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Novel: [The Primordial Law]
Volume 2: [Jiuli Insect Valley]
Chapter 9 (36): [Li Ling]
(9th of Volume 2)
Translator: Shadow Knight AK
Editor: Shadow Knight AK
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Xing Wanxing turned and spotted the figure of a young woman on a distant rooftop.
He recognized Li Ling.
His eyes narrowed, and he channeled the surging spiritual power from his six Springs within his body.
He stomped heavily on the ground, his foot sinking into the mud, sending a circular shockwave outward.
Countless fragments of stone flew into the air.
"Swish! Swish! Swish..."
With a palm strike, the airborne stones shot forward, their sharp whistling sounds seeming to tear through the night sky.
Li Ling left the rooftop, gliding through the void on her Blue Mist Light Trace. Her movements were so graceful and precise that she dodged every stone.
She landed in the middle of the street, her voice clear and melodious: "I don't think you're really Buddha's Salvation Bandits."
Xing Wanxing's eyes narrowed, a murderous glint flashing in his pupils: "Is that so? How about I recite a verse from the Amorous (Wind Flow) Sutra for you later? Or perhaps you'd like to recite it for me?"
The Six Springs erupted, his spiritual power overflowing his body and forming a protective layer of gray mist around him.
Any Demonfire Gourd Beetles that approached were instantly knocked to the ground by the force of his power.
Xing Wanxing knew Li Ling wasn't a Martial-Mystic Cultivator but a Spiritual Mind Master following the Spirit-God path. She wasn't skilled in close combat and her physical strength was also relatively weak.
Therefore, he stomped his foot and shot forward several dozen feet in an instant, closing the distance.
"You dare to clash with me head-on just by opening six Springs? Who gave you such audacity?"
As Li Ling slowly retreated, she pinched her fingers into a spell. A strange light ignited between her eyebrows, as if a world of light was hidden beneath her forehead.
"Whoosh!"
Seven brilliant light traces erupted from her brow, extending nearly a hundred feet into the night sky.
The surrounding air temperature noticeably rose.
The seven light traces danced wildly through the streets of Burial Immortal Town. Wooden pillars supporting houses were sliced through in an instant, leaving behind charred marks.
The over twenty Earth Wolf King's Army soldiers who had been searching the town rushed toward the scene, with their weapons drawn, but four or five of them fell instantly, their limbs severed, waists cut in half, or heads lopped off.
Blood stained the ground.
"It's a Spiritual Mind Master! Those light trace whips are terrifying!"
"Retreat! Retreat quickly!"
.....
The soldiers scattered in terror.
In Martial Arts cultivation, a single realm's difference in strength can be vast.
They had clearly seen Tenth Master Xing, who had opened Six Springs, struggling desperately against the young woman, barely managing to hold his own.
Li Weiyi peered through the shattered window, watching the clash between the two top-tier experts in the street below. He was secretly astonished. Li Ling looked frail and delicate, like a well-behaved girl next door, yet her combat prowess was astonishing.
The leader of the Earth Wolf King's Army was utterly outmatched.
Killing the other Spring Realm Martial-Mystic Cultivators was like cutting through melons.
How old was she?
This must be a cultivator beyond even the highest tier of talent!
Quietly leaping down from the rafters, Li Weiyi prepared to slip away while the chaos unfolded.
Suddenly, On the street, something strange happened.
Amidst the branches and leaves of the thousand-year-old Apricot Tree above the ancient well, a slender figure with a tail appeared.
With a wave of her hand, countless hair-thin needles shot forth.
These Flying Needles were crafted from the fur of the Demonic Stone Monkey, making them as light as nothing.
When launched with a special technique, they moved almost silently, striking without warning.
The fact that someone could hurl these feather-light Flying Needles with lethal force demonstrated their immense magical power.
Even with Spiritual Mind Master Li Ling's acute senses, she didn't detect the danger until nearly a hundred of the needle-thin projectiles had entered her ten-meter radius.
