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Novel: [The Primordial Law]
Volume 3: [Qiu Prefecture Lantern Festival]
Chapter 23 (167): [Lord Qi]
(23rd of Volume 3)
Translator: Shadow Knight AK
Editor: Shadow Knight AK
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"What a terrifying aura. Could he have sensed me just now?"
After Chen Wenwu left the area, Li Weiyi dared not underestimate his perception abilities. He remained submerged more than ten meters below the surface, letting his body sink naturally.
Someone of that caliber would surely be able to detect any unusual movement underwater.
'Don't move!'
Chen Wenwu knew Huo Qiankun too well, and his cultivation was at the peak.
Li Weiyi had no confidence in using the Transformation Technique to deceive him.
Before long, Chen Wenwu indeed returned.
"Boom!"
He raised his arm, his skin radiating blinding light, and slammed his palm against the sea surface.
Spiritual Qi coalesced into a giant handprint several meters long, pressing the sea into a bowl-like depression.
A ring of water arched up and spread outward in violent ripples, while layers of palm-force shockwaves surged toward the seabed.
Li Weiyi dared not release his own spiritual Qi, forcing him to endure the impact with his physical body alone.
Fortunately, he had already sunk more than twenty meters below the surface, so the effect was minimal.
Chen Xun and Sheng Qingyan caught up in their boat.
Chen Wenwu landed on the deck with a grave expression.
Sheng Qingyan stared at the churning sea, marveling at Chen Wenwu's terrifying cultivation prowess.
"Is that guy hiding in these waters?" she asked.
Chen Wenwu shook his head gently: "Hard to say. He's incredibly cunning. I sensed a faint presence earlier, but I'm not sure if it was just a diversion to keep me occupied here."
Chen Xun added, "All five of Tianyi Sect and Night City's top experts died on the ship. Huo Qiankun and Yuwen Chao are missing, and I fear the worst."
"What arrogance! Daring to provoke us like that," Sheng Qingyan sneered.
Chen Wenwu replied, "Arrogance? I think he's exceptionally clever. This was definitely intentional. He's a fascinating opponent."
"What do we do now? Stay here and waste time? If it's just a diversion, he might have already left, making us look foolish," Chen Xun said.
"He's just a cunning rat at the Fifth Stage of the Five Seas Realm. He left traces when he killed the Five Seas Realm Martial-Mystic Cultivators from Tianyi Sect and Night City. Next time we meet, we'll know who he is. Jiang Ning is our top priority. Let's head over there. If we can help, we'll atone for our mistakes."
The ship sailed away, heading toward an unknown point on the sea.
An hour later, Li Weiyi surfaced more than ten miles away. He retrieved his small boat from the Evil Camel Bell and set off in pursuit of Chen Wenwu and the others.
"Chen Wenwu must be cultivating in the Seventh Sea already. His spiritual Qi is so dense that a Fifth Stage of the Five Seas Realm Martial-Mystic Cultivator like Yuwen Chao is like a firefly compared to the moon in his presence."
Li Weiyi thought of this and took another sip from the Golden Spring.
As he rowed, he continued to temper his bones.
The setting sun cast a crimson glow across the sea, and soon the starry night sky descended.
His small boat drifted like a leaf in the cosmos, sending ripples across the water.
"Such intense spiritual Qi fluctuations!"
Li Weiyi stood up and gazed toward the left.
On the horizon, beams of spiritual Qi crisscrossed, and powerful winds raged - undeniably a battle between top-tier Five Seas Realm experts.
In another direction, a sword light slashed from the sea's surface into the sky, cleaving through the clouds.
The tranquil sea erupted into towering waves.
Li Weiyi caught the scent of blood and saw a corpse drifting toward him on the waves. He flicked a strand of spiritual Qi from his fingertip, transforming it into a mist-like rope that wrapped around the body and pulled it aboard.
This was a young woman wearing red soft armor. The armor was undamaged, a Mid-Grade Spiritual Artifact. But beneath it, her flesh was a bloody mess, her internal organs shattered, and more than a dozen bones broken.
Li Weiyi held out his palm and traced a pattern on her chest, determining she had died from a single palm strike to her abdomen.
"A Fourth Stage of the Five Seas Realm cultivator, killed instantly with a single blow, even through her armor. This is... a token from the Zuoqiu Sect..."
