The air of the Douluo Continent seemed to freeze at that moment.
All the cheers, all the anticipation, were abruptly strangled by an invisible hand.
The commoners kneeling on the ground in prayer and the Soul Masters raising their cups in celebration all froze in their previous poses, like stiff clay statues.
In that suffocating silence,
the screen in the middle, which had remained dark all along, slowly lit up with a faint glow.
It showed the perspective of the second explorer, the Plant-type Soul Beast "Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo."
The moment the image appeared,
a razor-sharp edge, so fierce it made people unable to keep their eyes open, pierced through the light screen and stabbed at the gaze of everyone on the Douluo Continent.
There were no clouds drifting with immortal energy, nor any grand, luxurious white jade palaces.
What came into view was a stretch of rugged, unending mountains.
Not a blade of grass or tree grew on these peaks. Their sheer, precipitous slopes resembled enormous swords thrust point-down into the earth, pointing straight at the heavens.
There was none of that gentle spiritual energy in the air.
Only currents of razor-sharp air, seemingly capable of cleaving the void, surged back and forth between the peaks.
The Daluo Sword Sect!
The one and only sect on Heaven Luck Planet that dared to challenge the Heavenly Fortune Sect, and the foremost sword cultivator sect, infamous for its overbearing conduct.
Lone Bamboo landed on a broad bluestone platform halfway up the mountain.
This Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo, the same kind of weeds found everywhere in the Star Dou Great Forest, stood alone in a crack between cold, hard stones.
It had no eyes and no intelligence, only a few emerald-green bamboo leaves.
Yet it had been there for less than two breaths.
A mountain breeze swept past.
This was no ordinary wind.
In the Daluo Sword Sect, every wisp of air had been nurtured for years by the sword intent of countless sword cultivators, and had long since become invisible sword qi.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
The wind blew.
The few emerald-green leaves of Lone Bamboo were instantly sliced to powder by the invisible wind blades.
Even its main stalk bore more than a dozen deep sword marks, and green sap trickled from the wounds.
It trembled violently with pain, but the tragedy of Plant-type Soul Beasts was that they could not even let out a scream.
Outside the main hall of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, in the Heaven Dou Empire,
Sword Douluo Chen Xin stood on the steps. His hand, usually as steady as a mountain, was trembling uncontrollably.
He did not look at the pitiful bamboo.
His keen eyes were fixed on the tiny specks of dust lifted by the wind in the light screen.
"The wind... is full of sword intent..."
Chen Xin swallowed, his voice so hoarse it hardly sounded like his own.
"Every current of air in that sect is sharper than my Seventh Soul Skill when I unleash it with all my strength."
Hearing Sword Douluo's assessment,
Ning Fengzhi and Bone Douluo both drew sharp, cold breaths.
The wind itself was sharper than a Titled Douluo's blade?
What kind of terrifying place, brimming with sword qi, was this?
On the screen,
steady footsteps came from the other end of the bluestone platform.
A young man in a white robe walked with his eyes closed, a sheathed longsword strapped to his back, while tracing something in the air with his fingers.
He was an ordinary outer disciple of the Daluo Sword Sect.
When he reached the edge of the platform, he opened his eyes and immediately spotted Lone Bamboo, standing in a crack between the stones, battered by the wind.
The young man frowned, a hint of disgust flashing in his eyes.
"This Sword Practice Platform is paved with Black Iron Blue Rock. How did an ordinary weed with no spiritual energy grow here?"
The young man snorted, not taking the bamboo seriously at all.
The people of the Daluo Sword Sect had always been like the swords in their hands: direct and domineering.
The young man could not even be bothered to draw his sword.
He merely flicked his sleeve.
He did not even use the spiritual energy in his body.
All he did was casually shake loose a wisp of sword qi left on his sleeve from years of sword practice.
"Shhk!"
A streak of translucent white light flashed by.
That Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo, carrying what the Douluo Continent called "core fortune,"
did not even have a chance to be uprooted.
The sword qi casually swept from his hand split it cleanly in two from top to bottom. Then, in the wake of the sword qi, it crumbled into a pile of green powder, which the mountain wind scattered without a trace.
[Explorer: Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo of the Star Dou Great Forest. Encountered an outer disciple of the Daluo Sword Sect and was shredded by sword qi. Death confirmed.]
The screen in the middle,
after being lit for less than the time it took half an incense stick to burn,
turned cleanly gray-white.
There was no reversal.
There was no miracle.
In that world, the weak did not even deserve a second glance.
On the Shrek Academy grounds, the silence was so deep that everyone could hear the sound of their own heartbeat.
Tang San gave a bitter smile and lowered his head to look at the dirt beneath his feet.
"This is reality."
A deep weariness colored Tang San's voice.
