Heavenly Demon Sect Ancestor, Shocks Douluo Continent!

Hearing the words "dead water," Flender's eye twitched despite himself.

The level seventy-eight soul power he was so proud of had actually become a useless pool of dead water in this girl's mouth?

"Uncle, you're not from our Yankang Kingdom, are you?"

The girl walked up to Flender, bent down, and leaned in a little closer.

In a soft voice only the two of them could hear, she said, "In fact, you're not even from the Great Ruins."

"The scent on you is a lot like those strange things that fell from the sky a while ago."

Flender's heart skipped half a beat.

He never would have imagined that the disguise he had thought perfect would fail to last even the time it took an incense stick to burn before this girl.

"What... what do you want?"

Flender swallowed and forced himself to stay calm as he asked.

The yellow-clad girl straightened up, her big eyes curving into crescents as she smiled like a little fox that had just stolen a bite.

"Don't be nervous, Uncle."

"I said just now that our Heavenly Saint Sect's doctrine is to benefit the common people. I'm a reasonable good person, you know."

The girl stretched out one fair, tender finger and pointed at a corner of the robe Flender had just changed out of.

"The fabric of this outfit of yours is pretty nice. Looks quite valuable. It just so happens I left in a hurry today and forgot to bring my purse."

"Meeting is fate."

"Uncle, why don't you settle the tea bill for me?"

The girl blinked at Flender. That look made her seem exactly like a sly little street merchant trying to cheat food and drink.

"In return, I'll take you to a good place. I guarantee it'll answer every question in your heart."

Flender looked at her smiling face and, feeling the deterrent force of that chopstick strike just now, could only nod with a bitter smile.

He, the dignified dean of Shrek Academy, the iron rooster nicknamed Four-Eyed Cat-Eagle, had actually been conned out of a meal's money by a little girl today.

If this got back to Douluo Continent, his old face would have nowhere left to go.

Flender gritted his teeth, brushed his palm over the storage soul tool at his waist, and, with a pained expression, took out a broken piece of silver and slapped it onto the tabletop.

"Waiter, the bill!"

After tossing down the silver, Flender quickly chased out of the tavern.

People came and went along the streets of Bianlong City.

The yellow-clad girl seemed to walk neither quickly nor slowly, her little leather boots stepping lightly on the bluestone slabs without even kicking up a speck of dust.

But as Flender followed behind her, the farther he walked, the more alarmed he became.

He discovered that he had clearly quickened his pace, and had even quietly circulated a thread of soul power into his legs, yet no matter what, he could not close the distance between himself and that girl.

She was clearly only a dozen steps ahead, but her figure seemed like willow fluff drifting in the wind, carrying an indescribable eeriness and ethereal grace.

"That girl's movement technique is downright uncanny."

Flender wiped the fine sweat from his forehead and could only lower his head and keep following.

Outside the Sky Screen, on the training field of Shrek Academy.

Ma Hongjun looked at his own dean's deflated expression in the light screen and could not help clutching his belly as he burst out laughing.

"Oh man, so even Boss Flender has a day like this."

"He's usually so stingy at the academy that he even calculates the cost of adding an extra egg, but today he actually got tricked out of tea money by a little girl. Now this is karma."

Zhao Wuji was also stroking his chin, chuckling.

But laughter was laughter; the gravity in his eyes had not lessened at all.

"Fatty, don't just laugh."

Zhao Wuji pointed at the yellow-clad girl's footwork in the image and lowered his voice.

"Look carefully at that girl's feet. Every step she takes, the soles of her feet seem to form some kind of wondrous resonance with the bluestone slabs on the ground."

"This is definitely a movement-type ultimate art of frighteningly high grade. If we only compare the profundity of travel, even those agility-attack Soul Douluo on our Douluo Continent probably can't match her."

Yu Xiaogang sat on the steps nearby, holding a charcoal pencil as he rapidly sketched the route of the girl's movements on paper.

The more he drew, the tighter his brows furrowed.

"No soul power fluctuations. She's relying entirely on borrowing force from her surroundings, as well as that utterly natural coordination of the physical body."

"This sect called the Heavenly Saint Sect has depths that are simply unfathomable."

Within the Sky Screen's image.

The two of them, one in front and one behind, soon left Bianlong City's gates and arrived in the vast wilderness outside.

The sunlight in the Great Ruins was fierce, hot enough to sting when it fell on the skin.

The young girl walked ahead, following a narrow path overgrown with weeds as it twisted and turned into a dense bamboo forest.

Flender followed behind her, warily surveying his surroundings.

The mist in the bamboo forest was heavy, a blank white haze so thick he could not even see three steps ahead.

