At that moment, the entire Douluo Continent fell utterly silent.
The once-bustling streets, the training grounds of the great sects, even the lavish imperial palace halls.
Everyone seemed to have their throats seized by an invisible hand, unable to make a sound.
Shrek Academy.
Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang's aging face, once brimming with superiority, had turned the color of pig liver.
His mouth hung open, his lips trembling uncontrollably.
"This..."
"How is this possible?!"
"A Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Skill was broken in an instant? That was a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Skill!"
At that moment, Yu Xiaogang felt his cheeks burning, as though someone had slapped him hard dozens of times in front of the entire world.
Dai Mubai, meanwhile, felt his legs go weak and involuntarily staggered back two steps.
"An... instant kill?"
"That guy was a level fifty-two Soul King, and he couldn't even withstand one breath of fire from a low-tier demonic beast?!"
Beside him, Ma Hongjun was so frightened that he dropped onto his backside, every roll of fat trembling.
"Mommy... that was a low-tier demonic beast?"
"If we went there, forget showing off-we wouldn't even be enough to fill the gaps between its teeth!"
"I'm not going! Not even if you beat me to death!"
Ning Rongrong's pretty face also drained of color. She clutched her flat chest with both hands, gasping for breath.
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
Inside Spirit Hall's Pope's Palace.
Bang!
Bibi Dong abruptly rose to her feet, and the mahogany desk before her was pulverized by the Soul Power she unwittingly released.
Her authoritative eyes were now filled with profound wariness.
"What terrifying flames."
"The level of that energy stands completely above our Soul Power!"
"Just a low-tier demonic beast possesses such power."
Bibi Dong drew in a sharp breath, her full chest heaving violently.
She dared not imagine what would become of these explorers from the Douluo Continent if that world's strongest experts descended.
The Divine Realm.
The air within the great hall seemed to have frozen.
Clatter.
The winecup condensed from divine power slipped from the Destruction God King's hand and shattered on the floor.
The contempt on his face had vanished entirely, replaced by an undisguisable gravity.
"A lower plane? A low-tier demonic beast?"
The Destruction God King clenched his teeth, his expression so gloomy it seemed water might drip from it.
Although he was unwilling to admit it, he knew perfectly well.
That breath of fire the Fire Python Demon had just spat out was already no weaker than an all-out strike from some of the Douluo Continent's Titled Douluos.
And that was merely a low-tier demonic beast from that so-called Martial Universe!
Beside him, the Asura God King's brows were also tightly furrowed.
As he watched the scene on the screen of light, towering waves surged through his heart as well.
Yet while the entire continent remained immersed in shock.
The majestic voice from the sky screen broke the silence once more.
[Explorer One has been eliminated.] [Switching to Number Two Explorer's perspective...]
As the voice from the sky screen faded, the image flickered again.
Immediately afterward, a middle-aged man dressed in coarse hemp clothing appeared on the screen of light.
It was none other than Wang Er, the commoner from the Heaven Dou Empire.
In the image, Wang Er seemed to have landed on a street in an ordinary-looking bluestone town.
Not far away, a boy of about seven or eight happened to be swinging his fists, apparently exercising.
The instant Wang Er landed, he felt his chest tighten and struggled to breathe.
The Martial Universe's intense Heaven and Earth Yuan Power and spatial pressure were simply more than a commoner without a trace of Soul Power could withstand.
His face filled with terror, he scrambled and crawled, trying to find someone to save him.
He happened to reach for the little boy by the roadside.
"Help..."
Startled, the little boy instinctively threw a punch.
It looked like a featherlight punch, without even a glimmer of Yuan Power, relying purely on physical strength.
Bang!
A dull thud rang out.
Wang Er was sent flying more than a dozen meters, slamming heavily into the wall behind him.
Blood spilled from his mouth, and he died on the spot without so much as a groan.
With Wang Er's death, the image on the sky screen froze again.
[Number Two Explorer: Wang Er.] [Encountered an ordinary child of the Martial Universe.] [Status: killed in action.] [Survival time: fifteen seconds.]
At that moment, countless commoners across the Douluo Continent collapsed to the ground in terror, their faces deathly pale.
But soon, on Shrek Academy's field, Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang suddenly sneered.
He straightened his collar, that self-deceiving conceit returning to his eyes.
"There's no need to panic, everyone."
"A commoner is ultimately just a commoner. Without Soul Power protecting his body, his physical condition was poor to begin with."
"In a world where gravity is clearly different, he couldn't even stand steadily. It's perfectly normal for a child who does farmwork year-round to beat him to death."
With his hands clasped behind his back, Yu Xiaogang continued as though he had seen through everything.
"This says nothing about how strong the people of that world are."
"It merely proves that the environment of that world is unsuitable for ordinary people to survive in."
Hearing Grandmaster's analysis, Dai Mubai's eyes lit up, as though he had grasped a life-saving straw.
He slapped his thigh and laughed heartily. "Grandmaster is absolutely right!"
"I knew it! That Zhang Hu must have had the worst luck imaginable and happened to encounter one of that world's strongest Ferocious Beasts!"
"All that talk of a low-tier Ferocious Beast must have been a lie."
"Look, the town in the second perspective was perfectly ordinary. Even a child was playing in the street. That shows the humans of that world are nothing special."
"As long as I don't encounter a super Ferocious Beast like that, I'll absolutely sweep the field with my White Tiger Martial Soul!"
Ma Hongjun nodded repeatedly as well, hurriedly wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.
