"Impossible..."
"My Purple Demon Eye is the most supreme spiritual cultivation technique!"
It was not just Tang San.
Inside Spirit Hall's Pope's Palace, Bibi Dong also wore a grave expression.
Earlier, the Yin Puppet Sect's sect master had used a materialized spiritual hand to crush Ghost Douluo's Martial Soul Avatar and forcibly extract his soul.
Now it seemed that the Yin Puppet Sect's sect master was definitely a powerful, high-ranking Talisman Master!
"Physical attacks are ineffective, it targets the soul directly, and it can even manipulate objects from a distance..."
"This system is practically the nemesis of us Douluo Soul Masters."
Bibi Dong gripped her scepter tightly, a trace of deep apprehension flashing through her eyes.
Meanwhile, after Zhao Si in the image finished listening to the gray-robed old man's account...
His eyes instantly lit up like light bulbs.
"Senior, you... you're saying I can become an esteemed Talisman Master?"
Zhao Si trembled all over with excitement.
That battered iron saber Martial Soul of his was trash.
If he could cultivate this spiritual power that sounded so damned impressive, wouldn't he soar straight into the skies in this other world?
"Heh heh, of course."
The gray-robed old man generously took a worn bamboo scroll from his robes and tossed it right in front of Zhao Si.
"This is a scroll of the most basic Divine Guidance Art."
"Sit cross-legged and follow the method written on it to sense your Niwan Palace."
"As long as you can condense a thread of spiritual power, I will formally accept you as my disciple today!"
Zhao Si had no time to think further. He hurriedly picked up the bamboo scroll as though retrieving a treasure.
He immediately sat cross-legged on the ground, closed his eyes, and began cultivating according to the method on the bamboo scroll.
Watching Zhao Si begin cultivating in the sky screen...
Everyone in the Star Luo Empire held their breath.
The Star Luo Emperor was so excited that he stood straight up.
"Good!"
"Although we lost quite a few people earlier, this boy Zhao Si has good luck!"
"As long as he can learn this other world's spiritual power cultivation technique and become one of those Talisman Masters, our Star Luo Empire will have a backer in that other world!"
The ministers around him chimed in, their eyes filled with anticipation.
Time ticked by, second after second.
About an incense stick's worth of time passed.
A faint, invisible fluctuation suddenly glimmered between Zhao Si's brows as his eyes remained closed.
Then Zhao Si abruptly opened his eyes, wild joy filling them.
He turned to stare at a fist-sized stone two meters away.
Hum!
Under the shocked gazes of countless people across the Douluo Continent...
That stone actually rose shakily off the ground!
Though it did not float very high and was somewhat unsteady, this was undeniably manipulating an object from a distance!
"I did it! I really condensed spiritual power!"
Zhao Si danced with excitement. He felt like one of the immortals of legend now.
"He did it!"
"Zhao Si, you're awesome!"
Cheers that could topple mountains and overturn seas instantly erupted throughout the Star Luo Empire's major cities.
Everyone at Shrek Academy watched with envy as well.
Even an ordinary rank-twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster like Zhao Si could get started so quickly.
If they went instead, wouldn't they soar into the skies?
Yu Xiaogang straightened his back and declared loudly.
"Did everyone see that?"
"Though the other world's power is formidable, it isn't beyond our reach!"
"Zhao Si has already proven through his actions that we people of the Douluo Continent can cultivate their system too!"
Yet before Yu Xiaogang could finish his commentary...
In the image, the gray-robed old man watched the stone floating unsteadily.
The kindly look on his face instantly vanished, replaced by a cold sneer.
"Keh heh heh!"
"Good, very good. Your Niwan Palace really is spacious enough. You could move a physical object on your very first attempt at cultivating."
Hearing the old man's strange laughter...
Zhao Si, still immersed in joy, could not help freezing.
"Master, you..."
"Who are you calling Master?"
The gray-robed old man snorted coldly, a chilly gleam flashing through his eyes.
A surge of spiritual power countless times stronger than Zhao Si's poured out and instantly pierced between his brows!
"Aaaah!!!"
Zhao Si screamed, clutching his head with both hands as he rolled on the ground in agony.
Then the gray-robed old man stepped forward and planted a foot on Zhao Si's chest.
"I was merely practicing a formation and happened to need a living vessel with an opened Niwan Palace that could hold spiritual power."
"Did you really think I would be kind enough to accept a useless wretch without even a trace of Yuan Power as my disciple?"
