Zhou Huai looked blankly at Mr. Duan through Yasuo's eyes.

His brain failed to react for a moment.

The thick, absolute Earth-element defensive wall.

The lightning-fast, all-incinerating dark blue fire serpents.

That instantaneous movement which ignored spatial distances!

Earth-element, Fire-element, and Space-type?!

What kind of class is this fellow anyway?

Why could he simultaneously use three completely different, and even mutually exclusive, Law skills?!

In the entire Great Xia Nation—no, throughout the hundreds of years of history since the descent of Classer across Blue Star—this was an unprecedented event!

Da Yi, Gabriel, Gandalf.

These were three major SS-Level combat powers!

On the battlefield of Tokyo City, these three Avatars working together were existences that could even go toe-to-toe with the true SSS-Level deity Kujo Naruya!

But what about now?

In just a single encounter!

His three top-tier Avatars were written off so cleanly and directly that they didn't even have time to reveal their trump cards!

They couldn't even manage to stall the opponent's footsteps for a single second!

Although Zhou Huai had already sensed that the man claiming to be his uncle would be very strong when he felt Mr. Duan break the courtyard's Formation.

But this... was simply outrageously strong!

This completely exceeded the scope of what human Classer could understand!

On the desolate Gobi Desert, the wind was still howling.

Mr. Duan casually tossed Gandalf's corpse, with its shattered neck, into the dust at his feet.

He pulled a pure white handkerchief from his pocket and gently wiped away the fine dust stained on his fingers.

"Are you wondering why I can use skills from different systems?"

Mr. Duan raised his indifferent eyes and locked onto Thunder Swordsman Yasuo, who was standing on high alert dozens of meters away.

Controlling Yasuo, Zhou Huai held the tachi flashing with lightning horizontally across his chest, remaining silent.

A drop of cold sweat slid down Yasuo's rugged cheek, dripping onto the charred rock.

Mr. Duan cast the handkerchief he had used to wipe his hands into the wind, letting it drift far away in the gale, and began to stride on his own accord, walking toward Yasuo.

His pace was very slow. He didn't use any Space-type spells; he just walked leisurely as if strolling in a courtyard.

But with every step he took, the surrounding air grew a fraction heavier.

"Zhou Huai, do you think..." Mr. Duan spoke, his voice clearly audible across the empty Gobi Desert: "What should a truly strong person in this world look like?"

"Are they those SS-Level legends standing at the pinnacle of secular power, revered by millions?"

"Or are they the SSS-Class Professionals who have condensed so-called divine manifestations and reached the full level 100, such as Kujo Naruya, whom you just killed?"

Zhou Huai gritted his teeth and still did not answer.

He frantically mobilized Moria and Xiang Yu in the distance within his mind, trying to find a flaw.

But he sorrowfully discovered that although Mr. Duan's pace was full of flaws everywhere, it contained a sense of Perfection where even the rules of heaven and earth were trampled under his feet.

It was simply unassailable!

"Of course not."

Mr. Duan didn't mind Zhou Huai's silence. He let out a light chuckle and answered his own question.

That smile was filled with the vicissitudes and arrogance of overlooking all living beings and experiencing endless years.

"Those people are nothing more than a group of pathetic creatures locked in a cage."

"A truly strong person can break free from the shackles of their class, no longer restricted by those ridiculous attribute panels; they can break free from the shackles of Level, and no longer need to fight frantically for just a tiny bit of experience points."

Mr. Duan stopped walking; he was less than ten meters away from Yasuo.

He extended both hands, making a posture of embracing the heaven and earth, his eyes filled with fanaticism.

"Even, they can break through the shackles of lifespan!"

"So what if one is SSS-Level?"

"So what if one is at full level 100?"

"No matter how heaven-destroying and earth-extinguishing one's power is, after a hundred years, it will ultimately turn into a handful of yellow soil!"

"All of you, no matter how you struggle or how you evolve, are merely executors of this world's established rules!!"

