The Dao-Soldier Hall

Within the Immortal’s estate world.

The thousand-zhang tall Xiangliu Fiendgod held the warship in one hand as he once again used his evasion technique to fly towards the next branch hall.

“These native beasts.” Shaoyan Nong stared coldly into the distance. Of the five pillars of golden light in the estate world, two were now densely encircled by waves of Dao-soldiers. “Once I finish refining this entire Immortal’s estate, I’ll have my tribe dispatch a grand army here. I’ll enslave every last one of these native beasts and have them fight for my Shaoyan clan for generations to come.”

The native beasts of this Immortal’s estate were quite powerful. Even after refining the estate, Shaoyan Nong himself wouldn’t be able to do anything to these strong monsters. But behind him stood the far more powerful ‘Shaoyan clan’.

“Senior apprentice-brother, do you think he can actually refine the last two branch halls? I’m not so sure. The demonic forces in this estate world are just too strong.” Mu Northson sent mentally.

“Don’t underestimate Shaoyan Nong. He’s one of the Four Young Masters of the Grand Xia’s imperial capital. If he dared to come accept this trial, he must have many tricks up his sleeve.” Ji Ning sent back.

Swoosh!

Soon, Ji Ning and the others entered yet another branch hall.

Within the towering waves of Dao-soldiers, at the very front was a silver-haired, feathered-robed middle-aged man. His eyes crackled with lightning, and he had an extremely ethereal, graceful bearing. This was ‘Duohe Immortal’, the oldest and most powerful being in the entire estate world.

“Everyone. This is the moment that will change the fate of every single beast in my estate world. I have no intention of trying to swallow you up or absorb you.” Duohe Immortal gazed into the distance. Ahead of him were waves upon waves of demonic beasts—the weaker beast tribes of the estate world, all of which had now been invited here.

The estate world was too small. Gathering them all together was an easy matter.

“I can even swear a Heavenly Dao oath. I am willing to form an alliance with all of you to fight against that Fiendgod and those humans.” Duohe Immortal said. “We must obtain the estate key! Once we have it… every single beast in our estate world can journey to a much vaster world.”

“Duohe Immortal, what about the Wu Jiang clan? Aren’t you going to fight them?”

“Don’t worry. Wu Sui will swear the same Heavenly Dao oath I do. At a time like this, why would we still be fighting amongst ourselves?”

Soon.

Because all the beasts shared the same conviction—to reach a vaster world—and because they were all acting in good faith with no desire for internal conflict, the leaders all swore the Heavenly Dao oath.

These scattered forces might have seemed weak individually, but when gathered together, they were absolutely no weaker than the ten thousand beast Dao-soldiers under Duohe Immortal’s command.

“Wu Sui, your Wu Jiang clan is far stronger than my side. These beasts will stay here and guard this place with me.” Duohe Immortal said.

“Fine.”

The arrogant Wu Jiang clan had never deigned to ally with other beasts anyway. Wu Sui Immortal immediately teleported back to the midst of his own Yaksha Dao-soldiers.

Ji Ning and the others had no idea that the beasts of the Immortal’s estate had already accomplished a miracle that had never occurred in the endless ages since the Wu Jiang Immortal’s death — absolute unity!

Back when the Wu Jiang Immortal had left behind his Dao-soldiers, they had been divided into two types: ‘Wave Dao-soldiers’ and ‘Yaksha Dao-soldiers’.

The Wave Dao-soldiers were enormous in number.

The Yaksha Dao-soldiers were the elite, left for his own tribe, the Wu Jiang clan.

But now, under Duohe Immortal’s leadership, all the Wave Dao-soldiers had gathered under his command, forming a military force no weaker than the Yaksha Dao-soldiers! These Wave Dao-soldiers now heavily surrounded one of the golden light pillars, while the Yaksha Dao-soldiers surrounded the other.

“Swoosh.”

Ji Ning and the others entered the hall. This was another ultra-massive hall, as vast as the ‘Immortal Herb Hall’.

