Smack!
But Ma Hongjun had not even finished speaking.
The steward swung a ringing backhand slap hard across Ma Hongjun's fat face.
Infused with yuan power, the slap sent Ma Hongjun rolling across the ground several times, spitting out two bloody molars.
"Insolence!"
The steward barked coldly, his eyes full of warning.
"What little maid? Where would a maid come from in this forbidden rear mountain?!"
"It's obvious that you, a fire-tending drudge, slacked off and let the spiritual herbs' aura leak out of the medicinal cauldron, triggering an energy backlash!"
"You nearly ruined Her Highness the Saintess's medicinal bath, and you still dare spout nonsense here and shirk responsibility?!"
Hearing the steward's words, which turned black into white,
Ma Hongjun clutched his swollen cheek, utterly dumbfounded.
"My lord, I didn't!"
"It really was a maid! She was quite pretty, and she was wearing gray..."
Thud!
At that, the steward kicked Ma Hongjun squarely in the stomach, making him curl up like a shrimp.
"You still dare talk back?!"
"Guards!"
"Hang this useless wretch up and give him fifty hard lashes with the baleful whip!"
"Then have him keep tending the fire. If he delays Her Highness the Saintess's medicinal bath tonight, throw him straight into the Black Demon Abyss to feed the dogs!"
"Yes!"
Several enforcement disciples behind him immediately stepped forward and hauled Ma Hongjun up like a dead dog.
Held off the ground, Ma Hongjun grimaced in pain.
But how could he dare utter another word of protest now?
Yet the instant he lowered his head, his little eyes filled with venom.
He did not dare resent these powerful enforcement disciples.
Instead, he laid all his hatred at the feet of that "little maid" who had sneaked inside.
That damned little bitch...
She deliberately came to cause trouble, then made me take the blame!
Just you wait. You'd better not let me run into you in the hall again, or I'll kill you!
Ma Hongjun cursed furiously in his heart.
Meanwhile, on the Douluo Continent.
Watching Ma Hongjun not only get frozen like a dog on the heavenly screen but also be saddled with a completely undeserved burden of blame and dragged off for a whipping,
those on Shrek Academy's training ground erupted in curses as well.
Dai Mubai clenched his fists, his face full of indignation.
"Fuck! That damned girl from the other world is far too devious!"
"She was the one who ran around causing trouble, but she bolted the moment she heard someone coming and left Fatty to take the blame!"
Oscar was grinding his teeth in anger too.
"Exactly! She looks so pure and innocent, but who knew she was so scheming?"
"A lowly maid like that must have been afraid of her master's punishment, so she used Fatty as her scapegoat."
Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang's expression was darker still.
"Hmph. People from that other world really are unreasonable."
"But this also proves my point. That little girl is definitely no one important."
"If she truly had any standing, she wouldn't have needed to run away, much less make Fatty take the blame."
"Clearly, she's nothing but a lowborn maid afraid of a beating!"
Yu Xiaogang clapped his hands and reassured everyone.
"Don't worry, everyone."
"Although Fatty took a beating, he did take the thunderbolt for his master."
"Once he gets through this, sooner or later he'll have a chance to gain a firm foothold in that Hall of Darkness."
"When that happens, with Fatty's habit of repaying even the smallest slight, he'll definitely make that little maid wish she were dead and thoroughly vent our Douluo Continent's anger!"
Hearing Grandmaster's analysis, everyone from Shrek nodded.
A glimmer of purple flashed through Tang San's eyes as he said coldly,
"That's right."
"On our Douluo Continent, a servant with such a vicious mind would have been beaten to death by their master long ago."
"Once Fatty meets the real Her Highness the Saintess, he only needs to show a little of his worth."
"Crushing a lowly maid to death will be as easy as turning his hand."
At that moment, everyone on the Douluo Continent was completely in the dark.
They had no idea.
The girl they kept calling a "little bitch" and a "lowly maid," the girl they scorned so utterly,
was none other than the peerless genius who would soon stir up a towering storm across the entire Northern Xuan Region, whom the Hall of Darkness revered like a deity!
The future wielder of the Dark Ancestral Talisman, the Saintess of Darkness, Qing Tan!
[Number Four Explorer Ma Hongjun has encountered punishment. Live broadcast temporarily suspended.]
As the golden words appeared on the heavenly screen, the miserable scene of Ma Hongjun being whipped finally dimmed.
Of the entire third batch of explorers, one had died so far.
Three had been crippled; Tang Hao was gravely injured, Dugu Bo was testing poisons, Zhu Zhuyun was serving as a maid, and Ma Hongjun was being whipped.
Such devastating results left the atmosphere across the entire Douluo Continent unbearably oppressive.
Yet just as everyone thought the third batch of explorers' fates had been settled,
that emotionless voice rang out from the heavenly screen again.
