Hengyue Sect!

Su Yuntao felt a surge of secret delight.

He could use this opportunity to ask these locals for directions, and while he was at it, show off the prestige of a Spirit Hall Great Spirit Master to the audience across the entire Douluo Continent.

He deliberately quickened his pace, blocking the middle of the stone steps.

The two youths in white robes were chatting as they walked, but when they saw a man in strange clothing suddenly appear to block their path, they both came to a halt.

"Who are you? Why do you block the path to the Hengyue Sect's mountain gate?" the slightly taller youth on the left asked, his brow furrowed.

Su Yuntao had no idea what kind of power the "Hengyue Sect" was.

Back on the Douluo Continent, he had visited countless villages to help children awaken their spirits, and he had always been treated like a dignitary by the common folk.

Now, these two greenhorns, who possessed not a shred of spirit power, actually dared to speak to him in such a questioning tone.

He let out a cold laugh and shouted loudly, "Enough talk!"

"You two little brats, watch closely and witness the power of a Spirit Hall Great Spirit Master!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Su Yuntao's eyes widened sharply.

"Lone Wolf, possess!"

Accompanied by a low roar, Su Yuntao's body underwent an immediate transformation.

His muscles swelled rapidly, stretching his clothes to their limit.

Not only that, but his hands turned into sharp wolf claws, and gray fur sprouted from beneath his skin.

Following this, one white and one yellow spirit ring rose slowly from beneath his feet, orbiting his body and emitting waves of spirit power.

After completing this display, Su Yuntao lifted his chin and crossed his arms.

He was already prepared to enjoy the sight of these two young men trembling and kneeling to beg for mercy.

At this moment, the people watching the live broadcast across the Douluo Continent were also focused intently.

Some low-level spirit masters of Spirit Hall couldn't help but cheer, feeling that Su Yuntao had brought honor to their organization.

However, the reaction of the two Hengyue Sect disciples on screen caught everyone off guard.

They didn't scream, nor did they run; instead, they looked at Su Yuntao with the eyes one might reserve for an idiot.

The youth in white on the right covered his mouth and chuckled, turning to his companion. "Senior Brother, this person is quite strange."

"He clearly has no spiritual energy in his body—he hasn't even reached the first level of Qi Condensation—yet he uses some sort of mundane martial technique to turn himself into this half-human, half-beast monstrosity."

The one addressed as Senior Brother shook his head, his eyes filled with disdain.

"So he is just a commoner from the secular world, ignorant of the vastness of the world, coming to our Hengyue Sect's territory to play the fool."

Hearing these two call him a commoner over and over, Su Yuntao's temper flared instantly.

He was a dignified Great Spirit Master, yet he was being looked down upon by two ordinary people!

"You little bastards, you're courting death!"

Su Yuntao roared, the yellow spirit ring on his body flashing as he activated his spirit skill, lunging toward the Senior Brother with his wolf claws bared.

At this moment, the audience across the Douluo Continent held their breath, waiting to see Su Yuntao unleash his might.

But the Senior Brother didn't even dodge; he stood perfectly still.

He casually pressed his right index and middle fingers together, formed a simple sword seal, and pointed lightly into the air toward Su Yuntao.

"Go!"

The next second, the wooden sword on his back let out a sharp clang and flew from its scabbard on its own.

The seemingly ordinary wooden sword cut a blur through the air, moving so fast that Su Yuntao couldn't even react.

By the time Su Yuntao's claws were half a meter away from the Senior Brother, the wooden sword was already hovering steadily right in front of his forehead.

The tip of the blade lightly pierced the skin of Su Yuntao's brow, drawing a single bead of bright red blood.

Feeling death staring him in the face, Su Yuntao's lunging body came to an abrupt, frozen halt.

He stared blankly at the wooden sword inches away, knowing that if he moved even a fraction, it would pierce straight through his brain.

On screen, the bead of blood on Su Yuntao's forehead slowly trickled down the bridge of his nose.

He couldn't even sense the opponent using any force; the sword seemed to have a life of its own, locking onto him completely.

"A technique of demonic transformation? So he is just a low-class half-demon, or perhaps he has practiced some base, secular martial art."

The white-robed youth called Senior Brother glanced at Su Yuntao indifferently, his eyes devoid of any emotion.

In the eyes of cultivators, those in the secular world were like ants, let alone a madman shouting at their mountain gate in such a grotesque form.

"The Hengyue Sect is a place of pure cultivation; how can we allow such filth to run rampant?"

The youth didn't even make an extra movement; he simply pressed his joined fingers downward.

Squelch!

The hovering wooden sword instantly turned into a streak of light, passing through Su Yuntao's forehead without the slightest resistance, trailing a spray of blood.

Su Yuntao's eyes widened, his pupils dilating in an instant.

