Zhou Wutai and Golden Crocodile Douluo Arrive!

"Snap."

A faint, crisp sound echoed.

The sturdy cell door, forged from refined iron, crumbled like a stale cracker that had been casually pushed into a pile of scrap metal from the outside.

A gentle breeze drifted into the dark, damp death row, carrying with it the faint scent of cheap rice wine.

Immediately following.

A voice, gentle yet tinged with a hint of authority, rang out within the cell.

"A mere rogue cultivator at the early Foundation Establishment stage, not finding a place to wait for death, yet daring to use such base methods of soul possession in a mortal city."

Accompanying this voice.

A man dressed in a gray long robe strolled slowly in from outside the door.

The man appeared to be in his thirties, with a rather refined appearance and a short beard on his chin.

He carried an earthy-gray wine pot in his hand, his gait steady, and his bearing exuded the noble air of one who had long held a position of power.

This man was none other than a cultivator of the White Cloud Sect, Zhou Wutai, who was currently living in the secular world to experience the life of a mortal!

Zhou Wutai enjoyed traveling through mortal kingdoms, and he was also the secret guardian of this city.

He happened to be out buying wine today when he sensed a faint, sinister fluctuation of spiritual energy belonging to a cultivator coming from the direction of the death row, so he stopped by to take a look.

Zhou Wutai let out a hiccup, his gaze landing on Xue Beng, who was still rolling on the ground.

He did not even bother to bring out a magic treasure.

He simply extended two fingers and pinched the air toward Xue Beng's forehead.

"Come out."

A surge of irresistible Golden Core stage spiritual power pierced directly through Xue Beng's skin and flesh.

"Squeak!"

A terrified, shrill scream rang out.

The mass of green soul that had just burrowed into Xue Beng's brain was like a loach gripped by iron tongs, forcibly ripped out from between Xue Beng's brows by Zhou Wutai.

The green soul struggled desperately at Zhou Wutai's fingertips, emitting sounds of desperate begging.

"Senior, spare me! Senior, please spare me!"

"This junior was blind and failed to recognize a superior, not knowing that you were cultivating in this place. I beg you, Senior, to show mercy and grant me a path to survival!"

The old man's soul was nearly scattered with fright.

He could clearly feel that the spiritual energy fluctuations radiating from the gray-robed man holding the wine pot were like a massive mountain, pressing down so hard that he couldn't even breathe.

Nascent Soul!

This was definitely a senior at the Nascent Soul stage!

Zhou Wutai looked at the foul-smelling green soul at his fingertips, a flicker of disgust crossing his eyes.

"The rules of the Cultivation World forbid wanton slaughter in mortal cities."

Zhou Wutai's tone was flat, devoid of any murderous intent.

"Since you have broken the rules, then stay here."

Having said that.

Zhou Wutai applied a slight pressure with his two fingers.

With a soft "pop."

The green soul didn't even have time to let out a final scream before it was crushed into specks of fluorescent light, then turned into a wisp of blue smoke, dissipating completely into the air of the cell.

Having casually crushed the soul of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Zhou Wutai acted as if he had merely swatted a mosquito, not even sparing it a second glance.

He raised the wine pot, tilted his head back to take a swig of rice wine, and smacked his lips in satisfaction.

Outside the Sky Screen.

The audience on the Douluo Continent was completely dumbfounded.

This sudden reversal made everyone's heart skip a beat.

"It... it's already resolved?"

Oscar swallowed a mouthful of saliva, unable to believe his own eyes.

"That old man was so terrifying just a moment ago, how is it that he didn't have the slightest room to resist in front of this man with the wine pot?"

Dai Mubai watched the refined man on the screen, secretly clenching his fists.

"Too strong."

Dai Mubai whispered.

"Have you noticed? In this world, when the strong kill the weak, they never need any flashy soul skill bombardments."

"A suppression of cultivation realms is simply a pure, instant kill."

Martial Soul City, Pope Palace.

Bibi Dong watched Zhou Wutai's nonchalant demeanor and was slightly taken aback.

She realized that the Renegade Immortal World was truly full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers.

One could encounter such a deep, unreadable expert even in the death row of a random mortal city.

In this world, you never know if the ordinary person standing before you might turn into a living King of Hell capable of killing you in an instant the very next second.

Inside the cell.

With the crisis of possession averted, Xue Beng gasped for air, feeling as though he had walked through the gates of hell; his clothes were soaked through.

He crawled up from the pile of hay, drenched in sweat.

Looking at the savior before him who held a wine pot, Xue Beng's eyes were filled with gratitude and ecstasy.

He felt that he had encountered a legendary peerless expert!