[Attention.] [High-energy yuan power fluctuations detected in the Great Desolate Ancient Plain region.] [Number One Explorer Tang Hao's live broadcast will return shortly!]
With that sudden notification,
the entire Douluo Continent erupted.
Tang Hao's broadcast? A forced return???
Inside the Clear Sky Sect's secluded great hall, Tang Xiao, who had already given up hope, sprang to his feet.
At Shrek Academy, Tang San also jerked his head up and stared fixedly at the light screen.
"Could things be turning around for Dad?"
A powerful sense of hope rose in Tang San's heart.
Then ripples flowed across the screen.
The scene switched back to that crimson Great Desolate Ancient Plain.
Instead, there stood an underground palace hidden deep within a canyon, newly emerged from the earth!
The palace gates towered dozens of zhang high, forged entirely from an unknown dark cyan metal.
Their surface was covered in obscure, profound runes, faintly radiating terrifying fluctuations that made hearts tremble.
To help the people of the Douluo Continent understand, the heavenly screen considerately provided a caption.
[Martial Universe location: Great Desolation Commandery, a newly revealed Nirvana Realm expert's ruins.] [The cave abode's perimeter is covered in lethal sealing formations left by a Nirvana Realm expert.]
Seeing those captions, everyone on the Douluo Continent instantly sucked in a breath of cold air.
A Nirvana Realm expert's tomb!
These were ruins left by a terrifying being who could walk through the air and casually refine ten-thousand-year-old demonic beasts.
There were bound to be unimaginable treasures of heaven and earth inside!
Yet before anyone could recover from their shock,
a burst of coarse shouting suddenly came from the lower right corner of the image.
"Move faster, you old bastard!"
"Don't play dead with me!"
Several Rogue Cultivator martial artists in beast-hide robes, their faces covered in brutish flesh, swaggered toward the Bronze Gate.
And behind those Rogue Cultivators,
a thick rope glowing with yuan power actually tethered a disheveled, blood-covered man like a dog.
His hair hung loose, and he staggered along, leaving a bloody footprint with every step.
Wasn't this Clear Sky Douluo Tang Hao, who had looked so imposing just moments ago when he revealed his Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring?!
Boom!
At the sight,
Tang San, standing on Shrek Academy's training ground, felt a buzzing explode inside his head, as though his entire being were about to split apart.
"Dad!!!"
Tang San's eyes reddened, and tears instantly spilled out.
His invincible father, the Clear Sky Douluo who was like a god of war in his heart,
was now being dragged across the ground like livestock by several nameless thugs from another world, a rope around his neck?!
At that moment, humiliation and fury battered his reason.
Beside him, Yu Xiaogang was also stupefied, his mouth hanging wide open, unable to close for a long while.
"How... how could His Excellency Haotian have fallen to this state?"
Meanwhile, in the scene on the other side.
The leader of those Rogue Cultivator martial artists had reached minor accomplishment in the Form Creation Realm.
He glanced back at Tang Hao and unceremoniously kicked the back of his knee, forcing him to kneel before the Bronze Gate.
"Just your bad luck today, you old dog without a scrap of yuan power."
"The sealing formations around this Nirvana Realm expert's cave abode are too powerful. A useless wretch like you is just right for testing their backlash!"
"Off you go!"
With that, the Rogue Cultivator grabbed Tang Hao by the collar and hurled him hard toward the rune-covered Bronze Gate, as though throwing away a rag.
"No!!!"
On the Douluo Continent, countless Clear Sky Sect disciples roared at the same time as Tang San.
That was a formation left by a Nirvana Realm expert.
Even Form Creation Realm martial cultivators did not dare touch it. With Tang Hao's soul power exhausted and his body gravely wounded, crashing into it would surely smash him to pieces!
At the critical instant before Tang Hao's body struck the Bronze Gate,
a sudden change occurred!
Hum!
A violent sound of distorting space suddenly came from the distant horizon.
Immediately afterward, a vast pressure of yuan power enveloped the entire canyon.
Under that pressure,
Those Rogue Cultivator martial artists who had been so arrogant moments before were crushed flat against the ground, without the slightest room to resist.
Tang Hao, still in midair, was forcibly held in place by this yuan power that had appeared out of nowhere, then fell heavily to the ground.
"Who's there?!"
The Rogue Cultivators sprawled on the ground raised their heads in terror and looked toward the horizon.
They were not the only ones.
Billions of living beings on the Douluo Continent also held their breath, staring fixedly at the light screen.
High above the clouds,
an enormous Giant Eagle, its feathers looking as though they had been cast from gold, slowly tore through the cloud cover and descended above the canyon.
And on the golden Giant Eagle's back,
a young man in an embroidered white robe stood with his hands behind his back.
He had handsome features and an air of lofty superiority, like a young deity descending into the mortal world.
He did not deliberately release any power around himself.
Yet merely by standing there, he made the surrounding energy of heaven and earth form tiny yuan power vortexes around him of its own accord, as though submitting to him.
