Meanwhile.
Inside the dilapidated estate of the Speed Clan in the Heaven Dou Empire.
The night wind swept through the few bare old trees in the courtyard, making them groan.
Bai Chenxiang stood in the middle of the courtyard, gazing up at the red words in the sky. Her pretty face had gone somewhat pale.
She turned to look at her grandfather, Bai He, sitting on a stone stool. Her voice was tinged with unconcealed panic.
"Grandpa, how can people from the Renegade Immortal World be so fast?"
Bai Chenxiang recalled the images on the Sky Screen, her hands unconsciously clutching the hem of her clothes.
"That young man in gray casually tossed out a piece of paper, and a fireball appeared right in front of us in an instant."
"And that woman in white—Dai Mubai was still in midair, but her water chains had already bound him tight."
"Our Speed Clan has always prided ourselves on our speed, but compared to them, I feel like we're nothing but turtles crawling along the ground."
Bai He sighed, his aged face full of bitterness.
A profound helplessness showed in his cloudy eyes.
"Xiangxiang, you're right."
Bai He stroked his white beard, his tone heavy.
"Speed has different levels."
"We rely on our physical bodies and Martial Souls to charge forward. Against ordinary Soul Masters, we can still gain a bit of an advantage."
"But the people of that world control magical treasures and spells with nothing more than a thought."
"The instant a thought stirs, the attack is already there."
"That's an overwhelming difference in level."
Bai He stood up and patted Bai Chenxiang on the shoulder.
"If one of our Speed Clan members is really picked three days from now, remember what Grandpa told you."
"Don't try to test them, and don't think you can launch a surprise attack with your speed."
"Run. Run without looking back. Find some remote, uninhabited mountain forest and hide there for a year. That's your only chance of staying alive."
Bai Chenxiang nodded firmly, etching her grandfather's words deep into her heart.
Meanwhile, upon the boundless sea beyond Douluo Continent.
The Demon Whale Sea Area.
Usually, not a single fishing boat dared approach this stretch of sea. It was perpetually shrouded beneath gloomy, overcast skies.
Deep in the calm, unfathomable ocean, a blue light the size of a house suddenly lit up.
It was no lamp at all, but a gigantic eye.
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King, a terrifying Soul Beast just one step away from a million years, lay silently in the depths of the sea, watching the images on the Sky Screen through their reflection on the surface.
With each breath, the surrounding seawater formed enormous whirlpools of dark currents.
"Water control..."
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's voice rumbled through the seabed like rolling thunder.
"That woman in white was able to turn ordinary pool water into chains as hard as steel in an instant."
"There was no Soul Ring fluctuation, and she didn't draw on any of her own power."
"She simply pointed."
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King had lived for nearly a million years. It understood the laws of this sea better than anyone.
As the overlord of the ocean, it had always believed that when it came to controlling water, even Bo Saixi of Sea God Island was inferior to it.
But after seeing that woman's methods today, the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King felt a trace of apprehension rise within it.
"That world called Renegade Immortal is unfathomably deep."
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King closed its enormous single eye and sank farther into the ocean depths.
"I hope that damned Sky Screen doesn't pick me."
"Until I figure out the truth about that world, staying quietly in the sea is the safest choice."
If even this peerless Ferocious Beast, one that feared not even the gods, had chosen to retreat, it was easy to imagine how much dread the Renegade Immortal World inspired in Douluo Continent.
Three days passed swiftly amid the torment of the people of Douluo Continent.
During those three days, the entire continent seemed to have ground to a halt.
Around the outskirts of the great Soul Beast forests, not a single mercenary band could be seen heading out to hunt Soul Beasts.
All the major Soul Master Academies suspended classes as well.
In street-side taverns, commoners drank cheap, bitter liquor, their faces filled with fear as they silently prayed that the Sky Screen wouldn't call their names.
In the major sects and clans, elders stuffed every life-saving powder they could find in their treasuries, along with Defensive Soul Tools and all kinds of Hidden Weapons, into the hands of their younger disciples.
Everyone seemed to be waiting for a judgment that could fall at any moment.
At last, the three-day countdown reached zero.
[Three-day rest period over.]
[The third group of explorers to the Renegade Immortal World will now be randomly selected!]
Countless names and figures began flashing rapidly across the light screen.
The air across the entire Douluo Continent seemed to freeze.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Three crisp sounds rang out in succession.
The images flashing wildly across the light screen abruptly stopped, settling into three distinct sections.
