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Novel: [The Primordial Law]
Volume 4: [Shuangsheng Dao Sect (Twin Rice Sect)]
Chapter 131 (386): [Ancient Immortal Spring]
(131st of Volume 4)
Translator: Shadow Knight AK
Editor: Shadow Knight AK
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The courtyard outside the Imperial Temple fell silent.
From the distant altar, the chanting of drums and bells continued.
"Nonsense! This is all nonsense! The Mother-Child Spring is an Ancient Immortal Spring! If there was something wrong with it from the start, wouldn't the Grand Palace Mistress have known? Wouldn't the Transcendent Assembly have known?"
A female official from the Imperial Temple was the first to break down.
Her emotions were unstable because she had drunk from the Mother-Child Spring.
Another female official who had also drunk from the spring added, "This is a Demon Race plot! They're trying to sow panic and undermine morale just before the Western Territory war!"
Taishi Qingshi, with his keen insight, could discern the truth in Long Xiangcen's words.
His heart weighed a thousand catties as he walked over, his psychic power pressing down in waves.
He asked in a low voice, "Where did you get this information?"
Long Xiangcen, nearly driven to mental collapse under the Holy Spiritual Master's psychic pressure, stammered, "It was Luan Sheng Lin You... Zuo Ning of the Pale Moon Quarter fought the Ghost Mother and used psychic Technique to clear her mind. When Luan Sheng Lin You learned of this, he laughed and said it was useless. Then he said those words."
"He also mentioned the Six Thoughts Zen Temple at the time, implying the Mother-Child Spring had a deep connection to someone there... I really only know this much. I know nothing else..."
Tai Shi Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, "Since it only came from Luan Sheng Lin You, it may not be true. It's probably just alarmist talk."
Li Weiyi had been observing Tai Shi Qingshi's expression closely.
The Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices' eyes grew even more solemn, as if lost in deep thought.
Tai Shi Qingshi knew some details about the Six Thoughts Zen Temple. When Long Xiangcen mentioned the place, he was deeply shaken, already believing more than half of her story.
Straightening his official robe, he forced himself to remain calm and solemnly called out, "Eunuch Chen!"
"Your servant is here," the Eunuch Official who had delivered the earlier order at the tavern stepped forward and bowed.
Tai Shi Qingshi said, "I must go to the palace immediately. Until I return, the Imperial Temple is strictly entry only. Everyone must keep their mouths shut. If any information leaks, your entire clan will be punished. Give her the Mother-Child Spring!"
Tai Shi Yu watched Tai Shi Qingshi's hurried departure, his heart growing heavy. The old man was usually unflappable, but he had never seemed so flustered as he did now.
Even Tai Shi Yu could see that the old man was forcing himself to remain calm.
After being forced to drink the Mother-Child Spring, Long Xiangcen lay there, utterly defeated, like a stray dog abandoned on the ground.
This despair and terror were worse than death.
All the officials of the Imperial Temple felt a sense of impending doom. Their hearts heavy, they scattered in a flurry of activity.
Li Weiyi walked to Long Xiangcen's side and knelt down: "Dragon Immortal Maiden, you're an Inheritor-level Heaven's Chosen Daughter. Do you really have such poor mental fortitude? Does drinking from the Mother-Child Spring truly make life worse than death?"
Long Xiangcen's eyes cleared, and remembering Li Weiyi's abilities, she clutched at him like a lifeline.
"Save me... I'll agree to any condition you name..."
No matter how wise or insightful one may be, when a blade hangs over one's head, poised to fall at any moment, even the most resolute will crumble under the torment.
Li Weiyi asked, "A month ago, during the Jiazi Birthday Banquet at the West Sea Palace, what were you doing at the Six Thoughts Zen Temple?"
Tai Shi Yu, standing nearby, raised an eyebrow, clearly unaware of the matter.
Long Xiangcen replied, "It was Luan Sheng Lin You's idea. He wanted me to lure you to the Six Thoughts Zen Temple. We all knew that the Six Desires Dharma King and the Jiuzhai Dharma King were your people, serving the Jiu Li Clan."
