Whoosh~~~
The surrounding space rippled.
Once the scene before his eyes became clear, Xia Manggan looked around.
He saw that the sixty-seven people, himself included, had appeared within a small teleportation formation roughly a hundred zhang high.
Beyond the teleportation formation lay a vast wilderness marsh, with mountain ranges stretching endlessly beyond sight.
"Come out."
"Quickly."
An aged voice rang out.
Two gray-robed old men standing outside the teleportation formation were urging them on.
"Listen carefully, all of you." A slightly plump old man with graying hair shouted, "This is the only safe place in the entire Yushan Great Wilderness Marsh for people like you! The Yinglong Guard is stationed here year-round, and great formations have been set up all around. No one would dare invade this place."
Hearing this, everyone looked around and immediately discovered that the teleportation formation had been built atop a mountain peak.
Around the mountain stood other clusters of immortal residences, apparently housing quite a few people.
"There are a few more things I need to tell you."
The plump old man continued, "First, you cannot return here within three months. If you come back here seeking refuge, you will be considered to have failed."
"Second, while adventuring in the Yushan Great Wilderness Marsh, you must be extremely careful. Never remain in one place for too long."
"For example, if you stay somewhere for a month or so, remember that there are far more monsters than humans in the Yushan Great Wilderness Marsh. They are also much more familiar with this place than you are. If you remain in one location for too long, it will be easy for those great demons to join forces and surround you. Stopping occasionally for half a day or a day to rest is fine, though."
"Third, while the great demons within the Yushan Great Wilderness Marsh are dangerous, the environment of the Yushan Great Wilderness Marsh itself is even more dangerous. Some places may contain shattered space. With one careless step, you might leave this major world. By then, with your level of strength, death would be certain..."
Everyone listened intently.
This was all experience that could save their lives.
To join the Yinglong Guard, one had to survive in the Yushan Great Wilderness Marsh for three months and return with the corpse and head of a Wanxiang Great Demon.
Compared to obtaining the head and corpse of a Wanxiang Great Demon, the hardest and most dangerous part was actually surviving in the Yushan Great Wilderness Marsh for three months.
However, Xia Manggan had already learned all of this in advance from the various intelligence reports Immortal Lianshan had prepared for him.
Thus, as he looked over the surrounding mountain ranges, he compared them with the detailed map Immortal Lianshan had given him and the distribution of the great demons, considering which direction he should take.
According to the markings on the map, this "safe zone" where the teleportation formation stood was merely the outer region of the Yushan Great Wilderness Marsh, where Wanxiang Great Demons were relatively common.
To find Primordial Spirit Great Demons, one had to venture at least a million li deeper, into the heart of the Yushan Great Wilderness Marsh.
That was an extremely dangerous region that only Primordial Spirit Daoists of Anchan Commandery, or even Earth Immortals and Loose Immortals, generally dared to explore.
"About a hundred thousand li to the northeast, around Demon Lotus Mountain, there are more than a hundred Wanxiang Great Demons gathered there. The strongest is a Dragon Whale Great Demon..."
Xia Manggan nodded slightly and thought, That's where I'll go.
Ah Huang had not arrived yet. If he went too far, it would take even longer to meet up with Ah Huang.
He would use this time to kill a few Wanxiang Great Demons and get some practice in, while also preparing some bloody food for Ah Huang.
Once Ah Huang arrived, he could devour those great demons.
Especially the Dragon Whale Great Demon of Demon Lotus Mountain. It was a Wanxiang Great Demon that practiced Fiendgod Body Refining. Its Divine Body was several thousand zhang long, enough for both Xia Manggan and Ah Huang to break through in their current Fiendgod Body Refining cultivation.
"Hm?" Xia Manggan suddenly sensed something and looked toward a spot in the crowd.
Lielong Clan's Lie Longqi happened to withdraw his gaze.
Beside him stood Sheng Xuan of the Heavenly Saint Sect and four others.
Judging from how they had gathered together, they seemed to have already formed an alliance.
Such a situation was actually quite common in past Yinglong Guard examinations.
Fellow disciples, friends who had known one another beforehand, or even people who simply spoke on the spot could form a team for the examination after reaching an agreement and swearing a Heavenly Dao Oath together, jointly hunting Wanxiang Great Demons.
This could also increase their chances of surviving in the Yushan Great Wilderness Marsh.
Yet Lie Longqi, Sheng Xuan, and the others were already among the strongest Wanxiang Daoists participating in this examination.
For people of their strength to still need an alliance, and for him to have sensed a faint killing intent from them just now...
The people they wanted to hunt might not be as simple as Wanxiang Great Demons...
"Young Master Xia Mang, which direction are we going?" Jiu Lian asked.
"That way." Xia Manggan raised a hand and pointed northeast. "There is a Demon Lotus Mountain there, where the Heaven and Earth essence energy is especially dense. There are many monsters and many treasures, making it perfect for tempering ourselves."
"Alright."
Jiu Lian nodded and released her sailboat magic treasure.
"Let's ride my sailboat. It has an Origin-Gathering Rune Formation inside it, so ordinary flight does not require the controller to expend additional Origin Force."
"Alright." Xia Manggan agreed and boarded the sailboat together with Luo Qing.
Very soon.
A streamer shot out, heading northeast.
Not long after they departed, a dark gray streamer first flew northward.
After flying several thousand li, the dark gray streamer turned eastward in an arc...
A green sailboat around ten zhang long flew through the clouds high in the sky.
