Chapter 15 The Yearnings of the Native Demon Beasts

Within the Immortal Mansion world.

The thousand-zhang-tall Xiangliu demon god, gripping the warship with one hand, once again employed his escape technique and began flying toward the next branch hall.

"These native demon beasts." Shaoyan Nong gazed coldly into the distance. Of the five golden light pillars in the Immortal Mansion world, two were densely surrounded by soldier puppets. "Once I refine the entire Immortal Mansion, I will surely dispatch a great army from my clan to enslave these native demon beasts, making them fight for my Shaoyan clan for generations to come."

The native demon beasts of this Immortal Mansion world were quite powerful. Even if he refined the Immortal Mansion, Shaoyan Nong himself could not overcome these mighty demon beasts. However, behind him stood the even more formidable 'Shaoyan clan'.

"Senior apprentice-brother, do you think this young master Shaoyan can manage to refine the last two branch halls? I have my doubts. The demon beast forces in this Immortal Mansion world are simply too strong." Mu Zishuo transmitted.

"Don't underestimate Shaoyan Nong. He is one of the Four Young Masters of the Xia capital. Since he dares to accept the trial, he must have many tricks up his sleeve." Ji Ning transmitted back.

Swoosh!

Soon, Ji Ning and the others entered another new branch hall.

...

Among the towering wave soldier puppets, at the forefront was a silver-haired, feathered-robed middle-aged man with eyes like lightning and an exceedingly ethereal bearing. He was the most powerful and longest-living being in this Immortal Mansion world, 'Immortal Duohe'.

"Everyone, this is a moment that will decide the fate of all demon beasts in my Immortal Mansion world. I have no intention of encroaching upon or annexing you." Immortal Duohe gazed into the distance ahead, where waves upon waves of soldier puppets surged—these were the weaker demon beast factions of the Immortal Mansion world, all of whom had now been invited here.

The Immortal Mansion world was too small; gathering everyone together was quite easy.

"I can even swear a Heavenly Oath, willing to form an alliance with all of you to jointly deal with that demon god and those humans." Immortal Duohe said. "We must obtain the Immortal Mansion key. Once we have it... all the demon beasts in our Immortal Mansion world can journey to a broader world."

"Immortal Duohe, if you won't oppose us, what about the Wujiang clan?"

"Rest assured, Wu Sui will also swear a Heavenly Oath like me. At this point, why should we continue internal strife?"

Soon.

Because all the demon beasts shared a common belief—to journey to a broader world. Since they were all sincere and had no desire for internal conflict, one by one, the leaders swore Heavenly Oaths.

These scattered factions seemed weak, but when all gathered together, they were by no means inferior to the ten thousand demon beast soldier puppets led by Immortal Duohe.

"Wu Sui, your Wujiang clan is far stronger than my side. These demon beasts will stay with me to guard this place." Immortal Duohe said.

"Fine."

The proud Wujiang clan had always disdained allying with other demon beasts. Immortal Wu Sui immediately teleported back into his Yaksha soldier puppets.

...

Ji Ning and the others had no idea that the demon beasts outside the Immortal Mansion had already accomplished a miracle that had not occurred in the endless years since Immortal Wujiang's death—absolute unity!

Back then, the soldier puppets left by Immortal Wujiang were of two types: 'Wave soldier puppets' and 'Yaksha soldier puppets'.

The Wave soldier puppets were vast in number.

The Yaksha soldier puppets were elites, reserved for his own tribe, the Wujiang clan.

Now, under the leadership of 'Immortal Duohe', all the Wave soldier puppets had gathered under his command, forming a military force no less formidable than the Yaksha soldier puppets! These Wave soldier puppets heavily surrounded one golden light pillar, while the other Yaksha soldier puppets heavily surrounded another.

Swoosh.

Ji Ning and the others entered the hall, another super-massive hall nearly as vast as the 'Immortal Herb Hall'.

The hall was filled with densely packed corpses.

"Soldier puppet armor."

"Soldier puppet armor."

As soon as they entered, Ji Ning and the others were stunned by the sheer number of corpses, and then they noticed the soldier puppet armor.

Boom! The demon god Xiangliu Fang once again extended his two massive hands, and with an irresistible momentum, he grabbed two pieces of black-glowing, nearly translucent soldier puppet armor along with some magical artifacts from the corpses themselves. Both pieces of soldier puppet armor emitted powerful ripples; though not yet at the immortal level, they far surpassed the other soldier puppet armor.

After collecting those two pieces of soldier puppet armor and the magical artifacts, the demon god Xiangliu Fang stood beside Shaoyan Nong as if nothing had happened.

"This Xiangliu Fang..."

Ji Ning and the others were all helpless.

Without further ado, they each turned into streaks of light and began frantically collecting the treasures. The entire massive hall contained at least several hundred corpses, each equipped with soldier puppet armor. The power of these soldier puppet armors varied; some were suitable for the Zifu or Wanxiang stages, while others were suitable for the Yuan Shen stage.

"Those two black-glowing ones are probably soldier puppet armor worn by Sanxian or Earth Immortals." Ji Ning and the others thought to themselves.

Soon, Ji Ning and the others swept the entire hall clean.

The entire branch hall had no secret chambers, just this empty, massive hall.

Whoosh. The demon god Xiangliu Fang pointed into the distance, and a stream of black divine power landed directly on the distant hall wall. Three characters immediately appeared on the wall—'Soldier Puppet Hall'.

"It's the Soldier Puppet Hall." Shaoyan Nong laughed. "But Immortal Wujiang had too many soldier puppets, so most of them are outside in the Immortal Mansion world. Only a few are in this Soldier Puppet Hall... The two pieces of soldier puppet armor that Uncle Fang just collected are only at the 'Heaven-grade peak' level, far from the immortal level. If they were immortal-grade soldier puppet armor, they would have likely given birth to a 'spirit of the artifact'."

