Immortal Law Star

"Another magical artifact."

Yan Qingqing froze, finding it hard to believe. She had never encountered such a strange person before.

Li Ling was nearly speechless. She felt that Li Weiyi was deeply scheming. He clearly had the strength to contend with the two behind them, yet he had made her, an injured person struck by flying needles, stand at the front. And before her brother, he had even pretended to be a Three Springs martial cultivator.

"Don't let him escape. His cultivation isn't that high." Rather than becoming angry, Xing Wanxing grew excited.

That mysterious oddball's cultivation was not particularly high. He had likely opened only five Springs. If they captured him, they could obtain several magical artifacts.

The roar of water thundered ahead. They were about to rush out of Immortal Burial Town and reach the Dragon Slaying Pass waterfall.

Yet Li Weiyi suddenly stopped.

Beneath the Thousand-Year Apricot Tree in the direction of the eastern exit from town stood a tall, gaunt figure in a monk's robe.

Fang Tong, Shi Jiuzhai's seventh disciple, had his back to Li Weiyi and Li Ling as they arrived. His gaze rested on the giant silver bones within the Silver Coffin. Under the silver radiance, the shadow he cast across the street stretched all the way to Li Weiyi and Li Ling's feet.

Shi Jiuzhai's disciples were ranked not by age, but by the level of their cultivation.

Fang Tong's combat strength naturally surpassed Yan Qingqing's.

"Stars for a heart, silver for bones—the remains of the Silver Skeleton Celestial Clan. One such Otherworldly Coffin appeared in history before, stirring up twenty years of chaotic warfare. Countless cultivators who wished to claim it as their own died."

"If this coffin remains unopened, it is worth three hundred million. Once opened, its value is far more than a billion."

Fang Tong continued, "Logically speaking, since the silver skeleton is here, the Immortal Law Star located in its heart should also be inside the coffin. Which of you opened it?"

His voice was low, yet everyone in town could hear him clearly, displaying his profound mastery of magical power.

Xing Wanxing, who had caught up, was frightened by Fang Tong's words and immediately explained, "This has nothing to do with us! The Cangli Tribe had already opened it. The Immortal Law Star you mentioned must have been taken by them beforehand."

Fang Tong turned around, revealing a long donkey-like face. "It had better have nothing to do with you! For a treasure like an Immortal Law Star, not only Master, but even the Heavenly Kings would seize it at any cost. The entire Southern Realm will be shaken. I will report this matter truthfully."

Yan Qingqing said, "In any case, by the time I arrived, the coffin had already been opened."

Xing Wanxing cursed that bitch inwardly. She could clearly have testified for him, yet she chose to keep herself entirely out of it. Looking at Li Weiyi and Li Ling, he came up with an idea in his panic. "These two arrived at Immortal Burial Town before I did, and they have several magical artifacts on them. It's highly likely they took them from the coffin."

At last, Fang Tong's gaze fell upon Li Weiyi and Li Ling.

Li Ling was in terrible condition. All the light marks had withdrawn into the space between her brows. In a low voice, she said, "Whatever trump card you have left, use it quickly. This donkey-faced man is probably even harder to deal with than that auntie from the Dog-like Deformed Humanoid Race."

She did not hold out much hope.

If Xie Jin's strength truly was enough to handle a Seven Springs martial cultivator, why would he have been fleeing in such a sorry state all this time?

But as long as they could break through and rush toward the Dragon Slaying Pass waterfall, they would have a sliver of hope. The river beneath the waterfall ran directly to the Departed Spirit Mist Domain and the Blood Sea Coffin Dock. These people would surely not dare pursue them inside.

"Then there's only one last move left. I need to summon... a helper!"

Li Weiyi cut open his wrist with his sword and spilled blood onto the ground.

He truly had no other choice!

Li Ling, too, was at the end of her tether.

If it had only been Xing Wanxing and Yan Qingqing, they could still have fought desperately. But now an even stronger donkey-faced man had appeared. Perhaps only that absurdly powerful Guardian Wife could help him survive this ordeal.

"No matter whom you summon, it cannot change the fact that you will die today."

Holding a three-foot Soft Sword, Yan Qingqing shot forward.

Li Ling snorted. A ball of light emerged at the tip of her right index finger, and she slashed it through the air. At once, a several-meter-long arc of light flew out, forcing Yan Qingqing back.

