Yankang Gods!

With a buzz.

Flender shut his eyes completely against his will.

The seven Soul Rings at his feet, representing the toil of half his life—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black—rose uncontrollably from beneath his feet and slowly revolved around his body.

The white-robed young man stood with his hands behind his back and circled Flender, carefully examining the seven Soul Rings.

The courtyard was quiet.

Only the soft rustling of the breeze through the bamboo grove could be heard.

Beyond the Sky Screen, Soul Masters across the entire Douluo Continent had their hearts in their throats.

Yu Xiaogang was so tense that he forgot to breathe.

He had studied Martial Soul theory his entire life and had always considered himself an authority in the field.

Now, this great being from a higher-dimensional world was about to judge the very foundation of Douluo Continent.

The Soul Ring system.

It was like an elementary student's essay suddenly being handed to a learned master for review.

There was tension, unease, and a faint, hidden expectation.

Time slowly passed.

The white-robed young man stopped walking.

He looked at the glowing rings on Flender's body. There was neither amazement nor praise in his eyes.

Only a faint regret, and the calmness of someone who had seen through the truth.

"So that's how it is."

The young man shook his head and sighed softly.

"You extract the residual souls and resentment left behind by beasts after death, forcibly refine them into these rings of energy, and then graft them onto your soul and flesh."

The young man did not speak loudly, yet every person on Douluo Continent heard him clearly.

"This method may seem to yield rapid progress at first. As long as you kill beasts, you can gain power."

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

The white-robed young man extended a finger and lightly touched Flender's black Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring.

"The path of beasts is, in the end, the path of beasts."

"Stuffing these mottled, chaotic remnants of souls into your body means borrowing their power."

"But at the same time, you are personally forging an unbreakable cage for yourself."

"Your potential, your comprehension, and your future path have all been completely locked by the limits of those beasts."

Upon hearing this, Flender abruptly opened his eyes, his face blank with shock.

He wanted to argue. He wanted to say that this was an iron law that had stood on Douluo Continent for tens of thousands of years, that Soul Rings granted powerful soul skills.

But facing the white-robed young man's eyes, which seemed to see through everything, he opened his mouth but could not utter a single word.

Beyond the Sky Screen, a collective gasp erupted from Shrek Academy's training grounds.

Tang San stood among the crowd, his limbs turning ice-cold.

He suddenly thought of the Twin Martial Souls he had always been proud of, and the perfect route Yu Xiaogang had planned for him to absorb Soul Rings.

"Borrowing the path of beasts, forging a cage with one's own hands..."

Tang San muttered under his breath, feeling his faith crumble bit by bit.

If what this young man said was true, then even if he later filled the Clear Sky Hammer with hundred-thousand-year Soul Rings, would he merely become a stitched-together monster wearing human skin?

Yu Xiaogang, meanwhile, looked as though he had been struck by lightning. He swayed twice before collapsing onto the ground.

The work of his entire life, the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul he had written...

Before this white-robed young man and that world of Tales of Herding Gods, did it amount to nothing at all?

Spirit City, Pope Palace.

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

Yet the panic in her eyes could not be concealed.

"Potential locked..."

Bibi Dong recalled the Soul Rings she had absorbed and the painful trials she had endured within the Rakshasa Secret Realm.

She had always believed that she was climbing the divine path.

But what if this system itself was a dead end?

Within the Sky Screen.

The white-robed young man withdrew his finger and gave his final assessment in an utterly calm tone as he looked at the sweat-drenched Flender.

"The stagnant energy within your body contains far too many impurities. They have already seeped into your bones and marrow."

"If you continue down your method of cultivation."

The young man's gaze swept across Flender's Soul Rings.

"Every additional ring you put on will allow the resentment of beasts to corrode your soul a little further."

"If I am not mistaken, even if your system is cultivated to its utmost limit, your lifespan will absolutely not exceed a few hundred years."

"This is not a Great Dao to immortality at all. It is a complete and utter dead end."

A dead end!

