Early the next morning.
Shan Hu finished breakfast and tucked the map he'd received from Qin Muyue into his spatial ring.
He noticed the ten "Spirit Jades" on the coffee table. These were the stones he had condensed using his Immortal Power, and they were now dull and lifeless. He'd scanned them the night before and confirmed the spiritual energy within them had been completely absorbed by his parents and sister.
"Might as well recharge them."
Shan Hu casually picked up the jades. He told his parents, who were happily studying the blueprints for their new "Kowloon Bay River-View Apartment," "Dad, Mom, I'm heading out to the suburbs for a little hike, and to find a good spot to check on the design for your new place."
Shan De and Wang Fang were too immersed in their new billionaire status to think twice.
"Go ahead, go ahead! A little fresh air will do you good!" Wang Fang said contentedly.
Shan Hu smiled and left the house, hailing a cab straight for Dragon's Hidden Mountain in Longcheng's eastern suburbs.
Dragon's Hidden Mountain, or Longyinshan, was true to its name—low-key and secluded on the city's edge. It wasn't tall, but its terrain was rugged and densely forested, with only a dilapidated dirt road leading to its base.
Shan Hu paid the taxi driver and looked up.
The mountain was shrouded in a thin layer of mist. Though subtle, it felt purer than the city's smog. Shan Hu could clearly sense a faint spiritual energy, dozens of times denser than the outside world, slowly circulating within that mist.
"The environment here is perfectly suited for setting up a Spirit Gathering Array."
He followed a set of abandoned stone steps upward. The higher he went, the more secluded the surroundings became. To mortals, it was just a quiet, desolate woods, but to Shan Hu's Immortal Consciousness, he could see the mountain's layout formed a natural "Dragon Vein Gathering Water" formation. Only due to Earth's energy depletion was the array dormant.
"The core must be right below that waterfall on the mountainside."
Shan Hu nodded to himself, ready to speed up, when suddenly, a sharp whoosh of wind cut through the air ahead!
"Stop! No entry for outsiders!"
Following the cold, sharp shout, a figure in white flashed out of the woods, landing directly in front of Shan Hu.
It was an extremely beautiful woman. She wore a tailored white combat suit that accentuated her graceful, powerful physique. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, with exquisite features and fair skin, but her expression was intensely aloof, like ice sculpted from snow—devoid of any human warmth.
In her hand, she held a long, chillingly sharp rapier.
Shan Hu's consciousness swept over her, confirming that this woman was indeed the person marked on the Martial Association map as "Longcheng's Foremost Martial Prodigy, Su Qingxue of the Su Clan." Her cultivation base had already reached the Early Grandmaster level!
A Grandmaster was a rarity in the modern martial arts world. For Su Qingxue to achieve this at her age was truly remarkable talent.
However, her Grandmaster aura, in Shan Hu's eyes, was like a toddler who had just learned to walk attempting to challenge a world boxing champion.
"Oh? No entry?" Shan Hu stopped, a hint of playful admiration in his expression.
Su Qingxue stared intently at him, her eyes filled with caution and a sense of inexplicable danger. She noted the T-shirt-clad young man's completely unremarkable aura, yet he gave her the feeling of a bottomless vortex in the deep sea.
"Dragon's Hidden Mountain is the Martial Association's secret training ground. Trespassing is considered espionage against martial secrets. Turn back now, and I will let this slide!" Su Qingxue spoke coldly, slightly raising her rapier, the tip aimed directly at Shan Hu's throat.
Shan Hu just laughed, an easy, casual sound.
"The Martial Association's secret ground? You're a little girl squatting on my territory, and you want me to turn back?"
"Your territory?" Su Qingxue frowned deeply, her eyes growing colder. "Arrogant! The Martial Association has managed this site for ten years. Who are you?"
She stopped wasting words. Sensing the unsettling aura around Shan Hu, she decided to strike first!
"You court death!"
Su Qingxue's rapier moved with a sharp Qi attack, instantly tearing through the air and thrusting toward Shan Hu's face! The strike was lightning-fast, imbued with Grandmaster-level power—enough to easily pierce steel plate!
Faced with the strike that would make any mortal gasp in terror, Shan Hu didn't even blink.
He didn't use a trace of Immortal Power. He simply raised his right hand slightly, and with his index finger and thumb, gently and precisely pinched the tip of the rapier aimed at his glabella!
Clang—
A crisp metallic ringing sound echoed through the forest.
The rapier was captured between two fingers, instantly frozen in mid-air, the tip less than an inch from Shan Hu's skin!
Su Qingxue's face went ghastly pale!
She poured every ounce of her Grandmaster True Qi into the sword, trying to pull it out or push it forward even a millimeter, but the rapier was stuck as if welded to a cliff face, completely immobile!
She felt her True Qi dissipate instantly between his fingers, like mud flowing into a vast, bottomless ocean! This was an absolute, incomprehensible suppression of power!
"H-how is this possible…" The icy composure on Su Qingxue's face fractured into sheer horror for the first time.
Shan Hu looked at her, his eyes amused, his voice conveying a gentle dismissal of mortal martial arts.
"Grandmaster? Your Qi is too scattered, and your drawing speed was three breaths too slow. If I were your enemy, you would already be dead."
He flicked his finger slightly!
Thwack!
A massive force instantly transmitted along the length of the rapier! Su Qingxue felt an unstoppable surge of power assault her. The rapier flew from her grip, and her body was thrown backward, crashing heavily into a large boulder behind her.
The boulder cracked. A thread of blood escaped the corner of Su Qingxue's mouth, her internal energy chaotic. She stared at Shan Hu in terror, as if witnessing the end of the world.
Shan Hu walked over to the discarded rapier, picked up the cold, shimmering weapon, and hefted it lightly.
"The metal's good quality. Might be nice for slicing fruit."
He looked up at the pale Su Qingxue, his voice calm yet utterly dominant.
"Listen, girl. From now on, this Dragon's Hidden Mountain is my training ground. You have two choices: First, leave now and never step foot here again. Second, stay and become my Mountain Guardian."