"Since your Niwan Palace is open, obediently become my Talisman Slave!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the gray-robed old man pressed two fingers together and planted a black rune between Zhao Si's brows.
Hum!
The black rune instantly sank into his Niwan Palace.
Zhao Si's screams stopped abruptly.
His once-vibrant eyes instantly turned deathly gray, without the slightest trace of awareness remaining.
Like a marionette, he stiffly climbed off the ground and obediently stood behind the old man.
A dignified Soul Grandmaster of the Star Luo Empire.
He had only just tasted the sweetness of spiritual power, without even having time to dream of his future.
Yet his mind had been forcibly erased, and he had been refined into a puppet cauldron specifically used to extract spiritual power!
The light screen froze.
[Number Two Explorer, Zhao Si.] [Encountered an evil Talisman Master from another world.] [Status: mind erased.] [Current identity: reduced to a puppet Talisman Slave used by an evil Talisman Master to extract spiritual power, suffering a fate worse than death.]
At this sight, the Star Luo Empire, which had been cheering moments earlier, instantly fell silent enough to hear a crow or sparrow.
The Star Luo Emperor trembled with rage and kicked over the desk before him.
Yu Xiaogang's aging face flushed crimson, and he wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
It was too cruel.
This world had no regard for martial honor or morality.
Everywhere, there were naked schemes and dangers that devoured people without even spitting out their bones!
Immediately afterward, the golden light on the sky screen rapidly drew together.
The sky screen's majestic voice rang out again, resounding through the nine heavens.
[Live broadcasts for the fourth batch of explorers have all concluded.] [Exploration results: Tang Hao killed in action, Dugu Bo killed in action, Zhao Si reduced to a puppet.] [Zhu Zhuyun reduced to a maidservant, Ma Hongjun reduced to a menial laborer, Ah Yin dug up as a spiritual herb.] [Exploration progress this time: 1%!] [Selection of the next batch of explorers will begin shortly...]
Meanwhile, not far from Yu Xiaogang's side...
Ning Rongrong, who had only just recovered her senses, cried out when she saw her name clearly.
"No! I don't want to go to that hellhole!"
She had seen with her own eyes how her all-capable father had his legs broken in that world and was sold as a pet!
As a support-type Soul Master without the slightest fighting ability, wouldn't going there mean certain death?
"Grandpa Sword, Grandpa Bone! Save me!"
Ning Rongrong wept like pear blossoms drenched in rain, desperately calling toward the distant void.
But inside the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo could only stare at the sky with bloodshot eyes, utterly powerless.
Inside Spirit Hall.
Bibi Dong, who had been on tenterhooks, let out an imperceptible sigh of relief when she saw that the last name was Salas.
Meanwhile, Platinum Bishop Salas, standing below her, felt his legs give way and collapsed to the floor.
"Your Holiness..."
Salas's face was filled with despair, as though all his strength had been drained away.
[Teleportation countdown beginning.] [Three, two, one...]
As the countdown reached zero, five dazzling beams of golden light instantly descended from the sky.
Whoosh!
The figures of Yu Xiaogang, Ning Rongrong, and the others instantly vanished from the Douluo Continent.
Then ripples slowly flowed across the light screen.
[Current first-person perspective activated: Shrek Academy, Yu Xiaogang.]
The image gradually cleared.
Yu Xiaogang fell in a sorry heap amid a crimson mining mountain.
Bare rocks lay everywhere, and an unbearable dry heat permeated the air.
In a nearby mining pit, hundreds of shirtless laborers drenched in sweat swung iron pickaxes, laboriously digging out stones that emitted a faint red glow.
Yu Xiaogang struggled to his feet and brushed the dust off himself.
Just then, the bottom of the sky screen thoughtfully provided explanatory subtitles.
[Martial Universe basics: Yang Yuan Stone.] [A special ore containing the pure yang energy of heaven and earth, an essential cultivation resource for Earth Origin Realm and Heavenly Origin Realm martial artists.] [It is also the basic cultivation currency used throughout the Great Yan Dynasty.]
Seeing these subtitles...
Everyone on the Douluo Continent understood.
So this world's currency was actually energy stones that could be used directly for cultivation.
In the image, Yu Xiaogang also grasped the situation around him.
"It looks like this is a mine."
He silently calculated.
These mining laborers don't have even a trace of Yuan Power. They must be at the very bottom of this world.
As long as I demonstrate a little of a Soul Master's power and give them some pointers with my extensive knowledge, securing an overseer's position will be no problem.
At that thought, Yu Xiaogang clasped his hands behind his back again, assuming his unfathomable Grandmaster demeanor.
