The blinding blood-red light above the heavens illuminated all of Douluo Continent, making it seem as though the apocalypse had arrived.
An oppressive feeling that made it hard to breathe hung in the air.
The countdown sounded like a series of heavy hammers, mercilessly pounding against the hearts of every living being.
"Seven..."
"Six..."
"Five..."
On the dirt field of Shrek Academy in Fasinuo Province.
Red light fell across everyone's faces, revealing one ashen countenance after another.
Oscar covered his ears and crouched on the ground, his body trembling like a leaf in the autumn wind.
Though Ning Rongrong had just been forcing herself to scold the others with all the pride of a young lady, at this moment her fair, delicate hands were clenched together, her nails digging several deep red marks into the backs of them.
Tang San's breathing was heavy. Cold sweat slid down his forehead and cheeks, dripping into the dirt at his feet.
He had always prided himself on being calm, unmoved even when Mount Tai collapsed before him.
But facing this completely random, utterly unpredictable annihilation from a higher dimension, all his meticulous calculations and Tang Sect Secret Arts were useless.
"Three..."
"Two..."
"One!"
The final, icy announcement rang out.
The dense blood-red light across the Sky Screen abruptly contracted, then exploded.
Five clear images, like five enormous scrolls, slowly unfurled in midair.
Along with them appeared five lines of blood-red characters, each one shocking to behold.
The breathing of the entire continent stopped dead.
Countless eyes filled with fear and prayers turned toward the Sky Screen.
[First: Heaven Dou Empire, member of the imperial family, Prince Xue Beng! Cultivation: Level 31 Battle Soul Elder.]
The moment the first line appeared, a loud crash of breaking porcelain rang out from deep within the imperial palace in Heaven Dou City.
In the image, Prince Xue Beng was slumped in a luxurious bedchamber.
He wore a loose silk nightgown, and several scantily clad, beautiful maids were gathered around him.
He usually put on the airs of a spoiled young master to avoid the infighting within the royal family.
But now, the playboy mask had been torn from his face, leaving only terror from the depths of his soul.
"No... Don't!"
Xue Beng scrambled backward across the luxurious Persian carpet like a madman, smashing a nearby wineglass and spilling red wine everywhere.
"I'm a prince of the Heaven Dou Empire! I have plenty of gold coins! I don't want to go to that damned place and live like an animal!"
He stared at the red column of teleportation light that had pierced through the ceiling. His shriek was as shrill as a rooster being slaughtered.
The maids around him fled in every direction, not one of them sparing a thought for their usually lofty master.
[Second: Core Area of the Star Dou Great Forest, Titan Giant Ape! Cultivation: Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.]
The instant the second line appeared,
a roar of despair and fury erupted from the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Er Ming, the Titan Giant Ape, sprang up from the shore of the Lake of Life, his enormous body like a small mountain.
His massive eyes were bloodshot with terror.
Just an incense stick ago, he had still been laughing at the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger for being captured and forced to pull a cart.
He had even been relieved that he hadn't been chosen.
But retribution came so quickly. The Sky Screen's scythe had landed right at his throat.
"Roar!"
Er Ming pounded his chest frantically, every muscle bulging as he tried to resist the force descending from the heavens with his formidable hundred-thousand-year body.
But the red column of light fell upon him as if it had been welded in place.
No matter how he struggled or roared, his body grew more and more translucent.
In the lake, Da Ming, the Sky Azure Bull Python, rolled wildly through the water in desperation, sending up waves dozens of meters high. But he could only watch his brother swallowed by the column of light, unable to help him at all.
[Third: Spirit Hall, Elder, Ghost Douluo Gui Mei! Cultivation: Level 95 Titled Douluo.]
When these words appeared, the Pope Palace in Spirit City instantly filled with sharp gasps.
The black mist that shrouded Gui Mei surged violently, like boiling water.
His deathly pale face, usually hidden in the shadows, was finally exposed.
It was etched with bitter resignation.
"Gui Mei!"
Bibi Dong, who had only just been badly shaken by Yue Guan's fate, sprang to her feet. The scepter in her hand creaked under her grip.
Gui Mei gave a bitter smile. He glanced at His Holiness the Pope on her lofty seat, then at the Angel Statue outside the hall.
"Your Holiness, I'm afraid I won't be able to serve you any longer in this life."
Gui Mei's voice was hoarse and chillingly forlorn, as though he were giving his final words.
He had seen with his own eyes how Yue Guan had been made to sweep the floor in that world.
