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Novel: [The Primordial Law]
Volume 1: [Nether Realm of the Dead]
Chapter 21: [The Secret of the Stern]
(21st of Volume 1)
Translator: Shadow Knight AK
Editor: Shadow Knight AK
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Immortal Radiance, along with the mist, emanated from the ancient-style buildings at the stern.
However, a ten-meter-tall courtyard wall blocked the view, revealing only the tiled roofs of the buildings - red-gold glazed tiles and beams of flowing divine wood.
There were pavilions, palaces, ancient pagodas...
Between the towering courtyard wall, which resembled a city wall, the Nine-Tiered Ship Tower lay a hundred-meter-wide open deck.
Xie Jin, stripped of his earlier arrogance and swagger, sat on the first stone step of the bronze gate, clutching a steel pipe.
He glanced nervously toward the ship's tower passage every few moments, like a startled bird or a man seeing a snake in his cup.
Dozens of stone steps stretched behind him.
At the top of the steps stood the bronze gate leading into the courtyard. The gate was nearly ten meters tall, grand and imposing.
The left panel was carved with a myriad of lights, while the right panel depicted a starry sky like the River of Souls, its location unknown in the cosmos.
"Doctor Qi, how's the situation now?"
Spotting Qi Shanshan emerging from the passage, Xie Jin seized at the lifeline, his spirits slightly lifting. He hurried forward, anxiously asking, "Is it safe?"
Qi Shanshan brought good news: "Don't worry. Li Weiyi and the people from Laboratory 705 are locked in a mutual struggle. No one has the energy to deal with you right now."
"Excellent!"
Xie Jin's mind raced:"Let's plan this out. You poison the food, and I'll launch a sneak attack. We'll take down Li Weiyi, that bloodthirsty tyrant, along with everyone from Laboratory 705."
"Excellent. I was thinking the same thing."
Qi Shanshan produced a bag of food and handed it over, "You haven't eaten all day, have you? You look like you're about to collapse from hunger. It's getting cold; have a bite to tide you over."
Xie Jin was indeed starving, his stomach pressed against his spine. He wolfed down the food, his voice muffled as he spoke: "Li Weiyi must have swallowed a relic, which is why he's become so powerful. But no matter how strong he is, he's still flesh and blood. Poison - a deadly poison - will definitely kill him... Then... Ah... You... The food you gave me..."
A searing pain ripped through Xie Jin's abdomen, as if his stomach were filled with razor blades.
He could barely stand, staring at Qi Shanshan in disbelief.
Qi Shanshan took three steps back, her hands in her pockets, her gaze cold: "You said it yourself: poison the food, a deadly poison, made with the blood of the Black Dragon."
"Bitch! We lost so badly... It must have been because of you. You were in league with that pretty boy all along... Pfft..."
Xie Jin lunged toward Qi Shanshan, but after only three steps, he collapsed to the ground.
His body convulsed violently as he vomited bloody foam.
Before her very eyes, his skin began to blacken and fester.
Qi Shanshan walked over and gently kicked Xie Jin, confirming he was dead. She then muttered contemptuously to herself, "You were only half right. I wasn't in league with him before; I was genuinely trying to help you. But now..."
Qi Shanshan had allied with Xie Tianshu and the others because it was the only path she could see to survival at the time.
But she had never respected their character or abilities.
Especially after learning about Liu Ying's fate, she felt even more fortunate that Li Weiyi, the perfect partner, had appeared. He had both strength and looks, valued loyalty, was quick-witted and decisive, showed compassion to the weak, and was ruthless to his enemies.
She didn't want to be just Li Weiyi's partner.
She wanted to remove the word "partner" altogether.
But she knew she had missed her best chance to win Li Weiyi over. If she had foreseen today, she would have fought tooth and nail to snatch that bowl of fish soup from Cai Yutong's hands.
No longer dwelling on regret, Qi Shanshan dragged Xie Jin's corpse toward the ship's railing.
As long as she cleaned up the evidence here and prevented Li Weiyi from discovering anything amiss, she would sever all ties to the past.
In the future, there would be plenty of opportunities to take him down.
No matter how outstanding he was, he was still just a young man driven by youthful passion.
"Xie Jin probably never imagined that the most terrifying person on this ship wouldn't be me, but you."
Just as she had managed to drag Xie Jin's corpse to the railing, Li Weiyi's voice rang out. Even the usually composed Qi Shanshan was startled.
But in the brief moment it took her to stand up and smooth her disheveled hair, she had already formulated a response.
She asked calmly, "How long have you been here?"
"Since Xie Jin fell."
