The Heavenly Screen's Punishment, Gangzi Returns to Square One

Inside the imperial palace.

Yu Xiaogang had answered the Heavenly Screen's question with complete confidence.

Everyone around him-Ning Fengzhi, Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo, as well as Flender, Liu Erlong, Tang San and the others-turned to look at Yu Xiaogang, waiting for the result.

Liu Erlong's valiant, beautiful face was also filled with confidence.

"That Green-Scaled Eagle had scales on its body. Ordinary bird Soul Beasts don't grow scales!!"

"So this Green-Scaled Eagle must be like the dragon-type Soul Beasts on our Douluo Continent. It has dragon blood in its body!"

"This time, Xiaogang was the first to answer the Heavenly Screen's question, and he'll get it right!"

"After this, let's see who on the continent still dares to look down on Xiaogang!"

Because of what Yu Xiaogang had just said,

Liu Erlong's rosy view of him had cracked a little.

But she had waited a full twenty years for Yu Xiaogang.

And although she was his younger female cousin, she had been willing to defy society's judgment and longed to be with him all these years.

Everyone around them had long known about it.

Liu Erlong had sacrificed so much; the sunk cost was simply too great!

Thus, even though she vaguely sensed something, Liu Erlong still forced herself to believe that Xiaogang had a point.

In her heart, Xiaogang was still the same Xiaogang she had known before.

She mustn't overthink things!

After hearing Yu Xiaogang's confident answer,

the Heavenly Screen fell silent for a moment, then asked again.

[Yu Xiaogang, your answer to this livestream question is that the Green-Scaled Eagle's bloodline originated primarily from the strongest True Dragon-type Ferocious Beast in the Heavenly Screen's world.]

[Answer submitted!]

[Are you sure you wish to raise the stakes to the maximum?]

[If you raise the stakes to the maximum and answer correctly, you will receive a more generous reward.]

[But if you answer incorrectly, you will also receive a more severe punishment.]

Yu Xiaogang, however, smiled disdainfully and said with complete confidence,

"I'm sure!"

"As the saying goes, the bigger the storm, the pricier the fish!"

"I have complete confidence in my answer this time!"

"So of course I'll raise the stakes to the maximum and get the most generous reward!"

Meanwhile, in other parts of the continent, many commoner Soul Masters, as well as Soul Masters from sects and clans, had also submitted their answers.

Unlike the confident Yu Xiaogang, however,

most people were still normal and had chosen not to raise the stakes.

Only Yu Xiaogang had raised them straight to the maximum!

After another three minutes had passed,

in the question panel on the Heavenly Screen,

lines of abstruse golden text appeared once more.

[The answer will be revealed after a three-second countdown!]

[Three!]

[Two!]

[One!]

[Now, the answer will be revealed!]

[The question in this livestream was: as a ferocious bird, from which kind of primordial Ferocious Beast did the Green-Scaled Eagle's bloodline primarily originate?]

[The correct answer is: Heavenly Peng!]

The Heavenly Screen's cold, majestic voice rang out in the minds of every person and Soul Beast.

For a moment, everyone was devastated.

"Impossible!"

"That's absolutely impossible!!"

When Yu Xiaogang saw that the correct answer announced in the Heavenly Screen's question panel was actually something called a Heavenly Peng,

a divine beast he had never even heard of,

he nearly broke down.

"The Green-Scaled Eagle is a bird with scales on its body. What ordinary bird has scales on its body?!"

"So the Green-Scaled Eagle definitely has dragon blood in it. There's no way that could be wrong!"

"What Heavenly Peng? I've never heard of it!!"

"You Heavenly Screen must be faking it and tricking people!"

On the verge of a breakdown, Yu Xiaogang's eyes turned bloodshot and he panted like an ox. He pointed furiously at the Heavenly Screen and roared his accusations.

But the Heavenly Screen would not indulge him. A golden bolt of divine lightning instantly descended from the sky and struck Yu Xiaogang hard.

"Aah!!"

Yu Xiaogang let out a miserable scream.

His already short crew cut was reduced to ash, his clothes turned to charcoal, and his skin was blackened.

He fell straight to the ground, his legs twitching as he breathed out a puff of black smoke.

In the sky, the Heavenly Screen's cold, majestic voice rang out again.

[Yu Xiaogang, you dared to question the Heavenly Screen and make malicious speculations about it!]

[As this is your first offense, your punishment is one lightning strike!]

[If you offend again, you will be punished with five bolts of lightning striking you down, destroying both body and soul!]

Seeing Yu Xiaogang lying on the ground, charred black all over, his legs twitching and black smoke issuing from his mouth,

Ning Fengzhi, Bone Douluo, Sword Douluo, Zhao Wuji, Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun all moved a few steps away from him without showing any reaction.