The hall was filled with countless corpses, packed densely together.

“Dao-soldier armor!”

“Dao-soldier armor!”

The moment they entered, Ji Ning and the others were stunned by the sheer number of corpses. Then they noticed the Dao-soldier armor.

“Boom!” The Xiangliu Fiendgod, Fang, once again stretched out his two gigantic hands, grabbing with an irresistible momentum at two suits of black, nearly translucent Dao-soldier armor, along with the magic treasures still on the corpses themselves. Both suits of Dao-soldier armor radiated powerful ripples. Though not yet at the Immortal-ranked level, they were far superior to any of the other armor.

After collecting those two suits of armor and the treasures, the Xiangliu Fiendgod, Fang, stood calmly by Shaoyan Nong’s side as if nothing had happened.

“That Xiangliu Fang…”

Ji Ning and the others felt helpless. There was nothing they could say.

Then, without another word, they all transformed into streaks of light and began frantically collecting the treasures. The entire massive hall held at least several hundred corpses, all of them wearing Dao-soldier armor. The power of the armor varied, some suitable for Zifu or Wanxiang Disciples, and some suitable for Primal Daoists.

“Those two suits with the black glow were probably worn by Loose Immortals or Earth Immortals.” The group silently speculated.

Soon, Ji Ning and the others had swept the entire hall clean.

There were no hidden chambers in this branch hall, just this empty, massive hall.

“Swoosh.” The Xiangliu Fiendgod, Fang, pointed a finger from afar. A stream of black divine power shot out and landed on the distant hall wall. Immediately, three characters appeared on the wall: “Dao-Soldier Hall”.

“The Dao-Soldier Hall.” Shaoyan Nong laughed. “But the Wu Jiang Immortal had far too many Dao-soldiers. Most of them are outside, in the estate world itself. Only a few were kept in this hall. Those two suits of armor Uncle Fang just took are merely ‘top-grade Earth-ranked’ at best, far from the Immortal-ranked level. If they were Immortal-ranked Dao-soldier armor, they would probably have already birthed an artifact spirit.”

Ji Ning understood. Shaoyan Nong was trying to comfort them.

The hall was vast, filled with towering pillars.

One of the pillars, coiled by a divine dragon, was discovered by Shaoyan Nong to be the central hub of this branch hall. He immediately sat down cross-legged beneath it and began to refine it.

Ji Ning and the others could only wait off to the side.

“Senior apprentice-brother, that was impressive.” Mu Northson sat cross-legged beside Ji Ning, chuckling. “We each managed to grab a few suits of armor from those several hundred Dao-soldier corpses. But you have two spirit-beasts helping you, so it was like three people grabbing at once… especially that Skygreen Serpent. That little guy can teleport through space, making him the fastest of all.”

They had just been scrambling over the Dao-soldier corpses — Ji Ning, the five others, Xue Hongyi, the Whitewater Hound, and Xiaoqing. With Uncle White and Xiaoqing helping, Ji Ning had taken three of the eight shares!

“Hmph, he got more Dao-soldier armor than me. But I have an Immortal-ranked treasure, which is worth a thousand or ten thousand suits of that armor.” Xue Hongyi grumbled inwardly, but didn’t dare say it out loud.

“Right, right, Junior Apprentice-brother Ji Ning, when we reach the next hall, you need to go a bit easier on us.” Cangjiang Realperson laughed.

“Him? Go easy?” Yu Wei smiled.

“It’s not his fault none of you have spirit-beasts.” Nine Lotos came to Ji Ning’s defense.

Cangjiang Realperson sighed. “Who wouldn’t want a good spirit-beast? If a Red-Scaled Flood Dragon were willing to submit to me, I’d gladly take it. But alas, divine beasts like that are impossible to find. The moment any trace of them appears, they’re snatched up by superpowers like the Shaoyan clan. Even Junior Apprentice-brother Ji Ning’s Skygreen Serpent is incredibly rare; they’re famous for finding treasures and lucky encounters. Catching one as a spirit-beast is incredibly difficult too.”

