The Foremost Person Under the Gods, Yankang Imperial Preceptor!

No one knew how much time had passed before a dim, gray light finally appeared on the horizon.

Inside the main hall of Great Thunderclap Temple, the suffocating chill began to fade little by little with the coming dawn.

Flender opened his eyes groggily, feeling sore all over.

He sucked in a sharp breath, his mind clearing in an instant, and instinctively reached back to feel his own spine.

The bones the monster had snapped had actually been set back in place, and his wounds were covered in a thick layer of scabs. But with the slightest movement, his flesh still pulled with raw, burning pain.

Flender braced himself against the floor and sat up, then looked around.

The old monk in the ragged patchwork robe had left at some point.

The main hall was empty, with only the dozen or so peeling Buddha statues still standing silently where they were.

Flender glanced at the lotus pedestal that had split open last night, shrank his neck in fright, and hurriedly scrambled to his feet on all fours.

No matter how much he loved money, he did not dare scrape the gold leaf off those Buddha statues now.

Money was wonderful, but he had to be alive to spend it.

The night in the Great Ruins receded very quickly.

Sunlight spilled through the ruined roof and into the main hall, adding a touch of life to the wreckage.

Flender stood on the steps of Great Thunderclap Temple, gazing out at the endless wilderness beyond, his mind racing.

"This damned place is full of man-eating monsters, and there are evil things underground too."

"I need to find a city with more people as soon as possible and ask around to figure out what kind of world this is. I can't just keep wandering blindly through the middle of nowhere."

At that thought, Flender took a deep breath and once again urged the soul power inside him.

Although his wings had only just been mended, and even the slightest movement tugged painfully at them, he did not dare stay in this ruined temple for even half an incense stick longer.

Dark green wings suddenly spread open. Flender pushed off with both feet, and his whole body rose unsteadily into the air.

He did not dare fly too high, afraid he might attract some huge flying bug in the sky.

Following the direction of the rising sun, he cautiously glided along just above the treetops.

After flying for roughly two to four hours, the outline of a city finally appeared on the horizon ahead.

The city had been built with imposing grandeur. Its walls were made entirely of massive blocks of blue-gray stone, their surfaces covered with the marks of years of blades and axes.

Quite a few people were going in and out of the city gate: merchants pushing wheelbarrows, burly men riding strange beasts. It looked rather lively.

At the sight, Flender's heart immediately filled with joy.

He quickly landed in a small grove some distance from the city gate and put away his wings.

As a dean who had been shrewd his whole life, Flender knew all too well how to survive in an unfamiliar environment.

He lowered his head and looked at his ragged robe, still stained with quite a bit of dried blood and mud.

If he swaggered into the city looking like a refugee, he would definitely draw questioning from the gate guards.

He rummaged through his soul tool for a while, found a clean set of clothes he usually only bore to wear for ceremonies, and changed into them. Then he took off the crystal spectacles with half a lens broken and carefully tucked them into his clothes.

After tidying his hair a little, Flender patted the dust from his body and once again became that somewhat shrewd and slick-looking middle-aged uncle.

Putting on the appearance of a weary traveler, he naturally blended into the crowd entering the city and followed the flow of people into this important border town.

The city was quite bustling, with all kinds of stalls lining both sides of the streets.

There were sellers of medicinal herbs, sellers of beast hides, and sellers of all sorts of bizarre weapons.

The cries of vendors rose and fell along the street, filled with a rough, worldly atmosphere.

Flender did not wander around aimlessly.

As he walked, he observed the clothing and speech of the people around him.

Before long, he found the liveliest-looking tavern on a street corner.

A tavern was a place where all sorts of people gathered, and it had always been the best place to gather information.

That was also experience he had summed up after many years of roaming the world.

Flender chose an empty table by the window and sat down, ordering two jugs of fine strong liquor and several pounds of sliced cooked beef.

Before long, several men at a nearby table, dressed in leather armor and looking like mercenaries, began loudly boasting.

Flender's eyes shifted. He picked up a still-sealed jug of good wine, piled his signature amiable smile onto his face, and cheerfully moved over.

"Gentlemen, I've only just arrived and don't know the place. Allow me to offer you this wine as a toast, and let's consider it making friends."

Flender was an extremely smooth operator. His words were pleasant to hear, and with that jug of fragrant fine wine leading the way, the men immediately lowered their guard.

"Oh, brother, you're too polite."

"Judging by your clothes, you're a traveling merchant from out of town, aren't you?"

