The Lin Clan Tournament!

"Zhu Yun! Zhu Yun!"

The wild joy of escaping certain death made Dai Weisi lose all reason.

He had no idea where he found the strength, but he dragged his broken right leg out of the filthy ditch and scrambled toward the luxurious carriage.

"Zhu Yun, it's me! It's Weisi!"

"Save me! Hurry and have your people save me!"

Dai Weisi crawled along the ground, shouting himself hoarse at the top of his lungs.

As Dai Weisi saw it-

Zhu Zhuyun was, after all, his fiancée from the Star Luo Empire.

Although he had seen her throw in her lot with someone else during the livestream, that had surely been a temporary expedient to survive in another world.

Now that they had reunited in this unfamiliar Higher-Dimensional World, they were fellow countrymen meeting far from home.

As long as Zhu Zhuyun showed some regard for their past and put in a few good words for him with this young master from a powerful faction-

He, Dai Weisi, could absolutely escape this wretched state at once, and might even use the opportunity to gain a foothold in Great Eagle City!

"How dare you! Where did this stinking beggar come from, charging at the young sect master's carriage!"

Several guards clearing the way immediately drew the broad sabers at their waists and blocked Dai Weisi's path.

The sharp blades pressed against Dai Weisi's neck, frightening him into a shudder. He hurriedly shouted into the carriage.

"Zhu Yun! Say something! I'm your fiancé, Dai Weisi!"

The carriage slowly stopped.

A fair, delicate hand gently lifted the gauze curtain.

Zhu Zhuyun's alluring, seductive face appeared before Dai Weisi's eyes.

After being pampered these past few days, Zhu Zhuyun not only looked exceptionally well, but even gave off faint fluctuations of Yuan Power. She had clearly received quite a few benefits.

She lowered her head and looked at the man on the ground, reeking all over, his leg broken, begging for pity like a stray dog wagging its tail.

There was not the slightest joy of reunion in Zhu Zhuyun's eyes.

Only undisguised disgust and contempt.

Inside the carriage.

The young master in brocade, whom Zhu Zhuyun had been serving in perfect comfort, also looked out with a frown.

Holding Zhu Zhuyun's slender waist, he covered his nose with some distaste.

"Yun'er, what's this stinking beggar babbling about?"

"Do you know him?"

At the young master's question, Zhu Zhuyun did not hesitate in the slightest.

She nestled farther into the brocade-clad young master's arms, putting on an aggrieved, frightened expression.

"Young master, how could I possibly know this lunatic?"

"But judging by his looks, he does resemble that bully back in my hometown who was always tormenting me."

Zhu Zhuyun's eyes reddened slightly, and her voice was soft and cloying, carrying a hint of murderous intent.

"You have no idea, young master. Back in my hometown, this man relied on his family's little bit of influence to dream up new ways to torment me every day. He even wanted to ruin my chastity."

"To think this lunatic has begged his way all the way to Great Eagle City, and now he's trying to extort us..."

"Young master, just looking at him makes me sick."

Hearing Zhu Zhuyun turn black into white-

Dai Weisi, sprawled on the ground, felt as though lightning had struck him.

His eyes widened, as though this were the first time he had ever known the woman who had once obeyed his every wish in the Star Luo Empire.

"Zhu Zhuyun! You bitch! What nonsense are you spouting?!"

"I'm a prince of the Star Luo Empire! Your formally betrothed fiancé!"

Dai Weisi cursed furiously, even trying to lunge forward and tear Zhu Zhuyun's face apart.

But upon hearing Zhu Zhuyun's tearful complaints, the brocade-clad young master's expression instantly turned cold.

"You dared bully my woman?"

He snorted coldly and waved to the guards outside without so much as glancing at Dai Weisi.

"Since the sight of him makes Yun'er sick, pull this lunatic's tongue out and smash all his remaining limbs."

"Then throw him into the mass grave outside the city. Let those demonic beasts have an extra meal."

That casually spoken sentence directly pronounced Dai Weisi's death sentence.

"Yes, young sect master!"

Several guards grinned viciously, put away their sabers, and stepped forward to pin down Dai Weisi, who was still struggling madly.

"No! You can't do this to me!"

"Zhu Zhuyun, you fickle whore! You'll die a horrible death!"

Dai Weisi's curses were still echoing through the street.

A guard seized his chin and forced his mouth open.

Then a rusty pair of iron pincers thrust straight inside and yanked hard!

"Aaagh!!!"

With a spurt of fresh blood, Dai Weisi's tongue was forcibly ripped out.

Immediately afterward-

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The guards mercilessly stomped through both of Dai Weisi's arms and his remaining left leg.

The teeth-grating crunch of shattered bones, accompanied by Dai Weisi's ragged, agonized whimpers, sounded especially piercing in the street.