Unable to pinpoint the source of the threat, she instinctively retreated at lightning speed, crashing through the door of an abandoned house to take cover.
"Sizzle!"
The Flying Needles struck the street, earthen walls, and pillars.
The stone slabs of the street cracked, the earthen walls crumbled, and the pillars were riddled with countless tiny holes.
Li Weiyi had just climbed down from the rafters when he heard a loud boom as the door shattered and a young woman burst inside.
For a moment, their eyes met in silence.
Li Weiyi tried to slip out through the back courtyard.
But Xing Wanxing's short, squat figure moved with surprising agility, leaping over the earthen wall before Li Weiyi could even react.
He landed with a thud in the center of the courtyard, a foot-long short knife in his hand.
Footsteps echoed from all directions.
The thirty surviving Spring Realm Martial-Mystic Cultivators of the Earthwolf King's Army had already surrounded the abandoned house.
Terrified of the seven light traces on Li Ling's forehead, no one dared to charge in recklessly.
This was the fearsome aura she had carved out through slaughter!
"Swish!"
Yan Qingqing emerged from the dense foliage of a towering Apricot Tree, her spiritual power flowing around her like a leaf drifting down to the wide, tranquil streets of Burial Immortal Town.
She walked forward step by step.
Her figure was voluptuous and full, her fiery red tail swaying with each stride of her slender legs. Her canine ears added a touch of playful cuteness to her sensual, alluring face.
"Cang Li's younger sister, the Netherlight Guide of the Jiu Li Clan..."
"Oh, my Flying Needle seems to have hit you!" Yan Qingqing's voice was always sweet and coquettish, a smile playing on her lips.
She swept her hand, gathering the Flying Needles from the ground with a wisp of spiritual power.
She found one was missing.
However, One was enough!
Xing Wanxing, standing in the backyard, said, "Why waste time talking? Let's attack together and hack her to death with our swords. We need to leave this place as soon as possible."
Yan Qingqing was Shi Jiuzhai's Eighth Disciple, a peak Yongquan (Spring Surge) Realm expert who had already opened the Seven Springs. Yet Xing Wanxing didn't address her as "Senior Sister" nor show her much respect.
Because his greatest talent had never been cultivation or martial prowess, but rather his ability to make money - the skill Shi Jiuzhai valued most.
A flicker of displeasure crossed Yan Qingqing's eyes, but she quickly masked it with a smile: "Why the rush, Junior Brother? The Flying Needle is poisoned. Wouldn't it be much easier to finish her off once her body gradually petrifies and stiffens? Besides, such an important figure, such a delicate beauty - how can you be so heartless? Have you done something you're trying to cover up?"
Xing Wanxing knew perfectly well that Yan Qingqing had followed them at Shi Jiuzhai's behest.
Fortunately, the silver giant coffin contained no treasures. Otherwise, he would have been the one struck by the Flying Needle.
Xing Wanxing said, "It's not that I don't want to be ruthless. It's just that this girl seems to have uncovered our secret. You know how crucial this matter is, right? If word leaks out and the Jiu Li Clan becomes suspicious, neither you nor I will survive Master's wrath."
Yan Qingqing's smile vanished.
Their disguise as Buddha's Salvation Bandits to attack the Cangli Tribe was meant to incite chaos in Li Province. This scheme involved many powerful figures. If anything went wrong, she couldn't imagine what fate awaited her and Xing Wanxing.
...
Inside the abandoned mansion.
Li Ling stared at Li Weiyi coldly: "You heard, didn't you? Everyone who knows will be silenced. Do you think you'll be an exception?"
Li Weiyi had been startled when she suddenly burst through the door, but she remained remarkably calm.
This confirmed his earlier suspicions: Li Ling had been tracking him to Burial Immortal Town and already knew where he was hiding.
Li Weiyi was speechless.
In the lowest possible voice, he said, "You could have fled anywhere else. Instead, you came here and deliberately dragged me down with you? I saved your Cangli Tribe! I'm not as ungrateful as you are."
