The dust settled, and rubble rolled down.
The once-proud Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang was now embedded in a pile of broken rocks, sprawled out like a starfish.
The robe that represented the dignity of a Shrek teacher had turned into beggar's rags. His whole body was charred black, his hair had been burned into a wild, frizzy mess, and wisps of smoke still curled from it.
"Cough... cough, cough!"
Yu Xiaogang managed to twitch a finger. The searing pain twisted his usually stiff features beyond recognition.
He wasn't dead.
As a Level 29 Soul Grandmaster, his Soul Power might have been flimsy, but his physique was at least a little stronger than an ordinary person's. And Luo Sanpao had taken most of the blow for him at the last moment. That was the only reason he'd managed to cling to life.
Even so, he was gravely injured. At least three of his ribs were broken!
"Impossible..."
Yu Xiaogang shakily raised his head. His bloodshot eyes locked onto the Red Fire Wolf in the distance, and he roared:
"It's mutated! This Soul Beast has definitely mutated!"
"Or it's a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast that reincarnated as a juvenile. Otherwise, how could it have broken through my Luo Sanpao so easily?"
Even now, he refused to admit that his theories were wrong.
In his mind, Ten-Year Soul Beasts were trash—mere beasts driven by instinct. How could one possibly deliver a casual blow comparable to a Soul Saint's?
But reality was often crueler than theory. After spitting out a fireball, the Red Fire Wolf didn't even look at Yu Xiaogang again. Disdain and boredom filled its beastly eyes.
Too weak.
In the danger-ridden Magical Beast Mountain Range, a creature that couldn't even match a first-order magical beast wasn't worthy of being its meal.
Besides, it looked stringy, and there was too little energy in it. It would barely be worth the effort to pick from its teeth.
"Snort."
The Red Fire Wolf snorted and flicked its tail, then turned and slipped into the bushes, leaving behind a carefree silhouette.
But to the prideful, face-conscious Yu Xiaogang, being ignored like that hurt even more than being killed.
Meanwhile, on Douluo Continent.
Spirit City, Elder Hall.
Watching the images on the Sky Screen, Qian Daoliu lightly tapped the armrest with his aged fingers and spoke in a low voice:
"The energy level of that world far exceeds ours."
"The fireball that wolf spat out looked only as big as a fist, but the energy compressed inside it was more than a hundred times denser than Soul Power."
"Is this what they call a higher-dimensional world?"
"Our Soul Power is gaseous, loose. But even the most basic energy in that world is liquid—or even solid."
"It's like tofu crashing into steel. No matter how large the lump of tofu is, the steel will smash it to pieces in an instant!"
As he spoke, a look of helplessness unlike any he'd ever shown flickered in the eyes of the Peerless Douluo.
Elsewhere, at Shrek Academy.
Tang San, who had been so proud just moments before, was now slumped on the ground, staring blankly and muttering mechanically:
"No, Teacher can't be wrong..."
"It was an accident. Yes, an accident with an extremely low probability."
"That wolf must have eaten some rare treasure that sent the energy in its body into a rampage. Teacher was just unlucky."
Watching Tang San fall into a daze, Zhao Wuji didn't want to accept the truth either, but in the end, he could only shake his head helplessly.
"Xiao San, stop lying to yourself!"
Even Flender, the ever-greedy dean, took off his glasses for once and wiped away the tears at the corners of his eyes. Then he looked at the miserable Yu Xiaogang on the screen and sighed:
"Xiaogang, at least you're alive. Don't try to apply your theories to that world again."
"Over there, your Ten Great Core Theories might not even be worth scrap paper!"
Yet the live broadcast on the Sky Screen continued.
Compared to Yu Xiaogang's sorry state, the fourth Spirit Hall enforcer chosen, Zhang Dapao, was now facing even greater despair.
He had landed in a desert.
The Tagor Desert lay beneath the blazing sun, the air rippling with heat.
Though Zhang Dapao was a Level 25 Soul Grandmaster, and his Iron Wolf Martial Soul gave him some resistance to heat, he still felt as though he was about to roast alive.
"Water... I need water..."
He crawled laboriously over the dunes, his lips cracked and dry.
Suddenly, the sand ahead of him began to writhe.
"What's that?" Zhang Dapao's eyes lit up. If it was a Soul Beast, he could kill it and drink its blood to quench his thirst!
In an environment like this, he had to do whatever it took to stay alive!
At that thought, he lunged forward and, as Martial Soul Possession took hold, swung a claw at the little blue scorpion—no bigger than his palm—as it emerged from the sand.
Then came the sound of something snapping. The iron wolf claws he'd always been so proud of broke the instant they struck the little scorpion's shell!
Next, the little blue scorpion simply flicked its stinger. Zhang Dapao's whole body stiffened in an instant, then within just three seconds, his fingers began turning a livid blue-purple.
"Ugh... ugh..." He couldn't even scream. The poison struck his heart, and he foamed at the mouth before collapsing dead.
[Fourth Explorer, Zhang Dapao, confirmed dead!]
[Cause of death: First-level magical beast, Blue-Tailed Sand Scorpion venom.]
At that, the people of the Douluo World finally lost it.
Another one dead!
And this time, he'd been killed instantly by a scorpion the size of a palm!
"Can a Soul Grandmaster's defenses not even stop a bug from that world?"
At that moment, the people of Douluo Continent finally grasped the gap between the two worlds.
Just as a two-dimensional paper character could never beat a three-dimensional human, despair began to spread across the entire continent.
Meanwhile.
Battle Through the Heavens Plane, Central Plains.
This was the heart of the Battle Qi Continent, a land teeming with powerful experts and sects.
In an exceptionally secluded paradise in the Central Plains, a floating island wreathed in clouds hung silently in the heavens, like a realm of immortals.
Palaces crowded the island, and spiritual birds wheeled through the sky.
Even a wisp of the spiritual energy that seeped out was so dense it condensed into tangible drops of spiritual rain.
This was the forbidden land in the eyes of countless Central Plains experts, and the legendary sanctuary of a hidden existence.
At that moment, deep within the Heavenly Palace, inside a pavilion carved from ten-thousand-year-old ice jade—
A handsome young man dressed in white lounged against the back of his chair. His beauty was almost demonic, and his ethereal bearing made him seem like an immortal descended from heaven.
He held a cup of tea in one hand, his deep, starry eyes watching the image projected in the void with keen interest.
If any of the outside world's Dou Zun or Dou Sheng Experts had seen him, they would have dropped to their knees in terror.
For he was the master of this Heavenly Palace. He had crossed over here decades ago, and with the system's help, he had swept all before him and eventually reached the terrifying realm of Peak Nine-Star Dou Saint.
Before you continue