Young Master Lin Dong!

"Pfft!"

Under that single punch, Huyan Li's massive body shuddered violently, and a great mouthful of blood sprayed from his mouth.

He could not even get out a complete sentence before he was sent flying backward.

He plowed a long furrow through the hard surface of Gravel Square before finally crashing heavily into a thick stone pillar.

His head lolled to one side, and he passed out on the spot.

At this sight, the entire Douluo Continent fell utterly silent once again.

In the image, the twelve- or thirteen-year-old boy slowly withdrew his fist.

He shook his wrist, looked at the unconscious Huyan Li, and muttered with some distaste, "Just what kind of demonic beast is this?"

"He looks bizarre, but his hide's pretty thick."

"Ironwood Manor happens to be short of hands lately. We could tie this big fellow up and take him back to chop ironwood."

With that, the boy casually summoned several burly men dressed like household servants.

In no time, they trussed Huyan Li up with thick iron chains and dragged him away like a dead dog.

The image on the sky screen briefly froze.

The familiar golden words appeared again.

[Explorer No. 3, Huyan Li.]

[Encountered a junior of the Lin Family of Qingyang Town, Great Yan Dynasty.]

[Status: severely injured, captured.]

[Current identity: reduced to a slave at the Qingyang Town Lin Family's Ironwood Manor.]

Boom!

After reading those lines on the sky screen, the entire Douluo Continent erupted into an uproar.

At the Elephant Armor Sect's headquarters.

Huyan Zhen, who had just been glowing with pride and loudly boasting about his grandson, now stared so hard his eyes nearly popped out.

"Li!"

He let out a wail, and in his overwhelming distress, he actually spat out a mouthful of blood and toppled stiffly backward.

"Sect Master!"

The surrounding Elephant Armor Sect elders immediately fell into chaos.

They simply could not accept it.

The defense the Elephant Armor Sect took such pride in had actually been shattered by a casual punch from a mere twelve- or thirteen-year-old boy!

And he had smashed both the man and his Soul Bone!

In the end, he had even been reduced to someone else's tree-chopping slave!

This was an unspeakable humiliation!

Meanwhile, at Shrek Academy.

Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang stood rooted to the spot, utterly dumbfounded.

He felt the world spin around him, and his legs went weak, nearly sending him crashing onto his backside.

But he quickly seized the railing beside him and forcibly steadied himself.

By now, his aging face had turned purple with embarrassment, and cold sweat streamed down his forehead like a waterfall.

"No... that's not right!"

"This is absolutely impossible!"

Yu Xiaogang abruptly drew a deep breath, once again assumed his self-important air, and pointed at the sky as he loudly argued his case.

"Everyone, don't let the sky screen fool you!"

"That isn't a twelve- or thirteen-year-old boy at all!"

"According to my years of theoretical research, certain evil cultivation methods or special Martial Souls can restore a person's youth!"

"That so-called Lin Family junior is definitely an old monster who has lived for over a hundred years!"

"He just used some extremely profound fluctuation of Soul Power... no, Yuan Power, to disguise himself as a boy."

"Huyan Li is only a Soul Ancestor. It's understandable that he lost to an old monster like that!"

Hearing Yu Xiaogang's nearly deranged sophistry, Dai Mubai hurriedly clutched at this lifeline as well.

He nodded repeatedly and forced out a sneer. "Grandmaster is right!"

"I knew it! How could some wet-behind-the-ears brat in his teens shatter a defensive Soul Ancestor with a Soul Bone in one punch?"

"He must be some old fossil!"

"Old monsters like that must be as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns in that world."

"Huyan Li really has the worst luck. He ran into a reclusive powerhouse like that the moment he arrived."

Ma Hongjun slapped his thigh and hurriedly chimed in, "Exactly! He's just an old monster!"

"Scared the life out of me! I almost thought all the little brats in that world were that fierce."

"As long as there aren't many old monsters like that, with the talent of us Shrek Seven Devils, we could still go there and slaughter everything in our path!"

Tang San, on the other hand.

At that moment, his brows were tightly knitted as he stared fixedly at the screen of light.

Although he also found his teacher's explanation somewhat far-fetched, his proud heart simply could not accept that someone his own age from an ordinary world could instantly kill a Soul Ancestor with one punch.

"It seems the people of that world have mastered a technique for unleashing their strength in an instant."

"But against my hidden weapons, a brute who only attacks head-on like that definitely wouldn't last three seconds."

"Still, to be fair, that world really is dangerous."

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

Inside the Pope's Palace.

Bibi Dong watched the screen of light, her face full of wariness.

She was an exceptionally intelligent woman.

When that boy had thrown his punch, his pure youthful vigor and the lingering immaturity in his eyes were absolutely not things an old monster could fake.

He was a genuine boy!

Moreover, the moves the boy used were simple and brutal, without a trace of sophisticated technique. It was nothing more than the most basic cultivation method.

"A boy using basic fist techniques could instantly kill a defensive Soul Ancestor..."

Bibi Dong drew a deep breath, her stunning face filled with gravity.

"The foundations of this Martial Universe are simply unfathomable."

Meanwhile, within the image.

Time seemed to have briefly sped up.

By the time Huyan Li opened his eyes again, the sky had already darkened.

He was now in a noisy camp.

Black timber was piled into mountains all around him, giving off a heavy metallic sheen.

His wrists and ankles had all been fitted with incredibly heavy black shackles.

"Hiss!"

Huyan Li had barely tried to struggle when a tearing pain shot through his chest.

Just then.

Crack!

A leather whip lashed through the air and struck his back viciously, bringing a searing sting.

