The Sword Domain's Saint Son Severed the River of Stars with One Strike, Mu Chen Slew Zhao Wuji

Before he could consider what sect this was, the Seven Kill Sword's abnormal reaction brought a trace of gravity to Chen Xin's previously unruffled face.

This was the Seven Kill Sword.

The Martial Soul universally acknowledged on the Douluo Continent as Number One Attack Under Heaven.

Even when facing Qian Daoliu's Angel Martial Soul, the Seven Kill Sword had never shown submission.

Yet now, like a subject before its sovereign, it let out mournful cries in midair.

Chen Xin frowned slightly and forcibly drove the vast level-ninety-six Soul Power within him.

Nine Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet in succession.

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

As the Soul Rings pulsed, a fierce sword intent erupted from Chen Xin, attempting to regain control of the Seven Kill Sword.

Meanwhile, beyond the Sky Screen, on the Douluo Continent.

Seeing Chen Xin release his Martial Soul and Soul Rings in the image, the somewhat anxious spectators all breathed sighs of relief.

Inside the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's main hall.

Ning Fengzhi gripped his scepter tightly, his anxious heart finally settling halfway.

"Judging by its name, this Sword Domain must be a sacred land for sword cultivators."

"Uncle Jian has devoted his life to the sword, and his Seven Kill Sword Intent is pure to the utmost."

"Not only will he be safe there, he might even encounter a tremendous opportunity."

Beside him, Bone Douluo Gu Rong, for once, did not argue with Chen Xin and instead nodded earnestly.

"That old bastard may usually be arrogant, but even I admire his attainments in Sword Dao."

"In a place where swords alone decide everything, he won't lose to anyone."

Meanwhile, at Shrek Academy.

Watching the nine Soul Rings pulsing up and down within the Sky Screen, Yu Xiaogang was equally confident.

With his hands behind his back, he began analyzing the situation for the students around him.

"Although this Great Thousand World has a very high energy level, the place Qian Renxue went to was clearly a Divine Realm that emphasized accumulating energy."

"But the place Sword Douluo went to is the Sword Domain."

Yu Xiaogang paused, his voice carrying a measure of certainty.

"Sword cultivators focus on technique, on their understanding of the sword."

"Sword Douluo has immersed himself in Sword Dao for decades. With his Seventh Soul Skill, Martial Soul Avatar, combined with his ninth Soul Skill, God-Demon Dual Slash, he could force a couple of exchanges even against a level-one-hundred deity."

"He absolutely has the strength to fight here. He might even turn from guest to host and show those people from a higher-dimensional world what the true pinnacle of Sword Dao looks like!"

Hearing Grandmaster's analysis, Tang San quietly clenched his fists.

If even Sword Douluo could establish himself in that Great Thousand World, then with the Tang Sect's peerless hidden weapons, wouldn't he be able to found his own sect outright if he went?

The Great Thousand World, at the edge of the Sword Domain.

Chen Xin had no idea how high the people of the Douluo Continent's hopes for him were.

He merely kept a tight rein on his Soul Power, walking step by step toward the great river flowing with liquid Sword Qi.

When he was still several dozen paces from the river.

Chen Xin suddenly stopped.

He saw that, at some unknown point, a figure had appeared on a bluestone beside the river.

It was a herdboy who looked only seven or eight years old.

The herdboy wore coarse hemp clothes, his hair tied in two upright tufts, and even held half a Spiritual Fruit with a bite taken out of it.

Here in the Sword Domain, where Sword Qi crisscrossed and even the wind could slice through human skin.

This herdboy simply sat barefoot on the bluestone, idly swinging his legs.

Chen Xin probed with his senses.

There were no fluctuations of Soul Power.

Even the most basic trace of energy was pitifully weak.

On the Douluo Continent, he would have been an ordinary mortal child who had not even awakened his Martial Soul.

Yet Chen Xin dared not let down his guard in the slightest.

Because he saw that the herdboy held a willow twig in his other hand, casually snapped from a tree by the road.

