After the college entrance examination, my identity as a Mahayana Immortal Venerable could no longer

Jiangzhou, at the foot of Panlongshan Villa District.

The heavy rain has stopped.

The sickly dark red clouds in the sky did not disperse; instead, they pressed down even lower. A pungent odor, similar to a mixture of ozone and soil, permeated the air.

Lin Zhen leaned against the hood of an armored off-road vehicle, his fingers rubbing against the trigger guard of a heavy Gauss rifle.

The calluses on my fingertips turned white from being soaked in cold sweat.

Less than two hours had passed since the global spiritual energy surge that erupted in the East China Sea.

The local ecosystem in Jiangzhou has begun to exhibit abnormal changes that cannot be explained by common sense.

Along the highway, the bushes that are usually only knee-high have grown as thick as carnivorous plants in a tropical rainforest. The cast iron manhole covers of the sewers are being pushed against by something underneath, making a loud thud that echoes down the asphalt all the way to people's heels.

One hundred meters outside the warning line.

A dozen or so stray dogs, now the size of adult bulls, were baring their fangs and drooling as they stared at them.

They dared not rush over.

Because a powerful pressure emanating from the top of Panlong Mountain instills instinctive fear in all carbon-based life forms.

"Director Lin."

A bodyguard approached with a gun in his hand, lowering his voice.

"The number of mutated creatures on the outskirts is increasing. Our battalion's firepower can only hold out for ten minutes at most if a beast tide really breaks out. Should we request heavy firepower support from the military?"

Lin Zhen took out half a cigarette that was wet from the rain, put it in his mouth, but did not light it.

"The military has no time to care about us right now. The defense zone around Beijing has been taken over by those lunatics from the Ancient Martial Arts Alliance."

Lin Zhen spat the cigarette butt on the ground and crushed it with his military boot.

"Stand guard. Mr. Lu instructed that not even a fly can be allowed into Panlong Mountain until he returns. Anyone who dares to back down even half a step, I'll kill him right now."

The voice just fell.

The air in mid-air suddenly began to twist violently.

A piercing explosion ripped through the air above everyone's heads, causing the bulletproof windows of the surrounding off-road vehicles to crack under the strain.

A pitch-black rift in the void was torn open by human force.

Crushed ice and water vapor, carrying the salty smell of the deep sea, were falling from the edge of the crack.

Lu Yuan, wearing a black windbreaker with the hem soaked by seawater, stepped out of the crack and landed steadily on the asphalt road.

Lin Zhen's heart, which had been in his throat, finally settled back into his stomach. He scrambled over there.

Mr. Lu!

Lu Yuan didn't even glance at the mutated beasts growling on the periphery.

"Withdraw all your men from within a five-mile radius of Panlong Mountain."

Lu Yuan walked to the cordon and reached out to tear off the yellow and black plastic strip.

"I need to change my approach to the formation on this mountain. If you stay here, you'll all become nourishment for the formation."

Lin Zhen was stunned.

"But... Mr. Lu, there are mutated creatures everywhere now. If we withdraw our defenses, those monsters will rush into the villa area and disturb your sister..."

"With me here, even if the sky falls, it won't hit her."

Lu Yuan didn't waste any more words and headed straight up the mountain road to the top.

Lin Zhen gritted his teeth, turned around and roared at the guards who were still staring blankly at their guns.

"Didn't you hear me! Everyone get on the bus! Retreat five kilometers! Quickly!"

The roar of the convoy's engines faded into the distance.

Lu Yuan walked alone to the dragon vein array eye halfway up Panlong Mountain.

Several top-grade spirit stones were originally buried here, maintaining the operation of the Nine Heavens Spirit Gathering Array. However, with the recovery of Earth's spiritual energy, this small-scale spirit gathering array is no longer able to stop those high-level old monsters that are about to awaken.

Lu Yuan raised his right hand.

A blinding blue light flashed from the Nine Heavens Storage Ring on his hand.

A fragment of the Guixu Boundary Stone, weighing over a hundred tons, appeared out of thin air, ten meters above the ground.

The surface of this boundary stone is covered with natural starry sky patterns, and the liquefied spiritual energy inside almost drips down along the texture of the rock.

boom!

