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Novel: [The Primordial Law]
Volume 6: [Battle for the True Inheritance]
Chapter 48 (589): [Spy]
(48th of Volume 6)
Translator: Shadow Knight AK
Editor: Shadow Knight AK
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In the deep darkness, a low, mournful horn sounded from afar.
As if receiving a signal, the four Fallen Spirit Marquises stowed Qiu Cheng's headless corpse into a Boundary Pouch, then immediately mounted dark clouds and raced off in a specific direction.
"Another one found! Hurry, don't let others get there first!"
"A hefty reward for each Shaoyang Guard we kill!"
"Even greater rewards for capturing them alive!"
"If we could capture that Holy Commander alive, that would be a monumental achievement! The Ghost King himself would likely receive us upon our return, instantly making us famous throughout the vast Abyssal Realm of the Void Caverns!"
Li Weiyi hadn't interacted much with Qiu Cheng, but witnessing the Shaoyang Guard's tragic end filled him with a heavy, oppressive feeling, as well as a fox-mourning-rabbit-like rage.
Following the mountain's contours, he pursued the four Fallen Spirit Marquises, heading toward the horn's source.
Tang Wanzhou, Divine Snow Sword in hand, used Space Evasion to swiftly charge into an increasingly dark hilly region.
Her white Spiritual Artifact robes were now stained crimson with blood, torn in places to reveal the purple Governor's Official Robe beneath.
She froze the blood with the icy energy contained within her Spiritual Qi, preventing enemies from tracking her through her Blood Qi.
However, her Spiritual Qi reserves were severely depleted, the brutal combat in the Netherworld proving far more taxing than battles in the Living Realm.
"Swish! Swish! Swish..."
A rain of needle-like projectiles, like a river of starlight, tore through the void and hurtled toward her.
Tang Wanzhou whirled around, her eyes like cold stars, and slashed out with her sword.
Dense sword shadows erupted, and countless snowflakes materialized from thin air, shattering the incoming needle rain into fragments.
A delicate, bell-like laugh echoed through the air.
Chen Envoy Qingzao, dressed in a pale yellow ruqun, descended from the sky with an innocent and charming demeanor. Her slender arm extended, her right hand open, the dense rain of needles coalescing into a longsword in her palm. Scriptures flowed across the blade's surface, causing it to tremble gently.
Qingzao straightened her posture, standing proudly atop the hill, looking down at Tang Wanzhou. Her lips, red as cherries, parted in a sweet, mocking tone.
"The Holy Commander seems to have reached her end! Come back with me. True Disciple Chu is most interested in you."
Tang Wanzhou's long hair streamed loose, her battle spirit burning fiercely.
"You chased me here alone. Doesn't it seem like you're the one who's reached the end of the road?"
"Heh!" Qingzao chuckled, then turned serious, "Even the True Disciple say you're the most remarkable talent they've ever seen in your cultivation realm. But you're still only at the peak of the Second Realm. Even at full strength, you'd still be a step behind me, let alone in your current wounded state. Do you have fire hidden in your Governor's Official Robe? Or are you planning to desperately slap a Immobilization Talisman on me? Do you really think you have a chance?"
Tang Wanzhou replied, "First, the North Territory's Tang Wanzhou grows stronger with each surge of killing intent. These injuries are nothing. Second, I don't have fire, but I do have an ally."
Xu Daoqing, enveloped in Purple Haze Spiritual Qi, burst from the earth, using an Escape Technique to arrive swiftly.
Holding his whisk, he glared coldly at Qingzao.
"This humble Daoist has joined forces with the Holy Commander. Chen Envoy, do you believe you can subdue us before the other Fallen Spirit Marquises arrive?"
"Then let's find out."
Qingzao scoffed, unleashing all his Spiritual Qi and Immortal Sutra Scriptures. Like a meteor streaking across the sky, he lunged at Tang Wanzhou with a sword strike of blinding speed.
"Severing the Peaks!"
Tang Wanzhou's battle intent surged to its peak.
The frigid Qi emanating from her body froze the surrounding hills, her long hair whipping wildly, her eyes blazing like lightning.
But then, the Divine Snow Sword in her hand suddenly shifted direction.
