He clasped his hands behind his back, his ten fingers twisting together so tightly it was painfully awkward.
Just moments ago, in front of all the students, he had confidently analyzed the situation at length, disparaging that bald man as worthless.
Then, in the very next moment, that bald man had used overwhelming strength to burn Yan to ashes.
It was a public slap in the face for him, the theoretical grandmaster!
At Tang San's challenge, Flender, Zhao Wuji, and all the other students turned their eyes toward Yu Xiaogang.
Yu Xiaogang felt uncomfortable under their gaze.
He cleared his throat, forcibly suppressing his panic, and braced himself to come up with an excuse.
"This... this was just an accident."
Yu Xiaogang stammered, trying to maintain his image as an inscrutable expert.
"Don't be fooled by appearances."
"That bald brute must have used some forbidden art that burns his life force!"
The more Yu Xiaogang spoke, the more plausible his logic seemed to him, and his voice gradually grew louder.
"Right, exactly!"
"On Douluo Continent, some Evil Soul Masters can also burn their life force to gain a brief burst of powerful strength."
"That bald man must have seen how powerful Yan was and realized he couldn't win, so he panicked and resorted to that mutually destructive tactic."
"After releasing that blue flame, he definitely won't live much longer."
Yu Xiaogang straightened his back and loudly proclaimed his new theory.
"Even if the Renegade Immortal World has all sorts of bizarre cultivation techniques, they absolutely can't break the iron law of the conservation of energy."
"How could a mortal without Soul Power conjure up such a terrifying flame?"
"There must be a tremendous price behind it."
Watching Grandmaster spout nonsense with a straight face, Flender helplessly raised a hand to his forehead and let out a long sigh.
Even someone like him, who knew nothing about theory, could tell that the bald brute had acted with ease. He hadn't looked the least bit like he was burning his life force.
Even the man's burp had been more powerful than Yan's Soul Skill.
Oscar stood nearby, secretly rolling his eyes. He pursed his lips and muttered, "Stubborn as a mule."
But he didn't dare say it loudly. After all, Grandmaster was Tang San's teacher, so he had to save him some face.
Tang San said nothing more, silently raising his assessment of the Renegade Immortal World's danger level to the highest.
Vaguely, he felt that many of his teacher's theories seemed to fall apart completely before that unknown, higher-dimensional world.
Just then, Zhao Wuji, who had been watching the Sky Screen, suddenly shouted.
"Forget about that bald man!"
"Quick, look at Mubai!"
At Zhao Wuji's shout, everyone at Shrek Academy felt their hearts leap into their throats.
They all turned in unison, looking toward the only screen still lit, at the far left.
In the Renegade Immortal World, in the back hills of Jueming Valley.
In the dense forest of purple-black bamboo, a breeze stirred the leaves, making them rustle.
Dai Mubai was in a remarkably heroic state.
He had activated White Tiger Vajra Transformation. His muscles bulged, and dazzling white light enveloped his massive frame.
A solid White Tiger Body Barrier shielded him, making him look like a god of war descended from the heavens.
Across from him, a young disciple in a gray Daoist robe looked frail and weak. He regarded Dai Mubai with disdain.
"With skills like that, you still dare show your face and embarrass yourself?"
The gray-robed youth sneered. He pinched a yellowed sheet of paper covered in red runes between two fingers and rapidly recited a short, obscure incantation.
Then he flicked a finger toward Dai Mubai as he charged at him.
"Fireball Talisman, go!"
The light, yellow sheet of paper grew as soon as it left his hand, then spontaneously burst into flames.
A thunderous boom rang out.
The inconspicuous paper instantly transformed into a deep-red fireball as large as a water vat, radiating terrifying heat.
The fireball moved at incredible speed, surging through the air with an aura that seemed capable of burning everything to cinders and leaving a long trail of flame behind it.
Dai Mubai's lunging body was still in midair.
As he watched the enormous fireball fly toward him, his pupils contracted sharply.
The scorching wave of heat rushing at him made him feel as if he couldn't breathe.
He hadn't seen the scene on the center screen where Yan had been burned to ashes.
As far as he knew, with his strength as a thirty-seventh-rank Battle Soul Elder, combined with the defenses of White Tiger Body Barrier and White Tiger Vajra Transformation,
he could put up a fight even against a Soul Ancestor over rank forty.
Besides, the gray-robed youth before him didn't have a single Soul Ring. The thing he'd thrown had to be nothing more than a trick.
"Just a ball of fire, and you think you can stop a Shrek monster?"
Dai Mubai roared. Instead of dodging, he poured even more Soul Power into his attack.
The White Tiger Body Barrier before him blazed brighter and grew even sturdier.
He swung his enormous tiger claws, intending to rip the fireball apart by brute force, then pin the gray-robed youth to the ground and grind him into the dirt.
