Get Serious for Once

The forest was frighteningly quiet.

The birds and beasts that had been fleeing moments ago had fallen silent. Only the Titan Giant Ape's heavy breathing echoed through the trees. Each breath sounded like a war drum beating against their chests.

Tang San tightened his grip on his Blue Silver Grass.

He could feel sweat coating his palm.

It wasn't cowardice.

His body was warning him that the being before him lay beyond anything he could comprehend.

Zhao Wuji stood at the front. With Martial Soul Possession active, his body was like a thick wall, yet he still looked tiny before the Titan Giant Ape. Dai Mubai gritted his teeth as the aura of the Evil-Eyed White Tiger surged around him in waves. Zhu Zhuqing kept close to the shadows, while Ning Rongrong held the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, not daring to make a sound.

Xiao Wu stood behind Tang San, her gaze so conflicted it almost hurt to see.

Bai Jin, however, was smiling.

He held the Evil Soul Master from the Ghost Face Society like a bag of not-so-fresh garbage and tossed him aside.

"You people sure know how to pick your moment."

The Evil Soul Master hit the ground. Half his mask cracked away, revealing a terrified face.

He tried to run.

The next instant, his body froze in place.

Bai Jin didn't even look at him.

Those Azure Blue eyes passed over everyone and settled on the Titan Giant Ape. His voice was as calm as if he were asking for directions.

"Big guy, let's talk."

The Titan Giant Ape growled.

Bai Jin nodded. "Guess you're not in the mood to talk."

Zhao Wuji couldn't help cursing. "This is no time to waste your breath!"

"Don't be nervous, Teacher Zhao."

Bai Jin raised a hand and took off his blindfold.

His Silver Hair lifted in the wind.

In an instant, seven Soul Rings rose beneath his feet.

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

When the second, purple Soul Ring lit up, Tang San's pupils contracted sharply.

When the third, black Soul Ring rose, Zhao Wuji stopped breathing for a moment.

A Soul Saint.

A level seventy-three Soul Saint.

But this Soul Ring Configuration could no longer be described by the words "Soul Saint" alone.

The Titan Giant Ape seemed to sense the danger too. Its enormous body leaned forward slightly, the muscles of its shoulders bulging like mountain rock. The next moment, it drove a fist down.

There was no technique to it.

Only strength in its purest form.

The air erupted with an ear-piercing crack. Before the fist arrived, the ground was already breaking apart in layers.

Ning Rongrong's face went pale.

"Nine Treasures Have Names: First, Strength! Second, Speed!"

Multicolored light fell over Bai Jin.

He glanced back at her and smiled. "Thanks, little princess."

Then he raised his right hand.

His First Soul Ring lit up.

Limitless.

The Titan Giant Ape's fist stopped three inches above Bai Jin's head.

It had not been blocked.

It was more as though those three inches had suddenly become an endless road.

The force of the punch still tore up the earth. Stones flew past the group, and Zhao Wuji spread his Soul Power to shield the students, the impact leaving his arms numb.

But Bai Jin stood where he was, without taking a single step back.

He looked up at the Titan Giant Ape and spoke softly.

"You're pretty strong."

The Titan Giant Ape's pupils shrank.

The next instant, his Second Soul Ring lit up.

Azure Light.

A point of Azure Blue light gathered at Bai Jin's fingertip, like a star compressed to its limit.

Terrifying Gravity erupted.

The Titan Giant Ape's enormous body was dragged forward half a staggering step, its huge feet gouging deep furrows through the ground.

Everyone stared in disbelief.

That was the Titan Giant Ape.

And Bai Jin was pulling it toward him.

He was not dodging, blocking, or buying time.

He was taking the initiative in a head-on contest of strength.

The Titan Giant Ape let out a roar that shook the sky and swept its other arm across.

The third, black Soul Ring lit up.

Crimson.

Dark-red repulsive force exploded from Bai Jin's palm.

Boom!

Fist and repulsive force collided. The entire stretch of forest seemed to be crushed by an invisible giant hand. Trees flew sideways and soil billowed backward. Zhao Wuji led the others more than a dozen steps back before they barely steadied themselves.

Ma Hongjun's face was deathly pale. "Is he really just a Soul Saint?" he murmured.

