Subscribe to the MTL WORLD (@mtlworld1) YouTube Channel.
***********************************
Novel: [The Primordial Law]
Volume 4: [Shuangsheng Dao Sect (Twin Rice Sect)]
Chapter 101 (356): [Demanding Justice]
(101st of Volume 4)
Translator: Shadow Knight AK
Editor: Shadow Knight AK
***********************************
The Southern Purity (Nanqing) Palace and its surrounding area trembled violently, the deafening sounds echoing through the air.
Elders and True Disciples from the Mortal Realm Layer emerged from their Prefectures, gazing distantly at the scene.
Days ago, rumors had spread that the Southern Venerable, known as the "Divine Sect's Most Beautiful Woman," had been confined by the Wither-Flourish (Kurong) Hall and forbidden from leaving the Southern Purity (Nanqing) Palace.
The title of "Most Beautiful Woman" had first been proclaimed by her Eldest Disciple, Li Weiyi, and gradually gained wider recognition.
The mid-to-upper-tier cultivators at the Main Hall all knew the Venerable Nan was in trouble.
Today, the formation had been breached, and a large force had surrounded the Southern Purity (Nanqing) Palace. It was clear that the matter had reached its conclusion.
Inside the Southern Purity (Nanqing) Palace's main hall, a grand structure with a hip-and-gable roof covered in azure tiles, Yao Qingxuan sat in the front row on the right side.
Knowing this day would inevitably come, she remained utterly calm, awaiting the storm.
The Hall Master and Vice Hall Master of the Wither-Flourish (Kurong) Hall were the first to enter.
A man and a woman, one with a Golden Pure Immortal Physique and the other with a Silver Pure Immortal Physique, both around fifty years old, radiated blinding light that split the azure tile palace into gold and silver halves, their aura overwhelmingly imposing.
They held authority over the Sect's punishments, rewards, Divine Prison, and laws, residing year-round on the third level of the Asura Layer.
They were the two figures most feared by all Twin Rice Sect disciples.
All disciples without Rice People bloodlines entering the Main Hall must first pass through the Wither-Flourish (Kurong) Hall.
Most human Martial-Mystic Cultivators who infiltrate the Main Hall meet a tragic end.
Only those who pass the scrutiny are allowed to proceed to the second layer of the Asura Layer for cultivation.
For pure human Martial-Mystic Cultivators to enter the Mortal Realm Layer of the Main Hall is as difficult as climbing to the heavens.
"So Hall Master An is also here," said the Vice Hall Master of the Wither-Flourish (Kurong) Hall.
An Xianjing had been in the Southern Purity (Nanqing) Palace for two days. She sat in the highest seat at the head of the hall, her fingers absently twirling prayer beads, her expression shifting between shadows and light.
"Perhaps I should yield this seat to Hall Master Si Kong?" she suggested.
The Hall Master of the Withered Flourish (Kurong) Hall responded in an icy tone, "There's no need. I'm here today merely to observe and apprehend. I hope Hall Master An will prioritize the Divine Sect's greater cause and not show favoritism or protection based on personal relationships. This matter is far too serious for us to take lightly."
With that, the two Hall Masters of the Wither-Flourish (Kurong) Hall took their seats on either side near the door, closing their eyes in meditation.
From beginning to end, they never glanced at Yao Qingxuan, clearly already having reached a verdict.
Vice Hall Master Chu Tianshu of the Heavenly Principles (Tianli) Hall entered the hall. The serpent head on his neck flicked a glance at Yao Qingxuan, hissed, and curled its lips into a malicious grin.
He bowed to An Xianjing and the Hall Master of the Withered Flourish (Kurong) Hall in turn before taking his seat directly across from Yao Qingxuan.
Immediately after, Great Zen Master Xin Ku appeared at the doorway.
He wore a purple kasaya and stood eight feet tall, his belly as large as a water vat.
When he saw An Xianjing seated at the head of the table, his eyes flickered, and he scurried aside like a mouse spotting a cat, too afraid to enter.
"Xin Ku!" An Xianjing called out.
Great Zen Master Xin Ku quickly stepped forward, bowing respectfully and kowtowing in a fawning manner: "Greetings, Martial Uncle."
Great Zen Master Xin Ku was the most ruthless of the three Great Zen Masters of Coffin Mountain, possessing both exceptional cultivation and talent.
In the Southern Territory, his infamy was second only to the Three Great Barbarian Bandits.
"What brings you here?" An Xianjing asked.
Great Zen Master Xin Ku cautiously reported, "I come on behalf of Master! Master has instructed me to bring Yao Qingxuan back to him - alive."
An Xianjing closed her eyes, resting in silence.
Great Zen Master Xin Ku remained frozen in a bow, unsure whether to advance or retreat.
