I can receive unlimited protection; my parents handed me over to the state.

Li Tianhao's team was completely thrown into chaos.

His two henchmen, Afei and Ahou, had been easily disarmed by Lu Yuan and were now kneeling in the distance, not daring to raise their heads. As for himself, distracted by his angry outburst, he couldn't dodge in time and was struck hard on the back by the roots of the corrupted tree man.

"puff!"

He flew out like a tattered sack, crashing heavily into the swamp. His B-grade flaming longsword also slipped from his grasp and fell to the ground a short distance away.

"Brother Hao!"

The two remaining teammates, a shield warrior and an archer, were terrified when they saw their leader had been knocked away. They dared not continue fighting; they exchanged a glance, then turned and ran without hesitation, not even bothering to spare Li Tianhao on the ground.

"No...don't leave me!" Li Tianhao struggled to get up from the mud, but the excruciating pain in his back and the wounds on his legs made him powerless. He could only watch helplessly as his teammates disappeared into the gray fog without looking back.

Despair instantly enveloped him.

"roar--!"

The corrupted treant wouldn't give him a chance to breathe. A strange, mocking expression appeared on its enormous, pained face. Dozens of roots, like sharks smelling blood, swept towards Li Tianhao in the swamp from all directions.

It’s over.

Only those two words remained in Li Tianhao's mind. He closed his eyes, awaiting the fate of being torn to pieces.

However, the expected excruciating pain did not come.

He only heard a clear, bird-like sword cry.

Li Tianhao opened his eyes with trembling hands, and the scene before him was one he would never forget.

The boy he regarded as a waste, Lu Yuan, had somehow found himself standing between him and the corrupted tree man.

The purple-blue short sword in the boy's hand was now radiating a dazzling light. Countless fine wind blades and leaping arcs of electricity formed an impenetrable, high-speed rotating sword storm centered on the blade!

"Clang clang clang clang clang!"

Those incredibly tough roots, when they collided with this storm of sword blades, were like hitting a high-speed meat grinder, instantly being cut to pieces, with black juice splattering everywhere.

Lu Yuan didn't even move; he simply stood there calmly, maintaining the operation of the Blade Storm.

The corrupted treant seemed to be completely enraged by this violent force. It let out a deafening roar, and all its branches began to tremble violently. The huge human face on the trunk suddenly opened its mouth, and a sphere the size of a human head, filled with dense dark energy, began to gather in its mouth.

"It's a 'Corrosive Energy Ball'! Get out of the way!" Yan Ji, who was not far away, changed her expression slightly and couldn't help but warn her.

That's the Corrupted Treant's strongest attack; even a level 35 heavy tank would melt instantly if hit by it.

However, Lu Yuan still did not dodge.

He simply raised his head, looking at the ever-growing ball of dark energy, a faint smile playing on his lips.

"Hide? Why hide?"

His voice wasn't loud, but it reached Li Tianhao's ears clearly.

"That word doesn't exist in my dictionary."

As soon as he finished speaking, the "Wind and Thunder Guidance" in Lu Yuan's hand shone brightly.

"The Water God, the Azure Bird, and the Source of Thunder... the three elements united as one!"

"Secret Technique - Thunder Dragon Storm!"

With a low shout from Lu Yuan, the sword storm composed of wind blades and electric arcs suddenly underwent a qualitative change.

A surge of powerful water-based spiritual energy erupted from the sword, perfectly merging with the power of wind and lightning.

A lifelike, azure dragon, composed entirely of liquid metal and wreathed in storms and lightning, roared as it soared into the sky from the storm of blades!

The dragon's roar was filled with ancient majesty and an aura of destruction, causing the entire Fallen Star Forest to tremble.

"roar--!"

The azure-blue thunder dragon charged headlong into the corrosive energy ball.

There were no earth-shattering explosions.

There was only an extreme, all-consuming silence.

The three forces of water, wind, and lightning reacted with a bizarre annihilation upon contact with the dark energy. The corrosive energy sphere vanished silently into the air, like a punctured balloon.

The azure lightning dragon, its momentum undiminished, slammed into the massive body of the corrupted treant with unparalleled force!

"Click...click click..."

A teeth-grinding cracking sound rang out.

The Corrupted Treant's proud hardened bark, which even B-grade weapons couldn't penetrate, cracked inch by inch like paper in front of the Thunder Dragon Storm.

Immediately afterwards, there was a loud "boom".

The giant tree-man, which was ten meters tall, suddenly exploded from the middle, turning into black wood chips and putrid sap flying everywhere.

[Slaying a level 30 Corrupted Treant (Broken Elite) grants 5000 experience points]

[Item Obtained: Corrupted Tree Heart (Fine-grade Material)]

[Ding! Level up! Current level: 4!]

[Ding! Level up! Current level: 5!]

