stonecrandall Chapter 156 The Immortal Venerable's Bill and the Mortal Realm
Chapter 156 The Immortal Venerable's Bill and the Mortal Realm
Old Li knelt in the pile of rubble.
The early autumn night wind swept through the capital's defense zone. Old Li's Tang suit was completely soaked with cold sweat, clinging tightly to his back.
He didn't even dare to lift his head.
Lu Yuan pulled his hands out of his pockets.
He looked down at his palm. The golden true essence that usually flowed within the lines of his palm was gone. Just moments before, when he withstood the intense heat of a nuclear explosion, the fundamental defense mechanism of the Heavenly Dao was triggered. The black chain deep within his sea of consciousness, representing the Heavenly Dao's Life-Stealing Curse, tightened abruptly, forcibly locking away his cultivation, which had been maintained at the peak of the Golden Core stage.
Not a single drop of true essence could be mobilized.
He is now just a "mortal" with no magical abilities other than his Mahayana-stage physical body.
Lu Yuan clenched his fist.
The air in his palm produced a dull popping sound.
He looked at the back of his fair hand, mentally calculating the cost. Forcibly using the Xuanhuang Mother Qi Cauldron had indeed depleted his own essence, but for the deteriorating Heavenly Dao of Earth to think it could trap him to death with a mere broken chain was simply wishful thinking. Once he had the time to thoroughly refine the earth veins beneath Panlong Mountain, this backlash wouldn't even cause a ripple.
"Mr. Lu..."
Old Li had a sharp piece of broken cement pressed against his forehead.
"I have ordered the arrest of Zhou Ming's accomplices within the Astronomical Bureau throughout the city. As for the Wang and Ye families' remaining assets and associates outside, they will be completely wiped off the map of China before dawn."
Old Li's voice sounded a little unsteady.
"Is there anything else you need me to do?"
Lu Yuan looked down at the powerful old man.
He didn't care about the scraps left over from the Wang and Ye families. The power and wealth that these natives fought tooth and nail for on Earth were less than a rag used by outer disciples of the cultivation world to polish their shoes in his eyes.
"The S.H.I.E.L.D. Foundation and the Ancient Martial Arts Alliance."
Lu Yuan played with the mysterious bronze piece that had just been pieced together.
"They set up a minefield at the Beijing Martial Arts Arena."
Old Li's entire body of fat trembled.
"Yes. The five reclusive elders of the Ancient Martial Arts Alliance forcibly broke their pact with the secular world. While you were dealing with the Dragon Locking Well matter in Jiangzhou, they joined forces to capture Ye Qingcheng and take her back. They threatened to use the Nine Heavens Thunder Array to strike her alive in three days, saying they wanted to cleanse the sect."
Old Li swallowed hard.
"The Asia regional executive of the S.H.I.E.L.D. brought twelve S-class mutants to the martial arts arena to provide support."
Lu Yuan put the copper piece into his trouser pocket.
Since Ye Qingcheng has acknowledged him as her master, she is Lu Yuan's dog. Even if a Great Ascension stage Immortal Venerable's dog bites the skirt of the Nine Heavens Mystic Maiden in the cultivation world, it's not up to a bunch of bumpkins who haven't even touched the threshold of the Foundation Establishment stage to teach him a lesson.
However, he currently has no true essence within his body.
While his physical body could easily crush them into blood and gore three days later, it was far too inefficient to completely destroy the martial arts arena with just his physical body. He needed a catalyst to break through the cracks in the Heavenly Dao chains.
"The Astronomical Bureau is in the capital; it should have a warehouse for storing junk, right?"
Lu Yuan patted the dust off his white shirt.
Old Li was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized what was happening.
Yes! Yes!
Old Li scrambled to his feet, not even bothering to brush the dirt off his knees.
"The headquarters of the Celestial Surveillance Bureau has a top-secret, top-level warehouse on the sixth basement floor. It's filled with unusual items intercepted from famous mountains and rivers and overseas since the founding of the People's Republic of China. If you find anything you like, the entire warehouse can be packed up and sent directly to Jiangzhou!"
This old man knows how to handle people.
Lu Yuan didn't speak, but simply walked towards the outside of the defense zone.
Old Li quickly gestured to Chu Jianguo, who was staring in disbelief. A bulletproof Hongqi sedan immediately drove up and came to a smooth stop in front of Lu Yuan.
At the same time.
On the outskirts of Beijing. The secret headquarters of the S.H.I.E.L.D. in Asia.
The air in the circular conference room, buried deep underground, was so cold that ice crystals could form.
Two groups of people were sitting at opposite ends of the long conference table.
One group consisted of high-ranking executives from the S.H.I.E.L.D., dressed in bespoke suits and sporting blond hair and blue eyes. The other group comprised reclusive elders from the Ancient Martial Arts Alliance, dressed in cyan Taoist robes.
On the 3D projector in the center of the conference table, satellite thermal imaging data of the nuclear explosion at the bottom of the prison was being played in a loop.
"The core temperature was 12 million degrees Celsius. The shockwave destroyed all load-bearing structures 1,500 meters underground."
S.H.I.E.L.D. executive Smith placed the wine glass in his hand on the table.
"Under that level of energy burst, let alone a human, even a mutated blue whale from the deep sea would be instantly vaporized."
Elder Lei, sitting opposite, stroked his goatee.
"Mr. Smith, do you mean Lu Yuan is already dead in the Heavenly Prison?"
"Even if he didn't die, he would definitely be a cripple."
Smith took out a freshly printed test report and threw it on the table.
"Our monitoring station on the outskirts of the defense zone has just detected vital signs from Lu Yuan as he emerged. There isn't even the slightest energy fluctuation within his body. His meridians have been completely destroyed by nuclear radiation and the high temperatures."
A glint of light flashed in Elder Lei's cloudy old eyes.
Is this really true?
"The instruments of the S.H.I.E.L.D. never lie."
Smith leaned back in his chair.
"He withstood the nuclear bomb, but the price he paid was becoming an ordinary person. We don't need to have any reservations about the martial arts arena three days from now. That traitor Ye Qingcheng can be used to test our latest genetic weapon."
Elder Lei snorted coldly.
"That girl stole Lu Yuan's demonic arts and even dared to draw her sword against the Alliance Elders. I will use heavenly lightning on the martial arts stage to shatter her bones into charcoal, inch by inch. Let the entire Chinese martial arts world see what happens when you betray the Alliance."
The atmosphere in the meeting room immediately relaxed.
The leaders of the two powerful forces reached an absurd consensus at this moment. They looked at the report showing that Lu Yuan's energy was zero as if they were looking at a lottery ticket that had already been cashed.
They simply don't understand.
The so-called data being reset to zero.
It was merely that the prehistoric behemoth, capable of devouring an entire galaxy, had temporarily closed its mouth and taken a nap. When the behemoth reopened its eyes, they wouldn't even have time to feel fear.