Qian Renxue's Great Battle Against the Foundation Establishment Stage!

The two men were both dressed in fitted gray outfits, black masks covering their faces and leaving only a pair of vicious eyes exposed.

Each held a black short blade that glimmered with a sinister light. The spiritual pressure rolling off them had both reached the peak of the Qi Refinement stage!

They were only one step away from the Foundation Establishment stage.

"Worthy of being prey chosen by the young master. Your senses are quite sharp."

The taller gray-clad man on the left snorted coldly, his voice hoarse.

"Even so, now that you've discovered us, you still won't escape today."

The gray-clad man on the right wasted no words. He pulled four palm-sized black flags from his robes and hurled them in all directions.

"Sealing Formation, rise!"

The four little flags swelled in the wind and instantly planted themselves into the ground around Qian Renxue.

A black curtain of light rose from the earth, completely enveloping the bamboo forest within several dozen yards.

It sealed off Qian Renxue's escape routes completely.

Shrek Academy.

Tang San's gaze instantly turned cold when he saw this.

"So she really was being watched."

"That black-robed young man didn't act himself because he didn't want to shoulder unknown risks."

"But after leaving, he immediately sent family deathsworn to secretly test and ambush her."

Tang San watched the light barrier, his tone carrying a trace of awe.

"Even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit, and they even know to use a formation to block off escape routes."

"The cultivators of this world are simply too seasoned in actual combat and scheming."

Inside the bamboo forest.

Qian Renxue showed no panic as she watched the black light curtain rise around her.

She slowly raised a hand and pulled off her gray cloak.

Her dazzling golden hair gleamed brilliantly beneath the lingering glow of the setting sun.

Her peerlessly beautiful face carried a sacred, inviolable majesty.

She curled her right hand in the air.

An Angel Holy Sword blazing with golden flames appeared out of thin air in her palm.

"You want my life."

Qian Renxue raised her sword, its tip pointing directly at the two gray-clad deathsworn before her.

"Then let's see if you have what it takes!"

The next instant.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black.

Seven dazzling soul rings rose beneath her feet.

Three pairs of flawless white wings burst open behind her.

Holy radiance instantly illuminated the dim bamboo forest.

The immense aura unique to a Soul Sage of Douluo Continent erupted without reservation!

Even the air trapped beneath the black formation's light curtain gave off faint explosive crackles under that overwhelming pressure, as if unable to bear the strain.

The two gray-clad deathsworn who had been about to strike abruptly froze mid-step.

Their eyes widened as they stared at the golden-haired woman before them, as though a goddess had descended.

Those three pairs of pure white wings, along with the seven differently colored halos rising and falling beneath her feet, were completely beyond their comprehension.

"Th-this... what kind of cultivation technique is this?"

The gray-clad man on the left swallowed, unable to conceal the alarm and suspicion in his voice.

The cultivation world did indeed possess certain secret arts of the demon clans that could alter one's form.

But such secret arts were usually accompanied by dense demonic aura.

What emanated from the woman before them, however, was an utterly pure and righteous energy—so pure that even the spiritual power within their bodies seemed to fear it.

"Who cares what cultivation technique it is!"

The gray-clad man on the right hardened his gaze and gritted his teeth.

"She's just putting on a show. There isn't even the slightest trace of spiritual power fluctuation coming from her."

"This must be a secret art that burns lifespan to bluff us. Let's attack together and end this quickly!"

The moment he finished speaking, the gray-clad man launched the first attack.

He pulled a yellowish-brown talisman from his robes and slapped it onto himself.

A heavy yellow barrier instantly enveloped his entire body.

Immediately afterward, his hands rapidly formed a series of seals.

The black short blade floating in midair let out a piercing shriek as it tore through the air, transforming into a streak of black lightning that shot straight for Qian Renxue's throat.

The gray-robed man on the left was unwilling to be outdone.

He slapped the storage pouch at his waist and produced a glossy black ring-shaped magic artifact.

The ring spun through the air, rapidly expanding with the wind until it became an iron hoop the size of a millstone. Carrying a howling gale, it smashed viciously toward Qian Renxue's head.

Faced with these two fierce attacks, Qian Renxue did not choose to retreat.

Fierce fighting intent shone in her beautiful phoenix eyes.

On Douluo Continent, she had been the lofty young mistress of Spirit Hall, a genius who had received the finest combat training since childhood.

Since these lowly cultivators wanted her life, then she would use the sword in her hand to test just how capable this world's cultivation system really was!