The moment those two words were spoken.

The entire Douluo Continent erupted.

In Heaven Dou Imperial City, Star Luo Imperial City, and countless other places, Soul Masters clutched their heads and wept. Some even tore at their hair like madmen.

They had cultivated their entire lives, suffered every hardship, and risked their lives fighting in soul beast forests.

Yet in the end, someone was telling them this was merely a road to death?

Flender's legs gave out beneath him, and he dropped to his knees on the bluestone paving of the courtyard.

The Soul Sage cultivation he had once been so proud of seemed, at this moment, like one enormous joke.

"Senior..."

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

He suddenly raised his head, his eyes erupting with an unprecedented desire to survive.

"Th-these rings... can they be removed?"

Flender's question was also the question in the hearts of every Soul Master across the continent beyond the Sky Screen.

Everyone held their breath and stared fixedly at the white-robed young man, like drowning people grasping at their final straw.

The white-robed young man looked at the kneeling Flender and lightly waved his sleeve.

A gentle force lifted Flender to his feet.

"They can naturally be removed."

A calm smile curled at the young man's lips.

"However, extracting impurities that have fused into your bones and blood would be no different from flaying your skin, pulling out your tendons, and remolding your flesh."

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

The young man turned around, returned to the stone table, and picked up the carving knife.

"Moreover, aside from the resentment of those beasts, I see a trace of Buddhist light from the Great Thunderclap Temple and the deathly aura of the Great Ruins' night within your body."

"Those things are tangled together. It is quite an interesting mess."

Without even raising his head, the white-robed young man slowly carved the wood in his hand.

"Outsider, think this through."

"If I remove those rings for you, you will become an ordinary mortal without the strength to truss a chicken."

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

"Do you dare?"

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

Flender knelt on the bluestone paving in the courtyard.

A breeze passed through the bamboo grove, making the leaves rustle softly.

Large beads of sweat rolled down from his forehead, striking the ground and shattering into several droplets.

He could not bear to let them go.

These seven Soul Rings had cost him more than half his life, won through desperate battles in the Star Dou Forest time and time again.

Every time he absorbed a Soul Ring, he endured agony worse than death. Even now, he remembered it with perfect clarity.

Now he was being asked to strip them all away with his own hands and become a cripple weaker than even an ordinary farmer.

That was harder to bear than killing him.

But if he did not remove them.

According to this white-robed young man, his lifespan was already nearing its end, and he would never be able to advance another step for the rest of his life.

Flender gritted his teeth, the muscles in his cheeks taut.

He raised his head and looked at the white-robed young man seated beside the stone table.

"Senior."

Flender swallowed, his voice dry and rough.

"This junior dares to ask something."

"If I truly disperse all this cultivation, could I learn to open that... Divine Treasury, like you?"

The white-robed young man set down the carving knife.

He lifted the teacup from the table and took a sip of the somewhat bitter coarse tea inside.

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

The young man's gaze was gentle, like a bottomless lake.

"Our Heavenly Saint Sect accepts disciples without ever asking about their origins."

"As long as you wish to learn, the sect's library will always be open to you."

"However, whether you can sense your Spirit Fetus and whether you can break through the barriers of this fleshly body will depend entirely on your own comprehension."

"No one else can help you with that."

Upon hearing this, everyone on Douluo Continent beyond the Sky Screen gasped.

At Shrek Academy's training grounds.

Ma Hongjun's mouth hung open, and he did not even bother picking up the sausage that had fallen to the ground.

"Th-this is too absurd, isn't it?"

"Such powerful Divine Treasury cultivation methods can be studied anytime, as long as someone wants to learn?"

On Douluo Continent, even slightly advanced meditation methods were guarded by the major sects like their very lives.

Ordinary commoners were not even qualified to glance at them.

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

"This is what true vision looks like."

"They seek the Great Dao and the benefit of all under heaven."

"We seek only the selfish interests of a single sect or faction."

Within Spirit City, Bibi Dong watched the Sky Screen coldly, deep wariness flashing in her eyes.

