Chapter 498 - 13: Qianhuan Immortal Mansion

Fang Cheng and Li Huan left the Gloomy Valley. They silently made their way over the Illusory Sun Sea, heading toward the site of the ongoing battle.

Before long, they saw a brilliant light flaring like a flame on the horizon, illuminating half the sky.

Within the glow, a magnificent, colossal Immortal City seemed to hover. Resplendent palaces and pavilions sat nestled within it, creating a scene of majestic grandeur.

Outside the Immortal City, over a dozen Life Soul Cultivators were locked in a chaotic melee, fighting with fierce desperation.

"Those are Demon Cultivators from the Chaotic Heaven Dao and Cultivators from the Middle-Aged Noble Huang Family."

Li Huan said softly, her beautiful eyes gazing down at the scene.

It seemed the group of Cultivators was unable to enter the Immortal City for the time being, and a dispute had erupted, leading to the brawl.

The two stood high in the heavens. Fang Cheng had used the Void God Gu to conceal their presence, so not a single one of the numerous Life Soul Cultivators below noticed them.

Fang Cheng remained silent, his gaze fixed on the Immortal City shrouded in brilliant light. A hint of surprise touched his features.

He saw that the Immortal City was deserted. Its palaces, towers, and pavilions seemed to constantly split apart and transform, appearing both real and illusory in a display of endless mystery.

Within his Divine Sense’s perception, only one Immortal Mansion inside the city was real. All the others were mere phantoms!

And yet, these phantoms of Immortal Mansions combined to form the city itself, creating an ever-changing Sealing Array. Judging from the faint aura it emitted, its power was in no way inferior to the All Heaven Stars Formation.

"So, a Tier Five Immortal Mansion... I didn’t expect a treasure like this to appear before the Feathered Immortal Tree has even shown itself."

Fang Cheng remarked coolly.

Li Huan blinked her lovely eyes. "Now that you mention it, Lord, I do recall something. It’s said that over a thousand years ago, a Tribulation Realm Loose Cultivator attempted to overcome his tribulation in the Illusory Sun Sea, but ultimately perished."

"That man was called Ascendant Qianhuan. This Immortal City before us seems to be a perfect match for his Lifebound Magical Artifact, the Qianhuan Immortal Mansion."

Fang Cheng nodded. ’Could it be,’ he wondered, ’that the imminent emergence of the Feathered Immortal Tree has stirred the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism, causing treasures like this to surface as well?’

He pointed to the Cultivators brawling below, signaling for Li Huan to disperse them.

Li Huan smiled faintly. She summoned a dazzling jade flask and, with a point of her slender finger, a jet-black, baleful light shot out from its mouth.

A Tier Four Dark Green Flood Dragon coiled through the air, instantly revealing its ten-thousand-foot-long body. It dove from the heavens and opened its mouth, spewing a torrent of poisonous fire that rained down upon the Cultivators locked in combat.

Sensing the danger, the Cultivators scattered like frightened animals. Two of the Noble Family Cultivators were too slow. The poisonous fire touched them, and they let out wretched screams as black flames engulfed their bodies, trailing thick smoke as they fled into the distance.

However, one of the Demon Cultivators from the Chaotic Heaven Dao, a late-stage Life Soul expert, defiantly summoned a brilliant purple Demonic Light to dispel the poisonous fire around him. With a flash of purple, he merged with his saber, transforming into a dazzling beam of blade light that slashed fiercely toward the Dark Green Flood Dragon.

Not to be outdone, the Dark Green Flood Dragon’s eyes flashed with ferocity. Brimming with hostile energy, it spat out a crystal orb that collided with the beam of saber light.

In an instant, the two were locked in a tangled struggle.

This Demon Cultivator was clearly no pushover. He wielded a Fourth-rank Magical Artifact, and his saber techniques were sharp and ferocious. With a demonic aura that pierced the sky, he battled the Tier Four Flood Dragon fiercely, holding his own completely.

He had clearly been hiding his true strength, nursing some ulterior motive. Unfortunately for him, Li Huan’s attack had thrown his plans into disarray, leaving him visibly flustered and enraged.

