Sleeping Emperor, Spirit Sword Emperor, Sky Vulture Emperor!

Steward Ma rattled off several names.

"Any one of these nine lords is a Supreme Realm expert whose name resounds across an entire region. If they marched out the armies under their command, they could easily trample a Lower Plane flat."

The Supreme Realm!

A full nine Supreme Realm experts!

Yue Guan sucked in a breath of cold air.

He involuntarily recalled the Supreme Dharma Body, tens of thousands of feet tall, that the Outer Hall elder had displayed earlier.

The Great Luo Heavenly Domain actually had nine such monsters capable of destroying heaven and earth!

But what Steward Ma said next nearly made Yue Guan's heart stop.

"Strong as the Nine Kings are, they are still only subjects."

Steward Ma lowered his voice, his expression turning utterly solemn.

"Above the Nine Kings stand three peerless mighty figures whose reach truly extends to heaven."

"They are known as the Three Emperors."

"Lord Sleeping Emperor, Lord Spirit Sword Emperor, and Lord Sky Vulture Emperor."

Steward Ma held up three withered fingers.

"The cultivation of these three lords is even more unfathomable!"

At the mention of those three names, not only Yue Guan but everyone from Douluo eavesdropping beyond the Sky Screen collectively sucked in a breath of cold air.

Stronger than ordinary Supreme Realm experts-could they all be Earthly Sovereigns?

They remembered perfectly well.

That old man who had preached in the Great Desolation Divine Realm, casually created hundred-thousand-year Ferocious Beasts, and crushed Douluo's faith with a wave of his hand had been an Earthly Sovereign!

Could the Great Luo Heavenly Domain actually have three living ancestors of that caliber presiding over it?

At that thought, Yue Guan wiped the cold sweat beading on his forehead, his voice trembling slightly.

"Brother Ma..."

"Since the Three Emperors preside over things above us, then... what about the Domain Lord of our Great Luo Heavenly Domain?"

Yue Guan swallowed.

"To make three such experts bow their heads as subjects, could this Domain Lord be a legendary Heavenly Sovereign?"

The instant he heard the words "Domain Lord,"

Steward Ma jolted all over in fright like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

He hurriedly clapped a hand over Yue Guan's mouth and nervously glanced around. Only after making sure no one was there did he scold him in a low voice.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

"Is the Domain Lord someone you can discuss so casually?"

Unable to breathe with his mouth covered, Yue Guan nodded repeatedly to show he understood.

Only then did Steward Ma release him and heave a long sigh, his tone growing somewhat complicated and mysterious.

"For the sake of that packet of tea you gave me, I'll give you one final warning."

"Here in our Great Luo Heavenly Domain, the Domain Lord is an absolute taboo."

Steward Ma leaned close to Yue Guan's ear and spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"Because... the Domain Lord hasn't appeared in many years."

"There have always been rumors circulating privately within the sect."

"Some say the Domain Lord encountered a powerful enemy outside all those years ago, suffered incurable injuries, and has already died in secret."

"Others say the Domain Lord suffered a backlash while attempting a breakthrough in seclusion and lost all cultivation."

"Right now, the entire Great Luo Heavenly Domain is actually being managed by the Three Emperors in the Domain Lord's stead."

"The kings beneath them all harbor their own designs, too. Undercurrents are swirling."

"If you speak carelessly and get dragged into it, you won't even know how you died!"

The Domain Lord was missing? Possibly even dead?

Yue Guan was completely stunned by this earth-shattering secret.

How chaotic must a super sect be inside without its supreme ruler to keep everyone in check?

He had just been congratulating himself on finding a good backer, but now it seemed he had clearly stepped into a powder keg that could explode at any moment.

Just as Yue Guan's heart lurched anxiously and cold sweat poured down,

from the large tree beside them,

came a crisp crunch.

The little girl in the black dress bit into the bright red Spiritual Fruit in her hand, her muffled voice drifting down through the leaves.

"Missing?"

The little girl swung her feet, a trace of an odd smile flashing through her dark golden eyes.

"How come I heard that this Domain Lord..."

"Just found staying up there too boring, so she came out to find somewhere to sleep?"

At those airily spoken words, Yue Guan's scalp tingled violently, and every hair on his body stood on end.

His heart nearly leaped into his throat with fright. He sprang off his folding stool and rushed beneath the tree in a few hurried strides.

"Oh, my little ancestor!"

Keeping his voice low, Yue Guan stamped his feet in agitation and waved both hands wildly in the air, desperately signaling for the little girl in the tree to shut her mouth.

Steward Ma was badly frightened by those words as well.

