The Tianyuan Manor Lord snorted coldly. Without even moving his hands, he lashed out with a ribbon of spiritual energy.
"Smack!"
With a crisp crack, Dai Mubai's jaw was dislocated by the spiritual energy.
Immediately afterward, an invisible wind blade sliced past with pinpoint precision.
"Mmph!"
Dai Mubai let out a muffled groan as his tongue was severed at the root, blood spraying wildly.
Only after doing all this did the Tianyuan Manor Lord hoist Dai Mubai into the air with spiritual energy, like a dead dog.
"Rest assured, my lord. This lowly one will throw him into the filthiest latrine in Spring Breeze House right away."
"As long as he has a breath left, this lowly one guarantees he'll spend every day unable to live or die as he wishes, serving the visiting guests with this broken body!"
The Tianyuan Manor Lord's tone was full of ingratiation.
Hearing the fate awaiting him, Dai Mubai convulsed violently in midair, but he could no longer even scream.
A prince of the Star Luo Empire had ultimately ended up a tongueless slave, thrown into a brothel to scrub latrines.
And through the Sky Screen, this scene was naturally seared deep into the minds of everyone on Douluo Continent.
[Explorer Dai Mubai has lost the ability to explore. Determined to be eliminated.] [Outcome: offended the Martial Realm, a top power in the Great Thousand World. Cultivation utterly crippled, tongue removed, enslaved, and imprisoned in Spring Breeze House for life.]
As the golden lettering appeared on the Sky Screen, Dai Mubai's image slowly darkened.
Meanwhile, inside Shrek Academy.
Zhu Zhuqing watched the darkened Sky Screen, her cool face filled with complicated feelings.
"Zhu Zhuqing..."
Beside her, Oscar swallowed and cautiously approached, wanting to offer comfort but not knowing where to begin.
After all, Dai Mubai's fate of becoming a tongueless slave and scrubbing brothel latrines for the rest of his life was a thunderbolt from a clear sky for anyone bound to him by blood or betrothal.
"I'm fine."
Zhu Zhuqing shook her head, her tone as cool as ever.
"He's been arrogant, conceited, and blinded by lust since childhood."
"People indulged him in the Star Luo Empire, and teachers protected him at Shrek Academy. But even in a higher-dimensional world where the weak are prey to the strong, he couldn't rid himself of those filthy thoughts."
"He brought this fate upon himself. He has no one else to blame."
Hearing Zhu Zhuqing's rational analysis, everyone from Shrek fell silent.
Indeed, if Dai Mubai had kept his lower half under control and not coveted that little girl's beauty and possessions, how could he have provoked those two killing gods who could frighten heaven and earth to pieces?
"Zhu Zhuqing is right."
Just then, Tang San drew a deep breath and slowly stepped out of the crowd.
His brows were tightly knitted; clearly, he had realized something from these successive tragedies.
"Everyone, remember this: the Great Thousand World is a hundred, a thousand times more dangerous than we imagined."
"Rongrong and Boss Dai both failed to recognize reality. They brought our domineering arrogance from Douluo Continent over there, inviting fatal disaster upon themselves."
Tang San surveyed everyone, his tone extremely grave.
"The people of that world not only possess unfathomable strength, but also have intricate backgrounds."
"Even a little girl you happen to meet, seemingly without the slightest spiritual energy fluctuations, could have a supreme giant capable of annihilating our entire plane standing behind her."
"So, if the Sky Screen chooses any of us here next time..."
"Even if you're transported into the wilderness, you must keep a low profile and live with your tail tucked between your legs. You must not retain even a trace of the arrogance you had on Douluo Continent."
At this point, Tang San paused and unconsciously tightened his grip on Xiao Wu's hand beside him.
"Only by staying alive and slowly learning the ins and outs of that world will we have a chance to seek opportunities."
"Act rashly, and you'll only become a laughingstock in others' eyes, just like Boss Dai."
Hearing Tang San's well-reasoned and exceedingly rational analysis.
Oscar and the others nodded one after another. Though the fear in their hearts remained, at least they now had a clear direction for survival.
As long as they did nothing foolish and did not go looking for trouble, they should still be able to scrape by.
However, just as these young geniuses had corrected their attitudes and were preparing to humbly accept that they were "lower-dimensional weaklings."
A cold snort suddenly rang out across the field at this inopportune moment.
"Utter nonsense!"
Yu Xiaogang abruptly swept his sleeve. His formerly ashen face had actually flushed red with agitation.
