Subscribe to the MTL WORLD (@mtlworld1) YouTube Channel.
***********************************
Novel: [The Primordial Law]
Volume 4: [Shuangsheng Dao Sect (Twin Rice Sect)]
Chapter 26 (281): [Entering the Underground Immortal Mansion]
(26th of Volume 4)
Translator: Shadow Knight AK
Editor: Shadow Knight AK
***********************************
Li Weiyi glanced at the Cocoon of Time, which had become extremely faint.
He immediately retracted the Dao Ancestor's Tai Chi Fish hovering above his head, left the Blood Mud Space, and returned to his room.
Peering through the cracks in the door and windows, he saw that dawn had broken.
Tuoba Butuo's voice sounded from outside: "Brother Weiyi, it's already chenshi (the time of the morning). We must depart at chenshi three quarters."
Li Weiyi put away his Formation Flags and replied.
As Tuoba Butuo's footsteps faded, Li Weiyi fell into deep thought: "Chenshi (the time of the morning)? How could that be possible?"
When he arrived at Qifeng Ancient Prefecture City last night, it was already late, with the sky completely dark.
After returning from Tang Wanzhou's tent, it must have been at least zishi (midnight).
"I spent no more than four hours in the Blood Mud Space."
"In the Calamity Fire Realm, refining a single Star Spiritual Pill takes at least three days. Even as a Spiritual Master, with my refining speed two or three times faster than before, it should still take at least a day. But I've clearly completely refined the Star Spiritual Pill I consumed... Where did the problem arise?"
"The Cocoon of Time?"
Li Weiyi turned his gaze inward to his Spiritual Realm.
Not only had his Spiritual Power Star fully recovered, but it had also grown larger and brighter.
Li Weiyi sighed deeply, temporarily suppressing his myriad questions. He stowed Little Seven in his Insect Pouch, donned his Governor's Official Robe beneath, layered the Blood Handprint Demon Armor as an inner garment, and finally draped the Second-Grade Hundred-Character Artifact Battle Armor he had stripped from Zuo Shi over it all.
He wrapped the Yellow Dragon Sword in black cloth and slung it over his back.
With everything prepared, he left his room, following the scent of meat to breakfast.
After eating, Li Weiyi met Tuoba Butuo and they went to the open space outside the camp to choose their mounts.
The Tuoba Clan of Tanzhou possessed unique expertise in the art of beast taming and husbandry.
Tuoba Butuo selected a two-meter-long Fire Fox for Li Weiyi, explaining, "The Fire Fox may not be as large as other Exotic Beasts, but it's the most practical in underground spaces. It's incredibly fast, and its reflexes, jumping ability, and danger awareness surpass those of the larger creatures."
"Of course, even with that, it's just a means of transportation. When we face real danger, we'll have to rely on ourselves."
In the open space outside the camp, Martial-Mystic Cultivators gradually gathered, none daring to be late.
They were all silent, most over sixty years old, though they appeared only in their forties or fifties.
Tang Wanzhou emerged from her tent, clad in black male attire with metal arm and leg guards. Her posture was ramrod straight, her bearing extraordinary, and spatial energy swirled around her.
After delivering a few words of instruction, she flipped onto the back of a three-meter-long Three-Tailed Snow Fox. Leading a party of thirty-seven riders, she set off in a grand procession toward the entrance of the Underground Immortal Mansion.
The thunderous hoofbeats kicked up clouds of dust, alerting the various Major Powers within Qifeng Ancient Prefecture City.
Every move of the Snow Sword Tang Court was watched by the entire world.
"That young lord of the Northern Territory is going to investigate the Eighth Path again. I wonder what she discovered inside to make her so persistent."
"Rumor has it that the Snow Sword Tang Court has already lost many top experts trying to penetrate deep into the Eighth Path."
"Previously, they only sent in small teams of no more than ten people. This time, they're sending a massive force packed with experts. Either they're extremely confident, or they're after something truly significant."
"Should we... follow them? Maybe we can snag some leftovers?"
The crowd stirred with excitement, placing immense faith in Tang Wanzhou, the young lord of the Snow Sword Tang Court.
Greed overcame reason, and they all began to follow.
Two identical old men, both short and thin with sickles tucked into their belts, appeared at the city gate. They exchanged a glance, their eyes gleaming with an eerie smile.
In the next instant, they vanished along with the blood-red sandstorm.
The desolate wilderness was covered only by dense mounds of graves and tombstones.
For the past six months, the ground had been trampled by countless Martial-Mystic Cultivators and Exotic Beasts, leaving not a blade of grass behind, resembling a barren desert.
