I died young at the start, but I'm reincarnated with unlimited skill points!

The beginning of the month, the first day of the lunar new year.

The gray mist outside Qianlong Manor quietly dispersed, revealing a passage, and a convoy of ordinary people, devoid of any spiritual energy, drove into Black Wind Valley under the cover of night.

The lead carriage came to a stop, and a hand with distinct knuckles, steady and strong, lifted the curtain.

Thirty-one-year-old Su Cheng slowly stepped down from the carriage.

He was dressed in a dark gold merchant's robe, yet there was no trace of the magical power of a cultivator.

But after more than a decade of struggling in the mundane world of Dingzhou, the aura of authority he had cultivated amidst the bloodshed and the allure of wealth and power had become as thick and unfathomable as a deep abyss.

After passing through the front yard, Su Cheng went straight to the main hall of the villa.

"Father."

Su Cheng stepped forward and bowed deeply to Su Yu, who was sitting in the main seat.

"Sit down." Su Yu raised his hand slightly, his expression gentle.

On either side, Su Tie and several other mid-stage Qi Refining elders were also present.

Facing this mortal young master without spiritual roots, they all nodded slightly, their eyes revealing undisguised respect.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries and account reconciliation, Su Cheng began to report on the recent deep-seated situation in Dingzhou City.

"In recent years, Dingyuan Trading Company has almost completely cleaned up its openly traded smuggled goods, and has also spread out its covert operations."

Su Cheng picked up his teacup, his tone calm.

"I used worldly riches, supplemented by the slow-acting poison 'Menopausal Powder' from Medicine King Valley, to secretly recruit more than thirty low-level rogue cultivators in the early stages of Qi Refining, and built a network of assassins."

Upon hearing this, Su Tie and the others all showed expressions of surprise.

A mortal controlling a cultivator!

In the eyes of the cultivation world, this was simply an absurd act that went against the natural order.

"Young Master, although those rogue cultivators are at the bottom, they still possess magical power."

"If we use poison to control them, how can the ordinary guards of Dingzhou City stop them if they retaliate?"

Su Tie couldn't help but ask.

Su Cheng shook his head, his tone revealing a coldness that seemed to have seen through human nature.

"Uncle Tie, you overestimate the integrity of lowly cultivators."

"They would kill each other in the wilderness for half a low-grade spirit stone. I give them a monthly offering of three spirit stones, as well as the finest cauldrons and wines from the mortal world. All they have to do is protect the merchant guild and silence witnesses."

"It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. Under the dual constraints of absolute self-interest and life and death, they are more afraid of death than ordinary people, and they are also more obedient than ordinary people."

Hearing his eldest son's argument, Su Yu nodded slightly.

Once mortals shed their blind reverence for cultivators, the wisdom and skill they possess can unleash energy that can directly strike at the cultivators' most vulnerable greed.

"It's a good thing that the dark web is expanding, but you rushed back overnight and your breathing seems a little labored. Something must have happened in Dingzhou City."

Su Yu put down his teacup, his sharp gaze piercing through the deep-seated weariness hidden in his eldest son.

Su Cheng put down his teacup, his expression turning solemn.

"I can't hide it from Father. A few days ago, a big problem did indeed occur in Dingzhou City."

"The Zhao family, which destroyed the main branch of the Qingmu clan back then, had its young master pass through Dingzhou City for training."

Su Cheng's voice echoed in the main hall, each word like a heavy hammer.

"This person is at the sixth level of Qi Refining. He has his eye on the two core trade routes monopolized by Dingyuan Trading Company and is attempting to seize them by force under the guise of a Celestial Master."

"Not only did they demand that the merchant guild hand over 80% of its profits, but they also threatened to have everyone in the guild sign blood oaths, submitting to the Zhao family as slaves."

Dead silence.

The atmosphere in the main hall froze instantly, and the temperature seemed to drop a few degrees.

"A direct descendant of the Zhao family?!"

Su Tie suddenly stood up, his face ashen, and even his voice trembled slightly.

Fourteen years ago, the image of those two half-step Foundation Establishment ancestors standing in mid-air, slaughtering the Qingmu Su family like chickens and sheep, is still a nightmare he can't shake off.

"How can we afford to offend them!"

Su Tie looked at Su Yu anxiously, "Patriarch, no matter how large the properties in Dingzhou City are, they are just worldly possessions."

"If the young master of the Zhao family follows the clues and discovers the secrets of Qianlong Manor, attracting high-level cultivators from the Zhao family, the consequences would be unimaginable!"