He strode up to Tang San, clasping both hands behind his back and adopting a stern look of exasperation at his failure to live up to expectations.
"Little San, Little San, you're usually so clever. How could the surface appearances on this Sky Screen frighten you out of your wits today?"
Yu Xiaogang's scrawny chest heaved as he pointed at the darkened Sky Screen overhead and berated them loudly.
"Do you truly believe that every random person in that world is so powerful?"
"Wrong! Completely wrong!"
"Mubai's defeat had absolutely nothing to do with our Martial Soul system being inadequate!"
"He was simply too unlucky!"
Hearing the Grandmaster's shocking declaration, not only the Shrek Seven Devils, but even Flender beside them looked utterly bewildered.
Bad luck? He could actually force an explanation out of bad luck?
Yu Xiaogang sneered and began his brilliant exercise in self-deceptive deduction.
"Think carefully about the information mentioned on the Sky Screen just now."
"Those two men who acted were the Martial Realm's second-in-command and third-in-command!"
"Do you understand what the Martial Realm is? It's one of the Three Great Giants of the Great Thousand World!"
"That's equivalent to the Pope and Great Enshrined of our Douluo Continent's Spirit Hall going out together!"
Yu Xiaogang's voice grew louder and louder, as though the more he spoke, the more convinced he became of his own reasoning.
"The moment Mubai stepped outside, he ran straight into supreme experts at the very pinnacle of that world's pyramid."
"The odds of that are a hundred thousand times lower than being bitten to death by a ten-thousand-year soul beast while walking down the road!"
"It's like a commoner who just awakened his Martial Soul trying to rob someone on the road, only to pick Bibi Dong. Could he win? Obviously not!"
Spittle flew as Yu Xiaogang tried to salvage his tottering dignity as a theorist with this sophistry.
"If Mubai hadn't encountered those two so-called Flame Venerable and Marten Venerable today."
"But an ordinary native of the Great Thousand World instead, couldn't he have subdued a little girl with his strength as a rank-thirty-seven Soul Elder and the power of White Tiger Fierce Light Wave?"
"So the fault lies neither with our Martial Souls nor with Mubai's tactics!"
"He was simply so utterly, wretchedly unlucky that he happened to kick the hardest iron plate of all!"
Listening to Yu Xiaogang's impassioned analysis.
The Shrek group, who had already calmed down, were actually left blinking in bewilderment by his spiel.
It seemed... the Grandmaster did have a tiny bit of a point?
If he hadn't run into maximum-level big shots right outside the door, Boss Dai's strength should have been more than enough to bully a few ordinary people, right?
"Teacher..."
Tang San opened his mouth. Although he kept feeling that something was wrong, that the energy level of that world was simply crushing them from a higher dimension.
Looking at Yu Xiaogang's unwavering gaze, however, his blind reverence for his teacher ultimately made him swallow his doubts.
"I'm telling you, as Shrek's monsters, you must never swell others' prestige and diminish your own!"
Seeing that he had cowed everyone, Yu Xiaogang raised his head even more smugly.
"As long as you go there without encountering those top experts who appear once in a thousand years."
"With your ability to fight above your level, you'll absolutely be able to swagger through that world!"
Meanwhile.
Spirit City, Pope's Hall.
Bibi Dong sat on the papal throne, not a trace of her former pride in looking down upon the world remaining on her face.
"Have you all gone mute?"
Bibi Dong's gaze swept over the row of Titled Douluo elders below, who normally held their eyes above their heads.
"The Sky Screen has been showing us all this for so long, from Ning Rongrong to the Star Luo prince's fate, and what happened to our Spirit Hall's Young Master."
"You who normally proclaim yourselves the strongest experts at Douluo Continent's pinnacle-have you gained no insight whatsoever?"
Faced with Bibi Dong's icy questioning.
The elders below exchanged glances, each wishing he could shrink his head into his neck.
In the end, Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan, the quickest thinker among them, steeled himself and stepped forward.
"In answer to His Holiness the Pope..."
Yue Guan swallowed, his voice tinged with bitterness.
"This subordinate believes our horizons were far too narrow before."
"On Douluo Continent, our Spirit Hall is heaven itself, an unshakable giant."
"But before that Great Thousand World, we... are probably less than ants on the ground."
Though Yue Guan's words were unpleasant, they voiced what every elder in the Main Hall felt at that moment.
Any random sweeping servant of theirs could slice open the Void.