"Uncle, that sword of yours looks so brittle."

The herdboy took a bite of his Spiritual Fruit and mumbled indistinctly.

His clear gaze did not turn toward the nine brilliantly shining Soul Rings around Chen Xin, instead falling upon the Seven Kill Sword still trembling in midair.

A child had called his Martial Soul brittle.

However well composed Chen Xin was, a flicker of anger still rose within him.

"Little boy, swords are not something to joke about."

Chen Xin snorted coldly.

The seventh Soul Ring beneath his feet abruptly lit up.

Martial Soul Avatar!

The originally normal-sized Seven Kill Sword instantly swelled in the wind, becoming a terrifying great sword dozens of zhang long, hovering above Chen Xin's head.

Its terrifying pressure forced cracks through the surrounding ground.

"This is the Sword Dao of our Douluo Continent—Seven Kill!"

Chen Xin swept his sword fingers, and the dozens-of-zhang-long phantom of the Seven Kill Sword tore through the air with a piercing shriek, striking heavily upon a hundred-zhang boulder ahead.

Boom!

The boulder instantly turned to powder, stone fragments flying through the air.

Outside the Sky Screen, the people of the Douluo Continent cried out in astonishment.

Even through the screen, they could feel that heaven-destroying, earth-annihilating offensive power.

Yet the herdboy sitting beside the river did not even raise his eyelids.

He merely stuck out his little pink tongue and licked the fruit juice from the corner of his mouth.

Then he raised the limp willow twig in his hand.

And casually swept it toward the surging river before him, formed entirely from condensed Sword Qi.

There were no dazzling lights or shadows, no earthshaking explosion-not even a stir of wind.

Yet the instant that willow twig descended, the Seven Kill Sword's Martial Soul Avatar above Chen Xin's head, supposedly Number One Attack Under Heaven, seemed to be erased by some incomprehensible mighty power.

Starting from its tip.

Inch.

By inch.

It silently dissolved into the air.

Not even a trace of Soul Power remained.

Immediately afterward, reflected in Chen Xin's pupils, that thousand-zhang-wide, ceaselessly surging river of Sword Qi was split straight down the middle by that ordinary willow twig.

The severed surfaces were as smooth as mirrors.

Even space itself had been sliced apart.

After doing all this, the herdboy tossed away the fruit core he had finished gnawing, clapped his little hands, and looked at Chen Xin, who stood dumb as a wooden chicken.

"Uncle."

"Here in the Sword Domain, even a blade of grass might cut down the stars, you know."

At the sight of this horrifying scene, inside the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

Ning Fengzhi froze on the spot, utterly dumbfounded.

Number One Attack Under Heaven Martial Soul.

An all-out strike from a Level 96 Super Douluo, including his Martial Soul Avatar.

Just gone?

Just like that, a barefoot, seven- or eight-year-old cowherd without the slightest energy fluctuation had used a willow twig casually snapped from the roadside, with even some leaves still attached.

To erase it effortlessly, as though sweeping away a cobweb hanging from a doorframe???

On Shrek Academy's training grounds.

A gentle breeze swept past, stirring a few withered yellow leaves.

Yu Xiaogang's face had now turned the color of pig liver.

A moment earlier, he had still been making solemn assurances, citing sources in his analysis.

Talking about how sword cultivators competed in technique, how Sword Douluo would surely turn from guest to host and shine brilliantly.

Yet a second later, that limp willow twig had lashed him hard across his old face through the Sky Screen.

"Impossible..."

Yu Xiaogang staggered back two steps, his legs gave way, and he dropped straight onto the dirt-covered training grounds.

Clutching his already sparse hair in both hands, he shook his head like a madman.

"No Soul Power fluctuations, no Martial Soul, not even the most basic bloodline power!"

"How could an ordinary willow twig cut through space?"

"This violates the law of conservation of energy!"

Tang San stood nearby and, unusually, did not immediately move to help his teacher.

