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

"Click—"

The crisp sound of bones cracking mingled with the rustling of falling leaves, particularly jarring in the silence atop Qixia Mountain. Lu Yuan slowly withdrew his hand from Mo Changkong's crown, his fingertips still stained with a trace of undried brain matter, his eyes as cold as ice that had never melted, utterly devoid of emotion.

Mo Changkong's body slammed heavily into the thick pile of fallen leaves like a lump of mud. His eyes rolled back and his pupils were unfocused. The mind that had once harbored sinister schemes had been completely wiped clean by Lu Yuan's soul-searching technique, leaving not even a trace of consciousness. He never understood until his death that the person he had schemed against with all his might was someone he didn't even have the right to look up to.

Lu Yuan lowered his eyes, looking at the filth on his palm, and disgustedly rubbed it on Mo Changkong's corpse. Then he took out the old phone from his pocket, its screen cracked and its casing worn smooth. He pressed the dial button hard with his fingertips, the faint light from the screen reflecting in his cold eyes, devoid of any warmth.

The moment the call connected, Zhao Tiancheng's voice, trembling uncontrollably, came through the phone, sounding utterly terrified: "Mr. Lu... Mr. Lu! Are you... are you done on your end?"

Lu Yuan's voice was flat, yet it carried an undeniable killing intent. Every word struck Zhao Tiancheng's heart like an ice pick: "Stand guard outside my sister's ward. Anyone who dares to approach within ten meters, except for doctors and nurses, will be killed without mercy."

"Yes! Yes! Absolutely!" Zhao Tiancheng practically roared in response, his shirt soaked with cold sweat. "I've deployed all my bodyguards, and even hired four top experts from the Martial Arts Association at great expense. We've set up layers of security to ensure not even a fly can get into the ward! Mr. Lu, rest assured, even if it costs the entire Zhao family, we will never allow Miss to suffer the slightest injury!"

He dared not be perfunctory in the slightest. He knew perfectly well that his Zhao family was already tied to Lu Yuan's ship. If Lu Yuan failed to deal with Medicine King Valley, and Medicine King Valley came to settle accounts with him, no one in his Zhao family would survive.

Lu Yuan didn't waste any more words, hung up the phone directly, and casually stuffed the old phone back into his pocket, his actions as casual as if he were just throwing away an unimportant piece of trash.

He slowly raised his eyes, his deep gaze piercing through layers of clouds, precisely locking onto the sky in the southwest direction—there, five hundred kilometers away, deep in the mountains of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, lies the Valley of Medicine Kings.

Lin Fei, a disciple of Medicine King Valley, relied on the valley's power to steal the medicinal herbs he used to treat his sister, and even dared to secretly instruct Mo Changkong to take action. This debt should be settled today.

Lu Yuan lightly touched the ground with his toes. Without any earth-shattering power gathering, there was a loud "bang" - the entire solid granite ground beneath his feet was instantly covered with spider web-like cracks, and then collapsed with a thud, creating a large pit with a diameter of two meters. Debris flew everywhere and dust rose up.

Using this terrifyingly strong reaction force, Lu Yuan's figure instantly transformed into a black afterimage that was impossible to detect with the naked eye, shooting straight into the sky like an arrow released from a bow, with astonishing speed!

The air was violently torn and compressed, producing a series of ear-piercing sonic booms, sharp enough to pierce eardrums, causing even the surrounding mountain peaks to tremble slightly. The thick clouds atop Qixia Mountain were forcibly plowed out by this unparalleled air wave, creating a vacuum channel several kilometers long. The clouds churned but could not close for a long time, as if intimidated by an invisible force, not daring to approach even slightly.

If radar were to scan this airspace at this moment, it would be horrified to discover that an unidentified flying object with a speed far exceeding Mach 3 is speeding straight toward the southwest in a manner that completely violates aerodynamics—no one knows that this is not a flying machine, but a powerful Mahayana stage cultivator who can traverse the void with his physical body alone.

Five hundred kilometers, a distance of ten thousand mountains, was just a moment's time for Lu Yuan, not even a warm-up.

......

Half an hour later, in the heart of the Ten Thousand Mountains in Southwest China.

This place is shrouded in dense, poisonous miasma year-round. The miasma surges and swirls, obscuring the sky and preventing sunlight from reaching the earth. The air is filled with a pungent stench of decay and deadly poison. Even the most experienced herbalists in the area, who have traveled far and wide for decades, dare not set foot in this universally acknowledged dead zone, for fear that even a trace of the miasma will cause them to succumb to the poison.

But deep within this poisonous miasma lies a completely different scene—birds sing and flowers bloom, spiritual energy permeates the air, pavilions and towers are scattered in a well-ordered manner, streams murmur and ethereal mist swirls, resembling a paradise on earth, forming an extreme contrast with the deathly silence of the surrounding area.

This is the entrance to Medicine King Valley, a place that countless martial artists flock to but dare not easily provoke. After the spiritual energy recovered, Medicine King Valley, relying on its unique geographical location and profound foundation, became increasingly arrogant, plundering resources everywhere and oppressing ordinary martial artists, and had long become a malignant tumor in the southwest region.

At this moment, in the misty forest on the outskirts of Medicine King Valley, two patrolling disciples dressed in blue robes were leaning against a towering ancient tree, leisurely smoking, their faces full of smug satisfaction.

The tall, thin disciple exhaled a smooth smoke ring, patted his chest, and said with a tone full of boastfulness, "This spiritual energy revival is fucking awesome! I was stuck at the peak of external strength for three whole years, unable to break through no matter what I did, but last night I took a nap, woke up, and broke through the shackles and stepped into internal strength! From now on, I can hold my head high in the valley!"

