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Novel: [The Primordial Law]
Volume 2: [Jiuli Insect Valley]
Chapter 115 (143): [Deep Within the Mangshan Mountain Range]
(115th of Volume 2)
Translator: Shadow Knight AK
Editor: Shadow Knight AK
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The Zouwu Strange Beast was incredibly fast, far surpassing any ordinary Five Seas Realm Martial-Mystic Cultivator.
The Aberrant Humanoid elder, diving down from above, had only managed to catch up by using his flight ability. His spiritual Qi was exceptionally pure, several times stronger than Li Weiyi's, placing him at the Third-Stage of the Five Seas Realm.
Before his body even arrived, a cloud of spiritual Qi had already descended upon Li Weiyi and Li Ling, wrapping around them like countless threads.
Li Weiyi braced himself, gripping the Yellow Dragon Sword tightly. The spiritual power within his 120 Golden Vein Meridians surged wildly, converging in his arm and breaking through the oppressive force of the spiritual Qi cloud.
The instant the Aberrant Humanoid elder entered within four meters, Li Weiyi seized his opportunity and unleashed a long dragon-patterned sword radiance, resembling a river of yellow light.
The Aberrant Humanoid elder, a veteran of countless battles, recognized the Yellow Dragon Sword's extraordinary nature. He abruptly halted his descent mid-air, spitting out a three-inch-long scarlet Flying Sword that collided head-on with the incoming dragon-patterned sword radiance.
"Boom!"
The scarlet Flying Sword, nurtured within his lung Qi Sea, blazed like a ball of fire, moving with the speed of light and wielding immense power.
But after piercing through the dragon-patterned sword radiance, its momentum was drastically reduced, and Li Weiyi's horizontal sword strike sent it flying.
Struck by the residual force of the dragon-patterned sword radiance, the Aberrant Humanoid elder crashed onto the treetop, instantly widening the distance between himself and the Zouwu Strange Beast by dozens of meters.
"Third Realm of the Five Seas Realm!" Li Weiyi gripped his sword tightly, watching the Aberrant Humanoid elder close in again.
Farther into the darkness, several Aberrant Humanoid figures flew through the air.
Judging by their speed, they were all at the Five Seas Realm level. Powerful auras were also approaching rapidly from the ground, some far stronger than the Aberrant Humanoid elder.
"The Zouwu Beast is too conspicuous. Five Seas Realm Aberrant Humanoids flying in the sky can spot us from over ten miles away. We can't keep this up; we'll never escape." Li Weiyi's heart sank, "How long will it take for Zen Hai Guanwu to recover her strength?"
Li Ling couldn't give him a definite answer.
After a moment of thought, she said, "I have a way to conceal the Zouwu Beast."
Li Weiyi replied, "If that's the case, when the Aberrant Humanoid elder catches up again, we'll join forces to kill him as quickly as possible, then use stealth to change our position and escape. The other San Chen Palace Ironclad Army experts are still far away, and they'll surely lose their target. Do you have any stealth techniques?"
"As a Great Spiritual Master of the Heavenly Fire Realm, I naturally have my own means of concealment," Li Ling said.
The power of a Heavenly Fire Realm Great Spiritual Master is comparable to a Third Realm Five Seas Realm Martial-Mystic Cultivator. Those with profound cultivation and diverse techniques can even overpower Fourth Realm Five Seas Realm Martial-Mystic Cultivators.
Li Ling had only recently broken through to the Heavenly Fire Realm and was naturally not among the latter.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The Zouwu Strange Beast thundered through the forest, shaking the ground with each stride. Trees snapped and splintered in its wake.
After another seven or eight miles, the Aberrant Humanoid elder caught up again, resembling a giant black bat flitting through the trees. He kept his distance, maintaining at least a ten-yard gap while using spiritual Qi to control his Flying Sword, harassing the pair.
He knew that with his cultivation, he couldn't kill the two figures on the Zouwu's back.
Attempting to intercept them directly would be too dangerous.
But if he could stall them until the main force of the Ironclad Army arrives, they would have nowhere to escape.
"We can't keep this stalemate going. We must act now."
Li Weiyi clapped his Insect Tube, and seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors shot out, encircling the elder from seven different directions in the night sky, cutting off his retreat.
Immediately after, Li Weiyi leaped away from Zouwu's rear and intercepted the Aberrant Humanoid elder who was flying ten yards away.
"Roar!"
A dragon's roar echoed as a yellow Dragon Shadow materialized beneath his feet. He moved as if riding a dragon, his heroic figure radiating an otherworldly aura.
