Eastern Wasteland Domain, Zhao Kingdom.
Qingyun Sect, Changshang Peak.
An extremely faint streak of Evasion Light tore through the clouds and plunged directly into the Immortal Cave deep within the rear mountain.
Almost at the same moment, atop Qingyun Peak, a stunning figure suddenly looked up, gazing towards the direction of the Forbidden Land behind Changshang Peak.
It was a woman dressed in a pale moon-white dress, tall and graceful.
Her face was peerless, her eyes like cold stars, her skin fairer than snow, and her temperament was icy cold, like ten thousand years of Profound Ice, keeping people thousands of miles away, as if she were the Mysterious Maiden of the Nine Heavens who did not partake in worldly food.
This person was precisely the current Sect Master of the Qingyun Sect, Gu Qingxue.
"The Old Ancestor definitely won't be in trouble!"
Gu Qingxue tightly gripped the corner of her robe with her delicate hand, a hint of worry flashing in her Phoenix eyes.
"It's the Old Ancestor, the Old Ancestor has returned!"
"But... why is the Old Ancestor's aura so weak? It's... it's decayed by more than ten times compared to before he left!"
"Could it be that during his trip to the Burial Immortal Ridge, the Old Ancestor..."
The Divine Senses of several Golden Core Elders converged in the air, filled with shock and disbelief.
They dared not cross the boundary, only waiting anxiously outside the Forbidden Land.
Inside the Immortal Cave, it was dark and deathly silent.
Lu Yuan sat cross-legged on a Prayer Mat; his formerly straight, pine-like physique now appeared somewhat hunched.
His head of snow-white long hair lay scattered over his shoulders, devoid of luster. That face, which had once intimidated the entire Zhao Kingdom Cultivation World and struck fear into countless villains, was now covered in wrinkles, heavy with the aura of old age.
Lu Yuan slowly raised his hand, looking at the dry, cracked palms that resembled the withered bark of an old tree. A trace of endless sorrow and unwillingness flashed deep within his cloudy eyes.
But immediately, it was replaced by a madness and determination ready to burn everything away.
He had failed.
Two millennia of breaking through thorns, two millennia of facing death to find life—in the end, he still lost to the will of Heaven.
He was not a native of this world, but a Transmigrator from Blue Star. Only after enduring numerous life-and-death trials did he become a great Late Stage Nascent Soul Cultivator, revered as the Qingyun Old Ancestor, and the only Nascent Soul Cultivator in the entire Qingyun Sect.
Yet time was ruthless; two thousand years of Lifespan were nearing their end, and the path to Soul Transformation was distant.
To fight for that sliver of life, he ventured alone into the Eastern Wilds Forbidden Land, Burial Immortal Ridge, seeking the legendary Soul Transformation Opportunity.
He found no Opportunity, but instead encountered a Spatial Storm.
He paid an extremely heavy price, barely managing to escape from the Burial Immortal Ridge.
Lu Yuan performed an internal inspection of his body.
Inside his Purple Mansion Sea of Consciousness, his Nascent Soul, which should have been brilliant and resonated with the heavens and earth, was now dim, its small body covered in cracks.
Furthermore, the Foundation supporting his entire Dao cultivation was riddled with holes, eroded by Spatial Power, and filled with an aura of annihilation.
His cultivation plummeted from the Late Stage Nascent Soul to the Early Stage Nascent Soul.
Moreover, due to the damage to his Dao Foundation, the magic power he could currently utilize was less than that of an ordinary Early Stage Nascent Soul Cultivator with a stable Foundation.
What was more fatal was that his already scarce Lifespan was also about to run out following this severe injury.
"Less than three years..."
Lu Yuan muttered to himself.
He would not sit in meditation and wait for death.
Lu Yuan had cultivated for two millennia, stepped over mountains of corpses and seas of blood; he never believed in Heaven, nor would he accept his fate!
Even if he had to die, before his death, he must erase the Sect's greatest threat from the world!
A figure with a ferocious face and Demonic Qi soaring around his body surfaced in his mind.
Beast King Valley, Ten Thousand Beast True Lord!
This person was his old enemy. Five hundred years ago, Lu Yuan personally severed the Opportunity for his opponent's Natal Spirit Beast to transform into a Dragon, thus cutting off that Spirit Beast's path to the Nascent Soul stage forever.
