Storyteller! A Speck of Dust Could Fill the Sea, a Blade of Grass Could Slay the Sun, Moon, and Stars!

Tiandou Empire, Heaven Dou City.

As the imperial capital of the Tiandou Empire, the city was extraordinarily prosperous, with broad streets and a constant stream of carriages and crowds.

Yet in the city's busiest central district, a teahouse called Listening Rain Pavilion had suddenly risen to prominence in recent days, its business booming to an almost unreasonable degree.

It was now high noon.

Listening Rain Pavilion was already packed with people, every seat taken.

More than a hundred people crowded into the main hall, rubbing shoulders, with even the walkways filled to the brim.

On closer inspection, one would see that among them were not only wealthy merchants and nobles in fine clothes, but also many Spirit Masters with powerful auras and sharp eyes!

And yet, though the place was packed so tightly it could hardly hold another person, it was unusually quiet.

Everyone had their heads raised, their eyes fixed on the elevated platform in the center of the hall. They barely dared to breathe, afraid they might miss something.

The private rooms on the second floor were filled with even more distinguished figures, watching the hall below intently through their beaded curtains.

"Fengzhi, is the storyteller at Listening Rain Pavilion really as extraordinary as the rumors say?"

Inside the private room marked Heaven.

A middle-aged man in a spotless white robe, with handsome features and an easygoing, refined air, gently waved a folding fan, a smile playing at his lips.

He was none other than Ning Fengzhi, Sect Master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

Beside him sat an old man with snow-white hair and beard, his eyes sharp as a sword. He was Sword Douluo Chen Xin, one of the two Douluo who protected the sect.

"Hehe, Uncle Jian."

At that, Ning Fengzhi smiled faintly, his gaze deep and thoughtful. "For the past few days, the whole of Heaven Dou City has been abuzz with talk that the stories told by Mr. Su are majestic and grand, even surpassing the legends of the Divine Realm on our Douluo Continent."

"Especially the world he describes. Its mighty figures can pluck stars and seize the moon; with a single thought, they can make the seas change into mulberry fields."

"That girl Rongrong snuck out to listen a few days ago. When she returned, she was completely distracted, clamoring every day to come again. That's why I grew curious and specifically asked you to come take a look with me, Uncle Jian."

Sword Douluo Chen Xin, however, gave a disdainful snort and said proudly:

"Pluck stars and seize the moon? Change the seas into mulberry fields with a single thought?"

"Even the legendary Level 99 Peerless Douluo, or someone who had become a god at Level 100, would hardly possess such power."

"It's nothing but wild fantasies, exaggerated by ordinary fools trying to grab people's attention."

As a Level 96 Titled Douluo, Chen Xin had long stood at the peak of this continent. Naturally, he had a pride of his own.

In his view, those so-called stories were nothing more than hackneyed tales about Spirit Masters hunting Soul Beasts or the two great empires going to war.

How could anyone make something more interesting out of that?

Ning Fengzhi offered no further explanation. He simply smiled without confirming or denying it.

Just then, a young man in a blue-green robe finally emerged onto the raised platform.

He looked to be about twenty, with swordlike brows and bright eyes, handsome and graceful. A folding fan rested in his hand, and his bearing was so otherworldly that he seemed a Banished Immortal come down to earth.

This was Listening Rain Pavilion's storyteller, Su Chen.

Su Chen was a transmigrator.

After arriving on Douluo Continent, he had not awakened any heaven-defying Martial Soul. Instead, he had awakened a Storyteller System.

As long as he told stories, he could earn popularity points, which he could exchange for rewards from the myriad worlds and use to raise his cultivation.

"Smack!"

As Su Chen reached the front of the platform, he brought the wooden clapper in his hand down hard on the table.

The crisp crack instantly rang throughout the hall.

The faint murmur that had lingered in the crowd vanished in an instant, leaving the room so quiet one could hear a pin drop.

Every gaze converged on Su Chen.

Smiling, Su Chen snapped open his folding fan and gave it two leisurely waves before speaking:

"Honored guests, last time, we only made a brief start, touching on the vastness of that world."

"Today, we'll officially begin the tale of Perfect World!"

"But before the story begins, allow me to offer you a few lines, to paint a picture of the power of that world's mighty figures!"

As he spoke, Su Chen's voice suddenly rose, his tone turning impassioned and weighty.

"A speck of dust can fill the sea!"

"A blade of grass can slay the sun, moon, and stars!"

"With a snap of the fingers, heaven and earth are turned upside down!"

"Heroes rise together, countless races stand side by side, saints contend for supremacy, and the heavens themselves are thrown into chaos!"

"Ask the vast earth: who rules its rise and fall?!"

Boom!!!

