Level Ten Demonic Beast, Golden Flood Dragon King!

It had a ferocious flood dragon-shaped head, its entire body covered in thick purple-black scales.

The surrounding seawater turned to nothingness the instant it touched those scales, corroded away by the poison.

An eighth-rank demon beast—the Poison Flood Dragon!

It was even a direct blood descendant of the Golden Flood Dragon King, a tenth-rank demon beast of the Chaotic Star Sea!

By cultivator standards, it was a terrifying existence equivalent to an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator!

The instant they saw this colossal beast.

On Sea God Island of the Douluo Continent.

Bo Saixi's hand holding the scepter trembled slightly, her beautiful eyes widening.

"Th... what kind of sea soul beast is that?"

Sea Dragon Douluo beside her swallowed hard.

"This aura is even more terrifying than the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's."

"And the poisonous mist it emits can actually corrode even seawater—and space itself!"

In the scene, the eighth-rank Poison Flood Dragon hovered in midair without attacking immediately.

Its enormous dragon maw opened slightly, and it actually spoke in clear human speech.

"Strange insect."

"You do not possess the slightest trace of spiritual energy, yet you can use some external power to cast illusions?"

The Poison Flood Dragon's voice was grating, but it echoed over the deserted island for a long time, keeping countless ordinary demon beasts from approaching.

It had merely been cultivating beneath the sea, refining a poison pill, when it was disturbed by the energy fluctuations Shi Nian had released while using his Martial Soul Avatar.

Hearing that the colossal beast could speak human language, Shi Nian's scalp went numb.

On the Douluo Continent, only soul beasts over a hundred thousand years old could speak human language.

As a seven-ringed Soul Sage, encountering a hundred-thousand-year soul beast meant certain death!

"Run!"

That was the only thought left in Shi Nian's mind.

Without hesitation, he turned and pushed the soul power in his body to its limit, transforming into an afterimage as he sprinted wildly toward the other end of the deserted island.

"You want to leave?"

Seeing this, a mocking glint flashed through the Poison Flood Dragon's eyes.

It did not even move. It merely let out a cold snort through its nostrils.

"Stay here for this king!"

As the snort fell, an incomprehensibly immense force of divine sense swept toward Shi Nian like a tsunami.

The divine sense of a Nascent Soul demon beast!

It was spiritual power tempered by heavenly tribulation, capable of leaving the body to scout and attack from hundreds of miles away.

Feeling that terrifying force behind him, Shi Nian knew as he ran that he could not escape.

He bit the tip of his tongue, spun around sharply, and roared:

"I'll fight you to the death!"

"Seventh Soul Skill, Martial Soul Avatar!"

As his words fell, the seventh black soul ring beneath Shi Nian's feet erupted with light.

Immediately afterward, his entire body transformed into a mass of richly colored dense mist.

The mist expanded wildly in the wind, trying to envelop the incoming mental storm and drag the colossal beast into his Remnant Dream Illusion.

In Shi Nian's view, no matter how powerful this demon beast was, as long as it was a living creature, it would have mental weaknesses and could be deceived by illusions.

However, the Remnant Dream Illusion he was so proud of was crushed by that Nascent Soul-level spiritual power the instant it came into contact with the divine sense storm.

"Ah!"

As the dense mist dispersed, Shi Nian's figure reappeared.

Clutching his head in both hands, he let out a shrill scream.

His Martial Soul had been forcibly crushed. The backlash from the depths of his soul caused blood to spurt from all seven of Shi Nian's orifices at once.

His eyes rolled upward, and his whole body collapsed helplessly to his knees upon the black reef.

The so-called seven-ringed Soul Sage had not even lasted half a breath against the divine sense of a Nascent Soul demon beast before becoming a mentally deranged cripple.

Seeing how utterly vulnerable he was, a hint of boredom flashed through the Poison Flood Dragon's eyes in midair.

"I thought you were something rare. Turns out you're just trash that hasn't even cultivated divine sense."