Ji Ning and the others understood that Shaoyan Nong was trying to console them.

The hall was spacious, with many tall pillars.

One of the pillars, coiled with a divine dragon, was the central hub of this branch hall that Shaoyan Nong had discovered. He sat cross-legged beneath the pillar and began to refine it.

Ji Ning and the others could only wait nearby.

"Senior apprentice-brother, impressive." Mu Zishuo sat cross-legged beside Ji Ning and chuckled. "Just now, with those several hundred soldier puppet corpses, each of us managed to grab some. But you, senior apprentice-brother, have two spirit beasts helping you, so it was like three people grabbing at once... Especially that Azure Skysnake; it darted through space at the fastest speed."

During the scramble for the soldier puppet corpses, the participants were mainly Ji Ning's group of five, Xue Hongyi, the Whitewater Hound, and Xiaoqing. Ji Ning, Uncle Bai, and Xiaoqing had taken three of the eight shares!

"Hmph, he got more soldier puppet armor too, but I have an immortal-grade magical artifact, which is better than a thousand or ten thousand pieces of soldier puppet armor." Xue Hongyi thought to himself, but dared not speak up.

"Right, right, Junior Apprentice-Brother Ji Ning, when we go to the next branch hall, you need to go easy on us." Cangjiang Zhenren laughed.

"Him, go easy?" Yu Wei laughed.

"It's not your fault for not having spirit beasts." Jiulian spoke up for Ji Ning.

Cangjiang Zhenren sighed. "Who wouldn't want a good spirit beast? If a Red-Scaled Flood Dragon were willing to submit, I'd certainly take it. Unfortunately, such divine beasts are impossible to encounter; the moment any trace appears, they're captured by superpowers like the Shaoyan clan. Even Junior Apprentice-Brother Ji Ning's Azure Skysnake—Azure Skysnakes are skilled at finding treasures and encountering adventures, but they're also extremely rare, and it's difficult to take one as a spirit beast."

"Azure Skysnake, come, pledge allegiance to me as your master." Mu Zishuo called out.

"You blockhead, worthy of being my master?" Xiaoqing, coiled around Ji Ning's arm, raised her serpentine head and spoke in human tongue, full of disdain.

"You Azure Skysnake, I am at least your master's fellow disciple." Mu Zishuo glared.

"I only recognize my master. You, go cool off somewhere." Xiaoqing was extremely proud.

"You—" Mu Zishuo was so angry he could only snort. "I won't argue with you, little snake."

He had never won a verbal spar with Xiaoqing.

Ji Ning smiled at the scene. In truth, reincarnated immortals like Yu Wei and Cangjiang Zhenren cultivated very quickly, so they rarely had spirit beasts. Because spirit beasts couldn't keep up with their cultivation speed! As for powerful divine beasts... they weren't so easy to obtain.

For example, a Red-Scaled Flood Dragon—they wanted one but couldn't get it.

Although the Azure Skysnake was weak in strength, it was skilled at encountering adventures and finding treasures, so most cultivators were willing to take one. Unfortunately, they were too rare. And Azure Skysnakes were also good at escaping.

As for the Whitewater Hound? Comparatively, it was somewhat inferior, as its main strength was its strong comprehension and intelligence. But for Ji Ning, the Whitewater Hound was his Uncle Bai, like a parent or elder. He had saved Ji Ning's mother and Ji Ning himself, and had always silently supported him.

However, Uncle Bai's achievements in formations were indeed high. This time, in the Immortal Mansion's Treasure Hall, it was mainly thanks to Uncle Bai.

...

Shaoyan Nong stood up. He had already refined the central hub of the Soldier Puppet Hall, but there was no smile on his face. Ji Ning and the others also had no smiles.

Because...

They had now refined three branch halls: the Treasure Hall, the Immortal Herb Hall, and the Soldier Puppet Hall. Only two branch halls remained. One of these two was heavily surrounded by 'Yaksha soldier puppets', and the other by 'Wave soldier puppets'. To enter, they had to fight. There was no way to avoid it!

Those terrifying demon beast soldier puppets had forced even the demon god Xiangliu Fang to flee. Ji Ning and the others knew that if they went to fight, they would likely be easily annihilated!

They were already at an absolute disadvantage against Xiangliu Fang, let alone against those soldier puppets.

The threat of death...

Made everyone's expression grim.

"Everyone." Shaoyan Nong's gaze swept over Ji Ning and the others. "I have the Immortal Mansion key. Anywhere within the Immortal Mansion, I can open a passage to leave at any time... If we truly encounter danger and cannot withstand it, I will lead everyone to immediately flee this Immortal Mansion. Rest assured, I am confident in our escape."

"But everyone must also be careful. I don't want any of you to be killed by those demon beasts later." Shaoyan Nong said calmly.

Ji Ning and the others all knew there was no turning back.

But when venturing into an Immortal's residence, no one expected it to be easy. Danger was normal. Each of them had life-saving measures, none of which had been used yet.

"Alright, let's set out." Shaoyan Nong gave the order.

...

The native demon beasts of the entire Immortal Mansion world were divided into two groups: one was the Wujiang clan's Yaksha soldier puppets, and the other was the Wave soldier puppets. They each surrounded one branch hall.

In the distant midair, a large ship appeared.

The ship pressed through the air, flying at high speed, heading directly toward the Wave soldier puppets led by Immortal Duohe.

"They're here."

"That demon god and those humans are here."

"Duohe, it's up to you." Immortal Wu Sui transmitted from afar.

The over twenty thousand demon beast soldier puppets led by Immortal Duohe formed an endless, towering wave, all gazing coldly at the large ship flying toward them.

...