He only retreated to the side when the Ancestor of the Sheng Clan arrived.
The Ancestor of the Sheng Clan was one of the four Great Powers of the Sui Sect and also Elder Qiu, one of the Seven Great Elders of the Southern Territory, responsible for affairs in Qiu Prefecture.
He was the protagonist of today's grand drama.
After entering the hall and bowing to each Hall Master in turn, he pulled a bloodied human from his Cosmic Pouch and dumped him onto the floor with a thud.
It was Qi Xiao!
He was unconscious, his breath barely a wisp.
The Ancestor of the Sheng Clan stood in the center of the hall, his gaze fixed on Yao Qingxuan, sharp as a sword.
"Southern Venerable, this man belongs to your Southern Purity (Nanqing) Palace, doesn't he? The forces I dispatched tracked him all the way to Qiu Prefecture, where they were completely wiped out. Why was he in Qiu Prefecture? What was he doing there? How do you explain this, Venerable?"
Yao Qingxuan glanced indifferently at Qi Xiao on the ground, refusing to be drawn into a cycle of self-justification.
"If you want to rise to power, do you have the strength to do so?"
The Ancestor of the Sheng Clan chuckled: "Just as I expected, you'd try to turn the tables. I have no interest in your position as Southern Venerable. Yao Qingxuan, we have irrefutable evidence. The only reason we're giving you a chance to explain yourself is because of your high rank and status. We'd prefer you confess voluntarily and redeem yourself, perhaps allowing you to die a swift death."
"Otherwise, your fate will be either imprisonment in the Divine Prison or exile to Coffin Mountain, where you'll be neither truly alive nor truly dead."
Yao Qingxuan had long prepared herself for this moment. She remained silent, not uttering another word.
From the moment the Hall Masters appeared together, her fate was sealed.
Seeing that things weren't unfolding as he'd anticipated - no heated arguments, no swords drawn - the Ancestor of the Sheng Clan hesitated, glancing covertly at An Xianjing above.
Realizing his one-man show wasn't working, the Vice Hall Master of the Heavenly Principles (Tianli) Hall broke the silence, "I have a vague impression of this boy. He seems to be from the Qi Clan of the Southern Territory. Could he have escaped back to Qiu Prefecture after leaking some crucial secret?"
"That's precisely what I fear most!" the Ancestor of the Sheng Clan replied.
"Have you interrogated him?" the Vice Hall Master of the Heavenly Principles (Tianli) Hall asked.
"We did, but he refused to speak, even under torture. We brought him back to have the Heaven Valley (Tianxia) Hall use the Soul-Seizing Technique to directly extract his memories," the Ancestor of the Sheng Clan said.
Only those who had cast Death Spirit Fire could perform the Soul-Seizing Technique.
If an outsider attempted it, the Death Spirit Fire within Qi Xiao would instantly ignite.
"If your men were wiped out, where did you capture him?" the Vice Hall Master of the Heavenly Principles (Tianli) Hall asked.
"That boy is incredibly cunning. Knowing the Death Spirit Fire within him would reveal his location, he hid in an Underground Immortal Mansion. If I hadn't intervened personally, it would have been difficult to track him down."
Seeing Yao Qingxuan's continued indifference, the Ancestor of the Sheng Clan couldn't help but say sternly, "Whether the secret has been leaked will be revealed shortly. Yao Qingxuan, you've always prided yourself on your exceptional intelligence. Since childhood, you've been the Southern Territory's top Heaven's Chosen Daughter, even deceiving Hall Master An. But you could never have dreamed that in my youth, I once met the young Zhou Bida among the Jiu Li Clan."
"He later joined the Jiu Li Hidden Sect, didn't he?"
"Li Weiyi is a Divine Hidden One of the Jiu Li Hidden Sect, and Li Songgu appeared at Southern Yan Pass around the same time. Therefore, you, too, are a member of the Jiu Li Hidden Sect!"
Yao Qingxuan's mind cleared.
The people of the Sui Sect had deliberately used Zhou Bida as bait to eliminate her, hoping to expose the Jiu Li Hidden Sect and wipe them out in one fell swoop.
The Sui Sect's ambition to seize Li Province had remained unchanged throughout history, passed down through generations.
Yao Qingxuan nodded slightly, sighing in admiration: "Impressive... I concede defeat in this game, completely and utterly! Yang Shenjing is indeed a seasoned strategist. I'm truly impressed. I have no choice but to admit it!"
All eyes in the hall turned to her, assuming she had confessed.
The Ancestor of the Sheng Clan waved his hand, his voice rising: "No, it's your Jiu Li Hidden Sect that's truly impressive! Jiang Xin is dead! The Divine Sect's centuries-long foundation at Southern Yan Pass has been destroyed by you!"