The Poison Flood Dragon shook its head, then its ferocious maw suddenly opened wide.

"Pfft!"

A mass of thick, purple-black venom poured down from the sky like a waterfall, landing precisely on Shi Nian.

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle..."

Immediately afterward, a bone-chilling sound of corrosion echoed across the deserted island.

Shi Nian did not even have time to scream.

His powerful body, tempered through decades of cultivation, melted away the instant it came into contact with the venom.

Flesh, bones, even his clothes and hair—all of it melted into a puddle of purple-black sludge in less than a single breath.

Even the hard black reef beneath his feet was corroded by the venom, leaving behind a bottomless pit.

The venom flood dragon snorted, and its enormous body slowly sank back into the sea. The whirlpool vanished.

[Level 72 Soul Sage Shi Nian has died.]

[Cause of death: Entered the Outer Star Sea region of the Chaotic Star Sea by mistake.]

[After using an illusion technique on the eighth-rank demonic beast (early Nascent Soul stage), the venom flood dragon (descendant of a level-ten Golden Flood Dragon King), he suffered a spiritual sense backlash and was melted by its natal venom.]

[Survival time: half an hour.]

The announcement from the heavens echoed across the skies of the entire Douluo Continent, plunging the whole continent into silence.

Heaven Dou City, Canghui Academy.

The teachers and students who had been cheering for Shi Nian moments ago all collapsed to the ground.

Their vice headmaster.

The Soul Sage expert who stood high above them in their eyes, killing people invisibly with illusions.

Had he just died like that?

Without even touching a single scale on his opponent, his martial soul had been shattered by a mere thought, and then he had been melted into a puddle of sludge by a mouthful of saliva?

Within Spirit Hall.

Bibi Dong took a deep breath, her palm already covered in a fine layer of sweat.

"Spiritual sense backlash, natal venom..."

She murmured those words, her beautiful eyes filled with apprehension.

The atmosphere in the hall was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.

Everyone present was among Spirit Hall's absolute upper ranks. Which one of them was not a well-traveled expert?

Yet the stronger they were, the more clearly they could sense the overwhelming dominance displayed by that venom flood dragon in the scene just now.

Chrysanthemum Douluo Yueguan stood below the steps. The golden chrysanthemum he usually toyed with in his hand had unknowingly had its petals crushed apart.

"Your Holiness, that beast's venom..."

Yueguan swallowed, his voice sounding somewhat dry.

"I once fought that old poison Dugu Bo."

"Although his Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor Poison is said to be capable of poisoning an entire city, it needs time to spread, and it mainly affects the bloodlines and soul power of living creatures."

At this point, Yueguan pointed toward the light screen in the air.

"But look at the purple-black venom that sea soul beast spat out just now."

"It could turn a seven-ring Soul Sage, flesh and bones alike, into sludge in the blink of an eye."

"It even corroded a bottomless pit into those incomparably hard black reefs on the island, rocks that had endured the pounding of ocean waves for years!"

Once Yueguan finished speaking, everyone in the hall drew sharp breaths.

That was right.

No matter how formidable Dugu Bo's poison was, it could not instantly melt stone, could it?

This was no longer merely poison. It was more like a terrifying law capable of directly destroying matter itself!

"If Dugu Bo went to that world and encountered that venom flood dragon..."

A Platinum Bishop beside him could not help speaking up.

"He probably would not even get the chance to release his poison before being melted by a trace of the other party's poisonous vapor."

Hearing everyone's discussion, Ghost Douluo Guimei, who had remained hidden in the shadows, slowly stepped forward as well.

His entire body was shrouded in black mist, with only a pair of faintly glowing eyes exposed.

"Compared to the venom, I am more concerned about that thing called spiritual sense."

Guimei's voice was somewhat hoarse, yet it carried clearly through the hall.

"You all saw it just now. Shi Nian unleashed his seventh soul skill, Martial Soul Avatar."

"Once the Remnant Dream martial soul activates its avatar, it transforms into an invisible mist of illusion. Physical attacks find it difficult to have any effect."

