Chapter 506 - 499: Attacked in Succession

BOOM! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!

With a series of deep rumbles, the protective Array around the Immortal Cave Mansion flashed with five colors before falling silent.

The cloaking effect vanished, revealing a complex of palaces within.

The Nascent Soul Cultivators immediately scrambled to be the first to pour inside. Du Youqian saw Ye Rui Master and Chen Hongbo transform into streaks of rainbow light and fly into the Immortal Cave Mansion. Master Wu Yi and Jie Yu, on the other hand, walked in at a leisurely pace, talking and laughing—well, Master Wu Yi was responsible for the talking and laughing, and Jie Yu was responsible for the leisurely pace.

Du Youqian nodded to Jing Ruoxu. "Fellow Daoist Jing, I’ll be heading in first."

Jing Ruoxu nodded in return, offering a stiff smile. "This Immortal Cave Mansion isn’t that large. If there’s nothing blocking Divine Sense, the entire place should be blanketed by the Divine Sense of a Nascent Soul Master. Should you encounter an enemy you can’t handle, Fellow Daoist Ximen, just call for me."

’That’s what he says, but how could an Immortal Cave Mansion like this not have something to block Divine Sense?’

’To put it bluntly, Fairy Hengguan must have had plenty of Tier Three and Tier Four Cultivators among her servants back then. It’s not even out of the question that there was a Tier Five Divinity Transformation expert.’

’Without Arrays or structures to block Divine Sense, wouldn’t she have been under the constant surveillance of others’ Divine Senses? Taking a bath or sleeping would have been like a live broadcast for everyone to watch.’

The moment he stepped into the Immortal Cave Mansion, Du Youqian confirmed his suspicions.

Within this Immortal Cave Mansion, even a Nascent Soul Cultivator’s senses could only extend less than a hundred zhang.

SWISH! The sound had barely registered when a burst of silver light was already at Du Youqian’s ribs.

CLANG! The Jinhuan Sword flew out from within Du Youqian’s body. In an instant, it collided with the silver light over one hundred and twenty times, knocking it away.

Du Youqian got a clear look at it. It was a short, narrow Flying Sword, about the size of an ordinary hairpin.

It lacked some sharpness, but its material was exceptionally hard. For a Tier Four Treasure, it could be considered high quality.

SWISH! The small Flying Sword retreated as swiftly as it had appeared.

Du Youqian stood his ground, extending his senses for a moment, and realized his attacker had already moved far away.

’They must have realized I’m not to be trifled with and decided not to waste time getting bogged down here.’

Flickering demonic shadows appeared behind him; the Transformed Demon Kings must be starting to enter the Immortal Cave Mansion.

Du Youqian got his bearings and headed directly northeast.

Du Youqian wasn’t too worried about Zhuge Qing.

Little Wukong’s power was not to be taken lightly.

Especially when it went all out. Using its Three-Headed Six-Armed Divine Abilities combined with its Transformation Divine Abilities to wield six Tier Four Treasures at once, it could beat even a Tier Four Peak Demon King to a pulp. Only a Demon King with a special Innate Divine Ability could possibly stand against Little Wukong.

Du Youqian didn’t take to the air, not wanting to make himself a target.

His movements were light and graceful, each step covering a dozen zhang. He advanced while remaining cautiously on guard.

This Immortal Cave Mansion covered an enormous area, nearly the size of the Holy Blood Sect’s Blessed Land in Momenan.

It would not be an exaggeration to call this cave mansion a Blessed Land in its own right.

Of course, only a "Pseudo-Blessed Land."

According to what Ye Rui Master had mentioned, although no detailed map of Fairy Hengguan’s Immortal Cave Mansion had ever circulated, her personal chambers, which were said to be decorated with Divinity Transformation Spiritual Objects, should be located thirty to forty li northwest of the entrance.

This was precisely the direction that the majority of Nascent Soul Cultivators were currently rushing toward.

The herb garden, meanwhile, was due east.

Fairy Hengguan’s Immortal Cave Mansion contained many treasures.

But after thirty thousand years, most of these treasures had long since decayed or been destroyed.

Those items that might have remained intact were far less valuable than the Divinity Transformation Spiritual Objects.

Therefore, sixty percent of the Nascent Soul Masters, with a tacit understanding, surged toward the personal chambers to be the first to fight for the Divinity Transformation Spiritual Objects.

Another thirty percent were likely headed for the herb garden.

The remaining few were simply rummaging about the cave mansion, likely judging their own combat strength to be insufficient and not daring to venture where the fighting would be most intense.

It wasn’t that Du Youqian feared a fight; he just suspected a chaotic free-for-all was about to break out near the chambers, and he didn’t want to get there too soon.