On the other side, magical radiance appeared around Xing Wanxing's palms as he closed in on Li Weiyi.

Li Weiyi swung his sword in a slash, dazzling yellow light blazing forth.

How could Xing Wanxing dare receive a magical artifact with his bare palms? He hurriedly dodged aside.

With the boost to his movement speed from the Scripture Belt, the two actually fought back and forth for a short while.

Li Weiyi frowned deeply, doubting his own strength for the first time. Could I really cross three realms and stand toe-to-toe with a martial cultivator who has opened six Springs? But even a Pure Immortal Body can only cross one realm to suppress an opponent.

Li Weiyi swiftly cut off that thought. As a mortal who had cultivated for less than a month, how could he dare become swollen with arrogance?

Those who swelled with arrogance never came to a good end.

Seeing Yan Qingqing and Xing Wanxing fail to take down the two for so long, Fang Tong was about to act personally.

Then his pupils constricted.

The Blood Qi on the ground where Li Weiyi had spilled his blood earlier rapidly spread outward.

Smack!

A hand wrapped in ghostfire burst from the earth, followed by a head, torso, and legs... A middle-aged man with long, disheveled hair crawled up from underground. His entire body was shrouded in ghostfire, and a bloody, strange character marked his forehead.

Fang Tong's expression changed sharply. From the middle-aged man, he sensed fluctuations of power no weaker than his own. "He really summoned a powerful aberration!"

Smack!

Smack!

On the street, beside the Ancient Well, inside abandoned houses... hand after hand broke through the ground, and figure after figure wreathed in ghostfire crawled out, each bearing a strange character between the brows.

Every elder, child, man, and woman was immensely powerful, as though the entire Immortal Burial Town were awakening.

The Earth Wolf King Army soldiers were all struck dumb with terror. Yan Qingqing and Xing Wanxing were pale as ghosts as well. The sight before them was too magnificent—and too terrifying.

They had never heard of such an overbearing blood-sacrifice summoning technique!

"You summoned all of them? Didn't you say one..." Li Ling looked at Li Weiyi.

"Run, now!"

Li Weiyi was already completely baffled. This had nothing to do with him at all.

He suspected that Immortal Burial Town itself was abnormal. Its name, its location, the Giant Stone Statues within the town... Who knew whether some neither-dead-nor-alive things were buried beneath the ground to begin with?

The two rushed out of town, one after the other.

Rather than jumping down the waterfall, they charged down the steep slope of the Dragon Slaying Pass Dense Forest. They had just reached the bottom of the waterfall when a piercing whistle tore through the air, and a gray cloud of spiritual power blotted out the sky.

"It's Shi Jiuzhai." Feeling that familiar aura, Li Weiyi was so terrified his skull nearly flew off.

Without a second thought, he grabbed Li Ling and leaped into the raging Sui River. Holding their breath at the riverbed, they were swept downstream by the current.

A short while later, Shi Jiuzhai's peerless, arrogant figure appeared beside the pool beneath the waterfall.

Within his gray cloud of spiritual power were Fang Tong, Yan Qingqing, and Xing Wanxing. As for the other Earth Wolf King Army soldiers trapped in Immortal Burial Town, there had simply been no time to save them.

Shi Jiuzhai scratched his head and smacked his forehead, his headache worsening as he scolded, "Not one of you can stand on your own. You went to retrieve a coffin and still managed to botch it. If I hadn't arrived in time, would you all have been wiped out?"

Shi Jiuzhai had originally gone to capture Cangli, only to be ambushed by three armored chiefs of the Jiu Li Tribe and forced to flee in disgrace. Naturally, he would never mention even half a word of such humiliation before his disciples.

Yan Qingqing said in a trembling voice, "That mysterious man traveling with Li Ling is quite formidable..."

Before she could finish, Shi Jiuzhai said, "How formidable could he be? If he were truly that formidable, would you still be alive?"

Fang Tong said, "His true cultivation is only around Five Springs, but he carries many magical artifacts and hidden trump cards."

"Five Springs!"

Shi Jiuzhai was angered into laughter, then roared, "Why aren't you hurrying after them along the river? If you can't find them, don't come back. Stay here for the rest of your lives."

