A dazzling beam of light measuring several tens of miles long streaked across the void. Led by Immortal Chuan and the other four Immortal Monarchs, all the Immortals exercised their magical powers together and materialized a long beam of light that moved across the void at an incredible speed. In just a blink of an eye, they had traveled tens of millions of miles, approaching the border of Puluo Heavenly Realm.
The space between heavenly realms was a complete chaos, the primal chaos that even the Great Saint Pangu did not manage to open. There existed violent energy tides that even Primordial Immortals dared not to set foot in. Innate energy tides of various elements were erupting on a regular basis, and if any ordinary Immortals were to be touched by them, even if that were just a little bit of the remaining energy, they would be ripped to shreds in an instant.
Very carefully, Immortal Chuan opened up a small tunnel amidst the chaos with the company of Immortals, through which, they traveled several tens of thousands of miles further. Although it was a rather short distance, it wearied all the Immortals, making them pant heavily. Their faces turned pale with fear, with cold sweats rolling off their foreheads.
The chaos was filled with chaotic airflows. If any ordinary Immortals had them invade their bodies, the result would be no different from injecting snake venom into the vein of a mortal. Apart from those almighty experts in the legends who practiced innate cultivation techniques, and had gone beyond the realm of Primordial Immortals, no Immortals were bold enough to let the chaotic airflows get near them. On top of that, these chaotic airflows were extremely heavy. A chaotic airflow the size of a hair was at least one hundred times heavier than a lofty mountain. One could imagine how much of immortal energies it would take to just open up a safe tunnel through the chaos.
After traveling several tens of thousands of miles further with the utmost caution, they came to a cluster of void that rolled and rocked violently like a pot of boiling porridge. Amidst it, a sphere-shaped space, roughly ten thousand miles in diameter, came into their eyes. In this part of the chaos, a vast restrictive force opened up a safe space that was densely filled with natural energies. A strange, golden radiance shone from it and brightly lit up the surroundings, while a small landmass quietly hovered inside the space, measuring about one thousand miles in both length and width.
The peculiar space attracted everybody's attention, and taking the opportunity, Wu Qi threw an object aside quietly.
From far, the small landmass looked like an exquisite bonsai. It had mountain ranges, lakes, rivers, flowers, and trees. Even more intriguingly, there was a small fireball floating right above it, revolving slowly like a sun while supplied the heat and light required for all the living beings on the landmass.
Right at the center of the landmass, between mountains and beside lakes, there were some remnants of a few cities that they could vaguely see. These cities were originally huge. From the remains of their city walls, which measured several tens of miles in both length and width, and stood over one hundred feet tall, one could clearly tell how flourishing they were in the past. Nevertheless, these city walls were collapsed to the ground now, while the buildings inside were in utter dilapidation, filling the few cities with a desolate atmosphere.
The vast restrictive force that opened up the sphere-shaped space was coming from the core position of the landmass. Chaotic airflows from the surroundings kept rushing into the space, and were then transformed into natural energies of five elements by the restrictive force. Rich energy kept bursting out from the landmass, while it seemed like the sphere-shaped space was slowly expanding.
The company of Immortals entered the space and breathed out a heavy sigh, having their mind completely relaxed.
They scanned the small landmass quietly. In a half-joking, half-serious manner, Reverend Miao Miao said, "Immortal Chuan, I reckoned you must have obtained numerous benefits by discovering this ancient mansion, eh? Hahaha, why don't you show them to me?"
Immortal Chuan spread his arms as he answered with a bitter smile, "If I did obtain some benefits, I wouldn't be letting you all here. I've spent several years searching through the land, leaving no stone unturned. Yet, I found nothing of value. Well, there is a mansion right at the core of this landmass, but I don't have sufficient power to break it. That is the reason why I made this place public. If any of our fellow Immortals have the ability to obtain some benefits here, once the match is over, you can go ahead and try your luck. It will make for a great story to tell in the future!"
The few Immortal Monarchs and all the Immortals shook their heads indifferently, then nodded.
There should be some valuable items in a historical site of the ancient human race. However, those items were mostly hot potatoes, and not very useful for Immortal cultivators. It was true that an ancient mansion was very tempting, but more of it was coming from the mansion itself, not the treasures found in it. According to the unspoken rules between Immortals, although it was Immortal Chuan who found this mansion, all the other Immortals had the right to fight for the treasures found in it. But at the end, the mansion itself would still belong to Immortal Chuan. If not because of this, how could Immortal Chuan be so generous by bringing all the Immortals here?
In the present time where natural energies and resources were getting lesser, an ancient mansion that could absorb chaotic airflows and turn them into natural energies was a huge temptation for all the immortal sects. If Immortal Chuan were to have it auctioned, he would definitely get himself many, many benefits.
Wu Qi narrowed his eyes while glancing around. Lady Dark Gold Water was a fool who devoted all her heart and soul in cultivating, an Immortal who knew almost nothing apart from cultivation. Therefore, he could not find anything related to the historical site of ancient human race in her memory. Shaking his head, he turned to Immortal Green Staff, lowered his voice, and asked, "Ancestral Master, what exactly is this ancient mansion of the human race?"
As all Immortals had a sharp hearing, Immortal Chuan clearly heard the question. He turned to give Wu Qi a look, and discovered that the question was coming from the young man who gave him a huge sum of bribe that day. He had a good impression of this young man. Thus, he nodded kindly and said with a smile on his face, "Well, I'll explain the origin of this ancient mansion then. I can see that many of my fellow Immortals are here with your juniors. It is a good thing to widen their knowledge."
Everyone in the company of Immortals praised him for that. Immortal Chuan nodded reservedly, then began to explain the origin of this ancient mansion.
