Chapter 55 Qingyun City, the second floor of Zuixianlou.

The miserable sight of Zhao Biao, Young Lord of the Mad Blade Sect, having his top-grade Spiritual Artifact crushed by bamboo chopsticks and being sent flying out the window with his arms shattered, had plunged the entire restaurant into a deathly silence.

It was not until the back of Lin Yuan had completely disappeared at the end of the long street that the air in the restaurant seemed to start moving again.

In a corner, that grey-robed old man at the Peak of the Soul Transformation Stage—Jian Wuchen, the Supreme Old Ancestor of the Heavenly Sword Sect, a top Sword Cultivator Sect in the Eastern Wasteland—was currently holding those two humble bamboo chopsticks, stained with a few specks of oil, in both hands as if he were holding the most sacred treasure in the heavens and the myriad worlds.

"Old Ancestor, why... why are you being so respectful to these two bamboo chopsticks?"

An Elder of the Heavenly Sword Sect who had just arrived at the restaurant to provide support stared as his own Supreme Old Ancestor, who was usually so arrogant that he didn't even care about the Sect Head of the Taixuan Dao Sect, was actually shedding tears of emotion over two broken chopsticks. He was so shocked that his jaw nearly hit the floor.

"Shut up! What would you know!"

Jian Wuchen glared at the Elder with extreme severity and roared in a lowered voice, "Do you know who that white-clad scholar sitting here just now was? That was a supreme Red Dust Immortal who has transcended the boundary between immortal and Mortal, experiencing the myriad states of the Mortal World!"

"Supreme Red Dust Immortal?!" The Elder gasped.

"Exactly! Look at these two bamboo chopsticks!"

Jian Wuchen took a deep breath and, with extreme caution, probed the two bamboo chopsticks with his Divine Sense at the Peak of the Soul Transformation Stage.

Just now, when Lin Yuan had clamped onto Zhao Biao's great blade, the one hundred thousand Dragon Elephant particles within his body had instinctively leaked a trace of extremely pure crushing power, which remained in the fibers of the bamboo chopsticks.

This pure physical destructive power, under the crazy over-interpretation and "brain-supplementing" of Jian Wuchen, a sword fanatic, was directly interpreted as the world's most extreme, most domineering, and irresistible [Destructive Sword Intent]!

"Boom!"

The moment Jian Wuchen's Divine Sense touched that trace of residual power, it was as if an invisible giant sword, capable of splitting the heavens and the earth, had crashed down in his mind! His Bottleneck at the Peak of the Soul Transformation Stage, which had trapped him for a full eight hundred years, was like fragile thin paper before that irresistible "Sword Intent," and it was torn apart in an instant!

"Pfft!"

Jian Wuchen spat out a mouthful of blood, but on his old face, an unprecedented ecstasy and madness bloomed!

"I have realized it! This old man has finally realized it! This is the true Dao of the Sword! A heavy sword has no edge, and great skill requires no craftsmanship! The Senior Red Dust Immortal has actually sealed such terrifying Destructive Sword Intent into these fragile bamboo chopsticks with such ease. What heaven-defying power is this!"

Accompanied by Jian Wuchen's maniacal laughter, a terrifying Aura belonging to a Void Returning Stage expert erupted from his body, directly flipping half the roof of Zuixian Tower off.

"Congratulations to the Old Ancestor for breaking through to the Void Returning Realm!" That Elder was so frightened that he fell to his knees with a thud, trembling all over with excitement.

"Quick! Issue my decree! Invite these two bamboo chopsticks back to the deepest part of the Heavenly Sword Sect's Sword Tomb to serve as our Sect's foundation! All Core Disciples must meditate on the Sword Intent from these chopsticks day and night!"

Jian Wuchen carefully took out a top-grade ten-thousand-year cold jade box and respectfully enshrined the two bamboo chopsticks inside, his eyes filled with fanaticism: "Since this Red Dust Immortal has chosen to travel in Qingyun City, it means this place has a karmic connection with him. My Heavenly Sword Sect must protect him from the shadows. If anyone dares to displease the Senior, I will hack them to pieces myself!"