The upgraded light once again enveloped Lu Yuan.

He slowly sheathed his sword, and the coiled thunder dragon dissipated, transforming back into a quiet, purplish-blue short sword.

The entire forest fell into a deathly silence once again.

Li Tianhao slumped in the mud, his mouth agape, staring blankly at the miraculous scene before him, his mind completely blank.

Instant kill?

That level 30 elite monster that had given their entire full squad a hard time was... instantly killed in one move?

He looked at the boy holding a short sword, slowly walking towards him, his eyes filled with endless fear and regret.

What kind of monster did he... mess with?

Lu Yuan walked up to Li Tianhao, looking down at him with no expression on his face.

"Now, who do you think is protecting whom?"

Li Tianhao's lips trembled, and he couldn't utter a single word.

Lu Yuan ignored him and simply bent down to pick up the B-grade flame longsword that had fallen to the side.

He held it in his hand and weighed it in his hand. Then, in front of Li Tianhao, he used the tip of the "Wind and Thunder Guidance" sword to lightly trace a line across the ornate blade.

"Sizzle—"

A piercing sound rang out.

The B-grade longsword, worth millions and treasured by Li Tianhao, immediately had a deep, bone-revealing scratch appear on its blade, and the fiery spiritual energy attached to it instantly dissipated.

This sword is ruined.

"Remember," Lu Yuan tossed the broken sword back in front of Li Tianhao, his voice icy, "that's not someone you can afford to mess with."

After saying that, he stopped looking at the guy who had completely lost his mind and turned to walk towards Yan Ji.

Yan Ji looked at Lu Yuan as he walked over, her eyes filled with extremely complex emotions.

She had thought Lu Yuan could win, but she never dreamed it would be such a crushing, unreasonable victory.

"You... that move just now, did you come up with it yourself?" she couldn't help but ask.

"Yeah, it was something I came up with on the spur of the moment." Lu Yuan nodded, speaking casually, "I read in a book that water can conduct electricity and wind can provide momentum, so I thought I'd try combining these three forces together, and the results turned out pretty good."

Flame Princess: "..."

What does "try it" mean? What does "the effect is not bad" mean?

That's a combo skill that can instantly kill a level 30 elite monster! You think it's as simple as cooking a home-cooked meal?

She felt that the combat theory system she had built up over the decades had been shattered by this kid named Lu Yuan.

"Don't you want to save him?" Yan Ji looked at Li Tianhao, who was still lying on the ground in the distance, and changed the subject.

"Why would I save him?" Lu Yuan retorted. "To let him continue to cause me trouble? I'm not that cheap."

"This instance is a simulation scenario. Even if he dies here, he will only lose one level and resurrect in town. In reality, he will not suffer any damage," Yan Ji explained.

"I won't save them then." Lu Yuan shook his head, his attitude resolute. "Some people need to be made to feel pain before they know what respect is. This is a simulation; next time in the wild, they won't be so lucky."

Flame Princess remained silent.

She discovered that Lu Yuan not only had an alarmingly high combat IQ, but was also far more mature and ruthless than his peers.

He knew very well that being merciful to the enemy was being cruel to himself.

"Let's go." Lu Yuan glanced at the sky. "We've gained enough experience for today, it's time to head back."

The two ignored the distraught Li Tianhao and turned to walk towards the dungeon exit.

The atmosphere was somewhat silent on the way back.

Yan Ji wanted to say something several times, but she swallowed the words back.

Her mind was in turmoil.

On the one hand, she was shocked and excited by the terrifying potential that Lu Yuan had shown.

On the other hand, she felt a little ashamed of her previous contempt and arrogance.

She, a dignified SSS-level Star Envoy of level 78, almost misjudged a peerless genius who could change the future of the war, mistaking him for an ordinary rookie.

It wasn't until the two stepped out of the portal and returned to the bright sunlight of the Celestial World that Yan Ji seemed to have made up her mind.

She called out to Lu Yuan, who was about to return to the villa.

"Lu Yuan."

"Hmm? What's wrong, Instructor?" Lu Yuan turned around.

Yan Ji looked at him, and for the first time, her golden eyes no longer held coldness and scrutiny, but instead held a solemnity, even a hint of...pleading.

"Your sword is very strong."

"I know."

"I... want one too." Yan Ji took a deep breath and finally spoke her mind. "Of course, I'll provide the materials myself, and you can name whatever reward you want."

Lu Yuan looked at her, and was stunned for a moment.

He thought Yan Ji was going to say something important, but he didn't expect it to be this.

He looked at the proud, powerful woman in front of him, who usually seemed to look down on everything, but now she was looking at him with an almost pleading look in her eyes, and he suddenly found it a little funny.

"Sure." He nodded, agreeing with unusual ease. "However, I have one condition."