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Xu Yuan was long accustomed to elders beating their juniors.

Due to his natural personality and love for mischief, he had been beaten by the old man from childhood all the way through his previous life.

In elementary and middle school, he loved to stir up trouble and fight; in high school, he was caught puppy-loving, leading to the girl's family showing up at his door; in college, he fell in love with wilderness travel, disappearing for over a month at a time while the school couldn't find a trace of him.

Every time the old man caught him in these acts, it meant a brutal thrashing.

Over time, Xu Yuan simply got used to it.

If he couldn't afford to offend him, couldn't he at least hide?

The world was so vast; if he couldn't resist, couldn't he just run?

Regardless, they were father and son after all. Once the old man's anger subsided, a few sweet words and a firm attitude of repentance would suffice, and once his allowance was sent, he would go back to living his life as he pleased.

But in this world, Xu Yuan discovered that he couldn't run even if he wanted to.

This cheap older brother could hang him up and beat him.

Physically speaking.

Hung him up and beat him.

Hung him up and beat him to the point where he couldn't even speak.

As he pondered these things, a piercing eagle cry suddenly rang in Xu Yuan's ears.

Coming back to his senses, Xu Yuan looked at the unfamiliar bedchamber before him and shook his head slightly.

After falling into a coma from the beating, this was the room he saw upon waking.

Faint incense permeated the antique-style room, and every piece of furniture was extremely rustic.

Looking out through the wooden window at the head of the bed, Xu Yuan saw an endless expanse of blue sky.

And, A pair of massive eagle wings with a span of over ten zhang.

Two days had passed since he was beaten, and he was now sitting on a "plane" heading back to Jingjiang City.

Unlike the steel behemoths of his past life, this "plane" was a living creature—a giant Mystic Eagle with a wingspan exceeding twenty zhang, its broad back topped with a luxurious, intricately carved pavilion.

It was Xu Changge's aerial palace, though because Xu Yuan's strength was too weak, he was temporarily letting his youngest brother use it.

As for Xu Changge himself.

That eldest brother was a busy man; after hanging him up for a thrashing, he had flown off with those two massive python heads the moment Xu Yuan woke up.

Xu Yuan guessed that he must have rushed back to the Imperial Capital to report to their cheap father.

To save him, Xu Changge had already spent too much time here in the Wanxing Mountain Range. This moment was critical, and he had to return to the capital to assist their father.

At this thought, the two giant python heads flashed through Xu Yuan's mind, and his expression grew somewhat strange.

He thought of Ji Fenghua, whose head had been chopped off by Xu Changge.

Ji Fenghua, a green-haired big sister with a beautiful character portrait.

A very large, very fair big sister.

However, compared to the death of yet another "paper" wife, Xu Yuan was more curious about his eldest brother's strength.

As a mature Seven-Life Python who had bloomed seven blood lotuses decades ago, Ji Fenghua was truly powerful—several tiers stronger than the Demon Race's second princess, Ji Qingyue.

Yet, such a character had simply died at the hands of Xu Changge.

It wasn't that Xu Yuan doubted Xu Changge's strength, but in the myriad world lines of Cangyuan, Ji Fenghua had once crossed blades with Xu Changge.

In the late stages of that world line, the western Strange Demon Kingdom invaded the Great Yan Dynasty by crossing the Hundred Thousand Mountains of the Wanxing Mountain Range.

Outside Jingjiang City, Xu Changge and Ji Fenghua had engaged in a fierce battle.

And that time, With no interference, Xu Changge had lost by a hair's breadth.

He was swallowed whole by the battered and bloodied Ji Fenghua, meeting his end.

Anyone with eyes could see that the gap in strength between Xu Changge and Ji Fenghua at that time was negligible; one could even say the outcome was decided by a single thought.

But the reality now was, Xu Changge had gone straight to Ji Fenghua's home turf and chopped her head off.

Considering the environmental factors, the fact that Xu Changge had returned with virtually no injuries, and that there were other members of the Demon Race watching from the Ancient Abyss, Xu Changge's current strength against Ji Fenghua should have been almost overwhelming.

This discrepancy in combat power, which completely deviated from the plot and contradicted the original story, left Xu Yuan feeling vaguely uneasy.

In less than ten years, without a player's leveling cheat, it was impossible for Ji Fenghua to have grown strong so quickly.

Furthermore, Xu Changge was also an undeniable genius.

If Ji Fenghua could grow stronger, Xu Changge could naturally do the same.

Due to special events like fortuitous encounters, the gap in strength between them might have narrowed, but it shouldn't have reached the point of being on par.

In other words.

Xu Yuan's thoughts stalled for a moment as an unrealistic notion surfaced in his mind.

During the period between the start of the plot and the Ancient Abyss invasion of the Great Yan.

Had his eldest brother's strength not only failed to grow, but actually weakened?

Why?

Xu Yuan could not comprehend it.

In Cangyuan, even players with a god's-eye view were unaware of many things.

Take Ran Qingmo, who had just parted ways with Xu Yuan, for example.

Xu Yuan had no idea how Ran Qingmo learned that the Prime Minister intended to annihilate the Tianyuan Sword Sect.

After all, at this point in the plot, only his cheap father and a few trusted subordinates were privy to that information.

When playing Cangyuan, Xu Yuan initially speculated that there was a mole among the Prime Minister's subordinates, as only those few people knew of the plan. However, as he cleared every single ending in the game, those few elite confidants of the Prime Minister were never once vindicated.

Every one of them, it could be said, remained loyal to the boss until the very end.

The developers dug holes and left them unfilled, calling it "giving players room for imagination."

Xu Yuan sighed softly.

Without sufficient information, any amount of speculation was useless; he could only investigate when the opportunity arose later.

Ceasing to let his thoughts wander on this matter, Xu Yuan slowly turned his gaze toward his bedside.

Before leaving, that eldest brother had casually tossed him over a dozen bottles of pills.

He claimed they were for a "useless waste" like him to heal his injuries.

He told him to recover quickly, lest their father blame him for being too heavy-handed.

Unlike the three super-grade pills he found in the cave, each housed in its own individual jade bottle, these bottles each contained over a dozen pills.

Green Forest Pill, which accelerated the recovery of the soul and enhanced the soul's ability to perceive origin energy for a period of time.

Guangling Pill, a miraculous medicine for strengthening the resilience of the meridians and consolidating one's foundation.

Pulse Protection Pill; after consuming it, a thin membrane would form on the inner walls of the meridians, allowing the user to circulate their cultivation technique for twelve hours a day without fear of damaging their meridians.

Soul Cleansing Pill, as the name suggests, could refine the soul.

Hmm. Healing. That eldest brother said these were for healing. These pills could indeed heal, pfft~

To call these pills miraculous medicine for someone just beginning their cultivation journey would be no exaggeration; they covered almost every problem one might encounter during cultivation.

More importantly, These types of pills had absolutely no side effects.

In the alchemy system of Cangyuan, most pills that helped a character cultivate would leave behind some form of permanent debuff after consumption.

For example, soul weakening (lowering the blue bar), or meridian damage (increasing the experience required for leveling up), and some pills meant for breaking through barriers would even cause irreversible damage to internal organs (lowering the maximum health cap).

There was only one scenario where a pill had no side effects:

The value of the materials required to refine it far exceeded the value of the pill itself.

In other words, using rare mid-to-late-game materials to refine items needed by a character in the early game.

Staring silently at the dozen or so jade bottles for a long time, Xu Yuan suddenly felt a strange urge to go back and get beaten up again.

He immediately chuckled and shook his head.

Although that eldest brother really did beat him when he struck, he was also truly generous when it came to giving good things.