"First Soul Skill, Angel Assault!"

Qian Renxue shouted softly as the first yellow soul ring beneath her feet abruptly lit up.

The six wings on her back beat fiercely.

Her entire body turned into a streak of golden light, moving so fast that an afterimage remained where she had stood.

Clang!

A crisp collision of metal echoed through the bamboo grove.

The Angel Holy Sword in Qian Renxue's hand struck the incoming black short blade with flawless precision.

That short blade was a mid-grade magic artifact, incomparably sharp.

But under the impact of the Angel Holy Sword's extreme heat and holy attributes, the cold, sinister spiritual power clinging to the blade vanished in an instant like remnant snow beneath a blazing sun.

The short blade gave a mournful cry and was sent flying back, embedding itself deeply in a thick green bamboo stalk.

Before the two gray-robed men could recover from their shock, Qian Renxue borrowed the recoil to execute a nimble roll in midair, charging directly at the black ring crashing down upon her.

"Third Soul Skill, Angel Light Barrier!"

A brilliant golden curtain of light instantly spread around Qian Renxue's body.

The black ring, weighing a thousand jin, slammed heavily into the golden barrier.

Boom!

A deafening muffled blast rang out, and the surrounding earth was blasted up by the impact.

The golden barrier only rippled violently a few times.

Yet it completely blocked the ring's attack.

"Impossible!"

The gray-robed man who had unleashed the ring cried out in disbelief.

His Black Gold Ring was a top-grade magic artifact.

With the spiritual power of his Qi Refinement Realm Great Perfection, even an ordinary early Foundation Establishment cultivator would not dare receive this strike head-on with a protective spiritual barrier.

Yet this woman, who did not even possess a spiritual root, had blocked it without suffering the slightest injury using some strange light barrier?

"Nothing is impossible."

Qian Renxue's cold voice rang beside the two gray-robed men's ears like a death sentence.

The instant she blocked the attack, the wings behind her beat again, her speed surpassing the limit of what the naked eye could follow.

Once soul masters of Douluo Continent reached the Soul Sage rank, the strength of their physical bodies far surpassed that of immortal cultivators at the same level.

The bodies of Qi Refinement cultivators were as fragile as paper.

Once they were approached by an agility-attack or power-attack soul master, there was only one possible outcome.

Slash!

A streak of golden sword light flashed across the neck of the gray-robed man on the left.

The gray-robed man did not even have time to react.

His eyes flew wide open, his pupils dispersing as his perfectly good head shot into the air.

Blood erupted like a fountain. His headless corpse swayed twice before crashing heavily into the fallen leaves.

Instant kill.

A clean, decisive close-range kill.

The gray-clad man on the right saw his companion die a gruesome death and was scared out of his wits.

He finally understood that the woman his young master had provoked was no ordinary mortal to be slaughtered at will.

She was a terrifying beast wearing human skin!

"Run!"

That was the only thought left in the gray-clad man's mind.

He turned and tried to flee beyond the black barrier of the formation.

But how could Qian Renxue possibly give him that chance?

"Fifth Soul Skill, Sacred Sword!"

Qian Renxue gripped the hilt with both hands and raised it high.

A gigantic golden sword phantom, thirty meters long, instantly condensed above her head.

Blazing sunfire burned across the sword phantom, illuminating the entire black formation space as brightly as day.

"Slash!"

With a sharp cry, the massive sword phantom descended viciously upon the fleeing gray-clad man with world-destroying force.

Feeling the lethal heat bearing down on him from behind, the gray-clad man turned around in despair and poured every last bit of spiritual power in his body into the earthen-yellow barrier surrounding him.

Unfortunately, it was all futile.

The golden sword phantom struck the barrier.

That defensive talisman, capable of blocking even low-grade magical artifacts, shattered instantly as though it were made of paper.

The sword phantom did not lose any momentum, cleaving the gray-clad man in two from head to toe.

The intense heat charred his corpse in an instant, and not even a drop of blood spilled.

With the deaths of the two people maintaining the formation, the black sealing barrier around them flickered a few times before completely dissipating into the air.

The bamboo grove returned to silence.

Only a few dry bamboo stalks still burning gave off faint crackling sounds.

The viewers of Douluo Continent erupted into deafening cheers at the sight of that smooth, flowing battle.

Inside Spirit Hall's great hall, a pleased smile finally appeared on Qian Daoliu's wrinkled old face.

