[The seventh round of forced selection is now beginning.] [Recalculating the number of people selected this round...]
On the Sky Screen, icy, merciless scarlet characters gathered once more above the heads of the continent's tens of billions of living beings, like deathly talismans.
The people of Douluo Continent had just witnessed three Peak Douluo vanish into ash with their own eyes. Now, the last defenses in their hearts had been completely shattered.
[The seventh round of forced selection is now beginning.] [Number of people selected this round: three.]
The Sky Screen gave no one time to catch their breath or pray. The thick, roiling blood-red light suddenly spat out the first line of names, without the slightest warning.
[First: Oscar, Shrek Academy!]
Boom!
On the training grounds of Shrek Academy, in Fasinuo Province.
The deathly silence lasted for one second, then erupted into a heart-rending cry.
"Xiao Ao!!"
Ning Rongrong's face, which had been relatively calm, instantly turned deathly pale.
Her legs gave way, and she collapsed to the ground. She reached desperately for the silver-haired young man standing not far away.
Oscar himself was stunned.
His peach-blossom eyes, usually tinged with a hint of flirtation and amusement, were now wide as saucers.
"I... I'm a food-type support..."
Oscar swallowed, his voice trembling.
In a world where even a Level 97 Power Attack System Peak Douluo could be crushed like an ant, what could a sausage seller like him—someone without the slightest combat ability—possibly do in there? Serve as emergency rations?
Tang San, Dai Mubai, and the others rushed over, each of their faces grim.
"Why Xiao Ao..." Everyone stamped their feet in anxious frustration, their eyes red.
Looking at Ning Rongrong, who was weeping bitterly, Oscar forcibly suppressed his fear.
He managed to force out a smile uglier than crying and reached out to ruffle Ning Rongrong's hair.
"Rongrong, don't cry... Maybe people in that world have been fasting for so long that they're ready for a change of taste."
"I... I'll do my best to survive."
Just as the people of Shrek were sinking into the despair of a heartbreaking farewell,
the blood-red light on the Sky Screen surged once more, and a second name appeared.
That name, along with the anomaly that followed, sent unprecedented shockwaves through the entirety of Douluo Continent!
[Second: Qian Renxue, Spirit Hall!]
At the sight of the name, ninety-nine percent of the people on the continent looked completely baffled.
Who was Qian Renxue? Was there even anyone by that name in Spirit Hall?
But inside Pope Palace in Spirit City, Bibi Dong's pupils suddenly contracted, and the scepter in her hand nearly slipped to the ground.
What was even more shocking was that
the thick, scarlet pillar of light descending from the Sky Screen did not fall on Spirit City. Instead, it pierced through the clouds and landed with unerring precision inside the main hall of the Heaven Dou Empire's imperial palace!
The pillar of light enveloped a young man standing in the middle of the hall, dressed in the luxurious robes of a crown prince.
The Heaven Dou Empire's crown prince, Xue Qinghe!
The newly awakened Xue Ye and all the court officials stared in utter shock.
"Th-this... what's going on? Did the Sky Screen make a mistake? That's the Crown Prince!" an old official cried out in alarm.
Yet under the Sky Screen's absolute, higher-dimensional laws of detection, all disguises were useless.
Inside the scarlet pillar of light, the disguise Soul Bone bestowed on Xue Qinghe by the Angel God Armor let out a cracking sound, as though it could no longer bear the strain.
As the entire continent watched in stupefaction, "Xue Qinghe's" body began to change dramatically.
His Adam's apple vanished, his frame grew slender and graceful, and his formerly short black hair turned instantly into a waterfall of golden locks that fell to her waist.
It took only a few seconds.
The gentle and refined Heaven Dou Crown Prince was gone. In her place stood a peerlessly beautiful golden-haired woman, her skin fair as snow, with the faint shadow of six sacred wings behind her.
"Qian Renxue... She's the daughter of Qian Xunji, Spirit Hall's former pope!"
Ning Fengzhi stared at the golden-haired woman on the screen. A flash of lightning seemed to strike through his mind, and he understood everything in an instant.
"What a Spirit Hall! What a masterstroke—stealing heaven and changing the sun!" Ning Fengzhi broke out in a cold sweat.
If the Sky Screen hadn't called her out by name, the entire Heaven Dou Empire might have fallen under Spirit Hall's control sooner or later, without anyone being the wiser.
Qian Renxue stood inside the pillar of light, her exquisite face full of shock and unwillingness.
She had spent more than a decade undercover. She had nearly accomplished her mission, only for this sudden Sky Screen to strip away all her trump cards in the most overbearing fashion and toss her straight onto the death list.
Yet the Sky Screen's merciless selection continued.
[Third: Bai Chenxiang, Speed Clan, one of the four single-attribute clans!]
