At that moment, her little hands, clutching a carrot, were trembling slightly.
"Soul Beasts... are they really only livestock in your eyes...?" Xiao Wu murmured forlornly to herself, biting her lower lip.
But Tang San's attention was entirely fixed on Su Chen up on the stage. He hadn't noticed anything amiss with Xiao Wu beside him.
Not only was he not worried about making things worse, he was lounging comfortably against the back of his chair, arms folded across his chest, looking every bit like a spectator enjoying the show.
He was waiting.
Waiting to see how this big-talking Storyteller would look when faced with questions from so many Spirit Masters—how he would panic and make a fool of himself.
He wanted to see how, once his lies were thoroughly exposed, the man would be chased out of the teahouse like a stray dog by the furious Spirit Masters!
"Let's see how you get out of this."
However, just as everyone thought the refined-looking Storyteller onstage would be scared witless by the scene and perhaps even fall to his knees to beg for mercy,
Su Chen stood atop the raised platform without the slightest hint of panic.
"Snap!"
His expression cool, he unhurriedly closed the folding fan in his hand.
Then he lowered his gaze slightly and looked down at the blustering strongman.
"Summer insects cannot be spoken to about ice; frogs in a well cannot be spoken to about the sea."
Su Chen spoke slowly. His voice wasn't loud, yet it rang clearly throughout the hall:
"The Soul Beasts in your eyes are nothing but insignificant creatures from this tiny corner of the world, no more than uncivilized beasts."
"And the plants in your eyes are merely weeds, easily snapped off at will."
"But in the boundless, vast Perfect World, the Willow Deity I speak of could kill you a hundred or a thousand times with a single leaf."
"And you dare make wild guesses? How foolish and laughable!"
"You're asking for death!"
The strongman, publicly humiliated as a frog at the bottom of a well, flew into a rage at those words and was about to attack.
"A penniless good-for-nothing without even a trace of Soul Power dares to yell at me!"
"And what's this nonsense about the Willow Deity? What nonsense about a Perfect World?"
As he spoke, the strongman's eyes bulged with fury. While hurling insults at the world Su Chen spoke of, he strode forward, his Soul Power erupting with a roar:
"I'll tear down this lousy stage today and rip apart that mouth of yours, you foul-mouthed bastard!"
"I'll show you who the real god is!"
Boom!
As his words fell, the enormous phantom of an Iron-Armored Violent Bear appeared behind him. Four Soul Rings—white, yellow, purple, and purple—rose one after another!
He was actually a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor!
"Die!"
With a deafening roar, the strongman drove off with both legs and pounced straight at Su Chen on the raised platform like a beast gone mad!
His heavy bear-claw strike was terrifying, as if it could tear through the air. It was also incredibly fast, and it looked as though it would smash Su Chen's head to pieces!
The massive bear claw was about to land, only inches away from that handsome face.
Everyone instinctively held their breath.
The curve of Tang San's lips grew wider and wider. He could practically see the scene of the big-talking Storyteller being drenched in blood.
In a private room on the second floor, Sword Douluo Chen Xin furrowed his brow. He was just about to raise a hand and stop the attack with sword energy when Ning Fengzhi, beside him, discreetly pressed a hand to his arm.
"Fengzhi?"
"Uncle Jian, let's watch a little longer." Ning Fengzhi stared fixedly at the platform, his gaze deep.
"If he dares to speak so brazenly in Heaven Dou Imperial City, he must have something to rely on..."
Before he had finished speaking, Su Chen—facing the full-force attack of a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor—didn't even lift an eyelid.
He didn't release his Martial Soul, and there wasn't the slightest trace of Soul Power around him.
His expression calm, he simply held the folding fan and pointed it forward at ease, with the help of the system's invincible domain. The motion was as gentle as brushing aside a fallen leaf.
"Hum..."
The instant the fan pointed forward, time throughout Listening Rain Pavilion seemed to be forcibly frozen by some irresistible power!
Then an indescribably terrifying force descended from the sky, crushing the once-arrogant Iron-Armored Violent Bear Soul Ancestor to the floor and forcing him to his knees.
After spitting out a mouthful of blood, the Soul Ancestor convulsed and passed out completely.
Su Chen had held back. Otherwise, as long as they were inside Listening Rain Pavilion, he could have killed the man with a casual gesture!
When everyone saw that a man with no trace of Soul Power around him had so easily subdued a Soul Ancestor, the listeners who had been chattering excitedly and waiting for a show just moments earlier were left completely dumbstruck.
The expressions on every face froze, especially Tang San's.
