Chapter 99: Governor Of Yan Province
“His body… are those gold veins?” Yao Yin asked.
Yin Twenty-Four’s pupils retracted, and he said coldly, “I’m afraid so. Otherwise, how could he, with Eight Springs Cultivation, defeat a Nine Springs Pure Immortal Body with Hundred Veins All Silver?”
Yao Yin said, “But I heard that being able to forge one or two gold veins is already an incredible achievement. He has one, two… countless…”
Li Weiyi suddenly burst out laughing, “I understand! We were attracted by that purple cordyceps, and thus mistakenly entered this Ash Region. But why could we see it in the spider cave? If I’m not mistaken, we must rely on it to go back.”
“It is the root and origin of everything!”
Illuminated by the gold veins on his body, the illusions in the Ash Region could not deceive Li Weiyi’s Heavenly Eye.
He found the correct location of the purple cordyceps, not in front, but behind him, next to a distant sand dune. It was likely several li away, but its purple glow could be seen from afar.
It was like a purple divine lamp, illuminating the depths of darkness.
“Let’s go, stay close behind me, don’t fall behind, and don’t be influenced by other mental illusions.”
Li Weiyi maintained the gold veins and the gold Heavenly Eye on his body. He glanced at Yin Er and Yao Yin, his expression froze, and he immediately withdrew his gaze, not daring to look a second time.
With one hand forming a finger seal and the other holding the Yellow Dragon Sword, he walked at the forefront, striding quickly towards the sand dune where the cordyceps was located.
After the three walked hundreds of meters, the wind suddenly picked up.
“Rustle!”
The wind blew up black sand and soil, and many sparks flew out from beneath the sand, emitting a scorching light, like an unburned bonfire. When the wind blew, the sand and soil, like ash, began to burn.
Not in one place, but appearing in large swathes.
Yao Yin said nervously, “I remember! Grandpa once said that in the Ash Region, the ash is just a superficial appearance, the most terrifying thing is the ember.”
“What ember?”
Li Weiyi dared not turn around.
This mind technique taught by the Spirit Tablet Master was too troublesome, difficult to control. The Mind Power Eye of other Great Mind Masters was not so wicked; how could it be possible to penetrate a veil perfectly?
Yao Yin’s footsteps suddenly stopped. He pointed at a burning sand dune in front with horror, and stammered, “Ember Spirit… humanoid Ember Spirits…”
Li Weiyi had already seen them. On the sand dune about a li away, six humanoid figures appeared.
They were of varying heights, some as tall as three to four meters, others as short as children. Their bodies were composed of what looked like burning ash, extremely bright in the wind, constantly emitting sparks.
They were too strange; they didn’t seem like living beings at all.
“They’re here… run!”
Li Weiyi gasped and immediately used the Qing Xu Cicada Escape Step, rushing towards the direction of the cordyceps at his fastest speed.
Behind him, Yin Er grabbed Yao Yin and, with the speed only a Five Seas Realm Martial Cultivator possessed, crossed several zhang in a single step.
The six Ember Spirits were extremely fast. As they charged, the sky was filled with sparks, like a rain of fire under the night sky. Their roars were not human at all, and the entire Ash Region was filled with sand and roaring winds.
Yin Er regretted it immensely. She shouldn’t have agreed to Li Weiyi’s request to bring Yao Yin here. Those six Ember Spirits were not something she could confront with her current cultivation; once encountered, how would this battle be fought?
“Clang clang!”
A deep bell sound rang out.
A giant camel, three to four meters tall, appeared out of nowhere on the ground. It was semi-corporeal, its head held high, its fur lustrous.
Li Weiyi sat on it bare-chested and extended a hand to her.
Yin Er took his hand, used the leverage, and then, with Yao Yin, landed on the camel’s back. She naturally had questions, but now was not the time to satisfy her curiosity.
Escaping this place was the immediate priority.
The sound of whistling filled her ears; the camel’s speed was even faster than some exotic beasts.
It seemed they would reach the sand dune where the cordyceps was located in just a few breaths.
“Roar!”
The largest Ember Spirit let out a long cry, then spat out a long dragon formed from sparks from its mouth. It slithered through the air, quickly catching up to the camel in front.
Yin Er stood up, drawing the magic energy from within her body and channeling it continuously into a mirror-shaped magic tool.
A bright beam of light shot out from the mirror’s surface and collided with the fire dragon.
“Boom!”
The fire dragon exploded, turning into a spectacular and dangerous rain of fire.
