Blind Man? How are all the cripples in this village?

Seeing Qin Mu like this, everyone from Douluo Continent outside the screen finally let out a breath of relief.

They wondered if perhaps there was still room to turn this around?

And when Dugu Bo saw Qin Mu address him as "grandpa," delight instantly rose in his heart. He felt there was hope.

"Little brother, I'm a traveler who lost his way here from a very, very far place."

Dugu Bo deliberately put on a pitiful look and sighed.

"Just now, in the valley, I was accidentally bitten by a big bug. I couldn't move, and then I was brought here."

"I can tell from your full forehead and kind face that you're a good, softhearted child."

"Could you help Grandpa out? Open the door and help Grandpa leave? Your granny must be looking for you too. Grandpa can take you home on the way."

Dugu Bo spoke with great emotion, and to make himself more believable, he even deliberately brought up the Painted Skin Old Woman.

After Qin Mu heard him out, his little mouth parted slightly, as if he had sunk into thought.

He tilted his head and stared at Dugu Bo for a long while with his big, dark, shining eyes.

Then Qin Mu's gaze fell on the nine faintly visible spirit rings beneath Dugu Bo's feet.

Although Dugu Bo could not mobilize his spirit power right now, the nine halos that represented his Title Douluo cultivation still flickered faintly around his body from time to time.

"Such pretty rings of light."

Qin Mu stretched out a fair, tender finger and curiously poked that yellow hundred-year spirit ring.

The special sense of energy rebounding from his fingertip made Qin Mu find it extremely fun.

"Grandpa, you said just now that you wanted to get out?" Qin Mu withdrew his finger and looked at Dugu Bo with an obedient expression.

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Seeing that Qin Mu had taken the bait, Dugu Bo nodded repeatedly, a trace of wild joy flashing through his eyes.

"As long as you let Grandpa out, Grandpa will buy you lots and lots of tasty food, and I'll teach you magic tricks too. How about it?"

"Forget the magic tricks. Village Chief Grandpa said those are all little tricks to fool people."

Qin Mu smiled and shook his head.

He crouched on the ground, propping his cheeks up with both little hands, revealing two adorable little canine teeth.

But what he said next instantly froze the smile on Dugu Bo's face, as if a basin of ice water had been dumped over his head.

"Just now, I was still wondering. The big wild beasts Pharmacist Grandpa usually catches for testing medicine are all locked in the cellars outside the village."

"So why would this room for storing high-grade medicinal ingredients suddenly have a living person in it today?"

Qin Mu smiled until his eyes curved, his tone still so innocent and bright, but a hint of slyness and mischief flashed through his gaze.

"So, Grandpa, you're the human-shaped big medicinal ingredient Pharmacist Grandpa was talking about."

"When Pharmacist Grandpa was chatting with Blind Man Grandpa at the village entrance just now, he said he'd caught an old man whose poison-refining skills were as rotten as a pile of shit, and who had a few glowing rings under his feet."

"He said he was going to peel off those rings of yours to use as fertilizer, then throw your whole body into the Myriad Poison Cauldron and simmer you into a big pot of rich broth to nourish Little Black and the others."

At this point, Qin Mu also patted Dugu Bo on the shoulder with a face full of sympathy.

"Grandpa, Pharmacist Grandpa's Myriad Poison Cauldron is really hot. You have to simmer in there a little longer. Little Black only likes eating bones once they're tender."

"You're about to become a pot of soup, so how are you going to take me home?"

After these words were spoken, the entire thatched cottage instantly fell into dead silence.

Outside the screen, everyone on Douluo Continent sucked in a cold breath.

They looked at Qin Mu in the scene, whose smile was as radiant as a little sun, and only felt a chill rush straight up their spines to the backs of their heads.

How was this an innocent child?

This was clearly a little devil who, if cut open, would be filled entirely with black water!

As for Dugu Bo himself, he was even more thunderstruck.

His eyes went wide, his lips trembled, and for a long time, he could not utter a single word.

He had thought he was coaxing a little lamb, only to discover that he, this old wolf, had actually been treated as a joke by a little devil!

Just as Dugu Bo lost his composure, gripped by fear and shock, Qin Mu suddenly leaned in a little closer, his clear eyes fixed tightly on Dugu Bo, and in a voice only the two of them could hear, he said faintly, "Grandpa, actually, if you don't want to be simmered into soup, I can help you."

Hearing this, Dugu Bo trembled all over, as if he had seized a beam of light in endless darkness, and hurriedly asked, "You... you're willing to save me?"

At that, the corners of Qin Mu's mouth lifted, revealing a mysterious smile that felt strikingly at odds with his appearance.

"If you want to live, that's fine."

"But you have to trade me those glowing rings under your feet."

"I think that thing looks pretty fun. It'd definitely be good for catching loaches by the river."

Hearing this, Dugu Bo's heart instantly sank to rock bottom, and his eyes went blank.