Li Weiyi tore off the token and clutched it tightly in his hand, then turned his gaze toward the distant horizon where several fluctuations of spiritual Qi were still visible.
"Does Zuoqiu Ting really have the guts to start a war just like that?"
Moments later, another corpse drifted toward the boat. Li Weiyi fished it aboard.
This corpse wore monk robes, its skull crushed. Prayer beads adorned its wrist, clearly identifying it as a Five Seas Realm expert from Coffin Mountain.
Li Weiyi dared not proceed any further, fearing he would stumble into the battlefield of top-tier cultivators and suffer the same fate as these two - killed with a single palm strike.
Li Weiyi steered his small boat away, the spiritual Qi fluctuations from the battlefield behind him growing fainter.
The sea surface calmed.
Just as he breathed a sigh of relief, feeling safe from the conflict, the boat suddenly dipped slightly, then bobbed back up. His heart lurched. Without even turning, he knew someone had boarded his vessel.
What was truly terrifying was that he hadn't sensed any spiritual Qi fluctuations, air disturbances, or even heard a sound before the intruder had stepped aboard.
This alone proved the person's cultivation far surpassed his own.
Li Weiyi composed himself and turned around, only to be met with a sight that sent a chill straight to his core.
Zhuang Yue, clad in a long blue gown, lay half-reclined at the bow. Her jade hand propped up her cheek, her back resting against the boat's edge, her eyes closed in a pose of rest. Her feet, almost touching Li Weiyi's shoes, were placed side by side.
Li Weiyi knew exactly who she was.
An icy chill surged through his Heavenly Spirit. Gripping his silver spear tightly, he desperately tried to recall whether Huo Qiankun had ever met Qi Jin.
If he had, what would his reaction have been? And if he hadn't, what would his reaction be then?
"You're nervous!"
Zhuang Yue murmured without opening her eyes.
Li Weiyi forced himself to calm down and chuckled: "Any man would be nervous to have such a beauty, like an Immortal descending to the mortal realm, suddenly appear on his ship. Tianyi Sect's Huo Qiankun greets Lord Qi!"
"You've seen me before?" Zhuang Yue asked.
"I've seen Jiang Ning and Zhuang Yue..." Li Weiyi added, "in Burial Immortal Town."
"Heh heh, Tianyi Sect... I vaguely recall it. You follow Chen Wenwu, don't you?"
Zhuang Yue's eyes remained closed.
Li Weiyi's tone turned serious: "I am the top young master of Tianyi Sect. I follow no one. Our relationship with the San Chen Palace is purely cooperative. If I were to follow anyone, it would only be a powerhouse like Young Venerable or Lord Qi. Only the Far Western Ashlands are worthy of Tianyi Sect's allegiance."
Zhuang Yue sneered without speaking. After a moment, she said, "I've been searching for Jiang Ning for two days. I'm exhausted. I'll borrow your ship to rest for a while."
Her breathing was deep and rhythmic, constantly drawing in spiritual Qi from the heavens and earth.
A cold glint flashed in the depths of Li Weiyi's eyes as he silently considered the feasibility of pulling Qi Jin into the Blood Mud Space.
Or perhaps, summoning Zen Hai Guanwu?
But using the Spiritual Light Flame to activate the Buddha's Relic would undoubtedly alert her.
The two were standing face to face, so close that with her cultivation, an attack would be instantaneous.
Either he would die, or Qi Jin would.
The odds of victory or death were almost even.
In the end, Li Weiyi chose to abandon the risk. His life was far more precious to him than hers!
Time passed.
By midnight, the air grew increasingly cold.
Snow began to fall from the sky, each flake shaped like a paper offering. They scattered across the sea and landed on the small boat.
Li Weiyi reached out and caught one, his heart pounding in shock. He knew another formidable figure had arrived.
Zhuang Yue, who had been resting, felt her eyelashes flutter.
She opened her eyes and smiled: "Finally!"
Amidst the falling paper-offering snow, a massive ball of black Yin-Ming Qi, dozens of meters in diameter, rolled across the sea.
Within the Yin-Ming Qi, a colossal figure was enveloped. It had two wings on its back, two horns on its head, and crimson hair.
The figure walked as if on solid ground, approaching the small boat. Its body quickly shrank, transforming into a two-meter-tall human with a bare upper torso. Its skin was indistinguishable from bronze, a unique Pure Immortal Physique.