Li Weiyi struck out with a Ghost Flag, releasing Nether Mist, which blocked all the falling fire rain.
As they got closer to the cordyceps, Li Weiyi’s eyelids contracted. He then discovered that in front of them was a dry ancient riverbed, about a hundred meters wide, with a drop of seven to eight meters between the banks and the riverbed.
The cordyceps grew on a yellow mud ship stranded in the riverbed, its roots entwined with a skeleton’s head.
The camel stopped at the riverbank, and Li Weiyi dared not go any further.
The scene before him was too horrifying and felt wrong. He suspected he might have been deliberately lured here, trapped in the spider cave.
Yin Er’s gaze sharpened, “A dry great river in the Ash Region, that yellow mud ship… it doesn’t look normal at all. Are you sure we should go?”
Li Weiyi’s brow furrowed, and he looked back.
The roars of the six Ember Spirits continued, and they were rapidly catching up.
“I… I’ll try it, Grandpa said that the Ash Region and I were destined to have some kind of intersection…”
Yao Yin suddenly spoke.
She stood up on the camel’s back, facing backward, and then activated her special bloodline. A wave of cold air, so intense that it made Li Weiyi and Yin Twenty-Four’s skin ache, was released from her body.
“Pat pat!”
Yao Yin’s skin, pure and white as jade, let out the sound of dense ice cracking. Spreading from her fingertips and feet upwards, the rifts then covered her perfect and flawless beautiful face after reaching her slender neck.
The end of the rift was her pair of lapis lazuli eyes.
“Woosh—”
Her pupils, a cyan brilliance illuminated the darkness, faintly a clear cry rang out, and cold air surged towards the six Ash Spirits.
The six Ash Spirits that were chasing them stopped in unison, sensing the aura of their destiny nemesis, and then slowly retreated.
After holding on for a moment, blood flowed from Yao Yin’s pupils, and she slumped back onto the camel’s back, falling into Yin Twenty-Four’s arms.
Li Weiyi had just clearly felt an unusual demonic energy erupting from her body, somewhat surprised, and looked at Yin Twenty-Four.
“Don’t look at me! I only found out today that she still had such a move up her sleeve,” Yin Twenty-Four said, stroking the ice cracks on Yao Yin’s body. Seeing her eyes tightly shut and her breath faint, he was heartbroken.
Li Weiyi said, “You don’t even know this? Aren’t you her sister?”
“Eldest Cousin!”
Yin Twenty-Four corrected, his gaze then fell on the large, mud-colored ship stranded on the riverbed: “Her condition is very bad, she might not make it. Last time in the spider cave, her Ice Soul Cold Qi exploded, and you fed her a mouthful of Rou Cong Rong to keep her alive. I think we might not have other options…”
65 “No need to say more, I understand. Let’s go!”
Li Weiyi was not a person devoid of humanity.
Moreover, to leave this Ash Region, one must investigate that large, mud-yellow ship.
The camel leaped up and jumped onto the dry riverbed.
The riverbed was full of pebbles, with only a thin layer of black sand, finally giving a sense of secure footing.
The yellow mud great ship, approximately thirty meters long, only had a rough hull structure remaining, appearing extremely simple. Perhaps it had been stranded here for too long, its complex structure having rotted into mud.
Arriving beneath the ship, Li Weiyi put the camel into the Evil Camel Bell. He looked back and saw the six Ash Spirits standing on the opposite riverbank, watching him menacingly but not daring to enter the riverbed.
“I should not have been greedy. This world is stranger and more dangerous than I imagined.”
Li Weiyi sighed, then looked at Yin Twenty-Four, who was holding Yao Yin: “You all wait below, I’ll go scout ahead.”
“Is it useful? If you can’t escape, it’s still death.”
Yin Twenty-Four’s toes lightly touched the ground, and his figure leaped up, landing on the large yellow mud ship first.
Placing Yao Yin on the ground, she held the mirror-shaped magic tool and cautiously walked towards the skeleton at the bow of the ship. To be able to stand out and become a hidden person, Yin Twenty-Four naturally had a lot of courage, but at this moment, her back was getting colder and colder, and her head and feet were ice-cold.
Because the skeleton sitting here for who knows how many years, the purple official robe on its body, was surprisingly spotless, as if it were a newly changed garment.
Under the illumination of the purple radiance from the Cordyceps above his head, the Governor’s Official Robe shimmered with flowing light. The dragon and cloud patterns on the chest emblem were lifelike, the dragon form agile, soaring through clouds and mist.
