Da Ming's voice trembled violently. The bloodline pressure coming through the Sky Screen made it feel as though its very soul were quivering.
The Titan Giant Ape, Er Ming, was even more straightforward. It simply sprawled on the grass by the shore, its strength drained so completely that it couldn't even stand.
On the White Jade Plaza.
The Purple-Robed Sect Master led tens of thousands of disciples in kneeling as one, their movements perfectly synchronized.
"The 72nd Branch Sect welcomes the emissary from the upper sect!"
Their resounding voices surged straight into the clouds.
The young man in plain robes gave a slight nod. He stepped through the air as though walking on level ground, then made his way to a grand armchair on the raised platform and sat down.
The Dragon-Headed Exotic Beast sprawled lazily at his feet, its eyes half closed as it dozed.
The Purple-Robed Sect Master didn't dare neglect him. He hurriedly scrambled to his feet and waved his wide sleeve.
Several stewards immediately stepped forward, leading in the fully transformed Light God Demon Tiger.
Following the God Demon Tiger were thirty graceful, stunning female cultivators.
Every one of them was a peerless furnace chosen with great care by the branch sect over the past month from among the affiliated cultivation nations. Each was so delicate and lovely that anyone would feel pity for her, and each carried an air of otherworldly elegance.
"Esteemed emissary."
The Purple-Robed Sect Master beamed as he bent slightly and reported, "This is a mutated spirit beast our sect acquired by chance. It contains a trace of the laws of space and time."
"These well-behaved female cultivators are also a special offering for you, my lord, to welcome you and help you unwind."
At these words, the Dragon-Headed Exotic Beast, which had been dozing, slowly opened its eyes.
It turned its head, its golden slit pupils settling on the Light God Demon Tiger.
The Light God Demon Tiger had been hoping to show off its platinum wings and prove its worth.
But the moment the beast looked at it, every bone in its body went limp.
The pressure of the True Dragon bloodline left it sprawled on the white jade tiles, whimpering like a kitten as it begged for mercy.
A glistening thread of drool hung from the Dragon-Headed Exotic Beast's mouth. Its eyes gleamed with the greed of a predator eyeing its prey.
Seeing this, the young man in plain robes smiled and reached down to pat the beast's head.
"You greedy fool."
The young man chided it with a laugh, then turned to the Purple-Robed Sect Master and spoke casually.
"This white tiger's bloodline is passable. Take it back with us."
"If my pet gets hungry someday, it'll make a decent snack."
With those two offhand remarks, he had decided the fate of this hundred-thousand-year Ferocious Beast.
In the Star Dou Great Forest.
Er Ming stared blankly, its huge mouth gaping wide enough to fit a millstone.
This was a Peerless Douluo of a Ferocious Beast who had consumed an immortal pill and broken through the shackles of a hundred thousand years.
Yet in the eyes of the emissary from the main sect, it wasn't even fit to pull a cart.
It had become nothing more than a stockpile of snacks for a pet!
After dealing with the God Demon Tiger, the young man in plain robes turned his gaze to the thirty beautiful female cultivators.
The women immediately pulled out all the stops. Some sent flirtatious glances; others struck coy, alluring poses, hoping to catch the upper sect emissary's eye.
As long as they could follow him to the main sect, they would rise to the heavens in a single bound.
But the young man furrowed his brow, a clear flash of displeasure crossing his eyes.
The temperature around them plunged to freezing in an instant.
"Absurd."
His voice turned cold. It wasn't loud, yet it made the Purple-Robed Sect Master's heart pound.
"Our Primordial Immortal Court is the orthodox Great Dao, founded by the peerless ancestor Lin Changsheng himself."
"The ancestor once left an edict: we cultivators must sever worldly desires and devote ourselves to the Dao. Only then can we defy heaven and change our fate."
The young man fixed the Purple-Robed Sect Master with a cold stare and scolded him without mercy.
"Your branch sect has grown far too comfortable. Now you're bringing out such foul, corrupting things to undermine our Daoist hearts."
"Send them all to the medicinal gardens behind the mountain. Have them haul manure and water the plants for a hundred years, so they can learn some discipline!"
The Purple-Robed Sect Master went deathly pale. He repeatedly kowtowed and admitted his fault, cold sweat streaming down his forehead.
He hurriedly waved for the enforcement disciples to drag away the women, who were pale with fright and begging for mercy.
Beyond the Sky Screen.
On the grounds of Shrek Academy.
Ning Rongrong watched the projection with her chin held high, her expression haughty and superior.
"At least this emissary has a discerning eye. He didn't let those seductive little vixens cloud his judgment."
She folded her arms across her chest, her voice brimming with spoiled arrogance and undisguised pride.
"But he's far too heartless. Thirty beautiful women, and he's sending them straight to shovel manure?"