A scar-faced man took the wine jug and burst into hearty laughter.

Flender went along with it, sighed, and sat down on the empty stool beside them.

"Exactly. I was originally escorting a caravan, but we ran into a strange gust of wind in the mountains, and I got separated from the group."

"It took me forever just to find my way into this city."

"You brothers are well traveled and knowledgeable. I've been stuck out in the back of beyond all this time, so I'm a bit curious."

As Flender deftly poured wine for the man, he pretended to ask casually.

"In our neck of the woods, who are the most powerful figures?"

"If I do business in the future, I can avoid certain taboos ahead of time, so I don't blindly offend some big shot."

The scar-faced man took a sip of wine, smacked his lips, and immediately laughed when he heard the question.

"Brother, you've asked the right person."

The man set down his wine bowl, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, then deliberately lowered his voice and pointed at the sky above.

"If we're talking about the strongest in our Yankang Kingdom, then naturally it's the lofty gods above!"

At the word "gods," Flender's heart gave a thump, and the smile on his face almost slipped.

Meanwhile, outside the screen, on the Douluo Continent.

Across the entire field of Shrek Academy, and in the Supreme Pontiff's Palace of Spirit City, every soul master pricked up their ears at that exact instant.

This world actually had gods, and judging by this mortal's tone, the existence of gods seemed to be common knowledge!

Flender put on a shocked expression and cupped his hands repeatedly.

"Brother, are there really immortals in this world?"

"Of course!" The man glared, speaking with a touch of pride.

"But the gods are all in the heavens. How could ordinary mortals like us ever see them?"

"If we're talking about the human world, about the strongest among us mortals, then there's only one man."

A deep reverence suddenly appeared on the man's face, and even his tone grew much more solemn.

The mercenaries beside him also stopped eating and nodded along with looks of worship.

"He is the Imperial Preceptor of our Yankang Kingdom!"

The scar-faced man said each word distinctly, his voice carrying a fervent zeal.

"The first man beneath the gods—Yankang Imperial Preceptor!"

The first man beneath the gods!

The Imperial Preceptor!

The moment those words came out, the hand Flender was holding his cup with trembled, and several drops of wine spilled onto the table.

Meanwhile, outside the screen, on the Douluo Continent.

The experts of the various great sects all sucked in a collective breath.

Bibi Dong sat upon her throne, her gaze changing completely.

The first man beneath the gods?

On the Douluo Continent, a rank ninety-nine Limit Douluo was also called a demigod, an existence closest to divinity.

Could this so-called Yankang Imperial Preceptor also be a rank ninety-nine Limit Douluo?

Or was his strength even more terrifying than a Limit Douluo's?

Tang San and Yu Xiaogang exchanged a glance, and both saw the shock in the depths of the other's eyes.

The Imperial Preceptor of a nation actually dared to call himself the first man beneath the gods. What an outrageous claim—and what heaven-defying strength would it take to support such a title?

Inside the Sky Screen.

Flender swallowed, forcefully suppressed the shock in his heart, and continued to ask with an ingratiating smile.

"Brother, just how powerful is this Imperial Preceptor?"

"He actually dares to call himself the first man beneath the gods?"

The scar-faced man looked around, as if afraid others might overhear, then leaned close to Flender's ear and spoke words that made the entire Douluo Continent feel their scalps go numb.

"How powerful?"

The scar-faced man gave a cold laugh, his eyes full of reverence.

"Brother, if all you're asking is how good he is in a fight, then you're underestimating our Imperial Preceptor far too much."

The man stretched out one rough finger, dipped it in a little wine, and drew the shape of a sword on the coarse wooden table.

"In our Yankang Kingdom, and even across this whole world, sword-cultivating practitioners are as numerous as hairs on an ox, and sword sects with thousands of years of heritage are countless."

"But no matter whether you're some great sect with a thousand-year foundation, or an old monster who has secluded himself for a hundred years, as long as swordsmanship is mentioned..."

The man paused, his tone utterly fervent.

"If the Imperial Preceptor claims second place, absolutely no one in this world dares claim first!"

"That man was the undisputed number one in the way of the sword!"

Number one in the way of the sword!

The moment those five words came out, the entire Douluo Continent outside the light screen was stirred into quite a commotion.

Inside the great hall of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

Sword Douluo Chen Xin, who had kept his eyes closed in quiet rest all this time, snapped them open the instant he heard those words, two terrifying beams of sharp light shooting from them.

There was a soft crack.