The Vice Hall Master of the Heavenly Principles (Tianli) Hall glanced at An Xianjing, seizing the opportunity to add insult to injury: "Jiang Xin was an Elder of the Divine Sect's Prefectural Prefecture, and that prefecture is also the location of our Main Hall. His death has had a devastating impact, and countless others are sure to be implicated. This crime alone warrants the death penalty."
"Furthermore, Southern Yan Pass is of utmost importance. Hundreds of lives lost - a massive blood debt."
Yao Qingxuan was astonished.
Logically, with Yang Shenjing personally orchestrating the operation and holding every advantage, the Jiu Li Hidden Sect should have been completely annihilated.
How had they managed to strike back from such a disadvantaged position?
Outside the hall, someone reported that the Elder from the Heaven Valley (Tianxia) Hall responsible for cultivating Death Spirit Fire had arrived.
The Ren Dao Elder entered the hall and released strands of Spirit Light Threads from his fingertips, entering Qi Xiao's seven orifices to search his soul spirit and memories.
After a moment, he bowed to Hall Master An and the Hall Master of the Withered Flourish (Kurong) Hall: "I have completed my investigation!"
The Vice Hall Master of the Heavenly Principles (Tianli) Hall asked with a smile, "Did he reveal any secrets?"
An Xianjing opened her eyes. As long as no secrets had been leaked, she could still speak on the matter.
But if any major secrets had indeed been revealed, she would have to avoid any involvement. Such a revelation would inevitably alarm the Rice Ancestor.
The Heaven Valley (Tianxia) Hall Elder turned to the Ancestor of the Sheng Clan, "Elder Qiu, did he have a letter on him?"
The Ancestor of the Sheng Clan looked down at Qi Xiao, whose spiritual artifact robes had been shredded to pieces.
"Even if he had a letter on him, it's been crushed to powder. In any case, I found no letter on him."
The Elder from the Heaven Valley (Tianxia) Hall nodded slightly. "Qi Xiao's Sea of Consciousness has been tampered with."
"What did you say?" the Ancestor of the Sheng Clan demanded in a low voice.
The Elder from the Heaven Valley (Tianxia) Hall replied, "A section of Qi Xiao's memory is missing. From the intact portions, it's clear he was carrying a letter from the Fourth Divine Son. The letter instructed him to return immediately to the Divine Sect's headquarters and inform the Southern Venerable if anything changed at Southern Yan Pass. Clearly, the Fourth Divine Son sensed danger before entering the pass and made preparations in advance."
"Shortly after leaving Southern Yan Pass, Qi Xiao was pursued by the Sect's top experts."
The Ancestor of the Sheng Clan detected a hint of doubt in the Elder's words: "You'd better not be spreading nonsense."
The Elder from the Heaven Valley (Tianxia) Hall, responsible for cultivating the Death Spirit Fire, naturally possessed formidable Psychic Power, making him a Holy Spiritual Master.
Unfazed by the Ancestor of the Sheng Clan's threat, he gestured for the Ancestor to investigate himself.
Simultaneously, An Xianjing and the Hall Master of the Withered Flourish (Kurong) Hall each sent out Spiritual Light Threads to probe Qi Xiao's mind.
Southern Purity (Nanqing) Palace had been sealed off days ago.
Yao Qingxuan had no access to outside intelligence and remained ignorant of the true situation at Southern Yan Pass.
Sensing a potential turning point, she decided to adopt a wait-and-see approach.
'What exactly is my Eldest Disciple plotting?' she wondered.
If even she had failed to grasp the peril at Southern Yan Pass, how could the boy have foreseen it?
An Xianjing retracted her Spiritual Light Threads: "Indeed, there is a missing letter in his Sea of Consciousness. Logically, if the three disciples had betrayed us, the Fourth Divine Son shouldn't have sent him back to the Main Hall. He should have been returned to the Qi Clan or the Zuoqiu Sect. How do we explain this?"
The Ancestor of the Sheng Clan replied, "The Zuoqiu Sect must have already received news and deliberately erased his memories, sending him back to cover up the truth. If I had done it, I would have wiped his memories clean. How could a trace of the letter remain? Consider this: if he truly wanted to return to the Main Hall, wouldn't it have been faster to go directly to the Ancestor Rice Temple? Why take the long way around, to the entrance of the Underground Immortal Mansion?"
The Vice Hall Master of the Heavenly Principles (Tianli) Hall agreed, "This is indeed strange and defies explanation."
The Elder from the Heaven Valley (Tianxia) Hall added, "Even using the Soul-Seizing Technique requires considerable time and a degree of luck. The Sea of Consciousness is incredibly fragile and easily becomes chaotic. Precisely targeting a specific memory is no simple feat."
