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Novel: [The Primordial Law]
Volume 1: [Nether Realm of the Dead]
Chapter 18: [Lightning and the Dragon]
(18th of Volume 1)
Translator: Shadow Knight AK
Editor: Shadow Knight AK
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The "revived" metal serpent had become soft, coiling around the blood-red jade bracelet that emitted a crimson glow.
Three pairs of blood-jade serpent eyes flickered, then suddenly lit up.
"Whoosh!"
A Three-Headed Serpent Blood Soul, six or seven meters long and as thick as a bowl, burst from within the metal serpent. It had broad wings and lunged directly at Li Weiyi.
It was enormous!
The stench of blood was overwhelming, accompanied by a faint gust of wind that sent shivers down the spine.
Yet it was also incredibly faint, almost like mist.
Clearly, Director Yang didn't know the true method to activate the Three-Headed Serpent Bracelet. He stumbled upon the blood sacrifice method by accident while experimenting, inadvertently releasing a wisp of the serpent's weak Blood Soul.
For a mortal, controlling even a wisp of a Blood Soul was already an extraordinary feat.
"What kind of monstrous thing is this?"
The Blood Soul was practically a ghost, massive and grotesque. Li Weiyi dared not touch it, immediately dodging and fleeing.
Fortunately, his reflexes and footwork were exceptional, and his speed was unmatched.
After evading the Three-Headed Serpent Blood Soul's attack, he pulled out the Yellow Dragon Sword from the old man's chest.
A vision flashed through his mind: the Yellow Dragon Sword cleaving through the White Bone Demon's long hair, instantly turning it into mist.
This sword was undoubtedly a divine weapon, perfectly suited to vanquishing demons and evil spirits.
Li Weiyi channeled the Scorching Qi Flow from the sole of his right foot into the Yellow Dragon Sword.
A faint yellow glow appeared on the sword's blade.
As he fled at top speed, it was as if he had eyes in the back of his head. He stopped abruptly and spun around, his longsword arcing upward in a crescent-shaped slash that struck the Three-Headed Serpent Blood Soul as it swooped down in pursuit.
His judgment was precise to the extreme, as if the Blood Soul had deliberately impaled itself on his sword.
The left-most head of the Three-Headed Serpent Blood Soul burst into flames where the Yellow Dragon Sword had struck.
In an instant, the already faint head could no longer maintain its form and dissolved into wisps of mist.
Having struck a decisive blow, Li Weiyi felt no trace of the dread he had felt toward the unknown. His eyes blazed with battle lust as he strode forward, actually chasing after the Three-Headed Serpent Blood Soul, hacking at it with his sword.
For a moment, the ground was churned into a whirlwind of dust and debris.
The Blood Soul had wings, but it couldn't fly high.
The scene resembled a mortal chasing a demon.
Many onlookers were stunned by the sight.
A member of Laboratory 705 tried to retrieve the shotgun, but Gao Huan and several other freed research team members tackled him to the ground.
The pretty female graduate student picked up the shotgun as if it were a burning coal, then rushed to the ship's railing and tossed it into the sea.
By the time Gao Huan saw what was happening and shouted to stop her, it was too late.
That was a gun - the last one on the ship with bullets.
Startled by Gao Huan's roar, the female trainee crouched on the deck near the railing, clutching her head and trembling.
Regardless, the research team members had sharp eyes and knew who to trust.
When Xie Tianshu, Chen Hong, and Kong Fan attacked, where were the people from Laboratory 705 to stop them?
To maintain the Three-Headed Serpent Blood Soul, Director Yang had lost a massive amount of blood.
His body continued to shrivel, and he grew so weak that he eventually collapsed to his knees.
But it was useless.
The Three-Headed Serpent Blood Soul was no match for Li Weiyi.
It was soon severed into several pieces and vanished into smoke.
While Li Weiyi battled the Three-Headed Serpent Blood Soul, the bespectacled middle-aged woman from Laboratory 705 calmly removed her coat, revealing a Scripture Belt strapped around her waist.
The belt was bright yellow, two inches wide, and covered in dense script.
Laboratory 705 had been observing the Bronze Ship for years. After it crashed, they were the first to reach the location of the skeletal humans.
As a result, they had seized several Immortal Artifacts.
The middle-aged woman took out a small vial of Golden Crow Blood and poured it onto the Scripture Belt.
The Scripture Belt's "blood sacrifice" method differed from the Three-Headed Serpent Bracelet's; it only required the blood of a dead creature.
"Whoosh-"
The Golden Crow Blood seeped into the belt. Portions of the scripture on the belt immediately emitted a blood-red glow, enveloping her entire body in a faint, misty aura of blood-red light.
The research team members who had charged forward to restrain her were about to pounce when their vision blurred.
She suddenly appeared several steps away.
Though she was merely an ordinary person, the Scripture Belt's enhancement had granted her an eerie agility and speed.
Before Li Weiyi could even finish off the Three-Headed Serpent Blood Soul, the middle-aged woman had already closed in.
By the time the Three-Headed Serpent Blood Soul shattered into pieces and dissipated, she pulled out a fist-sized Black Iron Seal and slammed it onto the ground just six or seven steps from Li Weiyi.
"Boom!"
Thunderous echoes filled the air.
From the base of the Black Iron Seal, a bright, serpentine streak of lightning shot forth, arcing directly toward Li Weiyi.
Both the Black Iron Seal and the Scripture Belt were obtained from the nearly jade-like skeleton of a human.
Their quality was exceptionally high, and even without specialized activation methods, they could unleash considerable power.
Li Weiyi's keen senses alerted him just in time. Without turning, he immediately rolled sideways, narrowly dodging the bolt of lightning.
The left shoulder of his robe was charred black, the fabric carbonized, and his skin burned painfully.
