Beast Taming: I Have an Immortal Mansion

As the Earth Fire surged, mixed with the True Meaning of Destruction, the Cloud-Clawed Lizard could finally take no more. It burst from the ground, revealing itself from beneath the layers of soil.

Only now did the Cloud-Clawed Lizard realize that another Nascent Soul Cultivator had been lying in ambush.

Chu Hongshang had concealed her aura moments before, so the Cloud-Clawed Lizard hadn’t noticed her while it was fighting Yuan Duo.

A sense of agitation welled up within the Cloud-Clawed Lizard. It was suddenly consumed by rage, wanting nothing more than to fight the detestable human before it to the death.

But as it was about to clash with Yuan Duo again, the Cloud-Clawed Lizard suddenly came to its senses. It was filled with regret. ’Facing two Nascent Soul Cultivators, how could I have become so reckless and impulsive?’

’Shouldn’t I be trying to flee right now?’

But its aura was already locked down by Yuan Duo’s fist intent, making it difficult to use the same trick as before to escape.

With Chu Hongshang now having revealed herself, the Cloud-Clawed Lizard’s heart began to sink.

.....

Chu Hongshang remained hidden, watching from the sidelines as Yuan Duo unleashed her might. It wasn’t that she was unwilling to help, but that she was waiting for an opportune moment—one that was ideal for dealing with the Cloud-Clawed Lizard, and for herself.

The others didn’t know, but Chu Hongshang could faintly sense a strange aura mixed in with the chaotic Spiritual Qi of the area.

This aura didn’t belong to any of them—not to the ancient lizard beast, nor to the sharp-fisted Yuan Duo. It was from an unfamiliar fourth Nascent Soul Cultivator.

Ever since breaking through to the Mid-stage Nascent Soul realm, Chu Hongshang’s Divine Sense had become exceedingly sharp. It was nearly impossible for a cultivator of the same stage to hide from her senses.

Sensing the faintness of the other party’s aura, she knew this would be a difficult opponent. ’They must be here for me,’ Chu Hongshang thought. ’Gao Hetong, you really spared no expense.’

Regardless of what Chu Hongshang was thinking, the battle between Yuan Duo and the Cloud-Clawed Lizard grew increasingly perilous.

The Cloud-Clawed Lizard knew that if it didn’t seize the initiative and fight its way out now, its chances of survival would be slim once that mysterious fire-using Cultivator made her move.

And so, the Cloud-Clawed Lizard unleashed its signature Divine Technique: Cloud Rubbing Intent.

What did ’Cloud Rubbing’ mean? The term was generally used to describe the immense height of a mountain peak or temple, so tall it seemed to touch the heavens and brush against the clouds, suggesting something infinitely profound.

That the Cloud-Clawed Lizard had been given the ’Cloud Rubbing’ moniker by human Cultivators from the outside world was purely due to this Divine Technique.

Bathed in a bloody red light, the Cloud-Clawed Lizard’s body suddenly swelled to an unbelievable size. Its originally hundred-foot-long frame grew by more than half. Muscles rippled across the ancient beast’s body, and countless markings crisscrossed its skin like a collage of sutras and diagrams.

As the ancient beast’s body expanded, its vital energy and cultivation base surged without limit. In the blink of an eye, it broke past the threshold of the Mid-stage Nascent Soul realm and began advancing toward the Late-stage Nascent Soul.

The wound previously inflicted by Yuan Duo pulled taut, the flesh contracting until it no longer bled.

At this, Yuan Duo’s expression shifted. She could sense that her fist intent could no longer maintain its lock on the beast.

The vital energy of the now-engorged Cloud-Clawed Lizard was so abundant it seemed on the verge of combusting. It swiped a claw toward Yuan Duo’s fist, and wherever the force of the blow passed, the very earth was churned into a thin soup.

Yuan Duo knew she couldn’t dodge. Just as she had used her Fist Intent Domain to lock onto the beast, it was now using that very same connection to lock onto her.

In this situation, if she tried to flee, the connection between their domains would slow her Body Technique, and she would surely be crushed mid-escape. Rather than trying to react in that moment, she decided it was better to ready her fists and test the beast’s power now.

Staring at the Cloud-Clawed Lizard’s claw, which was larger than her entire body, Yuan Duo’s expression turned grave. She brought her hands up before her chest, one in front of the other, settling into a fist stance. There was something profound about this posture. The domain she had projected instantly retracted, solidifying as one. It felt like a reef polished by millennia of flowing water—stable and smooth, utterly unassailable. The only way to overcome it was to shatter it with overwhelming force.

Claw and fist collided in an instant, accompanied by a deafening roar. The Protective Spiritual Light surrounding the two combatants, each with Nascent Soul Battle Power, was like a flaky pastry. A thousand layers of iridescent light twisted and shattered, only for another thousand layers to rise up in their place.

