Heavenly Demon Sect, Heavenly Saint Sect!

Meanwhile, inside Spirit City, Bibi Dong's brows drew tightly together.

Letting all the commoners in the world cultivate, breaking the monopoly of the great powers...

Were the emperor and imperial preceptor of Yankang both complete and utter madmen?

But if this reform truly succeeded, just how terrifying would this nation's foundation become?

Every citizen a soldier, every citizen a cultivator.

By then, even any ordinary farmer pulled off the street might possess considerable strength.

If this were placed on Douluo Continent, it could simply steamroll the two great empires and Spirit Hall alive!

"The daily use of the common people is the Dao..."

Yu Xiaogang stood on the training field of Shrek Academy, turning those words over and over in his mouth, his gaze slightly unfocused.

He had always devoted himself to researching martial soul theory, wanting to find a path forward even for useless martial souls.

But in the end, his scope had still been confined within the system of Douluo Continent.

Compared with the Yankang Imperial Preceptor's concept of transforming heaven and earth and making divine arts benefit all under heaven, his so-called "Ten Core Competencies" were so narrow it made one blush.

At the same time, in the image on the Sky Screen.

Just as Flender was still in the tavern, shaken by this earth-shattering information and unable to come back to his senses...

The tavern's rather shabby wooden door opened from outside with a creak.

A gust of wind carrying the distinct smell of Bianlong City's sand and dust blew in, making several drinkers seated near the door frown despite themselves.

Flender instinctively turned his head and looked in the direction the wind had come from.

The one who walked in was a girl who looked no more than fifteen or sixteen.

The girl wore a pale-yellow dress, with bright eyes and white teeth, her skin so fair it seemed water could be pinched from it.

Her big dark eyes darted about, revealing a clever, mischievous air.

The girl's steps were light and graceful, making her look like some little rich young lady from a grand household who had slipped out to play.

She entered the tavern, swept her gaze around the noisy hall, then went straight to an empty seat not far from Flender's table and sat down.

"Waiter, bring me a plate of osmanthus cakes, and brew a pot of good tea."

The girl's voice was crisp and pleasant, as lovely as a lark's song.

The waiter nimbly brought over tea and pastries.

The girl picked up a piece of osmanthus cake and took a small bite. She was in no hurry to drink her tea, merely listening with great interest to the surrounding drinkers brag and chatter.

Flender withdrew his gaze and muttered inwardly.

In this remote border town in the wilderness, where mercenaries and rough men carrying blades and spears were everywhere, the sudden appearance of such a fresh, delicate young girl looked somewhat out of place.

However, his mind was currently filled with that "number one beneath the gods," the Yankang Imperial Preceptor, so he did not pay the girl much attention.

Flender turned back around, filled the scar-faced man's cup at the same table again, and piled a smile onto his face.

"Brother, from what you're saying, this Lord Imperial Preceptor is practically a living bodhisattva."

"Letting commoners cultivate—that's smashing the rice bowls of those great clans. Yankang must be very lively right now, no?"

The scar-faced man raised his wine bowl and gulped down a large mouthful, the burn making him hiss for breath.

"You bet!"

"How could those great sects and great families swallow that? These past few years, rebellions and assassinations in the shadows have come one wave after another."

"But the sword in the Imperial Preceptor's hand isn't just for show. However many come, he kills that many."

"Now, in Yankang, who wouldn't shiver at the mention of the Imperial Preceptor's name?"

As the man grew more animated, he lowered his voice and leaned in mysteriously.

"And I heard that the Imperial Preceptor's path of reform actually has another story to it."

"There's a rumor among the people that when the Imperial Preceptor first established this rule of 'the daily use of the common people is the Dao,' he was actually inspired by an ancient sect."

Flender's eyes immediately lit up when he heard that.

"Oh? It could inspire the number one beneath the gods? What's this sect called?"

Outside the light screen, everyone on Douluo Continent pricked up their ears as well.

In their hearts, the Yankang Imperial Preceptor was already an unreachable peerless powerhouse. Such a figure had actually been inspired by someone else?

The scar-faced man had not yet had time to speak.

At the next table over, the girl in the pale-yellow dress suddenly let out a soft laugh.

The laugh was not loud.

But in the noisy tavern, it reached the ears of everyone at Flender's table with perfect clarity.

The girl patted the pastry crumbs from her hands, turned her head, and looked at the scar-faced man with a pair of clear eyes, leisurely picking up the thread of the conversation.

"This uncle has some insight."

"Yankang Imperial Preceptor really is a rare genius who appears once in a century. His swordsmanship deserves to be called the best under heaven."

"However, that line of his, 'the common people's daily use is the Dao,' truly wasn't something he dreamed up out of thin air himself."

The young girl stood up, carrying her teacup as she slowly walked over beside Flender's table.

She looked at everyone, the corners of her mouth curving with a trace of pride.

