"Yes, Young Master's words, this old man will naturally comply. However, Young Master, the Splendid Mansion's Lady is neither warm nor cold toward you, and her cultivation is also extremely high, so Young Master cannot force her. Coming here trip after trip like this also seems to yield no special progress. I fear that if this continues, Young Master will lose patience."
The skinny-skinned old man spoke in a very slow tone, seeming as if there was no one he could not kill if he wanted to.
"Patience? In the long years of cultivation, anyone must possess enough patience." The Young Master in the chariot spoke unhurriedly: "Furthermore, I came here not solely for that Splendid Mansion's Lady, but for a fragment of a magic treasure in the Splendid Mansion."
"I understand. So the Young Master's true plot is the fragment of the Eternal Divine Blade. Legend has it that it is an immortal artifact fragment of the Eternal Heavenly Monarch, one of the most powerful Heavenly Monarchs in the Immortal Realm. The Eternal Heavenly Monarch is recorded in the ancient Immortal Realm classics to be a supreme monarch of the Immortal Realm on par with ancient existences like the Disaster Heavenly Monarch, the Chaos Heavenly Monarch, the Confusion Heavenly Monarch… Across the heavens and myriad realms, during various great tribulations, the Eternal Heavenly Monarch bestowed a total of sixteen Eternal immortal magic treasures. Some treasures are hidden away in secret stashes, while others were shattered by the great tribulations, but they still contain a sliver of immortal dao law. In the Splendid Mansion, there is a hidden fragment of the Eternal Divine Blade. If it can be acquired and refined, it will indeed bring immense benefits."
The skinny old man nodded.
"Naturally, I want both the person and the treasure." The chariot shifted, and from within stepped out a young man wearing Confucian robes. He possessed a slender figure, completely empty hands, and a face like jade. This young man emanated an indescribable temperament from head to toe. A world seemed to be concealed within him, and at the center of his eyebrows was a faint mark, seeping into his skin like an ancient rune.
"You all wait outside. Manager Wu and I will enter."
As he spoke, the young man had already vanished from sight. The skinny old man beside him instructed a few black-clad burly men, "Black Nightmare Guards," before several powerful Black Nightmare Guards twisted their bodies and flew away.
Following that, the skinny old man, Manager Wu, followed the Young Master inside.
Above an exquisite ivory bed shaded by pink gauze curtains sat a young lady. In front of this young lady, a piece of blade-shaped crystal light continuously roamed, bobbing up and down with her breathing. As that blade casually cut, it revealed shadows of layered spaces, within which stretched vast starry rivers.
"Lady, that Young Master of the True Monarch Pagoda has come again. Will you see him?"
Right at this moment, a person resembling a maid hurried in and curtsied beneath the ivory bed.
"The Young Master of the True Monarch Pagoda, here again? Humph! With the ambition of a wolf, he simply wishes to obtain this piece of my Eternal Blade Light. This blade light is a fragment of the Eternal Divine Blade, containing supreme immortal dao laws. If I can comprehend it, my cultivation can be vastly improved." The lady of the Splendid Mansion stood up and said coldly: "However, the status of the True Monarch Pagoda is far above our Splendid Mansion, so it can't be helped. We rely on them for many businesses, so I shall meet him."
"Lady, there is a mysterious young master who is also coming to see you."
Just then, a beautiful middle-aged woman walked in. It was precisely Xing Rong.
"What mysterious young master?" The young lady's eyes flickered, and she absorbed that blade light into her body.
"It's like this…" Xing Rong transmitted her thoughts via divine intent, recounting her encounter with Fang Han from beginning to end.
"Oh? Then this person has a significant background. Like this, arrange a banquet for both that True Monarch Pagoda's Young Master and him at the same time." The young lady's body swayed like a willow in the wind, bringing up a fragrant breeze as she casually walked out.
Xing Rong hurriedly flashed away.
…
"Young Master Qi, please head inside. The Lady will dress up for a moment and then come out to meet you." Several women in embroidered clothes led the Young Master of the True Monarch Pagoda walking along the corridors. Before long, they arrived at a quiet and secluded place.
"Oh? Normally when I come, your Lady makes all sorts of excuses and refuses to see me. Why is she so straightforward today?" The young man, Young Master Qi, said with a smile. Sitting in his seat, he watched as a maid served a cup of fragrant tea. Standing right behind him, Manager Wu stood perfectly straight and completely motionless, like a wooden puppet. Yet, no one could ignore this old man.
However, just as Young Master Qi picked up the teacup and was about to drink, his expression instantly changed. He saw that the few women in embroidered clothes had prepared three sets of tea utensils.
One of the tea utensil sets was crafted from a mixture of celestial crystal stones and soul gemstones. This was the tea set customarily used by the Lady of the Splendid Mansion. Another set, identically matched with his own, was grinded from the rare warm-and-cold imperial jade, an item also exceedingly precious. It was very obvious that while the Lady of the Splendid Mansion was hosting him, she was also conveniently hosting someone else.
No, it should be said that while hosting someone else, she had conveniently hosted him.
"Young Master, please come this way. The Lady is waiting for you." Right then, he heard another voice transmitting from outside. It was precisely the cultivator who had been shouted aside by his subordinates at the city gate earlier. Now, he was actually being respectfully invited into the inner mansion by the people of the Splendid Mansion, placed on an equal footing with himself.
"Hmm?"
Fang Han had just been invited in. As soon as he entered, he spotted the young man with a jade-like complexion and an ancient rune on his forehead sitting in the guest hall, along with the wizened, withered old man standing behind him.
