Beast Taming: I Have an Immortal Mansion

As the saying goes, "Endless leaves fall rustling down; the unending river comes rolling on." When ten thousand giant trees, manifested by the grand array’s Magical Power, rained down upon the Pill Alliance’s position, the shocking scene was enough to render the onlookers speechless—let alone the Pill Alliance Cultivators inside the array, waiting for the giant trees to fall.

The Spirit Wood Alliance had chosen an orthodox Wood Element Array, while the Pill Alliance, in order to counter them, had chosen an Anti-Five Elements Array.

As the giant trees smashed down, a massive, thick Protective Shield appeared above the Pill Alliance’s position, firmly blocking all of them.

The moment the giant trees made contact with the Pill Alliance’s formation, they began to shatter. The process looked slow yet was incredibly swift, and the aftershocks from the clash were powerful enough to ripple out for over a dozen miles.

Consequently, the ambient aura and Spiritual Power throughout the area grew violent.

Then, the Golden Armor Music Puppets strode forward, their steps shaking the very earth as they charged toward the enemy. The Pill Alliance, for their part, released corresponding puppets and drove their War Beasts to assault the enemy formation.

After a short time, the great battle escalated to a fever pitch. High above on a Spiritual Boat, ten thousand meters in the air, Fang Qingyuan watched the two armies clash. ’Ancient mortal warfare must have been just like this,’ he thought.

Except this was a battle between Cultivators, and the lethality far surpassed that of mortals.

Beside him, Mei Susu watched with rapt attention, but Fang Qingyuan’s mind began to wander after only a short while.

’Could the arts of war from my past life be replicated in this world?’

’Not a direct, mechanical copy, but an adaptation of the core principles. After all, the art of war is universal.’

’Replace drone swarms with insect beasts? Precision-guided munitions with suicidal Spirit Beasts?’

Many such ideas flashed through Fang Qingyuan’s mind. Verifying them would require a great deal of resources, but the thoughts had now taken root.

It was a seed, now planted deep in Fang Qingyuan’s mind.

The battle below raged on intermittently for over two months. As expected, the Pill Alliance’s strength was no match for the Spirit Wood Alliance, and they were at a severe disadvantage when it came to high-level combatants.

In the end, the Pill Alliance retreated step by step, leaving over a thousand corpses behind. They eventually fell back to their own sect gates, gathering all their important personnel inside and refusing to come out.

The Pill Alliance was based on Silver Elephant Mountain, originally the lair of the Divinity Transformation Ancient Beast Silver Elephant. It was a Fourth-rank Spiritual Land with a Spirit Vein rich in Spiritual Qi, which made the array the Pill Alliance had deployed exceedingly difficult to break. Even after half a month of relentless bombardment, the Spirit Wood Alliance saw no hope of breaching it.

The Pill Alliance had lost this war. They originally wanted to prove their strength to the outside world, but they never imagined the battle would end with them losing the very shirts off their backs.

The Spirit Wood Alliance’s forces rampaged through and plundered the Pill Alliance’s territory for three months before finally withdrawing. During this time, many of the smaller sects and families affiliated with the Pill Alliance suffered heavy losses. Only the Han Family seemed to have avoided any significant damage.

After the battle, the Spirit Wood Alliance had once again confirmed its status. The captured spoils of war flooded the market, causing prices in the Southern White Mountain region to drop significantly for a short time. The Qingyuan Sect took this opportunity to use its Spirit Stone reserves to acquire many valuable items.

It was rather amusing; the previous owners of these Spirit Stones had been the Pill Alliance itself. Now, the Qingyuan Sect was using them to buy spoils of war originating from Pill Alliance territory. The irony was palpable.

After the war ended, Fang Qingyuan first went to the White Mountain Beast Taming Sect to find Lechuan. The two looked at each other without a word, sighed, and then put the matter behind them. The War Beasts that had been rented out were now counted as combat losses for the White Mountain Beast Taming Sect.

The Pill Alliance had been a disappointment, and there was nothing either of them could do about it. Fortunately, Fang Qingyuan hadn’t listened to Han Ping’s request; otherwise, he too would have had a hard time extricating himself.

