Beast Taming: I Have an Immortal Mansion

Then, Fang Qingyuan opened his eyes.

.....

A lifetime of experiences began to surface in Fang Qingyuan’s mind. Finally, as time marched to the present, to the very last breath, a sound both like the tolling of a great bell and yet so profound as to be silent, exploded within him.

This sound detonated directly inside Fang Qingyuan’s skull, in his heart, and in every corner of his body.

An irresistible force shattered the chaos. Like the parting of heaven and earth, Fang Qingyuan’s sea of consciousness began to expand without limit.

And the source of this sound was that very singularity.

At this moment, the gate to the Immortal Mansion in Fang Qingyuan’s sea of consciousness opened on its own for the first time, without his command.

Endless Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi from the outside world began surging through Fang Qingyuan’s body and into the Immortal Mansion.

Within the Immortal Mansion, the earth trembled and all of creation quivered. The two Spirit Pets, the Bee Queen and Nanli, stared at the sky in shock. In a place that had always been an empty, unchanging void for ten thousand years, stars now faintly twinkled.

Fang Qingyuan’s consciousness seemed to rise from deep waters. Then, he "saw" countless stars shining.

These stars enveloped him and began to rise, ascending without end.

In that instant, borne aloft by the host of stars, Fang Qingyuan’s consciousness pierced through thousands of feet of rock, soaring as if to a height of a million miles.

Here, the stars were dense, yet within this density, they displayed layered divisions and a rich, clear order.

Amidst them, he quickly understood his own position.

’I should be in the north.’

In the northern sky, the Xuanwu Star Realm, with its seven great constellations and nearly a thousand visible stars, shone in unison.

At the same time, the Black Tortoise Dharma Aspect from below the Immortal Mansion took a step forward and merged into this sea of stars.

’And now I am in the west.’

The thousand-plus stars of the White Tiger Star Realm also blazed brightly, and the White Tiger from within the Immortal Mansion stepped out and settled into place.

In correspondence with these two Star Realms, the eastern and southern skies also materialized, vast and expansive. The entire vista formed a wondrous arc, not a flat plane but a true celestial vault, where the stars hung low over the plains and the heavens draped over everything.

The Fish Dragon Dharma Aspect shook its head and wagged its tail, charging toward the eastern Star Realm. But as it traveled, its original form quietly twisted and changed. By the time it arrived, it had already transformed into the Cyan Dragon Dharma Aspect.

The transformation of the Three-legged Golden Crow was even more distinct. By the time it settled into the southern Star Realm, its original form had become the Vermilion Bird Aspect.

Each Star Realm automatically corrected the aspects. The Dharma Aspects Fang Qingyuan had visualized were ones he had cobbled together himself while practicing his Cultivation Technique. They had served their purpose, but before these eternal stars, an individual’s will was insignificant. The forms he had painstakingly cultivated for a century were forced to revert to their true origins: the four celestial aspects.

Oh, no. It wasn’t four aspects, but five.

For once the four directions were clear, the center was revealed.

The central Star Realm of the Three Circles grew ever clearer. It resided at the apex of the celestial vault, and the Four Directions Star Realms—those of the Cyan Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise—all sat beneath it, like courtiers attending their sovereign.

Fang Qingyuan’s consciousness continued its carefree wandering, rising ever higher. In an instant, it broke free of its shackles and entered the heart of the Three Circles.

At this time, the Star Earth Bear from below the Immortal Mansion also answered the call of this Star Realm and entered of its own accord.

However, the bear’s body dissolved, and in its place, a Qilin descended—a divine beast with the body of a deer, the tail of an ox, the hooves of a horse, and the eyes of a dragon, its form shimmering with five brilliant colors.

With this, the five elements and their five aspects had all merged into the starry sky. The moment the fusion was complete, Fang Qingyuan felt as if the cosmos had been imbued with life and was beginning to merge as one with his own vital essence.

Above the Three Circles, Fang Qingyuan reached the absolute summit. He began to look down upon this Celestial Star World.

The magnificent, brilliant starry sky was right beneath his feet. An almost irrepressible tremor struck his soul. ’How intoxicating this is.’

After a moment of daze, Fang Qingyuan’s mind settled once more. He managed to remember that this was only the beginning.

As the stars blazed, the land within the Immortal Mansion below also began to expand rapidly, inch by inch, foot by foot, stretching out to the very horizons of its world.

Outside, in the sky above where Fang Qingyuan’s Magic Altar stood, the heavens suddenly changed. A sky that had been clear for miles was now thick with dark clouds.

Within the Spiritual Land, vast amounts of Spiritual Power swarmed into Fang Qingyuan’s body, only to be completely siphoned into the Immortal Mansion. The Immortal Mansion’s thirst for this Spiritual Power was insatiable, causing the Spiritual Land’s own Spiritual Qi to be consumed so rapidly that it formed a vortex.

