Beast Taming: I Have an Immortal Mansion

’I’m not even twenty and I’ve already reached the threshold of Foundation Establishment. How am I still not a true genius in your eyes? Old ghost, what’s your story, anyway?’

Lou Yuan grumbled to himself as usual. Then, he closed his eyes and thought for a moment before saying:

"I can feel it. My Foundation Establishment Opportunity is still up ahead. It seems the Four-armed Demon Ape unintentionally drove me closer to it. As expected of fate’s design; there’s a profound reason for everything that happens."

"Alright, enough of that useless talk. Hurry up and rest, nurture your Magical Power, and get back to finding that Foundation Establishment Opportunity of yours. Sigh... back in my day, we didn’t need any ’Foundation Establishment Opportunity’ or ’Foundation Establishment Pill.’ We just charged straight through."

The White-haired Human-faced Spider crawled onto Lou Yuan’s head, waving its legs and tapping his scalp repeatedly. Exasperated, Lou Yuan snatched it, stuffed it into his sleeve, then centered his mind. Forming a Dharma Seal, he closed his eyes and focused his essence, completely concealing himself among the fallen leaves.

.....

The sun finally set. As the long-awaited twilight descended upon the wilderness, Lou Yuan’s eyes snapped open. He let out a long breath, maintained his Dharma Seal, and his figure flickered like a phantom. Under the cover of night, he moved stealthily in a specific direction.

Wary of the demonic beasts that roamed the area, he moved with extreme slowness. It wasn’t until an hour later that the thick scent of moisture reached him.

The view ahead suddenly opened up. Beyond the dense woods lay a great river, several miles wide. By now, the mist was starting to fade, and moonlight spilled across the water, giving it a cold sheen.

’Is this a tributary of the Lanjiang River from the Barbaric Wilderness? Then haven’t I gone hundreds of miles deep into the wilderness? I started from the part of the White Mountain Beast Taming Sect closest to the Barbaric Wilderness, traveled for dozens of miles, and then ran into the Miasma Forest. After being chased all this way by that Four-armed Demon Ape, I’ve ended up nearly crossing the Golden Wind Owl Bear Beast’s territory and am about to enter the domain of Awakening Lion Valley.’

’Could my Foundation Establishment Opportunity be inside Awakening Lion Valley?’

Lou Yuan’s expression soured at the sight of the river. But he had no other choice. For the sake of his Foundation Establishment Opportunity, he slipped from the bank into the water with a quiet splash. Like an agile Silverfish, he vanished with a single flick.

He swam in one breath to a calmer part of the river. Just as he reached a small sandbar in the middle of the water, he poked his head out to catch a breath.

The moment he broke the surface, a light chuckle sounded in his mind. "Well now, what a handsome young man!"

’Not good!’ Alarmed, Lou Yuan instinctively tried to dive back into the depths.

His thoughts raced. ’They spotted me first, but I only sensed their presence after they spoke. With such a massive gap in perception, I’d be no match for them in a fight.’

’What’s more, the old ghost didn’t give me any warning, which means this person’s cultivation realm must be far beyond my own. Out here in the wilderness and the Miasma Forest, in the dead of night... I can’t tell if they’re friend or foe. I can’t leave anything to chance; I have to get away from them immediately.’

His mind made up, Lou Yuan sank rapidly. The Dharma Seal in his hand shifted, summoning a pure current of water to shield his body. He hoped he could use the river to hide.

"Old ghost! What’s their realm? Who are they?"

Lou Yuan quickly sent a telepathic message to the Master of Ten Thousand Spiders in his sleeve, but the normally chattering arachnid was as silent as the grave, offering no response.

’Son of a bitch.’ Lou Yuan couldn’t help but curse his ally for turtling at such a critical moment. ’My Ten Directions Seal Technique is rather tricky. I hope it’s enough to counter whatever they try.’

But things rarely go as planned. Lou Yuan had only descended about thirty feet when the water around him twisted into tough ropes, binding him completely in the blink of an eye.

’A Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator? No, this is too exquisite, too effortless. A Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator couldn’t handle me this masterfully.’

’Still, it won’t be that easy to capture me.’

Faced with this crisis, Lou Yuan struggled, but he deliberately limited his display of strength to that of the Sixth-Layer Qi Cultivation. Only when the watery ropes began to pull him upward did he secretly form a Dharma Seal and erupt with power far beyond the Late-stage Qi Refining Perfect Realm, shattering his bonds.

"Oh? A little interesting."

Lou Yuan had already dived seventy or eighty feet deep, but the voice passed through the water and reached his ears as clearly as if whispered next to him, a testament to the Divine Techniques of the person on the bank.

The next moment, Lou Yuan froze. Just as the voice faded, he heard a sound like tearing silk. His gray robe had been split in two down his back, and the deep river water now flowed over his exposed skin, feeling colder than ever.

In the deep darkness, a finger, light as a silken veil, seemed to brush gently across his back.

His skin, hypersensitive from the cold, faithfully conveyed his sensations. Wherever the finger traced, the smooth muscles of his back twitched, proving this was far from a pleasant experience.

The chilling intent emanating from that finger was more bone-deep than the river’s cold, a clear warning not to try anything foolish.

But Lou Yuan knew when to pick his battles. Now that he was a fish on the chopping block, he accepted his fate, allowing the watery ropes to hoist him up.

With a short SPLASH, Lou Yuan was pulled from the river like a great fish on a line, dragged into the air by an unseen force.

River water dripped from his robes back to the surface with a continuous pitter-patter. Though soaked to the bone, Lou Yuan did not look pathetic. On the contrary, the wet clothes only accentuated the youth’s tall, well-built frame.

What a pity his fellow disciples from the Qingyuan Sect couldn’t see him now. This sight was reserved for a beautiful stranger.

That’s right. The one watching Lou Yuan with a faint smile from the shore of the Lake Heart Island was, indeed, a stunning beauty.

The woman on the shore was dressed in a rather conservative, black silk gown. She was a Female Cultivator who appeared to be in her twenties or thirties. Despite her modest attire, her figure was tall, full, and utterly alluring, and her face was bewitchingly beautiful.