"That scared the life out of me! I thought even an ant in that world could kill us instantly."
"So that's all there is to it."
Ning Rongrong patted her chest too, lifting her proud chin again with a haughty snort. "Exactly. He was useless himself, yet he blamed others for being too strong."
Tang San, by contrast, frowned slightly.
Although he kept feeling something was wrong, his blind trust in his teacher led him to nod as well.
"Teacher's analysis..."
He hesitated, and only after his gaze flickered did he finally speak:
"Is very logical. There are coincidences in everything. That Fire Python Demon was definitely just an isolated case."
It was not only the Shrek group.
Across the continent, many Soul Masters who had been scared out of their wits by Zhang Hu's gruesome death were also regaining their confidence.
People always tended to believe what they wanted to believe.
In their eyes, the humans of that world were definitely weaker than Soul Masters.
And just as everyone on the Douluo Continent breathed a sigh of relief.
The sky screen's voice sounded once more.
[Number Two Explorer has been eliminated.] [Switching to Number Three Explorer's perspective...]
The scene shifted. This time, a broad Gravel Square appeared on the screen of light.
Immediately afterward, a burly figure like a mountain of flesh landed heavily in the center of the square.
It was Huyan Li, a core disciple of the Elephant Armor Sect and a level forty-three defense-type Battle Soul Ancestor.
Seeing Huyan Li appear, many people across the Douluo Continent perked up.
Especially at the headquarters of the Elephant Armor Sect, one of the Lower Four Sects.
The Elephant Armor Sect's master, Huyan Zhen, rose excitedly from his chair, his face glowing red.
He bellowed, "Good! It's finally my grandson's turn!"
"Li possesses our Elephant Armor Sect's finest defensive Martial Soul, the Diamond Mammoth!"
"And he also possesses an exceedingly precious Head Soul Bone!"
"Even an ordinary Soul King can forget about easily breaking through his defenses."
"The humans of that Martial Universe definitely won't be able to break his defenses!"
In the image, Huyan Li quickly steadied himself.
He had clearly sensed the heavy pressure in the surrounding air too, and his face flushed slightly.
But instead of panicking, he immediately let out a roar.
"Martial Soul Possession!"
A thick layer of keratin instantly covered his entire body, making his frame swell another size.
Four Soul Rings in the optimal combination-two yellow and two purple-also slowly rose from beneath his feet.
Only after doing all this did Huyan Li look around.
He soon spotted a boy of twelve or thirteen standing at the edge of the square.
The youth wore fitted training clothes washed pale, clearly not a disciple of any major power.
At that moment, the youth was studying him curiously.
"Huh? Where did this demonic beast come from? How can it be so ugly?"
Looking at the glowing Soul Rings around Huyan Li, the youth could not help frowning and muttering.
Hearing that, Huyan Li instantly flew into a rage.
On the Douluo Continent, he was an exalted Heavenly Prodigy of the Elephant Armor Sect. Since when did some greenhorn brat get to mock him?
"You little bastard, you're courting death!"
To display his strength before the entire continent, Huyan Li immediately took great strides, charging toward the youth like a heavy war chariot.
With every footfall, the gravel on the square trembled.
Across the Douluo Continent, countless people fixed their eyes on the screen of light.
Dai Mubai sneered. "Huyan Li really does have some skill when it comes to defense. Dealing with a half-grown boy will be as easy as reaching out and grabbing him."
Yu Xiaogang nodded in agreement. "Indeed. Using Soul Ancestor-level power to bully an ordinary youth-there's no suspense in this round."
Yet faced with Huyan Li's menacing charge.
The youth on the sky screen merely shook his head helplessly.
"You really have no sense."
The youth casually clenched his fist, and a pale white glow instantly condensed over it.
That was the Martial Universe's most fundamental Heaven and Earth Yuan Power.
This youth was actually a cultivator who had reached the Early Earth Origin Realm!
"Stone Shattering Fist!"
The youth gave a low shout, without any flashy movements.
Facing Huyan Li's massive body, he simply blasted out a punch.
Sensing the fierce force in his opponent's fist, Huyan Li's expression instantly changed.
He dared not show the slightest overconfidence, and his fourth, purple Soul Ring instantly blazed with light.
"Fourth Soul Skill! Diamond Barrier!"
At the same time, a strange light also erupted from his head.
He also activated the skill of that precious Head Soul Bone.
This was absolutely the strongest defensive state he could currently achieve!
Seeing this, Huyan Zhen, outside the light screen, nodded in satisfaction.
"This lad is neither arrogant nor rash. Even a lion uses its full strength to catch a rabbit. This is in the bag."
On the screen, the youth's fist struck Huyan Li's Diamond Barrier squarely, accompanied by the howl of wind.
For a moment, everyone across the entire Douluo Continent held their breath.
They all stared fixedly at the light screen, waiting to see the recoil shatter the youth's arm.
Yet the next second, all they heard was a crisp cracking sound that rang out abruptly across the square.
Immediately afterward, under Huyan Li's utterly horrified gaze.
His fourth Soul Skill, supposedly impossible for anyone of the same level to break, together with the Soul Bone's second layer of defense, was actually covered in dense cracks in an instant.
"No..."
Huyan Li only had time to let out a scream before that defense, as impregnable as a fortress with walls of metal and a moat of boiling water, shattered completely.
Then, without losing any momentum, the youth's fist slammed straight into Huyan Li's chest.
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