On the training grounds of Shrek Academy,
Ma Hongjun, who had just been weeping over Oscar, heard the name and froze as if struck by lightning.
"Xiangxiang..." Ma Hongjun's voice trembled uncontrollably.
At the Speed Clan's residence, where the clan had recently joined Tang Sect, Bai He watched his granddaughter being engulfed by the blood-red light. Tears streamed down his face, but he was powerless to help.
[Preparation complete.] [Beginning transmission!]
The three pillars of scarlet light suddenly contracted.
Oscar, Qian Renxue, and Bai Chenxiang vanished without a trace before the watching eyes of the people of Douluo Continent.
The scene on the Sky Screen spun.
The first screen to light up belonged to Oscar.
When the audience from Douluo Continent saw where Oscar had arrived, they all drew in a sharp breath.
It was a vast, boundless sea of stars.
Countless Cultivation World planets were like enormous gemstones set in the blackness of space.
In the deepest reaches of the starry sky floated an incomparably vast ancient continent.
Above the continent, thunderclouds covered the sky as far as the eye could see.
Purple, red, and black lightning bolts writhed through the clouds like countless dancing dragons, rumbling with earth-shaking force.
This was none other than the famed Thunder Immortal Palace, in the Luo Tian Star Domain of the Renegade Immortal World!
Oscar was transported to an enormous White Jade Plaza on the outskirts of Thunder Immortal Palace.
The plaza was more than ten times the size of Heaven Dou City, and its ground was paved entirely with Thunder Pole Jade, which radiated dense spiritual energy.
At that moment, tens of thousands of cultivators from the Luo Tian Star Domain had gathered on the plaza.
Most wore identical silver Daoist robes, with lightning totems embroidered on their sleeves.
Even the gatekeeping disciples on the outskirts radiated an aura more terrifying than that of a Soul Douluo from Douluo Continent!
In the sky, Core Formation Stage and Nascent Soul old monsters rode flying swords or thunderous beasts, appearing and disappearing among the clouds.
This was Thunder Immortal Palace: the most orthodox, strictest, and most exalted cultivation sanctuary in the Luo Tian Star Domain.
Its discipline was strict, and its oppressive aura overwhelming.
Oscar was like a stone dropped out of nowhere into boiling water. He suddenly appeared on the platform in the very center of the plaza.
Thump.
Oscar fell flat on his face.
Dizzy and disoriented, he scrambled to his feet. The moment he opened his eyes, he found tens of thousands of cultivators surrounding him, all staring with scrutiny—and even a hint of the way one looked at a dead man.
The air was terrifyingly still.
Only the thunderous booms of lightning bursting in the sky echoed around them.
"Which mortal ant dares trespass upon the sacred grounds of my Thunder Immortal Palace?!"
In midair, a Core Formation Stage enforcer stood atop a huge purple thunder sword, looking down at Oscar.
He swept Oscar with his divine sense and discovered that there wasn't the slightest trace of spiritual energy in the young man's body.
In this place, brimming with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, even a pig ought to have some spiritual energy inside it.
But the Soul Power in Oscar's body barely amounted to anything more than a mortal's foul breath under the cultivator's divine sense.
Under the Core Formation Stage enforcer's terrifying pressure, which seemed almost tangible, Oscar's legs went weak, and he nearly dropped to his knees.
Cold sweat instantly soaked his back.
I'm done for, I'm done for, I'm done for! These people look a million times more ruthless than the dean!
Oscar roared wildly in his heart.
He knew that in this cultivation world, mortals were ants.
If he didn't quickly prove himself to have some kind of "useful value," that purple flying sword would turn him into charcoal the very next second.
"Esteemed immortals... Esteemed immortals! Great immortals! Please spare me!"
Oscar's mind raced, and he hurriedly shouted.
"I didn't trespass! I'm here to offer my services!"
"Although I don't have the spiritual energy you do, I'm an extremely rare food-type support! I can create top-grade elixirs out of thin air to restore your strength and heal your injuries!"
To save his life, Oscar made his Martial Soul sound as wondrous as he could.
At the words "create top-grade elixirs out of thin air,"
a flicker of surprise passed through the eyes of the Thunder Immortal Palace cultivators on the plaza.
Creating things from nothing? Even old monsters at the Spirit Transformation Realm could hardly accomplish that.
Could this ant, who looked like an ordinary mortal, be hiding some ancient treasure?
Even the Core Formation Stage enforcer in midair slightly reined in his killing intent and stared coldly at Oscar.
"Oh? A top-grade elixir?"
A note of doubt and scrutiny entered the enforcer's voice.
"Bring it out and let me see."
"If you dare utter a single falsehood, I'll immediately tear out your soul and refine it, so you can taste the torment of ten thousand bolts of lightning ripping through your heart!"
When Oscar heard that the other party was willing to take a look, he breathed a huge sigh of relief.