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

Yan Qingqing and Xing Wanxing had never seen their master fly into such a rage. They immediately headed downstream along the Sui River, hoping to intercept the pair before they escaped into the Departed Spirit Mist Domain.

Otherwise, no matter how perilous the Departed Spirit Mist Domain was, they could only grit their teeth and pursue them inside.

Fang Tong said, "Master, it isn't all bad news. An Immortal Law Star may have emerged from that Silver Coffin. If it isn't in those two's hands, then it is with the Cangli Tribe. This disciple believes the latter is more likely!"

"An Immortal Law Star!"

Shi Jiuzhai was moved. If it truly was that legendary thing, even he had no right to lay hands on it. He could only notify the Heavenly King at once. "It seems chaos in Lizhou is now inevitable. Though the Cangli Tribe obtained a treasure, they have also incurred the crime of extermination because of it."

"I must head back. I'll leave this place to you!"

Shi Jiuzhai tossed Fang Tong a necklace bearing a wolf fang four inches long.

"Take the Snow Wolf King with you. I want both of them alive. If you fail to capture them, even your master will find it difficult to plead for you before the Heavenly King."

This was a death order!

Fang Tong's expression changed, and he softly acknowledged it.

The Departed Spirit Mist Domain was only two hundred li wide, yet its vicious reputation was known far and wide. Not only were all kinds of departed spirits and Baleful Intent demons active within it, but thick fog shrouded it year-round. No matter how high one's cultivation, entering it could lead to getting lost.

The Sui River flowed through high mountain gorges to this place. Its River Channel widened, its current slowed, and it gradually vanished into the mist.

Dragging Li Ling along, Li Weiyi climbed onto the riverbank and looked up. As far as the eye could see, there was only dark, gloomy mist.

Only scattered pinpricks of light emitted by strange insects amid the shrubs and grass faintly illuminated the mist domain.

She had already passed out.

Li Weiyi lay prone on the ground and channeled the spiritual power of Three Springs into his right ear. Within one li, he heard no pursuing footsteps behind them. That gray cloud of spiritual power had definitely been Shi Jiuzhai in person. Had they jumped into the river even a little slower, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

"Phew!"

He let out a long breath, releasing the pressure that had been wound tight inside him.

After resting briefly, Li Weiyi looked at Li Ling, who lay on her back beside him.

He first checked her breathing, then examined the wound in her waist and abdomen where Yan Qingqing's Soft Sword had stabbed her. Only after confirming that her life was not in danger did he leave her on the bank and head alone toward the Sea of Blood.

The Earth Wolf King Army people probably would not dare enter the Departed Spirit Mist Domain anyway. He had already done all that duty and compassion required.

Behind him, Li Ling suddenly sat up. "Hey, you're really just leaving like that? You truly don't care whether I live or die?"

"Do all women love acting this much?"

Li Weiyi instantly realized that she had been feigning unconsciousness all along. He added, "If I didn't care whether you lived or died, I wouldn't have dragged you ashore. Had it been someone else, they might have killed you in the water already."

Of course Li Ling knew why Li Weiyi was being so cold and heartless. "You weren't acting? You didn't lie? Why do you think I followed you all this way? The root of it was that you lied in front of my brother—and you didn't fool these sharp eyes of mine. You little actor, you liar, and you still have the nerve to talk about me? Aren't you exactly the same?"

Only now did she show a little of what a young girl ought to be like.

But the contrast was far too great.

It seemed as though two people lived inside her. Li Weiyi had that feeling.

For Gao Huan, who had gone to Jiu Li Dao Academy, and for the Research Team Members, who needed somewhere to settle, he said, "I mean no harm. I only want to find a place where my displaced companions can put down roots and make a life for themselves."

Li Ling rose to her feet, soaked through from head to toe, her clothes clinging tightly to her. She walked over with a smug sway and laughed. "You're not very good at lying, are you? But I am, which means I'm also good at seeing through liars. A Spirit Sense Master's perception is exceedingly subtle. Back at Jujube Plum Manor in Yao Pass, there wasn't much truth in anything you said."

"I mean no harm," Li Weiyi stressed again.

Li Ling nodded and smiled faintly. "I can believe now that you mean no harm, because you... you're a decent person. But back in Yao Pass, how was this young lady supposed to trust a stranger like you?"

"So you pretended to faint just now to test me?" Li Weiyi asked.