Chapter 973: You Vile Beast, You Don’t Even Recognize Your Own Master

Not long after.

Tai Hao Palace.

Seeing a jade carriage with carved railings and painted rafters speeding toward them, the Immortal Guards at the gate instinctively grew alert. However, when they clearly saw the two figures on the carriage, they were greatly shocked and knelt down one after another.

“Greetings, My Lord.”

“Greetings, Holy Empress.”

The jade carriage landed steadily in front of the palace, and an indifferent male voice came from inside:

“Rise.”

“Yes, My Lord.”

The Immortal Guards quickly stood up and watched with great respect as a man and a woman stepped out of the jade carriage and entered the estate hand-in-hand.

Only when the backs of the pair had completely disappeared from sight did the Immortal Guards on the scene breathe a long sigh of relief. This was followed by a series of exchanged glances, their expressions filled with astonishment.

It wasn't surprising that Immortal Lord Tai Hao had suddenly ended his long seclusion, but what was the deal with the Holy Empress by his side?

As Subordinates of Immortal Lord Tai Hao, they naturally knew that their master and the Holy Empress were merely a couple in name only, with very little interaction between them.

These Immortal Guards had watched the gate for many years, and today was the first time they had seen the Immortal Lord's wife visit. How could they not be shocked?

On the other side, after a quick cram session, Qi Yuan had already become thoroughly familiar with Immortal Lord Tai Hao's living quarters. As if he were the true master, he led Shui Yunshan through the corridors until they reached a cold and dark main hall.

Wherever they passed, the servants and laborers within the Immortal Lords Estate knelt on the ground in awe, calling him 'My Lord'.

Compared to someone's calm and relaxed demeanor, Shui Yunshan remained expressionless throughout. While appearing composed on the surface, she was secretly nervous.

She knew that for this grand play of impersonation to succeed, the true test had only just begun…

This palace building was located in the deepest part of the Immortal Lords Estate. In front of the hall was an extremely wide and empty stone platform.

There were no Formations or Restrictions arranged on the stone platform; instead, there were pitch-black statues of various shapes.

There were as many as several thousand of these solid black statues, appearing densely packed and varying in size.

The large ones were dozens of zhang tall, while the small ones were only an inch. Their designs could be described as bizarre: some had beast heads on human bodies with sharp fangs, some had hideous horns like a rhinoceros, and some were covered in tentacles, looking incredibly eerie…

Despite being carved exquisitely and lifelike, they still looked dead, completely devoid of any breath of a living creature.

As they crossed this stone platform, for some reason, Qi Yuan felt as if countless pairs of malicious eyes were staring from the statues, locking onto him. He couldn't help but feel a sense of skin-crawling dread.

There's something strange about these statues!

Just as he was secretly on guard, several ear-piercing, ferocious roars suddenly came from the distance, instantly shattering the surrounding silence.

“Roar!”

Accompanied by the spreading terrifying sound waves, three mountain-like crimson figures charged aggressively toward them, kicking up rolling red clouds. Their power looked staggering.

Qi Yuan instinctively focused his gaze and saw three Vicious Beasts with bodies like red leopards and single horns pouncing toward him with claws and fangs bared!

The three Vicious Beasts each possessed strength no less than the Golden Immortal realm. Their bodies burned with clumps of blood-colored flames; they had cold white teeth and five tails on their backs. Their appearance was terrifying to the extreme.

Immortal Zhen!

Seeing this, Shui Yunshan's expression changed slightly, and a flash of uncontrollable panic crossed her eyes.

She had calculated everything, but she hadn't expected to encounter these three Immortal Zhen as soon as they entered the estate!

These three ferocious fellows were called 'Zhen', terrifying Vicious Beasts left over from the Primordial Era, and they were also the immortal pets kept by Immortal Lord Tai Hao.

In other words, these three Immortal Zhen spent day and night with Immortal Lord Tai Hao and were extremely familiar with him. They could tell at a glance whether their 'master' was real or fake!

What made her even more anxious was that the three Vicious Beasts in front of them had clearly sensed something wrong, and their target of attack was Qi Yuan.

Even if she stepped in to help suppress these three Vicious Beasts on the spot, it would trigger massive suspicion, causing the plan to fail before it even began.

After all, no matter how ferocious these Immortal Zhen were, it was impossible for them to show hostility toward their master, right?

To an outsider, the fact that they attracted a frenzied attack from the three Immortal Zhen upon meeting proved that this 'Immortal Lord Tai Hao' was problematic!

What should she do?

Facing such a dangerous situation, Shui Yunshan's heart sank to the bottom. Just as she was about to act, Qi Yuan beside her moved first.

“You vile beasts! You don't even recognize your own master anymore? You deserve to die!”

Qi Yuan shouted loudly and met the three Vicious Beasts without fear, raining punches and kicks upon them. His actions were extremely violent, exactly like he was disciplining three disobedient house dogs.

Bang! Bang! Bang!!!

“Whimper, whimper…”

Soon, the three Immortal Zhen, having taken a beating, cried out repeatedly. Not only did they stop baring their teeth, but the fierce light in their eyes also quickly faded. They circled around Qi Yuan with their tails between their legs, their attitude affectionate to the extreme.

What happened?

Shui Yunshan stared blankly at all this. Before she could react to what had happened, the matter had already been resolved with Perfection by him.

Then, under her incredibly shocked gaze, Qi Yuan gave the three Immortal Zhen another round of kicks before calmly waving his hand and scolding them casually:

“That's enough. Scram back and guard the door properly. If you dare to be this naughty again, I'll personally stew you!”

“Whimper, whimper…”

Hearing this, the three Immortal Zhen let out low wails, then hung their heads and fled like stray dogs, disappearing in an instant.

At the same time, Qi Yuan also breathed a heavy sigh of relief, a trace of imperceptible relief flashing in his eyes.

Those three beasts had clearly recognized him as a fake just now. If he hadn't timely used the Forgiveness Great Law, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

More importantly, he didn't believe this incident was an accident; it was a carefully designed test.

If he guessed correctly, there must be a pair of eyes silently observing this place from the shadows. If there had been even the slightest flaw in his response, he would have been exposed immediately.

Fortunately, he handled it properly, barely passing this most thrilling hurdle!

As expected of Xuanyuan Hao's nest; it really is full of traps and hidden dangers. Shui Yunshan still thought things were too simple…

Just as Qi Yuan's heart was filled with apprehension, a low, sinister voice abruptly drifted into his ears:

“Your Subordinate Bu Yang, welcomes the Immortal Lord.”

As the voice fell, the main hall's doors slowly opened, and a dark figure wearing a black robe and a hood walked out.

The man's face under the hood was as pale as paper, his eye sockets were sunken, and his eyes were dim and lifeless, as if he had never had a good sleep. Yet his Aura was powerful to the extreme, not even inferior to Shui Yunshan at the Peak of the Golden Immortal realm.

At this moment, perhaps because someone had passed this 'identity verification', Bu Yang's posture was humble and his tone was respectful. He had clearly fully accepted Qi Yuan as the newly emerged Immortal Lord Tai Hao.

Bu Yang?

Qi Yuan's heart jumped, and he immediately knew the other party's identity.

Bu Yang was the Grand Butler of the Immortal Lords Estate and also the most trusted of Immortal Lord Tai Hao's confidants. He was definitely someone Qi Yuan needed to be heavily on guard against.

More importantly, those three 'vicious dogs' were definitely released by this guy on purpose!

Thinking of this, Qi Yuan naturally wouldn't give him a good look. He immediately put on airs and commanded in a deep voice:

“I have important matters to discuss with my wife. You may leave…”