A fierce wind howled, felling all the surrounding trees. Miles away, Fang Qingyuan and the others could feel the aftershocks of the collision.

The faces of the three onlookers changed. They were now viscerally experiencing the terrifying destructive power of Nascent Soul Cultivators. If such an attack were directed at them, neither Lechuan nor Situ Jingyu could imagine how they would survive.

Only Fang Qingyuan silently wondered, ’If I were to use my Black Tortoise Star Aspect, could I block that blow?’

Yuan Duo let out a muffled grunt as the vital energy in her body scattered. Ignoring her injuries, a thunderclap suddenly sounded above her head. A heavy, hammer-shaped Magical Artifact crashed down, aiming straight for the Cloud-Clawed Lizard’s skull.

This heavy hammer was a Magical Artifact that had been refined eighty-eight times, bringing it close to the fifteenth celestial layer. When it smashed down, it truly possessed the power to shatter mountains and pierce seas.

With one strike, no matter how powerful the Cloud-Clawed Lizard’s Protective Spiritual Light was, it struggled to hold and showed signs of collapsing.

The Cloud-Clawed Lizard roared, meeting the blow head-on with its claw. After activating the Cloud Rubbing Intent Divine Technique, the essence blood it had accumulated over a millennium began to burn away at an extremely rapid rate. Once that blood was gone, it would meet its end.

The Cloud-Clawed Lizard was now fighting for its very life. It blocked Yuan Duo’s Lifebound Magical Treasure with one claw and opened its cavernous, bloody maw. An intensely condensed aura began to brew within.

Seeing this, Yuan Duo had no intention of letting the Cloud-Clawed Lizard charge its attack. She took a deep breath, and the Magical Power in her body surged through the void, pouring into the heavy hammer.

In the next moment, layers of dark, glowing Talismans manifested on the heavy hammer. Its size remained unchanged, but its weight increased dozens of times over as it smashed down once more.

The void twisted and warped around the hammer. The flow of Spiritual Qi shifted violently, clashing and transforming into stacked layers of Talismans that descended one after another. The air boomed. With a single strike, the immense force smashed the Cloud-Clawed Lizard—a behemoth over a hundred feet long and weighing hundreds of tons—down, forcing it to grovel on the ground.

Yuan Duo was now fighting with ruthless abandon. Disregarding the drain on her Magical Power, she was determined to meet force with force, bringing the heavy hammer crashing down again and again.

Bombarded by the relentless strikes of the heavy hammer, more than half of the Cloud-Clawed Lizard’s body was soon buried in the earth. This wasn’t the beast using one of its techniques; it was purely the result of overwhelming external force.

The extreme impacts shattered the Cloud-Clawed Lizard’s Protective Spiritual Light. Chunks of flesh began to fly from its body, and even its bones started to break.

Seeing the Cloud-Clawed Lizard in such a miserable state, Fang Qingyuan felt a growing sense of unease. Yuan Duo’s explosive burst of power was clearly unsustainable. And while the Cloud-Clawed Lizard had taken damage, it was still far from being seriously wounded.

’At a time like this... Chu Hongshang, what are you doing?’

As if in answer to Fang Qingyuan’s thoughts, a flicker of flame appeared on the Cloud-Clawed Lizard’s torn flesh. The mangled meat and blood acted like the finest lamp oil; the moment the flame appeared, it instantly erupted into a raging inferno.

The Cloud-Clawed Lizard roared in pain, its body wreathed in flames, as it swiped its claws to defend itself. Yuan Duo gritted her teeth, her face flushed red, and directed her heavy hammer to smash down with all its might. Chu Hongshang’s figure appeared, her fiery red palace dress billowing in the wind. Reflected in her eyes, the Cloud-Clawed Lizard’s entire body was shrunk to the size of a pea.

This was the critical moment, and Fang Qingyuan could see it. He exchanged a glance with Lechuan, and both could see the delight in the other’s eyes.

If nothing unexpected happened, once the Cloud-Clawed Lizard was severely wounded by Chu Hongshang’s Divine Technique, it would be time for Lechuan to begin his Nascent Soul Transformation.

However, not two breaths later, the situation changed abruptly. An incredibly faint, blood-red Sword Shadow slashed silently toward Chu Hongshang’s back.

No one present, not even Chu Hongshang herself, detected the blood-red Sword Shadow. By the time she finally sensed its presence, it was too late.

The blood-red Sword Shadow sliced across Chu Hongshang’s back. Accompanied by the soft sound of tearing fabric, her fiery red palace gown was silently rent open, revealing a stunningly curved back as fair as jade.