Fortunately, Fang Qingyuan’s body was blessed by the Five Elements Undying Body and could withstand the tearing force of the Spiritual Power. Had it been anyone else, their body would have long since been riddled with holes.

The strange transformation of the Immortal Mansion was still underway, but the abnormal aura gathering in the sky above told Fang Qingyuan that his tribulation was about to arrive.

This was a trial sent down by the Laws of Heaven and Earth of this world. If Fang Qingyuan could endure it, he would gain their recognition. If not, he would die, his cultivation would scatter, and he would be reduced to ashes.

Having come this far, there was no turning back. Fang Qingyuan withdrew his consciousness from the Star Realm above his Immortal Mansion and returned it to his physical body.

Fang Qingyuan rose to his feet and snatched the Seven-Star Sacrificial Sword from the Magic Altar. With a flick of his hand, he removed the Jade Hairpin, letting his jet-black hair cascade down. Then, stepping in the pattern of the Big Dipper, he began a sword dance.

"Primordial Chaos, fill my form! With the Steps of Yu, I ascend to the bright sun! Heaven and Earth Turning, Wearing Six Jia; Stepping on Gang and Dipper, Merging with Nine Spirits! My finger gesture tames demons and startles all evil! Heavenly gods, aid my escape unseen! No calamity or disaster can touch me now!"

Fang Qingyuan sang out, and as his voice echoed, a bolt of lightning fire pierced down from the Nine Heavens. It crossed dozens of miles and penetrated thousands of feet of rock to strike his Magic Altar in a single blow.

The lightning gathered without dissipating, forming a ring of boiling plasma that drew down a rain of thunderbolts, which hammered down one after another.

This was the Sword Fire Thunder from the Jade Pivot Thirty-Six Thunders. Its arrival was the swiftest and its power exceptionally fierce—a most fitting opening gambit from the Laws of Heaven and Earth.

Faced with such a Thunder Tribulation, an ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivator would have been pale with fright. But to Fang Qingyuan, though the Sword Fire Thunder was fast and fierce, its power was merely ordinary.

Of course, this ’ordinary’ was only from Fang Qingyuan’s perspective. Any single bolt of this Sword Fire Thunder would have been a fatal threat to any other Cultivator attempting Core Formation.

Watching the Sword Fire Thunder explode outside the Magic Altar, he saw that the layers of searing, golden plasma only managed to peel away a single layer of the altar’s thick Spiritual Light, having no effect whatsoever on him inside.

Seeing that the barrage of Sword Fire Thunder was about to end, Fang Qingyuan took the initiative to open a crack in the defenses, guiding a few bolts of weakened Thunder Fire to strike his own body.

CRACKLE! Black smoke rose from Fang Qingyuan’s flesh, but when it dissipated, he was completely unharmed. On the contrary, his body had been refined by the Thunder Fire, making it even more robust.

Bathing in Thunder Fire was a clear provocation. It was impossible to know if the Laws of Heaven and Earth possessed consciousness or felt anger, but in any case, Fang Qingyuan felt the next wave of lightning would be far more powerful.

The Thunder Fire in the sky then changed. It was no longer a sharp, direct assault. Instead, it twisted and spiraled as it descended, appearing much slower than the previous Sword Fire Thunder. It landed without a sound, as if the lightning had been absorbed by the ground. In truth, the bolts defied their very nature, burrowing and darting through the earth. They parted soil and bypassed rock, not only avoiding any loss of power but actually growing stronger.

Seven or eight bolts of Thunder Fire descended in succession, causing the ground’s surface to heave and buckle as they tunneled through it.

This was the Tomb-Slaying Thunder, also from the Jade Pivot Thirty-Six Thunders—a method employed by the Heaven and Earth Law Will specifically for this kind of situation.

The earlier Sword Fire Thunder had been swift, but the thousands of feet of rock had absorbed some of its power. This time, the Laws of Heaven and Earth had immediately adapted. They sent down the Tomb-Slaying Thunder, which absorbed the energy of the earth as it traveled, increasing its original power from one hundred percent to over one hundred and twenty.

At this, Fang Qingyuan’s expression shifted slightly. He had no good way to deal with this Thunder Fire. The only option now was to endure it head-on.

When the Tomb-Slaying Thunder finally struck the Seven-Star Altar, Fang Qingyuan truly understood the power of the Celestial Tribulation. The Magic Altar shook violently from the impact, and in an instant, more than half of its thick, protective Spiritual Light was obliterated.

He had just barely endured the Tomb-Slaying Thunder when, in the very next moment, a purple bolt of Celestial Thunder followed close behind.

At this, Fang Qingyuan’s expression changed completely. ’This is only the third wave of tribulation lightning, and the Seven-Star Altar is already about to give out?’