The Aberrant Humanoid elder let out a surprised grunt, recognizing the profoundness of Li Weiyi's technique, but he didn't take it seriously.
From their previous exchange, he had already gauged his opponent's strength. His spiritual Qi was only at the First-Level Five Seas Realm, at most barely entering the Second Level of the Five Seas Realm. He had only managed to block his Flying Sword thanks to the immense power of the sword in his hand.
A child wielding a heavy weapon was never a good sign. Such situations usually ended with the person dead and the weapon lost.
Unable to slow down in mid-flight, the Aberrant Humanoid elder spat out his Flying Sword, which instantly clashed with Li Weiyi's incoming strike.
"Clang! Clang!"
The Flying Sword and the Yellow Dragon Sword collided over a dozen times in rapid succession.
Sparks erupted, and sword qi scattered in all directions.
The battle raged from mid-air to the ground.
With his final strike, Li Weiyi cleaved through the scarlet, three-inch-long Flying Sword, shattering it into fragments on the spot.
"You..."
Enraged, the Aberrant Humanoid elder nearly coughed up blood. That was an invaluable Mid-Grade Spiritual Artifact, and its loss was a devastating blow.
The Aberrant Humanoid's Spiritual Battle Sword was undoubtedly more than just a High-Grade Spiritual Artifact.
Having lost his Flying Sword, he dared not engage Li Weiyi in close combat. He turned and soared into the sky, intending to create distance.
"Boom!"
A Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperor burst from behind and slammed into him.
Protected by his Iron Cloth Battle Armor, he chose to endure the impact.
Yet the tiny moth's strength far exceeded the Aberrant Humanoid's expectations. Its force rivaled a full-power punch from a Third-Level Five Seas Realm Martial-Mystic Cultivator, instantly throwing him off balance.
Li Ling, cradling Zouwu, now shrunk to the size of a kitten, appeared on the ground below the Aberrant Humanoid. Dozens of bright, dazzling streaks of light shot from her brow.
Like a luminous blade of grass, they rapidly grew, reaching over thirty feet tall.
Each leaf was razor-sharp, burning with flames capable of incinerating the flesh of a Five Seas Realm Martial-Mystic Cultivator.
They wrapped around the Aberrant Humanoid, quickly burning through his protective spiritual Qi.
"Heavenly Fire Realm!"
As the Aberrant Humanoid plummeted, he channeled his spiritual Qi into his Iron Cloth Battle Armor. A towering Battle Technique Intent figure materialized, spreading the fiery light streaks apart.
Li Weiyi wouldn't give him a chance to escape. With a single sword strike, he pierced through the air.
"Pfft!"
The Aberrant Humanoid elder raised his arm to block, but how could he withstand the Yellow Dragon Sword?
Both his arm and his brow were pierced through.
Li Weiyi sheathed his sword, and the Aberrant Humanoid elder's corpse crashed to the ground with a loud thud.
Zouwu's eyes revealed disappointment.
Waving his claws, he clearly wanted to join the fray.
"Let's go!"
Li Weiyi didn't even bother to strip the Iron Cloth Battle Armor from the corpse. He recalled the seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors and immediately activated the invisibility power of his High-Grade Spiritual Artifact, the Nightwalker's Garment. His form vanished, and he fled into the darkness in the opposite direction.
Li Ling held the Nether Lantern, its blue light dimming until she merged completely with the night.
Of course, they didn't believe this would shake off the Ironclad Army's pursuers. The tracks they left behind couldn't be erased in time.
But when the pursuers had to slowly search for tracks on the ground to continue their pursuit, how could they ever catch up?
Two hours later...
Li Weiyi and Li Ling had already ventured hundreds of miles deep into the Mangshan Mountain Range, their spiritual Qi and Psychic Power nearly depleted.
Fortunately, the pursuers' auras had completely vanished, suggesting they had temporarily shaken them off.
Seizing this opportunity, Li Weiyi released seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors.
They gripped the two of them with their claws and lifted them off the ground for a short distance, erasing any traces they had left behind.
They continued onward.
The peaks of the mountain range grew increasingly majestic and towering, resembling colossal giants whose summits were completely shrouded in clouds.
Piercing roar occasionally echoed from the sky as flocks of massive Fallen Spirit Bone Birds soared overhead.
One could only imagine that any Aberrant Humanoid Martial-Mystic Cultivators who dared to venture this deep would never dare to fly above the treetops.