"Many thanks to the old immortal for saving my life!"

Ignoring the filth on his body, Xue Beng knelt directly on the ground and kowtowed three times to Zhou Wutai with loud thuds.

"This junior is Xue Beng, a prince of the Heaven Dou Empire!"

"As long as the old immortal is willing to take me in, I am willing to be your beast of burden. Once I return to the empire, I will surely erect a longevity tablet for you and offer you countless gold and silver treasures!"

Xue Beng revealed all his trump cards in one breath, hoping to cling to this thick, powerful thigh.

However, upon hearing his words, Zhou Wutai merely set down his wine pot slowly.

He lowered his head, looking at the kneeling Xue Beng with calm eyes.

"Heaven Dou Empire? A prince?"

Zhou Wutai shook his head slightly, his tone carrying a hint of amusement.

"Zhou has traveled through Zhao State for many years and knows a thing or two about mortal vassal states, large and small, yet I have never heard of any Heaven Dou Empire."

He stepped forward and took a close look at Xue Beng.

"You have no spiritual roots within your body; you are fundamentally incapable of immortal cultivation."

"Being able to keep your life is already a stroke of immense fortune for you. You still dare to dream of following Zhou?"

Zhou Wutai sighed and turned to walk out of the cell.

"Zhou saved you only to uphold the rules of this mortal city and prevent those demonic heretics from causing chaos here."

"As for you, look after yourself."

Having said that, Zhou Wutai paid no more attention to the mortal.

He carried his wine pot and walked slowly out of the death row with steady steps.

The fragments of the thick iron door crunched under his feet.

Zhou Wutai's figure gradually receded, finally disappearing completely at the end of the corridor.

Only Xue Beng was left behind, kneeling blankly on the cold, filthy floor of the cell.

The spectators outside the Sky Screen watched this dramatic scene.

Their moods were quite complex.

Although this senior expert's temperament was much gentler than the previous demonic cultivators, the coldness in his bones was exactly the same.

In their eyes, mortals were nothing more than weeds by the roadside.

Even if they saved a life in passing, they would never spare a second glance.

However, the weight in everyone's hearts had finally lifted.

Regardless, the prince's life had been saved.

Just as the atmosphere on Douluo Continent had eased slightly.

The massive light screen above the firmament.

Without any warning.

Erupted with a blood-red light, more intense and blinding than any time before.

The sky over the entire Douluo Continent seemed to be painted with a thick layer of fresh blood in an instant.

That cold, ruthless, and emotionless grand voice.

Like a thunderclap from the nine heavens, it exploded directly into the depths of every living being's mind.

[Warning.]

[The survival rate of the first five batches of explorers is too low, and the collection of information on world laws is severely obstructed.]

[Initiating the sixth selection immediately!]

[Number of participants for this selection: three.]

As these cold, blood-red characters appeared, the air across the entire Douluo Continent seemed to be drained away in an instant.

The panic that had just subsided surged back into everyone's hearts like a tsunami, even more violent than before.

It was starting again!

Moreover, this time, the Sky Screen did not even grant a moment of respite, announcing the start of the sixth batch of teleportation directly.

The ten billion living beings across the continent prayed frantically in their hearts, begging not to be chosen themselves, and begging for their loved ones to be spared.

The blood-red light on the Sky Screen began to churn violently.

The light screen slowly split in mid-air, transforming into three massive scrolls.

The countdown skipped the seconds-ticking phase entirely, as if the mastermind behind the scenes had lost all patience.

On the first screen, characters appeared, stroke by stroke, as if written in fresh blood, shocking all who beheld them.

[First participant: Spirit Hall's Second Worship, ninety-eighth-level peak Douluo, Golden Crocodile!]

BOOM!

The moment this name appeared, Martial Soul City seemed to be struck by a magnitude-ten earthquake.

Inside the Pope Palace, the already oppressive atmosphere plummeted to freezing point.

One could hear the sound of a needle dropping on the floor.

Golden Crocodile Douluo himself was standing in the center of the great hall.

A moment ago, he had been feeling stifled and indignant over the First Worship, Qian Daoliu, being stuffed into a Black Wood Coffin, grumbling about the cruelty of those immortal cultivators.

The next second, the expression on his face froze completely.

His copper-bell-like eyes widened, staring at his own name on the light screen in utter disbelief.

"Me?"

Golden Crocodile Douluo pointed at his own nose, his voice cracking from the sheer intensity of his shock.

The several Worship elders standing nearby all instinctively took half a step back, looking at him with eyes filled with extreme complexity.

There was sympathy, relief, and a sense of bleakness—the sorrow of the rabbit dying and the fox grieving.

