I, Ye Zhen, acknowledge you!

Zhang Wei looked at the eerie red light around him and only then belatedly realized how Yang Jian had made his entrance.

"You little punk!" Zhang Wei sucked in a sharp breath, pointing at the back of Yang Jian's hand.

"You secretly signed up to learn superpowers and kept it from your own buddy?!"

Beside him, Ning Rongrong was utterly bewildered by Zhang Wei's nonstop nonsense.

Her faint perception of soul power told her unmistakably.

There wasn't so much as a trace of energy fluctuation inside this boy named Zhang Wei.

He was an ordinary person through and through!

In this terrifying world, how could a mortal with no power whatsoever be this carefree?!

"I'll explain everything once we're out."

Yang Jian sensed the collisions with the ghost domain outside growing fiercer. There was no time to waste.

"I'll get you out of here first!"

The instant he finished speaking, the red ghost domain expanded at full force, enveloping Zhang Wei, the surviving classmates, and the still-dazed Ning Rongrong.

Red light flashed.

Their figures vanished from the corridor in an instant.

Meanwhile, at the gates of No. 7 Middle School.

The scene seemed to freeze at that moment.

Yang Wudi still held the pose of thrusting his Soul Breaking Spear.

That black spear, the embodiment of supreme offensive power, had truly pierced Ye Zhen's back.

Its pitch-black tip protruded from Ye Zhen's chest, flecked with blood.

His heart had been pierced!

Just as Yang Wudi panted heavily, believing he had finally landed a decisive blow and washed away his humiliation.

Ye Zhen's spear-skewered body did not fall.

Not only did he remain standing, he didn't even cough up a mouthful of blood.

Ye Zhen merely sighed impatiently.

Then he slowly turned his head.

There was no dying man's agony in those eyes, nor any fear of death.

There was only a cold, imperious superiority.

And intense anger at the damage to his expensive vintage trench coat.

"How dare you ambush me from behind!"

Ye Zhen's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an oppressive weight, each word hammering against Yang Wudi's eardrums.

"You really are asking to die."

At the sight of that bloodless face still turning toward him.

Yang Wudi's pupils instantly shrank to pinpoints.

An icy chill shot through his entire body, and his hands began trembling uncontrollably around the spear shaft.

He had clearly felt the resistance through the spear tip-the unmistakable sensation of piercing bone!

His opponent's heart had been completely shredded, so why hadn't even a drop of blood spilled out?

Not only was he alive, he could even turn his head and speak as though nothing had happened?!

Beyond the sky screen.

The soul masters across the entire Douluo Continent felt their scalps prickle at the sight.

On Shrek Academy's training grounds.

Violet light blazed in Tang San's eyes as he forced his Purple Demon Eye to its limit. A trickle of blood even seeped from the corner of his eye.

He stared fixedly at the scene on the sky screen, his chest heaving as he shouted his conclusion through pouring sweat:

"An illusion! This has to be some sophisticated illusion-type soul skill!"

"Having your heart pierced clean through and still moving around is completely incompatible with human anatomy!"

Tang San sounded certain. "Senior Yang Wudi only struck a lifelike phantom! His real body must be hiding somewhere!"

Standing nearby, Yu Xiaogang immediately straightened his back upon hearing this.

His confidence as a master of theory restored, he clasped his hands behind his back and voiced his agreement.

"Little San is right!"

"Everyone, stay calm. These monsters may have bizarre methods, but before the absolute laws of physics, they can only bluff with such cheap visual tricks!"

"Senior Yang Wudi is a level eighty-two Soul Douluo. As long as he stays composed, he'll definitely see through this illusion!"

Yu Xiaogang's brilliant analysis helped calm quite a few of the panicking soul masters around him.

Exactly! Who could survive having their heart destroyed? This had to be an illusion!

Yet Ye Zhen, on the screen, merely felt annoyed.

A huge hole had been torn in his newly purchased trench coat, dealing a serious blow to his perfect image.

"Unforgivable." Ye Zhen's gaze turned utterly cold.

He slowly reached down with one hand and gripped the Ancient Sword at his waist, tightly bound in layers of cloth.

His wrist snapped.

With a muffled bang, the thick cloth wrapped around the blade burst into countless scraps!

An archaic sword, steeped in the weight of ages, was fully exposed to the air.

No splendid soul power flowed across its blade, nor did it emit any dazzling light.

There was only a deathly stillness that made a single glance feel like a plunge into the abyss!

This was a guaranteed-death level paranormal weapon!

Its activation rules were simple and brutal to the point of being utterly unreasonable.

Touch it, and death was certain! Look at it, and you would be torn apart!

Sword in hand, Ye Zhen spun around and assumed what he considered the opening stance of an invincible swordsman.

Then a shout burst from his lips.

"Take my sword!"

Hearing his voice, Yang Wudi instinctively raised his head, his gaze falling upon the sword's hilt.

Just one glance.

There was no earth-shaking explosion.

No sword energy tearing through space.

At the very instant Yang Wudi's eyes met the hilt.

The level eighty-two soul power surging like a mighty river within him scattered into nothing!

Every color in the world around him faded furiously from Yang Wudi's vision at an irresistible speed.

The Soul Breaking Spear clattered to the ground.

Yang Wudi froze where he stood, his consciousness forcibly erased by a terrifying power beyond his comprehension.

Before he sank into eternal darkness.

The final thought in this battle-hardened Soul Douluo's mind remained a profound bewilderment.

Why... was he still alive... when his heart had been shattered???

With a thud, his lifeless body crashed heavily to the ground.

The moment Yang Wudi fell, his once-rosy complexion turned the ashen gray of a corpse. He never made another sound.

He had died without a sound.

He had died without the slightest chance to resist!

Ye Zhen had been about to swing his sword and lop off his opponent's head, only for his motion to stop abruptly halfway.

He looked at the ashen corpse on the ground and curled his lip in displeasure.

"Damn, he really was weak."

"I hadn't even had time to unleash my sword energy, and he already died of fright?"

Ye Zhen couldn't help complaining aloud.

But the instant he finished, his expression changed sharply.

He could clearly feel the sword in his hand-which he had previously beaten into a dormant state through Physical Exorcism-beginning to tremble uncontrollably!

A bone-chilling cold was trying to spread wildly up his arm through the hilt.

Yet Ye Zhen ignored the reawakening horror and instead thrust a thumbs-up toward Yang Wudi's corpse.

"I, Ye Zhen, acknowledge you!"

"You actually forced my peerless sword to awaken! It seems that last strike of yours contained incredibly profound internal power!"

"You're truly powerful! Worthy of my respect!"

Then Ye Zhen abruptly raised his free left fist, channeling the terrifying paranormal power within him.

Bang! Bang!

Two plain, unadorned punches slammed into the hilt of his peerless sword with all his might!

The immense force brutally beat the horror about to awaken inside the sword back into a dormant state.

The trembling sword instantly stilled, becoming an ordinary, battered iron sword.

But what Ye Zhen didn't know was that his treasured sword had awakened because, in another world, countless people were staring directly at that sword of certain death!