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

The rock strata, thousands of meters underground, are subjected to temperatures of tens of millions of degrees, so the melting process is omitted.

The sand, soil, and even the two-meter-thick lead-zinc alloy explosion-proof door of the prison were all transformed into rising plasma in a fraction of a second.

Inside the Wang family's top-secret bunker on the back mountain of the defense zone.

Wang Zhentian stared intently at the black screen that had lost its signal. A grin spread across his face, and a lisp escaped his throat, accompanied by a maniacal laugh.

The laughter lasted only half a second.

The ultra-high pressure shockwave from the nuclear explosion rushed into the bunker at ten times the speed of sound, flowing through fissures in the earth and ventilation ducts. The composite armor walls, supposedly capable of withstanding bunker-buster missiles, were instantly torn apart like waterlogged toilet paper.

A wave of air at several thousand degrees Celsius rushed towards us.

Wang Zhentian's maniacal laughter didn't even have time to transform into terror. His eyeballs, skin, and bones vaporized completely in a fraction of a second. Along with this luxurious bunker covering several thousand square meters, it was utterly wiped off the map of China.

The tremors from underground traveled upwards along the fractured rock layers.

A giant crater with a diameter of more than three kilometers was directly created by the collapse of the ground behind the capital defense zone.

The torrential rain poured down on the dark red bottom of the pit, instantly evaporating into a cloud of white steam that blotted out the sky. The pungent smell of sulfur and burning mingled together, turning this area into a complete no-man's-land where even microorganisms could not survive.

The deepest part of the giant pit.

A phantom image of a three-legged round cauldron covered in ancient bronze rust let out a mournful cry of unbearable burden.

Click.

Dozens of spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the surface of the cauldron. The primordial energy of Xuanhuang exhausted its last bit of power, turning into countless specks of light and dissipating in mid-air.

Lu Yuan stood still.

His black windbreaker was completely covered in dust. His exposed Mahayana-stage physical body had no wounds. Not even a single hair was singed. The translucent, high-temperature vitrified magma flowed around his feet, yet it couldn't even burn the skin on his feet.

He lowered his head and clenched his fist tightly.

The finger bones made a dull popping sound.

"The Heavenly Dao of the cultivation world is quite persistent in pursuing debts."

Lu Yuan exhaled a breath of hot air that smelled of gunpowder.

Deep within his consciousness, the black chain covered in dark red runes was now like a mad venomous snake, tightly constricting his already illusory nascent soul.

Forcibly using the Xuanhuang Mother Qi Cauldron, a magical artifact that transcends the limits of the Earth's plane, directly touched the red line of the Heavenly Dao Life Stealing Curse.

The once vast blue true essence sea in his dantian is now so dry that not a single drop of water can be squeezed out.

His current cultivation level has been forcibly suppressed back to the mortal realm by the laws of Heaven.

Without true essence, one cannot perform immortal techniques that make words come true, cannot fly, and cannot even open the Nine Heavens Storage Ring.

But there was no panic on Lu Yuan's face.

He stretched his neck, and his cervical vertebrae made a grinding sound that made your teeth ache.

Without the protection of true essence, the most primal ferocity of the Mahayana stage physical body was completely unleashed. It was like a Tyrannosaurus Rex locked in a steel cage; even though its teeth had been pulled, it could still crush all challengers into mincemeat with its hundreds of tons of muscle power alone.

He reached out and touched the outside of his right thigh.

The fragment of the array plate that he had previously stuffed into his jacket pocket was protected by his last bit of true energy, preventing it from being vaporized by the nuclear explosion.

Lu Yuan held the fragment stained with black blood in his hand, then stepped on and crushed a piece of cool, glazed rock.

He began to climb up the steep pit wall, step by step.

......

At the same time.

The headquarters of the Beijing Astronomical Bureau. A top-secret command center 200 meters underground.

The LCD screen, which covers the entire wall, is playing repeatedly the image of the orange-red mushroom cloud rising into the sky behind the defense zone.

The entire hall was so quiet that the only sound was the air conditioning blowing out.

Old Li sat in the commander-in-chief's chair, his hands gripping the solid wood armrests tightly. His fingernails scratched deep white marks into the wood.

Chu Jianguo stood to the side, his back completely soaked with cold sweat.

"Equivalent to 5,000 tons."

A technician in a white coat swallowed hard, his voice trembling uncontrollably.

"The core temperature exceeded ten million degrees Celsius. The explosion point was located between 800 and 1000 meters underground. The Wang family's bunker was also within the blast radius, and life detectors showed... no survivors."

A collective gasp filled the hall.

A hawkish high-ranking officer with the rank of major general slammed his hand on the table and stood up abruptly.

"Wang Zhentian is a madman! He actually dared to use tactical nuclear weapons within Beijing's borders!"

The major general was panting heavily, but his eyes revealed an undisguised fervor.

"But this is for the best. No matter how strong that monster surnamed Lu is, he can't possibly survive at the center of a nuclear explosion. That's tens of millions of degrees Celsius! Even steel would instantly vaporize!"