"How is that possible?" His heart was filled with shock.
His vaunted Purple Demon Eye hadn't seen how the man on the platform had attacked at all!
No Martial Soul, no Soul Power—he'd merely tapped him with a fan?
Xiao Wu beside him stared with her little mouth agape. She didn't even notice the carrot slipping from her hand onto the table.
In the private room on the second floor,
Clatter! The teacup lid slipped from Sword Douluo Chen Xin's hand and struck the rim of the cup.
This peak-level expert of rank ninety-six abruptly rose to his feet, staring down below in utter shock.
"That isn't Soul Power. What kind of power is it?"
"I... can't see through him at all!"
Hearing this, Ning Fengzhi beside him felt a chill run down his back and couldn't help sucking in a sharp breath.
Just as everyone in the hall was still reeling, their minds blank,
Su Chen didn't even glance at the Soul Ancestor subdued on the floor. He merely said:
"Throw him out."
"Revoke his right to listen. He is never to set foot inside Listening Rain Pavilion again."
As soon as the words left his mouth, an invisible force appeared once more. It seized the Soul Ancestor like a giant hand and hurled him through the doors of Listening Rain Pavilion, sending him flying onto the main street like a piece of trash.
Once he had finished, Su Chen lowered his gaze and swept it over the silent crowd below.
"Since we're here, I'll lay down a rule."
"Inside Listening Rain Pavilion, we speak only of poetry and romance, not grudges."
"While I'm telling a story, no one is to use force or make a commotion."
"Anyone who disobeys will be subdued, whether you are a lofty Titled Douluo or one of the so-called gods of this world..."
As he spoke, Su Chen opened his folding fan and gently waved it before his chest:
"Every last one of you."
!!!
Everyone was stunned by that—not only Tang San, but even the hidden Titled Douluos.
Arrogant, domineering—beyond compare!
Yet as they looked at the Four-Ring Soul Ancestor lying helplessly outside and felt the lingering aftershock in the air that made them want to fall to their knees, not a single person dared to say a word in protest!
Tang San felt as if his cheeks were burning, as though someone had slapped him dozens of times in front of everyone.
He had just concluded in his heart that the man was a fraud and a good-for-nothing.
But in the blink of an eye, the man had crushed a Soul Ancestor with a casual gesture, using a power from a realm Tang San couldn't even comprehend!
If that pressure from earlier had been directed at him...
At the thought, a chill shot up Tang San's back.
After this incident, stories about the Storyteller at Listening Rain Pavilion soon spread through the streets and alleys of Heaven Dou City, as if they had grown wings.
Some swore that a reclusive Peerless Douluo was hidden inside the teahouse.
Others scoffed, saying he'd done nothing more than subdue a Soul Ancestor and was already putting on airs, daring to challenge Titled Douluos and gods.
But whatever people outside thought, Listening Rain Pavilion's reputation had undeniably risen another notch amid the undercurrents swirling through Heaven Dou Imperial City—and it had gained an air of unfathomable mystery.
Inside the teahouse, the storytelling continued as before.
"Sorry for disturbing everyone. Let's get back to the story."
He smiled faintly, as if he hadn't been the one to subdue a Soul Ancestor with a wave of his sleeve just moments before.
"Snap!"
The clapper tapped lightly.
"As I was saying, the Sacrificial Spirit of Stone Village was an old Willow Tree, scorched by lightning."
Su Chen continued, his voice calm and measured.
"In the perilous Great Wilderness, there are countless powerful Ferocious Beasts."
"Yet as long as this charred Willow Tree stood rooted at the village entrance, not a single Primordial Remnant—creatures powerful enough to flatten the cities you know with ease—dared to set foot inside Stone Village."
"It said nothing."
"It spoke not a word."
"It merely bathed quietly in the light of the sun, moon, and stars, drawing in the Fortune of Heaven and Earth."
"Only the one tender green branch it had left gave off a faint glow in the night breeze, protecting this tiny patch of land."
Su Chen didn't go out of his way to embellish the Willow Deity's cultivation realm. Instead, through understated words, he gradually sketched out an air of mystery—like the formless shape of the Great Dao, like a sound too great to be heard.
After the listeners below had witnessed that shocking display, how could they hold on to even a trace of their earlier contempt?
They all sat upright, even slowing their breathing.
A being whom the unfathomable Mr. Su praised so highly had to conceal an earth-shaking secret, even if all that remained of it was a charred stump!
And perhaps, it was connected to his own mysterious power!