Li Weiyi's voice was steady as he stood in the ship's tower passageway, his posture tall and imposing.
The two were separated by over twenty meters.
"So, you just stood there and watched? Watched me clumsily and awkwardly drag the corpse like a penguin?" Qi Shanshan pouted, her voice laced with resentment.
She seemed oblivious to Li Weiyi's current anger, blind to the disappointment and heartache etched on his face.
Li Weiyi frowned, having no desire to engage in this "flirtatious banter."
This wasn't something that could be brushed off with a few clever remarks.
Li Weiyi stepped into the deck area shrouded in Immortal Radiance.
Four more research team members lay dead on the ground, surrounded by various chemical apparatus and drugs.
In a corner, the massive corpse of a bear-like creature lay rotting, its abdominal wound emitting a pungent stench. It was clear that the creature had died from its injuries on the day the Bronze Ship had crashed.
The Yellow Dragon Sword!
The wounds inflicted by the Yellow Dragon Sword couldn't heal, even for an Extraordinary creature.
Instead, the wounds would accelerate decomposition.
The four research team members' corpses were in various states of gruesome disrepair.
Some had burst skin, leaving only exposed flesh and bone. Others had half their bodies covered in scales while the other half was decaying. One had sprouted tentacles from its head, but its skull was shattered.
Li Weiyi said, "So, the legend of the four research team members who disappeared after investigating the stern was actually a cover for your live experiments! You spread that rumor and deliberately smeared the bear-like creature's blood near the ship's tower to scare everyone away, keeping all the research team members from coming here."
"That day, near the ship's tower, you must have been afraid Gao Huan and I would discover your secret at the stern, which is why you drove us away, right?"
"Xie Tianshu dared to drink the Black Dragon's blood only because he already had definitive experimental results from you."
"The reason everyone collapsed after breakfast was because you provided the drug to Kong Fan."
Li Weiyi stared intently into Qi Shanshan's eyes: "You're terrifying. You've played your role so well that there's not a single flaw in your lies. I almost fell for it!"
Qi Shanshan's eyes reddened, and she looked utterly wronged. Her voice choked with sobs: "I... I had no choice. You saw what happened to Liu Ying. If I hadn't taken action, it would have been me jumping off that building today. Only one person could be valuable enough to survive, to have a voice and status."
Li Weiyi said, "Doctor Qi, how many people have died because of you? If you hadn't provided them with the drug, they might not have succeeded."
Tears streamed down Qi Shanshan's face: "I'm not you. I don't have strength like you. I couldn't control my own fate. I could only choose to compromise. When Xie Jin held a knife to my throat, I had two choices: die or help him. Tell me, what would you have chosen?"
Li Weiyi no longer knew whether to believe her.
Qi Shanshan had helped him more than once, even saved his life.
But she was too clever, too skilled at lying, and too adept at weaving stories.
Every expression, every word she uttered, though seemingly delivered with genuine emotion, was undoubtedly carefully calculated.
Xie Tianshu, Kong Fan, and the others might very well be mere pawns in her game.
Because she surely had a way to kill them, just as she had killed Xie Jin.
"You saved me once, so I won't kill you this time. But someone will hold you accountable for what you've done," Li Weiyi said clearly, making it plain that he was only sparing her for now.
Qi Shanshan's eyes were filled with sorrow: "Did I only save you once?"
At that moment, Li Weiyi deeply understood the truth: one must never owe favors.
Tears streamed down Qi Shanshan's face as she continued, "Yes, I deserve to die. But I saved Yutong, I saved you. Even if the entire world condemns me, you have no right to utter the word 'death.' If you tell them now, they'll kill me instantly, just like those two Security Team members who were thrown into the Soul Sea."
"You won't kill me, but I'll die because of you."
Li Weiyi might not have pursued the deaths of others to the bitter end - after all, he wasn't some righteous judge.
Qi Shanshan bore some responsibility for Senior Brother's current state.
Li Weiyi said, "You're still useful, so I'll give you a chance. Help me heal Senior Brother, and then he can decide how to deal with you."
"But if Senior Brother doesn't make it through this, if anything happens to him, everyone will pay with their lives. Even the heavens won't show mercy!"
Li Weiyi carefully searched Qi Shanshan from head to toe, confirming she carried no dangerous items. He then asked, "Where is Senior Sister Cai?"
Qi Shanshan could never have imagined that the Li Weiyi she knew - so sunny, kind, and humble - could have such a terrifying gaze when mentioning Senior Brother just now.
The coldness in his eyes seemed to penetrate her bones.
