In the White World, inside the grand halls of Spirit Hall, the atmosphere was thick with tension. Bibi Dong stood before a massive shimmering screen known as the heavenly curtain, her face flushed with a mix of anger and disbelief. She let out a long, frustrated sigh as the images on the screen finally shifted to a new subject.
"Phew, finally. They are finally changing the broadcast," Bibi Dong said, her voice trembling slightly with indignation. She pointed a finger at the heavenly curtain, which had been showing a version of the world she barely recognized. "This heavenly curtain is truly detestable. And that man they call Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang over there... it is an insult. Does someone like that even deserve to carry the name Yu Xiaogang?"
For Bibi Dong, the Yu Xiaogang she knew and loved was the perfect man. In her eyes, her husband was the most upright and brave person in the entire world. She had seen him face countless dangers and impossible situations, yet he never once turned away. He always chose to face every challenge head-on with his head held high.
However, the Yu Xiaogang shown on the heavenly curtain was the complete opposite. She had just watched in horror as that version of her husband chose to fake a fainting spell during his Martial Soul Awakening ceremony just to avoid embarrassment. To her, such a cowardly act was nothing less than a smear on her husband's legendary reputation. She had been fuming about it for a long time, unable to reconcile the hero she knew with the coward on the screen.
Not far away, Gold Crocodile Douluo let out a cold snort. The high-ranking Spirit Douluo had a look of pure disdain on his face as he crossed his arms. "Humph, I suppose the world is truly full of strange wonders," he remarked. "If it wasn't for this heavenly curtain showing us these things, I would never have imagined that kid could be such a coward in a parallel world. It is almost hard to believe they are the same person."
Beside him, the venerable Qian Daoliu nodded slowly in agreement. As the High Priest of Spirit Hall and a man who had seen almost everything in his long life, even he felt like his eyes had been opened today. Ever since the real Yu Xiaogang had first appeared before him years ago, Qian Daoliu had witnessed what a true genius looked like. He considered Yu Xiaogang to be a favored son of heaven, a man whose talent and character were beyond reproach.
Compared to the Yu Xiaogang of their world, Qian Daoliu felt that everyone else seemed ordinary. Whether it was himself or the many geniuses recorded in the long history of Spirit Hall, they were all overshadowed. In his heart, Qian Daoliu even felt that the former ancestor of the Qian family—the great Angel God who founded Spirit Hall—was probably the only one who could compare to the brilliance of their Yu Xiaogang.
"Let's just treat the heavenly curtain as a collection of strange myths or tall tales," Qian Daoliu suggested, shaking his head. "The Yu Xiaogang over there is far too inferior to the one we know. There is no point in getting upset over a story that isn't true for us."
"It really is... hard to describe in a few words," a calm voice added.
The person who spoke was the Dragon God Douluo Yu Xiaogang himself. Among everyone present, he was easily the calmest. While others were shouting or feeling insulted, he watched the screen with a thoughtful expression. He understood something the others didn't. He knew that if he hadn't transmigrated into this world and replaced the original Yu Xiaogang at birth, then the pathetic scenes on the screen were exactly what should have happened.
After thinking about it for a moment, Yu Xiaogang shook his head. No matter how bad the other version of himself looked, it didn't change who he was now. He decided to treat the heavenly curtain like a simple book or a movie. It was just a story, and it wouldn't affect his life or his standing as a powerful Spirit Master.
However, while the people in Spirit Hall were trying to stay calm, someone else was losing his temper entirely. In the home of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect, the atmosphere was explosive. Yu Yuanzhen, the father of Yu Xiaogang and the Sect Master, was absolutely furious.
"I don't acknowledge it! I refuse!" Yu Yuanzhen roared, slamming his hand onto a heavy wooden table. The impact made the furniture rattle and the floor shake. "That is absolutely not my son! I don't care about parallel worlds or whatever excuses the curtain gives. I don't accept it!"
He paced around the room, his face red with anger. He was doing everything he could to distance himself from the weak version of Yu Xiaogang shown on the screen. For Yu Yuanzhen, his son Xiaogang was the greatest pride of his entire life. He had spent years bragging about his son's accomplishments, and he would not allow a magical screen to ruin that reputation.
The Elders of the sect stood nearby, looking at their Sect Master with helpless expressions. One of them tried to speak up. "Sect Master, even if you don't want to acknowledge it, the screen is showing us..."
"Shut up!" Yu Yuanzhen interrupted, his eyes widening with rage. "I said it's not him, so it's not him! From now on, that fellow on the heavenly curtain shall be called Yu Xiaoxiao. No one in this sect is allowed to call him Yu Xiaogang anymore! If I hear that name used for that coward again, you will answer to me!"
