The First Round of Universal Vote

Just as the entire continent was going completely wild and boiling over with this harrowing comparison, the Firmament underwent a new change!

"Hum--"

At the very top of that huge true-and-false comparison projection, two energy slots as thick as heavenly pillars appeared once more.

That grandiose voice was just like a decree from the Heavenly Dao:

[Firmament Comparison, the first round of the Universal Vote mechanism, is officially underway!]

[Voting theme: Who is the Yu Xiaogang truly worthy of the title of "Grandmaster"?]

[Left representative: Firmament actor.]

[Right representative: Reality counterpart.]

If it were just to watch the spectacle, low-tier Soul Masters and ordinary commoners might have just treated it like a show.

But the final sentence that followed instantly detonated the greed of everyone across the entire Douluo Continent!

[All real commoners and Soul Masters who vote for the "ultimate victor" will receive a trace of "Soul Power Purification Feedback" or "Constitution Improvement" bestowed by the Heavenly Dao upon settlement!]

The entire Douluo Continent completely blew its top!!!

"What the hell?! You can even get rewards for voting? The Heavenly Dao is handing out rewards personally?!"

"Soul Power Purification Feedback?! I've been stuck at level ten for six years, isn't this practically my only chance to break through to become a Soul Master?!"

"Who the hell is going to vote for the reality counterpart then! That piece of trash can barely even protect himself, he's not only a thief but also a coward, whoever votes for him is a fucking idiot!"

"The heavens have opened their eyes! Pick the left! I'd rather die than not pick that real man who can hand-craft a Golden Dragon on the left!"

"Long live the Firmament Saint Master! Crush that shameless plagiarizing dog on the right!"

Under the dual shock of tangible benefits and visual impact, the mindset of the entire continent began to tilt one-sidedly at an astonishing speed.

On the Firmament, the energy slot representing Lin Fan on the left began to violently skyrocket--ten percent, thirty percent, seventy percent...

Yet right at this moment, a subtle change occurred.

In Spirit Hall, within a certain gloomy quiet room.

A figure entirely shrouded in a black robe gazed up at the Firmament, letting out a low, cold laugh.

Beside him stood over a dozen people similarly cloaked in black robes, sharing a common identity--Spirit Hall elders.

"Vote for that Yu Xiaogang in the Firmament? Hmph, you must know that this vote itself is a high-stakes gamble."

The black-robed person spoke slowly, his voice hoarse: "What if this is merely a trap engineered by Spirit Hall? What if the so-called actor on the Firmament is actually a smoke screen concocted by Bibi Dong? Can you afford the price of casting the wrong vote?"

The black-robed people behind him exchanged glances, the hand of one person already hovering above the voting area representing "reality Yu Xiaogang", failing to drop down for a long time.

It was not just Spirit Hall; quite a few cautious factions across the continent maintained a shred of hesitation in the face of this abrupt vote.

After all, pies do not fall from the sky for free.

What on earth was this Firmament thing? Could its words be trusted?

Would casting this vote bring about some unknown consequences?

However, this hesitation lasted for less than ten seconds.

When the common Soul Masters of the entire continent saw that those who had voted for Lin Fan right from the start were actually beginning to emit a faint trace of golden light on the surface of their bodies, feeling as comfortable all over as if they were soaking in a hot spring, that last tiny bit of reservation was thoroughly shattered.

"It's real! The Heavenly Dao is really giving out rewards! My soul power bottleneck, which I've been stuck on for over a decade, has actually loosened!"

"Choose the left! Hurry up and choose the left!"

"Long live the Firmament Saint Master! Crush that shameless plagiarizing dog on the right!"

On the Firmament, the energy slot representing Lin Fan on the left rushed violently upward once more like it had gone mad. The speed was utterly unreasonable, shooting past ninety-five percent in a single breath, and that dazzling golden light swallowed the pitiful energy slot belonging to reality Yu Xiaogang on the right, which was so dim it was almost invisible to the naked eye.