In that moment, she truly understood how terrifying it was to offend Li Weiyi on a matter of principle.
If she hadn't done a few things right before, she would surely be dead by now.
Qi Shanshan led Li Weiyi toward the second floor of the Nine-Tiered Ship Tower.
"No one dares to come up here. It's safe. I hid her here so the chaos wouldn't reach her."
The passageway on the second floor of the ship's tower was still lined with stone figures.
Passing through the stone figures, they finally saw Cai Yutong lying on the ground.
"She's just been knocked unconscious by my spell. There's nothing serious..." Qi Shanshan realized something was wrong.
"Wait, why hasn't she woken up yet?"
"Senior Sister... Senior Sister Cai..."
Li Weiyi knelt down to check Cai Yutong's condition.
"So hot!"
The moment his hand touched Cai Yutong's forehead, Li Weiyi recoiled in shock. Her body was burning with an unnatural heat, far beyond normal human temperature.
"Let me see."
After checking the temperature on Cai Yutong's face, Qi Shanshan immediately began to remove her clothes. But then she paused, glancing at Li Weiyi.
Li Weiyi turned away.
However, he channeled the Scorching Qi Flow from the soles of his right foot, concentrating it in his ears.
After removing Cai Yutong's clothes, Qi Shanshan saw numerous golden veins beneath her skin, radiating from her heart and spreading throughout her body. They flowed with strands of golden light, like threads of flame.
"Didn't you say a tenth-strength dilution of Golden Crow Blood was safe for humans? Why has this sudden calamity occurred?" Qi Shanshan stared at the unconscious Cai Yutong, speaking as if to herself, her voice filled with confusion.
"Senior Sister drank the Golden Crow Blood?" Li Weiyi turned around to see, Cai Yutong's clothes already redressed.
Qi Shanshan nodded: "She believed that diluting the Golden Crow Blood would make it tolerable for a human body, so she used herself as an experiment. But her current temperature has already exceeded sixty degrees Celsius and is rising rapidly."
Suddenly remembering something, Qi Shanshan immediately took out the Cross Pendant and placed it around Cai Yutong's neck.
This Immortal Artifact had been Cai Yutong's first acquisition. Qi Shanshan had taken it from her after knocking her unconscious.
She believed the Cross Pendant might suppress the destructive power of the Golden Crow Blood, as Cai Yutong hadn't displayed such changes while wearing it.
It was similar to how the Black Dragon-like Aberration required the Dragon-Patterned Ring.
After the Cross Pendant was removed, the Golden Crow Blood's power had been unleashed, endangering Cai Yutong's life.
Fortunately, the blood had been diluted, allowing it to release its power slowly.
Otherwise, by the time she and Li Weiyi arrived, Cai Yutong might have already been reduced to ashes.
As Cai Yutong put on the Cross Pendant, her body temperature began to rise even faster.
Moments later, she was completely enveloped in golden flames.
Li Weiyi and Qi Shanshan dared not approach, retreating far away.
"How bizarre! These golden flames are scorching hot, yet her body remains completely unharmed."
The golden flames were blinding, but Li Weiyi could still make out Cai Yutong's intact form within the blaze. This was utterly baffling.
After all, she was just a mortal of flesh and blood.
"Whoosh!"
The golden flames suddenly erupted, and within the fiery sparks, a pair of dazzling, meter-long, radiant wings materialized - a magical transformation akin to a caterpillar breaking free from its cocoon to become a butterfly.
The two retreated even further, holding their breath and focusing their energy.
After burning for about fifteen minutes, the flames began to subside.
The light dimmed, and Cai Yutong's body, lying on the ground, gradually reappeared.
The outer layer of mortal shell cracked and peeled away, revealing skin so white it was dazzling.
"Um... why don't you go down first?" Qi Shanshan said cautiously.
Li Weiyi could tell something was wrong.
Although Cai Yutong hadn't turned to ash, the fabric of her clothes had turned to ashes.
Figuring Qi Shanshan wouldn't harm Cai Yutong, Li Weiyi descended the ladder and returned to the first-floor deck. The image of Cai Yutong feeding him fish soup flashed through his mind, warming his heart while also stirring a quiet worry.
Not long after...
Whispers drifted down from the second-floor ship's tower. Qi Shanshan was speaking, her voice low.
Li Weiyi's heart relaxed, and a smile tugged at his lips.
But he didn't go up.
He waited quietly below.
With his mind at ease, his gaze suddenly fell on the three-meter-tall bronze gate at the top of dozens of stone steps in the distance.
Curiosity piqued, as he walked over.
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END OF CHAPTER
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