Yankang Divine Beings!

There was a buzz.

Flender's eyes shut completely beyond his control.

Beneath his feet, the seven soul rings that represented half a lifetime of his painstaking effort—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black—rose uncontrollably from underfoot and slowly pulsed around his body.

The white-clad young man stood with his hands behind his back, circled Flender once, and carefully sized up those seven soul rings.

The courtyard was very quiet.

There was only the rustle of the breeze passing through the bamboo grove.

Outside the light screen, every soul master across the entire Douluo Continent had their heart in their throat at that moment.

Yu Xiaogang was so nervous that he even forgot to breathe.

He had studied martial soul theory his whole life and had always felt he was an authority in this field.

Now, this mighty being from a higher-dimensional world was about to evaluate the foundation of the Douluo Continent.

The soul ring system.

It was like an essay written by an elementary school student suddenly being sent before a learned great scholar for grading.

Nervousness, unease, and also a faint, hidden trace of anticipation.

Time passed little by little.

The white-clad young man stopped walking.

He looked at the few flashing rings on Flender's body, without amazement or admiration in his eyes.

There was only a faint trace of regret, and a calmness that had seen through the essence of it.

"So that's how it is."

The young man shook his head and sighed softly.

"You harvest the remnant souls and resentment left behind after wild beasts of the mountains and forests die, forcibly refine them into these energy halos, then graft them onto your own soul and flesh."

The young man's voice was not loud, yet it reached the ears of every person on the Douluo Continent with perfect clarity.

"In the early stages, this kind of method appears to progress extremely quickly. You need only hunt wild beasts to obtain power."

"But this is nothing but drinking poison to quench thirst."

The white-clad young man extended a finger and lightly tapped the black ten-thousand-year soul ring on Flender.

"A beast's Dao is ultimately a beast's Dao."

"You stuff these mottled, chaotic remnant souls into your body, which is equivalent to borrowing their power."

"But at the same time, you have also personally built yourself an indestructible cage."

"Your potential, your comprehension, your future path—all of it has been completely locked down by the upper limits of these beasts."

Hearing these words, Flender's eyes snapped open as well, his face blank with shock.

He wanted to refute him, wanted to say that this was an iron law that had existed on the Douluo Continent for tens of thousands of years, wanted to say that with soul rings, one could obtain powerful soul skills.

But faced with the white-clad young man's all-seeing eyes, his mouth opened, yet he could not utter a single word.

Outside the light screen, on the drill ground of Shrek Academy, a burst of sharp inhales rang out as well.

Tang San stood among the crowd, his hands and feet even colder.

In his mind, he suddenly thought of the twin martial souls he took such pride in, and of the perfect soul ring absorption path his teacher Yu Xiaogang had planned out for him.

"Borrowing a beast's Dao, personally building a cage..."

Tang San murmured to himself, feeling his faith crumble bit by bit.

If what this young man said was true, then even if he filled the Clear Sky Hammer with hundred-thousand-year soul rings in the future, would he still only become a stitched-together monster wearing human skin?

At this moment, Yu Xiaogang felt as if he had been struck by lightning. His whole body swayed twice, and he collapsed directly onto the ground.

His life's work, those Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls he had written.

Before this white-clad young man and that Tales of Herding Gods world or whatever, could it really be worth nothing at all?

Spirit City, the Supreme Pontiff's Palace.

Bibi Dong took several deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down.

But the panic in the depths of her eyes could not be concealed no matter what.

"Locks down potential..."

Bibi Dong thought back to the soul rings she had absorbed, and to the painful trials she had endured in the Rakshasa Secret Realm.

She had always thought she was climbing the divine path.

But what if this system itself was a dead end?

Within the image on the Sky Screen.

The young man in white withdrew his finger and looked at the drenched-with-sweat Flender, giving his final assessment in an utterly calm tone.

"The stagnant energy inside you has too many impurities. It has already seeped deep into your marrow."

"If you continue down this path of cultivation of yours..."

The young man's gaze swept over Flender's spirit rings.

"With every extra ring you attach, your soul will be corroded a little more by the resentment of wild beasts."

"If I'm not mistaken, with this system of yours, even if you cultivate it to the limit, your lifespan absolutely won't exceed a few hundred years."

"This is no great path to immortality. It's a dead end through and through."

A dead end!

The moment those two words came out—

The entire Douluo Continent erupted completely.

In Heaven Dou Imperial City, in Star Luo Imperial City, countless spirit masters clutched their heads and wept bitterly. Some even tore at their own hair as if they had gone mad.

They had cultivated their whole lives, endured endless hardship, and risked their lives fighting in spirit beast forests.

And in the end, someone was telling them that it was nothing but a road to death?

