[Ten-minute countdown ended. Teleportation commencing.]
As the Sky Screen's cold verdict fell, three figures vanished from Douluo Continent in three dazzling pillars of light.
When Dai Mubai opened his eyes again, a fierce gust carrying the heavy stench of engine oil and blood rushed into his nose and mouth, making him cough repeatedly.
He warily scanned his surroundings.
Before him lay a desolate, ruined heavy-industrial wasteland.
Beneath his feet was a cracked, blackened concrete road. More than a dozen thick steel utility poles lay toppled along the roadside, wrapped in mutant vines as thick as thighs.
Not far away stood a massive factory building that had mostly collapsed, its rusted steel trusses stabbing toward the sky.
After taking in his surroundings, Dai Mubai could not help spitting.
"Damn it, I was actually teleported into the wilderness instead of the city..."
According to his plan, if he had been sent directly into the city, he could have followed Wang Er's experience from the Sky Screen and claimed that he was a refugee.
The wilderness held far too many monsters. He might be surrounded by them at any moment, or, like Yu Tianheng, die outright in the aftershock of a clash between War General Class experts.
As long as he could blend into the city, his safety would be temporarily assured. He was confident that he could survive for a year in this perilous world.
"Right now, the most urgent thing is to find the city and get inside."
Dai Mubai's objective was clear.
He would infiltrate the city and secure his life first. Then, relying on the physical strength granted by Martial Soul Possession, he would slowly explore this world for heavenly treasures and high-level cultivation techniques to bring back to Douluo Continent.
"The gravity here is so strong."
With only a slight movement of his body, Dai Mubai noticed something was wrong.
Unlike Douluo Continent, this world's gravity was far stronger. The most obvious sensation was that his legs felt as heavy as lead, and even breathing had become somewhat difficult.
"White Tiger, possess me!"
Dai Mubai shouted as he stomped both feet into the ground, and his powerful Soul Power erupted in an instant.
Accompanied by an earthshaking tiger roar, Dai Mubai's bones crackled explosively. His already tall body swelled further, his golden hair instantly turned black and white, and a distinct character for "king" appeared on his forehead.
Two yellow and one purple Soul Rings rose beneath his feet, pulsing around his body.
The oppressive aura of the king of beasts, belonging to a top-tier beast Martial Soul, spread in all directions.
"White Tiger Vajra Transformation can multiply both my defense and attack. As long as I don't run into those monsters that can fly, even if I can't beat them, I can definitely escape!"
He did not dare let down his guard in the slightest. Maintaining his White Tiger possession state, he carefully walked along the abandoned street, trying to find a safe place to hide.
Suddenly.
"Boom—!"
A deafening explosion came from behind the factory ruins several hundred meters away.
The blast made Dai Mubai's eardrums ache, and even the ground beneath his feet shook violently.
Immediately afterward, dense gunfire mixed with the shrill roars of beasts soared into the air.
Dai Mubai's heart jolted. He quickly lowered himself and used several wrecked cars by the roadside as cover, stealthily making his way to the edge of the factory.
He poked out half his head and looked ahead through a crack in the shattered brick wall.
After only one glance, Dai Mubai's sinister double pupils contracted to pinpoints.
At the end of his gaze.
Five humans clad in streamlined alloy armor were locked in battle with a pack of terrifying monsters that resembled wolfhounds but were as large as elephants.
What made Dai Mubai's scalp tingle was not those hideous monsters.
It was the way those five humans fought.
One of them, a burly man, used no Martial Soul at all. He merely held an outrageously designed Six-Barrel Vulcan Cannon in both hands.
"Ratatatatata—!"
The barrels spat blazing tongues of fire nearly a meter long. Countless armor-piercing rounds swept forth like a metal storm, shredding the dozen or so monsters charging in front into chunks of flesh scattered through the air. Even their hard bones were pulverized.
Another human Martial Artist, wielding a heavy battle axe, made Dai Mubai feel as though he could barely breathe.
The Martial Artist suddenly kicked off the ground with both legs.
Bang!
The thick reinforced-concrete pavement shattered into pieces beneath his feet, collapsing into a massive crater.
Like a cannonball fired from a barrel, the Martial Artist soared more than thirty meters into the air through sheer physical explosive power alone, without the support of any flying Soul Skill.
In midair, he twisted at the waist, gripped the alloy haft of his battle axe with both hands, and hacked viciously down at a giant wolf below with a terrifying force capable of splitting mountains and cleaving peaks.
Even the air emitted a shrill sonic boom beneath that axe.
Then, the gunfire ceased.
The pungent smell of gunpowder mixed with the stench of monster blood, drifting through the wind.
Dai Mubai hid behind a fallen concrete load-bearing wall, maintaining his White Tiger possession the entire time. Every muscle in his body was taut, and he barely dared to breathe.
In those brief few minutes, he had personally witnessed the hunting process of that five-man squad ahead.
Without exaggeration, the battle had been a completely one-sided slaughter.
Those enormous, thick-skinned monsters were like chickens and sheep waiting for slaughter before the coordinated assault of these human Martial Artists!
Dai Mubai silently assessed his own strength.
The ever-proud Dai Mubai now wore a bitter smile.
He had no choice but to acknowledge a reality.
Any one person from that five-man squad could easily cut down him, a level-thirty-seven Battle Soul Elder.
There was no need to mention the burly man wielding the heavy battle axe. Based on the sheer physical strength that had launched him more than thirty meters into the air, even grazing the edge of that axe would tear Dai Mubai to pieces.
The man carrying the Six-Barrel Vulcan Cannon was equally terrifying. That torrent of metal he unleashed was simply not something Soul Power protecting the body could withstand.
However, the ones who made Dai Mubai most uneasy were not those two hulking men.
His gaze crossed the ruins and settled on a black-haired young man at the edge of the squad. The young man had barely spoken from beginning to end. He held a battle saber inverted in one hand. He was not particularly burly and even seemed somewhat slender. Throughout the battle, he had merely swung his blade in silence and beheaded his foes.
A wordless slaughter.
Yet his efficiency was no lower than those two hulking men!
As the bearer of a top-tier beast Martial Soul, Dai Mubai's senses far surpassed those of ordinary people.
Relying on the beastly instincts granted by the White Tiger Martial Soul, he keenly sensed that this black-haired young man was the most dangerous presence in the entire team.
Before long, the surrounding monsters had all been cleared out by the squad.
The ground was covered in remains.
And at that moment, the black-haired young man, who had remained taciturn all along, turned to look in Dai Mubai's direction.
It was as though he could see Dai Mubai's location directly through the reinforced concrete.
"Who's there?!"
Before you continue