Ye Family Fortress.
Ye Lingling watched the names of the two sisters appear on the Sky Screen and felt an inexplicable surge of anger. She gave a cold snort. "Hmph. Two people made the list in a row, and they're sisters, too."
"Taking both sisters at once—Brother Cao really is worse than a beast!"
She whipped around to glare at the man beside her, who was leisurely sipping tea. Her gaze was like a knife. "Husband, don't you agree?"
Cao Xiyu's hand paused slightly around his teacup. Feeling his wife's murderous glare, he silently groaned.
This was a test—a blatant test!
But who was he, Cao Xiyu?
He was someone who had dealt with countless stunning women in the Dream Space. How could a little thing like this stump him?
He set down his teacup with a faint smile, then reached out and drew Ye Lingling into his arms.
"Lingling..."
"There aren't many talented people among the Four Elemental Academies. At Skywater Academy, the only two with enough talent were those sisters. Your husband... Ahem, I mean, Brother Cao, had no choice."
Ye Lingling snorted and shoved him away. "Is that what you call looking at talent? Don't make me call you out! You were obviously looking at their bodies!"
Cao Xiyu rubbed his nose and gave an awkward laugh. "It's a misunderstanding, my dear. Look, now that Shui Bing'er and Shui Yue'er have made the list, Skywater Academy's status has soared. Even Jiang Luyuan ought to thank us. It's a win-win!"
Ye Lingling rolled her eyes.
"Husband, are you enjoying the act a little too much? Do you really think you're Brother Cao?"
Ye Lingling had never entered the Dream Space. She could rack her brains all she wanted and still not understand how anyone could cultivate so many young experts in such a short time, with their influence reaching across the entire continent.
If she knew that one year in the Dream Space was equivalent to one day in the outside world, and that people could be brought into it from anywhere on the continent, she wouldn't have found it strange at all.
"My dear, don't be angry. I worked up quite a sweat just now, so have some water to replenish yourself."
Ye Lingling's face turned crimson in an instant. Embarrassed and annoyed, she punched him.
"It's all your fault! You always go on for two whole hours. I really can't handle you!"
Blazing Fire Academy.
Dean Huo Chengyun watched as two people from Skywater Academy made the list one after another, and couldn't help feeling envious.
"That old Jiang Luyuan's luck is unbelievable!" He gave a heavy snort. "Both his daughters became Titled Douluo! Now they've completely stolen the limelight from my Blazing Fire Academy!"
"My Blazing Fire Academy has plenty of pretty girls, too. My daughter Huo Wu is every bit as good as those girls on the list."
Huo Wushuang stepped forward, indignant. "Exactly! My little sister Huo Wu is every bit as beautiful and well-built as Shui Bing'er. Why did she make the list while my sister didn't?"
Huo Chengyun sighed and turned to look at the fiery-red figure not far away.
Huo Wu sat cross-legged on a slab of bluestone, eyes closed as she regulated her breathing. Her breathtaking face was utterly calm.
"Wu'er," Huo Chengyun said, approaching her and asking tentatively, "Have you ever met that Brother Cao? Do you know about the Yin-Yang Reincarnation Technique?"
Huo Wu slowly opened her eyes. A glint flashed in her lively gaze, but her expression remained composed.
"No. I haven't met him, and I don't know about it."
Huo Chengyun sighed in disappointment and waved his hand. "Fine. That Brother Cao must have no taste. My daughter's so beautiful, and he still didn't take a liking to her?"
Huo Wushuang muttered from the side, "Maybe... Brother Cao was afraid my sister would burn him with her fiery temper?"
Huo Chengyun glared at him, and Huo Wushuang quickly shut his mouth.
No one noticed the meaningful smile that appeared at the corner of Huo Wu's lips as she lowered her head.
Brother Cao...
Just you wait.
Godwind Academy.
Feng Xiaotian sat cross-legged on the ground, staring at the Sky Screen, his resolute face full of bitterness.