Because he, too, was so shocked that he could not speak.

Spirit City, the Worship Hall.

Qian Daoliu slumped before the enormous Six-Winged Angel statue, his entire body drenched in cold sweat.

"I have presided over the Worship Hall for decades, believing myself only half a step from true godhood..."

"But that was only a seven- or eight-year-old child!"

"A mere child's casual strike surpassed even the descent of the ancestral Angel God in power."

"Just what sort of world is that Great Thousand World?"

Meanwhile.

Within the Sky Screen's image, in the Great Thousand World's Sword Domain.

"Pfft!"

Chen Xin threw back his head and spat out a great mouthful of crimson blood.

The backlash from his Martial Soul's erasure instantly swept through his limbs and bones.

His body, previously upright as a pine, immediately hunched, and he dropped to one knee upon the gravel beside the river.

His vast level-ninety-six Soul Power was like water in a jar with a huge hole smashed through it, pouring madly out through every pore.

In the blink of an eye, his aura weakened to the extreme, and even a few streaks of gray crept along the edges of his formerly black hair.

But he paid no attention to the disastrous injuries inside him.

He merely gritted his teeth, his eyes fixed upon the herdboy sitting on the bluestone.

"Why..."

"Why is my sword intent inferior to even a willow twig?"

Looking at the pool of blood on the ground, a trace of distaste flashed through the herdboy's large, limpid eyes.

He drew his bare feet back, afraid that Chen Xin's blood would dirty them.

"Uncle, you're so stupid. How do you still not understand?"

The herdboy sighed and used the willow twig to point toward the nearby river of liquid Sword Qi, which he had split in two and which still could not close back together.

"What you're using isn't a sword at all."

"You've merely taken a very, very low-grade kind of energy and barely molded it into the shape of a sword."

As he spoke, the herdboy extended his tender little hands and gently grasped at the empty air.

In an instant, a drop of liquid Sword Qi shining with a piercing brilliance floated gently from the river into his palm, like a docile dewdrop.

"A true sword isn't bound by form or material."

"It severs laws and tears through falsehood."

"Here in the Sword Domain, even three-year-olds who have only just learned to walk know that all things can become swords."

The herdboy casually tossed the drop of Sword Qi back into the river and shook his head.

"You're holding an empty shell of energy that only looks impressive. You haven't even reached the threshold of the sword, yet you call yourself Number One Attack Under Heaven..."

"That's simply an insult to the word 'sword.'"

Through the Sky Screen, the herdboy's words reached the ears of every sword cultivator on the Douluo Continent with perfect clarity.

Countless swords fell to the ground at that moment, and the Dao Hearts of countless self-proclaimed Sword Dao geniuses crumbled.

It turned out that what they had pursued bitterly their entire lives did not even count as the threshold in someone else's eyes.

Yet just as the Douluo Continent sank into a despair deeper than death of the heart.

Within the Sky Screen's image, a sudden change also struck the Sword Domain.

Boom!

As a low rumble rolled down from the ninth heaven.

The sky over the entire Sword Domain suddenly changed color.

The clouds formed from sharp Sword Qi scattered frantically to either side, as though they had encountered some indescribable terror.

The sky darkened.

It was not night falling.

Instead, it was as though a boundless sword intent that blotted out the sky and sun had completely blocked all light.

Even the shepherd boy sitting on the bluestone lost his nonchalant expression in an instant.

He jumped off the bluestone in a panic, threw away the willow twig in his hand, straightened his coarse hemp clothes with both hands, then bowed toward the sky.

"This Inner Sect disciple respectfully welcomes the Ninth Swordmaster back to the sect!"

In the sky, the sword intent that pressed down on everyone until they could barely breathe slowly withdrew.

A youth dressed in white, with an ancient longsword on his back, descended step by step through empty space.

He did not look at Chen Xin, who was kneeling on the ground and vomiting blood uncontrollably, nor at the shepherd boy bowing respectfully.