During the ancient era, even before the Heaven was established, the ancient Gods were still the sovereigns of the heaven and earth, while the human race was gaining their power rapidly. Led by the Human Emperor, the increasingly powerful human race took away some fragments of the Pangu Continent with mystic techniques, using them to create small landmasses such as this, so that they could travel the universe, patrolling in the sky above the human race's territory.
These small landmasses had very strong offensive and defensive strength, and they were actually the warring devices constructed by the human race. They were named 'Combat Cities'. At that point in time, there were a total of eight strongest Combat Cities, and were named after the eight wisest, powerful monarchs of the human race - the 'Three Emperors and Five Kings'. These Combat Cities even had the power to fight head-on against those strongest Gods.
After that, the heaven and earth were thrown into a great mess. Immortal Chuan's description became rather vague when he came to this part of the history. Evidently, he was not very clear on this part as well. In brief, the human race became the sovereign of the heaven and earth eventually, with Immortals flying and roaming above the ninth sky. In the meanwhile, those Combat Cities which once roamed the universe were either destroyed completely or lost in the vast expanse of the chaos, drifting aimlessly across the boundless void.
Some of them drifted into the depth of the chaos, where nobody ever set their foot. Because of the chaotic energy tides, some of them were pushed closer to some random heavenly realms after drifting aimlessly for countless years. Occasionally, they even went straight into the normal space of a heavenly realm. When that happened, the lucky Immortal Monarch who was in charge of that particular heavenly realm would be struck with a fortune. The price of an ancient mansion was a pretty lucrative profit.
Immortal Chuan pointed at the ancient mansion, smiling at Reverend Huilin as his face was filled with a hinting expression and said, "Although this is not a big landmass, the magical restrictive formation on it could supply the natural energy enough to house several tens of Heaven Immortals, and several tens of thousands of cultivators," He laughed, his face beaming with pride and complacence.
Upon hearing his words, Wu Qi, who was pondering on the history told by Immortal Chuan, nearly broke into a loud laughter. Clearly, this Immortal Chuan was a very good businessman. No wonder he agreed to be the witness of the match as requested by Reverend Huilin, and even placed a heavy bet on the game. He was actually waiting for one of the unlucky immortal sects to lose their base, then he would sell them this ancient mansion rich in natural energy.
It was not hard to guess Immortal Chuan's true motive actually. The natural energy around the ancient mansion was indeed very rich, and even denser than that of Myriad Immortals Planet. Although the landmass was a little bit too small, the density of its natural energy was very high. In a serious comparison, the total volume of the energy was similar to Green Cliff Planet. If either Huiling Sect or Yuan Hua Sect lost their base today, they could really make this ancient mansion as their temporary shelter.
Reverend Huilin's lips twitched as he gave Immortal Chuan a look.
Immortal Chuan laughed, clapping his hands as he said, "Come, my fellow Immortal Monarchs. Let's witness the match between the disciples of Huiling Sect and Yuan Hua Sect. In order to determine the ultimate ownership of a planet rich in energy stones, each of the immortal sects will send ten Nascent Divinity cultivators and one hundred Nascent Soul cultivators, who will fight in this ancient mansion. When a disciple can leave the ancient mansion in the end, the sect he or she represents will solely occupy that planet!"
Upon hearing his announcement, the company of Immortals became excited immediately, like flies that had smelled the scent of blood. Their eyes were darting between the disciples of two immortal sects, weighing the chance of winning for both sides.
Immortal Chuan continued, "You are prohibited to use any talismans, thunder pellets, and any consumable offensive magical treasures of the immortal grade in the match. If you do, your sect will lose the match instantly. You are allowed to use medicinal pills and demon pets. Of course, with the keen eyes of our fellow Immortals here, if anyone of you has demon pets with the overall strength unmatched with the master, we, the few witnesses, will declare the sect he or she represents as the loser!"
Reverend Miao Miao smiled and said, "All in all, you have to fight with your real overall strength. No cheating!"
"The disciples of Huiling Sect will never do something that could bring disgrace to our reputation!" Reverend Huilin said coldly.
Daoist Chi cupped his fists and said, "The disciples of Yuan Hua Sect have always been above board, and we will never do things in stealth!"
A ringing of jade bell rang out as Immortal Chuan said smilingly, "It is better that way. You can enter the ancient mansion now. The match will officially commence at the midday three days later. You have three days to get familiar with the terrain and regulating your breath, or you can even try your luck and see if you can find anything good?"
Laughing loud and long, he pointed at the ancient mansion.
Immediately, 220 cultivators from two immortal sects unleashed their flying swords, stepping on them and quickly flying straight towards the small landmass.
While he was holding Princess Zhang Le's little palm and flying towards the ancient mansion, Pilgrim Gu He's voice suddenly rang out in Wu Qi's ears again, "Little friend, there is a fate between you and the Buddha! If you encounter any danger during the match, you can just shout 'Help me, Pilgrim!', and I'll definitely save you with all my ability... Little friend, you will find endless joys if you join us, the Buddhists. If you wish to have a quiet, secluded meditation, there are countless splendid sceneries in the Nirvana, and if you are fond of cultivating with females, we do have the Dhyana Technique of Great Delight. In fact, one of my Senior Brother is an expert in the technique. I can always ask him to take you as his disciple!"
Pilgrim Gu He's nagging kept buzzing in Wu Qi's ears like those flies who could never be completely killed. Left with no alternative, he rolled his eyes and shut his six senses, barely cutting off the never-ending babbling.
As Wu Qi and the rest of the disciples from Yuan Hua Sect rushed into the ancient mansion, a gust of very strong and dense natural energy came caressing their faces.
Reflexively, Wu Qi exercised Mystic Eyes of Universe and scanned the environment. The result he obtained nearly made him scream.