The enormous object, having lost its support, crashed straight into the soil.

The entire Panlong Mountain sank half an inch.

The surrounding trees were overturned by the blast wave, and the soil was rolled out in all directions like ocean waves.

Lu Yuan had no intention of treating this thing as a decoration.

He pointed his fingers together to form a sword, pouring his Mahayana-stage true essence into his fingertips without reservation.

The cyan sword energy slashed rapidly across the surface of the boundary stone.

The cross-realm array patterns that originally belonged to the Sirius Star Region were forcibly erased and replaced by the most advanced mountain gate defense array in the cultivation world.

Eight gates, golden locks; nine palaces, reversed.

Lu Yuan extracted 70% of the spiritual energy from the boundary stone in one go and directly injected it into the earth veins of Panlong Mountain.

At this moment, the groundwater level in Jiangzhou City experienced a violent backflow.

A deep, muffled sound, like a dragon's roar, came from the depths of the earth.

A thick, visible white fog rose from the ground and spread upwards along the foot of the mountain. In less than half a minute, the entire area within a ten-mile radius of Panlong Mountain was completely enveloped by this dense, impenetrable white fog.

This is no ordinary fog.

This is a sword blade made of extremely compressed spiritual energy.

Any creature that has not received Lu Yuan's divine permission, even a so-called Grandmaster of Transformation on Earth, will be banned if it dares to step into this white mist.

The mountain-protecting formation will grind the intruder into a pile of minced meat within a fraction of a second.

From that moment on, Panlong Mountain was completely transformed into an impenetrable iron giant that even a nuclear bomb couldn't penetrate.

Lu Yuan patted the mud off his hands.

He turned and walked towards the villa on the mountaintop.

Push open the heavy solid wood door of the villa.

The temperature inside the room was at least ten degrees higher than outside.

Lu Qingxue curled up on the large leather sofa, wrapped in a thick cashmere blanket.

The medicinal power of the Extreme Flame Dragon Marrow had completely neutralized the Nine Yin Profound Meridian Cold Poison within her body. However, the collision of these two extreme energies meant that her mortal body was simply unable to fully digest it.

She's like a nuclear reactor that's been forcibly locked up.

The skin surface was covered with an abnormal red blush, and the breath exhaled could even condense into tiny ice crystals in the air.

Lu Yuan walked to the sofa and sat down next to his sister.

The true essence of the Mahayana stage flowed slowly from his palm onto Lu Qingxue's forehead.

The azure true essence, like a dense net, firmly pressed the wild spiritual energy that was trying to run rampant back into the depths of her dantian.

Lu Qingxue let out a comfortable murmur, her tightly furrowed brows gradually relaxing.

She rolled over, instinctively grabbing Lu Yuan's arm with both hands, and rubbing her face against the windbreaker that still smelled of the deep sea.

"Brother...you're back."

Lu Qingxue's eyes were not open, and her voice was soft and sweet, as if she hadn't woken up yet.

"Okay. Go to sleep. I've tidied up the house; no mice will sneak in."

Lu Yuan used his other hand to pull the cashmere blanket up, covering the exposed section of her fair neck.

This is a Mahayana Immortal Venerable who kills without blinking an eye outside and directly crushes the cross-dimensional divine sense of the Sirius Star Region.

Only at this moment would the coldness of aloofness fade from his eyes.

He sat on the sofa and patiently used his true energy to cleanse himself for a full half hour.

Until Lu Qingxue's breathing became completely long and steady, the nuclear-explosion-like spiritual energy fluctuations within her body were locked deep within her meridians.

Lu Yuan then withdrew his hand.

He stood up, walked to the French windows in the living room, and looked at the thick white fog outside.

The backyard is all settled.

It's time to clean up the trash that's jumping around in front of us.

Lu Yuan pushed open the door and walked out of the villa.

Lin Zhen had already passed through the safety passage shrouded in white mist and was waiting outside the courtyard.

He was holding a red document bag stamped with the top-secret seal of the Astronomical Bureau.

"Mr. Lu. The latest intelligence from the capital."

Lin Zhen handed over the file bag.

Lu Yuan did not answer.

"read."