Zhu Zhuyun merely watched it all coldly from inside the carriage, then lowered the gauze curtain and continued peeling grapes for the young master with a coquettish laugh.

The carriage slowly set off, rolling straight past Dai Weisi, who lay like a heap of sludge.

It left Dai Weisi lying alone in a pool of blood, all four limbs broken, bloody bubbles constantly spilling from his mouth as he waited in despair to be thrown to the demonic beasts.

The light screen froze.

[Number Two Explorer, Dai Weisi, eldest prince of the Star Luo Empire.]

[Betrayed by his fiancée and fellow countrywoman, Zhu Zhuyun.]

[Status: tongue torn out, all four limbs crushed underfoot.]

[Current identity: discarded in a mass grave as unrecyclable garbage, reduced to a meal for stray dogs and demonic beasts.]

[Livestream temporarily suspended.]

With those few lines of merciless judgment-

The imperial palace of the Star Luo Empire had descended into utter chaos.

Countless ministers knelt on the floor, trembling.

The Star Luo Emperor had only just been revived by an imperial physician pinching beneath his nose. Upon seeing that line on the light screen, he felt a sharp pain in his chest and spat out another mouthful of blood.

"What a calamity... what a calamity!"

"The Zhu Family! Arrest everyone in the Zhu Family!"

The Star Luo Emperor roared crazily.

The dignity of the entire Star Luo Empire's imperial family had been utterly trampled and ground beneath Zhu Zhuyun's feet.

Meanwhile, at Shrek Academy.

Dai Mubai watched his elder brother's wretched state on the light screen, veins bulging on his forehead.

Although Dai Weisi had always suppressed him within the family, no matter what, he was still his own elder brother.

And now he had actually ended up as food for stray dogs.

"Zhu Zhuqing..."

Dai Mubai turned toward Zhu Zhuqing beside him. His lips moved, but he did not know what to say.

Zhu Zhuqing's face was deathly pale. She lowered her head without a word.

She had never felt much affection for that elder sister, but this other world's cruel laws of survival still sent a chill through her.

The sky screen did not give the people of the Douluo Continent much time to process their emotions.

Ripples spread again.

[Switching to the perspective of Number Three Explorer, Flender, dean of Shrek Academy.]

The image lit up, revealing a huge circular arena.

The high stands all around were packed with gamblers and martial artists from Myriad Gold City, waving animal hides and shouting loudly.

And in the sandpit at the very bottom of this arena-

Flender had been stripped of all his clothes, leaving only a pair of tattered shorts.

His shattered shoulder hung limply at his side as he stood among a group of equally ragged slaves whose eyes were filled with despair.

"Run! Hurry, run!"

A slave beside him screamed in terror.

Flender looked up and saw the huge iron gate across the arena slowly rising.

An Iron-Armored Rhinoceros, covered in sharp iron spikes and as large as a heavy carriage, charged out of the passage with bloodshot eyes.

Although this Iron-Armored Rhinoceros was hardly a high-ranking demonic beast, with its thick hide and sturdy flesh, coupled with the momentum of its charge-

Even ordinary Earth Origin Realm martial artists would not dare meet it head-on.

"Today's first warm-up act: the living-target dodge!"

Above the stands, a man who looked like a steward shouted through a sound-amplifying formation.

"Survive the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros's charges for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, and you'll earn a full meal!"

As the steward finished speaking, the gamblers in the stands erupted into frenzied cheers.

Watching the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros thunder toward him-

Flender was scared out of his wits.

With his old arms and legs, a single hit would surely turn him into a puddle of minced flesh on the spot.

"Damn it, I'll fight you bastards to the death!"

Flender roared, forcing himself to endure the excruciating pain in his shoulder as he mobilized the little Soul Power he had painstakingly recovered.

"Cat Owl Martial Soul, possess me!"

A pair of enormous feathered wings spread from Flender's back.

He kicked hard against the ground and shot into the air, hoping to avoid the rhinoceros's charge by flying overhead.

As long as he stayed airborne, this lumbering demonic beast that could only run along the ground would have absolutely no way to deal with him.

Back on the Douluo Continent, everyone at Shrek breathed a small sigh of relief when they saw Flender take flight.

"That's a clever move by Boss Fu!"

Zhao Wuji slapped his thigh.

"That beast can't fly. As long as Boss Fu lasts an incense stick's worth of time, he'll have survived!"

But Zhao Wuji had only just finished speaking.

The steward in the arena stands immediately frowned as he watched Flender fly into the air.

"Where did this birdman come from? Doesn't he know the arena's rules?"

"Living targets are forbidden from rising thirty feet off the ground!"

The steward snorted coldly, not even bothering to spare him another look.

He casually drew a spear from the weapons rack beside him.

Pale yellow Yuan Power flashed along his arm.

Whoosh!

The spear turned into a bolt of lightning, hurtling toward Flender in midair with a shrill whistle.

