Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Countdown to Random Punishment, Everyone is Panicking!
For a moment, Hu Yanzhen suddenly felt an invisible force acting upon his body, forcibly restraining him in place.
No matter how much he struggled in anger, his body remained immobile. His Diamond Mammoth martial soul involuntarily emerged from behind him.
Simultaneously, yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black—eight soul rings rose from beneath his feet, encircling him.
The next moment, a wave of intense pain surged through Hu Yanzhen's entire body, as if some invisible force was trying to rip the flesh and bones from his body.
"Ah!!"
In the midst of the excruciating pain, Hu Yanzhen clearly saw his eighth soul ring starting to loosen.
In the blink of an eye, the eighth soul ring detached from his body and vanished without a trace.
[Hu Yanzhen (shocked and furious): No! How can this be? My soul ring! My soul ring!!]
In the live-streaming room, Hu Yanzhen's words, filled with shock and fury, appeared on the virtual screen before everyone.
This caused many to exchange bewildered glances.
Had Hu Yanzhen really lost his eighth soul ring?
In the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, Ning Fengzhi was horrified.
He wondered if the lost soul ring could be reabsorbed.
If it could, perhaps the punishment could be mitigated, but if not, that would be disastrous!
Regardless, for a Soul Douluo, finding a suitable eighth soul ring is no easy task.
Even if he could reabsorb a soul ring, finding another soul beast with the right type and age to serve as the eighth soul ring would be incredibly difficult.
While Hu Yanzhen was receiving his punishment, the others who answered incorrectly, whether it was Tuoba Xi, Di Tian, or others, also faced their own punishments.
For a moment, the virtual screen was flooded with messages filled with fear, terror, and anger, flashing rapidly before everyone's eyes.
This left many who hadn't answered feeling as if the air had turned icy cold.
It wasn't just Hu Yanzhen, who lost his eighth soul ring.
There was also Tuoba Xi, who lost three levels of soul power, and even some people who lost their martial souls or had their lifespans reduced.
Such punishments couldn't be ignored.
[Hu Yanzhen (angry): This isn't fair! How come we all answered wrong, but I lose my eighth soul ring while Tuoba Xi only loses three levels of soul power!]
After losing his eighth soul ring, Hu Yanzhen's indignant words once again flashed on the virtual screen.
Right! Why were the punishments different? Could it be that the punishments were random?
Many people couldn't help but wonder.
Then, following Hu Yanzhen's words, a line of blood-red text appeared before everyone's eyes.
Simultaneously, a cold voice rang in everyone's ears.
[Ding! Friendly reminder: While the punishments are random, the more egregiously incorrect the answer, the harsher the punishment. Conversely, the closer the answer is to the truth, the lighter the punishment!]
So that's how it works!
Everyone suddenly understood.
But doesn't this mean that Tuoba Xi's answer was very close to the correct one? Could it be that it just needed to be more specific?
For a moment, many people began to think, trying to build on Tuoba Xi's answer to provide a more complete response.
Meanwhile, in Windmill Village.
[Ding! Notification: Live-streaming room member Hu Yanzhen answered incorrectly. His eighth soul ring has been confiscated and stored in the system space. The host can retrieve it at any time!]
[Ding! Notification: Live-streaming room member Tuoba Xi answered incorrectly. His three levels of soul power have been confiscated and stored in the system space. The host can retrieve it at any time and convert it into pure soul power to inject into his body!]
...
[Ding! Notification: Live-streaming room member Di Tian answered incorrectly. His ten thousand years of soul power have been confiscated and stored in the system space. The host can retrieve it at any time and convert it into pure soul power to inject into his body!]
...
As many people received their punishments for answering incorrectly, the cold prompts from the system continuously echoed in Lin Yu's mind.
This made Lin Yu incredibly excited.
All the punishments for incorrect answers belonged to him—this was too amazing!
Even if he couldn't become a soul master on his own, with the soul power extracted from others' punishments, he could still become a soul master after the system's conversion!
However, after the excitement, Lin Yu felt a bit troubled.
Because earlier, he too had answered. His answer was the same as Di Tian's—he had said that the birth of soul masters was related to the Silver Dragon King, the deceased divine beasts, and the Dragon God.
But it turned out to be wrong.
According to the settings he remembered from his past life and the plot of the original work, his answer shouldn't have been incorrect!
After all, both soul beasts and soul masters couldn't have arisen naturally.
If the creatures born on Douluo Star were all soul beasts, then Tang San wouldn't have encountered the Ten-Headed Fierce Sun Serpent in the Slaughter City.
Moreover, the Ten-Headed Fierce Sun Serpent wouldn't have failed to produce a soul ring upon death.
But if that wasn't the case, or if it wasn't just related to the Silver Dragon King, the deceased divine beasts, and the Dragon God, could it also be related to the gods of the God Realm?
Lin Yu began to ponder deeply.
Wait! In the God Realm Catastrophe, many gods seemed to have died fighting the divine beasts led by the Dragon God. Could it be related to the gods as well?
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Lin Yu's mind, and he couldn't help but think.
With this thought, Lin Yu immediately answered again.
As the host, Lin Yu could hide his answer from others.
So Lin Yu's answer did not appear on the virtual screen in front of everyone.
[Lin Yu: The birth of soul masters should be related to the gods of the God Realm, the Silver Dragon King, the divine beasts, and the deceased Dragon God!]
After submitting his answer, Lin Yu waited anxiously for the system's response.
However, a few seconds later, the cold voice of the system echoed in his mind again, informing him that his answer was once again incorrect.
[Ding! Answer incorrect!]
Lin Yu was dumbfounded.
How could it still be wrong?
He was sure he remembered correctly!
It had to be because the Silver Dragon King tore through space to return to Douluo Star, causing the essence of the deceased divine beasts and gods of the God Realm to leak into the Douluo Continent, leading to the birth of soul masters and soul beasts. How could this be wrong?
While Lin Yu was wrestling with his second incorrect answer, many others were also submitting responses, building upon Tuoba Xi's answer in an attempt to be more precise.
Unfortunately, they were still wrong, and some of the punishments were even harsher!
This left the entire live-streaming room in a state where no one dared to answer anymore.
As time passed and no one else answered, the system initiated a countdown.
In an instant, a line of blood-red text once again appeared before everyone's eyes.
Simultaneously, the system's cold voice echoed in everyone's ears.
[Notice: Final minute to answer. If no one provides the correct answer, one soul master's martial soul, the entire cultivation of a soul beast with over one hundred thousand years of cultivation, or the life of an ordinary person will be randomly confiscated!]
Oh no! This punishment is too severe!
Hearing the system's warning, everyone panicked.