It turned out that in that world, the strength they had always prided themselves on wasn't even as good as a dog's!
Dead silence.
After Huyan Zhen, the arrogant Elephant Armored Sect Master in the Sky Screen, was casually slapped into a pulp by a mere watchdog, it was as if someone had hit the pause button on the entire Douluo Continent.
A full minute passed.
"Gulp..."
The sound of someone swallowing broke the silence.
Then an even more frenzied panic erupted!
"I don't believe it! That's fake! It's an illusion!"
At Shrek Academy, Yu Xiaogang leaped to his feet and gripped Tang San's shoulders so hard his fingernails dug into the flesh.
His eyes were bloodshot. Like a fanatic whose faith had crumbled, he screamed hysterically:
"That definitely wasn't an ordinary dog! It must have been a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast! No! A million-year Soul Beast transformed into human form—a super-strong expert!"
"Right! It must be! That world is full of deception. It just disguised itself as a dog!"
Although Tang San's face had gone deathly pale, all he could do was force himself to nod in agreement. "Teacher is right... We can't let appearances frighten us."
But at that very moment,
the Sky Screen's cold, immense voice rang out across heaven and earth once more, mercilessly interrupting their self-comforting.
[The first batch of Explorers has been wiped out!] [Survival time too short. Evaluation: Worse than ants!] [Reassessing the strength of the Douluo Plane's lifeforms. Assessment complete.] [Evaluation: Extremely weak! Spiritual Energy scarce! Lifeforms of an inferior level! A trash plane!]
The words "trash plane" were like a resounding slap, striking every powerful figure on the Douluo Continent hard across the face.
Bibi Dong's fingers had turned white around her scepter, while Qian Daoliu trembled with rage, his beard quivering.
The world they had always been proud of was trash in the eyes of that High-Dimensional World?
The Sky Screen's voice continued:
[Given the extreme weakness of this plane's lifeforms, they cannot survive normally in Perfect World.] [The rules will therefore be adjusted: the selection system is canceled, and a wide-net system will be activated!] [The number of slots for this round has been increased to: 5!] [Selection will no longer be limited to top experts. Five lucky candidates will be drawn completely at random! Your fate is in your own hands; wealth and honor are left to heaven!]
Hearing that the number of slots had increased brought no joy to the people of the continent. Instead, it filled them with even greater fear.
It meant more people would be sent to their deaths!
[Selection begins!]
The images on the Sky Screen rolled by at astonishing speed.
[Ding! First selected: Heaven Dou City, spoiled noble wastrel, Prince Xue Beng!] [Ding! Second selected: Balak Kingdom, Fish Seller Qiang (ordinary Soul Master, level 21 Soul Grandmaster)!] [Ding! Third selected: Star Dou Great Forest, Man Faced Demon Spider (two thousand years of cultivation)!] [Ding! Fourth selected: Shrek Academy, Flender (level 78 agility-type Soul Saint)!] [Ding! Fifth selected: Star Luo Empire, Zhu Zhuqing (level 27 agility-type Soul Grandmaster)!]
The list sent the entire crowd into an uproar!
This batch of candidates was all over the place!
There was a prince, an ordinary man, a Soul Beast, a greedy dean, and a girl running away from an arranged marriage!
"Zhuqing?!"
At Shrek Academy, Dai Mubai abruptly stood up, a flash of panic in his eyes.
He might have treated Zhu Zhuqing like dirt, but she was still his fiancée. If she died, how would he answer to the Star Luo Imperial Family?
Meanwhile,
outside Suotuo City, Zhu Zhuqing was wearing her usual cold expression as she prepared to head to Shrek Academy and look for Dai Mubai. She suddenly looked up.
A flicker of astonishment crossed her cold, stunning face.
"I... was selected?"
She watched the cruel scene on the Sky Screen and thought of Dai Mubai, who did nothing but run away, spending his days indulging in wine and women.
Suddenly, her gaze turned resolute.
"So be it! Rather than be controlled by fate in this world and marry that coward, I'd rather take my chances in that one!"
"Even if I die, I'll die on the path to becoming stronger!"
[Teleportation begins!]
Whoosh!
Five beams of light descended.
The scene instantly switched to Perfect World.
It was still that despair-inducing Great Wilderness, but this time, the teleportation site seemed to have changed.
They were at the foot of a mountain where Spiritual Energy was so dense it was almost turning into mist.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
The cruel elimination began the moment they landed.
Fish Seller Qiang, who was only level 21, didn't even have time to groan before the terrifying gravity crushed him, turning him into a cloud of blood mist!
The two-thousand-year-old Man Faced Demon Spider had been a terrifying killer on the Douluo Continent. But here, the moment it landed, an ant the size of a fist happened to pass by and snipped its head off with its pincers, then dragged it into its hole as stored food.
Prince Xue Beng had brought quite a few Defensive Soul Tools with him. They barely held out for a second before shattering, and he screamed as he was crushed into the dirt, his fate unknown.
Flender was, after all, a Soul Saint. He immediately activated his Martial Soul Avatar, an owl's phantom taking shape around him. He managed to flap around in midair for a moment before smacking into the ground with a splat, foaming at the mouth and unable to move.
Only Zhu Zhuqing remained!
"Hell Spirit Cat, possess me!"
The instant she landed, she displayed astonishing combat instincts.
Though she was only level 27, her Martial Soul was a cat, and a cat's flexibility and agility saved her life in that moment.
She didn't try to fight the terrifying gravity. Instead, she went with the force and pressed herself to the ground, curling into a ball to minimize the pressure.
Blood seeped from the corner of her mouth, and her bones creaked, but with sheer grit and a refusal to give up, she clenched her teeth and fought to stay conscious!
"I can't die. I absolutely can't..."
Zhu Zhuqing stared fixedly at the ground, her fingernails digging deep into the dirt.
Just then, a melodious celestial tune suddenly drifted down from the sky.
The Douluo viewers, who had been watching the broadcast and holding their breath for Zhu Zhuqing, suddenly widened their eyes.
A gigantic Bronze Warship broke through the clouds above the scene on the Sky Screen and sailed slowly toward them!
The warship was so enormous it blotted out the sky and the sun. Its hull was carved with profound runes, each one shining more brightly than the sun of the Douluo Continent!
A group of cultivators dressed in white stood on the warship's deck.
Every one of them emanated an aura as vast as the abyss and the sea. Even the gleam in the eyes of a child responsible for sweeping the deck made the Titled Douluo of the Douluo Continent tremble with unease!
"Are those immortals?!"
For a time, the Douluo Continent was in an uproar.
Unlike the beasts and ants they had seen before, this was the first time an organized human force had truly appeared!
On the warship, a young woman who looked only sixteen or seventeen, dressed in the blue uniform of an outer servant, leaned on the railing and gazed down at the Great Wilderness in boredom.
Suddenly, she gave a surprised cry.
"Senior Sister, look! There are a few little bugs down there!"
"That black-clad girl lying on the ground looks kind of interesting."
The young woman pointed at Zhu Zhuqing, a curious glint in her eyes.
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