There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch in This World

While the crowd remained immersed in the celestial anomaly, Lin Ze'an had already finished charging his wide-range soul skill.

He slowly raised his right hand, aiming it at the criminals kneeling on the ground below, as well as those evil soul masters who had committed monstrous crimes.

"Thinking you can continue living so comfortably in Slaughter City? There is no such thing in this world."

As his words fell, the third soul ring at Lin Ze'an's feet suddenly lit up!

"Third Soul Skill—Leaves Fall to the Other Shore!"

In an instant, a massive energy vortex appeared out of thin air, centered on Lin Ze'an's palm, and swept toward the criminals below.

Terrifyingly, that vortex was also laden with countless razor-sharp leaves.

"No!" Gu Zhi watched helplessly as the energy vortex enveloped him, a look of terror finally appearing on his face.

He struggled desperately, trying to stand up and flee, but the soul power suppression on his body made even the slightest movement incredibly difficult.

"No! Spare me! I was wrong! I beg you!" he shrieked, his voice filled with fear.

The next second—

"Ah—!" A shrill, miserable scream instantly echoed throughout the entire plaza.

God Realm, Forest of Life.

The Goddess of Life was suddenly startled out of her meditation; her state of mind, which had been as calm as water, now felt a strange fluctuation.

"Hmm?" She slowly opened her eyes, a trace of confusion flashing through them.

The power of life was restless. Who could possibly achieve such a degree?

She could clearly feel that the fluctuation of life force was extremely intense, enough to even shake her authority over life.

One must know that she was the God King in charge of life; even the Sea God could not shake her authority over life in the slightest.

Thinking of this, the Goddess of Life closed her eyes and began to sense the source, following the fluctuations of that life force.

Her consciousness, like a gentle breeze, traversed the barriers of the God Realm, crossed the void, and slowly probed toward the source of the disturbance.

When she saw the Douluo Continent, she was completely stunned.

"That is?" The inheritance site of the Angel God? The entire city was shrouded in such a dense aura of life.

The Goddess of Life frowned slightly, continuing her exploration in confusion, until her gaze finally locked onto Lin Ze'an.

"Hmm? A child? And only at the Soul Elder cultivation level?"

Out of curiosity, she raised her hand slightly, and a gentle, pure divine power flowed from her palm, drifting toward Lin Ze'an.

However, the moment this divine power was about to touch Lin Ze'an, it suddenly stalled and then slowly dissipated into the air.

Seeing this, the Goddess of Life was slightly taken aback, a trace of surprise flashing in her eyes: "Not a person from this world?"

The moment her divine power approached, it had been forcibly suppressed and dispersed by the authority of life.

Clearly, that was not power that should exist in this world.

But how could such a situation occur on the Douluo Continent?

The Goddess of Life closed her eyes, her powerful divine sense instantly spreading out to scan the entire Douluo Continent.

Soon, her divine sense locked onto a young boy.

It was Tang San, who was a few years older than Lin Ze'an.

"So that's how it is..."

Someone had secretly opened a crack in the world barrier to allow this Tang San to come to the Douluo Continent.

Because of this, Lin Ze'an had been able to arrive in the Douluo Continent as well.

Yet, she had been completely unaware...

Thinking of this, the Goddess of Life waved her hand gently, and a burst of divine power radiated out, slowly brushing over Spirit City.

She would go down to meet him once the child finished handling his current affairs.

In an instant, the celestial anomaly caused by Lin Ze'an over Spirit City, as well as his aura, were quietly concealed.

In front of the Pope Palace, the green vortex that shrouded the entire scene continued to rotate slowly, and the dense aura of life brushed over every inch of land like a spring breeze.

The criminals kneeling on the ground twitched violently, their internal soul power surging out frantically, forming visible streams of energy light in the air.

"Ah—!" The shrill, miserable screams rose and fell one after another.

The faces of those criminals were twisted to the extreme; they could clearly feel that all of their soul power was being forcibly extracted from their bodies.

Suddenly, a strange change occurred!

The martial souls of those sinners, which had been unable to manifest due to the soul power suppression, now emerged uncontrollably on their own.

Clusters of ghostly light condensed in the air, transforming into various forms of martial souls.

But as soon as these martial souls appeared, they trembled uncontrollably, then slowly dissipated, turning into pure soul power.

"This..." Bibi Dong stared at Lin Ze'an, stunned.

She truly felt now that Lin Ze'an should take her as his master; to think he could pull off a stunt like this.

He hadn't intended to kill those people, but rather to extract all of their soul power, along with their martial souls.

In this way, without the support of soul power, their physical bodies would be unable to defeat anyone, even in Slaughter City.

Soon, all the extracted soul power, as well as the energy released from the dissipating martial souls, began to converge involuntarily toward where Lin Ze'an stood.

Like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, this soul power eventually condensed into a massive energy sphere above Lin Ze'an's palm.

Following that, he began to compress and purify the energy sphere, immediately tossing it into his necklace to feed Little Sprout.

He had no desire to absorb the soul power of these fellows; it was far too repulsive.

Having finished this, Lin Ze'an retracted his martial soul and descended back to the ground, the strange phenomenon in the sky dissipating along with it.

The plaza fell into a deathly silence.

Those criminals who had been stripped of their soul power and martial souls now collapsed onto the ground, their eyes vacant.

They had been rendered completely crippled... How could this be?

That brat was merely a Soul Master; how could he possibly accomplish such a feat...

"Ahhh--!"

A shrill roar erupted.

With the dissipation of their soul power, the restraints on their bodies were lifted, and those men scrambled to their feet, charging madly toward Lin Ze'an.

"How could you be so vicious!!!"

"I'm going to kill you!!!"

"Give my power back!!!"

Just then--

"Insolent!"

Yue Guan appeared instantly in front of Lin Ze'an, coldly ordering the Palace Guard Knights to the side, "What are you standing there for? Take them down!"

"Yes!"

Receiving the order, the Palace Guard Knights moved at once.

In mere moments, they suppressed all the criminals again, then dragged the subdued men up and swiftly hauled them away from the front of the Pope Palace.

Even so, those men continued to spew vicious curses, though they no longer posed any threat.

Watching them being dragged away, Lin Ze'an turned to Yue Guan and said, "Thank you, Master."

Hearing this, Yue Guan sighed helplessly, "Disciple, you did well, but in the future, leave such matters to your master."

Pulling a stunt like this today had caused quite a commotion; it wouldn't be long before word spread across the entire continent.

Even if outsiders didn't know who his disciple was, it was still a potential hazard in the end... Sigh, he would have to plan for the long term.