The First Worship, Qian Daoliu, had just met his Waterloo in that world, snatched away as material by an old monster who refined corpses, his life or death unknown.

Now, the butcher's knife of the Sky Screen was pressed against the neck of the Second Worship.

This was going to drain the foundation of Spirit Hall bit by bit!

Bibi Dong sat upon the Pope's throne, gripping the scepter that symbolized her power.

She looked at Golden Crocodile Douluo, who stood stiffly in the hall below, a flicker of imperceptible emotion crossing her eyes.

Although she was at odds with these old fellows from the Worship Hall, in the face of an external enemy that threatened the survival of the entire world, the loss of any peak combatant was a catastrophe for the Douluo Continent.

"Second Worship..." Bibi Dong opened her mouth, only to find she did not know what to say.

Comfort him?

In the face of an immortal-defying world where even a passerby could kill a peerless Douluo in seconds, any comfort seemed pale and powerless.

Golden Crocodile Douluo was, after all, an old monster who had lived for over a hundred years; after the initial panic, he forcibly suppressed the fear in his heart.

He took a deep breath, and an overbearing aura belonging to his Golden Crocodile King martial soul erupted from his entire body.

Golden, scale-like phantoms flickered across his skin.

"If I must go, then I go!"

Golden Crocodile Douluo swung his sleeve violently and shouted aloud.

"The First Worship is currently trapped in a crisis; as the Second Worship, it is only right that I go to that godforsaken place to lend him a hand!"

"I would like to see if those god-playing immortal cultivators can manage to crush this Golden Crocodile armor of mine!"

His words were resonant and his aura was imposing.

However, everyone present could hear the trace of undisguisable lack of confidence hidden within the voice of this usually hot-tempered Second Worship.

Who isn't afraid of death?

Especially after witnessing so many bizarre ways to die, going to that world was equivalent to stepping one foot into the gates of hell.

Before the people in the great hall could even digest this shocking news, the second light screen in the sky began to churn with thick blood mist once more.

The name, written stroke by stroke, once again plucked at the fragile nerves of every soul master across the continent.

[Second: The Third Worship of Spirit Hall, ninety-seventh-level peak Douluo, Azure Luan!]

The entire Pope Palace erupted into absolute chaos.

Light Feather Douluo's hand gripping his Ice Bow trembled, and Mighty Lion Douluo let out a startled cry.

"Third Brother! How could even you be chosen!"

This was madness!

Two consecutive spots had both fallen upon the Worship Hall of Spirit Hall.

Including the Great Worship from before, the three most core, most powerful pillars of Spirit Hall had all been forcibly snatched away by the Sky Screen.

An old man standing beside Golden Crocodile Douluo slowly raised his head.

He wore a cyan robe, his temperament appearing exceptionally refined and aloof.

His long cyan hair was casually tied back with a jade hairpin, and his eyes held a depth reminiscent of the vast firmament.

He was the Third Worship of Spirit Hall, Azure Luan Douluo.

Facing the Sky Screen's death roll call, Azure Luan Douluo's reaction was far calmer than Golden Crocodile Douluo's.

He merely furrowed his brows slightly, then let out a soft sigh.

Cyan wind-attribute Soul Power swirled around him, manifesting into several small, phantom cyan birds that let out crisp cries.

"It seems this is Heaven's will."

Azure Luan Douluo turned his head to look at the flushed Golden Crocodile Douluo beside him, a helpless, bitter smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Second Brother, you won't be lonely anymore."

"The two of us old brothers can go and venture into that world of immortal cultivation together."

Golden Crocodile Douluo looked at his old brother of many years, his eyes growing hot.

He reached out a broad palm and patted Azure Luan Douluo's shoulder heavily.

"Good brother!"

"Whatever that immortal cultivation world is, whatever Nascent Soul or transformation—"

"With our hearts united, as long as we can find the Great Worship, even if we have to risk these old lives, we will tear a piece of flesh off those monsters!"

Watching the two Worships bidding their final farewells, Bibi Dong closed her eyes.

Spirit Hall's strength had suffered an unprecedented blow this day.

Even if she were to unify the continent in the future, without these peak Douluos to hold the fort, Spirit Hall's rule would become precarious.

Yet, facing the will of that higher-dimensional world, she, the Pope, did not even have the slightest room to resist.

Just as Spirit Hall was plunged into a tragic atmosphere, the third screen on the Sky Screen finally lit up with a blood-red glow.

Everyone was guessing who this last unlucky soul would be.

Would it be a powerhouse from the Heaven Dou Empire? Or the royal family of the Star Luo Empire?

Or perhaps one of the two guardian Douluos of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?