A massive fissure, over a hundred miles long, stretched before Li Weiyi, plunging dozens of feet deep with sheer cliffs on either side. The sheer destructive power of the Transcendent battle that had created it was unimaginable.
Li Weiyi focused his senses.
He could still detect faint ripples of Transcendent power that hadn't completely dissipated.
"Boom!"
Tang Wanzhou was the first to stop at the edge of the chasm. Gazing at the seemingly endless fissure, his eyes shone with longing.
He said grandly, "Qilin Zhuang used a Supreme Spiritual Artifact to tear open the earth, his combat prowess unmatched even by the Lingxiao Sect's strongest. One day, I too will achieve such power, surpassing even him!"
"Let's go down!"
The thirty-eight riders descended to the bottom of the fissure and continued for dozens of miles.
Soon, massive stone structures began to appear in the earth.
Some were obelisk-shaped, inscribed with ancient characters. Others were stone pillars, stone gates, stone horses, stone tigers... The largest of these structures towered over a hundred feet tall, exuding an awe-inspiring aura.
Li Weiyi, who had never been to the Underground Immortal Mansion before, was deeply awestruck.
They were now nearly a hundred meters below the surface.
The architecture grew increasingly dense and regular, revealing stone steps and massive bronze beams.
These bronze beams were embedded in the earth and rock, covered in rust, ancient beyond measure, and scattered everywhere.
Beside him, Tuoba Butuo told Li Weiyi, "When this place was first discovered, there were countless jade pillars, azure glazed tiles, obsidian silver Buddha statues, and black iron niches... Everything of value has been looted!"
Along the way, they encountered Martial-Mystic Cultivators from various Major Powers, who all retreated upon seeing the Snow Sword Tang Court's team.
As they officially entered the underground realm, the light dimmed abruptly.
Each mount wore a fist-sized stone lantern around its neck, illuminating the passage.
Li Weiyi, Tuoba Butuo, and four other Spiritual Masters followed closely behind Tang Wanzhou, leading the way.
The outer perimeter of the Underground Immortal Mansion had long been cleared, so the atmosphere was relaxed, devoid of tension.
Li Weiyi's mind was still preoccupied with the strange events of the previous night: "Even if the Cocoon of Time is truly profound, it still requires immense Spiritual Power to weave. Otherwise, what's the point of it only lasting a day or two?"
"I've added 16,000 units of Spiritual Qi. Even if I go to the Tanggu Sea and refine it with the Fusang Divine Tree, it'll still take three months to fully cultivate the Sixth Sea before I can begin cultivating the Seventh Sea."
"If I activate the pale cyan fish eye in the Tanggu Sea, would the combined effect accelerate the process?"
"I need to raise my Spiritual Power as quickly as possible. Otherwise, each activation nearly shatters my Spiritual Power Star."
"Becoming a Two-Star Spiritual Master might allow me to maintain the Cocoon of Time for longer."
Thinking this, Li Weiyi pulled out a Star Spiritual Pill and swallowed it without regard for onlookers.
Even though his spiritual artifact battle armor concealed him, a brilliant light still surged from his skin.
"Little Friend Li, is that a Star Spiritual Pill you just consumed?"
An aged voice spoke from the side.
Li Weiyi turned to see Shan Ze, the Shanli Tribe's top Spiritual Master. His mount, a Jade-Eyed Golden Tiger brought from Li Prefecture, had been raised for sixty years and possessed combat power comparable to a Dao Seed Realm demonic beast, its aura incredibly powerful.
The Jiu Li Tribe members Li Weiyi knew - Hidden Lord, Li Songlin, Cang Li, Yin Jiu, Yao Xingyue, and others - were all straightforward and naturally held a fondness for Shan Ze.
There was nothing to hide.
Given the questioner's level of Spiritual Power cultivation, they must have some confidence in their assessment.
Li Weiyi asked, "Senior Shan Ze, do you know about the Star Spiritual Pill?"
A smile spread across the round, plump face of the old man Shan Ze.
"That's a fine thing, a high-grade spiritual pill. But the formula is held by the Imperial Court, and it can only be bought at exorbitant prices in the Nether Market or from the Imperial Court's transcendent clans. I hear a single Star Spiritual Pill can fetch as much as 110,000 to 120,000 Yongquan Coins."
"What? How much?"
Li Weiyi exclaimed, realizing he'd lost his composure. He quickly lowered his voice.
"That expensive?"
Shan Ze said, "It's a high-grade spiritual pill! With your cultivation as a One-Star Spiritual Master, just three pills would be enough to expand your Spiritual Power Star to its limit, giving you the conditions to advance to Two-Star Spiritual Master. For other One-Star Spiritual Masters, this process would take at least two or three years."