Dai Mubai did not answer.

Because he had no idea how to answer.

Bai Jin tapped the ground with his toes, and his figure appeared in midair.

His Fifth Soul Ring lit up.

Shrinking Earth.

Distance lost all meaning beneath his feet.

Like a streak of silver light, he swept past the Titan Giant Ape's shoulder and gently pressed his palm toward its neck.

The Titan Giant Ape reacted with astonishing speed. Its huge head whipped aside, and its roar burst out almost in Bai Jin's face.

Bai Jin's clothes snapped in the wind, but his smile only deepened.

"Nice reflexes."

He pressed down with his right hand.

Azure Blue and dark red appeared at once.

The two opposing forces crossed over the Titan Giant Ape's shoulder, first dragging it inward, then violently thrusting it away.

Crack!

The sound of massive bones grinding rang out.

The Titan Giant Ape stumbled backward. For the first time, it had truly been driven back.

Xiao Wu clapped a hand over her mouth.

She knew how strong Er Ming was.

And because she knew, she understood all the more clearly what this meant.

Bai Jin was not a Titled Douluo.

Yet he was fighting the king of the forest head-on.

He had even gained the upper hand, if only for a moment.

Bai Jin landed back on the ground, his shoulders rising and falling slightly.

He was still smiling, but his eyes gleamed coldly.

"I only came to protect the kids."

His Fourth Soul Ring slowly lit up.

Gentle white light spread from the back of his hand, gradually healing the split skin between his thumb and forefinger where the force of the punch had torn it open.

Reverse Cursed Technique.

"But you all seem to think I'm very good-tempered."

In the distance, several Evil Soul Masters from the Ghost Face Society had just crawled out of the shadows. Hearing those words sent a chill through them.

Bai Jin raised his eyes.

In his Azure Blue pupils, every flow of Soul Power was as clear as a line.

"Then I'll get serious for once."

Those four words made Zhao Wuji's heart sink.

He had known Bai Jin for quite some time and knew how much the man liked pushing trouble onto others. If Bai Jin could sit, he would never stand. If he could let someone else fight, he would never lift a finger. When a Soul Master provoked him, nine times out of ten, he would first ask whether they would pay his medical bills.

But once he said he was getting serious, no one could talk him out of it.

Tang San sensed the change too.

The seven Soul Rings beneath Bai Jin's feet had not simply appeared. They were like seven Gates thrown open. The first, yellow ring stabilized the invisible distance; the second, purple ring drew in all things; the third, black ring repelled everything; the fourth healed injuries with white light; the fifth collapsed distance; the sixth turned perception into a cage. And the deepest one, the black Seventh Soul Ring, bound all of it together.

Like a blade finally drawn from its sheath.

Ning Rongrong suddenly understood why her father had said someone like Bai Jin could not be measured by level alone.

Levels were only there for other people to read.

When a fight truly began, Bai Jin made the rules himself.

Tang San suddenly remembered Grandmaster once saying that the gulf between Soul Masters often could not be bridged by a single Soul Ring.

But what he was seeing now went beyond even that.

Each of Bai Jin's Soul Rings seemed to have been taken apart and rebuilt by his own hands. They still obeyed the rules of Douluo Continent, yet he wielded them as something else entirely. Limitless was more than defense. Azure Light was more than attraction. Crimson was more than a blast.

They were like threads.

Invisible threads passed through strength, distance, speed, and perception, until Bai Jin held them all in his hands.

Zhao Wuji's scalp prickled.

He was a Soul Saint. He had seen powerful people and taken more than a few beatings from Titled Douluos. But Bai Jin's strength was different. Others looked down on you from above. Bai Jin took the ground out from under your feet.

You thought you were throwing a punch.

In truth, its path, where it would land, how you would retreat, even how you would draw your next breath—those eyes had already seen through it all.

That was why Chen Xin was willing to drink with him, Gu Rong was willing to argue with him, and even Qian Daoliu could not be bothered to lock him up for good.

It was not because Bai Jin was good with people.

Most of the time, he was anything but.

It was because everyone who had truly reached such heights understood: if a genius like this was willing to stand before you, every one of his ridiculous little habits was worth putting up with.

As his words fell, the Seventh Soul Ring lit up.

Six Eyes True Body—activate.