In the Black World, a massive screen of light hung high in the sky, much like a giant curtain. As it appeared, everyone on the Douluo Continent felt a sudden rush of information entering their minds, explaining the existence of parallel worlds.
Inside the Spirit Hall, the atmosphere was heavy with curiosity. Hu Liena, a talented member of the Golden Generation and the personal student of the Great Pontiff, looked toward her teacher. She asked Bibi Dong if she thought there might be a world where she never joined the Spirit Hall at all. Bibi Dong gave a short, distracted answer, but Hu Liena could tell her teacher was thinking about something else entirely.
Bibi Dong's mind was actually filled with memories of her past. She wondered how her life would have changed if she had made different choices. She fantasized about a life where she had successfully run away with Yu Xiaogang or had never stepped foot into the Spirit Hall in the first place.
At the same time, in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, Ning Fengzhi was also lost in thought. He turned to his two guardians, Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo, and asked if there was a world where his spirit had evolved into the legendary Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda. Ning Fengzhi had always been obsessed with finding a way to make his spirit stronger, and the idea of a parallel world gave him new hope. Bone Douluo nodded, suggesting that if such a world existed, they might be able to learn the secret of evolution from it. Ning Fengzhi felt a surge of excitement as he waited for the screen to show more.
Elsewhere, at Shrek Academy, Tang San was talking to his teacher, Yu Xiaogang. The Shrek Seven Devils had finally gathered, and Tang San felt more confident than ever. He asked his teacher what kind of scene he would like to see on the screen.
Yu Xiaogang shook his head with an indifferent look. He told Tang San that such comparisons were useless because life is simply the result of the choices people make. Deep down, however, Yu Xiaogang was thinking about his own tragic life.
He was the son of the powerful Sect Master of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect, yet his life had been a series of failures. On the day his spirit awakened, everything changed. Instead of a mighty dragon, he had awakened a mutated spirit called Luo San Pao, and his spirit power was only at a miserable half-rank.
Because of this, he became the laughingstock of his clan and a source of shame for his father. He had spent years researching spirits to try and find a way to make Luo San Pao stronger, but his lack of talent meant he was stuck at Rank 29 forever. He believed his choices had been perfect and that his talent was the only thing holding him back. He was certain that in any other world, a version of him would likely be even worse off, perhaps not even reaching Rank 10.
"There is nothing special to see," Yu Xiaogang said firmly to his students. He stood before them with a confident posture, trying to maintain his dignity. He told them that every choice he had made was perfect and that any comparison would only show a version of him that was even more of a failure. He planned to prove his worth by training Tang San to be the strongest in the world.
However, the screen in the sky suddenly flickered and revealed the first comparison. The text announced that it would compare the "Black World Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang" with the "White World Dragon God Douluo Yu Xiaogang".
The training ground at Shrek Academy went deathly silent. Flender, Zhao Wuji, and all the students stared at Yu Xiaogang in total shock. Everyone knew that their Yu Xiaogang was a Spirit Grand Master stuck at Rank 29. But the other Yu Xiaogang was a Titled Douluo, a Rank 90 powerhouse with a title that sounded incredibly dominant.
Yu Xiaogang had just said his choices were perfect and that no better version of him could exist. The embarrassment was immediate. No one knew what to say until a soft sound of laughter broke the silence. It was Ning Rongrong, who couldn't help but find the situation funny. Tang San glared at her with a dark expression, feeling insulted on behalf of his teacher.
"This is impossible!" Yu Xiaogang finally screamed, his face turning red with anger. He couldn't believe it. He shouted that his research was the best in the world and that if he couldn't break Rank 30, no other version of him should be able to become a Titled Douluo. He pointed at the screen, breathing heavily, and claimed it was all a lie or a trick meant to hurt his reputation.
Flender rushed to his side to hold him up, trying to calm him down. He suggested that maybe it was just a different person who happened to have the same name. Tang San also tried to comfort his teacher, telling him that everyone knew how talented he truly was.
After a moment, Yu Xiaogang started to calm down, though he still looked very upset. Tang San then suggested that maybe the change didn't start with Yu Xiaogang himself. He proposed that perhaps his teacher's parents in the other world had done something different, like eating special herbs, which allowed him to be born with better talent.
Yu Xiaogang quickly latched onto this idea. He decided that the other version of him must have been born with Full Innate Spirit Power and a better spirit than Luo San Pao. He looked up at the sky with a face full of resentment. He felt it was unfair that the heavens had given another version of himself everything while leaving him with nothing but a broken spirit.