Instead of meeting Qingzao's strike head-on, she swung the blade horizontally, channeling her chilling killing intent into a slash aimed at Xu Daoqing to her right.
...
Li Weiyi pursued the four Fallen Spirit Marquises, soon catching sight of Liu Ye, their quarry.
Liu Ye was severely wounded, his back a bloody mess with multiple gashes. He channeled Transcendent Spiritual Qi from his Ancestral Field, fleeing at breakneck speed and leaving his pursuers far behind.
Escape seemed imminent.
"Hahaha! A mere Junior Shaoyang Guard from the First Realm? Perfect! This merit will be mine effortlessly."
The four Fallen Spirit Marquises split up, intercepting Liu Ye from the front.
One of them, a peak Second Realm Corpse Marquis, hurled a thumb-thick Yin Iron Chain.
Blood-red Ghost Scriptures shimmered along the chain, transforming it into a sentient, serpentine entity.
The chain shot forth over three hundred meters, coiling around Liu Ye's body.
Even with Transcendent Spiritual Qi surging through him, Liu Ye couldn't evade the attack.
The combined pressure of the four Fallen Spirit Marquises' Dao Heart Manifestations - four layers of chilling Yin Qi - weighed down upon him.
"Clang!"
The chain tightened.
Liu Ye was yanked uncontrollably toward the Corpse Marquis.
"You want to capture me alive?"
His eyes filled with despair.
Steel resolve hardened his gaze.
His right hand, clad in a green-scaled gauntlet, stabbed toward his own heart.
Even in death, he would never fall into enemy hands.
This was the oath sworn by countless members of the Sentinel Spirit Army.
"Stop!"
Li Weiyi transformed into a streak of azure mist, darting forward and appearing before Liu Ye in an instant.
He seized Liu Ye's wrist with one hand while, with a swift backhand motion, drew his sword, unleashing a yellow blade of light.
"Snap!"
The Yin Iron Chain, a Thousand-Inscriptions Artifact, shattered instantly.
Landing on the ground, Liu Ye focused his gaze on Li Weiyi and rebuked him, "You already escaped! Why did you come back?"
"Enough talk! Stay close and fight your way out."
Li Weiyi's murderous intent surged.
Before his words could fully fade, he took a single stride, his figure blurring across a hundred zhang.
His sword slashed toward the Corpse Marquis, a peak Second Realm cultivator.
"Come on, then!"
The Corpse Marquis glanced at the severed Yin Iron Chain, tossed it aside, and roared in fury.
He swung a two-meter-long Third-Grade Thousand-Inscriptions Artifact Crescent Blade.
"Boom!"
Sparks erupted violently.
The Corpse Marquis lost control of his body, staggering backward from the force of the blow, his momentum completely shattered.
A sword wound slashed across his neck, nearly causing him to drop the Crescent Blade.
At the wound, the Corpse Marquis's rotting flesh began to burn slowly, the searing pain piercing directly into his Soul Spirit.
"Damn it! This kid's got something strange! Help me!"
The Corpse Marquis stared at Li Weiyi in terror, then turned and fled, desperately refining the strange sword qi burning through his flesh.
'Contact burns the body alive.'
What kind of bizarre power was this?
Li Weiyi stared at the retreating figure, his gaze cold and unwavering.
He made no move to pursue.
Instead, he turned to face the three Fallen Spirit Marquises approaching from three different directions behind him.
From the Evil Camel Bell, he released four battle corpse puppets, arranging them in a line behind him.
Two of the puppets had been at the Seventh Realm in life, while the other two had been at the Sixth Realm.
Li Weiyi hadn't asked Qing Zijin for too many battle corpse puppets, knowing that with his First Realm Holy Spiritual Master cultivation, perfectly controlling these four puppets would allow him to unleash formidable combat power.
From the darkness behind him, a bloodcurdling scream echoed.
After a brief but intense battle, the Second Realm peak Corpse Marquis who had fled earlier was torn to shreds by the Seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors.
Over the past six months, the Seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors had reaped considerable benefits from Yu Yaozi.
