled waters and followed us in earlier?"
Tuoba Butuo, who was running ahead, suddenly stopped, his eyes wide with terror as he stared at a blood-soaked clearing ahead.
The clearing, spanning over a dozen yards, was littered with corpses strewn haphazardly across the ground. Every Martial-Mystic Cultivator who had followed them had been killed here, and the air was thick with the stench of blood.
In stark contrast to this scene of carnage, a white-robed woman stood at the center of the Asura Purgatory of corpses, her long hair swaying in the breeze, held back by a ribbon.
Even from behind, her ethereal beauty seemed untouched by the mortal world.
The surrounding thorns emitted purple, blue, and cyan light, reaching a height of several yards.
The sheer power of her aura and Intent rendered Li Weiyi and Tuoba Butuo unable to even circulate their Spiritual Qi. The entire space seemed frozen.
She turned around, flicked a finger, freezing Li Weiyi and Tuoba Butuo in place.
Then, she walked toward the towering Starfire Altar, her voice like celestial music carrying far across the Nether Spirit Plain.
"Tang Wanzhou, have you ever lost a battle in the past sixty years?"
"Whoosh!"
Just then, Tang Wanzhou burst from the stone door, severing all the Spiritual Light chains. Sword in hand, he stood proudly on the edge of a stone cliff dozens of meters high, gazing at the woman in white on the distant Nether Spirit Plain.
Big Phoenix followed him out.
Li Weiyi, bound by a wisp of Spiritual Qi, watched the woman's back with a heart churning like a tempest.
For a fleeting moment as she passed him, Li Weiyi had glimpsed her face.
"Yao Qingxuan..."
The name flashed through Li Weiyi's mind.
The woman looked too much like Yaoyin.
But how could that be?
The extraordinary woman admired by countless people had committed suicide more than a decade ago.
Did he see it wrong?
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END OF CHAPTER
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