The forest floor was heavy with Yin energy, littered with stone horses, stone tigers, stone figures, and stone tablets. Every few steps, chilling sounds emerged from the darkness.
Sometimes it was the sound of swift footsteps, other times the laughter of children or the murmuring of a woman.
Li Weiyi and Li Ling slowed their pace, desperately trying to recover their spiritual Qi and Psychic Power while concealing their auras as much as possible.
The Zouwu, no larger than a house cat, bounded and leaped at Li Ling's feet, occasionally pausing to bare its fangs and growl menacingly into the darkness.
It wasn't surprising that the depths of the Mangshan Mountain Range were teeming with Dead Spirit Fiends. With Li Weiyi's current cultivation in the Five Seas Realm, he no longer feared ordinary evil spirits and his courage had grown far beyond what it once was.
Both remained silent, completely unlike their former boisterous selves.
Having shed their false facades, they had returned to their true selves.
Li Weiyi broke the silence, asking, "I've heard that every peak in the Mangshan Mountain Range is an emperor's tomb, containing the remains of many Ancient Heavenly Emperors. Is this true?"
Li Ling, her mind preoccupied, wore a solemn expression.
"There's such a saying! It's said that since ancient times, all Heavenly Emperor-level experts from Yingzhou have been buried in the Mangshan Mountain Range. Because it's near the Blood Sea and the Domain of the Dead Spirits Mist, where Otherworldly Coffins converge, it's renowned as the most Extreme Yin Land in the world. Burial here might offer a chance to reverse life and death."
"Of course, the legends are bound to be exaggerated. Not every peak could possibly be an Ancient Heavenly Emperor's tomb. Even Immortal Realm experts would risk disaster by recklessly excavating such tombs."
"In reality, many peaks in the Mangshan Mountain Range have been plundered by tomb raiders, revealing extraordinary burial sites, but none on the level of an Ancient Heavenly Emperor's tomb."
Their legs flowed with spiritual Qi, propelling them forward two or three meters with each step.
Arriving at a wide, open area halfway up the mountain, Li Weiyi stood at the edge of a cliff, gazing toward Yaoguan City.
The sky was dim, and an eerie mist rose from the dense forest.
"By now, dawn should have broken," Li Weiyi murmured, "Why is the entire sky covered in dark clouds, blocking out all light?"
He sensed the terrifying depths of the Mangshan Mountain Range. The celestial phenomena here were completely different from the outside world. The oppressive atmosphere weighed heavily on his spirits, and he longed to leave as soon as possible.
Li Ling pointed behind him: "Look over there!"
Li Weiyi turned to look.
A hundred miles away, a magnificent mountain range stretched across the horizon like a colossal dragon lying prostrate, spanning east to west.
From its base to its peak, the mountain range soared to a height of perhaps six or seven thousand meters, forming a black barrier that seemed to mark the edge of the world, blocking all sight.
The clouds above their heads still retained a faint glow, but the clouds above that distant mountain range were completely black, like an impenetrable black cloth.
Li Ling said, "I've never been to the deepest part of the Mangshan Mountain Range. But that should be its final ridge, the last line of defense in the great battle a thousand years ago. Once you cross it, you'll leave the Lingxiao Realm and enter the boundless Nether Realm of the Dead."
"It's said that a thousand years ago, on the other side of the mountain range, there was another prefecture under the Jiu Li Clan's rule called Yun Prefecture."
"According to the elders who crossed the mountains to trade at the Spiritual Market, Yun Prefecture was completely shrouded in darkness. The villages and towns that once thrived had been reduced to desolate ruins. The cities, once fertile grounds for precious medicine thanks to the Heaven-Law Earth Spring, were now occupied by Dead Spirits and Malevolent Demons, transformed into Ghost Cities and Demon Domains."
"In Yun Prefecture, humans had vanished completely. Only those with formidable cultivation dared to venture into the darkness, seeking lost treasures and ancient scriptures in the ruins of the former prefectural capital or Sects that had fallen a millennium ago."
"This Ironclad Army from the San Chen Palace must have passed through Yun Prefecture, circumventing the mountain range to reach Yaoguan City from the other side. That's why they appeared like divine soldiers descending from the heavens, catching us completely off guard."
Li Weiyi's mind flashed to Prefect Zhu Qinfeng of Yanzhou, who had died in the Jiu Li Insect Valley.
He asked, "What about Yan Prefecture?"
Li Ling wasn't sure: "Yan Prefecture seems to be even further west of Yun Prefecture."
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END OF CHAPTER
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