The tobacco pipe in his hand nearly fell to the ground. The wrinkles on his old face scrunched together as he stared at the black-dressed girl in the tree as though he had seen a ghost.

"Brother Yue!" Steward Ma lowered his voice, his tone distinctly panicked.

"You'd better keep a tight rein on that little child's mouth!"

"If such outrageously disrespectful words happen to reach the ears of those important figures above, never mind you two-everyone in our entire Back Mountain Medicine Garden will lose their heads along with you!"

With that, Steward Ma could not even spare a thought for his bucket. He hastily shoved his pipe into his waistband and fled the flower field as though escaping for his life, terrified of becoming entangled in some deadly karma.

Watching Steward Ma's retreating figure as he fled in panic, Yue Guan felt a chill run down his back.

He looked up at the girl swinging her legs from the fork of the tree and felt a headache coming on.

"Little girl, you can eat carelessly, but you can't speak carelessly."

Yue Guan sighed and began earnestly trying to reason with her.

"This is the Great Luo Heavenly Domain, not the backyard of the clan you used to live in."

"You heard Brother Ma just now. Any random steward here could crush us like ants."

"No matter how spoiled you were at home, once you're here, you have to keep your tail tucked between your legs."

"From now on, you're not to say a single word about the Domain Lord. Do you remember?"

The little girl in the black dress swallowed the last bite of her Spiritual Fruit and casually tossed the pit into the grass nearby.

Bracing one hand against the trunk, she lightly leaped down, her bare little feet landing steadily on the soil.

"Uncle, you're such a coward."

The little girl clapped her hands and raised her head, a measure of nonchalance in her dark golden eyes.

"I was only making a casual guess."

"Everyone says those important figures spend hundreds of years in seclusion at a time. How boring it must be to sit there every day."

"Maybe she just wanted to find somewhere quiet to have a lie-in."

Seeing the girl's innocent, uncomprehending expression, Yue Guan helplessly patted his forehead.

He knew he could not get any grand principles across to a child with so little experience of the world. He could only silently resolve to keep her beside him and watch her closely while he worked from now on, lest she wander off, speak recklessly, and bring a fatal disaster upon herself.

Beyond the Sky Screen.

Inside the Pope's Hall, several Red-Clothed Cardinals could not help shaking their heads at the sight.

"This little girl really is a troublemaker."

"A newborn calf has no fear of tigers. She even dares to make up stories about the head of a superpower like the Great Luo Heavenly Domain. If outsiders really heard her, she would get Elder Ju killed along with her."

On Shrek Academy's training grounds.

Tang San watched the black-dressed girl in the scene, the corners of his lips curling with a hint of contempt.

"A flower raised in a greenhouse, ignorant of how high heaven is and how vast the earth."

In Tang San's view, although this girl possessed terrifying talent that had shattered the Spirit Testing Stone, her disposition was truly lacking.

In the cultivation world, scions of great clans who lacked vigilance and spoke without restraint seldom lived long.

That Yue Guan thinks himself clever, believing he picked up a treasure, Tang San thought to himself.

In reality, he's brought along a trouble that could explode at any moment.

In a place like the Great Luo Heavenly Domain, the weak are meat for the strong. They'll taste hardship soon enough.

Time passed quickly in the Great Thousand World.

In the blink of an eye, night fell.

The Back Mountain Medicine Garden of the Great Luo Heavenly Domain gradually quieted.

Only the occasional chirping of unknown insects echoed in the night breeze.

Yue Guan made a reasonably soft little bed for the girl inside the thatched cottage. Only after watching her close her eyes and breathe evenly did he quietly withdraw.

He walked into the courtyard, sat cross-legged on a slab of bluestone, and began circulating his Soul Power, absorbing the Great Thousand World's rich Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth.

Moonlight spilled like water over his golden armor.

An unknown amount of time passed.

Suddenly, faint footsteps came from outside the quiet Medicine Garden.

Though those footsteps had been deliberately softened, they still did not escape Yue Guan's ears in the night.

His eyes snapped open, and he looked warily toward the Medicine Garden's entrance.

Beyond the wooden fence, several young men dressed in Outer Sect disciples' robes were furtively craning their necks and peering around.

By the moonlight, Yue Guan made out their faces.

Their leader was a pale-faced young man with a sinister cast to the corners of his eyes.

This young man's cultivation was much stronger than that of the burly man eliminated in the square during the day.

"Senior Brother Zhang, this is the place."

A disciple beside him with a pointed mouth and monkey-like cheeks lowered his voice and pointed toward a flower field in the deepest part of the Medicine Garden.

"I asked around during the day. Steward Ma went to the front mountain today to report on his duties. Right now, the only one guarding the Medicine Garden is an old man who was just recruited today."