Three new names appeared clearly before everyone's eyes.
[First: Heaven Dou Empire, commoner from Fasinuo Province, Wang Laoshi! No Soul Power.]
[Second: Deep in the Star Dou Great Forest, 60,000-year mutated Soul Beast, Dark Demon Evil God Tiger!]
[Third: Spirit Hall, elder, Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan! Cultivation: 95th-level Titled Douluo.]
The instant these three lines appeared on the Sky Screen, the entire continent erupted.
Spirit City, inside the Pope Palace.
Yue Guan stared at his name on the light screen. His usually fair face turned deathly pale.
His ornate golden robe trembled slightly.
"I-I've been picked?"
Yue Guan swallowed, his legs suddenly going weak.
Bibi Dong, seated on the throne, sprang to her feet as well, her brows drawing tightly together.
But the Sky Screen gave them no time to prepare.
[Transmission begins in ten minutes.]
The brief ten minutes passed in a flash.
Three pillars of light descended.
Wang Laoshi, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, and Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan instantly vanished from Douluo Continent.
The images on the Sky Screen lit up, splitting into three live views.
Everyone on Douluo Continent held their breath and looked toward the screen on the far left.
That was the view of Wang Laoshi, the commoner.
Wang Laoshi was a woodcutter in his forties who made his living chopping wood in the mountains and selling it.
He had been transported to a narrow street paved with blue-gray stone slabs.
Stalls lined both sides of the street, selling oddly shaped stones and medicinal roots that gave off a fragrant aroma.
There weren't many people on the street. Most wore long robes and hurried along.
This was a cultivator market in the Zhao State of the Renegade Immortal World, where independent cultivators gathered.
Wang Laoshi still held the battered axe he used for chopping wood.
He looked at his unfamiliar surroundings, his legs trembling so badly he could barely hold on to the axe.
"W-where am I...?" Wang Laoshi stammered, edging along the wall beside the street one step at a time.
His stomach growled with hunger. He had spent the entire morning chopping wood in the mountains and hadn't even had a drink of water.
As he walked, he stopped in front of a stall selling medicinal herbs.
The stall owner was a gaunt old man dressed in a tattered Daoist robe.
His face was deeply wrinkled, and a tuft of goatee hung from his chin. He looked kind and benevolent.
"G-Great immortal, I'm lost, and I'm hungry..." Wang Laoshi stammered, anxiously rubbing the hem of his clothes between his rough hands.
The gaunt old man lifted his eyelids and looked Wang Laoshi up and down.
A glint flickered in the old man's eyes, almost too subtle to notice.
"No fluctuations of spiritual energy. He's a mortal," the old man muttered to himself.
His face immediately broke into a kindly smile, and he reached into his robe to take out a small porcelain bottle.
The old man tipped out a pill no bigger than a soybean, its surface glowing faintly red, and held it out to Wang Laoshi.
"Every meeting is fate."
"This old man has a fasting pill. A mortal who takes one won't feel hungry for seven days."
"You seem like an honest, simple fellow. I'll give you this pill."
Wang Laoshi gazed at the glowing pill and breathed in its fragrant scent. His stomach growled even louder.
Back in Douluo Continent, when a commoner met a Soul Master, who would ever find someone so kind as to offer him food?
Overcome with gratitude, Wang Laoshi hurriedly bent at the waist. "Thank you, Great Immortal! Thank you, Great Immortal!"
He took the pill and swallowed it without a second thought.
Once the pill went down, a warm current spread through Wang Laoshi's stomach, and his hunger disappeared in an instant.
"It really is magic..." Wang Laoshi's face lit up with a simple, honest smile.
But his smile lasted less than three breaths.
The warm current suddenly turned into a raging fire.
Wang Laoshi felt as though knives were twisting through his insides. A sharp agony instantly spread through his entire body.
"Argh!"
He let out a scream. The axe slipped from his hand, and he clutched his stomach, collapsing onto the stone street and rolling wildly.
His skin rapidly turned red, and veins bulged across his body as if he might burst at any moment.
The people of Douluo Continent watching the scene all sucked in a sharp breath.
On-screen, the kindly-looking, gaunt old man slowly rose to his feet.
He didn't even glance at Wang Laoshi writhing on the ground. Instead, he untied a black gourd from his waist.
"This Blood Spirit Pill is still a little too potent."
The old man shook his head, speaking as calmly as if discussing the weather.