As long as he could prove he was a useful "support healer," surely these righteous cultivators wouldn't just kill people on a whim, right?
He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and straightened up, brimming with confidence.
"Please take a good look, Immortal!"
Oscar took a deep breath, brought his hands together sharply in front of his chest, and closed his eyes. To show his sincerity, he summoned his strongest first Soul Skill.
Then, on the solemn, dignified White Jade Plaza of Thunder Immortal Palace, where strict discipline reigned and tens of thousands of righteous cultivators had gathered,
Oscar shouted a spell in a loud, clear voice, his words even rising and falling with a hint of cadence:
"I Have a Big Sausage!!!"
For a moment, the entire plaza on the outskirts of Thunder Immortal Palace fell into a deathly silence so complete that a pin could have been heard dropping.
The thunder rolling through the sky seemed to have been forcibly stopped by that single shout.
Tens of thousands of cultivators from the Luo Tian Star Domain stared wide-eyed, mouths slightly agape, as if someone had cast a body-freezing spell on them.
"'I have a big sausage'?"
In the Cultivation World, ranks were strict.
Only old monsters who had lived for a thousand years and possessed heaven-shaking cultivation dared to call themselves "this old man" or "your lord" in front of their juniors.
Yet this mortal ant, without a trace of spiritual energy in his body, dared to call himself "your lord" on Thunder Immortal Palace's territory, in front of tens of thousands of cultivators?!
Even worse was what came after.
As Oscar's incantation ended, a flash of pink light flickered in his hand.
A huge, piping-hot, plump sausage, radiating a rich, meaty aroma, appeared out of thin air in his palm.
To the eyes of any normal person, its shape was... difficult to describe.
Oscar held the sausage out in both hands, his face full of ingratiating smiles. Raising it high, he called to the Core Formation Stage enforcer, who had gone completely rigid in midair:
"Look, Immortal! This is the elixir I made!"
"Fresh out of the oven! One bite will not only fill your stomach, it'll restore your strength, too!"
"Would you like to try it while it's still hot?"
Douluo Continent, Shrek Academy.
Dai Mubai covered his face with both hands in anguish and groaned through his fingers.
"That idiot... He actually recited his Soul Skill incantation in a place like that..."
Tang San also pressed a hand to his forehead, the corner of his mouth twitching uncontrollably.
But on the screen,
the tens of thousands of Thunder Immortal Palace cultivators finally recovered from their shock.
What followed was an eruption of towering rage and searing humiliation, like a volcano blowing its top!
"IMPUDENT!!!"
The Core Formation Stage enforcer in midair had originally worn a cold expression. Now his face had turned the color of pig liver.
He felt his intelligence had been insulted like never before.
This mortal ant had actually taken a piece of food with such a lewd, obscene shape and offered it to him in front of cultivators across the world, telling him to "try it while it's still hot"?
An elixir?
This damn thing was clearly a shameless public indecency, a naked insult to the dignity of Thunder Immortal Palace!
"Brazen fool! You dare insult the sacred grounds of my Thunder Immortal Palace with such a lewd object!"
The enforcer shook with rage, his finger trembling as he pointed at Oscar.
"Kill him! Strike him to ashes!!!"
At the command,—
Tens of thousands of cultivators surrounding the plaza erupted in fury.
Cultivators were naturally detached from worldly desires, and they valued face more than life itself.
In their eyes, Oscar's stunt of "using lewdness as a skill" was worse than killing their entire families.
"Rumble!"
There was no need for the enforcers to act.
Around the plaza, more than a hundred Foundation Establishment and Core Formation Stage cultivators in charge of law enforcement simultaneously formed sword seals.
Hundreds of purple bolts of lightning, each as thick as a barrel, came roaring down from the sky, carrying the fury of world-ending destruction as they locked onto Oscar in the middle of the plaza, still holding up a sausage with a bewildered look on his face.
"W-wait! Let me explain! This really is medicine—aaaaah!"
Oscar hadn't even finished explaining.
Hundreds of bolts of lightning had already descended from the sky.
"BOOM!!!"
Blinding lightning instantly engulfed the raised platform at the center of White Jade Plaza.
Not even a scream escaped.
When the lightning faded, it had blasted a bottomless pit into the platform.
As for Oscar—and the "Big Sausage" he'd been so proud of—
Under the pure lightning baptism of Thunder Immortal Palace, they had turned into a wisp of smoke. Not a single cell remained.
[The first of the seventh batch of explorers has died.]
On the Sky Screen, Oscar's screen instantly turned gray.
The corners of every viewer's eyes across the entire continent twitched uncontrollably.
When other Douluo powerhouses went to Renegade Immortal, they were at least killed because their combat strength wasn't enough.
But this food-type genius had managed to disgust the cultivators to death with his own soul incantation, then got focused down and blasted to death as a perverted lecher.