When a lady of their household traveled, even Earthly Sovereigns, beings who could destroy nations with a wave, had to kneel and kowtow.
Such a gap could no longer be bridged through effort or talent.
"At least you have some brains."
Rather than blaming Yue Guan for bolstering others' prestige, Bibi Dong nodded slightly.
She slowly rose from her throne and lightly tapped the Pope's Scepter against the floor, producing a crisp sound.
"The most terrifying thing in this world isn't weakness. It's being weak without knowing it."
"That fool called Dai Mubai is a living example."
As she spoke, Bibi Dong slowly descended the steps, her gaze gradually sharpening.
"Our Spirit Hall has ruled Douluo Continent for so many years by relying not only on strength, but also on the brains to recognize the situation."
"Now that the Sky Screen has shown us that higher-dimensional world, shown us that terrifying power beyond even the reach of gods."
"We must put away every shred of pride we possess on Douluo Continent!"
Bibi Dong's voice was not loud, but it carried unquestionable decisiveness and resolve.
She turned, looked at the elders below, and issued the sternest command in Spirit Hall's history.
"Pass down my decree. Notify every Soul Master throughout Spirit Hall immediately."
"From this day onward, whoever you are, if the Sky Screen selects you and transports you to that Great Thousand World."
"The first thing you must do is forget that you belong to Spirit Hall! Forget the soul power you're so proud of!"
"In that world, whenever you encounter a native of the Great Thousand World, whether old, weak, sick, disabled, or an ordinary commoner."
"Even if they slap you across the face or spit in your face."
"You will swallow your shattered teeth into your belly!"
Hearing this nearly humiliating command from the Pope, the elders in the Main Hall felt no anger. Instead, every one of them sucked in a cold breath, chills running down their spines.
They knew the Pope was teaching them how to stay alive!
Because in that world, you could never know whether the seemingly ordinary old sweeper or young girl buying vegetables before you had a Heavenly Sovereign capable of annihilating a plane standing behind them!
"What we must do is not show off our strength, much less flaunt those laughable soul skills."
"We must endure, observe, learn, and understand their world's spiritual energy system and the great Dao of formations!"
"Although Xue'er was taken away to serve as a maid, isn't this also an immense opportunity?"
"As long as she can be reborn in that Marrow-Washing Pool, as long as she can learn even a sliver of what the Great Desolation Divine Realm has to offer."
"When the day comes that those who survive return to Douluo Continent with the Great Thousand World's cultivation methods."
"Our Spirit Hall will utterly shatter the shackles of this plane, and no voice of resistance will remain beneath heaven!"
Hearing Bibi Dong's far-sighted words, filled with endurance pushed to its limit yet brimming with ambition.
Every elder in the Main Hall felt his heart jolt.
Then, led by Gui Mei and Yue Guan, everyone dropped to one knee in unison and answered resoundingly:
"His Holiness the Pope is wise! Your subordinates shall obey your decree!"
It had to be said that, as Douluo Continent's greatest ruthless overlord.
Bibi Dong's intelligence and breadth of vision left Yu Xiaogang, who could only wage war on paper, countless streets behind.
However, just as everyone in Spirit Hall had reached a consensus on survival.
That majestic voice once again resounded through the clouds above.
"Hum!"
As dazzling golden light rippled across the Sky Screen.
Lines of lettering appeared once more:
[Due to the sharp decline in the number of Explorers.] [The next replacement selection round is now activated.] [Quota: one person!] [Beginning random selection...]
Seeing the shifting lettering, everyone held their breath, whether at Shrek Academy or Spirit Hall, or among the experts secluded in deep mountains and ancient forests.
There was only one spot!
This unknown executioner's blade hanging over their heads was what terrified them most.
The flickering golden light slowed more and more.
Finally, under everyone's apprehensive gazes, those great golden words that would decide a fate slowly settled at the very center of the Sky Screen.
[Selection successful: hundred-thousand-year plant-type soul beast in human form, Blue Silver Emperor, Ah Yin!]
Meanwhile.
On the Douluo Continent, in a secluded, tranquil valley with a waterfall.
A burly man in gray, his face covered in stubble, looking like a down-and-out farmer, sat quietly on a slab of bluestone.
Before him stood a stalk of Blue Silver Grass, swaying in the wind and giving off a faint blue-gold glow.
This man was none other than the world-renowned Clear Sky Douluo, Tang Hao!
Before you continue