Looking at the white-robed youth, one of the Rogue Cultivator martial artists below in the canyon seemed to recognize something.
His rugged face instantly filled with unconcealable horror.
"That's... a Six-Winged Golden-Scaled Eagle?!"
"Someone from the Lin Clan, one of the Great Yan Dynasty's Four Great Clans?!"
"Heavens, it's the Lin Clan's peerless genius, Lin Langtian!!!"
As that Rogue Cultivator's terrified scream rang out.
Beneath the sky screen, another line of dazzling golden text appeared.
[Notable figure of the Martial Universe: Lin Langtian.] [Identity: An unparalleled genius seen once in a century in the Lin Clan, one of the Four Great Clans of the Great Yan Dynasty.] [Cultivation: Peak Qi Creation Realm, half-step Creation Realm.]
Rumble!
After seeing the notification on the sky screen and hearing that Rogue Cultivator's cry of astonishment,
the Douluo Continent instantly fell into stunned, utter silence.
Half-step Creation Realm!
And judging by that young man's appearance, he was definitely no older than twenty-five!
A half-step Creation Realm cultivator in his twenties, riding a pure-blooded avian mount whose very aura made people tremble!
Such resources and talent simply ground every genius on the Douluo Continent into the dirt ten thousand times over!
Inside Spirit Hall.
Bibi Dong watched the godlike young man on the screen, her breathing growing rapid.
"Another genius from a great clan..."
"Just how many monsters of this caliber does that Great Yan Dynasty still have hidden away?"
Meanwhile, at Shrek Academy.
Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, and the others had long since been left staring in a daze.
They were all young people, yet they were still feeling smug over breaking through to Soul Ancestor.
But he already stood at a height even Titled Douluos had to look up to, regarding all the world's mighty figures as ants.
At that moment, in the scene on the other side.
Lin Langtian stood on the Giant Eagle's back, looking down from above at the Bronze Gate below.
His gaze was cold and arrogant. He did not so much as glance at the Rogue Cultivators and Tang Hao lying on the ground.
In his eyes, these people at the bottom were no different from ants on the ground.
"A Sealing Formation left by a Nirvana Realm expert. Somewhat interesting."
Lin Langtian spoke indifferently, his voice so cold and detached that it held not a trace of worldly warmth.
"Just as well. I can't be bothered to wait for the people from the other clans."
"I'll use you ants as stepping stones to break this formation."
The moment his words fell,
Lin Langtian slowly raised his right hand and gently closed it toward the ground below.
Boom!
The Yuan Power between heaven and earth instantly erupted into turmoil.
An invisible giant hand, fully a thousand feet across, condensed out of thin air.
As though snatching up chicks, it seized those few Rogue Cultivators of the Form Creation Realm on the ground, together with the gravely wounded Tang Hao, in its palm!
"No! Young Master Lin, spare us!"
"We were only passing through!"
Those Rogue Cultivators were scared out of their wits and desperately begged for mercy.
Yet there was not the slightest pity on Lin Langtian's face.
"It is your honor to scout the way for this young master."
He swept his sleeve.
Carrying those Rogue Cultivators and Tang Hao, the hand hurled them toward the Bronze Gate covered in seals!
"No!!!"
Outside the screen, Tang San let out an agonized scream.
He watched helplessly as that lofty young man in white robes threw his father away like garbage.
And within the scene, Tang Hao's eyes were likewise filled with despair as he watched the Runic Gate draw ever closer.
He was the mighty Clear Sky Douluo, who had roamed unchallenged throughout his life.
Yet now, without even the right to resist, was he going to be wiped out as cannon fodder for breaking a formation by a junior from another world barely into his twenties?
Hum!
The ancient runes on the Bronze Gate instantly lit up.
A surge of Rebound Energy turned directly into a shock wave visible to the naked eye and swept outward.
Those few Rogue Cultivators of the Form Creation Realm did not even have time to scream before their bodies shattered, turning into clouds of bloody mist.
Tang Hao, after all, was a Titled Douluo, his flesh far tougher than an ordinary person's.
But before the rebound from a formation left by a Nirvana Realm expert, his resistance, too, seemed utterly meaningless.
"No!"
Tang Hao roared, still trying to raise a Soul Power defense and even unleash his Martial Soul Avatar.
Yet that runic light simply swept over him.
His burly body, along with the Soul Bones within it that he took such pride in, broke apart inch by inch.
Amid a teeth-grating series of cracking bones, Tang Hao's entire body exploded, finally becoming a scattering of ashes that drifted away on the wind.
The mighty Clear Sky Douluo, the peerless expert who had once hammered Spirit Hall apart single-handedly.
Just like that, without even leaving an intact corpse behind, he was reduced to ash on the spot!
He had not even managed to smash the slightest crack into the Bronze Gate.
He had served as nothing more than cheap cannon fodder.
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