Cultivation methods made public.

That meant that, given enough time, the Heavenly Saint Sect could raise thousands upon thousands of terrifying cultivators who had opened their Divine Treasuries.

If such a sect were left unchecked, it would absolutely be the nightmare of any ruler.

Within the Sky Screen.

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

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

If he did not, he could only struggle on in the perilous Great Ruins until his few hundred years of life ran out.

To conceal the turmoil in his heart and buy himself a little more time to think.

Flender took a deep breath and changed the subject.

"Senior, this junior has only just arrived, but there has been something weighing on my mind."

Flender pointed to the sky above.

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

"Do immortals truly exist in this world?"

Upon hearing the question, a faint smile appeared on the white-robed young man's face.

Yet that smile carried a trace of indescribable mockery.

"Gods?"

The young man stood and walked to the courtyard fence, gazing over the vast terraced fields below the mountain.

"Of course there are gods in this world."

"They live in the Heavenly Court above the nine heavens, enjoying endless lifespans as they look down upon the birth, aging, sickness, and death of the mortal world."

The young man spoke calmly, as though recounting some utterly ordinary matter.

Flender's eyes immediately lit up.

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

After reaching rank one hundred, one could ascend to the God Realm and live forever.

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

The white-robed young man turned and glanced at Flender.

"Ascend?"

The young man shook his head, and the mockery at the corner of his lips deepened.

"Outlander, you think those beings in the heavens are far too merciful."

The young man extended a finger and pointed at the flourishing crops below the mountain.

"Look at the wheat in those fields."

"Farmers sow in spring, water in summer, and when autumn comes, they take their sickles and cut it down, storing it in their own granaries."

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

The young man's gaze instantly sharpened.

"The mortals of this world, every kingdom and city upon this land, are nothing more than wheat and livestock they raise in captivity."

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

"The gods will send down so-called heavenly disasters."

"They will uproot those ripe fruits and use them as medicine to prolong their lives and power."

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

Heaven Dou Imperial City, inside the palace.

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

"Raised in captivity... medicine?"

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

On Sea God Island, Bo Saixi, the High Priest, had been kneeling before the Sea God's statue in prayer.

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

"Impossible... The gods are merciful. They protect all living beings..." Bo Saixi murmured softly, though her voice lacked all conviction.

Spirit City, Elder Hall.

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

He had worshiped the Angel God all his life.

In his heart, the God Realm had always been the most sacred and pure place.

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

He compared gods to farmers and mortals to crops.

Such a naked relationship of exploitation was enough to drive one into utter despair.

On the Sky Screen, Flender was so frightened that he could no longer speak.

His throat was dry, and cold sweat poured down his back.

The white-robed young man walked back to the stone table and picked up the piece of carved wood.

It was an exceptionally exquisite wood carving.

It depicted a ferocious god with three heads and six arms.

Yet a rough hemp rope was looped around that god's neck.

The other end of the rope was tightly gripped by an ordinary old farmer dressed in a straw raincoat.

The old farmer held a woodcutter's axe aloft, bringing it down viciously upon the god's forehead.

The young man casually tossed the wood carving to the yellow-clad girl standing nearby.

"So, the reforms of our Yankang Kingdom, the doctrines of our Heavenly Saint Sect."

The young man's gaze became profound.

"Are meant to make the wheat in these fields grow teeth, to make the cattle and sheep in the pens grow sharp horns."

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

"And let them taste what it feels like to be trampled beneath mortal feet."

He said it lightly.

Yet the world-shaking ambition contained within those words left everyone outside the screen gasping for breath.

Godslaying!

The people of that world were actually plotting to drag gods down from their pedestals!

On the Douluo Continent, such a rebellious notion was something no one would even dare imagine.

Just as everyone remained lost in that overwhelming shock.

The scene suddenly shifted.

The scorching sun high in the sky remained as brutal as ever.

That same dazzling sunlight now shone upon Bianlong City, thirty li away.