Just then, a middle-aged man in a blue martial outfit, whose Martial Soul was clearly of the plant type, swallowed nervously in the front row of the hall.
Then, gathering his courage, he stood and cupped his hands:
"Mr. Su."
"You said that the Willow Deity protects the land, and that not even Primordial Remnants dare approach."
"I'm bold enough to ask: as another plant-type, how does the Willow Deity differ from the Blue Silver Grass found everywhere on our Douluo Continent?"
At those words, Tang San, who had been trying with all his might to calm himself, suddenly raised his head and stared fixedly at the platform.
Blue Silver Grass was his Martial Soul!
In an instant, every gaze in the hall once again converged on Su Chen, waiting for the mysterious Storyteller to answer.
Faced with the trembling question from the plant-type Spirit Master, Listening Rain Pavilion fell silent once more.
Everyone waited for Su Chen's answer.
Tang San, especially, sat in the corner with both hands clenched tightly around the hem of his clothes. His breathing quickened despite himself.
That was his Martial Soul, and one of the trump cards he took pride in!
He wanted to hear just how highly this arrogant Storyteller dared to praise a mere broken Willow Tree!
Meanwhile, up on the platform,
Su Chen paused slightly at the question, then smiled gently.
"Blue Silver Grass?"
He didn't answer at once. Instead, he waved his folding fan lightly and shook his head.
"Not to mention the Blue Silver Grass found everywhere on this continent."
"Even the Blue Silver Emperor, said to have cultivated for a hundred thousand years and revered as the emperor of plant-type beings in your world..."
"Wouldn't even be worthy of tying the Willow Deity's shoes."
"No—to be precise, even ten thousand hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperors bound together wouldn't qualify as a handful of fertilizer for the roots of the Willow Deity!"
At those words, the entire hall erupted in an uproar once more!
Arrogant! Far too arrogant!
A hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor wasn't even worthy of being fertilizer?
That was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, a supreme treasure coveted even by Titled Douluos!
"Mr. Su, th-that seems a little exaggerated, doesn't it?" The Spirit Master who had asked the question clearly hadn't expected that answer. He stared wide-eyed and asked again.
"Exaggerated?"
"The vastness of a higher-dimensional world is beyond the comprehension of frogs in a well from a lower dimension."
"No matter how powerful the Blue Silver Emperor is, it can only control a few vines in this tiny place, bullying low-level beasts."
"But even if all that remained of the Willow Deity was a withered stump, a single drop of its sap could bring the dead back to life and restore flesh to bare bones, reviving countless living beings;"
"A single leaf could bear an entire divine kingdom, and even sever the River of Time!"
"Comparing Blue Silver Grass with the Willow Deity?"
"That's like pitting the mud on the ground against the bright moon in the highest heavens—a humiliation of one's own making."
At this point, Tang San in the corner finally lost his composure.
His eyes were bloodshot, and his face had turned the color of pig liver. He was clearly furious.
"Bullshit! This is pure nonsense!"
"My teacher said that there are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Spirit Masters!"
"My Blue Silver Grass has unlimited potential. How could it not even be worthy of being fertilizer for a broken Willow Tree?"
"Su Chen doesn't understand the core theories of Martial Souls at all. He's deliberately belittling Douluo Continent to glorify his fake world!"
"Is he even from Douluo Continent? He's a traitor!"
Although Tang San was beside himself with rage, he didn't dare raise his voice too much.
After all, Su Chen's move to subdue a Soul Ancestor from a distance was still fresh in his mind.
Just then, another old man in the hall stood up and cupped his hands, looking perplexed.
"Mr. Su, there's something I don't understand."
"You said that a higher dimension overwhelms a lower one, yet you also said that in the Great Wilderness, humanity can only struggle to survive, with pure-blooded Ferocious Beasts treating people as food."
"Does that mean that in that so-called higher-dimensional world, beasts also rule while humanity is no more than grass beneath their feet?"
"Isn't that the complete opposite of how Spirit Masters on our Douluo Continent hunt Soul Beasts?"
This question immediately struck a chord with everyone.
"Exactly!"
"You talked that world up so much, but humans were still living so miserably there, getting eaten by beasts every day?"
Hearing this, Su Chen snapped his folding fan shut and spoke, his gaze sharp.
"The Great Wilderness is merely a remote, forsaken corner of the vast Perfect World."
"Do you really think the human race in that world can only let the beasts slaughter them at will?"
"Wrong. Utterly wrong!"
"In the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, in the boundless Immortal Domain, the human race also has supreme powerhouses who have held all ages in check!"
"We call them Immortal Kings!"
Before you continue