They were afraid that if Yu Xiaogang courted death again, they would be caught in it.

What on earth is Yu Xiaogang thinking?!

I said "whoever gains the Grandmaster gains the world" that day. He didn't actually believe me, did he?

Ning Fengzhi frowned and thought to himself.

I only said that to flatter you a little so I could win Tang San over!

Besides, it's one thing for you to pretend on the Douluo Continent that you're a grandmaster of Martial Soul Theory with world-shocking wisdom!

But you don't know a thing about the Heavenly Screen's world, so how can you still be so confident?!

You even dared to question and speculate about the Heavenly Screen. You're really courting death!

Beside him, Tang San also frowned deeply, greatly displeased.

This Gangzi really doesn't know the meaning of death!

The Heavenly Screen is clearly a magnificent existence beyond this world. How do you have the guts to question it and even make malicious speculations about it?

It could strike you dead whenever it wanted. Why would it bother lying to you?

Damn it!

If I hadn't been too young back then and been tricked into taking you as my teacher,

and if I hadn't kept telling everyone things like "respect your teacher and honor his teachings" and "a teacher for a day is a father for life,"

I wouldn't want anything to do with you, Gangzi!

Back at Nuoding Academy, Tang San had indeed been fooled by Yu Xiaogang. He had thought Yu Xiaogang truly had ability, so he had chosen to become his disciple.

But between then and now, so many things had happened.

Starting when they were at Shrek Academy in Suotuo City, when they encountered the Man Faced Demon Spider in the Star Dou Great Forest and Yu Xiaogang misjudged its cultivation age,

Tang San had nearly exploded and died while absorbing its Soul Ring.

Then, when they were at Shrek Academy in Heaven Dou Imperial City,

Tang San had chosen to absorb a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring early so he could achieve a good result in the Continental Soul Master Academy Elite Exchange Tournament.

Yet Gangzi hadn't known that a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring carried a Soul Shock.

And when Tang San awakened his Blue Silver Emperor Bloodline, his Martial Soul, Blue Silver Grass, evolved into the Blue Silver Emperor. As a result, the toxins he had gained from absorbing the Soul Rings of venomous Soul Beasts such as the Mandala Snake were all purified away.

That made his previous Soul Ring choices a complete joke!

In fact, Tang San had long since seen Yu Xiaogang's true face.

He had merely kept up the pretense that he hadn't, constrained by the persona and image he had always cultivated!

Although he was greatly displeased, Tang San could only maintain his image by rushing toward Yu Xiaogang, just like Flender and Liu Erlong, shouting, "Teacher!"

Meanwhile, after punishing Yu Xiaogang,

the Heavenly Screen coldly announced the punishment for his incorrect answer!

[Because Yu Xiaogang answered this livestream's question incorrectly!]

[And because he chose to raise the stakes to the maximum!]

[The Heavenly Screen will now administer punishment!]

[Punishment: strip Yu Xiaogang's Martial Soul, Luo Sanpao, of its Golden Sacred Dragon origin!]

As the cold, majestic voice rang out,

a pillar of blood-red light instantly descended from the sky and enveloped Yu Xiaogang, who lay on the ground, charred black all over.

It pushed Tang San, Flender and Liu Erlong away.

Inside the blood-red pillar of light that represented punishment,

Yu Xiaogang's Martial Soul, Luo Sanpao, which was already on the verge of evolving into a Golden Sacred Dragon and possessed many of its features, was forcibly summoned from his body and struggled in the air.

The next moment, Luo Sanpao let out a painful roar. Countless streams of golden light were continuously stripped from his body, which kept shrinking as the golden dragon scales covering him faded away.

At the same time, Yu Xiaogang screamed in pain on the ground and rolled back and forth.

"Xiaogang!" x2

"Teacher!"

Seeing this, Flender, Liu Erlong and Tang San cried out anxiously.

But with the Heavenly Screen administering its punishment, they could not get into the blood-red pillar of light at all. They could only watch helplessly as Yu Xiaogang's Martial Soul, Luo Sanpao, steadily regressed.

From the state of being on the verge of evolving into a Golden Sacred Dragon, he changed back again.

He became a purple pig beast even more bloated and ugly than Luo Sanpao had been at the very beginning, and extremely insubstantial to boot!

After the Golden Sacred Dragon origin had been completely stripped away,

the blood-red pillar of light finally vanished.

Luo Sanpao, now a purple pig beast, also disappeared instantly and returned to Yu Xiaogang's body.

As for Yu Xiaogang, he passed out on the spot.