He merely swept a calm gaze over the vast starry sky above him, then frowned slightly.

"The stars are somewhat out of order today. This river of stars high above the nine heavens..."

The White-Clothed Youth spoke evenly. Without drawing the longsword on his back, he casually pressed his index and middle fingers together and lightly slashed toward the horizon.

"It's a little unsightly. Let's cut it down."

The next instant, everyone across the Douluo Continent watching the livestream witnessed a scene they would never forget for the rest of their lives.

Within the Sky Screen, that vast river of stars stretching across untold millions of miles...

Was silently severed in two, just like that.

After doing all this, the White-Clothed Youth did not spare it another glance, merely calmly drawing back his two joined fingers.

It was as though he had merely flicked a speck of dust off his shoulder.

After witnessing this terrifying scene, the entire Douluo Continent fell utterly silent.

On the field at Shrek Academy.

Tang San's five fingers loosened uncontrollably.

Clack.

A Yama's Invitation that he had poured months of painstaking effort into, only just finished crafting, and kept close to his body even while sleeping fell to the ground.

The hidden weapons he took such pride in were said to kill opponents above one's level.

In particular, some of the strongest could send even a Titled Douluo to a bitter death if they struck.

But could hidden weapons knock the stars out of the sky?

Could hidden weapons slice apart that river of stars untold millions of miles away?

Could they, hell...

"That's impossible..."

"Even a god probably couldn't sever a river of stars with just two fingers, could they?"

"What kind of monstrous system are they cultivating?!"

Within the Sky Screen.

In the Sword Domain, beside the great river of liquid Sword Qi.

Chen Xin was so stunned that he had forgotten to breathe.

Although the Soul Power within his body was draining away wildly, and the agonizing pain of his ruptured meridians kept assailing his nerves.

He did not care at all, merely staring without blinking at that slowly descending figure in white.

That was the sword.

No Martial Soul, no Soul Rings, not even any need to draw the longsword on his back.

With his body as the sword and his fingers as its edge, he could even split the river of stars in the nine heavens in two.

At this thought, Chen Xin lost his balance and slowly sank to his knees.

At that moment, the White-Clothed Youth's gaze finally fell upon the riverbank.

Looking at the shepherd boy kneeling to one side and trembling, he asked:

"Jian Jiushi'er."

"This is a restricted sect ground. Why did you let in a mortal without the slightest fluctuation of spiritual energy?"

The shepherd boy called Jian Jiushi'er shuddered all over and lowered his head even farther.

"In reply to Lord Ninth Swordmaster."

"This is someone from a lower realm, randomly drawn here when the heaven and earth array was operating just now."

"I saw him holding a red strip of iron and thought he was a sword cultivator, so I teased him a little with a willow twig."

"For disturbing you, Lord Swordmaster, I willingly accept punishment."

"I only hope... I only hope my lord won't tell Lord Sword Saint."

A red strip of iron.

Teased him a little.

As those two remarks rang out through the Sky Screen, countless Sword Martial Soul wielders across the Douluo Continent were so overcome with fury that they nearly spat out blood.

The Seven Kill Sword, Number One Attack Under Heaven Martial Soul, was nothing but a red strip of iron in that shepherd boy's eyes???

Good grief, he had even been teasing him out of boredom?

Just as everyone in Douluo was still reeling from the scene outside the Sword Domain, the scene on the Sky Screen changed again.

In the Northern Spirit Domain, upon a broad expanse of land.

As an explosion rang out, a youth in the foreground slowly stood up, then wiped the dust from the corner of his mouth.

Behind him, an immensely muscular middle-aged man with several rings around his body crashed to the ground.

At the same time, lines of golden text appeared on the Sky Screen once more.

[Douluo Explorer Zhao Wuji has died.]

[Cause of death: provoked Mu Chen, the Child of Destiny of the Great Thousand World, and was slain on the spot!]

[Vacant slot detected. Randomly selecting an Explorer.]

[Selection successful: Shrek Academy, Dai Mubai]