Just a hair's breadth more, and the lightning would have struck his neck or head.
Though the Black Iron Seal possessed formidable power, it required a heavy impact to unleash its Thunder and Lightning.
Moreover, because the middle-aged woman didn't understand the true method of control, a fine current of electricity surged through her palm as she released the lightning, leaving her arm numb and making it difficult to launch a second attack quickly.
Fortunately, the Scripture Belt's crimson glow provided protection; otherwise, her arm would have suffered far more than mere numbness.
After dodging the lightning, Li Weiyi moved like a leaping ape, closing in on the middle-aged woman.
"Swish!"
Her movements were like an illusion, evading Li Weiyi's first sword strike, leaving only a wisp of hair severed.
Li Weiyi had been training in martial arts since childhood, so his movements and techniques, enhanced by the Scorching Qi Flow, had become extraordinary, displaying the demeanor of a Martial Arts master. Yet, simply activating the Scripture Belt transformed decay into wonder - it was truly astonishing.
The two of them remained wary of each other, sometimes Li Weiyi fleeing, sometimes the middle-aged woman retreating.
Meanwhile, Gao Huan and the others were desperately trying to free the research team members.
No one noticed the earth-shattering changes happening to Xie Tianshu, who had been lying in a pool of blood with his arm severed.
The Dragon-Patterned Ring on his thumb absorbed the blood flowing from his severed arm, turning the dragon patterns blood red and emitting a faint crimson glow.
His heart resonated with the flashing of the dragon patterns, and his blood flow slowed.
The wound on his severed arm stopped bleeding.
Fine, icy scales began to grow on his skin.
His forehead bulged unevenly, forming irregular, coral-like patterns.
....
Li Weiyi quickly realized that the middle-aged woman couldn't keep using the Black Iron Seal indefinitely.
After only four uses, her entire hand had turned black and was trembling uncontrollably.
The blood-red glow emanating from the Scripture Belt was also rapidly fading.
"You have no idea how to use these Immortal Artifacts," Li Weiyi observed, "Each use inflicts deeper damage to your body."
He could see that one more use would cripple her entire arm.
There was no need to confront her directly.
Once the blood-red glow of the Scripture Belt dissipated, she would no longer pose a threat.
"Awooo!"
A high-pitched cry, like a wolf, a tiger, and a dragon all rolled into one, echoed through the Bronze Ship.
Li Weiyi, the middle-aged woman, and the research team members were all startled, turning to look at Xie Tianshu, who had already risen from the ground.
Their eyes widened, as if they might pop out of their sockets.
In the faint Nether Mist, Xie Tianshu still had only one arm, but his body had swelled to a height of nearly three meters, his clothes almost completely torn apart.
His skin had transformed into black scales the size of fingernails.
His remaining left hand had become a sharp, massive claw.
His feet had also undergone mutation, his soles widening by a factor of two.
The Dragon-Patterned Ring on his claw glowed even brighter, a Blood Dragon woven from dragon patterns writhing across its surface like a living creature.
Some research team members screamed, others collapsed in terror, and still others fled.
They had already been terrified by Xie Tianshu before; this new Xie Tianshu was undoubtedly even more terrifying.
"Did he... did he secretly drink the Black Dragon blood?"
"The scales, the claws, the head... it's entirely possible. His body is clearly undergoing a transformation toward that of a Black Dragon."
"How dare he?"
.....
"Li Weiyi, this severed arm of mine is all thanks to you. Not even the Black Dragon's corpse blood or the Dragon-Patterned Ring can make it grow back."
Xie Tianshu, transformed into a Black Dragon-like Aberration, charged at Li Weiyi with heavy steps that grew increasingly rapid. His eyes, now the size of wine cups, burned with fury.
In the blink of an eye, he was upon Li Weiyi, his claws slashing toward his head, sending a fierce gust of wind.
Li Weiyi retreated a step, the razor-sharp claws narrowly missing his nose.
After enduring so many inexplicable and bizarre events in recent days, Li Weiyi remained calm even as Xie Tianshu approached him in this near-demonic form.
Dodging the claw, he stepped forward and slashed his sword across Xie Tianshu's chest.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
The sword's edge clashed against the black scales on Xie Tianshu's chest, sending sparks flying.
Yet it left only a shallow mark.
Xie Tianshu retreated quickly, then let out a triumphant laugh when he realized he was unharmed: "With my Black Dragon scales protecting me, what can you do? Don't worry, I won't let you die too easily."
Li Weiyi glanced at the Yellow Dragon Sword in his hand.
Without the Scorching Qi Flow to drive it, the Yellow Dragon Sword was merely sharper than ordinary blades, unable to cleave through anything it touched.
Not far away, the middle-aged woman from Laboratory 705 retrieved another vial of Golden Crow Blood, preparing to pour it onto her Scripture Belt.
Catching sight of this out of the corner of his eye, Li Weiyi sprinted forward, covering a meter with each stride.
"Trying to escape?"
Xie Tianshu charged after him. His heavy footsteps caused the ground to tremble slightly.
"Pfft!"
Li Weiyi's sword cleanly severed the middle-aged woman's head without hesitation.
He then snatched the Black Iron Seal from her grasp.
Turning, he knelt on one knee, looked up at the pursuing Xie Tianshu, and slammed the seal heavily onto the ground.
"Boom!"
A thunderous roar echoed.
A brilliant streak of lightning shot from the base of the seal, striking Xie Tianshu.
Xie Tianshu was sent flying backward, his body turning even blacker...
He was charred, smoke billowing from every pore.
Li Weiyi fared no better.
Rebounding lightning from the seal had left his entire arm numb and painful, with at least half its sensation lost.
"This seal isn't meant to be used like this."
"She was just winging it!"
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END OF CHAPTER
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