The major general turned to look at Old Li.

"Elder Li! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. With Lu Yuan dead, the formation on Panlong Mountain in Jiangnan is now ownerless. His sister must still possess many secrets of the cultivation world. I suggest we immediately mobilize three special forces teams to take over Panlong Mountain!"

boom!

A gunshot rang out in the enclosed hall.

The major general had a bloody hole between his eyebrows. He didn't even realize what had happened before he crashed straight to the metal floor.

The dozens of high-ranking officials in the hall were so frightened that their scalps tingled, and they all took a step back.

Old Li slammed his still-smoking pistol onto the table.

He drew his sidearm without even hesitating.

"Drag him out. Feed him to the dogs."

Old Li stood up, his bloodshot eyes sweeping over everyone present.

"You're ignoring what I said, aren't you?"

Old Li's voice was so hoarse it sounded like he was sawing wood.

"What is the supreme national policy? Absolute obedience! Anyone who dares to harbor even the slightest thought towards that man, or his sister, will have their entire family wiped out!"

Just then.

The technician who had been watching the monitoring radar suddenly let out a scream like a pig being slaughtered.

"Li... Elder Li! At the center of the high-energy radiation zone... there's... something moving!"

Everyone's necks, like rusty gears, stiffly twisted towards the main screen.

The satellite penetrated the thick radiation clouds and projected a thermal image of the bottom of the giant crater onto the screen.

It was an extremely striking red humanoid silhouette.

He was walking on the magma, which was thousands of degrees hot, with a steady, unhurried pace, going up the pit wall.

The entire command center was plunged into utter despair.

Even nuclear weapons can't kill it.

This is no longer within the biological realm that humans can understand.

Old Li's legs went weak, and he collapsed into the chair.

"Backup machine."

Old Li covered his face tightly with both hands, forcibly suppressing the fear that seeped from his very bones.

"Notify all available bomb disposal helicopters in Beijing. I need to land on the edge of this crater within five minutes."

Old Li suddenly stood up and unbuttoned his military uniform top button.

"Bring me the list of all core members of the Wang and Ye families who have been purged. Come with me to greet the emperor."

......

Ten minutes later.

The edge of a giant pit in the back mountain of the defense zone.

The torrential rain was still falling. But the rain evaporated into water vapor hundreds of meters above the giant crater due to the residual high temperature.

More than a dozen heavy bomb-proof helicopters braved the violent airflow and forced their way to land on the asphalt road that had been baked and cracked.

The propellers kicked up clouds of volcanic ash.

Old Li didn't even use an umbrella. He was the first to jump out of the plane.

Chu Jianguo and dozens of high-ranking officials from the Celestial Surveillance Bureau and the Bureau of Extraordinary Immortals followed closely behind. The expressions on each of their faces were even more grim than those of someone going to the execution ground.

They stood on the edge of the giant pit. The rubber shoes beneath their feet even smelled of burnt rubber.

Thick steam churned in the abyss.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

A series of heavy, rhythmic footsteps echoed up from the bottom of the abyss.

The sound wasn't loud, but each stomp felt like a blow to the heart of those who held the highest power in China.

The thick fog was roughly torn apart by a pair of invisible, giant hands.

Lu Yuan, shirtless, walked out of the giant pit.

Under the spotlight, the perfect muscle lines on his body gleamed with a texture similar to cold jade. Without the protection of true energy, with each step he took, the crystalline rock beneath his feet was etched with deep cracks by the sheer weight of his Mahayana-stage physical body.

The overwhelming sense of primal oppression was even more suffocating than the previous aura of otherworldly power.

puff.

Without the slightest hesitation, Old Li slammed his knees heavily into the scalding mud.

The posture was more humble than ever before.

Chu Jianguo and the dozens of high-ranking officials behind him knelt down in unison, like dominoes falling.

No one felt humiliated.

When you are facing a god who can hear a 5,000-ton nuclear bomb go off like a firecracker, being able to kneel down and speak to him is already an immense blessing.

"Mr. Lu."

Old Li pressed his forehead firmly to the ground. The scalding mud made his scalp tingle, but he didn't dare to move an inch.

"It's our incompetence that allowed that beast Wang Zhentian to take advantage of the situation and disturb the gentleman."

Old Li held up a soaked document bag with both hands, raising it high above his head.

"All of the Wang and Ye families' properties in Beijing have been completely sealed off by the military. A total of 372 core members from both families are currently being escorted away. Please make your decision, sir."

Lu Yuan walked up to Elder Li.

He didn't even look at the document.

He currently has no true essence left in his body. It would be quite physically demanding to personally kill these hundreds of pigs.

"Do me two things."

Lu Yuan's voice was completely flat.

"First. Before dawn, I don't want any living beings with those two surnames to be found in China's household registration system. Bury even their dogs."

Old Li shuddered.

More than three hundred lives lost. A powerful conglomerate worth tens of billions.

In short, annihilation.

"Yes! We will leave no survivors!" Old Li kowtowed repeatedly.

Lu Yuan raised his hand.