Zhuang Yue said, "You're late. I've been waiting for nearly two days."
"You, with so many people ganging up on a Phoenix Terrace Envoy, yet she still escaped? You've been searching for two days without finding her. Is she too powerful, or are you all too incompetent?" Ming Niansheng retorted without the slightest courtesy.
Zhuang Yue stood up, all traces of her earlier languor vanished, replaced by the sharpness of a drawn sword: "Quickly release the Yin Soul Water Ghosts and capture Jiang Ning. The human skin is mine, the flesh yours."
"I advise you to offer her to the Young Venerable first."
Ming Niansheng produced an enormous black Cosmic Pouch. With a surge of spiritual Qi, the pouch swelled dramatically.
The mouth of the pouch opened, and a gust of chilling wind swept forth, releasing countless Spirit Tablets.
Moments later, the entire sea surface was covered in floating Spirit Tablets.
From each Spirit Tablet emerged a Ghost Shadow of a Dead Spirit, their long hair disheveled, faces deathly pale. Thousands of these spectral figures, their arms hanging limp and eyes wide open, stood densely packed on the water's surface, a truly terrifying sight.
Ming Niansheng chanted an incantation.
All the Yin Soul Water Ghosts plunged into the depths of the sea.
Zhuang Yue asked, "We've pinpointed her hiding within a radius of several dozen miles, at a depth of over forty fathoms. How long will it take to search the entire area?"
"An hour should be enough to force her out."
Ming Niansheng glanced at her, "You underestimate the perception and intelligence of a Phoenix Terrace Envoy. After all this time, she hasn't shown herself to you, which means she's already seen through your disguise. What do you even want with her skin?"
"Because it's beautiful!"
Zhuang Yuezhi pirouetted gracefully on the small boat, then turned to Li Weiyi: "Do I look good?"
"Lord Qi is as beautiful as a Celestial Immortal, and her inner beauty surpasses her outer beauty," Li Weiyi replied.
Zhuang Yue smiled radiantly: "Hehe, Jiang Ning's human skin is even more beautiful. Just imagining the Feather Immortal's beauty makes this servant's heart flutter."
Ming Niansheng's eyes gleamed, and paper-money-shaped snow continued to fall from his head. He glanced at Li Weiyi.
"Where did you find such a sycophant?"
Li Weiyi bowed with great formality: "From the Tianyi Sect, Huo Qiankun! I am not flattering, every word comes from the depths of my heart."
" Boom!"
The water suddenly exploded.
A Spiritual Artifact Jade Boat surged from the depths, enveloped in the Hundred-Character Scripture and a mist of spiritual Qi. It radiated a blinding light as it shot toward the sky.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Zhuang Yue and Ming Niansheng unleashed powerful bursts of spiritual Qi, pursuing the Spiritual Artifact Jade Boat.
Zhuang Yue skimmed across the water's surface, her form appearing as a series of afterimages, covering a kilometer in an instant.
Ming Niansheng spread his wings, his body growing several times larger. Twin horns sprouted from his head, and crimson hair a dozen meters long flowed behind him as he chased the Jade Boat.
Li Weiyi steered his boat at full speed behind them, simultaneously communicating with Zen Hai Guanwu in the Blood Mud Space.
"I can help you, but my power will be limited while hiding within Li Ling's body. Her physical form can't withstand too much force. Furthermore, Li Ling's strength is too great; it will inevitably attract unwanted attention and investigation, with unpredictable consequences. Consider carefully whether saving Jiang Ning and Yin Shi San is worth such a high price. I still believe that one should only reveal secrets concerning their own survival when their life is truly at stake," Zen Hai Guanwu said.
Li Weiyi pursued them for half an hour, but completely lost sight of Zhuang Yue and Ming Niansheng.
Only lingering traces of their aura remained on the sea's surface.
"Wait... this direction isn't toward Great Marsh City. It's toward the sea where those Five Seas Realm Martial-Mystic Cultivators were fighting."
Li Weiyi immediately turned back toward the battlefield. If Jiang Ning and Yin Shi San were trying to escape, they would have split up, not charged straight into the fray.
After a moment's thought, Li Weiyi changed course again.
He reasoned that if someone had been hiding beneath the sea in that area, they would have already left, likely heading toward Juze City.
Hiding in the depths of the ocean was less safe than hiding among the masses of people.
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END OF CHAPTER
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