...

Lin Yuan was naturally completely unaware of the absurd "brain-supplemented Breakthrough" that had occurred in Zuixian Tower.

At this moment, he was walking with his hands behind his back, like a true Mortal traveler, strolling leisurely through the most prosperous antique market in Qingyun City.

The market here was a mixed bag; not only were there Mortal vendors selling antiques and paintings, but also many down-and-out Loose Cultivators who laid out scrap metal dug up from unknown ruins, attempting to scam gullible fools who didn't know any better.

Lin Yuan walked and stopped, feeling this long-lost atmosphere of the marketplace, his mood extremely pleasant.

"Don't miss out as you pass by! An ancient expert's personal jade pendant, only three hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones!"

"An Incomplete Manual of a peerless Cultivation Technique, buy it and you've made a profit!"

Listening to the noisy hawking in his ears, Lin Yuan just smiled slightly. With his discernment, a single glance was enough to see through the essence of these items—ninety-nine percent were just junk without any Spiritual Qi, and some were even made to look old with yellow mud just yesterday.

Just as he was about to cross the market and go to the teahouse ahead to listen to some storytelling, Lin Yuan's footsteps suddenly paused.

His gaze fell very casually on an inconspicuous stall at the corner of the street.

The stall owner was a shifty-eyed Loose Cultivator at the Qi Refining Stage, and the stall was filled with various rusted weapon fragments and moldy Yao Beast bones, looking just like a scrap collector.

But what caught Lin Yuan's attention was a palm-sized iron piece pressed into the corner, covered in black mud and grime, with edges that were severely corroded.

This iron piece was extremely ordinary, without a hint of Formation patterns flowing over it, nor any fluctuation of Spiritual Qi; it was no different from the scrap iron used to prop up table legs in a Mortal blacksmith shop.

But the moment Lin Yuan saw this iron piece, it was as if an invisible bolt of lightning flashed across his deep eyes. His extremely domineering, completely unreasonable Max-Level Comprehension began to operate silently at this moment!

In Lin Yuan's vision, those seemingly chaotic corrosion marks and grime on the surface of the rusted scrap iron were instantly magnified and deconstructed.

The surface camouflage was peeled away layer by layer, and a wisp of Origin Aura hidden in the deepest part of the river of time exploded in Lin Yuan's mind! That was not rust at all, but the blood of ancient gods and demons that had dried for hundreds of millions of years! Those seemingly random corrosion pits were actually supreme Formation patterns naturally interwoven by the purest Law of slaughter between heaven and earth!

[You observe the remnant iron of the ages, discerning the principles of the decay of all things and the Origin of the slaughter Dao Formation patterns.]

[You have comprehended the core of the ancient number one killing Formation—the executioner immortal array map iron piece!]

"Hum—"

A terrifying Aura of slaughter, imperceptible yet causing the Dao of this world to tremble, flashed across Lin Yuan's heart and then was perfectly retracted into his body by his flawless Great Dream of the Mortal World Art.

"Interesting. I didn't expect to be able to pick up a toy of this level while taking a stroll after descending to the Mortal World."

A lazy smile curled the corners of Lin Yuan's mouth. The executioner immortal array map iron piece he had just comprehended was known as the ancient number one killing Formation; once set up, it could even grind the Heavenly Dao into nothingness. And this broken iron piece was the core carrier of that supreme killing Formation!

Lin Yuan stepped forward and walked unhurriedly to the stall.

"Boss, how much for this broken iron piece?" Lin Yuan reached out two fingers very casually, picked up the mud-covered iron piece, weighed it in his hand, and looked at it with an expression of disdain.

The shifty-eyed stall owner looked up at Lin Yuan, saw his poor scholar attire, and noticed not a single fluctuation of Spiritual Qi on him, so he felt a wave of disdain in his heart.

