From the Southern Heaven Gate to Penglai East Road

[Single Academy-Running Housewife: You think I'm scared of you? You deserved it. Ugh! Even looking at a portrait of your teacher Bibi Dong makes me sick. Ugly old hag! She deserved to be trampled under my feet!]

[Loves Eating Carrots: Nicely done, sis! That wicked woman Bibi Dong deserved to be trampled underfoot!]

[Child Without Parents: Epic!]

[Ice-Snow Smart: Um... I think what you're doing might be a little much? Didn't the Group Leader say it was fate that brought us all into this group? We should try to get along...]

[Richest Little Heiress of Heaven Dou: Mm-hmm, I think so too. This does seem a bit excessive...]

[Loves Eating Carrots: What's wrong with it? Bibi Dong is a wicked woman! So what if someone stepped on her portrait?]

[Single Academy-Running Housewife: Well said!]

[Ice-Snow Smart: I mean, insulting and humiliating her in the Chat Group won't actually hurt her. But what if Bibi Dong finds you in real life? Wouldn't you be in terrible trouble?]

Li Yuan nodded as he read that and muttered, "Well, someone in the group has her head on straight. She knows talking big online can come back to bite you offline."

This Ice-Snow Smart had some sense.

"Now, who could she be? Ye Lingling? Shui Bing'er? Neither personality seems quite right..."

[Loves Eating Carrots: Huh? No way! Is it too late to apologize now? (terrified expression)]

Xiao Wu, who had just lain down in her dorm, went pale with fright.

Then a new message popped up, scaring her even more.

[Yandere Mad Beauty of Martial Soul Hall: Hmph. Too late!]

[Yandere Mad Beauty of Martial Soul Hall: Just wait. When I find you, I'll make you beg for death and be denied even that... (sinister tone)]

After hearing Bibi Dong's voice message, Xiao Wu felt a chill shoot from the soles of her feet straight through the top of her head.

This was bad. She felt perilously close to becoming a Soul Ring!

Should she flee back to Star Dou tonight?

The thought had barely formed before Xiao Wu shook her head and muttered to herself, "No, no. I can't leave Xiao Yuan behind. If I run, he's coming with me."

[Single Academy-Running Housewife: Go ahead and look! Find me if you can! My group name isn't my real name, so where are you going to look? Hahaha! (arrogant tone)]

[Loves Eating Carrots: Oh, right! That's true!]

Xiao Wu patted her chest and let out a long breath.

Thank goodness this strange group name apparently couldn't be changed at will.

Otherwise, if she had impulsively changed her nickname to "Xiao Wu" when she joined today...

Wouldn't she have been done for?

The thought was too terrifying to contemplate.

[Ice-Snow Smart: Um, don't celebrate just yet. She could look for the Group Leader. His name is Li Yuan, and that... might be his real name. If she finds him first, then couldn't she... (trails off)]

At those words, the air suddenly went still.

Xiao Wu and Liu Erlong were dumbstruck.

This was bad!

Li Yuan could practically hear the women in the group drawing sharp breaths.

Meanwhile, at Spirit Hall.

Bibi Dong, dressed in a silk nightgown, reclined against a broad, soft pillow, her gorgeous purple hair spilling down around her.

The way she lay on her side had parted the neck of her gown slightly, revealing just enough of a pink-and-white nipple to make anyone's heart race and face burn.

It gleamed temptingly in the lamplight, enough to make someone want to take a bite.

She had been too angry to sleep, but the message made her beautiful eyes light up.

A cold, dangerous smile slowly spread across her exquisite face.

"Very well! I may not be able to drag you skulking rats out of hiding yet."

"But I can seize that damned Group Leader first. Once I have him, do you think I won't get your names and hiding places out of him?"

[Yandere Mad Beauty of Martial Soul Hall: Thanks for the reminder, @Ice-Snow Smart.]

[Ice-Snow Smart: !!!! (terrified cat-face emoji)]

[Yandere Mad Beauty of Martial Soul Hall: @Li Yuan, you have one hour to tell me who they are. Otherwise, when I find you, I'll make sure you suffer the same fate!]

Li Yuan frowned at the message.

What sort of fate?

Heh. If it was the same secret-chamber treatment Qian Xunji had received, he might consider it.