Li Weiyi had suspected this when Shi Liuyu's attempt to capture her had failed, resulting in his ambush and severe injuries.
Only Long Xiangcen, who had known Shi Liuyu was following her all along, could have set the trap in advance.
If she knew someone was tailing her, why would she still go to the Six Thoughts Zen Temple?
There could only be one answer.
She had deliberately lured them there.
"What was the purpose of luring me there? Why were the Liang Clan and the heretical Martial-Mystic Cultivators with you? What exactly is hidden within the Six Thoughts Zen Temple? And what is the 'great gift' Luan Sheng Lin You spoke of?"
Li Weiyi fired off a series of questions.
Tai Shi Yu finally lost his patience and interjected, "Li Weiyi, how much do you actually know? How did the Liang Clan and the Heretical Sect even get involved?"
The Liang Clan was a Great Clan that had long been affiliated with the Tai Shi Clan.
Not only were they the leading family in Liang Province, but they also wielded significant influence within Lingxiao City's City Defense Camp.
"Don't worry, I'll explain everything in detail later," Li Weiyi replied.
Long Xiangcen said, "I know nothing about the Six Thoughts Zen Temple. My only role was to lead you there. As for the Liang Clan and the heretical Martial-Mystic Cultivators, I'm just as unfamiliar with them. If I were trying to deceive you, I could have easily concocted a perfect story to lure you to the monastery and leave you to die without a trace. You'll save me, won't you?"
Li Weiyi stood up, lost in thought. If Si Kong Jingyuan hadn't been secretly meeting with Long Xiangcen that night, what had he been doing?
Could a major figure from the Twin Rice Sect be hiding within the Temple?
Could the "great gift" Luan Sheng Lin You had mentioned be a trap to lure him to the Six Thoughts Zen Temple and kill him?
Li Weiyi couldn't reveal the truth about the Twin Rice Sect to Tai Shi Yu just yet, so he brushed the matter aside.
As for Lin An, the coachman who had driven Long Xiangcen that night, his name was on the list.
Li Weiyi was confident that Tai Shi Bai and Jiang Ning, leading the Imperial Court's elite forces, would capture him tonight.
Li Weiyi turned his gaze to the mutated Ghost Mother lying on the ground.
He released strands of Golden Crow Flame, which entered her body and began to refine her.
In the second half of the night, the Imperial Temple remained brightly lit.
Tai Shi Yu had been interrogating Long Xiangcen relentlessly, trying to extract more information.
Exhausted, he pulled Li Weiyi to the dining hall and ordered the imperial chefs to prepare a late-night snack.
"How's it going on your end?" he asked.
"Not optimistic," Li Weiyi replied, "I can only refine the ghostly energy from her Spiritual Qi. I can't do anything about the corpse decay affecting her blood and flesh."
Tai Shi Yu said, "For the corpse decay, we could consider immersing her in the Spiritual Stream Spring for purification."
"It's pointless if her consciousness doesn't recover," Li Weiyi countered, "Human consciousness is incredibly fragile. How could it withstand the torment of ghostly energy and corpse energy?"
Even Tang Wanzhou, with her formidable cultivation and mental fortitude, had suffered serious problems when her consciousness was interfered with.
How much more vulnerable were these Ghost Mothers?
This was the biggest flaw in soul-searching techniques.
The success rate of soul-searching was actually quite low.
Consciousness was as fragile as smoke or mist, shattering at the slightest touch. If the target's will was strong and they fiercely resisted, the soul-searching would fail.
Li Weiyi asked curiously, "What exactly is the Mother-Child Spring?"
Tai Shi Yu sighed: "I'm not even sure anymore! When the Grand Palace Mistress brought it back in those days, she said it was one of the Nine Springs cultivated by a peerless Ancient Immortal in the history of Yingzhou. It had flowed eternally since ancient times, connecting the inner and outer worlds and containing the spiritual power of Immortals. Drinking from it not only produced extraordinary offspring but also greatly benefited the mother."
"That's right. In those years, countless women drank from the Mother-Child Spring and conceived children. You must understand that with the Grand Palace Mistress's prestige at the time, countless people would have heeded her call and gone mad for it."