The two sides had long been irreconcilable. Over the years, Beast King Valley, led by the Ten Thousand Beast True Lord, had eyed the Qingyun Sect covetously, gradually eroding much of the Sect's interests.
Lu Yuan was very clear that once the news of his death and the scattering of his Dao was spread, the Ten Thousand Beast True Lord would definitely be the first to lead the Beast King Valley army to flatten the Qingyun Sect, slaughtering all tens of thousands of Disciples to vent his hatred.
He absolutely would not allow such a thing to happen!
"Cough, cough..." A mouthful of dark golden blood spilled from his lips, dripping onto the ground and instantly corroding a deep pit into the hard bluestone floor.
The insane killing intent in his eyes grew increasingly fierce.
He had made up his mind.
He would burn his remaining Nascent Soul, sacrifice his last Lifespan, forcibly activate a Forbidden Secret Technique, and achieve Ultimate Sublimation!
This method would allow him to instantly unleash a supreme blow surpassing his Peak period, but the cost was instant death after the attack.
"Old Demon of Ten Thousand Beasts, on the road to Yellow Springs, let us... compete for supremacy one last time!"
Lu Yuan slowly formed a Hand Seal. The magic power that had been stagnant in his body began to flow backward in a strange manner, and a destructive aura was brewing deep within his Dantian.
Just as he was about to unleash this power and rush toward a death match that would take his nemesis with him.
[Detected Host is on the verge of death, meeting the activation requirements for the Destiny Villain.]
[Destiny Villain Intelligence System is binding. Binding successful!]
A cold electronic voice sounded in his mind without warning.
Lu Yuan's movement, prepared for death, suddenly froze.
The destructive energy about to erupt inside him was forcibly halted due to the shock to his spirit, and the backlash of violent magic power caused him to spit out another mouthful of fresh blood, but at this moment, he completely ignored it.
A faint blue light screen appeared before Lu Yuan, suspended in mid-air, with lines of cold text slowly emerging on it.
"A System?"
Even with his two thousand years of Heart-Nature, his spirit couldn't help but tremble slightly at this moment.
This Golden Finger, which was two millennia late, had actually arrived at his most desperate moment!
Forcibly suppressing the shock in his heart, Lu Yuan stared intently at the information on the light screen.
[Destiny Villain Intelligence System]
[Core Function One: Daily Intelligence]
[Every 11 PM - 1 AM, the System will automatically refresh three random pieces of intelligence. Intelligence Rank is divided from low to high into: White, Green, Blue, Purple, Gold, Red, and Seven-Colored. The higher the Rank, the greater the value of the Opportunity represented by the intelligence.]
[Core Function Two: Intercept and Return]
[If the Host successfully intercepts the Opportunity of the Son of Destiny, a random multiplier Critical Return will be triggered based on the quality of the Opportunity.]
[Special Note: If a Golden Intelligence Opportunity belonging to the Son of Destiny is successfully plundered, a Critical Return of up to ten thousand times may be triggered!]
[Each successful interception will grant destiny points. destiny points can be used to upgrade the System, raise the minimum quality of daily refreshed intelligence, or be consumed to actively acquire targeted intelligence regarding specific targets or events.]
"Intercepting the Son of Destiny... Destiny Villain..." Lu Yuan muttered to himself, the death wish in his eyes—prepared for mutual destruction—being replaced by an unprecedented light.
So, this world also had so-called Destiny Protagonists, and he had actually become their opposite—the Destiny Villain!
But what of it?
The struggle on the Immortal Path is fundamentally a struggle against Heaven, against Earth, and against people; it is either you die, or I live!
"Heh heh!"
A deep laugh echoed in the Immortal Cave.
"What a Destiny Villain! Since that is the case, this old man shall trample all these so-called Sons of Destiny underfoot, turning them into the resources for me to return to the Peak, and even ascend to the Dao of Immortality!"
[Ding! Detected Host's will to survive has reignited, meeting the conditions for Newbie Gift Pack distribution.]
[Newbie Gift Pack distributed: Purple Intelligence x1, Gold Intelligence x1. Please check, Host.]