"Good! As expected of my Qian family's blood!"

He slapped his thigh hard, his voice booming.

"It seems the cultivators of this world aren't as invincible as we imagined."

"As long as one finds an opportunity to get close, their bodies are so fragile they cannot withstand a single blow."

Bibi Dong also let out a breath of relief.

As she watched the proud young woman in the light screen holding the Sacred Sword, a trace of complicated admiration flashed through her eyes.

Qian Renxue's chain of reactions and responses had been calm and decisive, without the slightest hesitation or wasted motion.

Shrek Academy.

Tang San looked at the two corpses on the ground, but his brow did not fully relax.

"Third Brother, Qian Renxue won."

Dai Mubai patted Tang San on the shoulder and said with a smile.

"It looks like a Soul Saint's combat strength is more than enough to deal with cultivators at this level."

Tang San shook his head and pointed at Qian Renxue's slightly heaving chest in the light screen.

"Look at her condition."

Hearing this, everyone looked more closely.

Only then did they realize that although Qian Renxue had won, her face was somewhat pale.

A fine layer of sweat also covered her forehead.

In the scene, Qian Renxue put away the Angel Holy Sword and her martial soul. Her body swayed slightly, and she leaned against a stalk of green bamboo.

She panted heavily, feeling as though more than half the soul power in her body had been drained away.

The energy laws of this world suppress us far too much.

Qian Renxue was secretly alarmed.

That battle had lasted only a few dozen breaths at most.

She had only used three soul skills.

On Douluo Continent, that level of expenditure would have required only a brief meditation to recover.

But just now, she had clearly felt that each use of a soul skill consumed several times more soul power than it did on Douluo Continent.

It was as though this world's spatial barrier was desperately suppressing this foreign power system.

Worse still, Qian Renxue tried circulating her soul power in meditation, hoping to absorb the surrounding energy and recover.

Yet she found that the dense spiritual energy around her was as heavy as solidified mercury.

Not only did it refuse to enter her meridians, it even repelled the residual soul power within her body.

"I can't replenish what I've used..."

Qian Renxue clenched her teeth.

This meant that in this world of cultivation, every bit of soul power she used was gone for good.

If she could not find a way to convert soul power into spiritual power before it ran out completely, she would ultimately become an ordinary person with no strength to even truss a chicken.

At that thought, Qian Renxue dared not waste any more time.

She recalled how the young man named Han Li had dealt with the aftermath after killing someone.

She quickly walked over to the two corpses and, suppressing her discomfort, removed the storage bags from their waists.

Then, she flicked a golden flame from her fingertip, letting it fall onto the bodies.

Within a few breaths, the corpses turned into piles of ash.

After finishing all this, Qian Renxue picked a direction at random and quickly left the devastated bamboo grove.

The sky gradually darkened.

After moving through the mountains and forests for over two hours, Qian Renxue found a concealed cave.

She arranged some dry grass and branches at the entrance as cover.

Then she walked deeper into the cave and sat down cross-legged.

She took out the storage bags belonging to the two men in gray.

Since their owners were dead, the faint spiritual imprints on the storage bags were easily erased.

Qian Renxue poured everything inside onto the ground.

There was a pile of low-grade spirit stones giving off a faint glow, probably several hundred of them.

There were also over a dozen talismans inscribed with strange runes, along with several bottles of healing pills and pills for restoring magical power.

What caught her attention most were two thin thread-bound books.

One was titled Breath Concealment Art, while the other was titled Complete Guide to Basic Five-Element Spells.

When she saw the two books, Qian Renxue's eyes lit up.

What she lacked most right now was basic knowledge of this world's power system.

She picked up Complete Guide to Basic Five-Element Spells and carefully read through it by the faint moonlight filtering in through the cave entrance.

The contents were obscure, mentioning many theories regarding spiritual roots, meridian circulation, and the five elements of heaven and earth.

After reading for a long while, Qian Renxue felt her head ache.

"Without spiritual roots, one cannot sense the five-element spiritual energy between heaven and earth..."

She closed the book and rubbed her throbbing brow.

Could it really be as that Patriarch Song Yu had said?

Could mortals without spiritual roots truly not take a single step in this world?

Hu Liena had possessed a special constitution and encountered a knowledgeable senior who helped cleanse her marrow and transform her body.

But what about her?

What exactly did her Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul count as in this world?

Just as Qian Renxue sank into thought, feeling a trace of uncertainty toward the future, another unexpected change descended.