Mo Qi didn’t believe a word the old man said.

He and the Pig Emperor had already scouted the area. This was clearly an unclaimed, wild mountain range. The Spiritual Energy was mediocre, and they hadn’t seen a single decent Spirit Medicine, let alone any real treasures.

’Take whatever I want?’

’What is there to take?’

’The air?’

He figured the old man was just spouting nonsense to fool him.

’Powerful experts have to save face, after all.’

"What, you don’t believe me?" The old man’s tone shifted. Pinching the Pig Emperor’s nose and mouth between three fingers as if plucking a snail from its shell, he began to draw circles in the air.

Having slept for many years, he had just woken up to a delicious meal that left him deeply satisfied. The old man was in a fantastic mood and began to toy with the Pig Emperor with great amusement.

The Pig Emperor, dangling in the air: "@#￥%&*"

’Damn you! If I could beat you, I’d rearrange your ugly face!’

Seeing this, Mo Qi hastily replied, "Senior, of course I believe you."

The old man let out a dry chuckle. As if he couldn’t hear the insincerity in Mo Qi’s voice.

"Kid, a word of advice: you can’t always judge things by their appearance. Your eyes, your senses, even your experience—sometimes, they will deceive you."

With that, the old man raised his other hand and made a grasping gesture toward the sky.

RRRRIP!

The horizon was torn in two like a bolt of silk.

Before Mo Qi’s shocked eyes, the world around him inverted, spun, and shifted constantly.

The deep pit vanished, and the surrounding piles of rubble were gone. In their place was a jungle so dense it seemed impenetrable. Countless colossal trees stood proudly, their lush green canopies merging into one.

An incredibly dense Spiritual Energy formed a light mist, and a single breath of it was enough to refresh the mind and spirit.

Not only that, but waves of tyrannical auras, rays of enticing light from treasures, and a sense of danger that made his hair stand on end all flooded into Mo Qi’s perception at once.

But what shook Mo Qi the most was a familiar fluctuation of Energy mixed in with everything else—one he had dreamed of finding.

’It’s the same source as the ring Mother left me!’

’A clue to my mother’s whereabouts!’

’And it’s not far—it’s incredibly close!’

’Could it be? Was everything I saw and sensed before just an illusion?’

It was simply unbelievable!

The old man smiled faintly, thoroughly pleased with Mo Qi’s dumbfounded expression.

"Kid, one more friendly reminder: the commotion here has already attracted a lot of people. If you want to go treasure hunting, you’d better get a move on."

"However, this old man doesn’t like things to get too rowdy, so I’ve blocked all the little fellows at the Void Realm and above from getting in."

At this, the old man tossed the Pig Emperor back to Mo Qi, stroked his goatee, and watched him with a sly grin.

’That crazy girl made me wait so long, and all I got was this little fellow with a mere Vajra Realm Cultivation.’

’His Cultivation is nothing special, and he looks a bit foolish, but his cooking is genuinely outstanding.’

’Regardless, I’ll start him off with a difficult test. Whether he can obtain that crazy girl’s legacy will depend on his own abilities.’

At that very moment, an irresistible, powerful force swept out from the core of the Doomed Mountain Range.

It forcibly ejected every Cultivator within the mountains who had reached the Void Realm.

"I am the Master of the Doomed Mountain Range. None at the Void Realm or higher may enter. Violators will be put to death!"

The ancient voice echoed in everyone’s ears, leaving all who heard it shaken.

Some were shocked, others surprised. Some were resentful, and naturally, there were those who were filled with disbelief and scorn.

"Pah! What ’Master of the Doomed Mountain Range’? Never heard of him! Today, I, Old Dao Tou, will see just who is playing at being a Divine Being!"

A hunchbacked elder in gray robes had just arrived and heard the warning before he could even enter the Doomed Mountain Range.

As a veteran Immortal who had achieved his status long ago, he was naturally defiant.

He assumed some expert was trying to monopolize the treasures within the Doomed Mountain Range and was intentionally stirring up trouble.

With a flourish of his arm, a Nine-Ringed Cyan Patterned Saber appeared in his hand.

Saber in hand, he swaggered brazenly into the Doomed Mountain Range.

One step... two steps... ten feet... twenty feet...

Nothing happened.

"Hahaha! I knew it was just some petty villain making trouble!" The gray-robed, hunchbacked elder threw his head back and roared with laughter.

The onlookers collectively sighed in relief, their worried frowns smoothing out.

’It seems that "Master of the Doomed Mountain Range" is a fake!’

And so, many people cast aside their doubts and entered the Doomed Mountain Range.

Only those who had been forcibly ejected earlier remained silent. They had personally experienced that irresistible power and had a nagging feeling that things weren’t so simple.

"Violators will be put to death? What big talk! If you’ve got the guts, then come and take my life!" the gray-robed, hunchbacked elder laughed arrogantly.

"As you wish!" Just then, the ancient voice rang out once more.

In the next instant, the smile on the gray-robed, hunchbacked elder’s face vanished, replaced by an expression of endless agony.

Before the crowd’s disbelieving eyes, the elder’s body shriveled and withered at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Stop!"

Old Dao Tou’s face contorted in terror. He could clearly sense his Life Force draining away at a horrifying rate. He tried to summon his Immortal Power to fight back, only to find he had none left to command.

"Mercy—"

He realized his mistake—he knew he had picked a fight with the wrong person. He wanted to beg for mercy, but it was already too late.

’Damn it all!’

’Why did I have to be the one to stick my neck out?! Couldn’t I have just kept a low profile?!’

Drowning in intense regret and indignation, Old Dao Tou’s body turned to a withered husk as his consciousness blurred and finally faded into nothing.

The experts who had followed Old Dao Tou inside scrambled to retreat, trying to flee the Doomed Mountain Range, only to find that their legs had withered away without them realizing it. They couldn’t move another inch.

SWOOSH!

A light breeze swept through. Like stalks of straw snapped in half, they all collapsed to the ground as withered corpses, their lives extinguished.

"This..."

Outside the Doomed Mountain Range, everyone who had witnessed the scene retreated in a panic.

Forget stepping foot into the range—no one even dared to come within a thousand meters of it.

It was too horrifying. Old Dao Tou wasn’t a member of the Hall of Envoys—just an Independent Cultivator—but he was long-famous and possessed considerable combat strength. He was a ranked figure among the Immortals.

Yet such a powerful Immortal had died without even seeing his enemy’s face, without knowing what methods had been used against him. He died an inexplicable death, utterly powerless to resist.

"I’d say the one calling himself the Master of the Doomed Mountain Range must have attained a Venerable Position!"

"I agree, that must be it."

"It seems only the Palace Guard Army stands a chance against him now."

The crowd murmured amongst themselves.

Just then, a middle-aged man in Silver Armor descended from the sky. His overwhelming aura instantly silenced everyone present; none dared to make a sound.

"I am Chen He of the North District Envoy Hall’s Palace Guard Army. The Doomed Mountain Range has never had a master since the dawn of its existence. Fellow Daoist within, to claim it for yourself is one thing, but to wantonly slaughter the weak... are you not going too far?"

The middle-aged man’s voice was frigid, radiating a bone-chilling killing intent.