"Young Master, you should quickly hand over the trading company and immediately withdraw to the manor with the core personnel of the Dark Web! As long as you remain patient and do nothing, the young master of the Zhao family will leave on his own after completing his training!"

Despite Su Tie's panic, Su Yu remained calm and sat motionless in his armchair.

He glanced at Su Cheng, who sat there, his expression still as still as a stagnant pool.

"Now that you have returned safely to the mountain, this matter must have been resolved."

Su Yu spoke calmly.

Su Cheng stood up, took out a sandalwood brocade box covered with dark red bloodstains from his wide sleeves, and gently placed it on the table.

The box was opened, and a lingering aura of bloodlust wafted out.

In the center of the brocade box lay a finely crafted storage bag, embroidered with gold cloud patterns.

"Uncle Lao Tie is worried, but there's no need to retreat, since the man is already dead."

Su Cheng's voice was soft, yet it resounded like thunder in the main hall.

"Dead?!"

Su Tie stared wide-eyed at the top-grade storage bag, his mind blank.

"That young master of the Zhao family is a prodigy at the sixth level of Qi Refining! Young Master, you...you used all the rogue cultivators in the Dark Web to overwhelm him?"

"no."

Su Cheng shook his head, his tone as if he were describing an extremely ordinary purchase and sale.

"Although he was only at the sixth level of Qi Refining, he carried the absolute arrogance of a great cultivation family towards mortals. In his eyes, Dingzhou City was nothing more than a slightly larger anthill."

"I did not use any cultivators with magical powers, so as not to arouse his divine sense."

Su Cheng recounted the entire story of the murder plot in an orderly manner.

"I booked the largest brothel in Dingzhou City, treated him as an honored guest, and presented him with more than a dozen ordinary beauties."

"When cultivators are indulging in pleasure among mortals, they don't constantly maintain a spiritual energy shield that consumes a lot of true energy. I had someone light a colorless and odorless mundane poison called 'Spirit-Dispersing Incense' in the stove in the room."

"This incense is harmless to mortals, but it can cause a very slight stagnation in the spiritual energy within a cultivator's body for a short period of time."

Su Cheng, with a deep gaze, made his final summary.

"In the few breaths that the drug took effect, twelve ordinary martial arts masters who were lying in ambush on the bedside and roof beams, carrying weapons tempered with 'blood-sealing', directly self-destructed their life force at point-blank range."

"This prodigy at the sixth level of Qi Refining was chopped into mincemeat by twelve mortal martial artists the moment his spiritual energy circulation was disrupted."

Su Tie gasped and slumped into a chair.

An ordinary person, using worldly calculations, ordinary poisons, and the lives of assassins, managed to kill a high-ranking Qi Refining Level 6 cultivator.

Such ruthless schemes are even more chilling than the magical battles of flying and escaping in the world of cultivation.

Su Yu reached out and picked up the top-grade storage bag.

With a slight release of spiritual energy from his fingertips, he easily erased the faint remaining divine imprint on it.

He probed into it with his divine sense.

As expected of a direct descendant of a great family of cultivators.

The storage bag contained a vast amount of space, including not only thousands of low-grade spirit stones, but also several high-quality mid-grade magic artifacts and a bottle of extremely precious Qi Refining late-stage breakthrough pills.

"Is everything cleaned up?"

Su Yu put away the storage bag and asked calmly.

"The brothel, along with several corpses, was burned to ashes in a fire."

Su Cheng lowered his head and replied, "Even if the Zhao family sends someone to investigate, they will only find out that the young master died accidentally in a martial arts feud while indulging in worldly pleasures, or that he was killed by some passing martial arts cultivator."

"This matter has absolutely nothing to do with Dingyuan Trading Company, let alone Qianlong Manor."

"Well done."

Su Yu gave an extremely bland four-word evaluation.

He didn't think there was anything surprising about Su Cheng killing a Qi Refining Level 6 cultivator.

Back when he was at the seventh level of Qi Refining, killing someone of the same level was as easy as killing a chicken.

What he valued most was his eldest son's composure in the face of adversity and his unconventional methods.

Cultivators, high above all, often die because of their contempt for the lowly.

"Cheng'er, your actions today are enough to teach everyone in the manor a lesson."

Su Yu's gaze swept over Su Tie and the others, his voice calm and steady.

"In this world, it's never just magic that can kill."

"With proper planning and sufficient resources, even a mortal can slay an immortal."