"Little girl, where exactly are you taking me?"

Flender finally could not hold back and asked.

The young girl stopped, turned her head, and made a shushing gesture at Flender.

"Uncle, don't be so impatient."

The young girl took out a black token from her sleeve, neither metal nor jade, and lightly waved it in midair.

Complicated patterns were carved into the token, giving off a faint glow within the mist.

As the light rose, Flender felt the white mist before his eyes suddenly part to both sides like the tide.

Ahead, where there had originally been nothing, a wide, level road of bluestone appeared out of thin air.

At the end of the road stood a mountain peak that towered into the clouds.

Clouds and mist curled around the mountain, and through them he could faintly see large stretches of pavilions and buildings, as well as terraced fields spread in orderly layers along the mountainside.

"A spatial formation!"

Flender's heart jolted, and the words slipped out before he could stop himself.

On the Douluo Continent, only a very few ancient divine relics with long inheritances, or places like Sea God Island, possessed formation barriers that could alter space like this.

The young girl put away the token and stepped onto the bluestone road with her hands clasped behind her back.

"This is one of our Heavenly Saint Sect's branch altars. Come on. I'll show you around."

Flender swallowed and could only brace himself as he followed.

They walked along the road and passed through a tall white jade archway, and the view before him suddenly opened up.

But when Flender clearly saw the scene inside the Heavenly Saint Sect, he froze completely on the spot.

In his original imagination, since the people outside all called them the Heavenly Demon Sect, the inside of this sect had to be filled with gloomy, terrifying white bones, or altars hung with all sorts of poisonous snakes and savage beasts.

Yet reality was the complete opposite.

In the broad terraced fields along the mountainside, quite a few men dressed in rough homespun short clothes were swinging hoes and farming.

As they worked, they would occasionally form a hand seal, and a soft ball of water would rise from their fingertips, landing precisely on the drought-stricken seedlings.

Inside the thatched sheds by the road, several old blacksmiths were stripped to the waist and forging iron. The hammers in their hands flew up and down, while what burned inside the furnace was actually some kind of pale-blue true fire.

Farther away, on an open patch of ground, a group of half-grown children sat on prayer mats.

A schoolteacher in a long robe held a ruler in his hand and was teaching them to recognize characters and read books. The bright sound of reading echoed through the valley.

There were farmers, blacksmiths, teachers, and even people setting up stalls by the roadside to sell steamed buns.

How was this some sinister den of a demonic sect?

This was clearly a hidden paradise filled with the sounds of chickens and dogs, brimming with the warmth of ordinary life!

Outside the light screen, on the Douluo Continent, countless people watched this scene and all fell into a deep silence.

Heaven Dou Imperial City.

Great Emperor Xue Ye leaned back on his dragon throne, looking at the farmers in the image who were casting divine arts while farming, and a deep, thoughtful look flashed through his eyes.

"So this is the philosophy of that Heavenly Saint Sect?"

Great Emperor Xue Ye sighed softly.

"They have integrated lofty cultivation methods into the most ordinary acts of farming and forging."

"No wonder the state preceptor of the Yankang Kingdom borrowed their doctrines to carry out reforms."

"If a sect like this were in the Heaven Dou Empire, I'm afraid I would wake up laughing even in my sleep."

Inside Spirit Hall City, Bibi Dong's fingers lightly tapped against the tabletop, and the shock in her eyes was no less than anyone else's.

"Turning divine arts into the way of daily use..."

Bibi Dong murmured to herself.

Although Spirit Hall also awakened martial souls for commoners, in the end, it was for selecting talent and consolidating Spirit Hall's rule.

Those commoners who awakened useless martial souls could still only spend their whole lives scraping a living from the fields.

But this Heavenly Saint Sect was genuinely teaching all commoners how to use cultivation methods to improve their lives and create value.

"With such breadth of mind and spirit, no wonder those traditional great sects see them as a thorn in their side."

Bibi Dong gave a cold laugh, feeling even more disdain for those so-called righteous sects.

Inside the Sky Screen.

It took Flender a long while to come back to his senses. He pointed at the men farming and asked haltingly, "T-these are disciples of your Heavenly Demon... uh, Heavenly Saint Sect?"

The yellow-clad girl casually took a freshly steamed meat bun from a roadside stall, tossed the owner two copper coins, and took a big bite.

"Yep."

As she chewed the bun, the girl spoke indistinctly.

"Our sect is divided into three hundred and sixty halls. There's the Agriculture Hall, which handles farming; the Craft Hall, which handles forging iron and repairing houses; and the Commerce Hall, which goes outside to do business and make money."

"The founder said that as long as people live in this world, they have to fill their bellies and wear warm clothes first. Only then can they talk about cultivation."