Big Phoenix, Er Feng, and Seventh Phoenix had all reached the peak of the First Realm, while the remaining four Phoenixes were at the mid-stage of the First Realm.
The three Fallen Spirit Marquises charging forward sensed something amiss and hesitated.
How had eleven powerful Vital Energy signatures suddenly appeared?
Had they been surrounded instead?
The three Fallen Spirit Marquises tried to halt their advance and retreat, but it was too late.
Li Weiyi advanced steadily from the center, while the four battle corpse puppets flanked him from both sides.
In an instant, the two sides clashed.
.....
Xu Daoqing had anticipated that Tang Wanzhou would be fully occupied defending against Qingzao's overwhelming sword assault.
Seizing this perfect opportunity, he swiftly shifted his position and launched a surprise attack with his horsetail whisk.
The whisk's white strands lashed out like a whip, coiling around Tang Wanzhou.
Unexpectedly, Tang Wanzhou's "Severing the Peaks," the fourteenth sword strike of her Fourteen Swords of Immortal Slaughter and Divine Snow, suddenly veered toward Xu Daoqing, as if anticipating his ambush.
"Whoosh!"
Tang Wanzhou and Xu Daoqing clashed first, followed immediately by Qingzao joining the fray.
The trio converged and separated in an instant, retreating to three different positions, their Dao Heart Manifestations and battle intent intertwined.
Xu Daoqing stared in shock and suspicion, his right arm hanging limply, fingers trembling, blood dripping continuously from his fingertips.
The horsetail whisk lay discarded on the ground.
Tang Wanzhou's sword strike, originally aimed at Xu Daoqing's neck, had been blocked by his arm, narrowly averting a fatal blow.
However, the entire arm had gone numb, bones shattered, rendering it useless for the foreseeable future.
Tang Wanzhou fared no better. Struck in the back by Qingzao's sword, even the Governor's Official Robe couldn't fully protect her from internal injuries.
A metallic sweetness rose in her throat as she forcefully swallowed the blood threatening to spill, maintaining a facade of composure.
Xu Daoqing was utterly bewildered: "How did you figure it out?"
Tang Wanzhou braced herself with her sword, maintaining her imposing posture while secretly healing her internal injuries.
Her voice rang with undiminished vigor as she explained, "I once asked you if the legend about the Calamity Crossing Temple cultivating a Nether Spirit sapling was true. You replied that you'd heard the legend but never seen it."
"What's suspicious about that?" Xu Daoqing asked.
"I made up that legend entirely. I'd never heard of it before," Tang Wanzhou revealed.
Xu Daoqing pressed his forehead and sighed deeply.
"If that's the case, why didn't you capture me immediately?"
Tang Wanzhou smiled bitterly: "Because Zhao Tang, Yan Zhiruo, and Nangong were also suspicious - even more so than you. One concealed Psychic Power at the Third Realm, another had a ruthless past, and the third harbored a deep-seated hatred for both the Demon Kingdom and the Calamity Crossing Temple. That was the first reason."
"Secondly, your blood showed no anomalies in the Teleportation Hall, and the Suspended Celestial Mirror revealed no flaws in your aura."
"Thirdly, Tu Miangou was undoubtedly the Hai Envoy. How could I be certain that there wasn't another traitor among the eleven Shaoyang Guards?"
"I was certain you were the spy just now. When you rushed over, you shouldn't have stood beside me. You should have intercepted Qingzao from behind or launched a direct attack on her."
"So, Daoist Xu, what's the truth?"
Xu Daoqing sighed: "I must admit, you truly deserve to be the Shaoyang Division's Holy Tribunal. If not for Bai Chuan and Mo Duanfeng throwing the Shaoyang Division into chaos, leading Nangong to conspire with them to kill True Disciple Chu, and Yan Zhiruo's greed distracting you, I would never have been able to send out any messages."
"Logically speaking, if Nangong, Yan Zhiruo, Qiu Cheng, Lu Qing, and the others recruited by Bai Chuan and Mo Duanfeng hadn't been distracted, their combined intelligence would have exposed me long ago."
"Holy Commander, won't you admit that your defeat was well-deserved? In fact, it wasn't humiliating enough. You should all have been captured alive."
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END OF CHAPTER
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