"But that poisonous flood dragon didn't even move."

Ghost extended a finger and tapped his temple.

"It merely snorted and unleashed an invisible storm of consciousness."

"Shi Nian's martial soul was forcibly crushed!"

Ghost himself was a Titled Douluo specializing in mental and soul-based attacks. More than anyone, he understood just how monstrous it was to shatter someone's martial soul from a distance.

"Although we soul masters of Douluo Continent also have the concept of spiritual power—"

"—it is mostly used to scout the surroundings or assist in locking onto targets with soul skills."

"Only a very small number of soul bones or special head soul skills can barely launch mental attacks."

Ghost drew a deep breath, his tone filled with profound helplessness.

"But that Mortal Cultivation World seems to treat spiritual power as a common weapon—one that can even leave the body and kill people hundreds of miles away."

"They call it divine sense."

"Just think about it."

Ghost swept his gaze over everyone in the hall.

"If the Titled Douluo of our Spirit Hall were to face a monster possessing such immense divine sense—"

"Before we even had time to release our soul rings, a single thought from the other side could rush over and directly burst our spiritual worlds inside our minds."

"Then what use would all our soul skills and soul power be?"

Ghost's analysis was like a basin of icy water poured directly over everyone in Spirit Hall from head to toe.

The hall fell silent once more.

Bibi Dong leaned back against her chair as well, her brows tightly furrowed.

Ghost was absolutely right.

Douluo Continent's cultivation system placed far too much emphasis on the physical body and the accumulation of soul rings. As for cultivation of the spirit and soul, it was so rudimentary that it resembled an infant who had only just learned to walk.

"Moreover, don't forget."

Bibi Dong slowly spoke, breaking the silence.

"The heavenly screen said that this poisonous flood dragon was merely a level-eight demon beast, equivalent to the Nascent Soul stage."

"But there was another prefix before that."

"Descendant of the Level Ten Golden Flood Dragon King."

At those words, Yue Guan and Ghost exchanged a glance, their eyelids both twitching sharply.

"A level-eight demon beast is already at the Nascent Soul stage."

"What about level nine? Level ten?"

Bibi Dong's slender fingers lightly traced the armrest of her throne.

"This means that in that so-called Chaotic Star Sea, the Nascent Soul stage is far from the end."

"In the depths of that sea, there are undoubtedly ancient monsters hidden away, ten or even a hundred times more terrifying than that poisonous flood dragon."

"Mortal Cultivation World..."

Bibi Dong murmured those words, a bitter smile appearing at the corner of her lips.

"How are they mortals?"

"This is practically an Asura battlefield where immortals roam everywhere and monsters are as common as dogs."

Meanwhile.

Outside Soto City, Balak Kingdom.

On Shrek Academy's training grounds, the atmosphere was several degrees heavier than it had been in Spirit Hall.

The Shrek Seven Monsters, who had just been mocking Han Li's appearance and mannerisms, now looked like eggplants wilted by frost.

Their faces were pale, and not one of them could utter a word for a long while.

Even Dai Mubai's dazzling golden hair seemed to have lost its luster.

He stared blankly at the enormous vortex on the heavenly screen as it gradually subsided.

"One move..."

"A seven-ring Soul Sage was reduced to ashes just like that."

Dai Mubai swallowed with difficulty.

As a prince of the Star Luo Empire, he had seen quite a few powerful figures since childhood.

In his understanding, even if a Soul Sage encountered a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, if they could not win, they should at least be able to hold their own for a while or have a chance to escape.

But the scene just now had completely overturned everything he knew.

Before that venomous flood dragon, Shi Nian was like an ant passing by—casually blown on, spat at, and turned into water.

He had no room to resist at all.

"Master, didn't... didn't you say that Soul Masters could walk sideways through that world?"

Ma Hongjun stammered as he looked at Yu Xiaogang standing before him.

The fatty was usually terrified of death. Seeing Shi Nian die without even leaving behind a trace of bone had made both his legs tremble.