“Skygreen Serpent, come, acknowledge me as your master!” Mu Northson shouted.

“You, a block of wood, worthy of being my master?” Xiaoqing raised her serpentine head from Ji Ning’s arm and spoke in human language, her voice full of disdain.

“You lousy snake, I’m at least your master’s fellow disciple!” Mu Northson glared.

“I only acknowledge my master. You… go cool off somewhere.” Xiaoqing was extremely arrogant.

“You—” Mu Northson was so angry he could only snort. “I won’t argue with a little snake like you.”

Ji Ning just smiled as he watched. The truth was, reincarnated Immortals like Yu Wei and Cangjiang Realperson cultivated at such a rapid pace that they rarely kept spirit-beasts. A spirit-beast’s cultivation speed simply couldn’t keep up with theirs! As for truly powerful divine beasts… those were not so easy to obtain.

A Red-Scaled Flood Dragon was something everyone wanted but couldn’t get.

As for the Skygreen Serpent, although it was weaker in combat, it was excellent at finding treasures and lucky encounters. Most Immortal cultivators would be happy to accept one, if only they could find one. But they were too rare. And Skygreen Serpents were extremely good at running away.

As for the Whitewater Hound? Comparatively, his talents were a bit weaker. His main advantage was his powerful comprehension and great intelligence. But to Ji Ning, Uncle White was his family, like a parent or elder. He had saved both Ji Ning’s mother and his own life, and had always silently supported him.

Of course, Uncle White’s accomplishments in formations were extremely high. On this expedition, the treasure vault’s secrets had been cracked largely thanks to Uncle White.

Shaoyan Nong stood up. He had finished refining the central hub of the Dao-Soldier Hall. But there was no smile on his face. Ji Ning and the others had no smiles either.

Because…

They had now refined three branch halls: the Treasury Hall, the Immortal Herb Hall, and the Dao-Soldier Hall. Only two remained. And those two final halls were completely surrounded — one by the ‘Yaksha Dao-soldiers’, and the other by the ‘Wave Dao-soldiers’. To enter, they would have to fight. There was no way to avoid it!

Those terrifying beast Dao-soldiers had even forced the Xiangliu Fiendgod, Fang, to flee. Ji Ning knew that if he were to go up against them, he would be easily slaughtered!

They were already at a complete disadvantage against Xiangliu Fang. Facing those Dao-soldiers was unthinkable.

The shadow of death…

Made everyone’s expression dark.

“Everyone.” Shaoyan Nong swept his gaze across Ji Ning and the others. “I have the estate key. From anywhere in the estate, I can open a passage and leave at any time… If we truly run into danger we can’t handle, I’ll bring us all out of this estate immediately. Don’t worry. I’m confident we can escape.”

“But all of you need to be careful as well. I don’t want any of you to get killed by those beasts.” Shaoyan Nong said calmly.

Ji Ning and the others all understood. There was no turning back.

But when exploring a Celestial Immortal’s estate, none of them had expected it to be easy. Danger was to be expected.

Every single one of them had life-saving tricks they hadn’t yet used.

“Alright. Let’s move out.” Shaoyan Nong gave the order.

The native beasts of the entire Immortal’s estate were now divided into two factions. One was the Wu Jiang clan’s Yaksha Dao-soldiers, and the other was the Wave Dao-soldiers. Each group surrounded one of the branch halls.

In the distance, a massive ship appeared in midair.

The ship crushed the air as it flew at high speed, heading directly towards the Wave Dao-soldiers under Duohe Immortal’s command.

“They’re here.”

“That Fiendgod and those humans are here.”

“Duohe, it all depends on you now.” Wu Sui Immortal sent a message from afar.

The more than twenty thousand beast Dao-soldiers under Duohe Immortal’s command formed an endless, sky-covering wave, each one of them staring coldly at the great ship flying towards them.

The native beasts yearned to reach a vaster world. And I, Tomato, yearn for… your monthly votes!