Li Weiyi felt a pang in his chest and slapped his thigh hard.
Back then, to cultivate the Nine Refinements of Calamity Fire, he had consumed nine Star Spiritual Pills, equivalent to a million Yongquan Coins.
No wonder his Spirit Tablet Master had said that using a high-grade spiritual pill to cultivate Calamity Fire was a severe waste.
What made him even more speechless was that last night, he had swallowed another Star Spiritual Pill to restore his Spiritual Power, wasting over a hundred thousand Yongquan Coins.
Excluding the one he had just consumed, he now had only nine Star Spiritual Pills left.
From now on, he had to use each one sparingly.
"Old Li has to pay up. Li Ling took eight pills, worth nearly a million," Li Weiyi thought to himself.
When Shan Ze announced that Li Weiyi was already a Spiritual Master, the team turned to stare at him in astonishment.
They all knew the ridiculous stories of how this Divine Hidden One of the Jiu Li Hidden Sect had been crippled. Who would have thought he would rise again and forge a new path in Spiritual Power?
No wonder he had risked traveling with them, the older generation. It must be for the Spirit Platform Blazing Star Stone fragment.
Shan Ze used Spiritual Power Transmission to sigh, "The Jiu Li Hidden Sect truly has immense power, able to obtain any cultivation resource. Little Friend Li, does your Hidden Sect have a Transcendent status?"
Though Li Weiyi had a favorable impression of Shan Ze, he didn't fully trust him.
Every Major Power inevitably had its share of good and bad.
Even the Zuoqiu Clan, which governed its household with Confucian-Daoist rites and laws, had produced treacherous and greedy individuals like Zuoqiu Cangwu and Zuoqiu Qingying. The Jiu Li Tribe, having long been heavily infiltrated, naturally required even greater caution.
Li Weiyi sighed: "I'm just a junior. How could I know such hidden secrets? Don't let the title 'Divine Hidden One' fool you. In reality, I've only met a few elders from the Hidden Sects. And as far as I know, the Jiu Li Hidden Sect has several Divine Hidden Ones. Li Jiufu and Li Jiao, who appeared at the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival, are both Hidden Ones."
The fact that Yin Jiu and Yin Shi Yi came from the Jiu Li Hidden Sect was not a secret.
Shan Ze nodded lightly: "Those two are indeed extraordinary. They truly deserve the title of Hidden Ones. Your Hidden Sects are far more impressive. Unlike the Nine Great Tribes, which have only produced one Cang Li in all these years."
.....
After walking through the underground tunnel for more than ten miles, the terrain gradually opened up.
Before them lay a magnificent palace complex, brightly illuminated by countless lamps. Though all valuables had been stripped away, the massive bronze walls, each weighing over ten million catties, still hinted at its former glory and prosperity.
The Formations in the main hall had been broken, allowing them to enter directly.
As their mounts entered the main hall, Li Weiyi immediately felt a powerful spatial fluctuation. The energy aura of the entire world shifted, and ancient Buddhist chants and hymns filled his ears.
A burning sensation surged through his chest.
Li Weiyi dared not take it out.
He could guess what it was: the Buddha's Relic on the Tai Chi Fish, sensing something, was likely emitting light and heat.
Forcing himself to remain calm, Li Weiyi asked, "Are we finally entering the Underground Immortal Mansion? Have we entered the legendary Wind Mansion of the Ancient Immortals, the Ancestral Court of the Ancient Bhagavata Sect?"
Tuoba Butuo nodded: "This is the main entrance hall, where the ancestral statue of the Bhagavata Buddha is enshrined. The entrances to over a hundred passages are scattered throughout the hall."
"Did you hear anything?" Li Weiyi asked.
Tuoba Butuo paused, listening carefully.
"Sounds of killing and fighting? That's normal. Whether entering or leaving the Underground Immortal Mansion, everyone must pass through this main entrance hall. Some arrogant old cultivators hide their identities and prey on Martial-Mystic Cultivators emerging from the mansion, seizing their treasures."
"Don't worry. When they see the Young Lord, they'll scatter like startled birds."
Li Weiyi wasn't referring to that.
He didn't press the matter further and followed Tang Wanzhou into the hall, which spanned several hectares.
The overwhelming grandeur of the space struck him deeply.
He had never seen such a structure.
A hundred-foot-tall statue of the Bhagavata Buddha Ancestor loomed before them like a towering mountain.
_______________________
END OF CHAPTER
Subscribe to the MTL WORLD (@mtlworld1) YouTube Channel.
***********************************