Inside the official robe, only a skeleton remained, having died an unknown number of years ago.
Li Weiyi leaped onto the ship a step behind, looking towards the bow, and discovered Yin Twenty-Four was rummaging through the skeletons, completely fearless, and couldn’t help but admire him immensely.
“Any discoveries?”
Only after confirming there was no danger did Li Weiyi walk over.
Yin Twenty-Four reached into the embrace of the bone official robe and took out a golden imperial decree. As she opened it, one by one, magical texts appeared within. After reading carefully, she said, “As expected, he was a Governor, matching the pattern on the official robe’s insignia… This is his imperial decree document for taking office… Governor of Yan Prefecture…”
“Yan Prefecture was one of the Nine Prefectures governed by the Jiu Li tribe a thousand years ago, and it has long been swallowed by the Nether Realm of the Dead. Has he been dead for a thousand years? But why did he come here on a ship and die here?”
Li Weiyi looked at the winding and wide river channel, “Could it be that this ancient river can lead underground to Yan Prefecture?”
“There is this possibility.”
Yin Twenty-Four found the crucial information on the imperial decree: “Indeed, it is a person from a thousand years ago. The seal on the enfeoffment is Zen Sea Observing Mist, and it bears her Son of Heaven’s imperial seal.”
The words “Zen Sea Observing Mist” greatly stirred Li Weiyi’s heart, and he quickly stepped forward: “Let me see.”
After Yin Twenty-Four handed the imperial decree to Li Weiyi, she continued searching and found a square treasure box beneath the right hand of the skeleton. Her face immediately lit up with excitement: “This… this couldn’t be the legendary Governor’s Seal, could it?”
“Why get so excited? Can you take it to your post?” Li Weiyi closed the imperial decree and chuckled.
Since there was no danger, her mood naturally improved a lot.
Yin Twenty-Four said, “You truly don’t understand anything! The two most important treasures a Governor possesses to suppress a prefecture are the Governor’s Official Robe and the Governor’s Seal, both incredibly precious Magic Tools.”
“Governor’s official robes represent defense and speed. Look at the dragon on the insignia; legend says a dragon soul is sealed within it, serving as the governor’s mount. You must know, Zen Sea Observing Mist once slew a dragon, splitting its soul into three hundred parts, and refining them into three hundred sets of governor’s official robes.”
“The Governor’s Seal, however, is for leading offensives, capable of shaking mountains and moving peaks.”
“These three hundred sets of war weapons, a thousand years ago, made Lingxiao Palace’s rule as solid as a rock. Those Demon Kings and the Ten Million Gateways were all suppressed into dormancy. Not like the current Governors, each one like a clay figure, nobody takes them seriously.”
Li Weiyi immediately no longer underestimated him, and quickly stepped forward, saying extremely seriously: “Before entering the spider cave, you did say that everything inside belongs to me.”
“I only said that the Rou Cong Rong belongs to you, and I don’t want a single bit of the precious medicine.”
Yin Twenty-Four opened the treasure box containing the official seal. After taking out the seal, his joy vanished, and he sighed, “If it belongs to you, then it belongs to you. But the silver I owe you will now be settled!”
“Okay!”
Li Weiyi naturally knew this was a great deal, so he readily agreed.
Yin Twenty-Four’s scheme had succeeded, and he laughed, “I forgot to tell you, the Governor’s Official Robe and seal on him have fallen silent.”
“You must understand, before a Governor can take office each time, Zen Sea Observing Mist must personally activate these two treasures. Only then can they possess Battle Might. Once the term ends, the two treasures automatically fall silent and must be returned to the Imperial Court.”
“A thousand years ago, the reason why the Lingxiao Life Realm erupted into chaos and nearly all of the Three Hundred Prefectures fell was largely because Zen Sea Observing Mist disappeared. The Governors’ terms all ended consecutively, and their official robes and official seals lost their Might.”
“If the Governors still possessed the power of their official robes and official seals, they could have protected one or two hundred prefectures. It wouldn’t be like now, where only Twenty-eight Prefectures remain.”
“No backing out! Anyway, my debt of several hundred million copper coins is considered wiped clean!”
Li Weiyi’s mind raced, thinking of many things. Finally, he nodded, his gaze fixed on the Rou Cong Rong growing atop the bone. He wanted to know why it could project into the Spider Cave.
……
Seeking Monthly Tickets!
