When Ye Chen saw the girl awakening her bloodline in the Phoenix Blood Pool, peacefully tranquil, he smiled knowingly.
Then, Ye Chen waited for the moment to leave the Azure Blue Mansion.
Inside the Inner Mansion, Ye Chen was waiting, while in the outer Mansion's grand hall of the Azure Blue Mansion, Fairy Nishang, Liu Yan, Yun Luo, and the other twenty-four people also stood up one after another.
Since being expelled from the secret tunnel of the outer Mansion by some mysterious force of the Azure Blue Mansion, these twenty-seven people had been staying in the grand hall, cultivating and waiting for the moment to leave.
Now, that moment was finally about to arrive!
In the grand hall of the Azure Blue Mansion's outer Mansion, although they were not in danger, they also had no other gains; as treasure hunters who had entered the ancient tomb, they were naturally not satisfied.
The thought of leaving the peculiar Azure Blue Mansion to continue treasure hunting in other places excited them.
These people, however, did not know that if not for the Phoenix Spirit's intervention, many more of them might have died within the Azure Blue Mansion, falling right into the trap set by the tomb's master, Heavenly Saint Moya!
Outside the Azure Blue Mansion.
As the month was about to end, the golden Demon Carp guarding outside also became active again.
"It's almost time, these people are finally about to come out of the Azure Blue Mansion!"
"Who knows how many of them died!"
"We must thoroughly interrogate them about the abnormal phenomena in the Azure Blue Mansion earlier."
"This first murder scene, it'll be good if even half of them are alive. Next, we will send them to the second murder scene, then the third, to continue selecting people for Lord Tiger Demon Teng!"
The golden Demon Carp's demonic eyes shimmered with a ghostly glow as it pondered various arrangements.
While everyone was waiting for the month's time limit at the Azure Blue Mansion, the month finally came to an end completely.
The moment that time was up, the pitch-black gate of the Azure Blue Mansion suddenly erupted with sounds, and then one by one, figures were transported out.
The group that was transported out was none other than Fairy Nishang and the other twenty-six people!
"We're out, we finally made it out!"
Being transported from the Azure Blue Mansion and back to Azure Blue Lake, the twenty-seven people were all invigorated.
Just when they thought that only they, the twenty-seven people, had come out from the Azure Blue Mansion, another thunderous sound came from the Mansion, and they looked towards the gate to see a young man's figure flying out from the Mansion.
Seeing this figure, Fairy Nishang and the others showed expressions of disbelief.
Ye Chen was indeed still alive, indeed inside the Azure Blue Mansion!
But they had all been in the outer Mansion's grand hall, so where had Ye Chen gone?
And what about Jiang Yao? Always with Ye Chen, why hadn't she come out? Had something happened to Jiang Yao?
With countless doubts, Fairy Nishang, Liu Yan, Yun Luo, and the others approached Ye Chen.
Just as Ye Chen and the twenty-seven others reunited, having all left the Azure Blue Mansion, and they were about to question Ye Chen about the occurrences inside, the golden Demon Carp flew directly over to them.
After sweeping its demonic eyes over everyone's faces, the Demon Carp spoke, "So many people have survived?!"
The Demon Carp had thought that in the first killing ground, the Azure Blue Mansion, half of the fifty people would die, but to its surprise, twenty-eight had come out alive.
With fifteen having died before entering the Azure Blue Mansion, it meant that only seven people died during the month inside?
This number was far lower than what the golden Demon Carp had estimated.
Upon hearing the Demon Carp's words, those who had exited the Azure Blue Mansion were enraged.
Seeing the Demon Carp's expression, it seemed that it was disappointed they hadn't died in greater numbers—could it be that it wished for even more of them to perish?
While the other twenty-seven were furious, Ye Chen had a moment of realization.
Knowing the true master of the ancient tomb to be Heavenly Saint Moya of the Demon Sects, and reflecting on past events, many of Ye Chen's doubts were resolved.
From the expression of the golden Demon Carp, Ye Chen knew that the creature indeed wanted more of them to die!
"Are you afraid to die?"
"I really want to see what kind of trick you're all playing!"
Ye Chen smirked coldly in his heart.
"However, I'll take care of the Azure Blue Mansion first, and after that, I'll get the truth out of this Demon Carp about what exactly Heavenly Saint Moya is planning for us!"