At his student's question, Yu Xiaogang's face turned the color of pig liver as well.

His hands, clasped behind his back, twisted tightly together.

"Th-this was an accident!"

Yu Xiaogang forced his voice to sound more confident.

"The heavenly screen already said it was the Outer Star Sea, a place where demonic beasts gathered."

"When I said Soul Masters had an advantage, I meant in human markets!"

"As long as we're a little luckier and don't run into such high-level demonic beasts, ordinary cultivators have frail bodies and still won't be a match for us Soul Masters!"

Yu Xiaogang still stubbornly refused to admit defeat, trying to preserve his authority.

But this time, the Shrek group did not immediately echo him as they had before.

No one was an idiot.

Ordinary cultivators?

That chosen one named Han Li had only been at the Qi Refinement stage, yet he had already been able to kill a Soul Elder in return.

Elder Wu, who had casually seized someone's body, was at the Foundation Establishment stage.

Just how deep the waters of this cultivation world ran, no one could tell.

Tang San, standing behind the others, had fallen into unprecedented self-doubt.

He did not listen to Yu Xiaogang's excuses. His eyes were fixed on the enormous pit the venom had corroded into on the light screen.

A violent storm raged deep within Tang San's heart.

"Poison..."

"This is real poison."

Tang San muttered to himself.

As an inner disciple prodigy of the Tang Sect in his previous life, he had always taken pride in his mastery of poisons and hidden weapons.

He knew that the Tang Sect possessed many terrifying deadly poisons.

For example, Yama's Invitation. Once struck by Yama's Invitation, even a Titled Douluo would succumb to its poison and die within a short time.

But every poison of the Tang Sect was based on pharmacology and meridians.

The poison had to enter the enemy's bloodstream or be inhaled into the body, damaging their physiological functions before it could kill.

That required a process, as well as specific conditions.

Yet the purple-black venom spat out by that flood dragon in the image...

It simply defied all reason!

It did not need to enter the bloodstream, nor did it need to damage the meridians.

It only needed to touch your skin, your clothes, or even the stones beneath your feet!

That corrosive power, capable of instantly melting solid rock into nothingness, had completely surpassed the realm of pharmacology.

"If my hidden weapons came into contact with that venom..."

Tang San made a terrifying assumption in his mind.

His prized Buddha Fury Tang Lotus or Storm Pear Blossom Needles—

if even a trace of that purple-black venom touched them in midair, then before they could even reach their target, the intricate mechanisms forged from refined iron would probably melt into a puddle of useless molten metal in an instant!

What made Tang San despair even more was that thing called divine sense.

He thought of the Purple Demon Eye he cultivated.

At a profound level, the Purple Demon Eye could also inflict a spiritual impact on enemies.

But compared to the tangible, tsunami-like storm of divine sense released by that venomous flood dragon, his Purple Demon Eye was like a tiny matchstick facing a towering flood.

"If the other side used that divine sense to lock onto me directly..."

"I'm afraid even the motion of taking out a hidden weapon from Twenty-Four Bridge Bright Moon Night would be interrupted instantly."

A deep sense of helplessness surged through Tang San.

After transmigrating to Douluo Continent, he had thought that with the memories of his previous life, he could crush this Martial Soul world from a higher dimension.

But now, the heavenly screen had placed the Mortal Cultivation World, a world of an even higher dimension, before him.

Whether hidden weapons, poisons, or cultivation techniques.

Before those world-destroying methods of the cultivation world, they all seemed so childish and ridiculous.

"What am I supposed to do?"

Meanwhile, just as the various forces across Douluo Continent were still too shocked by Shi Nian's death to recover.

The images in the sky shifted once more.

Soon, a new window began to enlarge, gradually filling the entire sky.

[Current livestream perspective locked: Heaven Dou Empire's Fourth Prince, Level 35 Soul Elder, Xue Beng.]

[Teleportation location: Mortal Cultivation World, Human Realm, a cultivation family residence somewhere along the border of the Yue Kingdom.]