A Frog in a Well, the Methods of Mortal Cultivators!

In a fringe place like Tai'nan Market, where only Qi Refinement rogue cultivators gathered, not to mention Core Formation cultivators—even Foundation Establishment cultivators stood in a league of their own.

Seeing this, the viewers of Douluo Continent all held their breath.

Though they did not understand what a Core Formation cultivator was, judging by everyone else's reactions in the market, they could tell that this middle-aged man was definitely no ordinary person.

"Could Zhao Hei have kicked an iron plate this time?"

Ning Fengzhi frowned and murmured softly.

On the screen, Zhao Hei looked at the man's faintly smiling expression, and an inexplicable irritation rose in his heart.

"Stop playing tricks!"

Zhao Hei shouted, and two yellow and two purple soul rings rose beneath his feet once more.

"Third Soul Skill, Shadow Assault!"

Without hesitation, he unleashed his fastest offensive soul skill, intending to snap the man's neck in a single blow just as he had done to those three rogue cultivators earlier.

A black afterimage streaked across the market street, leaving a long trail behind it at an astonishing speed.

"So fast!"

Inside Spirit Hall, Chrysanthemum Douluo's eyes lit up.

"Zhao Hei's speed is pretty good even among agility-type Soul Masters of the same rank. If a Soul King lets down their guard, they'll suffer badly from this strike!"

However, just as Zhao Hei's sharp leopard claws came within less than half a foot of the middle-aged man's throat—

The middle-aged man did not even chant an incantation. A dense crimson light shield suddenly erupted around him!

Protective Spirit Light!

Bang!

A dull boom rang out. Zhao Hei felt as though he had crashed at full speed into an iron mountain forged from ten-thousand-year mystic iron!

His supposedly unstoppable leopard claws did not even create the slightest ripple on that seemingly thin crimson shield.

The massive recoil swept through his entire body in an instant. Zhao Hei screamed as the bones in his entire right arm shattered inch by inch!

His body flew backward like a kite with its string cut, smashing through the wall of a stone house behind him before being buried beneath the rubble.

Just a layer of automatically activated protective spirit light had injured a forty-second-level Soul Ancestor!

At that moment, the expressions on everyone's faces across Douluo Continent froze.

Smoke and dust filled the market's ruins.

Zhao Hei lay amid the broken stones, vomiting blood in great mouthfuls.

The right arm he had once been so proud of now hung limply at his side, its bones broken into several pieces.

Pain.

The piercing agony twisted Zhao Hei's features.

He struggled to rise, only to discover that the soul power within him seemed to have been completely scattered by some invisible force. He could not gather it at all.

"You... who exactly are you?"

Zhao Hei panted heavily, and fear finally appeared in his eyes.

He simply could not understand it. The other party had not even lifted a hand, so how had his full-force strike been defeated?

And so utterly defeated at that!

Outside the screen.

The viewers of Douluo Continent were also silent as death.

Star Luo Emperor Dai Tianfeng, who had just been hosting a grand banquet in the palace and preparing to reward Zhao Hei's family, now froze with his wine cup raised in midair.

The smile on his face instantly stiffened as well.

"How is this possible..." Dai Tianfeng muttered.

A forty-second-level Soul Ancestor had not even touched the other man's clothes before his arm was shattered by the recoil?

At that moment, the Star Luo Empire's dignity was ruthlessly ground into the dirt.

Inside Spirit Hall.

Bibi Dong frowned slightly and leaned forward.

"This protective light shield is somewhat similar to the soul power shields used by our Soul Masters."

"But its defensive power is worlds apart."

Ghost Douluo swallowed and added in a low voice, "Your Holiness, the most terrifying part is that the man in green did not actively cast any defensive technique at all."

"That shield seemed more like something that activated automatically when danger approached."

Automatic protection!

And it could even injure attackers through recoil!

On Douluo Continent, only certain top-grade defensive soul bones could barely achieve such a feat.

But in this world, it seemed to be merely that man's basic skill.

In the scene, the green-robed Core Formation cultivator did not press his advantage. Instead, he clasped his hands behind his back and slowly walked over to the ruins.

He looked down at Zhao Hei from above, curiosity in his eyes.

"No spiritual energy fluctuations. Are you following the body-tempering path?"

The green-robed man shook his head slightly.

"No. Your body has not been tempered by spiritual medicine. Instead, you rely on the essence soul of some inferior demonic beast attached to your body."

"What a bizarre and crude cultivation technique."

Hearing the other party demean his martial soul so harshly, Zhao Hei gritted his teeth.

The overbearing temperament he had developed in the Star Luo Empire made him unwilling to bow his head so easily.

"I'm from the Star Luo Empire!"

Enduring the intense pain, Zhao Hei invoked his backing.

"If you dare touch me, once the experts of the Star Luo Empire arrive, they'll make you pay dearly!"

Upon hearing this, the green-robed man was initially stunned, then could not help but laugh softly.

"An empire?"

"You dare use the court of a mortal nation to threaten an immortal cultivator?"

The green-robed man sighed, seeming somewhat bored by such ignorant threats.

He could not even be bothered to waste another word.

He slowly raised his right hand, curled his fingers into a claw, and gave Zhao Hei a light pull through the air.

Whoosh!

A tremendous invisible suction force erupted instantly.

Zhao Hei's burly body was pulled into the air like a helpless chick.

No matter how he struggled or activated the remaining soul power within him, he could not break free from that invisible restraint.

Then, the green-robed man gently pressed down with his palm.

A massive hand formed entirely from scarlet spiritual energy appeared out of nowhere in midair, tightly clenching Zhao Hei in its palm!

"Argh!"

The spiritual-energy hand continuously tightened, making Zhao Hei scream in agony.

He felt every bone in his body being slowly crushed and distorted.

Only at this moment did he truly realize what kind of terrifying existence he was facing.

Close-range combat, martial soul possession—

Before absolute overwhelming power, he did not even have a chance to use them!

"Spare me... Senior, spare my life!"

Zhao Hei finally broke down. Abandoning all dignity, he cried out desperately for mercy.

However, the green-robed man remained unmoved.

"Since you dared attack me, you should have been prepared for your body and soul to be destroyed."

The man's gaze was indifferent.

With a flip of his left hand, a palm-sized black banner suddenly appeared in it.

Twisted, agonized human faces were painted on the little banner. The moment it appeared, the surrounding temperature plummeted.

A sinister, bone-piercing chill passed through the heavenly screen, making everyone on the Douluo Continent shudder.

"What kind of weapon is that?"

At Shrek Academy, Dai Mubai's face turned pale.

Tang San frowned deeply, staring fixedly at the black banner.

In his previous life, he had heard of some evil sect martial arts in the Bashu region, but he had never seen anything so bizarre.

In the scene, the green-robed man lightly shook the black banner in his hand.

A dense mass of black mist poured from the banner, instantly enveloping Zhao Hei in midair.

"Extract the soul, refine the spirit."

The man uttered four icy words.

The next second, waves of wailing, as though from the eighteenth level of hell, rang out from within the black mist!

Through the heavenly screen, everyone on the Douluo Continent could clearly see that Zhao Hei's body had not suffered any physical harm.

Yet a translucent phantom identical to Zhao Hei was being forcibly torn, bit by bit, from his flesh by that mass of black mist!

"That is... a soul?!"