A Titled Douluo who cultivated a dark-attribute Martial Soul like him would be treated as some sort of evil creature and casually crushed to death in a place filled with immortals.
Red light descended, and Gui Mei vanished from the hall in an instant.
[Fourth: Heaven Dou Empire, Suotuo City, wealthy merchant Qian Baiwan! No Soul Power.]
The name seemed rather ordinary.
In the image, a middle-aged, potbellied man was sprawled inside the underground vault of his home.
He had buried his entire face in a pile of glittering gold coins, his rolls of fat trembling uncontrollably.
"My money, my money..."
Qian Baiwan wept until tears and snot covered his face, both plump hands fiercely protecting the coins.
For an ordinary merchant without even a trace of Soul Power, being sent to that higher-dimensional world meant he wouldn't even qualify as cannon fodder. His fate would be as good as sealed.
Four names had been announced in a row.
The air across Douluo Continent had grown unbearably heavy.
Everyone stared at the last screen that had yet to light up, their throats dry.
On the field at Shrek Academy, Tang San took a deep breath and was about to turn and comfort Xiao Wu.
Suddenly, the final burst of red light exploded across the Sky Screen.
The fifth line of blood-red characters, almost mocking in tone, appeared clearly in the eyes of every teacher and student at Shrek Academy.
[Fifth: Heaven Dou Empire, Shrek Academy, theoretical Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang! Cultivation: Level 29 Soul Grandmaster.]
The words struck like a bolt from the blue, landing squarely on the crowns of everyone at Shrek Academy.
"Teacher!"
Tang San's eyes flew wide as he cried out in shock.
Yu Xiaogang had been leaning against a wooden post. The moment he saw his name on the Sky Screen,
his vision went black and his legs gave out completely. He collapsed into the mud with a thump.
"No... That's impossible..."
Yu Xiaogang's mouth hung open as he panted like a fish out of water.
His usually stiff, stern face was now twisted out of shape.
He had just been praying desperately in his heart that he wouldn't be chosen.
The Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul he took such pride in were less than a fart in that immortal-cultivation world.
His failed mutant Martial Soul, Luo Sanpao, could fart hard enough to knock out a few Ten-Year Soul Beasts at most.
In the Renegade Immortal World, where people could topple mountains and seas and refine planets, he wouldn't even be enough to pick someone's teeth!
"Xiao San, Flender, save me, save me!"
Yu Xiaogang completely broke down. The dignity of an elder and the airs of a theoretical Grandmaster were cast to the winds.
He stretched out both hands and clawed frantically at the muddy ground, trying to grab Tang San by the trouser leg.
Tang San's eyes were bloodshot. He rushed forward, channeling his Mysterious Jade Hand as he seized Yu Xiaogang's arm and tried to pull him out of the red column of light.
But the power of the laws contained in that red light was beyond any human strength to resist.
Tang San felt an irresistible force repel him. His hands slipped, and he staggered back several steps, his blood and qi surging.
Flender and Zhao Wuji were also sweating anxiously, but could only watch as the red light completely enveloped Yu Xiaogang.
"Xiaogang!"
As their helpless cries rang out,
the red light flashed, and Yu Xiaogang's slender body vanished from Douluo Continent along with the other four explorers.
Above the heavens, the images on all five screens began to flicker at once.
The teleportation process was quick.
After a brief bout of dizziness,
the audience across Douluo Continent hurriedly turned their eyes to the screens, wanting to see where the five had been sent.
The people at Shrek Academy especially held their breath, staring fixedly at the screen showing Yu Xiaogang.
The image gradually came into focus.
Yu Xiaogang felt the world spinning around him. Then his body slammed into a patch of soft dirt that gave off a strange odor.
The fall left him seeing stars, his head spinning.
After recovering for a while, he finally managed to open his eyes and push himself upright.
As soon as he sat up, he sensed that something was wrong.
His palms felt sticky.
He looked down to find both hands pressed into dark brown mud.
A strange, foul stench filled the air.
It didn't smell like the blood of wild beasts. It was more like animal dung mixed with fermented grass and fodder.
"Where is this..."
Yu Xiaogang fought down the rolling in his stomach and used a circle of wooden fencing beside him to pull himself to his feet.
He looked around and found himself inside a huge, round enclosure.
The roof was thatched with dry grass that gave off a faint spiritual glow, and the enclosure was surrounded by a ring of thick wooden rails.
It looked like an ordinary farm animal pen, only magnified countless times.