Nor did he want to fight in the herb garden. His current Divine Abilities and Swordsmanship were better suited for combat against Human Race Cultivators; they were slightly less effective against the Demon Race.

Besides, Zhuge Qing had told him before that the most valuable things in Fairy Hengguan’s Immortal Cave Mansion were the Divinity Transformation Spiritual Objects and the herb garden. Next were a few Tier Five and Tier Six Treasures, followed by Fairy Hengguan’s skill Inheritances.

However, Fairy Hengguan’s skills weren’t the ones most valued by Cultivators—such as Talismans, Artifact Refining, Alchemy, and Arrays—but were instead said to be Spirit Plant cultivation, Spirit Embroidery, and Feng Shui.

Therefore, they held little attraction for most Cultivators.

By now, those Tier Five and Tier Six Treasures had surely lost a significant amount of their Spirituality, causing their Grade to drop.

The value of the skill Inheritances, then, had risen in comparison.

But as for where these skill Inheritances were actually stored, the servants from back then had either been vague, or no one had paid attention to what they said, so the information was never passed down.

In the northeast direction Du Youqian was now heading, there were several palaces that he and Ye Rui Master, during a casual conversation, had identified as likely places where Fairy Hengguan might have stored her skill Inheritances.

But whether they were actually there or not was something he’d have to find out by searching.

Du Youqian felt he had a good chance of finding something; he had performed a Divination before entering the Immortal Cave Mansion.

He hadn’t been able to divine any specifics, but the hexagram had been auspicious. This suggested that even if he didn’t get everything he hoped for, he would at least be able to leave safely and not come away empty-handed.

Very few Nascent Soul Cultivators had come for the Inheritances. Du Youqian carefully searched several palaces without finding any trace of them.

The main problem was that the suppression of Divine Sense was even stronger inside these palaces. Otherwise, by unleashing his Divine Sense at full power, he could have scanned an entire palace in seconds. It wouldn’t be taking this long.

It wasn’t that he’d found nothing. He had come across some Tier Three and Tier Four materials along the way, but these items—worth a few thousand, maybe tens of thousands, and at most 200,000 Spiritual Jade—were not worth Du Youqian’s time.

After searching another palace, Du Youqian sensed the direction of Fairy Hengguan’s chambers. The battle there must have reached a fever pitch. The violent fluctuations of Spiritual Qi made him seriously doubt whether the Immortal Cave Mansion could even withstand the strain.

He could feel it; the entire Immortal Cave Mansion was already starting to feel unstable. If these Nascent Soul Masters didn’t start controlling the shockwaves from their battle, he feared it wouldn’t be long before the mansion dematerialized and vanished back into the void.

Ultimately, while Fairy Hengguan was an Immortal, she was not one known for her combat prowess.

She could be thought of as a high-level expert hired as a consultant by the Ministry of Agriculture, someone who enjoys a special government stipend. Her status was venerable, but she held no actual political rank.

Her status was such that she could order around Tier Four and Tier Five Celestial Soldiers and Generals, using them as mere servants.

But without the amplification from Immortal Spirit Power, her actual combat strength probably couldn’t even match a Tier Five Divinity Transformation expert. And even with that power, she likely would have been no match for a Harmonization Great Power.

Thus, her Immortal Cave Mansion had many flashy, extraneous functions and was specially optimized for cultivating Spirit Plants. But in terms of internal and external defenses and structural stability, it was clearly unworthy of the title "Immortal Cave Mansion."

Over at the herb garden, things were still quiet, likely because the Restrictions had yet to be broken. There were no fluctuations from large-scale Magical Combat.

Du Youqian observed for a moment before turning and ducking into another palace.

The moment he was inside, he suddenly sensed something was wrong. With no time to think, he instantly threw out a Defensive Treasure.

The Defensive Treasure was a cloak. It fell down over him, and just as it enveloped his body, a spot on its surface rapidly caved in, as if stabbed by some sharp, invisible object.

In the blink of an eye, hundreds of similar indentations appeared all over the cloak’s surface. If Du Youqian hadn’t reacted so quickly, his body would have been riddled with hundreds of holes.

In the next instant, Du Youqian threw off the cloak, which was on the verge of being breached. A faint, brass-colored light began to emanate from the surface of his skin.

An incessant TING-TING-TING-TING sound rang out as the opponent’s second wave of attacks was completely blocked by Du Youqian’s Copper Skin Iron Bone Divine Abilities. The light on his skin dimmed considerably; clearly, the Divine Ability had been pushed to its limit.

Even now, after his Divine Sense had swept through the palace several times, he still couldn’t locate his hidden assailant.

’They’re an expert at Concealing Aura, and their attacks are vicious. A true master!’