In that instant, the water-vat-sized deep-red fireball slammed into Dai Mubai's White Tiger Body Barrier without the slightest surprise.
The water-vat-sized deep-red fireball slammed into Dai Mubai's White Tiger Body Barrier without the slightest surprise.
There was no earth-shattering explosion.
Only a teeth-grinding sound of something melting echoed through the Purple Bamboo Forest.
Before the shocked eyes of everyone on Douluo Continent,
the white barrier, which Soul Masters of the same rank could barely break, was instantly burned through the moment it touched the fireball, like thin ice meeting boiling oil.
A wave of heat so scorching it took one's breath away rushed through the hole and struck Dai Mubai directly.
"Ah!"
Dai Mubai let out a shrill scream.
His dazzling golden hair instantly curled in the terrifying heat, giving off a foul, scorched stench.
The white fur he had been so proud of burst into flames.
The searing pain instantly overwhelmed his reason.
At that moment, thoughts of crushing his opponent in close combat and the pride of being a Shrek monster were all cast to the winds.
He knew only that if he charged forward even half a step more, the fireball would burn him to ashes.
"Third Soul Skill, White Tiger Vajra Transformation!"
At the brink of life and death, Dai Mubai's will to survive erupted like never before.
He fiercely urged the last of his Soul Power. His muscles swelled again as he used his body to forcibly endure the searing heat spilling out.
Then he planted both feet against the ground and pushed off hard, his massive body flying backward in a wretched tumble on the force of the recoil.
Still in midair, Dai Mubai endured the agony of his arms being scorched and abruptly raised his right hand, aiming at the gray-robed youth.
A mechanism clicked.
Three black Silent Sleeve Arrows shot toward the gray-robed youth's face in a triangular formation, accompanied by sharp whistles as they tore through the air.
This was his last means of counterattack.
But faced with this sudden Hidden Weapon attack,
the gray-robed youth didn't even lift an eyelid.
He merely flicked his wide sleeve with a faintly disdainful air.
A faint blue screen of light instantly appeared before him.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Three crisp metallic impacts rang out.
The three refined-steel Sleeve Arrows, powerful enough to pierce an ordinary Soul Master's skull, struck the blue barrier without leaving so much as a white mark, then fell limply to the ground.
"Pathetic."
The gray-robed youth shook his head, seemingly bored by such a feeble attack.
Dai Mubai had already crashed heavily into the mud more than ten meters away.
He didn't even dare look back.
Seeing his Hidden Weapons casually blocked, he felt the last line of defense in his heart crumble completely.
Using both hands and feet, he scrambled into the dense bushes nearby like a beaten dog, fleeing wildly into the distance.
The gray-robed youth watched Dai Mubai run off but made no move to pursue him.
He bent down, picked up one of the refined-steel Sleeve Arrows, examined it, then tossed it aside.
"I thought it was some demon beast that had gained intelligence. Turns out it's just a mangy beast that spits darts."
"Still, it runs pretty fast."
The gray-robed youth dusted off his hands, picked up the medicinal hoe at his waist, and leisurely walked back into the depths of the Purple Bamboo Forest.
In his eyes, wasting a talisman on a low-level beast was a terrible bargain.
As Dai Mubai successfully escaped, the view on the Sky Screen began moving rapidly with his point of view.
On the training ground at Shrek Academy, Douluo Continent.
Everyone stood with their mouths agape, unable to speak for a long while.
A cool breeze swept by, stirring up the dust on the ground.
Ma Hongjun rubbed his eyes hard and struggled to swallow.
"Boss Dai... ran away?"
He turned to look at Tang San and Oscar beside him, his voice full of disbelief.
In their minds, Dai Mubai had always been the domineering, undefeated leader of Shrek.
But just now, not only had Boss Dai been scorched by a fireball and sent fleeing with his head in his hands, he had even run away in such a pitiful fashion.
Flender let out a long breath and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
"Good. It's good he ran."
Flender patted his chest, still shaken. "As long as he's alive, who cares about saving face?"
"Everyone in that world is a monster. Even a young man digging up herbs is that terrifying."
Tang San stood to one side, his brows knitted tightly together.
His hands were hidden in his sleeves, trembling slightly.
The scene had shaken him even more than Yan's death.
"My Silent Sleeve Arrows couldn't even break through a barrier the other guy casually waved up."
A storm of emotions surged through Tang San's heart.
The Tang Sect Hidden Weapons he had always been so proud of had become toys that couldn't withstand a single blow in the gray-robed youth's eyes.
It dealt an unprecedented, crushing blow to the confidence he had once possessed in abundance.
Zhao Wuji sighed too, then turned to Yu Xiaogang, who stood nearby.
"Grandmaster, didn't you just say he could crush his opponent as long as he got close?"