"Go, go, go, what is a Mortal doing here! This is a fragment of an immortal Magic Treasure that I dug out from an ancient dangerous land after a life-and-death struggle! Can you even afford it?" The stall owner waved his hand very impatiently, wanting to drive Lin Yuan away.

Lin Yuan was not annoyed and very naturally fished out a piece of broken silver weighing about one tael from his sleeve, tossing it onto the stall with a "clink."

"I see the size of this iron piece, and it's just right to take back and use as a shim for the wobbly Eight Immortals table at my home. One tael of silver, will you sell it or not?"

The stall owner's eyes lit up when he saw the silver. This broken iron piece was something he had picked up casually yesterday at a mass grave outside the city; it was originally just junk used to fill up space. Forget one tael of silver, he would have been willing to sell it for a single copper coin!

"Ahem... since you, scholar, are so sincere, this Immortal Master will make an exception today and do business with a Mortal. This ancient Magic Treasure is yours!" The stall owner stuffed the broken silver into his bosom, afraid that Lin Yuan would go back on his word, while pretending to be pained on his face.

"Many thanks."

Lin Yuan cupped his hands in a very perfunctory manner, took the core of the ancient number one killing Formation, and as if he were holding a broken brick, rubbed the mud off on his clothes and turned to leave.

However, just at this moment, an extremely arrogant and somewhat insufferably conceited young voice suddenly came from the other end of the market.

"Stop! That iron piece in the Mortal's hand, this Saint wants it!"

Accompanied by this voice, an extremely tyrannical Aura of the Soul Transformation Stage swept past like a gale, blowing the goods on the surrounding stalls into disarray. Those Loose Cultivators who were setting up stalls changed their expressions one after another, scrambling to retreat to the sides.

A team of Cultivators wearing magnificent Formation Dao robes and looking aggressive, led by a young man holding a folding fan with an arrogant expression, walked straight up to block Lin Yuan's path.

The young man was dressed exquisitely, with an innate arrogance between his brows. He was none other than the quasi-Saint from the top Holy Land in the Central Province, the "Nine Palaces Heavenly Formation Holy Land"—Zhuge Xing.

Zhuge Xing was born with a pair of "Formation-Breaking Pupils" and was extremely sensitive to Formation Qi. He had passed by here from afar just now, and the corner of his eye had inadvertently caught a glimpse of that broken iron piece in Lin Yuan's hand, causing his Formation pupils to emit an unprecedented, intense stabbing pain!

Although he couldn't tell what the iron piece was, he was certain that it was absolutely a supreme Formation treasure with an unimaginably high grade!

"Kid, count yourself lucky. This piece of scrap iron, this Saint has taken a liking to it."

Zhuge Xing pointed his folding fan at Lin Yuan's nose extremely arrogantly and casually threw a Low-Grade Spirit Stone at Lin Yuan's feet, as if dismissing a beggar.

"This is a Low-Grade Spirit Stone, enough for you, a Mortal, to eat and drink well in the secular world for a lifetime. Put down the iron piece and get lost."

The surrounding Loose Cultivators saw this scene and cast sympathetic glances at Lin Yuan.

"That is the quasi-Saint of the Nine Palaces Holy Land from the Central Province! I heard his attainment in Formations is unfathomable, killing people without a trace!"

"This Mortal scholar has managed to save his life; a Low-Grade Spirit Stone for a piece of scrap iron, he's made a huge profit!"

However, faced with Zhuge Xing's condescending charity, Lin Yuan stood there as if nothing had happened, extremely calm, not even glancing at the Spirit Stone on the ground.

It was midsummer, and the market was a bit sultry. A very blind, large, spotted mosquito flew to Lin Yuan's ear with a buzzing sound, seemingly wanting to take a bite out of this "Mortal."

"Buzz, buzz, buzz..."

Lin Yuan frowned slightly.