That withered old man emanated an extremely terrifying aura from his body, one that even surpassed the divine beast Bai Xi and Nine Tripods Immortal Venerable. He was old yet vigorous; his divine intent remained introverted, appearing somewhat withered and somewhat flourishing.
"So this is the Young Master of the True Monarch Pagoda, whose realm is no lower than mine, and who seems to possess some kind of magic treasure." Fang Han deduced the cultivation of this Young Master in his heart, although the Young Master appeared to hold a magic treasure that obscured his cultivation level. Fang Han was even more incapable of deducing the withered old man, indicating that his realm was obviously higher than his own, possessing a more complete Heaven Position Law.
While calculating, he sat down at his seat, picked up his teacup, and was about to drink his tea.
"Roll out of here!"
Young Master Qi suddenly said four words coldly from his mouth.
"What?"
Fang Han seemed not to have heard clearly as he knitted his brows.
"I told you to roll out of here. This is not a place for you to be!" Young Master Qi said, emphasizing every single word.
"Hehe, truly arrogant!" Fang Han let out a dry laugh. "This is the Splendid Mansion, and I am a guest invited by the Lady of the Splendid Mansion. On what basis do you…"
"Manager Wu, throw him out for me." Young Master Qi interrupted Fang Han directly, waving his hand.
"Yes! Young Master." The withered old man nodded. With a shift of his body, a chain of phantoms spread throughout the space, and he thrusted a finger straight toward the center of Fang Han's eyebrows to kill him. This finger was distinctly a lethal strike, rather than simply throwing an enemy out. In the Cultivation Great World, killing was forbidden, but when the withered old man, Manager Wu, made his move, he had absolutely no misgivings. He completely disregarded the rules and despised regulations. In that instant, he was not a manager or a servant, but a slaughter god who mocked the heavens, a supreme being who sneered at rules.
Thousands of phantoms sealed the space. Within that narrow time and space, facing this utterly lethal finger, Fang Han instantly felt a sensation of having nowhere to run. He seemingly felt as if he was being sucked into a cosmic black hole, reverting back into chaos.
"Longevity Eighth Tier, a supreme powerhouse of the Mixed Hole Realm!" Fang Han’s mind stirred, instantly realizing that this withered old man was actually such a formidable figure, yet he served as someone's manager! What kind of powerhouse lay behind him to subdue such a great figure? A Void Immortal? A True Immortal?
The ferocity of this finger was something even a World King Realm figure would likely fail to dodge. Unless they immediately fled in disgrace, risking severe injuries in the process.
But Fang Han did not flee. Instead, he remained seated unmoving. His fingers flashed like a dream, transforming into a dragon claw. On the dragon claw, dense scales formed the forceful and vigorous ancient characters of the ancient dragon race. Layer upon layer of worlds flashed upon the scale characters. At the fingertips of the dragon claw gathered various supreme great dao—water and fire, yin and yang, reincarnation, the way of kings and despots, disasters… Of course, the most formidable among them was a speck of transparent profound poison true qi.
"This is?"
Seeing Fang Han's dragon claw meeting his finger, a sliver of surprise flickered in the withered old man Manager Wu’s eyes, yet he still met it head-on. The fingers of the two men collided.
Boom!
Fang Han instantly felt a heaven-destroying force crash directly into his body. That power seemed like a withered, dried-out world, embedded within space, which then attained nirvana and rebirth from its decayed state, radiating immense vitality once more. The power of Wither and Flourish sought to systematically alter and control every inch of flesh and blood in his body.
"The Great Wither and Flourish Art, this is one of the formidable dao arts among the Three Thousand Great Dao!" Yan said in shock within the Huangquan Scroll.
"No matter!" Fang Han’s mind shifted, and his body turned between reality and illusion, entering a semi-fused state with the Eight Divisions Pagoda. That power of the Great Wither and Flourish Art rammed directly into the Eight Divisions Pagoda, attempting to destroy everything within it. However, the Supreme Dragon Pearl at the very top of the Eight Divisions Pagoda gave a slight spin, and the power of the Great Wither and Flourish Art was directly absorbed entirely, leaving no trace behind.
"Old thief, you dare to attack without regard for the rules?" Fang Han leveraged the power of the Eight Divisions Pagoda inside his body to neutralize the withered old man's finger, out of which he immediately mounted a counterattack. He remained seated unmoving, his fingers altered, transforming into a fist, and he struck out through the air, projecting out a burst of qi force.
Boom!
The void trembled slightly, and a fist struck toward the withered old man's face like a falling meteor.
The withered old man was alarmed at this moment. He had not anticipated that Fang Han would be so formidable! To think that his strike executing the Great Wither and Flourish Art was actually taken head-on, and the power that crashed into the opponent's body dissipated without a trace, as if the opponent's body was a massive world. Furthermore, he couldn't even probe the depth of Fang Han's cultivation.
His cultivation was at the Longevity Eighth Tier, the Mixed Hole Realm. Even in this Cultivation Great World, filled with experts like clouds and magnates like rain, he stood at the zenith, laughing proudly over the cultivation world. Although he was just a manager in name, in actuality within this huge chamber of commerce, the True Monarch Pagoda, he possessed even greater authority than the Young Master, acting as the absolute confidant of the True Monarch Pagoda's Tower Lord.
Killing a person had never taken him more than one move.
Facing a "puny cultivator" like Fang Han, he was confident he could casually wave his hand to annihilate him formlessly. Yet surprisingly, not only did he fail to dispose of him, he was even counterattacked by the opponent!