Black Mist Xu Sheng, Killed in One Strike!

The next day, just as dawn broke over the horizon, luxurious Soul Guidance Vehicles gathered in the parking lot beside the Heavenly Spirit Tower.

After chatting and laughing their way through inspections, the bustling crowd entered the towering spire that pierced the clouds. The once-deserted hall instantly became lively.

The Rampage Period Spirit Ascension Platform was opened simultaneously at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, meaning Soul Masters of every tier could easily be seen here today.

Yet the largest group was still those preparing to enter the beginner-level Spirit Ascension Platform.

From a sofa in the corner, Nan Liujing watched young men and women pass before him. Some wore Shrek Academy uniforms, some were dressed in comfortable casual clothes, and some had even styled their hair to look more mature before entering in formal attire.

Young Genius Ranking, Rank Thirty: Swan Mo Jue

Young Genius Ranking, Rank Twenty-Seven: Mystic Turtle Xu Cang

Young Genius Ranking, Rank Twenty-Four: Universe Li Qiankun

Young Genius Ranking, Rank Twenty-One: Blue Electric Yu Jiutian

In that short span of time, Nan Liujing had already spotted four ranked geniuses under fifteen.

Mo Jue and Li Qiankun were old acquaintances. In the original timeline, when Tang Wulin was a first-year student, they had been the class monitor and Vice Class Monitor of the third years. They had also been the only two One-Word Battle Armor Masters among Shrek Academy's Soul Master students under twenty at the time. Now, they appeared to be only thirteen or fourteen.

He did not know much about Mystic Turtle Xu Cang. There had been no record of him in the original timeline, and he was not wearing a Shrek Academy uniform. He also looked younger than Mo Jue and Li Qiankun.

The only one who interested Nan Liujing was Yu Jiutian. His title was Blue Electric, and he looked to be only around twelve, merely three years older than Nan Liujing. Yet he was ranked above Mo Jue and Li Qiankun.

On Douluo Continent, the only martial soul that could be called Blue Electric was the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. Could this person be the captain who led Shrek Academy in an exhibition match during the East Sea Federation competition in the original timeline?

A guess surfaced in Nan Liujing's mind.

Just as he was considering it, a figure strode into the hall. With a golden ponytail, exquisite and beautiful features, and heroic brows, who else could it be but Ye Xinglan?

"I'm not late, am I?"

Ye Xinglan saw Nan Liujing rise and gesture to her, then approached with a smile.

Nan Liujing had just been about to greet her when his brows furrowed slightly. In the crowd not far away, a youth in a Shrek Academy uniform stared at Ye Xinglan several times, seemingly confirming something. His expression then turned ugly as he began privately speaking with Yu Jiutian.

Yu Jiutian's gaze visibly shifted. He casually glanced at Ye Xinglan's retreating back, as though committing her to memory.

Watching Ye Xinglan approach excitedly, Nan Liujing smiled helplessly. Fine. It seemed they would have plenty to deal with after entering the Spirit Ascension Platform.

"Here." Nan Liujing took out his qualification card.

Ye Xinglan casually accepted it and stood beside him, looking over the crowd gathered in the hall. "As expected of the Rampage Period Spirit Ascension Platform. Everyone's here."

Nan Liujing nodded. "There are two Rampage Periods every year, and each one ends with a reshuffling of the Young Genius Ranking. Every major Soul Master faction is waiting for the results. How could they not all come?"

During the week that the Rampage Period Spirit Ascension Platform was open, the Spirit Pagoda would relay real-time updates from within. The various Soul Master factions also used those reports to assess their family's younger generation.

Besides, present-day Douluo Continent no longer had a traditional continent-wide Advanced Soul Master Elite Competition. The Spirit Ascension Platform was an alternative kind of competition, though it was based on individual strength.

"We will now begin the official inspection of Spirit Ascension Platform qualification cards."

Before long, a Spirit Ascension Platform supervisor and three attendants emerged to make the announcement.

The several hundred people gathered in the hall unhurriedly took out their qualification cards and handed them to the staff.

There were separate elevators, each with its own requirements, for different levels of the Spirit Ascension Platform.