"These women and their families are scattered across the Twenty-Eight Provinces of Lingxiao, as well as throughout various government offices and the military."
"Now you see why the old man is acting like the sky is falling, right? If something goes wrong... no, it doesn't even need to go wrong. Just the news of this spreading would guarantee defeat in the Western Territory war, the Human Race's downfall, and the complete collapse of the Imperial Court!"
"All we can hope for now is that this is false information. Perhaps we can still come up with some way to stabilize public morale."
Li Weiyi frowned deeply: "Women in all Twenty-Eight Provinces drank from the Mother-Child Spring? Not just those in the Imperial Court?"
"Of course. The Xiaotian Edict hadn't been issued yet, and the world was still relatively peaceful. That's why I said the Human Race is doomed. No one, not the Zuoqiu Sect, the Snow Sword Tang Court, the Thundercloud Sect, the Zhu Sect, or the Jiu Li Clan, can escape this. It's just a matter of whether they're affected more or less. After all, the Mother-Child Spring in Lingxiao City must be consumed promptly." Tai Shi Yu explained.
After their late-night snack, Tai Shi Yu led Li Weiyi to the dungeon beneath the altar.
The dungeon was an inverted tower-shaped spiritual artifact crafted from black metal, covered in formation glyphs and runes, heavily guarded by a large force of powerful cultivators outside.
Descending the stone steps, the entire space was shrouded in a dense, inky black Ghost Mist, so thick it felt like entering the Netherworld Underworld. Only by using Spiritual Light to protect themselves could the two men keep the mist at bay.
The Ghost Mothers were imprisoned in various ways: some were locked in water cells, others chained to the stone walls with rune-etched chains.
All had bloodshot eyes and disheveled hair, moaning softly and contorted into grotesque, demonic visages.
The iron chains clattered as they clawed and snarled, their former elegance and beauty utterly gone.
Ghost Infants were confined in iron cages, some wailing, others roaring.
A group of Ghost Mothers imprisoned on the sixth level of the dungeon chased and hunted each other, then gathered to feast together - a scene of unspeakable horror.
It was impossible to imagine that just months ago, these women had been young and beautiful, each with their own thoughts and dreams, daughters of someone, sisters or younger siblings to others.
Evil and destruction had descended suddenly, bringing disaster to every family.
Li Weiyi and Tai Shi Yu were deeply depressed, their negative emotions overwhelming.
They quickly retreated, returning to the surface to finally take a breath.
"The Ghost Mothers and Ghost Infants have only recently emerged," Tai Shi Yu said.
"From scattered sightings at first, they've multiplied so rapidly that the Imperial Temple dungeon is nearly overflowing."
Tai Shi Yu asked again, "Well? Are you still hiding anything? Do you have a solution?"
"If I were a Holy Spiritual Master, I might have the confidence to face this unprecedented challenge. But with my current Psychic Power, I struggle to save even one person, let alone so many. It's like trying to put out a fire with a cup of water!"
Li Weiyi, a man of flesh and blood, was overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness and righteous indignation as he recalled the horrors he had witnessed in the prison.
He desperately wanted to climb to the top of the Phoenix Pavilion and drag out the World's Foremost, who had locked herself away, to make her witness the consequences of her actions.
But Li Weiyi was not one to give up easily. He was always filled with fighting spirit. No sooner had he uttered those disheartened words than he turned and returned to the dungeon, bringing out two Ghost Mothers who had recently undergone transformation and possessed relatively high cultivation levels.
He used Psychic Technique to purify their hearts and dispel evil, then began refining them with his Golden Crow Flame Spiritual Power.
So what if it was like trying to put out a fire with a cup of water?
Every life saved was a victory.
The next day, the morning sun rose.
Sunlight streamed into the Imperial Temple, filtering through the treetops and casting dappled shadows on the ground.
Jiang Ning, led by an Eunuch Official, approached from a distance.
Li Weiyi was still treating the Ghost Mothers.
Psychic Power consumption was immense in the Spirit Realm, and his face was etched with fatigue.
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END OF CHAPTER
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