"I thought that with my Innate Full Soul Power and my mutated Gale Two-Headed Wolf Martial Soul, I'd be able to claim a place on the Genius Ranking," he murmured, his voice heavy with disappointment. "Who could've guessed they'd all be monsters? They started out as Soul Douluo, and now they've all become Titled Douluo!"
A teammate sidled up to him, eager to flatter him. "Captain, your Gale Demon Wolf Thirty-Six Consecutive Slashes are absolutely brilliant. That's real ability! Those girls only got where they are thanks to that Brother Cao. They just got lucky! When it comes to actual skill, how could they compare to you?"
Feng Xiaotian gave a bitter smile and shook his head. "Sigh. Effort is insignificant in the face of talent, and talent is helpless against a cheat!"
He paused, a relieved smile spreading across his face.
"Thankfully, thankfully, my Huo Wu didn't make the list. She's still pure!"
At that, the teammate's expression turned complicated.
"Captain... Um... There's something I don't know if I should say..."
Feng Xiaotian furrowed his brow. "Spit it out!"
The teammate hunched his shoulders and cautiously said, "What if... what if Senior Huo Wu also received guidance from that Brother Cao?"
Feng Xiaotian's face instantly turned black as the bottom of a cooking pot.
If looks could kill, that teammate would have been reincarnated two and a half times over.
"Impossible!" he growled through gritted teeth. "Absolutely impossible! My Huo Wu is the purest, proudest woman in the world! How could she... how could she fall?! Absolutely impossible!"
The teammate retreated in fright, too scared to say another word.
Feng Xiaotian took a deep breath, struggling to calm himself. He looked up at the Sky Screen and silently prayed.
Huo Wu, please be all right. Please don't make the list. You have to be mine...
Just then, golden light rippled across the Sky Screen.
Feng Xiaotian's pupils instantly widened to their limit!
A new ranking appeared on the Sky Screen with a thunderous rumble.
[ Genius Ranking, Fifth Place: Huo Wu. ]
[ Identity: Daughter of the Blazing Fire Academy Dean. ]
[ Strength: Rank 92 Titled Douluo. ]
[ Technique: Yin-Yang Reincarnation Technique. ]
[ Reward: Youth-Preserving Pill, which can preserve one's youth forever; External Soul Bone, Wings of the Fire God. ]
Boom!!!
Feng Xiaotian's mind went blank.
He just sat there, dumbfounded, staring at the two characters "Huo Wu" on the Sky Screen as the whole world spun around him.
Huo Wu... had made the list?
Huo Wu... had cultivated the Yin-Yang Reincarnation Technique?
Huo Wu... had fallen, too?
The woman he had longed for day and night, the woman he had regarded as his goddess, the Huo Wu he had believed to be "pure" and "proud"...
Had she, too, been claimed by that Brother Cao?
"No!!!"
A heart-rending howl rang out above Godwind Academy.
Feng Xiaotian sprang to his feet, his eyes bloodshot and Soul Power surging wildly around him. He looked like a beast gone mad!
"No! It can't be! My Huo Wu! My Huo Wu!!"
He threw his head back and roared, his voice filled with despair and grief.
The teammate who had flattered him moments ago was now cowering behind a pillar, trembling.
"C-Captain, calm down..."
"Calm down my ass!"
Feng Xiaotian spun around, fixing his bloodshot eyes on the teammate. He was so terrified that he nearly wet himself.
"This is all your fault! You jinxed it!"
The teammate looked like he was about to cry. "I... I only said it offhand..."
Feng Xiaotian ignored him and stared in the direction of Blazing Fire Academy, his eyes full of pain and resentment.
Huo Wu... You really... too...
Huo Wu's breathtaking face, her voluptuous figure, and her haughty expression surfaced in his mind.
Feng Xiaotian felt as if someone had ground his heart to pieces.
"Cao... big... brother..."
He gritted his teeth as he spoke the name, his eyes burning with blazing hatred.
But in the next instant, that hatred turned into deep helplessness.
What could he do? Go pick a fight with Brother Cao? The man could kill a Titled Douluo with one slap. Feng Xiaotian would only be serving himself up on a plate.
All he could do was watch helplessly as his goddess fell into someone else's arms.