[Li Yuan: Threatening me? Hah. You clearly don't know that my true body left this realm long ago!]

[Yandere Mad Beauty of Martial Soul Hall: Keep talking. Since you won't drink the wine offered in courtesy, I'll find another way to track you down.]

[Li Yuan: Sigh. I wanted to chat with you all as an ordinary person, but all I got was suspicion and threats. Fine. I won't pretend anymore. I'll lay my cards on the table.]

[Ice-Snow Smart: A secret? (ears perk up)]

[Big Cat in the Night: (kitten peeking out emoji)]

[Loves Eating Carrots: Hehe! I knew the Group Leader had to be a super-powerful expert hiding his true strength! (starry-eyed admiration)]

[Li Yuan: Back in the day, I wielded two Fangtian halberds and hacked my way from the Southern Heaven Gate to Penglai East Road. Blood flowed like rivers! With each swing, I flattened swathes of the hundred thousand Heavenly Soldiers and Generals, all without blinking an eye!]

[Yandere Mad Beauty of Martial Soul Hall: Make it up, then. Go on. It almost sounds convincing. What a shame you don't write novels.]

[Richest Little Heiress of Heaven Dou: Um, Group Leader, can I ask something? Didn't your eyes get dry?]

It made sense that Bibi Dong didn't believe him yet. She was well traveled and knowledgeable, not someone easily fooled.

But what was Ning Rongrong's excuse?

Li Yuan's mouth twitched. I said I killed without blinking, and you're asking whether my eyes got dry?

Is that the point?

Ning Rongrong, whose side are you on?

[Li Yuan: That's not the point. You know what a Peerless Douluo is, right? A level ninety-nine Titled Douluo.]

[Li Yuan: In the Heavenly Realm where I once fought, a Peerless Douluo like that couldn't even beat the most ordinary Heavenly Soldier! And I faced a full hundred thousand Heavenly Soldiers and Generals!]

[Richest Little Heiress of Heaven Dou: Level ninety-nine?! Is that much stronger than my Grandpa Sword?]

[Li Yuan: Put it this way: even if ten Grandpa Swords attacked a Peerless Douluo together, all they'd do is hold out a little longer!]

[Richest Little Heiress of Heaven Dou: Whoa! Group Leader Brother is that powerful?! o((⊙﹏⊙))o!]

[Big Cat in the Night: Are there really level ninety-nine Titled Douluo in the world?]

[Viper-Hearted Big Sister: I want to know too... This is completely beyond anything I knew.]

Zhu Zhuqing was shaken to her core.

The Star Luo Imperial Family didn't even have a level ninety-five Titled Douluo, yet it ruled such a vast empire.

Level ninety-nine... what kind of existence could command the heavens and the earth like that?

[Li Yuan: Of course there are. Qian Daoliu, the Great Enshrined of Spirit Hall; Tang Chen, the head of the Clear Sky Sect two generations ago; and Bo Saixi, the high priestess of Sea God Island. Those three are the strongest Peerless Douluo in the mortal world today. Though there may soon be four. Bibi Dong, that "wicked woman" you mentioned, is probably close to breaking through.]

[Big Cat in the Night: Thank you for explaining, Group Leader. I learned a lot.]

[Ice-Snow Smart: Me too! (quietly takes notes)]

[Viper-Hearted Big Sister: Hiss... I always thought that even if my grandfather wasn't among the top five on the continent, he was surely in the top ten. I never imagined there were so many powerful experts hidden away...]

[Richest Little Heiress of Heaven Dou: I can't believe Bibi Dong is close to becoming a Peerless Douluo too... How terrifying! (trembling)]

Meanwhile, in Bibi Dong's bedchamber at Spirit Hall.

Her beautiful purple eyes widened abruptly. For the first time, unconcealed shock appeared on her exquisite face.

The Heavenly Realm... Could he mean the Divine Realm?

And how did he know I'm approaching level ninety-nine?

She had never breathed a word of it to anyone, and it had been a long time since she had displayed her strength before an outsider.

Not even Qian Daoliu, who watched her closely, could possibly know her true cultivation level.

Just who was this Li Yuan?

As her thoughts surged, a new message popped up, plainly contradicting him.

[Child Without Parents: Stop trying to sound mysterious! There's no such thing as the "Heavenly Realm." There's only the "Divine Realm"!]