Nan Liujing did not use his status to enter directly. Instead, he continued observing people his own age in order to identify his targets.

Ye Xinglan seemed to be thinking much the same thing. Who knew which lucky person would get their backside poked by her Stargod Sword?

That Shrek Academy student who had insulted her with money the other day had been stabbed in the butt by her sword.

Once the inspection was complete, Nan Liujing and Ye Xinglan entered an elevator with several Soul Masters they did not know. After descending, they arrived at an underground registration hall. This was to confirm their teams so they would wake up together. Once that step was finished, three staff members led them into the Spirit Ascension Rooms.

"The Rampage Period Spirit Ascension Platform is extremely dangerous. The Soul Beasts' desire to fight will be enhanced, and we encourage Soul Masters to battle one another. If you believe your strength is insufficient, do not force yourselves. Pressing the rescue signal is nothing shameful," one staff member earnestly told them.

Everyone silently nodded and soon lay down skillfully inside the Spirit Ascension Pods.

Their consciousness blurred, and when they awoke again, they were already in an ancient forest.

A chilly wind blew from an unknown direction. Nan Liujing and Ye Xinglan opened their eyes at the same time, vigilantly scanning their surroundings.

"What do we do next?" Ye Xinglan asked softly.

Nan Liujing glanced at the silent forest. "I have a mission. What about you?"

Ye Xinglan shook her head. "I only came because you invited me. Otherwise, I'd still be at home practicing my sword."

Nan Liujing said, "Then follow me. Oh, right. Have you maxed out your Soul Spirit's cultivation age?"

"Whoosh, whoosh."

The faint rustling of a body brushing through leaves sounded almost like wind stirring the branches. Yet Nan Liujing's Spiritual Power had already broken through to the Spirit Sea Realm through a month of comprehending laws and cultivating. He instantly detected something unusual.

Lightning flashed in his right hand as the Coiled Dragon Staff suddenly extended, stabbing into an ancient tree.

The words had reached Ye Xinglan's lips, but before she could speak, the Coiled Dragon Staff shot past her. Only then did she react. Starlight emerged in her right hand, condensing into a bright yellow longsword.

Bang.

A clear impact traveled back through the Coiled Dragon Staff. Under the pair's watchful eyes, an ape-like Soul Beast wrapped in electric currents fell from the ancient tree.

"Iron Arm Ape." Ye Xinglan recognized it at a glance.

A numb electric current suddenly swept past, making the hair on her forehead stand straight. Nan Liujing's body was shrouded in lightning as he charged at incredible speed toward the Iron Arm Ape, which had been briefly paralyzed by the current.

Before the Iron Arm Ape could break free of the paralysis, Nan Liujing swung through the air as though batting a baseball. With a bang, the beast's savage head exploded, leaving only its body to fall to the ground.

From the first strange sound to the kill, Nan Liujing had taken less than five seconds.

"You're way too fast." Ye Xinglan walked over in a few steps, watching the corpse turn into specks of spiritual energy as she clicked her tongue in slight amazement.

Careful, or I'll sue you for slander, Nan Liujing retorted inwardly. "When a threat appears, of course you kill it as quickly as possible."

"Come on, let's find someone."

The two quickly set off toward another area.

Several minutes after they left, a figure emerged from the shadows.

After glancing at the slightly scorched ground, Xu Sheng looked around again and lightly pressed a device fitted over his left hand.

A moment later, the screen on the device scanned outward like a radar, eventually locking onto a direction.

Whoosh.

His body was wrapped in a stream of black air as he hid within the dense undergrowth. In moments, he had vanished without a trace.

The Rampage Period Spirit Ascension Platform was far livelier than Nan Liujing and Ye Xinglan had imagined.

The two stood on a thick tree branch, staring at the continuous streams of Soul Beasts racing below. The entire ground trembled faintly.

From time to time, they could hear Soul Masters screaming and the thunderous blasts of soul skills being unleashed. It was quite the spectacle.

In just over ten minutes, they witnessed more than fifteen people torn apart by various frenzied thousand-year Soul Beasts or packs of hundred-year Soul Beasts, painfully withdrawing from the Spirit Ascension Platform.

They also saw Soul Masters fighting one another over spiritual energy, only for someone else to reap the rewards in the end.