Just as Yu Xiaogang felt a chill run through him and prepared to investigate his surroundings,
a dull sound suddenly came from behind him.
"Snort, snort..."
The sound was vaguely familiar, like some livestock eating.
But in this bizarre place, magnified more than tenfold, it sounded like muffled thunder pounding a drum.
Every hair on Yu Xiaogang's body stood on end.
He swallowed, his neck stiff as he slowly turned around.
When he saw what was behind him, he felt his heart stop beating.
In the shadowy corner behind him crouched a colossal creature the size of a small mountain.
It was a pig.
A black pig covered in long bristles, with two enormous tusks curling upward like scimitars.
This black pig was a whole size bigger than the thousand-year-old Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear in the Star Dou Great Forest!
A faint layer of red spiritual energy shimmered across its bristly back.
At that moment, the black pig had buried its massive snout in a stone trough, chewing something in great mouthfuls.
Hearing Yu Xiaogang turn around,
the giant black pig stopped chewing.
It slowly raised its enormous head. Two eyes the size of lanterns, glowing with an eerie red light, stared straight at Yu Xiaogang.
"Snort!"
The black pig blew a rush of hot white breath from its nostrils. It was so foul that it hit Yu Xiaogang right in the face.
The scorching breath, thick with the stench of fermented fodder, blasted Yu Xiaogang in the face. He almost passed out on the spot.
It was as if all the strength had been drained from his body. His legs buckled, and he dropped onto his backside in the dark brown muck.
The black pig was enormous.
Even lying there, it cast a shadow that swallowed Yu Xiaogang whole.
Most terrifying of all were its glowing red eyes, like two giant red lanterns filled with the beast's own rage and greed.
"D-Don't come any closer!"
Extreme terror made Yu Xiaogang's voice shrill and grating, even breaking in places.
At the brink of life and death, he was too frightened to remember any of the theoretical knowledge he took pride in.
Driven by instinct, he formed a seal with both hands in front of his chest and summoned what little Soul Power he had at Level 29.
"Fart like thunder, Earth-Shattering Luo Sanpao!"
With a somewhat ridiculous summoning chant,
a ball of pale yellow light shone before Yu Xiaogang.
Then a purple creature that looked like a cross between a pig and a dog, no bigger than a village mutt, dropped into the mud with a splat.
As soon as Luo Sanpao appeared, he habitually swished his short tail, ready to strike a mighty pose.
But when he raised his head and met the black-haired wild boar, as huge as a mountain,
Luo Sanpao's big blue eyes instantly widened.
Its purple fur stood on end like a cat's hackles.
"L-Luo..."
Luo Sanpao let out a cry so faint it was almost inaudible, his body trembling like a sieve.
Two streams of yellow liquid ran down his hind legs. He'd been scared shitless.
The enormous black pig across from him looked down at Luo Sanpao on the ground, a flicker of confusion in its eyes.
It seemed unable to understand how such a tiny thing had dropped out of nowhere.
The black pig lowered its enormous snout and sniffed at the still-trembling Luo Sanpao.
Then it snorted disdainfully, blasting out a powerful gust that sent Luo Sanpao tumbling over a dozen times through the mud, all the way to Yu Xiaogang's feet.
The little thing's energy was far too weak. It wasn't even worthy of getting stuck between the pig's teeth.
The black pig had no interest in eating it. It buried its head in the stone trough again and resumed chewing in great mouthfuls.
Watching the Martial Soul he'd always been so proud of fail to even whet the creature's appetite, Yu Xiaogang felt the last of his defenses crumble.
All he wanted now was to run.
Using both hands and feet, he scrambled backward through the stinking mud, desperate to get away from the terrifying monster.
Just then, the ground began to shake violently.
"Thud!"
"Thud!"
"Thud!"
The sound was deep and powerful, like someone beating a massive war drum.
With every tremor, Yu Xiaogang felt his heart lurch in time with it.
He turned around in terror and looked toward the entrance of the livestock pen.
A towering black silhouette blocked out the light from outside.
It was a giant, well over three zhang tall.
His upper body was bare, his muscles bulging like rocks. His skin was bronze-colored, covered in strange black markings.
A tattered animal hide was wrapped around his lower body, and he carried an enormous wooden barrel several times bigger than a water vat.
With every step, his huge foot slammed into the ground with a deep boom.
The Troll Race!
On Vermilion Bird Planet in the Renegade Immortal World, they were a powerful race renowned for body cultivation and immense strength.