The Ancestor of the Sheng Clan's eyes narrowed, suspecting the old man was deliberately opposing him.
He snorted coldly, "Hall Master Si Kong, Yao Qingxuan herself admitted to being a member of the Jiu Li Hidden Sect. Coupled with the irrefutable evidence from Southern Yan Pass, we should simply condemn her! Qi Xiao is nothing more than a decoy planted by the Jiu Li Hidden Sect."
"Elder Qiu, when did I ever admit to being a member of the Jiu Li Hidden Sect? I merely admire your methods. After all, You've gone to great lengths to deal with me," Yao Qingxuan retorted.
The Hall Master of the Withered Flourish (Kurong) Hall asked, "Southern Venerable, do you have anything else to say?"
Yao Qingxuan shook her head: "I know nothing about what's happening outside. My people returned to report to me, but they were beaten into living corpses. What more can I say?"
The Ancestor of the Sheng Clan pressed on, "Your Eldest Disciple destroyed all of the Divine Sect's holdings at Southern Yan Pass, leading to the deaths of countless Sect disciples. Do you think you can escape responsibility?"
Outside the Southern Purity (Nanqing) Palace, a commotion erupted.
Elder Xu's voice boomed from outside: "Get out of the way! I demand to see the Hall Master!"
"What's happening now?" the Ancestor of the Sheng Clan demanded, his voice filled with fury.
An Enforcement Team soldier rushed in to report, "Two Elders from the Spirit Valley (Linggu) Hall, Elder Xu and Elder Xu (Twin Rice People), have brought in a severely wounded person and demand to see Hall Master An."
"Who's blocking my people?" An Xianjing seethed, her anger barely contained.
The Enforcement Team soldier immediately prostrated himself in fear.
"Martial Uncle, don't be angry. This monk will bring them in," Great Zen Master Xin Ku said quickly, hurrying out.
Moments later, Elders Xu carried the severely wounded Tuoba Butuo to the Azure Tile Palace.
One of the elders reported, "Hall Master, it's Tuoba Butuo, a prodigy under the Fourth Divine Son. He claims to have urgent intelligence to report."
The other elder chuckled: "We found him in the Netherdark Swamp. The kid's tough - not a single piece of good flesh left on him, and one of his legs is broken. Yet he was still desperately swimming on the surface. If we hadn't found him, he definitely wouldn't have made it back."
The two elders had been in the Netherdark Swamp because Li Weiyi had previously exchanged a large quantity of scrap metal for a massive sum of Yongquan Coins at the Spirit Valley (Linggu) Hall.
Elder Xu had asked Li Weiyi about it, and Li Weiyi, without hesitation, had revealed the location of the treasure trove.
This was how they had stumbled upon Tuoba Butuo, who had just escaped from the Underground Immortal Mansion!
"Hall Master An... the Sui Sect has betrayed us... the Fourth Divine Son is dead..."
Tuoba Butuo's voice choked with sobs, his hair disheveled.
He was grievously injured, covered in countless wounds.
His abdomen had been ripped open, and more than a dozen bones were broken.
Tears streamed down his face, a truly pitiful sight.
He genuinely believed Li Weiyi was trapped at Southern Yan Pass, facing certain death.
Inside and outside the hall, everyone froze in stunned silence.
The Ancestor of the Sheng Clan was the first to react, roaring, "What did you say?"
His cultivation was profound, and his bellow carried immense psychic power. Tuoba Butuo's body went limp, and he collapsed backward.
"Old Ghost Sheng, are you trying to silence him right in front of this Venerable One?"
With a resounding crash, Yao Qingxuan slammed her palm onto the chair, shattering it, and stood up abruptly.
She didn't know what Li Weiyi had planned, but she knew that stirring up chaos was their only chance of survival.
Tuoba Butuo was revived. Trembling, he retrieved a blood-stained letter, wrapped in layers of animal hide, from his Ancestral Field.
"What is this?" Yao Qingxuan took it.
Tuoba Butuo's expression was defeated as he wept, "I don't know... Brother Weiyi... the Fourth Divine Son told me to bring it back and give it to Hall Master An..."
The animal hide was sealed with special runes from the Spirit Valley (Linggu) Hall.
An Xianjing took the package, glanced at the Ancestor of the Sheng Clan, then broke the runes and retrieved two blood-stained letters.
The Ancestor of the Sheng Clan found it laughable, knowing this must be some trick by Li Weiyi.
But to dare frame the Sui Sect so brazenly was simply absurd.
_______________________
END OF CHAPTER
Subscribe to the MTL WORLD (@mtlworld1) YouTube Channel.
*************************************