Flender stood in the courtyard. His legs went weak, and he dropped straight to his knees on the flagstones.

The Soul Sage cultivation he had always taken pride in seemed, at this moment, to have become an enormous joke.

"Senior..."

Flender's voice was hoarse, like a man who had gone thirsty in the desert for days and nights.

He suddenly lifted his head, his eyes bursting with an unprecedented desire and longing to survive.

"Can... can these rings be undone?"

Flender's question also asked what every spirit master across the whole continent beyond the screen wanted to know.

Everyone held their breath, staring fixedly at that young man in white, like drowning people clutching at their last straw.

The young man in white looked at Flender kneeling on the ground and lightly waved his sleeve.

A gentle force lifted Flender up.

"They can be undone, of course."

A faint, indifferent smile curved the young man's lips.

"However, if you want to draw out the impurities that have fused into your flesh and blood, it would be no different from flaying you, pulling out your tendons, and remolding your body."

"You may not be able to endure the agony of that process."

The young man turned around and walked back to the stone table, picking up the carving knife again.

"Besides, from what I can see inside you, aside from the resentment of these wild beasts, there is also a trace of the Great Thunderclap Temple's Buddhist light, as well as the deathly aura of the Great Ruins' night."

"All these things are tangled together. It's quite an interesting mess, actually."

The young man in white did not even lift his head. He only carved the wood in his hand unhurriedly.

"Outlander, think carefully."

"If I strip away these rings for you, you will become a mortal without the strength to truss a chicken."

"In these Great Ruins, even a random gust of wind could take your life."

"Do you dare?"

The young man in white's voice echoed through the bamboo grove.

Flender knelt on the courtyard's flagstones.

A light breeze passed through the bamboo grove, and the bamboo leaves gave off a faint rustling sound.

Huge beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, striking the ground and shattering into several drops.

He could not bear to let them go.

These seven spirit rings were things he had spent more than half his life risking his life for again and again in Star Dou Forest.

Every time he absorbed a spirit ring, that pain worse than death—he still remembered it with perfect clarity even now.

Now he was being asked to personally strip all of them away and become a cripple worse than an ordinary farmer.

That was simply more unbearable than killing him.

But if he did not strip them away—

According to what this young man in white had said, his lifespan was already nearing its end, and he would never be able to advance even half a step farther in this life.

Flender gritted his teeth, the muscles in his cheeks pulled tight.

He raised his head and looked at the young man in white sitting beside the stone table.

"Senior."

Flender swallowed, his voice extremely dry.

"This junior dares to ask a question."

"If I really dispersed all my cultivation, could I, like you, learn to open that so-called Divine Treasury?"

The young man in white set down the carving knife in his hand.

He picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip of the slightly bitter coarse tea inside.

"The vital energy of heaven and earth is fair to all living beings."

The young man's gaze was very gentle, like a lake so deep its bottom could not be seen.

"When our Heavenly Saint Sect opens its doors to accept disciples, we never ask about their origins."

"As long as you want to learn, the sect's Scripture Pavilion can open its doors to you at any time."

"However, whether you can sense the Spirit Fetus, whether you can break the barriers of this physical body, all depends on your own comprehension."

"No one else can help you."

After hearing this, everyone on Douluo Continent outside the light screen sucked in a cold breath.

On the training field of Shrek Academy.

Ma Hongjun's mouth fell open so wide that he even forgot to pick up the roasted sausage he had dropped on the ground.

"This... this is way too exaggerated, isn't it?"

"Such a powerful Divine Treasury cultivation method, and as long as you want to learn it, you can go read it anytime?"

On Douluo Continent, any slightly higher-level meditation method was guarded by the great sects like their very lives.

Ordinary commoners did not even have the right to glance at them.

Yu Xiaogang sat on the steps and gave a bitter laugh.

"This is what vision means."

"What they seek is the Great Dao, the betterment of all under heaven."

"What we seek is only the private gain of a single sect or faction."

Inside Spirit City, Bibi Dong stared coldly at the light screen, a deep wariness flashing through her eyes.

Public cultivation methods.

That meant as long as this Heavenly Saint Sect was given enough time, they could nurture thousands upon thousands of terrifying cultivators who had opened their Divine Treasury.

If a sect like this were left unchecked, it would absolutely be any ruler's nightmare.

Within the Sky Screen.

After Flender listened to the young man's words, the scales in his heart began to sway violently.

If he took the gamble, perhaps he could gain immortality and obtain that kind of power that could crush a Titled Douluo with a single finger.

If he did not, he could only struggle on in the danger-ridden Great Ruins, waiting until those few hundred years of life were exhausted.