He threw the fragment of the array plate, which he had dug out of the mutated corpse, directly into the mud in front of Elder Li.

"Second, find out exactly where the Wang and Ye families obtained this thing back then. Who they contacted, and through what channels. I need a timeline accurate to the hour."

Chu Jianguo mustered his courage and raised his head to look at the dark red fragments in the muddy water.

The lingering death aura on it made even a seasoned high-ranking officer of the defense zone feel nauseous just from a glance.

"Mr. Lu... what is this?" Chu Jianguo asked, forcing himself to speak.

"The Sirius system is like a water pump used to drain the dragon veins of your Earth."

Lu Yuan gave a cold laugh.

"The Wang and Ye families fed a monster in the underground prison with the life essence of living people. This thing is the core of the formation. If your government wants to keep this land, you'd better find out exactly how many more pipes are buried underground."

Old Li's face turned deathly pale instantly.

He finally understood why Lu Yuan had uprooted both families and their entire clans.

This is not a worldly grudge. Someone is digging up the very roots of the entire Chinese nation.

"I will investigate personally! Within three days, even if I have to dig three feet into the ground in the capital, I will give you an explanation!" Old Li bit his lip and made a loud promise.

Lu Yuan didn't say anything more.

Although his physical body is now invincible, he lacks the support of true essence, and his internal organs are suffering excruciating pain from the backlash of the Heavenly Dao chains. He needs to find a quiet place immediately and use the destructive energy left over from the nuclear explosion to cleanse the sealed hidden meridian.

Most importantly, there's Panlong Mountain.

Although there was a protective array set up by the Guixu Boundary Stone, the divine imprint he left there experienced a very weak shielding interference during the instant the nuclear explosion occurred and the laws of heaven trembled.

Someone is tampering with the internal network of the Jiangnan Astronomical Observatory, attempting to cut off Panlong Mountain's external signals.

Zhou Ming.

In the memories of Xu Changqing, who was turned into a vegetable by Xu Changqing's soul search, there was a mole lurking in the headquarters of the Celestial Surveillance Bureau.

"Arrange for me the fastest plane. I need to go back to Jiangzhou."

Lu Yuan raised his head and glanced at the northern sky.

As if granted a pardon, Old Li scrambled to his feet.

"Sir, please board my private jet! The latest generation supersonic fighter jet will take us directly to Jiangzhou in forty minutes!"

Half an hour later.

A jet-black supersonic fighter jet tore through the night sky of Beijing, hurtling toward the south of the Yangtze River.

Rear row of the cabin.

Lu Yuan leaned back in his leather seat. There were no other passengers in the cabin.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the mysterious copper piece from the car accident remnants he always carried with him.

He then took out the fragment of the array plate that he had just retrieved from Old Li.

The two dark red fragments, made of identical material, suddenly began to writhe as if alive the moment they came close together, their intricate star-patterned edges moving.

Click.

Perfectly fitted.

The two fragments were pieced together to form a semi-circular, incomplete array plate.

A very faint, blood-red light appeared at the center of the array. This light was flashing continuously at a specific frequency.

Lu Yuan stared at the blood-red light spot.

He didn't need to use his true essence to perceive it; his Mahayana stage perspective allowed him to see through this inferior cross-dimensional communication law at a glance.

This is a countdown.

The interdimensional teleportation array of the Blood River Sect in the Sirius Star Domain experienced an energy imbalance due to the forced removal of this array plate. The sect master, hidden outside the domain, is now forcibly shortening the time required for interdimensional descent.

According to this flashing frequency.

There are at most two weeks left.

"Half a month."

Lu Yuan ran his thumb along the rough texture of the broken array plate's edge.

A cold smile curled at the corners of his mouth.

"Once I shatter all the Heavenly Dao chains within me, you won't need to descend. I'll personally twist your dog heads off."

Meanwhile, in Jiangzhou.

At the foot of Panlong Mountain villa area.

The thick white fog was like an insurmountable high wall, tightly protecting the entire mountain peak.

Lin Zhen sat in the SUV, holding a cup of strong tea that had gone cold.

His eyes were fixed on the network signal indicator light on the vehicle-mounted tactical terminal.

Just ten minutes ago.

Suddenly, three piercing alarms sounded from the highest-encryption network within the Celestial Surveillance Bureau. Immediately afterward, the physical signal gates within a ten-mile radius of Panlong Mountain were forcibly locked and severed from the highest-authority port at the headquarters in Beijing.

This is not a equipment malfunction.

Someone tampered with this from within.

Lin Zhen slammed the teacup he was holding onto the dial. Tea splashed all over the floor.

"Zhou Ming...you old beast! How dare you unplug the internet at a time like this!"

Lin Zhen drew his sidearm from his waist and cocked it with a click.

He looked through the windshield at the dark forest beyond the police line.

The moment the network signal was cut off, the mutated beasts that had been intimidated by Lu Yuan's aura and dared not approach from several kilometers away suddenly went berserk and began to gather at the foot of Panlong Mountain.

The number exceeded ten thousand.

That was a real beast tide.