Lin Zhen swallowed hard and opened the file folder.

"The five reclusive elders of the Ancient Martial Arts Alliance have completely sealed off the martial arts arena in the capital. They've buried a full three tons of high explosives beneath the arena."

Lin Zhen's voice was somewhat dry.

"Not only that, they also used a lightning-attracting formation that had been lost in the martial arts world for a hundred years. They erected thirty-six lightning-attracting pillars wrapped with copper wire around the martial arts arena. Adding to that, today the capital city is experiencing a thunderstorm..."

Lin Zhen raised his head and looked at Lu Yuan's profile.

"They've declared to the world that this is a Heavenly Thunder Formation, acting on behalf of Heaven. They intend to proclaim to all of China that the rules of the ancient martial arts world cannot be protected even by the government if Ye Qingcheng is struck dead by lightning."

Lu Yuan listened.

He let out an undisguised sneer.

"Three tons of explosives, plus a few pieces of scrap metal, were left standing upright in a thunderstorm to be struck by lightning."

Lu Yuan turned to look at Lin Zhen.

"Are these old fogies mistaking the lightning techniques of the cultivation world for static electricity from middle school physics?"

Lin Zhen was speechless.

That was a deadly trap set up by five reclusive old monsters at the peak of the Transcendent Realm. In the understanding of the ancient martial arts world on Earth, this was already the ultimate method capable of slaying gods and destroying Buddhas.

"What's Ye Qingcheng's current state?" Lu Yuan asked casually.

"He was chained to the steel pillar in the center of the martial arts stage. His meridians were sealed with bone-piercing nails. However..."

Lin Zhen turned to the last page of the document.

"The message from Elder Li says there seems to be some change on the Ancient Martial Arts Alliance's side. To prevent any unforeseen complications, Elder Lei has just issued a new decree, postponing the execution originally scheduled for three days later..."

Lin Zhen stared intently at the red timestamp.

"It's been moved up to midnight tonight."

Lu Yuan took out his phone and glanced at the screen.

It's 10:30 PM now.

There's still an hour and a half left.

"knew."

Lu Yuan put his phone back in his pocket.

"You guard this fog gate for me. On my way back, if I see anyone trying to take advantage of Jiangzhou, I'll bury you in Panlong Mountain as fertilizer."

Before Lin Zhen could even sign a pledge.

The soil beneath Lu Yuan's feet exploded with a loud bang.

He transformed into a streak of azure light, smashing through the dark red clouds above his head, and hurtling towards the capital city, 1,200 kilometers to the north.

......

At the same time. In the capital city.

Royal Martial Arts Arena.

This massive arena, originally built in the Ming Dynasty and entirely constructed of white marble, has been completely demolished and is unrecognizable.

Thirty-six bronze pillars, each twenty meters tall, formed a giant cage around the martial arts arena. Each pillar was wrapped with thick, insulated copper wires, pointing directly at the rolling black thunderclouds in the sky.

Heavy rain.

Streaks of lightning darted back and forth through the clouds like giant silver pythons.

The martial arts platform is in the center.

Ye Qingcheng was tightly bound to a copper pillar by two steel chains as thick as her forearm.

Her signature white martial arts robe had been ripped to shreds by the whip. Blood dripped from the rain-washed wounds, pattering onto the white marble floor tiles.

Three long, bone-piercing nails, glowing with green light, were driven into her three major acupoints: Qihai, Lingtai, and Tanzhong.

This was to seal off the true energy within her body.

But the old monsters of the Ancient Martial Arts Alliance had no idea.

Ye Qingcheng's internal energy had already been refined by Lu Yuan's Mahayana stage true essence on Panlong Mountain. Those bone-piercing nails could seal off worldly internal energy, but they couldn't block the purest true essence of the cultivation world.

If she wanted to leave now, breaking those chains would only take her a few seconds.

But she didn't move.

She raised her head, letting the cold rain pelt her aloof and elegant face.

My gaze pierced through the rain, landing on the old man standing at the edge of the ring, dressed in a long robe with a black background and gold trim.

Elder Lei, one of the five reclusive elders of the Ancient Martial Arts Alliance.

