Mortal: Starting by looting Han Laomo's entire herb garden

"Not good!" A mage's expression changed drastically, and he desperately activated his protective spiritual light.

Useless.

The needle-like rain silently pierced through the spiritual light, through the armor, and through the flesh.

One, two, three... more than a dozen mages froze at the same time, looking down at the dense blood holes in their chests, and fell down with disbelief on their faces.

When the rain of needles stopped, there were more than a dozen more corpses on the ground.

Of the more than twenty ordinary Core Formation cultivators, only seven or eight remained in the blink of an eye.

"What...what the hell is this?" A mage was so frightened that he turned and ran away.

Lu Yan raised his hand, and a bolt of purple lightning flew out from his palm, turning the fleeing man into charred remains.

With the Purple Thunder Hammer in hand, he charged into the remaining mages, striking them one by one, lightning exploding and blood mist spreading.

In less than ten breaths, more than twenty ordinary Core Formation cultivators were all wiped out.

Li Huayuan stood there, his mouth agape, wide enough to fit an egg.

What did he see? A mid-stage Core Formation cultivator charging into a group of over twenty cultivators of the same level, killing them all in ten breaths? And those two level-five demonic beasts…

"What exactly did this kid go through?" he murmured.

The two female cultivators from the Hidden Moon Sect exchanged a glance, both seeing deep shock in each other's eyes.

Lu Yan turned around and looked at the five late-stage Core Formation cultivators.

The bald, burly man's face was ashen. All twenty-odd of his men were dead, and now only five of them remained, tightly bound by two level-five demonic beasts.

"Retreat!" he shouted, turning and running away.

The other four mages also desperately shook off the spirit beasts and fled in different directions.

Lu Yan glanced at it and made up his mind.

He flashed away and chased after the mage on the far left.

The man was desperately urging his escape light when he suddenly felt a flash of lightning behind him. Before he could turn around, a blood-red lightning bolt pierced through his chest.

Heavenly Blood Thunder.

The sorcerer looked down at the charred hole in his chest, his face filled with disbelief.

His protective aura and armor were completely useless? This lightning ignored all defenses?

"No...it's impossible..." he murmured, his body swayed, and he fell from mid-air.

On the other side, the black dragon had already entangled one mage after another.

The man was hit by the black dragon's poisonous mist, and the protective spiritual light around him hissed and was desperately trying to dispel it.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the black dragon lashed his waist with its tail, causing him to vomit blood, and then sprayed a mouthful of poisonous mist at him.

The mage screamed in agony as his entire body rapidly dissolved in the poisonous mist, turning into a pool of pus.

Another late-stage Core Formation cultivator has died.

On the Phoenix Sparrow's side, a mage was forced back by the flames. After finally regaining his footing, he summoned a bronze mirror magic weapon in an attempt to counterattack.

Just as the mirror began to glow, a black light suddenly flew from the side, wrapped around the bronze mirror, and yanked it sharply.

"What is that?!" the sorcerer exclaimed in surprise.

Lu Yan held the Spirit-Capturing Gourd, pointing its mouth at the bronze mirror. Black light, like silk, wrapped around the bronze mirror and dragged it into the gourd.

The sorcerer desperately tried to summon back the magical artifact, but he felt that the bronze mirror image was being held tightly by something, and he couldn't pull it back no matter what he did.

"Give it to me."

Lu Yan slapped the bottom of the gourd, and a burst of black light shone brightly. The bronze mirror disappeared into the gourd in a flash, leaving no trace.

The sorcerer's face turned deathly pale. His magical artifact, which was connected to his mind, had been taken away, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood from the backlash. Before he could even react, the Purple Thunder Hammer had already smashed down in front of him.

boom!

The lightning exploded, and before the mage could even scream, he was blasted into a bloody mist.

Of the five late-stage Core Formation cultivators, three died in the blink of an eye.

The remaining two late-stage Core Formation cultivators had already escaped hundreds of feet away.

They glanced back and saw that all their companions had been killed. Terrified, they frantically activated their escape lights.

Lu Yan glanced at it but didn't chase after it.

He pulled out a palm-sized bronze mirror from his pocket. The mirror surface was simple and unadorned, with a faint, shimmering light.

Soul-Soothing Mirror.

As spiritual energy was injected, the mirror surface lit up with a faint light, aimed at the two fleeing figures in the distance.

The sorcerer was desperately trying to escape when he suddenly felt an invisible force enter his consciousness, as if his soul had been violently struck by something.

His vision went black, and he froze in mid-air, his expression frozen in terror.

The next moment, their bodies lost control, plummeting straight down from mid-air and crashing to the ground, motionless.

Their souls and spirits were annihilated.

Li Huayuan stood there, staring at the corpses scattered on the ground, speechless for a long time.

More than twenty Core Formation cultivators, including five late-stage Core Formation cultivators, were wiped out by a thirty-five-year-old young man.

Two level-five demonic beasts, lightning escape techniques, crimson lightning that ignores defenses, and those strange and unusual magical treasures...

He had cultivated for over two hundred years and considered himself to be knowledgeable and experienced, but what he saw today completely overturned his understanding.

Li Huayuan opened his mouth, hesitated for a moment, then cupped his hands in a gesture of respect, his tone somewhat complicated: "Junior Brother Lu... thank you."

Even Li Huayuan felt awkward saying the words "Junior Brother Lu".

More than a decade ago, the other party was his junior apprentice.

Lu Yan didn't mind and smiled, "Uncle Li, you're too kind."

Li Huayuan's lips twitched; the way he was addressed as "Uncle-Master" made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

He coughed and tentatively asked, "Junior Brother Lu, are we... going back to Yellow Maple Valley next?"

Lu Yan remained silent.

Li Huayuan continued, "You must have suffered a lot while traveling these past years. Now that you're in the mid-stage of Core Formation, with your talent, Uncle Linghu will surely be pleased to see you. As for what happened back then... he won't hold it against you."

Lu Yan shook his head: "Let's talk about it after we form our Nascent Soul."

Nascent Soul Formation?

Li Huayuan was stunned. Before he could react, Lu Yan had already turned around.

"Uncle Li, until we meet again."

"Wait!" Li Huayuan hurriedly spoke, wanting to ask so many questions: Where have you been all these years? How have you been cultivating? Where did those two level-five demonic beasts come from? Those magical treasures…

Before he could finish speaking, Lu Yan's figure transformed into a bolt of lightning and vanished into the sky in the blink of an eye.

Li Huayuan stood there, his mouth agape, unable to close it for a long time.

"He's gone already?" The scarred, burly man from Huadaowu approached, gazing in the direction Lu Yan had disappeared, his face full of regret. "I haven't properly thanked him yet."

The female cultivator from the Hidden Moon Sect wiped the blood from her face and whispered, "This Fellow Daoist Lu... is truly remarkable. A mid-stage Core Formation cultivator at thirty-five years old. I've cultivated for over a hundred years, and he's really..."

The other female cultivator remained silent, gazing at the horizon with a complex expression.

The scarred man nudged Li Huayuan's arm and lowered his voice, "Brother Li, who is this Junior Brother Lu...? When did your Yellow Maple Valley produce such a figure?"

Li Huayuan smiled bitterly: "He was only at the Qi Refining stage when he first entered the sect, and later he reached the Foundation Establishment stage after the Crimson Forbidden Land. Then he disappeared before the demonic invasion. For more than ten years, I always thought he..."

The scarred man's eyes widened: "How did you manage to go from Qi Refining to the mid-stage of Core Formation in just over ten years?"

Li Huayuan shrugged: "Then I don't know."

The four people stood there, looking at each other in silence.