"Mortal mosquitoes are just annoying."

He muttered lazily. Subsequently, in the shocked and angry gazes of Zhuge Xing and all the Nine Palaces Holy Land guards, Lin Yuan actually directly raised the [executioner immortal array map iron piece] he had just bought in his hand—the core of the so-called ancient number one killing Formation—and swiped it extremely casually toward the Void Realm beside his ear... as if he were using a broken palm-leaf fan to swat a mosquito.

"Slap!"

The iron piece hit the innocent mosquito with extreme precision. However, the moment Lin Yuan swung the iron piece! The one hundred thousand Dragon Elephant particles within his body, accompanying his extremely casual arm swing, instinctively generated a trace of extremely terrifying physical power compression!

And that [executioner immortal array map iron piece], which Lin Yuan was using as a flyswatter, because it had just been thoroughly comprehended by him, had its ancient number one killing Formation Qi, which had been silent for hundreds of millions of years, unexpectedly produce an extremely mysterious resonance with the immense power of Lin Yuan's Physical Body!

There was no explosion of Spiritual Qi, no light from a Formation. There was only a "breeze," a mixture of extremely pure physical power and invisible killing intent, which followed Lin Yuan's mosquito-swatting motion and fanned out extremely casually toward Zhuge Xing and the others in front.

"Whoosh—"

The breeze brushed across his face. Zhuge Xing's arrogant face froze completely the moment he felt this "breeze." In his "Formation-Breaking Pupil" vision, that was no breeze! That was clearly a destructive storm formed by the extreme compression of billions of ancient killing Sword Qi, enough to instantly flatten the Central Province continent!

"No... what level of power is this... save—" Zhuge Xing's extremely terrified scream had only just emitted half a syllable.

"Boom——————!!!"

An indescribably terrifying pressure crushed past barbarically! Zhuge Xing, along with the dozen or so top guards of the Nine Palaces Holy Land at the Soul Transformation and Void Returning Stages behind him, didn't even have room to resist, nor did they have time to activate the protective Magic Treasures on their bodies.

In that extremely eerie "slap" sound of swatting a mosquito, this large group of top experts, famous throughout the Central Province, were hit as if by an invisible giant hammer spanning the Star Domain!

"Splat!"

The group of people was collectively flattened into paper by this "breeze," which was mixed with the Executioner Immortal Array intent and the Dragon Elephant's immense power! They were stuck firmly and perfectly flat against a bluestone wall at the back of the market, unable to be pried off!

There was no gore flying, only an extremely eerie crushing. The whole scene was dead silent.

The hundreds of Loose Cultivators and vendors in the market, including the shifty-eyed stall owner who had just sold the iron piece, were all frozen as if someone had cast an immobilization spell on them. Their mouths were open wide enough to fit a goose egg, and their eyeballs were nearly popping out of their sockets.

That quasi-Saint from the Central Province Holy Land... was flattened into a wall mural by a gust of wind from swatting a mosquito?!

"This mosquito was quite hard to hit; it took me some effort to swat it to death."

In the midst of the dead silence, Lin Yuan looked with extreme disdain at the drop of mosquito blood on the iron piece and wiped it on the magnificent cloak that Zhuge Xing had dropped on the ground.

Then, he very casually stuffed the executioner immortal array map iron piece into his scholar's robe, put his hands behind his back, and like an ordinary scholar who had just finished a walk and was preparing to go home for dinner, walked slowly out of the market.

Not until Lin Yuan had walked far away did the shifty-eyed stall owner's legs go weak. He fell to his knees with a "thud," looked at the dozen or so "human meat murals" on the wall, and slapped his own face frantically.

"What the hell did I do?! I actually took one tael of broken silver from a supreme expert?!"

"Using scrap iron to swat a mosquito, and the wind from the slap flattened the experts of the Central Province Holy Land into paintings... which Immortal Old Ancestor is this, playing games in the Mortal World!!!"