Draven sprinted forward with all his might. After his physique was further enhanced by the awakening of his bloodline, his speed was just barely enough to hold up against the tiger demon chasing him like a speeding car.
Furthermore, carrying the young lady in his arms was somewhat limiting his movements.
"Roar!" The tiger demon let out an enraged roar, and a lightning bolt shot from its horn towards the fleeing Draven.
"Damn it!" Draven narrowly avoided the attack and continued running forward with gritted teeth. As for facing the tiger head-on, he didn't even dare think of that. After all, the difference between the Ascendant Realm and the Mortal Realm was like that of a child and an adult; it was not something that could be taken lightly.
Alexandria was in a daze at this moment. Just moments ago, she thought she was going to die, but the next second, someone had picked her up and started running faster than any Mortal Realm beast she had ever seen. The most astonishing thing was that she couldn't sense any elemental energy from this man, which was strange. Even if he was a body cultivator, he had to use elemental energy to forge the body.
But then a bold idea popped into her head. She had heard about ancient cultivation techniques that relied purely on vital chi to temper the body, but practicing any of them was as tough as ascending to heaven. So gradually, they became myths in stories with the emergence of elemental body-forging techniques.
For example, the young man covered in lightning earlier was a lightning elemental body cultivator who used the formidable power of lightning to temper his body.
"Don't stare at me like an idiot. If you have any more formation plates, toss them out..." Draven said in frustration when he saw the little girl in his arms looking at him with her golden eyes without doing anything.
"Aren't you some rich young lady? If you want to live, use all your trump cards. If not, I will toss you into its mouth and leave on my own," he said fiercely as he wove through a dense array of trees, effectively slowing down the tiger's momentum.
Alexandria came back to her senses and took out dozens of formation plates from her storage ring, flinging them backwards towards the chasing tiger demon.
"Bang... Bang... Bang..."
Explosions rang out continuously as spell after spell landed on the tiger demon.
Draven's mouth twitched when he saw her taking out formation plates non-stop and throwing them like soccer balls. From her actions, it was evident that she was quite used to this, as not a single formation plate missed its target.
"Roar!" Suddenly, a lightning ball landed on Draven's back, and both of them were sent flying a considerable distance away before rolling on the ground several times.
"Don't stop, keep throwing!" Draven jumped up from the ground, picked up the dazed young lady once more, and continued fleeing deeper into the forest.
By this time, there were numerous wounds on the tiger demon's body, and it had lost its earlier ferocity as it chased both of them from a considerable distance, staying just outside the young lady's attack range.
This continued for a long time. Even after hours of non-stop running, neither the tiger demon nor Draven showed any sign of stopping.
Alexandria was numb by this moment. She could understand why the tiger demon could run like this; after all, it was a beast and had naturally robust vital chi from birth. But what about Draven? Was he even considered human anymore? She was not so sure at this moment.
Suddenly, Draven stopped in his tracks.
Confused, the young lady turned around and saw the tiger demon had also stopped chasing them. Instead, it stared coldly at them without even roaring as it had previously.
"Don't make a sound..." Draven said in a low voice as he carefully set her down on the floor.
It was only then that she saw what was in front of them. In the bright moonlight, a majestic mansion stood before them like a haunted ghost palace. There were also several pale-faced humans standing around the mansion with a lifeless look in their eyes.
Just then, one of the figures in broken battle armor turned to look at the young lady with its hollow eyes, which looked like two black holes.
"Arghhh!" A scream escaped the young lady's mouth when she saw the pale faced humanoid's eyes.
"Damn it!" Draven hurriedly covered her mouth, but it was already too late as all the humanoids fixed their gaze on them.
The tiger demon had already fled for its dear life at the first sight of this mansion, so naturally, Draven and Alexandria became their prime target.
"These are undead puppets. Since we are only at the Mortal Realm, only the Mortal Realm undeads will attack us, so there is still a chance we can leave this place. Don't panic," Draven warned her in a low voice without moving.
"I have formation plates containing purifying spells, can I use them?" Alexandria asked back.
Draven rolled his eyes. "Don't try to be oversmart. It is only because of the ancient rules that bind this place that Ascendant Realm puppets didn't take action against us. If you break the rules by relying on external objects, they also won't hold back. Think about it. According to the legends, there are more than a hundred Ascendant Realm puppets inside. Are you sure you have enough legs to run from this place?"
Alexandria was just a fifteen-year-old girl. Hearing the terrifying facts about the mysterious mansion in front of her, she closed her mouth and remained expressionless, though her body kept shaking in fear.
"Are you here for the trial, young couple?" Suddenly, a rough voice rang out from before them.
An old man with hollow eyes had appeared out of nowhere in front of them like a ghost. Seeing the old man, the young lady shook her head vigorously.
But before she could speak, Draven pulled her behind him and bowed to the old man with one hand on his chest. "Respected Senior, we are indeed here to take part in the trial of the Asura God Mansion. We hope Senior can guide us."
"A respectful lad. Good, good..." A smile appeared on the old man's face, and he stroked his beard in satisfaction. "Follow me." He turned around and walked towards the mansion.
Draven didn't dare hesitate as he followed the old man, with the young lady clinging to his arm like a scared child.
The puppets around Draven ignored them when they saw the old man walking in front. Some of them even nodded at Draven, who nodded back with a polite smile.
The young lady stuck to Draven closely when she saw the puppets smiling at her with hollow eyes. She couldn't even understand how this young man could smile back at them as though they were old friends.
"Aren't you afraid of death?" she finally asked in a low voice.
"Hahaha... Little girl, your man understands the true essence of killing. Such people are veterans who have faced countless life-or-death situations. They have wills of steel and hearts of rock, so of course he wouldn't be affected much by the killing intent emanating from the puppets. In fact, the only reason they are smiling at him is because they recognize him as one of their own. You don't have to be creeped out because of that," the old man said with a hearty laugh when he heard the young lady's words.
Draven merely smiled as he continued behind the old man. But in his mind, he was cursing his bad luck. As far as he knew, of one hundred people who entered this mansion, only one would have the chance to leave. The others would be torn apart in the name of trials.
If one could pass the trials of the Asura Mansion, they would have a chance to obtain a life-bound treasure compatible with them and a cultivation technique their heart desired from the Asura God Mansion.
But this was only possible if you could walk out of this place. As far as Draven knew, all those who had done that were legendary figures treated akin to gods in the Hunter Alliance. As for the others who had tried to replicate them and entered this mansion, not even their bones were found later.
If given a choice, Draven would not have stepped into this place. But the tricky thing was that nobody knew when it would appear or where. One thing was clear: once you were noticed by the puppets, you could only walk forward. There was no turning back; otherwise, the puppets would attack unconditionally until the person who refused their invitation to participate in the trial was dead.