In the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect, after the voting concluded.

Yu Yuanzhen stood outside the Thunder Hall, raising his head to gaze at that overwhelmingly dazzling golden energy slot on the Firmament, tears streaming down his old face.

"The seed of my Yu family is, after all, no ordinary thing!"

Behind him, several family elders exchanged glances, their eyes holding both wild delight and a lingering, inescapable worry.

The more the Firmament elevated "Yu Xiaogang" to the altar, the harder things became for the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect.

After all, that piece of trash in reality still bore their family name, making a fool of himself in front of all the people of the continent.

"Sect Master, as for Nuoding City over there..." an elder tentatively spoke up.

Yu Yuanzhen's body stiffened slightly.

Of course he remembered the order he had given a few days prior--to invite his son back, to invite him back in a glorious manner.

That was before the Firmament showed the "true and false comparison", however.

Now the entire continent had seen that Yu Xiaogang in reality, holding a broken bowl and squatting in the corner of the cafeteria, had been scared to the point of fainting into the swill by a few lines of text.

And if he were to welcome the person back with great fanfare on his end, the face of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect would truly be trampled into the mud right alongside that piece of trash.

Yu Yuanzhen abruptly turned around, his eyes bloodshot: "Did you not understand my words? What I said at the time was to bring me back the one in the Firmament! As for that impostor... Hmph, does he even deserve the surname Yu?"

Meanwhile, in the single-player instance within the Firmament.

Lin Fan was leaning against the wall, pulling a Basic Recovery Potion out of his system inventory to gulp it down, when he suddenly saw a glittering golden system prompt pop up in the upper right corner of his vision.

[Ding! Congratulations player! Current audience approval has broken 99%! Clearance conditions met, please proceed to complete the core story node settlement!]

Lin Fan paused for a moment, then wiped the corner of his mouth.

He stared at that system prompt, his brow furrowing instinctively.

"Audience approval... Audience?"

He softly repeated the word, his tone carrying a trace of an anomaly that even he hadn't noticed.

This was already the second time the system had mentioned the word "audience".

For a single-player game, where on earth would an audience come from?

That thought merely flashed past, however.

He quickly shook his head, casting that strange feeling to the back of his mind.

"Tch, whatever, it looks like this so-called hell difficulty is just about that."

He patted the Golden Dragon beside him that was frolicking and spitting out golden lightning, looking at the chaotic mess of the quiet room.

"Next up then, let's go meet young Bibi Dong."

Lin Fan stretched his sore shoulders, a look of eager anticipation shining in his eyes.

For some unknown reason, upon uttering the three words "Bibi Dong", his heart suddenly tightened for no apparent reason.

He thought of the letter he had found earlier in the quiet room--to be precise, the half-letter Yu Xiaogang had pressed beneath his pillow, soaked and wrinkled by sweat.

The letter contained only half a sentence: "Dong'er, if I hadn't left that day..."

Lin Fan hadn't cared at the time and casually tossed it aside.

Yet right now, those words suddenly leaped out from the depths of his memory, pricking at his heart with a mild, unexplainable irritation like a thorn.

"Tch."

He forcefully shook his head, as if trying to fling away these messy thoughts, "Why think so much, I'll find the person first."

He patted the Golden Dragon beside him that was frolicking and spitting out golden lightning, and strode toward the outside of the quiet room.

"Putting that aside, though... the NPCs in this game are made way too lifelike."

He spoke this last half-sentence very softly, so softly that he himself barely heard it clearly.

Outside the Firmament.

Bibi Dong, who had just finished issuing orders and was experiencing a violent tremor in her soul on account of Lin Fan hand-crafting a true dragon, felt her body tremble uncontrollably when she caught sight of that letter within the Firmament.

"What on earth is this madman babbling about..."

Within Bibi Dong's eyes, brimming with icy killing intent, a trace of anticipation and inexplicable panic that she herself hadn't even noticed unexpectedly surfaced.