To hide the panic in his heart, and also to buy himself more time to think.

Flender took a deep breath and changed the subject.

"Senior, this junior has only just arrived, and there has always been a knot in my heart that I cannot untangle."

Flender pointed at the sky above his head.

"Earlier in the tavern, I heard those mercenaries mention gods."

"In this world, are there really immortals?"

When the young man in white heard this question, a faint smile appeared on his face.

Only within that smile was a trace of indescribable mockery.

"Gods?"

The young man rose and walked to the fence by the courtyard, gazing at the vast terraced fields below the mountain.

"In this world, there are naturally gods."

"They live in the Heavenly Court above the nine heavens, enjoying endless lifespans, looking down on the births, aging, sickness, and deaths of the mortal world."

The young man's voice was very calm, yet it sounded as though he were recounting an utterly ordinary trivial matter.

As soon as Flender heard this, his eyes immediately lit up.

This was exactly the same as the legends of Douluo Continent!

After reaching level one hundred, one could ascend into the Divine Realm and live forever without aging.

"Then... if we mortals cultivate to the pinnacle, can we also ascend to the Heavenly Court and take our place among the immortals?" Flender hurriedly pressed.

The young man in white turned his head and looked at Flender.

"Ascend?"

The young man shook his head, and the mockery at the corner of his mouth grew even stronger.

"Outlander, you imagine those beings in the sky to be far too merciful."

The young man held out a finger and pointed at the thriving crops below the mountain.

"Look at the wheat in those fields."

"The farmer sows in spring, waters in summer, and when autumn comes, he takes up his sickle, cuts them down, and stores them in his own granary."

"In the eyes of those gods in the sky..."

The young man's gaze instantly turned sharp.

"The mortals of this human world, the nations and cities upon this earth, are nothing more than wheat and cattle they keep in pens."

"When cultivators among mortals reach an extremely high realm, and the energy within their bodies becomes incomparably abundant..."

"The gods will send down what they call heavenly disasters."

"They uproot these fully ripened fruits and use them as tonics to prolong their own lives and power."

And as soon as those words were spoken, the entire Douluo Continent once again erupted into an uproar.

Heaven Dou Imperial City, inside the palace.

The wine cup in Great Emperor Xue Ye's hand fell to the floor with a "crack," splashing wine across his dragon robe.

"Kept in pens... tonics?"

Great Emperor Xue Ye trembled all over, feeling a chill shoot straight from the soles of his feet to the top of his skull.

On Sea God Island, the high priestess Bo Saixi had originally been kneeling before the statue of the Sea God in prayer.

Hearing the voice coming from the Sky Screen, she suddenly raised her head as well, her eyes filled with confusion.

"Impossible... Gods are benevolent. They shelter all living beings..." Bo Saixi murmured softly, yet her voice sounded utterly lacking in confidence.

Spirit City, Elder Hall.

Qian Daoliu staggered back two steps, his back striking a golden pillar.

The Angel God he had believed in his entire life.

In his heart, the divine realm was the most sacred, purest place of all.

But this patriarch from a higher-dimensional world had mercilessly torn away that veil of hypocrisy.

He compared gods to farmers, and mortals to crops.

This naked relationship of plunder was enough to drive anyone to the depths of despair.

Within the Sky Screen, Flender was already so frightened he could not even speak.

He only felt his throat go dry, cold sweat pouring down his back.

The young man in white walked back over to the stone table and picked up the finished carving.

It was an extremely delicate wood carving.

It depicted a god with three heads and six arms, his face hideous and savage.

But around the god's neck was a coarse hemp rope.

The other end of the rope was clutched tightly in the hand of an ordinary old farmer wearing a straw rain cape.

The old farmer was raising a woodcutting axe, chopping viciously down at the god's forehead.

The young man casually tossed the wood carving to the yellow-clothed girl standing beside him.

"That is why the reform of our Yankang Kingdom, the doctrine of our Heavenly Saint Sect..."

The young man's gaze became profoundly deep.

"Is to make the wheat in the fields grow teeth, and to make the cattle and sheep in the pen grow sharp horns."

"One day, we will drag those insatiably greedy gods down from the heavens."

"And let them have a taste of what it feels like to be trampled beneath the feet of mortals."

He said these words lightly.

Yet the earth-shaking ambition contained within them made everyone outside the screen feel suffocated.

Godslaying!

The people of this world were actually plotting to drag gods down from their altars!

Such a treasonous thought was something no one on Douluo Continent would even dare imagine.

Just as everyone was still immersed in that shock, unable to pull themselves free...

The scene suddenly shifted.

The blazing sun high in the sky was still scorching.

That same dazzling sunlight was now spilling over Bianlong City thirty li away.