But even now, no opponent satisfactory to Nan Liujing had appeared. It could not be helped. Though this was a simulated outer region of the Star Dou Great Forest, the beginner-level Spirit Ascension Platform was still far too vast. Even if several thousand people entered from the Spirit Pagodas of more than ten cities, it would still be like searching for a needle in the ocean.

Nan Liujing actually hoped the Spirit Ascension Platform had a ranking board. Whoever killed the most Soul Beasts would appear on it, with their location marked as well. That would make it easier for him to find people.

"Let's keep moving."

Once the surroundings had quieted down, the two immediately jumped from the tree.

Just as they were about to land, Nan Liujing's Spiritual Power suddenly sent out a sharp warning. His left hand shot out like lightning and pulled Ye Xinglan into his arms, while his right hand stabbed the Coiled Dragon Staff into the ground. The staff extended upright, propelling him back into the air.

Ye Xinglan was caught in his embrace without any preparation. Feeling his solid, powerful arms and the fresh scent drifting from Nan Liujing's body, her pretty face flushed for an instant.

Boom!

But before her embarrassment could fully surface, a sight below made her pupils contract.

At the spot where they had intended to land, the ground burst apart, and dark green mist filled with corrosive power surged out wildly. The surrounding grass rapidly decayed. Within the hazy fog, a dark green Soul Beast as thick as a water barrel revealed its true form. Its countless feet, like steel blades, were deathly dark sickles in the dim surroundings.

Most terrifying of all was its head. It resembled the exposed eyeball of a flayed living person, its compound eyes covered in scarlet veins and filled with extreme bloodlust.

"Corrosion Centipede!"

Ye Xinglan's expression changed slightly. She had not expected the ambushing Soul Beast to be one.

During the era when Soul Beasts were at their peak, the Corrosion Centipede had definitely been one of the Soul Beasts that killed the most humans, comparable to the Man Faced Demon Spider. In the beginner-level Spirit Ascension Platform, where the maximum limit was the peak of three rings, it was unquestionably one of the most troublesome opponents.

"Hiss." A sound like a venomous snake's hiss came from the Corrosion Centipede's mouthparts. Its four-meter-long body actually moved with human-like intent, attempting to coil around the Coiled Dragon Staff. Dark green poisonous mist poured from its rust-colored shell and spread upward.

A Corrosion Centipede that had not even reached the thousand-year level posed a tremendous threat to others, but to Nan Liujing, it was merely an appetizer. A faint dark blue glow of Soul Power rose from his body, and the Coiled Dragon Staff suddenly erupted with powerful electric currents. Like a lightning rod, it shone brilliantly as the Corrosion Centipede's massive body was immediately swallowed within the lightning. Its sturdy shell provided no defense at all, and waves of scorched stench drifted outward.

Ye Xinglan was not merely watching. Seizing the right moment, she broke free from Nan Liujing's embrace, stepped off the Coiled Dragon Staff for leverage, and raised two yellow Soul Rings around herself. As her first Soul Ring lit up, the Stargod Sword in her hand shot out a mass of starlight that swept aside the poisonous mist. Hundreds of sharp sword edges were contained within, all striking the Corrosion Centipede's head.

Its tough shell had already been breached by the lightning's corrosion, and the starlight instantly pierced its head.

The killing intent in the Corrosion Centipede's eyes quickly faded away.

When Nan Liujing returned to the ground, Ye Xinglan could not help saying, "Your Spiritual Power is seriously strong. We almost got ambushed by that thing."

"What is it?"

When she did not hear the person beside her speak, Ye Xinglan immediately became alert again.

Nan Liujing watched the Corrosion Centipede's corpse disappear without producing any specks of spiritual energy. He said calmly, "Friend, there's really no need to hide in the shadows and test me. If you want to spar with me, come out directly. Don't wait until I have to find you myself. The consequences will be serious."

Ye Xinglan's beautiful eyes discreetly began sweeping the surroundings. She never doubted the judgment of the person beside her.

In the vast forest, the wind occasionally blew through, but not a single human sound could be heard.

"Heh." Nan Liujing chuckled. "You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit."

Crackle, crackle.