With that thought in mind, Ye Chen ignored the golden Demon Carp watching him and didn't pay attention to Fairy Nishang and the others by his side either.
He turned his head to look at the Azure Blue Mansion.
Then, Ye Chen reached out a big hand toward the Azure Blue Mansion.
Ye Chen's action baffled everyone, and the golden Demon Carp even burst out, "Kid, what are you doing?"
Ye Chen ignored the Demon Carp's bark, and as he reached out toward the Azure Blue Mansion, he felt the Phoenix Spirit's consciousness emanating from within the mansion.
Subsequently, the entire Azure Blue Mansion began to shrink visibly at great speed.
Obviously, the Phoenix Spirit, seeing Ye Chen reclaiming the Azure Blue Mansion, had activated the spatial restrictions within the mansion to assist Ye Chen in taking it.
In the blink of an eye, the several thousand zhang tall Azure Blue Mansion started to shrink rapidly, becoming the size of a normal residence, and then, in another blink, it turned into a fist-sized miniature mansion.
At the same time, Ye Chen's Ethereal Spirit Ring flashed, and inside, the Heaven Spirit Ring shone brightly, sending the shrunken Azure Blue Mansion shooting towards Ye Chen.
It was then that everyone understood what Ye Chen intended to do.
Ye Chen actually wanted to reclaim the Azure Blue Mansion!
Fairy Nishang, Liu Yan, Yun Luo, and the others were utterly shocked!
They could not fathom that Ye Chen would dare to take away the Azure Blue Mansion right in front of the golden Demon Carp, and what's more, it looked like he was actually going to succeed!
Fairy Nishang and the others were incredibly surprised, while the golden Demon Carp was enraged!
The Azure Blue Mansion was left by the great Heavenly Saint who was the master of the ancient tomb. It was tasked with guarding this place, so how could it allow others to take away the Azure Blue Mansion?
The golden Demon Carp could never have imagined that the young man in front of it had the audacity to take away the Azure Blue Mansion, to steal the treasures of the tomb's master!
Moreover, according to the great Heavenly Saint, no one else should be able to take away the Azure Blue Mansion, except perhaps the Heavenly Saint himself, and yet this youth had managed to do so, so smoothly, at the Spirit Sea Realm.
This left the golden Demon Carp utterly astonished.
However, by this time, the Demon Carp could no longer afford to be surprised, as the furious creature sought to prevent Ye Chen from taking the Azure Blue Mansion, even harboring thoughts of killing him.
The golden Demon Carp's form exploded into motion, charging frantically towards Ye Chen.
"Ye Chen, be careful!"
Although they did not understand why Ye Chen would attempt to take the Azure Blue Mansion, many shouted in alarm when they saw the golden Demon Carp launch an attack. Fairy Nishang especially shot forward, intending to block the assault for Ye Chen.
Liu Yan took a step as if to move, but then stopped.
Yun Luo of the Cloud Sky Sect touched an item in his robes, his expression changing unpredictably.
And Xue Yue, a disciple of the Demon Sects hidden among the crowd, had a glint in his eye, pondering something.
All of these reactions unfolded in the time it takes for sparks to fly off flint, and as Ye Chen reached out to take the Azure Blue Mansion and everyone noticed the golden Demon Carp's attack, the creature was already upon Ye Chen.
The golden Demon Carp, being at the Demon King Level and a master of the Rotating Core Level, was not someone Fairy Nishang was confident in stopping. Just as Fairy Nishang's complexion drastically changed while she stood in front of Ye Chen, bracing for the golden Demon Carp's charge, she suddenly saw a blur before her eyes.
Then, a figure appeared in front of her.
The figure smiled at Fairy Nishang, "Thanks for your help, Fairy, but let me handle this Demon Carp that wants to kill me!"
"Ye Chen!" Just as Fairy Nishang managed to recognize the figure, she saw Ye Chen launch a palm strike toward the golden Demon Carp.
As Ye Chen struck the golden Demon Carp with a palm, his other hand continued to reach for the Azure Blue Mansion.
Facing the Demon King Level golden Demon Carp, Ye Chen was multitasking, simultaneously reclaiming the Azure Blue Mansion while dealing with the Demon Carp King!