The Elders quickly shut their mouths and looked at the floor. They knew better than to argue when the Thunder Douluo was this agitated. They also understood why he was acting this way. In the entire Douluo Continent, everyone knew that Yu Yuanzhen's favorite topic was his son.
If anyone wanted to get on Yu Yuanzhen's good side, all they had to do was praise Yu Xiaogang. It made him overjoyed every single time. Whenever he got into arguments with other Titled Douluo, he couldn't go three sentences without mentioning how great his son was. Usually, his opponents had no way to argue back because Yu Xiaogang was indeed a genius. Now that the heavenly curtain was showing a version of his son losing face and acting like a fool, Yu Yuanzhen felt like his own pride was being attacked.
It wasn't just the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect, either. Across the White World, anyone who knew the legendary Yu Xiaogang began to curse the version shown on the screen. No one wanted to admit that the great man they respected was the same person as the "Grandmaster" on the heavenly curtain.
As the shouting and cursing continued, the video on the screen changed. A new title appeared, and the story of the Dragon God Douluo Yu Xiaogang finally began to play.
The scene opened in a quiet, beautiful courtyard within the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect. The sound of a baby's cry filled the air.
"Waa! Waa!"
With that cry, a newborn baby arrived on the Douluo Continent. The video showed a younger Yu Yuanzhen holding the child with an excited heart. He looked down at the baby with love and pride, naming him Yu Xiaogang.
This beginning was exactly the same as the version they had seen before. This realization immediately destroyed the theories that the two versions were different because they had different parents. Everyone in the Black World who knew Yu Xiaogang's history frowned as they watched.
The screen continued to show the baby growing. As the son of the sect's only Titled Douluo, the young Yu Xiaogang was watched closely by everyone. They all expected him to be a prodigy from the moment he could crawl. However, the video soon showed a servant noticing something strange about the child.
"What did you say? You think Xiaogang might have mental issues?" Yu Yuanzhen's voice boomed from the screen. He was staring at a woman who was responsible for taking care of the baby.
"There are indeed some issues, Sect Master," the woman replied softly, looking worried. "We have noticed over the past few days that Young Master Xiaogang's gaze is always blank and dull. He doesn't look around with bright eyes like other newborn children do. We tried to play with him using toys and objects, but he almost never reacts to us."
The woman had a look of deep pity on her face. In reality, she was being very polite. When she said he had mental issues, she was trying to be gentle, but the truth was that she and the other servants thought the child might be a simpleton or a fool.
This was a shocking start for everyone watching. They had all assumed that a man who could become a Titled Douluo must have been a genius since birth. They expected a story about a baby who could stand up in three days, walk in seven, and read books within a month. Instead, the screen was showing a child who seemed like he couldn't even think properly.
Over in the Black World, at Shrek Academy, the version of Yu Xiaogang there was losing his mind.
"A simpleton? A simpleton can actually surpass me?" he roared, pointing his finger at the screen. "I don't believe it for a second! This heavenly curtain must be a trick. It was probably made by my enemies just to humiliate me and make me look bad!"
The people standing near him at Shrek Academy looked at each other. They had spent a lot of time mocking Yu Xiaogang recently, but now they wondered if he was right. They couldn't understand how someone who started out as a "simpleton" could ever achieve the rank of Titled Douluo. It didn't make any sense to them.
Back in the White World at Spirit Hall, the leaders were also confused. Qian Daoliu and Gold Crocodile Douluo looked at the screen and then at the Yu Xiaogang standing right next to them. They were questioning their own reality.
"With a start like that, it's a miracle you could turn things around," Gold Crocodile whispered.
Bibi Dong's eyes were red, and she looked like she was about to cry. She had never heard this part of the story before. She felt a deep pain in her heart for the struggles her husband must have faced as a baby.
"Xiaogang, you went through all that..." she whispered.
"Don't be sad, Bibi Dong. It's actually a good thing," Yu Xiaogang said softly. He pulled her into a warm hug, trying to comfort her.
As he looked at his younger self on the heavenly curtain, he felt a sense of nostalgia. He was the only one who knew the truth. He had transmigrated into this world before the child was even born. When he arrived, his mature soul and memories merged with the growing fetus. Because his spirit was so much stronger than a normal baby's, and because of the strange process of being born into a new body, he had been in a dazed state for a long time.
He could feel everything happening around him back then, but he couldn't control his tiny body yet. His eyes looked blank because his mind was busy processing two lives at once. However, there was a major benefit. This struggle meant his mental force grew to be much stronger than anyone else's, which became the foundation for his future power as a Spirit Master.