Rampaging currents spread out from Nan Liujing's body. Two purple Soul Rings rose beneath his feet, and the first of them shone with an illustrious purple light. In an instant, his body seemed to burst apart like a spray of water, merging into the Heaven and Earth Origin Energy.

About a hundred meters from where the battle had broken out, Xu Sheng stared coldly at Nan Liujing and Ye Xinglan. He paid no heed to the warning.

A mass of Black Mist gathered in his palm, surrounded by three Soul Rings—two yellow and one purple.

Black Mist was his martial soul. Like kneading clay, it could create puppets for support and soul skill fusion in battle. Its defining trait was that if he killed a Soul Beast and obtained its Soul Ring, his soul skill could create a corresponding Soul Beast puppet. If he relied on a Soul Spirit instead, the puppets he created would be more uniform, though their individual strength would increase, much like stacking soul skills.

His goal was to secretly test Nan Liujing's abilities, in as much detail as possible.

As he watched Nan Liujing disperse into lightning, Xu Sheng could not help becoming wary.

"Have you ever seen a staff technique that falls from the sky?"

A mocking voice sounded from above.

Xu Sheng's pupils shrank. He immediately activated his third soul skill, and dense Black Mist instantly enveloped him.

Roar!

An impassioned dragon's roar shook the forest, making countless Soul Beasts tremble. A dragon tail like the whip of the Thunder God crashed down fiercely, violent currents surging like raging waves and leaving tangled, root-like cracks through the air.

With a thunderous boom, the ground collapsed. Dark blue arcs turned the earth into a sea of lightning, while the terrifying heat scorched everything black.

Whoosh.

A wisp of Black Mist flickering with electric arcs fled from the shattered ground.

Nan Liujing looked down at the Black Mist from the charred, fractured earth.

Ye Xinglan quickly ran over. Ignoring the devastated ground, she stared coldly at the Black Mist fleeing at an especially slow pace. "That's the one who ambushed us? No wonder there was no spiritual energy when the Corrosion Centipede died."

Nan Liujing rested the Coiled Dragon Staff on his shoulder and said calmly, "Young Genius Ranking, Rank Twenty-Six: Black Mist Xu Sheng. His cultivation is probably around level thirty-five. I should thank him for saving me so much time searching for people."

The two soon caught up to the Black Mist that Xu Sheng had transformed into, as casually as if they were taking a walk.

Nan Liujing had seen through the fact that this move could negate physical attacks, but it could not completely negate elemental attacks of the Lightning Element.

You're already at the end of your strength!

As for how he could find his opponent, it was simple. Thunder Dragon Breaks Through The Void merged his body into the Heaven and Earth Origin Energy. At that point, Nan Liujing became a part of the natural elements. Much like Huo Yuhao with a vision hack activated, he could easily lock onto any target within a hundred and fifty meters.

Unless someone could isolate the lightning elements between heaven and earth, they would inevitably be exposed.

This soul skill could kill enemies when advancing and allow him to flee over a hundred meters like teleportation when retreating. It was simply all-purpose.

"Pfft."

As the electric arcs around the Black Mist faded, a figure reappeared and violently spat out a mouthful of blood.

Xu Sheng sat weakly on the ground. Large patches of his skin had been seared black by the currents' heat. He looked in horror at the youth strolling toward him. "How did you find me?"

The Black Mist martial soul was not a top-tier martial soul, but it was unpredictable and naturally concealed its wielder's aura. Xu Sheng had relied on its traits to secretly kill many people in the Spirit Ascension Platform. He had even entered the intermediate-level Spirit Ascension Platform and used Black Mist puppets to toy with a Soul King. Who could have imagined that he would fall here today?

"I told you, if I had to find you myself, the consequences would be serious."

What Xu Sheng received instead of an answer was Nan Liujing's expressionless swing. The next moment, he lost all consciousness.

"No!"

Inside the Spirit Ascension Pod, Xu Sheng suddenly sat up. The pain of having his head smashed apart left his face deathly pale. Cold sweat streamed down him, and his entire body shook.

Smack!

Suddenly, a hand seized his shoulder. Xu Sheng shuddered and turned his head, only to see Qian Gu Dongfeng's solemn face.