On the other side, Ye Qing had become infamous overnight!
The nature of his prison break escalated the severity of his crimes.
A nationwide manhunt was launched, labeling him an S-class fugitive with a million-dollar reward for any credible leads.
His photo was plastered across the internet, and the Dragon Country's National Security Bureau dispatched dozens of grandmasters to apprehend him.
With only about two to three hundred grandmasters in the entire Dragon Country—most of whom held positions in the bureau—the massive operation was in full swing.
Meanwhile, Ye Qing himself... had embarked on a nostalgic trip!
Did they really expect him to give up his master's legacy? Absolutely not.
Besides... he now owed a billion dollars, so securing that treasure was non-negotiable.
"I refuse to believe they’ll catch me if I start digging from this far out..."
Ye Qing began tunneling from an abandoned well five kilometers away from the Jiang family’s ancestral estate.
The tunnel was dug deep—so deep no one would ever find him.
With his mastery of subterranean techniques, he worked at an inhuman pace, his shovel practically smoking.
Even a drill rig would’ve shed tears of envy.
"Screw this, I’ll avoid the cables this time. With my skills, three days max—I’ll dig a five-kilometer tunnel straight under the Jiang estate."
Miscalculations? Impossible.
After all, Ye Qing had a knack for feng shui.
"Pity I can only estimate the general direction by eye. If I had a compass... I could pinpoint the treasure’s exact location."
But alas, his storage pouch was lost.
Now, he couldn’t even tell if the feng shui of the treasure site was compromised. All he could do was dig blindly.
Time flew—five days passed in a blink.
Ye Qing had been tunneling nonstop.
"This... is not a job for humans. If I were a Heaven-Shattering Realm expert, I’d have stormed the Jiang estate outright. No need for this crap!"
Exhausted, he collapsed onto a rock, covered in dirt. Behind him lay a terrifying feat:
A winding tunnel spanning five to six kilometers—all dug by him alone.
"But... heaven rewards the determined!"
Ye Qing smirked as he touched the patterned black brick above him.
Channeling his inner energy, he swung his shovel, blasting a hole through the rock.
He climbed up.
"Huh? No traps? Master really spoiled me."
Strolling into the depths of the chamber, he found it barren—except for a massive, cube-shaped iron crate.
"What the hell? Where’s the treasure?"
Frowning, he approached.
The crate was nearly the size of a basketball court.
"Is this Master’s legacy?"
After circling it, he spotted a keypad lock at the front.
Not just any lock—a high-tech smart lock, complete with a tablet screen.
"What is this???"
Ye Qing, who had crossed into another world at age six, had never even seen a smartphone, let alone a tablet display.
"Some kind of... gadget? Hah. Master had tastes."
Though baffled, he didn’t suspect foul play.
He poked the screen.
It lit up instantly:
[Question: A cage holds rabbits and chickens. There are 35 heads and 94 legs in total. How many rabbits and chickens are there?]
Ye Qing scowled. "What kind of nonsense is this? Rabbits and chickens?"
Having never attended school, basic math was his blind spot.
"Tch... but this won’t stop me."
With a scoff, he started counting on his fingers—using the most primitive method.
After over ten minutes, he finally cracked it.
"Thought a math riddle could stump me?"
BOOM— The crate opened.
Ye Qing’s excitement peaked.
"A crate this big... how much treasure’s inside?"
Then, the next second—his face went blank.
"Another crate?!"
He stepped forward.
[Task: Perform 10,000 squats.]
"......"
What kind of bullshit is this?!
He seriously wondered if he was being messed with.
But the treasure site showed no signs of tampering.
Gritting his teeth, he resigned himself.
"Whatever. Just 10,000 squats. For a grandmaster, it’s child’s play."
Grandmasters were monsters. In under half an hour, he finished—averaging seven to eight squats per second.
But the real torment was yet to come. Inside the second box... was yet another box!
"Damn it!!!"
The questions weren’t hard, but there were just too many!
Moreover, when Jiang Che designed these challenges, he never intended to actually trap Ye Qing. It was precisely this kind of slow, grinding torment that hurt—and tortured—the most.
After answering nine questions in a row, Ye Qing’s brain was spinning at full speed, practically smoking from overuse, and his entire body was heaving with exhaustion.
A nonstop series of ten thousand push-ups, counting from one to ten thousand without pause—the torturous challenges kept coming in endless variations.
Just nine questions in, and Ye Qing was already on the verge of losing his mind.
"Nine returns to one... this has to be the last one, right?"
But when the tenth box opened, revealing yet another cold, unfeeling box inside, Ye Qing’s composure shattered.
"No—"
"I get it now. Someone’s messing with me. Screw these damn boxes—I’ll smash them to pieces!"
Ye Qing couldn’t hold back any longer. He raised his fist, ready to slam it into the box.
His inner energy erupted explosively, as if capable of annihilating everything in its path.
But at that moment, a line of text flashed across the display screen:
[My disciple, the path of tempering the heart lies within. If such trivial challenges can break you, don’t you dare call yourself a disciple of Zhao Dezhu again.]
In an instant, all of Ye Qing’s fury evaporated.
"Eighteenth Master..." Ye Qing’s eyes welled up with tears.
So that was it. This was his master’s carefully hidden intention all along!
Thus, as if injected with a surge of adrenaline, he dove headfirst into the next wave of challenges.
But even adrenaline has its limits.
When the 20th box opened, only to reveal yet another box inside, Ye Qing’s patience exploded.
"Goddamn it, I can’t take this anymore—I want to kill someone!!!"
[You foolish disciple! Calm yourself at once! If you cannot endure small trials, how will you ever conquer the world?]
Once again, Ye Qing’s towering rage was abruptly cut short.
"Seventeenth Master... you..."
Before messing with Ye Qing, Jiang Che had even predicted his emotional outbursts.
After all, these were just ordinary boxes. If Ye Qing lost control and smashed them outright, the torment would lose its purpose.
But by using his eighteen masters—taking turns to pump him up with encouragement or soothe his frustrations—the effect was unexpectedly perfect.
What "Unrivaled Immortal breaking free from imprisonment"?
Didn’t he still end up on the verge of a breakdown in the end?