Mr. Duan reined in his smile, his gaze sharp as he pierced straight into Yasuo's eyes.

"As for me."

"I am already able to leap out of the framework of this world's rules!"

"I am a Transcendent!"

A Transcendent!

These three words slammed heavily into the depths of Zhou Huai's consciousness, shocking him so much that he felt dizzy.

Break the world's rules? Leap out of class restrictions?

In this world, could someone really achieve such a thing?

"Do you understand?"

Mr. Duan looked at Yasuo's trembling sword tip, his tone returning to a condescending calmness.

"The two of us are simply not on the same dimension."

"Those Avatars you rely on, and your so-called tactics that you take pride in, are in my eyes nothing more than ants trying to shake a tree—utterly ridiculous."

"What... do you have to fight me with?"

As soon as those words fell,

Mr. Duan's casual posture changed as he took a single step right where he stood!

Without any premonition of spatial fluctuations, his figure directly appeared right in front of Yasuo's face!

The distance between the two of them was not even half a meter!

An invisible yet materialized terrifying pressure, centered on Mr. Duan, was completely released and swept across the surroundings!

This was the suppression of the life level belonging to a Transcendent, standing above all rules!

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The Gobi rocks beneath Yasuo's feet were crushed into fine powder!

A deep pit, with the two of them as the center, crazily collapsed outward!

"Ugh—!"

Zhou Huai's consciousness let out an extremely painful muffled grunt inside Yasuo's body.

He simply couldn't bear it!

Yasuo's immensely formidable SS-Level body, tempered thousands of times by thunder, emitted an unbearable bone-cracking sound under the invisible pressure.

Bang!

Yasuo's right knee slammed fiercely onto the ground, dropping to one knee!

He gripped that legendary-quality tachi tightly with both hands, the blade stabbing deep into the rock, trying his utmost to support his body so that he wouldn't completely collapse flat onto the ground.

Mr. Duan didn't continue his attack.

He stood quietly in place, condescendingly looking down at Yasuo, who was kneeling on one knee.

"Now, when you see me, it is like seeing a deity."

"I'll give you one last chance."

"Surrender to me!"

Rumble!

These three words transformed into an irresistible mental brand, running amok in Zhou Huai's mind!

How familiar this scene was!

Not long ago, at the peak of the snowy mountain of the Ise Grand Shrine ruins, that newly awakened SSS-Rank Expert Kujo Naruya had also used the exact same condescending posture, releasing that sacred halo and demanding his surrender!

But Kujo Naruya's mental oppression was nothing more than an infant's babbling in front of Mr. Duan!

Surrender?

Join the Dawnbreaker Guild? Be a dog at the mercy of others, helping the tyrant do evil?!

Zhou Huai's consciousness roared frantically inside Yasuo's body, which was on the verge of collapse.

The tragedy from five years ago, the image of his mother falling in a pool of blood, the dark and humiliating years he spent sitting in a wheelchair enduring all kinds of contempt...

The culprit behind all of this was right before his eyes!

And now, he actually wanted him to surrender to him?!

"Hehe... Hahaha..."

A low, cold laugh suddenly erupted from the throat of Yasuo, who was kneeling on one knee.

He raised his head with difficulty, his bloodshot eyes staring fixedly at Mr. Duan's perfect and ruthless face.

Fresh blood gushed out frantically from his mouth, but his laughter became increasingly arrogant and wild.

"You guys... you high-and-mighty big shots..."

Yasuo gritted his teeth, squeezing out every single word from between his teeth, full of the taste of blood.

"Do you... like having others surrender to you that much?!"

Mr. Duan frowned, his gaze turning completely cold.

"What qualification do you have to make me surrender to you?!"

Controlling Yasuo, Zhou Huai frantically poured all the remaining thunder power within his body into the longsword in his hand, attempting a final counterattack!

"What the hell are you?!"

"Want me to be your dog?"

"Like hell I will!!!"