There was no mockery in Zhao Wuji's voice, only deep confusion. "But Mubai couldn't even get near him, and that fireball's power was utterly ridiculous."
Yu Xiaogang's face had already turned the color of pig liver.
His hands, clasped behind his back, twisted together tightly. His lips moved a few times, but he couldn't utter a single word.
What could he say?
Keep using his Douluo Continent theories to explain things from the Renegade Immortal World?
Dai Mubai's miserable defeat had already torn his theories to shreds.
Yu Xiaogang could only lower his head awkwardly and pretend to consider a solution, when in truth he wished he could find a crack in the ground and crawl into it.
In the training grounds of Pope Palace, Spirit City.
Although Yan's death had left the people of Spirit Hall grief-stricken,
Bibi Dong's gaze was now fixed on the scene of Dai Mubai fleeing.
Her stunning eyes shone with wisdom.
"Did you see how the gray-robed youth moved?"
Bibi Dong turned to look at Gui Mei and Yue Guan behind her.
Yue Guan hurriedly bowed and replied in a shrill voice, "Your Holiness the Pope, this subordinate saw clearly."
"That young man didn't release fire directly, like the bald brute just now."
"He threw out a sheet of paper covered in red runes."
Bibi Dong nodded, lightly tapping her scepter against the ground.
"A sheet of paper, and yet it can release a fireball as powerful as a Soul Ancestor's full-strength attack."
"Is this another technique from that world?"
As Bibi Dong paced slowly outside the hall, she continually analyzed the intelligence they had gathered.
"The bald brute relied on absorbing the power of nature, so he was a strong practitioner."
"But that young man was clearly a low-ranking disciple, and yet he could use those mysterious talismans to attack."
"That means in the Renegade Immortal World, power can be sealed inside objects."
At that thought, a fervent gleam flashed in Bibi Dong's eyes.
If Spirit Hall could master the method of making those talismans, wouldn't even ordinary people without Soul Power be able to gain the combat strength of a Soul Ancestor in an instant?
That would be a divine weapon capable of overturning the entire continent's balance of power!
"Pass down my orders."
Bibi Dong abruptly stopped and issued an order in a commanding voice.
"All the Spirit Hall elders and worshippers, go to the Library Pavilion at once and search every ancient text concerning ancient Soul Tools."
"Focus on finding any records of Soul Skills being sealed into paper or jade."
"Also, keep a close eye on every bit of information the Sky Screen shows about those talisman papers. Don't miss even the slightest detail!"
Inside the main hall of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, in the Heaven Dou Empire.
Ning Fengzhi's hand, holding a teacup, had stopped in midair.
The tea had gone cold, but he hadn't noticed.
Watching Dai Mubai's retreating figure flee in disarray on the screen, he wore a look of deep concern in his thoughtful eyes.
"Uncle Jian, Uncle Gu."
Ning Fengzhi set down his teacup and spoke in a heavy voice.
"It seems our Soul Masters on Douluo Continent truly have no advantage whatsoever against the Renegade Immortal World."
Sword Douluo Chen Xin stood to one side, gently stroking the Seven Kill Sword in his hand.
Even his usually stern face now bore a rare, solemn expression.
"Fengzhi, you're right."
"That young man Dai Mubai was one of the finest among the Star Luo Imperial Family."
"Thirty-seven levels of Soul Power and a top-tier Beast Martial Soul."
"But against that low-level disciple who didn't even have a name, he couldn't withstand a single move."
Gu Rong sat on the sofa, his withered fingers tapping against his knee.
"The most terrifying thing was that paper."
"No need to chant a spell or gather strength. A casual throw was enough to unleash such incredible power."
"If hundreds or thousands of their disciples each had dozens of those talisman papers and threw them all at once..."
Gu Rong didn't continue.
But Ning Fengzhi and Chen Xin could already picture the dreadful scene.
Even a Titled Douluo caught in that storm of fireballs raining down would likely have to lose a layer of skin.
"It seems we have to change our approach."
Ning Fengzhi rubbed his aching temples.
"Our traditional Soul Master cultivation system seems far too fragile in the face of this higher-dimensional world."
"Send word to the Heaven Dou Imperial Family. Tell them the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect proposes that all the major sects be summoned at once to discuss how to respond to the Renegade Immortal World."
"No matter what changes the future may bring, we have to prepare in advance."
Deep in Jueming Valley, in the Renegade Immortal World.
Dai Mubai charged through the dense forest like a wild boar gone mad.
Branches tore at his clothes and left bloody scratches across his skin.
But he couldn't feel the pain at all.
There was only one thought in his head: run.
As far away as possible.
He ran wildly for a full half-hour.
Only when the Soul Power in his body was completely exhausted and his legs felt as heavy as lead
did Dai Mubai finally stop.