"Those words were originally spoken by the founding patriarch of the Heavenly Saint Sect."

"The core doctrine passed down through generations of the Heavenly Saint Sect is precisely that the common people's daily use is the Dao."

"They say the Imperial Preceptor went to the scripture pavilion of the Heavenly Saint Sect back then and read for a few days, then took that doctrine and used it, patching it here and there until it became the reform program of his Yankang Kingdom, that's all."

The young girl spoke those words lightly, and there was even a bit of pride in her eyes that belonged to a disciple of the Heavenly Saint Sect.

But the scar-faced man at her table, as well as several mercenaries around them who had originally been drinking, instantly changed expression when they heard the three words "Heavenly Saint Sect."

Not only that, even the atmosphere in the main hall plunged to freezing point all at once.

Several men shot to their feet, their hands already pressing down on the hilts at their waists, looking at the young girl as if they had seen some savage beast or flood.

"Heavenly Saint Sect?!"

The scar-faced man swallowed, his voice trembling.

"You... you're a witch from the Heavenly Demon Sect?!"

Heavenly Demon Sect?

Hearing that name, another uproar swept across the Douluo Continent outside the light screen.

On the sports field of Shrek Academy.

Yu Xiaogang abruptly pushed the glasses on the bridge of his nose, his face full of disbelief.

"Heavenly Demon Sect... Demon Sect?"

"That reform idea, wholeheartedly bent on letting commoners cultivate and bringing benefit to all the people under heaven, actually came from the doctrine of a Demon Sect?!"

This completely overturned Yu Xiaogang's understanding.

On the Douluo Continent, any force branded with words like "demon" or "evil," such as those evil soul masters, were all lunatics who murdered and set fires.

But the patriarch of the Demon Sect in this world had actually put forward such a grand, compassionate idea as "the common people's daily use is the Dao"?

This was clearly a sage!

Spirit City, the Supreme Pontiff's Palace.

Bibi Dong leaned against her throne, a cold, mocking smile appearing on her stunning face.

"What a fine Heavenly Demon Sect."

"It seems that no matter which world it is, those fellows who call themselves prestigious orthodox sects all use the same methods."

Bibi Dong understood these so-called distinctions between righteous and evil all too well.

Because the Heavenly Demon Sect's ideals had touched the fundamental interests of those great sects and great clans, because they wanted to break their monopoly over cultivation methods, those lofty orthodox factions branded them an unforgivable Demon Sect.

"This world is becoming more and more interesting."

Bibi Dong murmured to herself, a strange light flickering in her eyes.

In the image on the Sky Screen, the atmosphere in the tavern was already with swords drawn and bows bent.

Flender had also come back to his senses by now.

Although he had only just arrived, judging from the reactions of these mercenaries, he knew that this young girl claiming to be from the Heavenly Saint Sect was definitely a dangerous person he must not get involved with.

Without a change in expression, Flender shifted his stool back a little, one hand secretly clenching into a fist, ready at any moment to activate his soul power and break through the window to escape.

The young girl looked at the men around her who had drawn their blades against her, without the slightest panic on her face.

She even lifted her teacup and took a gentle sip.

"The world is foolish."

The young girl shook her head and sighed. That aged, solemn manner paired with her immature face looked rather amusing.

"We teach and educate, let the common people eat their fill and dress warmly, and pass on techniques to strengthen their bodies."

"Yet those prestigious great sects curse us as a Demon Sect."

"The Imperial Preceptor copied our doctrine to govern the country, yet they revere the Imperial Preceptor as a sage."

"The logic of this world really is hard to understand."

The young girl's words carried some regret.

But from a corner of the tavern, a cold snort suddenly rang out.

"Utter nonsense!"

At that shout, three young men in matching white sword robes, long swords strapped to their backs, stood up from a table in the corner.

Embroidered on the chest of each man's robe was a sharp sword-flower pattern. They looked like disciples of some proper sect.

The white-robed youth in the lead strode forward and fixed a piercing stare on the yellow-dressed girl.

"Demoness of the heretic cult! You lot are always using honeyed words to bewitch people!"

With a flick of his wrist, the long sword on the white-robed youth's back came out of its sheath with a clang, its tip aimed straight at the girl's brow.

"Your Heavenly Demon Sect acts in secret, shows no reverence for Heaven and Earth, and respects neither rites nor laws."

"Since you've run into us from the Lijiang Sword Sect today, we can't let you live!"

The moment his words fell, the aura around the white-robed youth erupted.

Sitting beside them, Flender clearly sensed that there were no soul power fluctuations inside this youth.

But at the spot between the youth's brows, a faint glimmer flickered, as if a tiny furnace were hidden within.

"Is this what that cowherd boy mentioned... the Spirit Embryo Divine Treasury?"

Flender was secretly startled.