Flender did not even have time to react.

The spear mercilessly pierced one of the wings on his back, its tremendous momentum forcibly pinning him from midair to the arena's outer wall!

"Aaaagh!!!"

Flender let out an agonized scream, feathers and blood scattering across the ground.

"Try flying around again, and the next spear will pin your head."

The steward dusted off his hands, his face utterly unconcerned.

Flender convulsed with pain. All he could do was desperately wrench himself free of the spear and clutch his bleeding wing, tumbling and scrambling back into the dirt and sand of the arena.

Facing the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros as it turned and charged at him again-

He could only roll frantically through the mud to dodge it, like a ridiculous clown.

The martial artists from this other world in the stands burst into waves of laughter, treating him entirely as a toy for their amusement.

The illustrious dean of Shrek Academy, a level-seventy-eight Soul Saint.

In this world's underground fighting pit-

Even his right to take to the sky had been stripped away by someone's casually thrown spear.

He could only scurry through the mud with a group of slaves, covering his head as a wild beast chased them like fleeing rats.

Watching the utterly bedraggled Flender on the light screen.

The training grounds of Shrek Academy were suffocatingly quiet.

Every student felt a burning sting on their face-the humiliation of having their faith and dignity repeatedly ground into the dirt.

The image in the sky slowly pulled back.

[Number Three Explorer: Flender.]

[Status: Wings pierced through; severely injured.]

[Current identity: Bottom-rung punching bag at the Myriad Gold City Arena, serving as a living toy for Demonic Beasts in the mud.]

[Live feed paused.]

As the miserable image of Flender faded, the screen split again.

This time, the sky screen finally turned its camera toward the only person who could be considered to be "living fairly peacefully" in the other world.

[Switching to the perspective of Number Five Explorer, Hu Liena of the Spirit Hall Golden Generation.]

The image lit up again.

On a broad, level ancient road paved with blue stone, Hu Liena came into view.

She was running forward, drenched in sweat and panting for breath.

Her once fair, delicate feet had long since developed several blood blisters from all the running, and blood had even seeped out and stained the soles of her shoes red.

But she did not dare stop at all.

Her beautiful eyes remained fixed on the Fire Python Tiger strolling leisurely several hundred meters ahead, and on the slender, straight-backed figure in blue robes seated on its back.

Lin Dong.

That name now seemed to possess a magic of its own, etched deep into Hu Liena's mind.

Following him all this way, she had witnessed firsthand what a true peerless genius was.

The vicious Demonic Beasts they had encountered along the road-even those whose auras were more terrifying than Spirit Hall's Titled Douluo-

Could not last even a single exchange against this youth.

They were either slapped into a mist of blood or swallowed whole by the small purplish-black beast on his shoulder.

Clean and decisive, domineering beyond compare.

"As long as I can follow him, as long as I can stay by his side..."

"No matter what dangers I encounter in this world, I'll definitely survive!"

Hu Liena gritted her teeth. Even though her legs already felt as heavy as if they had been filled with lead, she still desperately forced herself to keep going.

This extreme admiration for strength made her completely abandon her airs as Spirit Hall's Saintess.

Just as Hu Liena was about to reach her limit-

The ancient road ahead finally came to an end.

The view suddenly opened up.

A vast city of staggering proportions crouched upon the plains like an ancient behemoth.

Even from far away, its black walls towering into the clouds exuded an ancient majesty that washed over them.

At the city gates, countless martial artists with powerful auras stood in long lines, waiting to enter.

Compared with this city, the likes of Yan City and Great Eagle City they had seen before were as crude as earthen forts in remote mountains.

Beneath the sky screen, golden captions slowly appeared.

[Martial Universe location: Lin City, Great Yan Dynasty!]

[This is the headquarters of the Lin Clan, one of the Great Yan Dynasty's Four Great Clans.]

[Countless disciples from Lin Family branch families, along with powerful figures from forces across the dynasty, are gathering here.]

[All to witness the foremost event among the Great Yan Dynasty's younger generation: the Lin Family Clan Competition!]

At the sight of these lines-

The people of the Douluo Continent all perked up.

The Lin Family Clan Competition!

They had heard Yu Xiaogang, the man who had been hauled off to mine, mention it before.

Apparently, this youth named Lin Dong was going to challenge a main-lineage genius whose resources and strength far surpassed his own at this clan competition.

In the image-

Lin Dong rode the Fire Python Tiger up to the gates of Lin City.

He swung down from the tiger and looked at the towering gates, a trace of cold severity flashing through his eyes.

"Lin Langtian... I'm here."

Lin Dong took a deep breath and strode toward the city gates with Little Flame.

At that moment, Hu Liena, trailing several hundred meters behind, also caught sight of the magnificent city.

She stared, utterly dumbfounded.

"This is that Lin Clan's headquarters?"