His bloated Lone Wolf form deflated like a punctured ball, rapidly shriveling back to his original appearance before he collapsed onto the bluestone floor with a heavy thud, never to move again.

The wooden sword traced a nimble arc in the air, not a single drop of blood staining its surface, before flying back into the scabbard of the youth in green robes.

The two of them didn't even glance at the corpse on the ground, continuing to walk down the mountain steps while chatting and laughing.

The moment Su Yuntao fell, a line of cold, blood-red text slowly emerged on his personal light screen.

[Explorer Su Yuntao has died.]

[Cause of death: Provoked a fourth-level Qi Condensation disciple of the Hengyue Sect from the Cultivation World; soul pierced by a flying sword, body and spirit extinguished.]

As the text appeared, Su Yuntao's light screen gradually turned gray-white and went completely dark.

After a brief silence, the entire Douluo Continent erupted in unprecedented shock.

In less than the time it took to burn a stick of incense, two of the three arrivals had already died!

Heaven Dou Empire, Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

The spacious, ancient assembly hall was usually filled with the elegant scent of sandalwood.

But at this moment, that fragrance had been completely scattered by an incomparably sharp sword intent.

"Clang!"

Ning Fengzhi, the sect master who was always composed and scholarly, accidentally let his premium white jade teacup slip. It shattered into several pieces on the golden nanmu floor, and while the scalding tea splashed onto the hem of his robes, he seemed not to notice.

Beside him, Chen Xin, the Sword Douluo known for having the highest attack power on the Douluo Continent, wore an expression of profound gravity.

The thick, dragon-carved pillars in the hall were even etched with deep marks left by this unconscious release of sword intent.

"Uncle Sword, you..." Ning Fengzhi recovered from his shock and looked at Chen Xin with concern.

Chen Xin did not turn his head; his gaze remained locked on the now-dim light screen in the sky, his chest heaving violently.

After a long while, he let out a deep, ragged breath.

"Incredible... simply unheard of!"

Chen Xin extended his right hand, light flickering in his palm as a silver Seven Kill Sword materialized.

He stared at his own martial soul and couldn't help but mutter to himself, "I have immersed myself in the way of the sword for decades, reaching the peak of level ninety-six. I believed that in this world, no one could surpass my understanding of the blade."

"Yet, that fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy in the sky—he didn't use any martial soul, nor did he release any spirit rings!"

"With just a single gesture, he made an ordinary wooden sword hover and kill!"

"That method of combining sword intent with some invisible force to control a blade from afar has completely transcended the scope of spirit skills."

"And that flying sword, agile as a bird, killing without a trace."

"What... what level of power is this?"

Hearing the Sword Douluo's analysis, Gu Rong, the Bone Douluo who had been sitting in the shadows, slowly stepped forward, his face, withered like tree bark, filled with solemnity.

"Old Blind Man, didn't you notice the text displayed on the screen?" Gu Rong pointed at the sky, his voice raspy. "It says Cultivation World, Hengyue Sect, and fourth-level Qi Condensation."

Ning Fengzhi hurried to the edge of the hall, gripping the white jade railing tightly as his mind raced.

"Cultivation World—cultivating the self to explore the truth?"

"This seems completely different from our Douluo Continent's spirit master system."

"The most terrifying part is that classification of realms."

Ning Fengzhi took a deep breath and continued, "A sect disciple who looks no older than fifteen or sixteen, with a cultivation base of only so-called fourth-level Qi Condensation."

"Just the fourth level, and he could easily kill a level twenty-six Great Spirit Master in seconds."

"What if there are people at the fifth or tenth level of Qi Condensation in that sect?"

"What if there are even higher realms beyond Qi Condensation?"

Ning Fengzhi's words left both Chen Xin and Gu Rong lost in deep thought.

On the Douluo Continent, the hierarchy of spirit masters was strict, with the gap between each level clearly defined.

But now, a brand-new, bottomless cultivation system was laid out before them without reservation.

"And the last four words: body and spirit extinguished." Chen Xin closed his eyes, replaying the scene of the wooden sword piercing Su Yuntao's brow.

"That wooden sword didn't just destroy the physical body; even that Great Spirit Master's soul was shattered in an instant."

"This kind of direct attack on the soul is something even a titled Douluo of the spirit type could not do so effortlessly."

"How many terrifying secrets are hidden in that world?"

Meanwhile, Spirit City, Pope Palace.

The light in the tall, empty palace was somewhat dim.

The red oil torches on either side occasionally crackled, casting a long shadow of Bibi Dong as she stood above the steps.

To the entire Spirit Hall, Su Yuntao's death was nothing more than the loss of an insignificant ant.

What truly made Bibi Dong tremble was the bizarre ability the boy had displayed.