He strode swaggeringly toward a burly middle-aged man beside the mining pit, who held a leather whip and looked like an overseer.
This burly man was a minor boss at the mine.
Powerful fluctuations of the early Earth Origin Realm emanated from him.
"Greetings, good sir."
Yu Xiaogang walked up to the overseer and lifted his chin slightly.
"I am Yu Xiaogang, an esteemed Soul Grandmaster."
"I'd say your mine's extraction efficiency is far too low. Why not let me give you a little guidance?"
"With my theory of the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul, I can absolutely double your output!"
Hearing Yu Xiaogang's pretentious words,
the burly overseer turned his head and looked him up and down.
At the sight of Yu Xiaogang's shriveled, frail body and the pitifully weak energy fluctuations coming from him,
the overseer could not help letting out a sneer.
"What Soul Grandmaster? What bullshit theory?"
"You look like nothing but a beggar trying to scrounge a meal!"
The burly man snorted coldly and tossed a heavy Iron Pickaxe straight at Yu Xiaogang's feet.
"Cut the fucking crap!"
"Now that you're on our Lin Family's turf, I don't care what you used to do. You're mining for me now!"
"If you don't dig up ten chunks of Yang Yuan Stone a day, I'll whip your hide to shreds!"
Hearing that the man actually wanted to make him do hard labor,
Yu Xiaogang's aging face instantly flushed crimson, and he felt that his dignity had suffered an immense insult.
"You ignorant brute!"
"Since you refuse the wine of courtesy and insist on drinking the wine of punishment, I'll show you the power of a Soul Master!"
Yu Xiaogang gave a loud shout and instantly activated the Soul Power within him.
Yellow, yellow.
Two Hundred-Year Yellow Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet.
"Come forth, Luo Sanpao!"
Accompanied by a strange cry, a plump, pale purple creature that looked like a pig appeared before Yu Xiaogang.
Everyone at Shrek Academy broke into a nervous sweat at the sight.
Ma Hongjun curled his lip and said,
"Grandmaster is being way too impulsive."
"But Luo Sanpao's farts have sheer nastiness going for them. If he can knock that overseer out with the stink, he might still be able to make a run for it."
On the screen, Yu Xiaogang swept his hand and gave the command to attack.
"Fart like thunder, Earth-Shattering Luo Sanpao!"
Luo Sanpao's round belly suddenly swelled.
With a muffled pfft,
a stream of yellow, foul gas sprayed straight toward the burly overseer.
Seeing this piglike monster actually attack by farting,
the burly overseer froze for a moment, then flew into a rage.
"You old bastard! You dare use a pig to disgust me?!"
The burly man roared.
Rather than dodge the stench, he stepped straight forward.
Pale yellow Yuan Power instantly enveloped his right fist.
"First-Grade Martial Art, Through-Back Fist!"
With a furious shout,
the burly man threw a punch, and the gust from his fist, laden with heavy Yuan Power, actually blew away every last trace of Luo Sanpao's foul gas.
Then that iron-hard fist slammed into Luo Sanpao's plump body without the slightest resistance.
Bam!
A scream rang out.
Luo Sanpao had no chance to resist at all. He turned straight into a mass of purple light, forcibly punched back into Yu Xiaogang's body.
"Pfft!"
With his Martial Soul forcibly dispersed, Yu Xiaogang reeled as though struck by a heavy blow and spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot.
His entire body flew backward like a torn burlap sack and crashed heavily onto the rubble-strewn ground.
Meanwhile, on the Douluo Continent.
Watching Yu Xiaogang fail to withstand even a single move on the screen, everyone involuntarily covered their faces.
It was too humiliating.
Even a mere mine overseer, using the most basic First-Grade Martial Art, could take out the so-called theoretical Grandmaster with a single punch.
On the screen, the burly overseer strode up to Yu Xiaogang, seized his collar, and hauled him up.
Smack! Smack!
He delivered two resounding backhanded slaps, leaving Yu Xiaogang seeing stars.
"You still dare raise a hand against me?"
"Take your lousy Iron Pickaxe and get your ass down there to mine!"
"If you don't dig up any Yang Yuan Stone today, I'll flay you and rip out your tendons!"
With that, the burly man tossed Yu Xiaogang into the deep mining pit like a piece of trash.
The esteemed theoretical Grandmaster of Shrek Academy.
He had gone to another world brimming with pride, only to last less than ten minutes.
Then, with his face bruised and swollen, he had been reduced to a mining laborer at the very bottom.
Before you continue