"But it's just right for extracting a mortal's blood essence. Saves this old man the trouble of killing someone myself."
As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Laoshi's body suddenly swelled, then came a muffled thud.
His entire body turned into a pool of scarlet blood.
Not even a scrap of bone remained.
The old man pulled the stopper from his gourd and pointed lightly at the blood on the ground.
The pool of blood seemed to be drawn by some force, turning into a red thread that shot straight into the black gourd.
The old man shook the gourd with satisfaction, hung it back at his waist, then sat down and closed his eyes to rest, as if nothing had happened.
On the Sky Screen, bloody words appeared.
[Explorer Wang Laoshi, a commoner of the Heaven Dou Empire, became a cauldron for an independent cultivator's pill-testing. Deceased.]
The screen on the left went dark in an instant.
At that moment, all the commoners of Douluo Continent felt a deep despair.
In the Renegade Immortal World, someone could smile at you one moment and turn you into a pool of blood the next.
Human life there was worth less than grass.
In the core region of the Star Dou Great Forest.
The Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape felt little at the sight of Wang Laoshi's gruesome death.
They were more concerned with the screen in the middle, showing the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger was a 60,000-year-old mutated Ferocious Beast that possessed multiple attributes, including darkness, wind, lightning, time, and space. Even Da Ming and Er Ming might not be able to stop it if they joined forces.
"Big Brother, that tiger is clever as they come. I wonder how long it'll last in that world," Er Ming rumbled.
Da Ming said nothing, keeping his eyes fixed on the screen.
At that moment, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger had been transported to a primeval mountain range brimming with spiritual energy.
This was a place called the Luoxia Mountain Range on Vermilion Bird Planet.
The moment the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger landed, it sensed the nearly liquefied spiritual energy all around it.
It greedily drew in a deep breath, excitement flashing in its scarlet eyes.
As a highly intelligent Soul Beast, it instinctively sensed that if it cultivated here, breaking through the 100,000-year barrier would be just around the corner.
But it was naturally cunning and cautious, so it didn't roar to proclaim its territory.
Instead, its figure blurred and melted into the surrounding shadows. It slipped silently through the trees, intending to scout out the area first.
Suddenly, its ears twitched.
A few sounds of rushing air came from the sky not far ahead.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger immediately concealed its presence, crouched behind a dense thicket, and peered through the gaps. It saw three cultivators dressed in matching cyan robes flying low overhead on their swords.
All three wore robes embroidered over the chest with a mountain peak reaching straight into the clouds, stitched in gold thread. Beside the peak were two small, ancient-looking characters: "Primordial Beginning."
The young cultivator leading them had reached the eighth level of Qi Condensation.
He rode a flying sword, sweeping his gaze across the mountain forests below.
"Senior Brother, we've nearly caught all the spirit beasts on the outskirts of the Luoxia Mountain Range, and we haven't come across a single one worth mentioning," complained a round-faced disciple beside him.
The young cultivator sighed.
"There's nothing we can do about it."
"In a few months, it'll be the centennial celebration of the 72nd Branch Sect of the Primordial Immortal Court on Vermilion Bird Planet."
A trace of longing and reverence appeared in the young cultivator's eyes.
"The sect master said this celebration must be grand."
"Our little eighth-level branch sect is at the very bottom. We hardly ever even get to see an envoy from the upper sect."
"If we can catch a spirit beast with an unusual bloodline and offer it as tribute, perhaps we'll earn the favor of our elders and be taught even the tiniest bit of immortal magic."
"According to legend, Lin Changsheng, the supreme patriarch who founded our Primordial Immortal Court, is an almighty being beyond compare!"
"If we can just climb a little higher in this system and bask in even a little of his glory, it'll benefit us for the rest of our lives."
Hearing the words "Primordial Immortal Court" and "Lin Changsheng"—
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, of course, had no idea what they meant.
But the people watching the broadcast on Douluo Continent heard every word loud and clear.
Inside the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's main hall—
The teacup in Ning Fengzhi's hand dropped straight to the floor and shattered.
Sword Douluo Chen Xin and Bone Douluo Gu Rong also drew in sharp breaths.
"The Primordial Immortal Court, the 72nd Branch Sect..." Ning Fengzhi's voice trembled.
"A powerful cultivator who can fly through the sky actually said they were just a lowly eighth-level branch sect?"
"What manner of terrifying existence is this so-called patriarch, Lin Changsheng?"