Though she still spoke arrogantly, a hint of deeply buried fear had clearly flashed through Ning Rongrong's beautiful eyes.
She lowered her gaze to her soft, pale hands and felt a chill creep through her.
If she went to that immortal court, with her meager support abilities, she probably wouldn't even qualify to water manure in the medicinal gardens. They'd just pull her out like a weed and toss her aside.
The cruelty of that world was beyond anything the young lady could imagine.
In the Pope Palace, Spirit City.
Bibi Dong stood before the throne, watching the young man in plain robes. Her beautiful face revealed profound reverence and longing.
"Unmoved by women, devoted only to the Dao..."
Bibi Dong murmured to herself, tightening her grip on the scepter.
"This is the kind of supreme orthodoxy that can truly stand at the summit of heaven and earth."
"That ancestor, Lin Changsheng, possesses power that reaches the heavens. Even the rules he set for his sect reveal a magnificent vision, transcending the mundane world."
Bibi Dong took a deep breath and suppressed the tumult in her heart.
This spirit of seeing beauty as mere bones and seeking only eternal life made the Soul Masters of Douluo Continent, who spent their days tangled up in romance and power struggles, seem utterly vulgar.
A wild thought suddenly rose in her heart.
If she ever had the chance to go to that world—
She truly wanted to meet the legendary ancestor Lin Changsheng and see for herself what kind of peerless genius he was.
On the White Jade Plaza, a breeze swept past.
Having finished dealing with the branch sect's offerings, the young man in plain robes pulled a dusty storage bag from his sleeve.
He casually tipped it upside down and shook it out as if dumping trash.
"The main sect hasn't forgotten the hard work you branch sects put in."
His tone was careless, as though he were tossing alms to a beggar.
"These are a batch of defective goods recently discarded by the main sect's Artifact Refining Pavilion, along with some scrap metal and offcuts."
"Take them back and melt them down in a furnace. You should be able to make a few things for the outer disciples to protect themselves with."
With a clatter of metal, a heap of dusty broken swords, chipped throwing knives, and oddly shaped metal Hidden Weapons poured onto the pristine jade floor, piling up into a small mountain.
The Purple-Robed Sect Master's eyes lit up as though he had just spotted a priceless treasure.
He hurriedly bent down and carefully picked up a short sword broken in half from the pile of "trash," his hands trembling with excitement.
"Many thanks for the reward, esteemed emissary!"
"These materials come from the main sect's Artifact Refining Pavilion! Even as scrap, they'd be enough to have the outer disciples fighting over them once they've been refined a little!"
The scene was projected clearly across the Sky Screen of Douluo Continent.
Beside the grounds of Shrek Academy, Tang San's gaze was fixed on the heap of scrap metal in the projection.
His eyes glowed a deep purple as he pushed his Purple Demon Eye to its utmost limit.
Near the edge of the scrap heap lay a metal lump shaped like a lotus.
Half of its shell had been crushed inward, as though someone had casually squeezed it out of shape and thrown it away.
But when Tang San looked through the Sky Screen and saw the structure inside the metal lotus—
It was as though lightning had struck him.
Inside the half-ruined lotus, hundreds upon hundreds of gears meshed together, each finer than a strand of hair.
Every gear was intricately engraved with arrays using a technique he couldn't begin to understand.
The metal gave off a faint, eerie glow, and was a hundred times tougher than the finest deep-sea silver on Douluo Continent.
Tang San's breathing stopped.
It felt as though someone had landed a heavy blow on his heart.
The Tang Sect Secret Arts he prided himself on, the Buddha Fury Tang Lotus he had poured countless hours of effort into crafting—
Compared with that metal lump discarded as trash in the projection, it was like a laughable toy molded from mud by a three-year-old.
Whether it was the material's strength, the precision of its mechanisms, or the energy arrays embedded within it—
Even the defective goods discarded from the production line in that Renegade Immortal World could crush the Tang Sect's greatest secrets into dust in every respect.
"How could this be..."
Tang San's legs gave way, and he dropped straight down onto the cold earth.
His teeth bit into his lips until they bled, and a thick, rusty taste spread through his mouth.
In both his lives, his greatest source of confidence and pride had been the peerless Hidden Weapon blueprints in his mind.
He had always believed that if a Hidden Weapon were crafted well enough, even a god could be killed.
But now, the cruel truth had dragged his dignity down and ground it beneath its heel.
The highest pursuit of his life didn't even deserve a second glance in this higher-dimensional world.
It was only fit to be tossed in with a pile of broken swords and melted down as scrap.
Dai Mubai and Xiao Wu, standing nearby, were startled by Tang San's devastated expression. Neither knew how to comfort him, so they could only stand there anxiously.
The scene in the Sky Screen continued.