When they heard Qin Mu say in the screen that he wanted to strip off the glowing rings and use them to loop around loaches, after a brief silence, the entire Douluo Continent erupted into an uproar.

On the field at Shrek Academy, Yu Xiaogang's already somewhat stiff face had now flushed the color of pig liver.

He suddenly flicked his sleeve, clasped his hands behind his back, and his chest heaved violently. Clearly, he was far from lightly angered.

"Absurd! This is absolutely ridiculous!"

Yu Xiaogang gritted his teeth, his voice filled with irrepressible fury as he loudly rebuked him.

"This ignorant brat actually dares to insult our Douluo Continent's soul master system like this!"

"Soul rings are the foundation by which soul masters communicate with heaven and earth and unleash soul skills. They are sacred, inviolable crystallizations of power."

"And he actually has the nerve to say he wants to use them to loop loaches?"

In Yu Xiaogang's eyes, Qin Mu's words were not only humiliating Dugu Bo, but also trampling the martial soul system that the entire Douluo Continent took pride in underfoot.

What he had been proudest of in this life was the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls. Although his own cultivation was low, he valued the dignity of the soul master system even more than his life.

Beside him, Tang San also nodded with deep agreement, a trace of anger flashing through his eyes.

"Teacher is right. The natives in this Great Ruins are arrogant beyond measure."

Hearing his beloved disciple echo him, Yu Xiaogang also took a deep breath and calmed his agitated emotions a little.

He slowly paced a couple of steps across the field, then turned around and began analyzing for everyone from Shrek in a tone as though he were judging the world.

"Actually, if everyone thinks carefully, this so-called Great Ruins is not as invincible as we imagined."

"Recall the information revealed in the screen just now."

Yu Xiaogang raised a finger, his eyes gleaming with the wisdom of someone who thought he had seen through everything.

"What did that child named Qin Mu mention just now?"

"He said Grandpa Pharmacist was chatting with Grandpa Blind Man at the village entrance."

"Add to that the granny that boy casually called out earlier, as well as the crippled Butcher we saw."

"What does that prove?"

Everyone looked at one another, all waiting for the Grandmaster's profound opinion.

Yu Xiaogang gave a cold laugh, a trace of disdain entering his tone.

"It proves that this child is not some peerless genius cultivated by a famous sect or great clan at all."

"The place he lives is most likely just a remote, backward village of paupers."

"And the elders in this village are actually all a group of physically disabled good-for-nothings!"

At this point, the confidence on Yu Xiaogang's face grew even stronger.

He cleared his throat and continued breaking it down.

"We might as well use soul master combat theory to analyze these cripples."

"First, there is that Butcher who has only his upper body left."

"The strength with which he swings his blade is indeed great. He can even split mountain peaks."

"But in real combat, what use is brute strength?"

"He has no legs, which means he has no mobility to speak of!"

"If our Douluo Continent sent out a high-level agility-attack soul master, relying on extreme speed to roam around and wear him down, that Butcher wouldn't even be able to touch the corner of our soul master's clothes. In the end, he could only be exhausted to death!"

When Dai Mubai heard this, his eyes lit up, and he clenched his fist and struck his palm.

"Grandmaster makes sense! No matter how powerful an attack is, it's useless if it can't hit anyone!"

Yu Xiaogang nodded in satisfaction and continued.

"Then there is that Blind Man."

"Blindness in both eyes is a fatal flaw on the battlefield."

"Even if his hearing is sharp, as long as we send out a soul master with sound-wave-type soul skills to interfere with him, or use special methods to conceal our footsteps and ambush him from behind, killing a blind man would be as easy as turning over a hand."

"As for that old woman wearing human skin, she is probably just some heretical practitioner skilled in disguise or illusions."

"Such people have extremely poor frontal combat ability. As long as an assault-type soul master gets close, one punch would be enough to break her sorcery."

The more Yu Xiaogang spoke, the more excited he became, as if he had already seen the Shrek Seven Devils and the people of Douluo slaughtering their way through the Great Ruins.

After he finished speaking, he stopped and swept his gaze over everyone.

"Taken as a whole, the only one in this village who is slightly worthy of caution is that poison user wearing the evil ghost mask."

"But the reason Senior Dugu Bo lost was entirely because he was careless and underestimated the enemy. On top of that, the poisonous insects of the Great Ruins were far too massive, catching Senior Dugu off guard."

Yu Xiaogang abruptly waved his hand and concluded with ringing certainty.

"If several Titled Douluo-level experts could descend into the same place, coordinating with one another with assault, agility attack, control, and support all accounted for..."

"That crippled village could never be a match for the top experts of our Douluo Continent!"

"As long as we advance steadily and methodically, we soul masters will definitely be able to find opportunities in that land, and even sweep through the entire world of Tales of Herding Gods!"

Yu Xiaogang's long speech was impassioned and clearly structured.

After the students of Shrek Academy listened to it, each of them felt their blood surge with excitement.