"In the face of absolute power, fortune is a joke."
"They don't even care who you are. They just find you an eyesore and wipe you out with a casual wave."
Just as everyone on the Douluo Continent thought the broadcast on the screen had ended,
a sudden change occurred.
The gray-white screen in the middle of the Sky Screen did not go completely dark as it had before.
Instead, a deafening, earth-shaking sword cry rang out!
"Vmmm!"
The sound did not come from a single sword.
It was the sound of ten thousand swords being unsheathed at once.
Through the light screen,
everyone on the Douluo Continent saw a shocking sight they would never forget for the rest of their lives.
The hundreds upon hundreds of mountains of the Daluo Sword Sect, shaped like swords thrust point-down into the earth, began to shake violently.
Countless dazzling beams of sword light shot skyward from the peaks, directly shredding the clouds above Heaven Luck Planet.
The outer disciple who had just killed Lone Bamboo with a wave of his hand changed expression at the sound of the sword cry.
He did not care about his surroundings at all. He dropped to both knees on the bluestone platform, cupped the longsword on his back in both hands, and raised it high above his head.
And it was not just him.
Everyone in the Daluo Sword Sect—from the Nascent Soul elders in seclusion to the menial disciples who had just joined—
made the same gesture at that moment.
Hundreds of thousands of people knelt in unison, facing the tallest main sword peak at the center, their eyes burning with fervor.
"We welcome Sword Venerable out of seclusion!"
The united roar of hundreds of thousands surged through heaven and earth like an overwhelming tide.
Accompanying that thunderous shout,
the space above the main sword peak suddenly split open, a vast rift cleanly cleaved through it as if it were a piece of cloth.
A middle-aged man in a cyan robe stepped out of the rift.
He was rather handsome, with a little gray at his temples.
He had his hands clasped behind his back and carried no weapon.
Yet simply standing there, he was like an unparalleled immortal sword capable of cleaving the entire starry sky in two.
His edge laid bare, his domineering might cutting through all things—
the space around him warped and shifted ever so slightly.
Sword Venerable, Marquis Lingtian!
The founder of the Daluo Sword Sect, the one and only old monster on Heaven Luck Planet who dared to stand up to the Heavenly Fortune Master head-on!
Marquis Lingtian stood in midair and glanced down at the hundreds of thousands of disciples kneeling below.
He did not waste a word.
He merely raised his head and looked toward the distant horizon, toward the direction of the Heavenly Fortune Sect, his eyes sharp as blades.
"Heavenly Fortune Master!"
Marquis Lingtian's voice was not loud.
But the instant those three words left his mouth, they became visible, tangible sound waves, like a gigantic, invisible sword hurtling across millions of miles to slash viciously at the sky above the Heavenly Fortune Sect.
"You hypocritical old bastard!"
Marquis Lingtian snorted, his voice full of disdain and arrogance.
"Do you really think you're the only one who calls the shots on Heaven Luck Planet?"
Boom!
Everyone watching on the Douluo Continent was dumbfounded.
Heaven Dou City, Star Luo City, Spirit City.
The people who had just been marveling at the Heavenly Fortune Master's kindness and trembling in fear over the Sea God's gruesome death
now stood rooted to the spot like wooden dolls.
Outside the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect,
Sword Douluo Chen Xin's legs gave way. With a thump, he dropped straight to his knees on the steps of the main hall.
He did not feel humiliated.
His eyes shone with fervent tears, as though he had glimpsed the true Great Dao.
"This is the sword..."
Chen Xin dug his fingers into the stone slabs, his voice quivering with excitement.
"No flashy spells, no hypocritical schemes."
"Man is the sword, and the sword is the Dao."
"Before this man, the swordsmanship I've practiced all my life is laughable—like a child playing with a branch."
Inside the Pope Palace,
Bibi Dong and Qian Daoliu exchanged a glance.
They both saw the shock in each other's eyes.
When the Sea God had faced the Heavenly Fortune Master, he had not even withstood a single move. In the end, the man had drained him dry as casually as if he were swallowing a tonic.
That wordless terror had weighed on them until they could hardly breathe.
But now,
Marquis Lingtian of the Daluo Sword Sect dared to point at the Heavenly Fortune Master's nose from millions of miles away and call him an old bastard!
That world held not only smiling schemers, sinister to the extreme, but also peerless ruthless men who revealed their edge and radiated overwhelming dominance.
Just as the people of the Douluo Continent were deeply impressed by Marquis Lingtian's bearing,
the scene in the light screen shifted once more.
Far away, inside the White Jade Grand Hall of the Heavenly Fortune Sect,
the Heavenly Fortune Master had just finished devouring all of the Sea God's Incense Wish Power. His eyes were closed, and his face wore a look of satisfaction.