As those few lines fell from Su Chen's lips,

Listening Rain Pavilion erupted like a pot set to boil, the entire room in an uproar!

The Douluo Continent listeners stared wide-eyed, mouths agape, their faces full of disbelief.

Their scalps practically went numb!

A speck of dust, filling the sea?

A blade of grass, slaying the sun, moon, and stars???

What audacity! What sheer force of spirit!

They wouldn't even dare dream of such a thing!

At the same time, inside a private room on the second floor,

Sword Douluo Chen Xin, who had been casually drinking tea, suddenly jerked his hand as he heard those lines, spilling most of the tea in his cup.

"A blade of grass can slay the sun, moon, and stars?"

"Absurd! Utterly absurd!"

"This old man has cultivated the Seven Kill Sword Martial Soul for more than seventy years. My sword intent has reached the profound, and I'm confident I could split mountains and shatter rocks with a single strike."

"But this brat is claiming that a blade of grass could cut the stars from the sky?"

"How could that be possible?!"

"Even the most powerful Plant-type Martial Soul on this continent, such as the Blue Silver Emperor, is merely resilient and possesses powerful control abilities."

"To slay the stars? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!"

Ning Fengzhi was just as astonished beside him, drawing in a sharp breath.

Though he had been prepared, the impact of those lines was simply too great.

"Uncle Jian, don't get worked up. Let's hear how he intends to make good on that claim."

In the end, Ning Fengzhi took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the tumult in his heart, but his expression grew more serious by the moment.

Su Chen certainly had a lot of nerve!

If the world in his book truly held such power, then weren't their so-called Titled Douluo even less than the ants crawling on the ground?

Meanwhile, in an inconspicuous corner of the main hall,

a young man and a young woman sat together.

The young man was handsome, but his eyes were calculating.

The young woman wore a pink dress, and a long scorpion braid fell behind her, making her look lively and adorable.

The two were none other than Tang San and Xiao Wu, who had only recently arrived in Heaven Dou City.

"A speck of dust can fill the sea; a blade of grass can slay the stars..."

Tang San murmured to himself, his heart already surging like a storm-tossed sea.

The power he's describing is far beyond the realm of Titled Douluo. Is it even divine-level?

Tang San silently compared it to what he knew.

In the Tang Sect world of his previous life, there had been inner techniques and Hidden Weapons, but even they could never achieve anything like this.

And in this life, though Titled Douluo on Douluo Continent were powerful enough to raze cities and strongholds, they absolutely couldn't cut down the stars!

"Brother, this storyteller sure knows how to brag!"

Beside him, Xiao Wu, who had come along to listen, blinked her big eyes. She took a bite of the carrot in her hand and said, somewhat unconvinced:

"How could grass possibly slay the stars? Even those two most terrifying Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts in Star Dou Forest couldn't do that."

"And he said a speck of dust could fill the sea, too. That's way too ridiculous."

Tang San sneered and shook his head, speaking quietly. "Xiao Wu, maybe it's just an exaggeration. After all, he's telling a story. He has to say something astonishing."

"In my opinion, the weaker someone is, the more likely they are to indulge in fantasies like this."

"Deceiving themselves, while hoping to deceive everyone else."

"If a world like that existed, I'd eat—"

Meanwhile, on the raised platform,

Su Chen, the storyteller, naturally took in the reactions of everyone below.

Seeing the popularity points on the system panel jump wildly, he couldn't help but let the corners of his mouth lift almost imperceptibly.

This was exactly the effect he wanted!

Douluo Continent might be a fantasy world, but there was a reason it was known as the sewer, the very bottom of the barrel.

The Titled Douluo here could only destroy a few buildings when they fought.

Compared with the kind of power found in Perfect World, where battles could shatter universes and erase the Great Dao, they were separated by an entire dimension.

Ignoring the crowd's shock and skepticism,

Su Chen picked up his teacup and took a sip to moisten his throat. Then he folded his fan and continued, speaking in an unhurried voice:

"In the distant Era of Chaotic Antiquity, within the Eight Regions of the Lower Realm..."

"Lay an immense and boundless Great Wilderness."

"Mountains stretched across hundreds of millions of miles. Ancient trees towered into the sky, blotting out the sun."

"This was a forbidden zone for humanity, a paradise for Ferocious Beasts!"

"Primordial Remnants roamed the land. With a sweep of their wings, they blotted out the sky like clouds; with a single flap, they could shatter mountains!"

"Pure-blooded creatures prowled there as well, their roars like thunder, shattering the void. They fed on flood dragons and gods!"

"In this Great Wilderness, humanity struggled to survive like ants, building one tribe after another in the narrow cracks between life and death, worshipping their Sacrificial Spirits and praying for protection."

"And our story begins deep in this Great Wilderness, in a place called Stone Village."