"Qingyuan, I’ve already found the Core Formation Spiritual Land you need. It’s a Fourth-grade Lower Grade Spirit Land located at Zongshan. The Peak Master there is from the Hu Family, who have been friends with my Le Family for generations. He’s agreed to let you attempt your Core Formation there. A Fourth-grade Lower Grade land, heh heh, is more than enough for you."

Lechuan revealed this news with a broad smile, expecting to see Fang Qingyuan overjoyed. Instead, a trace of hesitation appeared on Fang Qingyuan’s face.

Fang Qingyuan was worried. The foundation of his Core Formation theory was too ambitious. While forming a core on a Fourth-rank Spiritual Land was generally considered a safe bet, a lower-grade one did not meet his expectations.

There was another matter. During Core Formation, the scale of the tribulation lightning sent by the heavens was visible to outsiders. If Fang Qingyuan’s tribulation lightning was too powerful, his years of painstaking effort to endure and conceal his true strength would be ruined in an instant. Worse, it might even earn him Lechuan’s suspicion.

’In Lechuan’s eyes, I’m a good disciple—a bit lucky, decisive, and capable. In terms of raw talent and cultivation aptitude, however, I’m considered lacking. But when the time for Core Formation comes, when my Core theory is revealed and I use every means at my disposal to resist the tribulation lightning... how will Lechuan view me then? How will he see this scheming Closed-door Disciple who has hidden his true nature from him for so many years?’

’What’s the point of hiding my strength? It’s to mitigate risk, to make others misjudge me. But once I reveal all my cards, my true abilities will be completely exposed.’

’And the most critical point is my Core theory itself. When I condense my Golden Core, I can’t guarantee that the secret of my Immortal Mansion won’t be exposed.’

’The possibility is small, but my theory is intimately connected to the Immortal Mansion. If the phenomena during my Core Formation projects an image of it... that would be a death sentence.’

It was these concerns that made Fang Qingyuan hesitate. Seeing the look on his face, Lechuan asked:

"What? You find a Fourth-grade Lower Grade Spiritual Land lacking? Is it beneath your Dharma Eye?"

Fang Qingyuan shook his head and replied helplessly,

"That’s not it. I just feel that I’m not ready yet. My Core theory isn’t sufficiently developed, and I’d like some more time to prepare."

Lechuan shook his head and asked,

"How much longer do you need? They’ve only held the spot for us for thirty years. If you go beyond that, I’ll have to use up another favor. And as you know, my Le Family isn’t what it used to be. Every favor I use is one less I have."

Hearing Lechuan’s sincere complaint, Fang Qingyuan smiled and reassured him,

"I’ve troubled you, Master. Thirty years will be more than enough."

’Yes, thirty years is enough,’ Fang Qingyuan thought, ’but I’ll have to find another place.’ The thought flashed through his mind, and he then moved on to discuss other matters with Lechuan.

....

In the fortieth year of the Qingyuan Sect’s founding, Fang Qingyuan was one hundred and twenty years old. Eight years had now passed since the great war between the Pill Alliance and the Spirit Wood Alliance.

On this day, deep within the Barbaric Wilderness, over two thousand *li* from the border, a great, fiery-red bird was lazily sunbathing. A group of small bears milled around her, occasionally bringing her Spirit Fruits and plump Spirit Insects.

This was Nanli. More than twenty years had passed, and the bird who was once at the Late-stage of Qi Cultivation had now advanced to become a Foundation Establishment Spirit Beast. She was now in charge of a pack of Bear Beasts. With the Great White Bear slumbering, she was the big boss of this several-hundred-*li* radius.

After enjoying her Spirit Fruits and Spirit Insects, Nanli took a few of her dimwitted, late-stage Foundation Establishment bears to begin patrolling her territory. If they encountered any unfamiliar demonic beasts, Nanli would have the clumsy bears behind her drive them away. If one of her own beasts was being clueless, Nanli would fly up and peck it a few times, plucking out a few strands of bear fur as punishment.

She thought today would pass just like any other, but in the next moment, Nanli froze. A gentle, male voice had just sounded in her ear:

"Nanli, you’ve gotten chubby."