The fear born from witnessing one gruesome death after another had actually been driven away by more than half by Yu Xiaogang's "god-tier theory."

"So these monsters all have such obvious weaknesses. Master really sees things clearly!" Ma Hongjun flattered him, his face full of worship.

Tang San also let out a slight breath of relief, much of the gloom in his heart swept away.

He felt that his teacher's analysis was extremely logical. All things generated and countered one another. As long as they identified the right weakness, the people of a higher-dimensional world were not necessarily unbeatable.

At the same time, within the borders of the Heaven Dou Empire, atop a towering mountain shrouded year-round in thunderclouds.

This was the sect grounds of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon clan, one of the Upper Three Sects.

Inside the grand hall, lightning flickered and thunder rumbled faintly.

Yu Yuanzhen, the sect master of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect, was currently seated upright in a broad armchair made of lightning-struck wood.

He was tall and powerfully built, with a firm, resolute face, and his entire body exuded an overbearing, unmatched aura of thunder and lightning.

On both sides of the hall sat more than a dozen elders who held real authority in the sect, every one of their eyes carrying a pride that came from deep in their bones.

They were likewise watching the images on the heavenly screen in midair.

When they saw Dugu Bo being mocked by a child like a tattered sack, an elder with white hair and beard could not help but let out a cold snort.

"That old poison freak has truly disgraced the reputation of Titled Douluo on our Douluo Continent."

The elder picked up the teacup beside him, gently skimmed aside the tea leaves, and spoke in a tone full of disdain.

"He usually relies on that poison skill of his to throw his weight around in Heaven Dou Imperial City."

"But when he really runs into someone even slightly formidable, his true colors show."

"Exactly," another elder echoed.

"Dugu Bo is nothing more than the publicly acknowledged weakest Titled Douluo on our Douluo Continent."

"With that meager bit of cultivation of his, he can only bully low-level soul masters."

"If it were truly a one-on-one duel, our sect master could beat him until his teeth were all over the floor in less than ten rounds."

"The fact that he was caught by an insect doesn't represent the true strength of us soul masters of Douluo Continent at all!"

Hearing this, a chorus of agreement immediately rang out through the entire hall.

The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon clan had always thought highly of themselves. They possessed what was known as the number one assault-type beast martial soul on the continent, and they had never looked favorably on people like Dugu Bo, who relied on poison to win.

Seated at the head, Yu Yuanzhen slowly opened his eyes, and thunder seemed to flash through their depths.

"Whether Dugu Bo lives or dies has nothing to do with our sect."

Yu Yuanzhen's voice was low, yet it echoed through the hall like muffled thunder.

"What I truly care about is the darkness of the Great Ruins."

When they heard the sect master mention that terrifying darkness which had devoured the previous explorers, the atmosphere in the hall froze slightly.

But very soon, a hot-tempered elder stood up and said loudly, "Sect Master, in my view, that darkness is nothing to fear at all!"

"What our Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon clan controls is the glorious heavenly thunder above the nine heavens!"

"Thunder and lightning are the bane of all evil and darkness!"

The more the elder spoke, the more confident he became, until he could not help but release a trace of his martial soul aura.

Blue light flickered over his body, and several thick bolts of lightning coiled around his arm like wandering dragons.

"If the heavenly screen selects someone from our sect to go to the Great Ruins,"

"Then at night, they only need to release their martial soul. That firm, blazing power of thunder will be enough to illuminate the surroundings as bright as day!"

"As for those demons and monsters hidden in the darkness, if they dare come near, we will make sure they are reduced to ash beneath the lightning!"

After hearing this, Yu Yuanzhen also gave a slight nod.

He had absolute confidence in his own sect's martial soul.

Thunder and lightning represented light and judgment.

In their eyes, the reason the darkness of the Great Ruins was frightening was because the people who had gone before were too weak and had no powerful attribute capable of driving away the darkness.

"If there is a chance..."

Yu Yuanzhen looked at the heavenly screen, a flash of blazing ambition passing through his eyes.

"My Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon clan will definitely establish a foothold in that Great Ruins!"

"At that time, by hunting those enormous native exotic beasts to obtain soul rings, our sect will surely leap up to become the strongest power in all worlds!"

At the same time, within the canopy.

The Great Ruins, Crippled Old Village.

Inside that dim, dilapidated thatched hut filled with the smell of medicine.

Dugu Bo looked at the grinning little brat in front of him, who was all smiles on the surface but full of wicked schemes underneath, and the last of the hope in his heart was completely extinguished.

He knew this child named Qin Mu had no intention of letting him go at all, and was even still coveting the spirit rings beneath his feet.

"Good! Very good!"

Dugu Bo secretly gritted his teeth, his gaze gradually turning sinister and vicious.

After all, he was a Titled Douluo who had fought through countless battles, definitely not some pushover who would let others carve him up.

"Since you monsters won't leave me a way to live, then we'll all go down together!"