The Gap

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and other human factions were utterly silent.

If Qian Daoliu's defeat had shocked them, Tang Chen's fate sent a chill straight into their bones.

Even the projection of a god had been "played" into collapse in that manner. What were mortal Spirit Masters like them before such beings?

If they had simply been utterly crushed by overwhelming strength, they might have found some small comfort in it. Yet their opponents had repeatedly been several levels weaker and still won.

This was a gap in tactics and cultivation systems. Even making it onto the rankings would not guarantee they could keep their rewards.

Everyone felt nothing but despair.

Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

Ning Fengzhi stared into the distance for a long time without recovering his senses. The increasingly outrageous, overpowered battles on the arena rankings had completely reshaped his worldview.

Compared to a faction of that scale, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was like a frog at the bottom of a well.

His gaze appeared calm as it rested on the faint glow lingering after the Sky Screen had faded, but the solemnity and contemplation deep in his eyes could not escape the two pillars who had protected the sect for decades.

Sword Douluo Chen Xin, whose posture had always been as straight as a sharpened sword, now seemed slightly hunched.

His Seven Kill Sword, which never left his side and symbolized his lifelong swordsmanship and glory, now rested quietly against the wall, its scabbard coated in dust, no longer gleaming with its usual cold edge.

"Old Bone, tell me..." Chen Xin's hoarse voice broke the deathly silence, carrying an exhaustion and confusion never heard before. "We practiced swordsmanship our entire lives, pursuing unity between man and sword, pursuing an edge that could break through anything, pursuing ultimate speed and strength... In the end, what do those things amount to before... those beings?"

The scenes from the Sky Screen replayed over and over in his mind:

The ability to strip away Spirit Bones while ignoring defenses, the power to twist space, techniques that sealed Spirit Skills, and that chain of "quality" traps capable of imprisoning even divine consciousness.

The swordsmanship he had believed in all his life seemed as fragile as a child swinging a wooden stick before those bizarre powers that were completely unlike Spirit Skills and almost touched the origins of laws.

Bone Douluo Gu Rong, whose face was usually full of laughter, anger, and carefree irreverence, now wore only gloom as his fingers irritably clawed at his gray-white hair.

"How would I know? Those monsters are simply not something we can deal with. Even if we make it onto the rankings, we won't be able to keep the rewards. So this is what geniuses are like..."

Chen Xin fell silent for a long while. He slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, only determination remained in his gaze.

"Fengzhi." He turned to Ning Fengzhi, his voice low and resolute. "No matter what, I have to try fighting them."

"Uncle Sword... you..."

Ning Fengzhi's body trembled slightly as he looked at Chen Xin.

Chen Xin continued, every word seeming to be forced from his chest. "Back then, my father challenged Qian Daoliu in pursuit of the pinnacle of swordsmanship. He was defeated and died beneath the might of Qian Daoliu, a peerless Rank 99 Douluo.

Before my father died, Qian Daoliu spoke of his judgment regarding the hundredth rank. He was also the 'mountain' I had resolved to climb over. But now, even he has been defeated. I want to walk a path of swordsmanship unlike any before."

Gu Rong also echoed him in a muffled voice. "Then I'll go with you. Now that the Pokemon World has emerged, the continent is bound to descend into turmoil. In this situation, we can only choose a side to join if we want to preserve ourselves. If we step forward, perhaps we can still get a word in."

"Uncle Sword, Uncle Bone, I understand." Ning Fengzhi nodded heavily, his tone grave. "From this day forward, no one in the sect is permitted to provoke or investigate the members and locations of the Pokemon World.

Withdraw all external industries and reconnaissance forces. Defend our foundation and nothing else. As for this Sky Screen... I will only 'watch,' not 'compete.'"

Shrek Academy.

The Shrek Seven Devils, along with Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang, Headmaster Flender, and Vice Headmaster Zhao Wuji, all stood there like clay statues, with no one speaking for a long time.

Xiao Wu's face was pale. She was not only shocked by the strangeness and brutality of the battle, but also by the Pokemon's ability to casually strip away and exchange Spirit Bones as though they were mere objects.

At the same time, she felt a fear born from her racial instincts. Even Titled Douluo had no ability to resist those Pokemon.

A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast would be utterly vulnerable before such laws.

Ning Rongrong stared blankly at the sky. Having stayed by Ning Fengzhi's side for years, she had a deeper understanding of certain matters.

She had never expected Douluo Continent to conceal such a world, one that could even contend with the gods of legend—or rather, suppress them.

If the God Realm was the final destination of Spirit Masters, then would the Pokemon World accept Spirit Masters?

Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuqing, Ma Hongjun, Oscar, and the others all wore grave expressions and dazed looks.

They had once believed that Titled Douluo stood at the pinnacle of power, and that Tang Hao, Tang Chen, and Qian Daoliu were legends.

But now, those legends had fallen one after another on the Sky Screen in the most humiliating and unimaginable ways. Even a god's will could not reverse their defeat. The goals they had always strived toward and the power system they had revered now seemed like one enormous joke.

Yu Xiaogang's face was ashen. His lips trembled, but he could not utter a single word.

The martial soul theories, Soul Ring combinations, and cultivation paths he had studied his entire life... before those Pokemon's completely different "moves" and "tactics," which nearly touched the origins of laws, all seemed so pale, so... insignificant.

He even began to doubt whether what he had taught Tang San had truly helped him, or whether he had been restricting him with outdated ideas.

Especially after seeing the legendary Tang Chen's utterly miserable fate, that doubt and self-denial nearly devoured him.

Tang San had the palest face and the most complicated gaze of them all.

He had watched his father, Tang Hao, be dismembered and stripped of his Spirit Bones. He had then witnessed his great-grandfather Tang Chen being so humiliatingly "played" into collapse, until even the Asura God's divine consciousness suffered a setback.

That helplessness carved into his bones, that hatred, and that complete overturning of his understanding of power nearly crushed his mind.

His prized Tang Sect arts, Purple Demon Eye, Mysterious Heaven Skill... what use were they before attacks based on laws at that level?

Even if he had been favored by the Asura God, gods still fell to the disadvantage in such conflicts.

Flender let out a long sigh and adjusted his glasses. His gaze behind the lenses was tired and helpless. "This world... is truly about to change. Children, be prepared. Our enemies in the future may no longer be the Spirit Masters we know."

Zhao Wuji scratched his head and said in a muffled voice, "Damn it, if we can beat them, we fight. If we can't... can't we run? If it really comes down to it, we'll just move Shrek somewhere else!"

Though he said that, everyone knew that when the clash between two worlds spread toward them, no one could truly stay out of it.

Heaven Dou Empire, above the ruins of the Crown Prince's Palace.

The golden light receded. The Seven Elders hovered in the air, and even the surging radiance of divine power around them seemed somewhat frozen.

Their fierce offensive, which had been jointly meant to "temper" Qian Renxue, had involuntarily stopped after they witnessed the Sky Screen's scene of Tang Chen and the Asura God's divine consciousness being dragged into the abyss of "quality."

Was there really any need for tempering anymore? No matter how Qian Renxue trained, could she become stronger than Tang Chen, who had descended with divine power, in such a short time?

Their current efforts seemed so... pale and powerless, even carrying a hint of absurdity.