Suddenly, Marquis Lingtian's voice, carrying earth-shaking sword intent, pierced through the defensive formation of the white jade palace and exploded inside the hall.
The smile on the Heavenly Fortune Master's face slowly faded.
He opened his eyes, and a cold gleam flashed through his formerly benevolent gaze.
"That brute who practiced with a sword until it rotted his brain."
The Heavenly Fortune Master gave a soft snort and casually flicked his sleeve.
The invisible sword-qi sound wave above the hall was effortlessly dispelled.
But the Heavenly Fortune Master was not angry.
He resumed his kindly expression, picked up the teacup on the table, and took a gentle sip.
"Let him shout himself hoarse."
The Heavenly Fortune Master looked at the Golden Trident on the floor, stripped of its luster, and the corner of his mouth curled into a strange smile.
"Once I've completely digested this otherworldly origin,"
"the first ones I'll cut down will be the Daluo Sword Sect."
The light on the Sky Screen gradually dimmed.
The screen in the middle lost its image completely.
But the shock left behind among the people of Douluo Continent was like cold water dripping into a pan of hot oil. The whole continent erupted.
The two most powerful figures in the Renegade Immortal World: Heavenly Fortune Master and Marquis Lingtian.
One yin and one yang, one soft and one hard.
Their very existence made the powerful people of Douluo Continent, who were accustomed to lording it over everyone else, realize what it meant for there to be greater heights beyond the heavens.
And amid this clash of immortals—
the last explorer still visible on the screen to the left—
Qian Daoliu, the Great Enshrined of Spirit Hall.
His situation instantly became the thing everyone on the continent was most anxious about.
Naturally, the Sky Screen's view shifted to the first screen.
On the Sky Screen, the leftmost screen belonging to Qian Daoliu rippled like water. Its image gradually came into focus.
Everyone on Douluo Continent turned their attention to it at once.
Qian Daoliu had been transported into a vast basin.
There was no daytime here. A thick layer of gray-black clouds hung over the sky all year round, blocking even the faintest starlight.
The soil was dark brown and soft underfoot, giving off a nauseating stench of decay.
The air was thick with a frigid, sinister aura. A gust of cold wind could drive the chill straight into one's bones, making anyone shiver uncontrollably.
Qian Daoliu steadied himself, and his brows immediately furrowed into a deep crease.
As a Peerless Douluo who served the Angel God, the Soul Power in his body was imbued with the attributes of light and holiness.
The environment here made him feel as though he had fallen into a vast mud pit. He was uncomfortable from head to toe, and even breathing made his chest feel tight.
"What a powerful evil aura."
Qian Daoliu murmured under his breath, his gaze turning wary.
He didn't underestimate the danger.
After seeing the previous groups of explorers wiped out to the last, Qian Daoliu knew all too well how dangerous the Renegade Immortal World was. One careless misstep would doom him beyond redemption.
He drew a deep breath and unhesitatingly unleashed the vast Soul Power within him, the power of a ninety-ninth-level expert.
A clear, ringing hum sounded.
Brilliant golden light burst from Qian Daoliu's body, instantly illuminating the dim basin around him.
Six enormous golden wings slowly unfurled behind him. Every feather looked as if it had been forged from pure gold, radiating an inviolably sacred aura.
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, red.
Nine Soul Rings rose and fell beneath his feet. The final red, hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring in particular added a hint of domineering power.
"Angel Domain, open!"
Golden light spread out in every direction from Qian Daoliu.
The sinister gray mist that had been filling the air met the sacred golden glow and hissed like snow under boiling water, rapidly melting away and retreating.
In the span of just a few breaths—
Qian Daoliu had forcibly carved out a golden safe zone a hundred zhang in radius in the middle of that evil-infested basin.
He held an Angel Holy Sword condensed from Soul Power and hovered in midair, like a God of War descending into the mortal world.
At the sight of this—
the audience on Douluo Continent finally felt some of the tension leave their tightly wound nerves.
Inside Pope Palace in Spirit City—
Second Worship, Golden Crocodile Douluo, excitedly slapped his thigh, and much of the gloom on his face vanished.
"Good! The Great Enshrined's strength is truly extraordinary!"
Golden Crocodile Douluo shouted his approval, pointing at the light screen overhead.
"Look! That world's evil aura may be strong, but it can't get anywhere near the Great Enshrined's Angel Martial Soul!"
"Light is the nemesis of all evil!"
"As long as the Great Enshrined maintains this state and proceeds steadily, there's no way he won't last a whole year in this wretched place!"
The other Enshrined nearby nodded in agreement, smiles appearing on their faces for the first time in ages.
Bibi Dong sat on her throne, watching Qian Daoliu's imposing figure on the screen. Her heart settled a little, too.