"I had no other choice."
Li Ling sat on a dusty, cobweb-covered mud-and-stone low couch, completely unfazed by the filth.
"That woman outside is at least at the Seven Springs level. Her Flying Needle attacks are silent and impossible to predict or defend against. If I fled outside, she could simply launch another volley of needles, and I'd be dead for sure."
Li Weiyi's entire body went numb.
Shi Jiuzhai's two disciples - one at the Six Springs level, the other at the Seven Springs level - had dragged him, a mere mortal who had just entered the Three Springs realm, into a high-stakes game he had no business being in.
Even more terrifying, the woman who had opened Seven Springs was an Aberrant Humanoid, her combat prowess surpassing that of ordinary mortals at the same level.
Li Weiyi said, "If one of us flee outside, one of us will survive here. If both of us hide here, both of us will die together."
Li Ling stared into Li Weiyi's eyes and shook her head: "I am a Netherlight Guide, blessed with a unique sense of fortune and misfortune. I can lead the coffin-bearing procession through the Domain of the Death Spirits Mist, navigating the correct path to and fro. While I'm here with you, I sense a glimmer of hope."
"I think your excuse is far-fetched," Li Weiyi said, completely disbelieving her mystical claims, "You followed me to Burial Immortal Town. You can't possibly have good intentions, can you?"
Li Ling knew that no matter what she said now, he wouldn't believe her.
She stopped trying to explain, "Yes, I planned to drag you down with me. But aren't we in the same boat now? Only by surviving this crisis will you have a chance to retaliate, right?"
So she wasn't even pretending anymore?
Li Weiyi knew that over thirty Martial-Mystic experts were currently surrounding the area, blocking all escape routes. They were trapped in a desperate situation.
Shi Jiuzhai's two disciples wouldn't care whether he was wronged or not. No living creature would leave Burial Immortal Town tonight.
Li Ling, worried that Li Weiyi might lose control and fight her to the death, finally explained again, "You underestimate the perception of Seven Springs Martial-Mystic experts. If I can find your location, she certainly can too. Besides, she's a Canine Aberrant Humanoid with a keen sense of smell. Do you really think she doesn't know where you're hiding?"
"If I die or escape, she'll come after you first."
"By my escaping here, you actually have a chance of survival."
Li Weiyi didn't want to argue with her for now.
This girl was sharp-tongued and more rational than many adults.
He asked, "Were you really hit by her Flying Needle?"
Li Ling's delicate, innocent face turned somber: "Fortunately, only one needle hit me."
Li Weiyi said, "Then while your body hasn't completely petrified and stiffened, let's split up and fight our way out, seizing this slim chance of survival."
Li Ling stared intently at Li Weiyi.
"What's wrong?"
"Cunning!"
"How am I being cunning?" Li Weiyi asked.
Li Ling said, "If we break out now, all the bandits will definitely focus on me, giving you a chance to slip away."
Li Weiyi hadn't even considered that approach, but he had to admit... she had a point. Her plan was meticulously thought out.
"It's a death trap either way. If we strike now, we still have a fighting chance," Li Weiyi said.
Li Ling leveled with him: "The Stone Toxin in the Flying Needle is very mild. I've already taken a Secret Medicine to suppress it temporarily. But the people outside don't know that. If we let them break in and catch them off guard, wouldn't our chances of success be much higher?"
Li Weiyi found himself increasingly wary of this girl's cunning. He'd need to be extra cautious around her in the future.
He said, "Once I unleash my full power, the Stone Toxin will spread rapidly. Before that happens, I'll do everything I can to severely injure or kill the two most powerful Martial-Mystic Cultivators. The rest are yours. After we escape, my body will turn rigid and petrified. You'll need to carry me back to the Cangli Tribe."
"Do you really think I'd do that?" Li Weiyi asked.
Li Ling replied, "If you take me back, I'll offer myself to you."
What a load of bull...
Does she even believe that herself?
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END OF CHAPTER
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