In the sky, Tang San's stat card froze on the line reading "level 0." The pale blue screen illuminated every stunned face on the Douluo Continent.
Shrek Academy's training ground.
Flender was still in the position he had assumed when he patted Yu Xiaogang on the shoulder, his hand suspended in midair and the smile frozen on his face.
He stared at the glaring "0" in the sky, his eyes utterly motionless.
"Third... Third Brother too..."
Ma Hongjun squeezed the words out of his throat, but the rest were cut short as if someone had strangled them. He stood rooted to the spot, all the color draining from his face in an instant.
Oscar dropped to the ground with a thud, his mouth hanging open so wide that he couldn't close it for a long time.
Just moments ago, he had been shouting, "Third Brother is the Sea God." Now the screen was telling him that even the Sea God had been reset to zero.
"Even the Sea God... couldn't withstand it?"
Dai Mubai's voice was as dry as sandpaper scraping over an iron plate. His clenched fists loosened and tightened, then tightened and loosened again, sweat filling the gaps between his fingers. "Then... what's the point of cultivating?"
"Yeah, even Third Brother..."
"Then what do we do? What are we going to do from now on?"
"Only thirteen years left... In thirteen years, everyone's levels will be gone..."
"Then should we keep cultivating? We're all going to be reset to zero in the future anyway..."
Panic spread like a rising tide.
The little confidence Yu Xiaogang's words had just built up shattered completely before the sight of Tang San being reset to zero on the screen.
Zhu Zhuqing bit her lip and said nothing, but the fingers gripping Ning Rongrong's arm trembled slightly.
Ning Rongrong couldn't even cry anymore. Her beautiful eyes were vacant and lifeless.
Xiao Wu sat slumped on the ground, looking up at Tang San lying on the stone slab in the sky, his level reset to zero. Her lips trembled as tears streamed silently down her face, falling one by one into the dirt at her feet.
"Brother..." Her voice was so faint it was almost inaudible. "Even you..."
Yu Xiaogang stood where he was, as though everything had been hollowed out of him.
He had just been excited that "Tang San is the Sea God, and he can help them continue cultivating in the future." Now he was looking at his most prized disciple's level being reset to zero.
"So what if he's the Sea God..." he murmured bitterly. "So what if he became a god..."
He closed his eyes.
Tang San himself stood there, stunned.
Spirit Hall, Pope's Hall.
Bibi Dong sat on the papal throne, her phoenix eyes fixed on Tang San's stat card in the sky, reset to zero.
The corners of her mouth rose slightly, and a flash of satisfaction crossed her eyes.
"Tang San... the Sea God? Heh..." She gave a cold laugh, her voice dripping with mockery. "So what if he reached level 100? So what if he's the Sea God? Before divine punishment, he still gets reset to zero all the same."
She leaned back in her chair, her slender fingers tapping lightly on the armrest, her mood visibly improving.
But the next second, the smile on her lips slowly froze.
Even Tang San had been reset to zero after becoming a god.
Then what about her?
She, too, would become the Rakshasa God in the future.
If divine punishment was real, if even the Sea God couldn't escape it, could she keep her Rakshasa Godhood and her level 100 cultivation in the future?
Bibi Dong's smile vanished completely.
She had just been gloating over his misfortune, but now all she felt was a chill running down her back.
She abruptly sat upright, a flicker of panic flashing through her phoenix eyes, panic she herself was unwilling to acknowledge.
I... will I be reset to zero in the future too? Once the thought surfaced, she could no longer suppress it.
Her fingers unconsciously tightened around her scepter, her knuckles turning white.
If even Tang San's Sea God had been reset to zero, what made her Rakshasa God an exception? Before divine punishment, all gods were the same.
Bibi Dong leaned back in her chair, her expression darkening and her lips pressed into a line, unable to say a single word.
Above the Worship Hall.
Qian Daoliu's laughter was still echoing in the wind, but his expression had completely frozen.
He stared at the sky, the corners of his mouth still curved upward, but the curve was fixed in place, unable to rise or fall, leaving him with an exceedingly ugly expression.
As loudly as he had laughed just now, he was that much more embarrassed at this moment.
"The Angel God... will be reset to zero too?" Qian Daoliu's voice was quiet, carrying a trace of bewilderment he hadn't even noticed himself.
He had just been laughing wildly with joy over Qian Renxue becoming a god, but now that joy had been crushed to pieces by the sight of Tang San being reset to zero in the sky.
Even the Sea God couldn't escape it.
Then what about Qian Renxue's Angel God?
Qian Daoliu slowly closed his eyes, and for the first time, his handsome, youthful face showed signs of age.
Deep within the Heaven Dou Empire's crown prince's residence.
Qian Renxue sat alone in a dim room, the light reflected from the screen falling across her face. Her golden eyes were full of disbelief.
She had just been rejoicing over her identity as the Angel God.
But now, the screen in the sky had told her that the Sea God had been reset to zero.
The Sea God had reached level 100 and become a god, yet had still been reset to zero.
"Even the Sea God..." Qian Renxue's voice was so soft it sounded as though it had drifted over from somewhere far away.
She fell silent for a long time. Finally, she let out a soft breath and slowly unclenched her fingers.
"Even gods can be punished..." she murmured. "Then what does that make me, the Angel God...?"
Sea God Island.
Bo Saixi stood atop Sea God Mountain, the sea wind whipping her long hair about with a rustle. But she stood perfectly still, as though frozen in place.
She gazed at the sky, watching the Sea God's stat card freeze at "level 0," watching the blue-and-gold divine ring shatter and disperse, watching the young Sea God fall from his pedestal and become a mortal.
Bo Saixi's lips trembled slightly.
Her faith was in the Sea God.
She had spent her life guarding Sea God Island, worshipping the Sea God, and waiting for the Sea God's inheritor.
She had given everything she had to the Sea God.
The Sea God was her reason for living.
But now, the screen in the sky had told her that the Sea God had been reset to zero by divine punishment.
Although Sea God Tang San wasn't the Lord Sea God she currently worshipped, he was still the Sea God's future inheritor!
"Lord Sea God..." Bo Saixi's voice was hoarse, carrying an indescribable bewilderment.
She didn't know how to describe what she was feeling at that moment.
Beneath the sky, countless people watched Tang San being reset to zero, each reacting differently.
Some were despairing, some bewildered, some angry, and some secretly delighted.
"Hahaha... Did you see that? Even the Sea God got reset to zero!"
A Soul King in his fifties in level stood by the roadside, pointing at the sky and laughing until tears came out. "I worked my ass off cultivating for thirty years just to reach level 57, while those geniuses became Soul Douluo and Titled Douluo in their teens or twenties. Why should they? But now it's great! We're all being reset to zero together. All beings are equal! Hahahahaha..."
"Have you gone mad?" His companion tugged at him. "Even gods are being punished. What are you so happy about?"
"Why shouldn't I be happy?" The Soul King's eyes were red. "I've been stuck at Soul King all my life, unable to advance, while those geniuses become Soul Douluo as easily as breathing. I accepted it. My talent wasn't as good as theirs. But in the future, everyone's being reset to zero. Haha, what else is there to say? Fair! It's so fair!"
"..."
Similar scenes played out across the Douluo Continent.
Those Soul Masters at the bottom, those trapped at low ranks all their lives, those looked down upon for lacking talent-watching god after god and Titled Douluo after Titled Douluo being reset to zero in the sky, they felt a strange sense of satisfaction.
"So what if you're talented? So what if you became a god? In the future, won't you be reset to zero just like us?"
Such voices quietly spread through the crowds, carrying a twisted sense of balance.