A gleam of greed flashed through the eyes of the young man called Senior Brother Zhang.

"Very good."

"That Seven-Star Begonia deep in the Medicine Garden is about to mature."

"As long as I get that spiritual herb, I'm confident I can contend for the top ten in next month's Outer Sect Grand Competition and fight for a place in the Inner Sect."

Senior Brother Zhang sneered.

"An old servant who's only just joined is nothing to worry about."

"Move quickly once we're inside. If he dares fail to recognize what's good for him, cripple him and throw him into the Back Mountain to feed the Spirit Beasts."

As he listened to their brazen plotting, Yue Guan's expression darkened instantly where he sat cross-legged on the bluestone.

He slowly stood up and brushed the dust from his body.

On the Douluo Continent, he, Chrysanthemum Douluo, had always been the one robbing others. Since when had it become the turn of a few greenhorns to bully him?

Keeping one hand behind his back, Yue Guan strode toward the entrance of the Medicine Garden.

"What brings you gentlemen here so late at night? What guidance might you have for me?"

His cool, effeminate voice suddenly rang out beneath the quiet night sky.

The Outer Sect disciples outside the fence jumped in fright and turned their heads.

When they saw that the person approaching was an old fellow in strange armor with a womanly face, their panic instantly turned to disdain.

"You're that trash who lit up three glowing lines today and got banished here to grow flowers?"

Senior Brother Zhang looked Yue Guan up and down, then waved a hand as though shooing away a fly.

"If you know what's good for you, open the Formation deep in the Medicine Garden and get back inside to sleep."

"Pretend you didn't see anything tonight."

"If you dare breathe so much as half a word..."

Senior Brother Zhang turned his wrist, and a long saber radiating chilling Spiritual Energy appeared in his hand out of thin air.

Its blade pointed straight at Yue Guan's nose.

Yet faced with that threatening blade,

Yue Guan not only refused to back down but gave a soft laugh instead.

His signature Orchid Finger gesture slowly rose before him.

A Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum shining with dazzling golden light began spinning in his palm, and the pressure of a Titled Douluo slowly spread.

Just as the clash stood on the verge of erupting,

the thatched cottage's battered wooden door creaked as someone pushed it open from within.

A barefoot little girl in a black dress rubbed her sleepy eyes and slowly walked out.

She seemed not fully awake yet, her head bobbing. She glanced at the people outside the courtyard, poised with swords drawn, and her soft voice carried some displeasure at having her sweet dreams disturbed.

"Uncle, why is it so noisy outside?"

Yue Guan looked back, and sweat immediately sprang up across his forehead in his anxiety.

Though he could hardly be called a good person, since he had promised to let her stay with him, he could not simply watch a little child get dragged into this sort of predatory sect infighting.

"Little girl, get back inside and shut the door tight!" Yue Guan barked sternly. Then he turned back and drove the Soul Power within him without holding anything back.

Across from him, Senior Brother Zhang could not help scoffing at the sight.

"Oh, quite protective of your little one, aren't you?"

Senior Brother Zhang hefted the long saber in his hand, his eyes filled with disdain as he sensed the somewhat impure energy fluctuations coming from Yue Guan.

"A lower-realm bumpkin who hasn't even finished converting his Spiritual Energy dares put on airs in front of me?"

No sooner had he spoken than the mockery on Senior Brother Zhang's face turned vicious.

He abruptly stepped forward, and Spiritual Energy erupted from his entire body like boiling water, his foot stamping several cracks into the bluestone paving slab beneath him.

Then, propelled by that recoil, he lunged like a tiger descending the mountain, swinging his long saber straight at Yue Guan's face!

The slash came with a howling wind, heavy with power.

Yue Guan gritted his teeth, not daring to let his guard slip in the slightest.

His hands rapidly formed seals before him, and the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum instantly swelled, transforming into countless golden petals as sharp as blades.

"Go!"

Yue Guan growled, and the petals filling the air converged into a golden tornado that swept toward Senior Brother Zhang's blade to shred it.

This was already the strongest defensive technique he could currently unleash.

Yet, the instant those golden petals collided with the long saber...

The Soul Power Yue Guan took such pride in was as fragile as paper before the pure Spiritual Energy of this Great Thousand World.

"Clang, clang, clang!"

A rapid series of metallic shattering sounds rang out.

In a single clash, the Spiritual Energy coating Senior Brother Zhang's long saber shredded every last golden petal with brute, overbearing force!

The saber's cutting aura lost none of its remaining force and slammed heavily into Yue Guan's chest.

"Pfft!"

Before Yue Guan could even scream, his head tipped back as he spat out a mouthful of blood, and his entire body flew backward like a kite with its string cut.