This youth had clearly opened the first major realm. The long sword in his hand was actually wreathed in a thin layer of white airflow, so sharp it made one's heart tremble.

"Lijiang Sword Sect?"

The girl looked at the long sword pointed at her brow. Not only did she not dodge, she even let out a soft laugh.

In her large, dark, lively eyes, there was a hint of slyness and disdain.

"So it's a few disciples from the Lijiang Sect. I've heard your sect's Overlapping Wave Sword Technique has a little something to it."

"Unfortunately, you haven't even mastered your own sword technique, yet you dare come out and imitate others playing the chivalrous hero?"

The white-robed youth flew into a rage and wasted no more words.

"You're courting death!"

He turned his wrist, and the long sword became a white streak, carrying a sword cry like waves crashing against the shore as it stabbed straight toward the girl's throat.

This sword strike was extremely fast, and its angle was exceedingly tricky.

Flender asked himself honestly: even if he were in peak condition, dodging this strike would still take some effort.

Yet the yellow-dressed girl still stood firmly in place.

She did not even glance at the incoming sword.

She simply reached out and picked up an ordinary bamboo chopstick from the wooden table beside her.

The girl's fair, tender wrist turned slightly.

There was a light snap.

That utterly ordinary bamboo chopstick actually traced an incomparably profound arc through the air and struck, with perfect accuracy, the weakest node in the white-robed youth's sword technique.

That seemingly light tap produced a tremendous clang like metal and stone colliding!

The white-robed youth felt a continuous, overwhelming force like mountains collapsing and seas overturning surge violently along the blade into his arm.

He let out a muffled groan. The webbing between his thumb and forefinger split open instantly, and blood sprayed out.

The long sword in his hand flew straight from his grip, spinning through the air before finally landing with a thunk, sinking deep into one of the tavern's wooden pillars.

The sword hilt was still shaking violently, letting out a buzzing wail.

The white-robed youth himself was also forced back again and again by that power, then fell onto his backside, his face full of horror.

The entire place went silent.

The mercenaries who had been shouting noisily moments ago all clamped their mouths shut, not even daring to breathe loudly.

Flender sat nearby, his eyes wide as copper bells, his back already soaked through with cold sweat.

"How... how is this possible?"

Flender roared wildly in his heart.

He had seen it clearly. That girl had not used any powerful strength at all just now.

She had simply used an ordinary chopstick to strike the most fragile point of the opponent's sword technique at the most perfect moment.

This was no longer a simple crushing difference in power.

This was a realm where one's understanding of moves and laws had reached an unfathomable extreme!

"Using four ounces to move a thousand pounds... No, this is the Dao!"

A thought flashed through Flender's mind.

Back on Douluo Continent, he had once heard those Title Douluo mention that when a soul skill was cultivated to the extreme, it could touch upon a trace of the laws between Heaven and Earth.

But this little girl, who looked only fifteen or sixteen years old, had casually struck out with an attack that actually contained such terrifying power of law!

Outside the light screen, on Douluo Continent, Sword Douluo Chen Xin had already risen to his feet.

He stared at the longsword nailed to the pillar in the image, his aged eyes filled with disbelief.

"She saw through it..."

"Though that Lijiang Sect disciple's sword technique was immature, it was still a complete inheritance."

"But that demonic sect girl needed only one glance to see every flaw in his sword art, then used the most effortless method to shatter his sword heart outright."

"Such eyesight and attainment..."

Chen Xin drew in a deep breath, feeling as if even his own sword Dao heart were trembling.

"And this was only a young female disciple of the demonic sect. If it were the Yankang Imperial Preceptor, the man known as the greatest swordsman, then just how terrifying would his sword be?"

It was not only Chen Xin. Yu Xiaogang and Tang San of Shrek Academy were also utterly shocked.

In the Sky Screen, the tavern hall was terrifyingly quiet.

The girl in yellow casually tossed the bamboo chopstick onto the table.

She ignored the white-clad young man on the floor, whose face was deathly pale, and unhurriedly picked up the teacup on the table, draining the remaining tea in one gulp.

Only after doing all this did the girl slowly turn her head and let her gaze fall on Flender, who had been standing beside her, not daring to move.

In those clear, large eyes was a slyness that seemed able to see straight through a person.

Under her gaze, Flender's heart abruptly sank, and every muscle in his body tensed.

He had even begun quietly mobilizing the soul power within him, preparing to forcibly unleash his martial soul true body and fight for his life.

"Mister."

The girl looked at Flender, the corners of her mouth curving once more into that impish smile.

"When you were pouring wine just now, the qi flow around your wrist was a little strange."

With her hands clasped behind her back, the girl circled Flender once, her tone carrying a hint of curiosity.

"The energy flowing inside you isn't the vital qi we have here, and there's no sign that you've opened your Divine Treasury either."

"It's more like... a pool of stagnant water, forcibly locked inside a few strange little rings."