The precious teacup he held had actually been ground straight into powder by a wisp of sword energy that spilled out invisibly.

Tea splashed all over the floor, but Chen Xin seemed not to notice at all.

As a peak Douluo of rank ninety-six, he had been obsessed with the way of the sword all his life, and had always believed his attainment in swordsmanship was unmatched across the entire continent.

Now, hearing that someone in another world dared to call himself the greatest swordsman under heaven, and that even those thousand-year-old monsters of ancient lineages had to bow their heads, the fighting spirit in his heart instantly blazed up like a raging fire.

"Number one in the way of the sword, is it..."

Chen Xin murmured under his breath, his withered hands clenching tightly into fists.

"If this old man ever has the fortune to make a trip to the Great Ruins, I must go meet this Yankang Imperial Preceptor and see whether the sword in his hand is truly worthy of that title!"

In the Sky Screen's image.

Inside the tavern, Flender hurriedly filled the scar-faced man's cup and echoed him again and again.

After several bowls of strong liquor went down, the man drank himself into high spirits, and his tongue loosened completely.

"But, brother, what truly makes the Imperial Preceptor frightening isn't the sword in his hand."

The man lowered his voice and leaned a little closer.

"It's the ideas in his head, and the things he's done over the years."

"He thinks those great sects and schools of the past were far too selfish, hiding their cultivation techniques away and using them to fool the common people."

"So with a single order, he set off a reform throughout our Yankang!"

"A reform? What kind of reform?" Flender immediately pricked up his ears.

The man slapped the table, his face full of pride.

"The Imperial Preceptor built primary schools all across our country, even in poor backwater villages out in the mud, and above them there are universities and the Imperial College."

"As long as you're a living person, even if you're a dirt-poor peasant who farms or forges iron, if you want to learn, you can enter a school and learn cultivation techniques!"

"Not only that, the Imperial Preceptor has a famous saying, something like: the daily use of the people is the Way."

The man counted on his fingers, introducing it all to Flender as if he were listing family treasures.

"The Imperial Preceptor said those masters who learned techniques couldn't just take money and do no work."

"If they can summon wind and call rain, then they have to go water drought-stricken fields."

"If they can play with fire, then they go into the city to forge iron and fire bricks."

"If they're strong, then they go build bridges and roads for villages and towns, benefiting the countryside."

"In the past, that was something we wouldn't even have dared to imagine!"

After Flender heard all this, he sat there completely dumbfounded.

His mouth hung open, and his mind was in utter chaos.

Make lofty cultivators go water fields for ordinary commoners? Go forge iron and build roads?

If this were placed on the Douluo Continent, making those noble soul masters go do hard labor would simply be grinding a soul master's dignity into the mud!

Most importantly, he had passed cultivation techniques on to commoners under heaven?

Those were the lifeblood of the great sects, the foundation those great clans used to monopolize power!

Flender swallowed and asked somewhat stammeringly.

"Brother, the Imperial Preceptor did something that offended all the great powers under heaven. Wasn't he afraid of being assassinated?"

"Besides, he taught all the commoners to become powerful, and the authority in his own hands is so great. Your emperor of Yankang... isn't he afraid the man will rebel?"

"The emperor actually supports him doing this?"

In the understanding Flender had built over most of his life, merit so great it overshadowed the ruler was something every emperor throughout history dreaded most.

When a subject's prestige surpassed imperial authority, that meant losing his head.

When the scar-faced man heard this, he could not help bursting into loud laughter, laughing so hard that tears nearly came out.

"Rebel? Brother, you just don't know what our emperor is like."

The man reached out and patted Flender on the shoulder.

"His Majesty and the Imperial Preceptor are as close as two men wearing the same pair of pants!"

"This reform was something His Majesty and the State Preceptor decided on together."

"If those big sects outside dared object, His Majesty sent out the army directly, and the State Preceptor personally took up his sword, going from house to house to flatten them!"

"When ruler and subject were of one mind, who in the world could stop them?"

As the man's words fell, Douluo Continent beyond the screen sank into an eerie, deathly silence.

Heaven Dou Empire.

Great Emperor Xue Ye sat on his dragon throne, his eyes wide, his palms slick with sweat.

As an emperor himself, he naturally knew how dangerous the struggle between imperial power and ministers could be.

But this emperor of Yankang Kingdom could actually join hands without the slightest misgiving with a State Preceptor whose strength was number one under heaven, even daring to oppose all the sects in the world!

What kind of courage, what kind of breadth of mind, did that take?