"Ye Qingcheng, you don't even have the strength to beg for mercy anymore?"

Elder Lei stood with his hands behind his back, looking down at the woman who was once hailed as the greatest genius in the ancient martial arts world in the last hundred years.

"You should have taken over the reins of the entire martial arts world. Instead, you chose to be a lackey for some nobody who popped up out of nowhere. You've utterly disgraced the Ancient Martial Arts Alliance!"

Elder Lei's voice, imbued with profound and powerful internal energy, overwhelmed the thunder that filled the sky and echoed throughout the entire plaza.

Below the stage stood hundreds of internal energy martial artists dressed in black, close-fitting outfits.

These people were all from various factions forcibly recruited by Elder Lei. At this moment, they all lowered their heads in the torrential rain, not daring to even breathe loudly.

Ye Qingcheng twitched her chapped lips.

Rainwater flowed into my mouth, carrying a strong, metallic taste of blood.

"Old Lei."

Ye Qingcheng's voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached Elder Lei's ears.

"You set up this treacherous formation, planting three tons of explosives, just to harm my master?"

Ye Qingcheng seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world, her chest heaving violently as she let out a hoarse laugh.

What are you laughing at!

Elder Lei's face darkened abruptly. He took a step forward and grabbed Ye Qingcheng's chin.

"Still talking tough even when death is imminent! What is that brat surnamed Lu anyway! He's just got some ancient inheritance and is acting tough because of a few magical artifacts. If he dares to come today, I'll use these thirty-six Heavenly Thunder Pillars to draw down divine lightning from the heavens, along with the three tons of explosives underground, and I guarantee I'll blast him to smithereens!"

Ye Qingcheng looked at Elder Lei's old face, which was so close to hers and twisted with anger.

There was no fear in his eyes.

Only deep pity.

That was the look in his eyes as he looked down at the loaches in the ditch after seeing a real dragon.

"You have no idea... what kind of being you've provoked."

Ye Qingcheng spat a mouthful of bloody saliva directly onto Elder Lei's face.

"Your supposedly masterful internal energy is nothing more than the breath of a stray dog ​​in his eyes. You use these copper wires to attract lightning..."

Ye Qingcheng looked up at the increasingly dense black thunderclouds in the sky.

"When he arrives, he will teach you what a true heavenly tribulation is."

Elder Lei was enraged.

He wiped the blood from his face, and his Transcendent Qi condensed into an invisible blade in his palm.

"You wretch! Since you trust your master so much, I'll grant your wish now!"

Elder Lei suddenly raised his hand.

"Activate the Heavenly Thunder Formation! No need to wait until midnight! Strike her dead now! I want to see if that guy surnamed Lu can fly all the way from Jiangnan to save a dead dog!"

The array masters below the stage immediately pressed the detonator and lightning detonator in their hands.

hum-

Thirty-six bronze pillars simultaneously emitted ear-piercing high-frequency vibrations.

The thunderclouds in the sky seemed to be drawn by some kind of physical magnetic field, and a huge lightning vortex quickly formed directly above the martial arts stage.

Thick silver lightning bolts, as thick as buckets, converged wildly at the center of the vortex.

An aura of destruction instantly enveloped the entire arena.

Just as the deadly lightning was about to strike Ye Qingcheng's crown along the copper pillar.

boom!

The thick black thundercloud above the martial arts stage suddenly exploded without warning.

It wasn't torn apart by lightning.

Instead, a giant hand, hundreds of meters long and formed entirely of cyan true essence, appeared out of nowhere and tore the thundercloud in two like a tattered cloth.

The thunderbolts that filled the sky were extinguished instantly, like an earthworm being pinched at its vital point, before this giant hand.

The torrential rain reversed. The sky cleared.

The entire martial arts arena fell into a deathly stillness.

A young man wearing a black windbreaker.

With both feet firmly planted in the void, they descended step by step from the torn clouds.

Lu Yuan looked down at Elder Lei, who was still holding the Lightning Summoning Technique in his hand and whose whole body was completely frozen.

I heard.

Lu Yuan's voice was flat and emotionless, yet it struck like a heavy hammer, shattering the dantian of every martial artist present.

"Are you going to teach me how to play with grenades?"