The Purple-Robed Sect Master ordered his people to carefully put away the pile of defective goods. Then he personally brought over a cup of steaming spirit tea and respectfully offered it to the young man in plain robes.
"Esteemed emissary, you must be tired from your journey. Please have some tea."
The Purple-Robed Sect Master wore a broad smile. Seeing that the young man seemed to be in a good mood, he cautiously ventured a question.
"May I ask whether the main sect has any major plans lately?"
"If we know in advance, the branch sect can prepare and avoid being caught off guard and interfering with the main sect's affairs."
The young man in plain robes took the cup, lifted the lid, and gently blew on the tea leaves floating on top.
He took a sip, seemed to find the flavor rather bland, and shook his head slightly.
"There's nothing much going on. Everything's as usual at the main sect."
He set down the cup and gazed toward the distant horizon, his tone as casual as if he were chatting about everyday matters.
"If I had to mention something, the ancestor Lin Changsheng came out of seclusion for some fresh air a while back."
"The ancestor sat for a while on the main peak. He felt that a few hundred cultivation planets in the outer star domain were linked together, slightly blocking the view of the main sect's backyard. He found them rather unsightly."
The Purple-Robed Sect Master swallowed, bent even lower, and barely dared to breathe.
The young man brushed some nonexistent dust from his hem and continued.
"The ancestor found them troublesome, so he raised his hand."
"He simply erased the lives on those few hundred planets, refined the planets into a string of worry beads, and left them in a pavilion on the main peak as an ornament."
"Such supreme power, able to turn the clouds with one hand and rain with the other—I can only look up to it with boundless admiration."
The young man sighed, then said no more.
But those few casual words of his—
They struck the minds of every living being on Douluo Continent like a storm that could destroy the world.
In the main hall of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, outside Heaven Dou City, not a sound could be heard.
The teacup in Ning Fengzhi's hand had long since crumbled to powder.
His refined face was now so pale that not a trace of color remained.
"A few hundred planets..."
Ning Fengzhi's voice sounded as though it had been forced through clenched teeth, trembling with barely contained fear.
"Just because they blocked the view, he raised a hand and refined hundreds of worlds into beads?"
Sword Douluo Chen Xin stood nearby, his palms slick with cold sweat.
He raised his head to stare at the sky, his eyes vacant.
They had always believed that the limit of Douluo Continent was reaching the hundredth level and becoming a god.
In their minds, a god was an almighty being who could move mountains and fill seas.
But what did moving mountains and filling seas amount to?
That ancestor Lin Changsheng played with the art of refining planets!
And hundreds of planets linked together, no less!
This wasn't a god.
This was a creator who trampled the laws of the entire universe beneath his feet and treated all living beings as specks of dust!
In the Pope Palace, Spirit City.
Qian Daoliu's tall, upright frame trembled uncontrollably.
This Peerless Douluo had served the Angel God all his life and held unwavering faith, yet deep fear showed in his eyes.
"Lord Angel God..."
Qian Daoliu murmured, his voice filled with despair.
"Before power of that level, what does the Divine Realm even amount to?"
Bibi Dong also sank onto her throne.
The ambition she had always harbored, her grand plan to destroy the Spirit Hall and unite the continent—
After hearing that casual conversation about rolling planets into bracelets, it seemed utterly ridiculous.
Before the boundless, terrifying dimension, all the struggles for power and profit on Douluo Continent were like a bunch of ants fighting over a moldy grain of rice in a mud pit.
Insignificant.
An unprecedented sense of insignificance gripped every Douluo by the throat, making even breathing feel like hard work.
Just as the entire continent was being crushed beneath the unimaginable might of Lin Changsheng, so overwhelmed that it had fallen into utter panic—
Above the heavens.
The light screen showing images of the Primordial Immortal Court flickered without warning.
Then—
The once-clear image was instantly replaced by a blinding blood-red.
The crimson light dyed half the sky a bizarre, dark red.
That grand, cold voice, devoid of all emotion, boomed in everyone's minds once more.
[Initial data collection on the Renegade Immortal World has reached the required threshold.] [To accelerate the exploration process, the selection of the Fourth Batch of Explorers will begin immediately!] [The selection rules have changed.] [Number of selected candidates increased to: five!] [Countdown commencing: ten, nine, eight...]
With each countdown number, sounding like a death knell, Douluo Continent erupted into chaos.
Panic spread through the streets and alleys like a plague.
They had just witnessed the terrifying powerhouses of that world treat planets like toys, and now five people were going to be picked to die?
At Shrek Academy, Oscar was so frightened that he dropped straight onto the ground and clung tightly to a nearby tree.
Xiao Wu hid behind Tang San, her little face deathly pale.
Everyone looked up at the rapidly ticking countdown on the Sky Screen. As the numbers dwindled, their hearts beat faster and faster.
No one knew whether their own name would appear on the list of five, sprung on them without warning.