As Su Chen told his tale, it was as if an ancient, primeval scene were slowly unfolding before the crowd.

The oppressive feeling of humans cowering beneath the feet of Ferocious Beasts, struggling to survive, gripped every person present.

"Feeding on flood dragons and gods?"

On the second floor, Sword Douluo Chen Xin furrowed his brow, his fingers tapping lightly on the table.

"On Douluo Continent, Soul Beasts are powerful, but most are hunted by Spirit Masters for their Soul Rings."

"Even if a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast lived deep in Star Dou Forest, the old Bone Douluo and I might still be able to kill it if we joined forces."

"But in the Great Wilderness this storyteller describes, humanity is so lowly?"

Ning Fengzhi sighed as well. "If a world like that truly exists, then it would be humanity's darkest hour."

In a corner on the first floor, Tang San had heard the same words and scoffed.

After all, in his view, the storyteller had been free to make things up, but he had started with such a grand opening only to lose steam immediately afterward.

Everyone knew that Douluo Continent revolved around hunting Soul Beasts to obtain Soul Rings. Yet in the huge world the storyteller had invented, humans were somehow being driven into such dire straits by mere beasts.

Pathetic.

At the thought, Tang San shook his head again. He was already considering leaving to find Dai Mubai and the others.

Just then, Su Chen, who was speaking with great enthusiasm, paid no heed to the audience and continued, changing the subject:

"In Stone Village stood an old Willow Tree, charred black by lightning."

"Its trunk was pitch-black, and only a single tender green branch remained, swaying gently in the wind."

"This was Stone Village's Sacrificial Spirit—the Willow Deity!"

"Bang!"

But as soon as Su Chen finished that sentence, a deafening slap against a table suddenly rang out in the main hall of Listening Rain Pavilion!

A burly man with a face full of flesh jumped to his feet.

He made no effort to conceal the ferocious aura of a Spirit Master. Pointing at Su Chen on the platform, he launched into a scornful tirade:

"What a load of nonsense!"

"I thought this was some grand and magnificent world. I listen and listen, and what do I get? A cowardly world where people act like dogs for livestock!"

The burly man's shout shattered the silence in the teahouse, drawing everyone's gaze.

But he didn't care in the slightest. If anything, he grew more fired up, his voice booming through the hall like a bell:

"On our Douluo Continent, mere Soul Beasts are born to be hunted by Spirit Masters, skinned, stripped of their bones, and turned into Soul Rings! Put plainly, they're just a bunch of beasts for us to slaughter!"

"But in your damned Perfect World, not only are humans oppressed by those beasts and forced to cling desperately to life, they even go out of their way to worship them?"

"Not only do they worship them, but they worship some broken Willow Tree that's nearly dead and charred by lightning?!"

At that, the burly man sneered again and again, then taunted Su Chen with open hostility:

"You broke storyteller, are you deliberately spreading lies to mislead people? Are you trying to make those beasts look powerful and belittle the pride of us Spirit Masters?"

"What are your intentions!"

Sure enough, the burly man's words instantly ignited the anger of the Spirit Masters present.

That was right!

On Douluo Continent, Spirit Masters were the noblest profession! What were Soul Beasts? Nothing but tools for increasing one's strength!

The main hall erupted in discussion, voices of accusation rising one after another.

"That's right! A charred old tree probably isn't even as good as a Ten-Year Soul Beast, and you call it the Willow Deity? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!"

"Plant-type Soul Beasts are the lowest of the low. One little fire can burn them to ash, yet you'd have one protect a village as its Sacrificial Spirit? There's a limit to how much you can make up!"

"This brat's clearly just making a spectacle of himself and insulting us Spirit Masters!"

Hearing the crowd's furious mockery, Tang San joined in with a sneer.

"He's taken shameless attention-seeking to the extreme."

"To draw people's eyes, he's even concocted such absurd words that defy common sense and disregard the proper order of rank."

"Treating a dead Plant-type Soul Beast like a god? Putting lowly beasts on a pedestal? What a pitiful fantasy."

"If he'd said this out in the open, the Spirit Hall or one of the major sects would have cut out the tongue of this mad, deceitful liar who twists right and wrong, broken both his legs, and tossed him into a filthy ditch long ago."

Tang San's words were as vicious as they could be. He had no intention of lowering his voice.

But Xiao Wu, sitting beside him, had gone a little pale.

Though she, too, thought it impossible for a willow tree struck and charred by lightning to be a god.

But...

When she heard the words "Soul Beasts are born to be hunted," "fit only to be slaughtered at will," and even Tang San repeatedly call them "lowly beasts"...

Xiao Wu felt as though a needle had stabbed her heart hard. The pain was unbearable.