Past timeline.
Everyone was stunned by what they saw on the Heavenly Screen.
Soul Masters and ordinary people without Soul Power alike.
"How is this possible..."
"Ordinary people are actually hunting Soul Masters. Aren't they too bold?"
"How dare they?"
Their little hearts had suffered a tremendous shock.
The scene on the Heavenly Screen changed.
Another city, a mining town called Black Rock City in the Star Luo Empire.
Over a thousand miners had surrounded the residence of the city's largest Soul Master clan overnight. They smashed open the gates and destroyed the furniture. Several Soul Masters were dragged out from under beds and beaten until their faces were covered in blood.
Their leader was a one-armed miner. Raising an iron pickaxe, he shouted to the miners watching, "This Soul Master clan controls the biggest mineral vein in Black Rock City and forces us to work in the mines for twelve hours every day. When someone dies, they pay five Silver Soul Coins! This arm of mine was crushed in a mine collapse three years ago. They gave me ten Silver Soul Coins and sent me packing!"
"Today, we'll let them have a taste of what it's like to be without Soul Power!"
"Beat them to death! From now on, there'll be no Soul Masters in Black Rock City!"
"Back when you had Soul Power, we put up with it. Now you've lost it, and you still want to ride roughshod over us?"
"Today, we settle new scores and old ones together!"
The scenes on the Heavenly Screen kept changing.
In town after town, in one gathering place for Soul Masters after another, the same scenes were playing out everywhere.
Every Soul Master who had thrown his weight around and oppressed the people was being hunted down by the ordinary people he had bullied.
Their leaders were all victims whose families had been ruined and loved ones killed by Soul Masters.
They were tightly organized, with clear divisions of labor. Some blocked the gates, some seized people, and others guarded the intersections to stop Soul Masters from escaping. They wanted nothing but the Soul Masters' lives.
They knew perfectly well that if these Soul Masters were allowed to cultivate again, a calamity would come crashing down on their heads.
So not a single one could be spared.
A few leaders even shouted this slogan:
"From now on, this city wants no Soul Masters!"
Beneath the Heavenly Screen, Soul Masters across the entire Douluo Continent were shocked and afraid.
They had never imagined there would come a time when ordinary people could turn the tables and kill Soul Masters.
"Those people... have gone mad."
"They haven't gone mad. They've endured it for too long."
"Every one of the people leading them on the Heavenly Screen has a blood feud with Soul Masters. A son beaten to death, a daughter-in-law violated, an arm broken by those who seized a mineral vein. Ordinarily, people could only endure such things, because Soul Masters had Soul Power and Soul Skills. They couldn't fight back."
"But now that the Soul Masters have lost their cultivation, the chance those ordinary people have waited ten years, twenty years, even a lifetime for has finally come."
"But... but a lot of those Soul Masters haven't done anything evil."
"The victims don't care. In their eyes, Soul Masters are all one and the same. If you've done evil, you deserve to die. If you haven't, you've still enjoyed the privileges of being a Soul Master. Over all these countless years, haven't Soul Masters put themselves above the law and oppressed the people often enough?"
"Even if you're a good person, if you don't dare stand up and stop other Soul Masters from doing evil, then in those ordinary people's eyes, you're an accomplice."
"No wonder the Heaven Dou army had to retreat. With the empire in such chaos, if they don't go back soon, Heaven Dou will be finished."
Everyone finally understood why the Heaven Dou Empire's army on the Heavenly Screen had to retreat.
Whether they fought for Spirit City was secondary. If the rear fell into complete chaos, that would be the true calamity.
After watching the Heavenly Screen, the Soul Masters were afraid, terrified.
The ordinary people, however, were all beside themselves with excitement.
After so many years, they had finally seen the lofty Lords Soul Masters being tortured and killed.
And it was ordinary people like them who had turned the tables and killed them.
Watching scenes like these was simply more satisfying than words could describe.
Quite a few ordinary people were even looking forward to the divine punishment.
The Heavenly Screen continued playing.
There were also plenty of scenes of low-level Soul Masters turning the tables and killing high-level Soul Masters.
Even ordinary people had the courage to take advantage of everyone's cultivation being reset to zero and turn the tables on Soul Masters. Naturally, low-level Soul Masters with blood feuds were also bold enough to seize the chance to kill high-level Soul Masters.
Of course, there were also some purely evil people who hunted Soul Masters for pleasure.
The two great empires had fallen into complete chaos.
That was the real reason one of the two great empires was rushing to withdraw its troops while the other offered no support.
Whether they fought for Spirit City at the front no longer mattered. The common people in the rear were close to overturning the Soul Masters' nests.
Future timeline.
Over the next few days, the other top experts besides Bibi Dong and Qian Renxue finally broke through to level 1 one after another.
That included the Shrek Seven Devils.
Only Tang San and Xiao Wu had failed to break through.
Tang San was still lying there, unconscious.
Xiao Wu had nothing left to live for and no heart to cultivate.
"That's great! It only took us five days to cultivate back to level 1."
"One level in five days. I don't believe anyone could be faster than us."
"That's right. Although Bibi Dong and Qian Renxue are gods, they're much older than us. Their talent must be inferior to ours."
Dai Mubai and the others were all overjoyed after breaking through to level 1. They finally had a level again.
What pleased them even more was their cultivation speed. Who would believe it if they said they had gained a level in five days?
"Only Third Brother could be faster than us!"
"Yes. It's just a pity that Third Brother still hasn't woken up."
At the mention of Tang San, Dai Mubai and the others immediately fell silent.
Although the Spirit Hall Empire no longer existed, Spirit Hall was still around.
Bibi Dong and Qian Renxue were still around too.
They could not help worrying about what they would do if Bibi Dong and Qian Renxue cultivated again.
If only Tang San were still awake.
Tang San was their backbone, and the only one among them who had broken through to become a god.
"If only Third Brother would wake up!"
"Yes. If Xiao San could wake up, we'd know whether a god whose level has been reset to zero can cultivate back and become a god again!"
The last person to speak was Yu Xiaogang.
That was also the question everyone most wanted answered.
If divine status could not be regained, they would not have to worry so much.
What worried them was that Bibi Dong and Qian Renxue might be able to cultivate back to their divine status, and that they might cultivate faster than everyone else.
Dai Mubai and the others were confident, but that confidence rested on the assumption that Bibi Dong and Qian Renxue had already lost their divine status.
If the two women still had their divine status and were merely cultivating again alongside everyone else, that would be a different matter.
And the easiest way to confirm this was through Tang San.
Or they could wait for Bibi Dong and Qian Renxue's cultivation speed to reveal itself.
"Grandmaster, someone outside is asking for you!"
"He says he has a way to wake the Blue Hao King."
Just then, a soldier suddenly came in from outside to report.