The chubby disciple beside him rubbed his plump hands together, his eyes filled with longing, and smiled obsequiously: "Who says otherwise! The Third Elder and the others have gone to Jiangnan City to plunder resources. I heard there are many century-old medicinal herbs there. Once those herbs are transported back, our Valley Master will be able to refine the legendary elixir! At that time, our Medicine King Valley will be able to sweep across the entire mortal world, unstoppable!"

"Hahaha, that's right!" The tall, thin disciple laughed even more unrestrainedly, his eyes filled with greed. "At that time, all those high and mighty families in the capital will have to kneel outside our mountain gate, begging and crying for medicinal herbs! And those beautiful actresses on TV, won't they be lining up to throw themselves into our arms? At that time, I'll have women on both sides and enjoy the bliss of having multiple wives!"

Lost in their beautiful fantasy, the two laughed heartily, completely unaware that the treetops above them suddenly shook violently, as if some enormous creature had landed on them.

"Splash—"

Large swaths of leaves, mixed with broken branches, rained down, landing on their heads and bodies, instantly shattering their reverie.

The two men were startled, abruptly throwing away their cigarette butts and frantically drawing their longswords. Their expressions instantly turned wary, and the tall, thin disciple shouted sharply, "Who goes there?! How dare you play tricks on my Medicine King Valley's territory? You don't want to live?!"

As soon as the words were spoken, a tall, slender figure slowly descended from mid-air, his steps as light as a feather, landing steadily on the fallen leaves in front of the two without disturbing a speck of dust. A faint yet suffocating sense of oppression surrounded him.

Lu Yuan put his hands in his pockets, his gaze sweeping indifferently over the surroundings. His brows furrowed slightly, and his tone was full of undisguised disdain: "This lousy formation is not even as good as the lowest-grade Yin Gathering Formation in the cultivation world. It's full of loopholes. How dare you use it as the protective formation for Medicine King Valley? It's laughable."

The two patrolling disciples exchanged a glance, their faces filled with astonishment and anger—they couldn't fathom the young man's cultivation level at all, as if he were a bottomless pool of icy water, unfathomable. Yet this guy dared to trespass into the forbidden area of ​​Medicine King Valley alone, and even dared to speak rudely, belittling their valley's protective array?

The tall, thin disciple's face darkened, and he snorted coldly, his tone arrogant: "Insolence! Where did this brat come from, daring to interfere with our Medicine King Valley's protective formation? I think you're tired of living!"

The fat disciple sized Lu Yuan up and down, noticing his ordinary casual clothes and lack of any martial arts aura (in reality, his cultivation was too low to sense Lu Yuan's presence). He immediately sneered, his tone full of contempt: "I bet you're just a clueless mortal from the secular world, probably lost your way here? Get lost! This isn't a place for ordinary people like you. Take one more step and I'll chop you up and feed you to the poisonous pythons in the back mountain!"

Lu Yuan didn't even lift an eyelid, as if the shouts of the two patrolling disciples were just the buzzing of flies in his ears, utterly unimportant. He strode forward, still walking slowly towards Medicine King Valley, his steps steady yet carrying an unstoppable aura.

"court death!"

The tall, thin disciple was utterly enraged. When had he ever been so disrespected? He immediately roared, raised his longsword, channeled all his inner strength, and with a cold, gleaming light at the tip, thrust it fiercely toward Lu Yuan's back with a sharp whistling sound. This sword strike was fast and ruthless, aimed directly at a vital point, clearly intended to kill him instantly and teach this arrogant brat a lesson.

Lu Yuan didn't turn around, nor did he even stop walking. He simply raised his right hand and casually waved it behind him, the movement light and effortless, as if he were shooing away an annoying fly.

"Snapped!"

A crisp, loud slap echoed through the silent woods, making the surrounding leaves rustle.

The next second, a chilling scene unfolded—the tall, thin disciple's head was twisted three full times around his neck, the cracking sound of his cervical vertebrae breaking was clearly audible. Before he could even scream, his eyes widened, his face still showing anger, and he slammed straight to the ground. The long sword in his hand flew far away with a clang and remained motionless.

The fat disciple's smile froze instantly, his smugness and contempt vanishing without a trace, replaced by extreme fear. He gaped, staring intently at his companion on the ground, his legs shaking uncontrollably, his teeth chattering, and he even lost his grip on the longsword, which clattered to the ground.

One slap! Just one slap! And it snapped the neck of an internal energy martial artist!

This isn't a human being! This is a monster!

"Who...who are you?!" The fat disciple staggered backward, his back slamming heavily against the tree trunk. He was drenched in cold sweat, his voice trembling so badly that he couldn't utter a single complete sentence.

Lu Yuan finally stopped, slowly turned his head, looked at him indifferently, a cold smile curving his lips, and uttered only two words: "Lu Yuan".

The fat disciple was startled and stood frozen in place. The name sounded familiar to him, as if he had heard it somewhere before.

Lu Yuan's tone remained calm, yet it carried a chilling killing intent. Each word clearly reached the fat disciple's ears: "Lin Fei, you stole my medicinal herbs. I've come to take them back, and while I'm at it—I'll wipe out your entire Medicine King Valley."

"boom!"

These words exploded in the fat disciple's mind like a thunderbolt. He instantly remembered that Senior Brother Lin Fei had led a group to Jiangnan City to snatch medicinal herbs from a worldly young man named Lu Yuan! But Senior Brother Lin Fei clearly said that Lu Yuan was just an ordinary mortal with no strength, an ant that could be crushed at will!

How could this monster, capable of killing a martial artist with a single slap, possibly be that ant?!