"If you're awake, stop playing dead!"

"Get up and work!"

A vicious-looking overseer held a leather whip covered in barbs as he glared savagely at Huyan Li.

"You... you dare hit me?!"

"I'm a favored prodigy of the Elephant Armor Sect!"

Fury blazed within Huyan Li, and he instinctively tried to mobilize the Soul Power inside him.

Yet in the next second, he discovered to his despair.

In this completely unfamiliar world, the Soul Power he took such pride in circulated as slowly as a crawling turtle under the crushing pressure of Heaven and Earth Yuan Power.

On top of that, his breastbone was shattered, and he was severely injured.

Now he could not even summon his Martial Soul!

Crack!

Another vicious lash followed, leaving a bloody welt across Huyan Li's back.

"What damned Elephant Armor Sect? Never heard of it!"

"Let me tell you, this is the Great Yan Dynasty!"

"This is Ironwood Manor, belonging to the Lin Family of Qingyang Town!"

"Once you're here, you're nothing but a dog!"

"If you don't chop a hundred ironwood logs today, you don't eat!"

The overseer sneered repeatedly and kicked Huyan Li in the stomach.

Huyan Li rolled across the ground in agony, screaming over and over.

A dignified Soul Ancestor was now being beaten at will by an ordinary overseer like a homeless cur.

The sight made the scalps of Soul Masters throughout the Douluo Continent prickle.

And next, the idle conversation between several overseers in the camp plunged the entire Douluo World into profound terror.

In the image, several overseers sat around a fire, drinking and boasting.

"Hey, did you hear? Young Master Lin Tao casually used a Stone Shattering Fist in the square today and knocked down a pretty intimidating-looking big fellow."

"Ha, what's that worth mentioning? Our Young Master Lin Dong is the real genius!"

"He surpassed the old family head at such a young age, and now he's even more unfathomable. His future prospects are limitless."

"Exactly!"

"It's precisely because of Young Master Lin Dong that our Qingyang Town Lin Family trampled the Lei Family and Xie Family underfoot and became the foremost family in Qingyang Town!"

Yet these seemingly ordinary snippets of idle conversation allowed everyone in Douluo to pick up a great deal of crucial information.

At Shrek Academy.

Yu Xiaogang, who had been frantically making excuses, suddenly fell silent.

The sneer on Dai Mubai's face quickly froze as well.

Ma Hongjun's mouth fell wide open, and he did not even notice the drool running out.

Even those lofty God Kings in the Divine Realm could not help widening their eyes.

The Great Yan Dynasty? Qingyang Town? The Lin Family?!

From the conversation between these overseers, even a fool could understand.

The boy who had instantly killed a Soul Ancestor with one punch was no old monster at all!

He was merely a junior from a small family in a town so tiny it could not have been smaller, under the rule of this Great Yan Dynasty!

A boy from a family in a remote little town.

Using the most basic martial arts.

With one casual punch, he had shattered a defensive Soul Ancestor equipped with a Soul Bone!

And judging by the way they spoke.

There were higher realms above that so-called Earth Origin Realm, and the family apparently had another genius young master, Lin Dong.

And this was only in a little place like Qingyang Town!

Meanwhile, on the sky screen.

After several savage beatings, Huyan Li had finally recognized reality completely.

The proud prodigy of the Elephant Armor Sect could now only swallow his shattered teeth along with his grievances.

Dragging his severely injured body, he struggled to raise the battered axe in his hands and chopped at the hard ironwood before him.

"Clang!"

Sparks flew, and the impact left both of Huyan Li's hands numb.

He had the physique of a rank forty-three Soul Ancestor, yet even chopping down a tree took this much effort.

Taking advantage of the overseer's absence, Huyan Li hurried over to an old man chopping wood nearby.

"Sir..."

Huyan Li lowered his voice, forcing a fawning smile onto his face that looked uglier than crying.

"I've only just arrived, and I don't know the rules."

"Could you tell me about this Great Yan Dynasty of ours, and just what the Lin Family of Qingyang Town is like?"

"And that brat who hit me in the square during the day-just what kind of power was he using?"

The old man stopped his axe and looked Huyan Li up and down.

"You don't even know the Great Yan Dynasty or the Lin Family? What remote mountain forest did a savage like you crawl out of?"

The old man shook his head, his eyes filled with contempt.

"Fine, then. At least you won't die ignorant."

"In this world, the foundation of our cultivation is called the body tempering realm, which is divided into nine levels."

"Above the body tempering realm are the earth origin realm, the heavenly origin realm, then the origin pill realm, the creation realm, and the legendary nirvana realm."

Hearing the old man's words, Huyan Li hurriedly pricked up his ears.

Outside the light screen, everyone across the entire Douluo Continent held their breath, afraid of missing even a single word.

Then the old man continued his explanation.

"The boy who knocked you flat with one punch in the square during the day is named Lin Tao."

"He's merely a junior with a little talent from a side branch of our Lin Family. He's only just entered the early earth origin realm."

Boom!

At those words, Huyan Li felt as though five bolts of thunder had struck his head.

A junior from a side branch who had only just entered the early earth origin realm had taken him, a rank-forty-three defense-type Soul Ancestor, down in an instant?

And even the Soul Bone he took such pride in had been shattered with a single punch!

Then just how terrifying must the heavenly origin realm and origin pill realm above the earth origin realm be?

In the scene, Huyan Li swallowed and asked in a trembling voice.

"Then... then who's the strongest in our Lin Family?"

At his question, a look of feverish reverence suddenly appeared on the old man's previously numb face.

"The true pride of our Lin Family is Young Master Lin Dong, of course!"