"Those old masters from the great sects practice fasting and meditate every day, living on wind and dew, looking down on mud-covered people like us. So we're determined to make the flower of the Great Dao bloom right here in the mud."

The girl said all this casually.

But to Flender's ears, it was like a heavy hammer blow, making his scalp tingle.

In front of this little girl, he only felt that those lofty sect rules on Douluo Continent were narrow-minded to the point of absurdity.

"All right, uncle, stop staring. I'll take you to meet someone."

The girl patted the grease from her hands and led Flender along a quiet flagstone path, heading higher up the peak.

The temperature at the summit was somewhat low, and the surroundings were filled with lush green bamboo.

After passing through a bamboo grove, a very simple little courtyard appeared ahead.

The courtyard had no gate, and morning glories climbed all over the fence.

In the center of the courtyard stood a stone table, beside which sat a young man in a white coarse-cloth robe.

The man looked only a little over twenty, with handsome features and a detached tranquility between his brows.

He held an ordinary piece of wood and a small carving knife, and was carving something with complete focus.

Cut after cut, wood shavings drifted down in a flurry.

His movements were very slow, but every cut seemed to follow the wood's own grain, conforming to some natural law between heaven and earth, making the sight deeply pleasing.

The girl walked into the courtyard, put away her mischievous manner, and bowed very respectfully.

"Founder."

At the sound of that address, Flender's legs went weak, and he nearly dropped to his knees on the spot.

Founder?!

This white-clothed youth, who looked only a few years older than his own students, was actually the founder of this unfathomably mysterious Heavenly Saint Sect?!

Outside the light screen, on Douluo Continent.

Everyone also sucked in a sharp breath.

In the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

Ning Fengzhi abruptly stood up, his gaze fixed firmly on the back of that white-clothed youth.

"How is this possible? How can the founder of an entire sect be so young?"

Sword Douluo Chen Xin also furrowed his brows tightly, his grip on the Seven Kill Sword tightening slightly.

"Sect Master, don't look at his youthful appearance. Look carefully at the carving knife in his hand."

Following Sword Douluo's reminder, Ning Fengzhi focused his gaze on the youth's hand.

With just one glance, Ning Fengzhi's pupils suddenly contracted.

Not the slightest bit of energy leaked from the youth's carving knife, yet that hard piece of wood was as soft as tofu beneath his blade.

Each time the blade turned, the bamboo leaves around the courtyard swayed gently with the momentum of the knife, as though all heaven and earth were cooperating with his carving motions.

"The Dao follows nature, man and heaven as one..."

Chen Xin uttered those eight words, his tone filled with deep wariness.

"This man's realm has already reached a point this old man can't even understand."

"What he's carving isn't wood, but the laws of heaven and earth!"

Hearing Sword Douluo's assessment, stormy waves surged through Ning Fengzhi's heart.

Even a rank ninety-six Titled Douluo said he could not understand it. Just what terrifying level had the strength of this grandmaster-level figure from the higher-dimensional world reached?

Inside the Sky Screen.

The young man in white stopped the carving knife in his hand and blew the shavings off the wood sculpture.

He turned his head, and his eyes, deep as the starry sky, settled gently on the girl in yellow.

"Xiang'er, you're back."

The young man responded faintly, then shifted his gaze to Flender, who was standing off to the side, not even daring to breathe too loudly.

Just one sweep of the young man's gaze—

Flender instantly had the illusion that he had been stripped naked from head to toe and thrown into the snow.

The rank seventy-eight soul power inside him, before that gaze, was actually so frightened that it shrank into the corners of his meridians, its circulation becoming extremely sluggish.

This was absolute suppression on the level of life itself!

"Grandmaster, when I was drinking tea in Bianlong City, I ran into this uncle from out of town."

Si Yunxiang walked to the stone table and pointed at the somewhat stiff Flender.

"The cultivation method on him is very strange. There's clearly a surge of energy inside him, but it's like a pool of stagnant water, penned up in a few odd rings of light. I thought it was interesting, so I brought him back for you to take a look."

After hearing this, a trace of curiosity also appeared in the young man in white's eyes.

He set down the wood sculpture in his hand, slowly rose, and walked up to Flender.

"Guest from another land, there's no need to be nervous."

The young man's voice was very pleasant, carrying a power that soothed the heart.

"This grand-disciple of mine is naturally mischievous. If she treated you with any discourtesy on the road, allow me to apologize on her behalf."

How could Flender dare accept such courtesy? He hurriedly shook his head like a rattle-drum.

"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare. Senior, you're too kind."

The young man in white smiled faintly, extended one long, fair finger, and lightly tapped the air.