Xia Manggan, Jiu Lian, and Luo Qing stood at the bow, looking down at the boundless wilderness below.
"This mountain will do." Xia Manggan signaled for Jiu Lian to slow the sailboat magic treasure.
"This one?" Luo Qing looked down carefully.
She saw a majestic, bizarre mountain rising directly into the clouds. From high above, they could see tens of thousands of monsters on the mountain.
Some monsters in human form were drilling like an army.
The flamboyant banners and sky-piercing killing intent made them seem even more imposing than the garrisons stationed in many cities of Anchan Commandery.
"Within ten thousand li, this mountain should be the strongest force around," Jiu Lian guessed.
"Mhm." Xia Manggan nodded. "Three Wanxiang Great Demons, over a thousand Purple Mansion monsters, and several tens of thousands of Xiantian lesser monsters. We'll use them as an appetizer and warm up first."
His Divine Sense was no weaker than that of an ordinary Void Return Earth Immortal. In addition, Immortal Lianshan had provided him with internal intelligence from the Yinglong Guard, so he naturally knew the monster forces within the Yushan Great Wilderness Marsh like the back of his hand, at least within a million li of the garrison's "safe zone."
"How should we act? Please arrange it, Young Master Xia Mang," Jiu Lian said.
If it had only been her and Luo Qing, they would naturally have avoided a monster mountain of such strength as far as possible.
But with Xia Manggan beside them, someone who had defeated Slovenly Senior Brother in a Dao discussion spar, she felt much more confident.
"What arrangement is needed for a few lesser monsters?" Xia Manggan laughed. "The two of you should stay on the sailboat and help keep watch around us."
As he spoke, Xia Manggan moved and leaped from the bow.
Then, under Jiu Lian and Luo Qing's watchful eyes, Xia Manggan's body suddenly emitted a dazzling golden light as he began to grow larger and larger.
His powerful body, like that of a demon god, caused the surrounding air to explode with rumbling sounds like thunder.
When they looked again, Xia Manggan had transformed into a giant roughly twelve zhang tall, equivalent to a building more than ten stories high on Earth.
Then the giant "Xia Manggan" swayed slightly, growing two more heads and four more arms. He transformed into a Three Heads and Six Arms Fiendgod giant and charged howling toward the majestic mountain below.
"Law of Heaven and Earth, Three Heads and Six Arms!" Luo Qing cried out. "Young Master Xia Mang's Crimson Bright Nine Heavens Map is only at the ninth level, barely equivalent to the early Wanxiang Realm of an ordinary Body Refining technique, isn't it? And he has only cultivated these two divine abilities for such a short time. How could the power he displays be so much stronger than that of many senior brothers?"
She was not a Body Refining cultivator, but she still knew that Law of Heaven and Earth and Three Heads and Six Arms, though they were among the most basic and common great divine abilities of the Body Refining path and were generally learned by anyone with even a little strength or background...
Were not so easy to truly cultivate.
An ordinary Purple Mansion Fiendgod could begin cultivating them, but at most, their body would only grow to three or four zhang tall.
Wanxiang Realm Fiendgods were stronger, but generally only reached seven or eight zhang.
But Xia Manggan...
He was twelve zhang tall, a full thirty-six meters!
He stood four or five zhang taller than other Wanxiang Realm Fiendgods, like a small mountain.
One had to understand that this was not merely a change in size.
His Divine Body, Divine Power, strength, speed, and even the hardness of his body's surface defenses would all soar severalfold alongside it.
With such a massive Divine Body, ordinary Wanxiang Fiendgods would be crushed simply by the suppression of size, strength, and speed.
"Perhaps Young Master Xia Mang's Divine Body possesses some special quality." Jiu Lian stared at Xia Manggan, who looked like a true Fiendgod as he carried an overwhelming aura and smashed toward the majestic mountain like a massive meteorite.
Buzz~~~
Layer after layer of multicolored light barriers lit up above the mountain.
Those were the various mountain-protecting formations laid down by the Wanxiang Great Demons occupying the mountain.
But the Fiendgod giant "Xia Manggan" showed no hesitation and directly raised a foot before stomping down—
Crack!
Crack!
Crack~~~
Amid a rapid series of crisp sounds like eggshells being shattered, Xia Manggan's figure stomped through layer after layer of light barriers before landing atop the mountain peak that rose into the clouds.
Boom!
Crack!
Under Jiu Lian and Luo Qing's stunned gazes.
The enormous mountain peak, over a hundred zhang high, split apart from the middle, then crashed down with countless chunks of rock toward the monster residences halfway down the mountain.
"Th-this is practically a humanoid Earth Rank magic treasure," Luo Qing muttered.
Jiu Lian said nothing, but the brilliance in her eyes shone incomparably brightly.
At that moment—
"A Human Race immortal cultivator practicing Fiendgod Body Refining? You dare come to the lair of us three brothers, Single Horn Peak? You're courting death!!"
Rumble~~~
Enormous stars appeared above the mountain, and among the countless stars floated a bright moon.
Within the phenomenon of that Star-Moon Dharma Image, three huge four-legged beasts appeared in midair.
"Divine beasts, Moon-Worshipping Single-Horned Rhinoceroses?"
Xia Manggan laughed. "Give me your horns!"
The second update is here. I'll continue tomorrow morning at 11:45. Please vote and follow along. Lords, be sure to scroll to the end, and don't forget to give the characters a little red heart. Suifeng offers his thanks.
Before you continue