Seeing that her Dark Green Flood Dragon couldn’t finish him off quickly, Li Huan felt a slight loss of face. She plucked a golden hairpin from her hair and sent it flying with a flick of her finger.

The hairpin split into a thousand shimmering afterimages in mid-air, raining down on the Demon Cultivator like a brilliant, iridescent firework.

The man was startled, not having expected another person to be hiding in the void nearby. He hastily consolidated his saber light into a single beam and slashed viciously at a weak point in the shower of golden light.

BOOM!

The saber light disintegrated, revealing the Demon Cultivator’s figure.

Immediately after, the golden hairpin transformed into a slender streak of light. It flashed through the air, piercing his Protective Spiritual Light and his chest before exiting through his back.

The man plummeted into the sea below, clearly dead.

Li Huan reached out and magically retrieved the man’s Fourth-rank Demon Saber, handing it to Fang Cheng.

As Fang Cheng took the Demon Saber, a surge of demonic will flooded his sea of consciousness. An ancient voice roared in fury, "Who dares to kill my descendant?!"

The next moment.

This ferocious demonic will materialized into the image of an old man and brazenly attacked Fang Cheng’s divine soul.

Fang Cheng sneered. Buddha Light surged within his sea of consciousness, instantly suppressing and refining the demonic will.

"Let’s go."

He and Li Huan descended from the clouds, arriving at the edge of the Qianhuan Immortal Mansion’s brilliant aura.

With a wave of his sleeve, he sent the Mountain-Slaying Sword flying. It traced a light gash across the brilliant aura, splitting open a gap. He then flew inside, bringing Li Huan with him.

’An ordinary Life Soul Cultivator wouldn’t be able to get in...’

Fang Cheng’s mind raced. In other words, only those with a cultivation at the Dharma Aspect Realm or higher could enter the aura to compete for the Immortal Mansion.

At this moment, he and Li Huan stood suspended above thousands of Immortal Mansions. They watched as the mansions formed an unpredictable array, and both of them furrowed their brows.

The Tier Five Qianhuan Immortal Mansion could conjure a thousand illusory manors, forming an Immortal City Formation designed to trap and kill any who entered. It was a profound and mysterious design.

"We’ll have to test them one by one until we find the real Immortal Mansion."

For a moment, even Fang Cheng couldn’t distinguish the real Immortal Mansions from the fakes below.

He chose a nearby Immortal Mansion and entered. Inside, he found all the requisite palaces, pavilions, and towers, but they were completely empty.

He and Li Huan walked into the main hall at the center of the Immortal Mansion. In the middle of the hall stood a copper pillar, around which was a vividly lifelike relief carving of a ferocious Celestial Demon.

The instant they stepped into the hall, the Celestial Demon on the pillar came to life. It detached itself from the pillar and lunged at Fang Cheng.

ZING!

A sword light flashed through the hall.

A moment later, the Celestial Demon had been cleaved in two, its Spiritual Mechanism completely extinguished.

Li Huan, meanwhile, was examining the pillar. "This treasure should be one of the Demon-Subduing Copper Pillars refined by Ascendant Qianhuan," she said. "It’s a Fourth-rank Magical Artifact. If one could gather one hundred and eight of them, it would be possible to lay down the legendary Five-tiered Demon Suppression Array."

Fang Cheng collected the Demon-Subduing Copper Pillar without giving it a second glance. He walked straight out of the hall and headed for the adjacent Immortal Mansion.

Inside the central hall of that Immortal Mansion, he found, just as expected, another identical Demon-Subduing Copper Pillar.

And just like the first, a Tier Four Celestial Demon was sealed upon this one as well.

The moment they entered the hall, the Celestial Demon on the Demon-Subduing Copper Pillar came to life and attacked them.

As before, Fang Cheng settled the matter with a single sword strike, collected the Demon-Subduing Copper Pillar, and continued to the next Immortal Mansion.

Li Huan followed silently behind Fang Cheng, given no opportunity to even intervene.

These Celestial Demons were ferociously powerful. If she were to fight one, it would take her a considerable amount of time to kill it.

But for Fang Cheng, it was one kill per strike, as simple as breathing. The sight left Li Huan deeply astonished.

...