The affair at Ye Family Fortress swept across the entire continent like a gale!
The Ye family son-in-law was Brother Cao!
That pretty boy everyone had taken for a good-for-nothing, that ordinary man Ye Lingling had personally sent away, was the mysterious powerhouse who had slapped a Titled Douluo to death and cultivated countless geniuses!
Now he had even crushed Tang Chen and ten Divine Realm envoys!
Terrifying!
Ye Lingling wasn't without someone to rely on!
She wasn't alone!
The one standing behind her was the most terrifying existence on the entire continent! Her husband!
The moment the news spread, countless factions were too stunned to speak.
Those who had once coveted Ye Lingling's Sky Screen rewards and the Nine Turns Sacred Heart Art were now scared out of their wits.
And the girls who had made the rankings finally understood why Ye Lingling was so special.
As it turned out, she was Brother Cao's one true wife.
Outside Ye Family Fortress, the setting sun was red as blood.
Two graceful figures swept past and landed steadily outside Ye Family Fortress.
Zhu Zhuyun and Zhu Zhuqing.
The sisters had arrived almost at the same time.
Zhu Zhuqing wore a black outfit suited for combat. Her figure was lithe, and excitement was hard to hide on her cool face.
She gazed at Ye Family Fortress in the distance, her heart pounding.
At last... at last she was going to see Brother Cao.
After cultivating in the Dream Space for so long, after countless nights and days of companionship and countless intimate exchanges, she was finally going to meet him in the real world.
"Oh?"
A mocking voice came from behind. Zhu Zhuyun sauntered forward, scorn written all over her alluring face.
"What are you so excited about? Can't wait to find Brother Cao and have him spank you?"
Zhu Zhuqing's face darkened at once.
She turned and stared coldly at the older sister she had never gotten along with, firing right back without backing down:
"I wonder who it was that clung to Brother Cao every day in the Dream Space to practice her flute skills. Shameless!"
Zhu Zhuyun's flute skills were famous in their little circle.
Whenever she played, she was utterly absorbed, her performance so lingering and tender.
At that, Zhu Zhuyun didn't blush. If anything, she looked even more pleased with herself.
She crossed her arms over her chest, the corner of her mouth curling in disdain. "Hah, you're no better. Don't think I don't know. Some people ate papayas every day like they were meals, just to..."
She deliberately looked Zhu Zhuqing up and down.
Zhu Zhuqing's face turned scarlet at once!
"You!"
She gritted her teeth, unable to come up with a retort. Her sister would say anything, no matter how outrageous!
But Zhu Zhuyun refused to let up and twisted the knife further. "Besides, when we practiced together, I was always the one who held out until the end. Not like certain limp-legged weaklings who begged for mercy and called for a stop halfway through. Brother Cao even had to stop and comfort you."
"Bullshit!"
Zhu Zhuqing finally couldn't hold back her profanity.
"That was... that was because I wasn't feeling well! Who else would be like you, a damn iron woman, playing for hours at a time!"
"Not feeling well?"
"You couldn't keep up, so you couldn't keep up. What does 'not feeling well' have to do with it?"
"Zhu Zhuyun!!!"
Inside the fortress.
When Ye Lingling watched with her own eyes as her "husband, who couldn't even truss a chicken," slapped Tang Chen to death and then killed ten God Officials with a single blow, she was far beyond mere shock.
Ten years.
For ten whole years, she had shared a bed with this man and spent every day by his side, yet she had never noticed a thing.
Ye Lingling stared fixedly at Cao Xiyu, her beautiful face revealing nothing of her feelings.
"So my husband really isn't an ordinary person. Killing Divine Realm envoys like chickens—how impressive."
Cao Xiyu gave an awkward laugh. "I told you long ago, but you didn't believe me, madam."
The corner of Ye Lingling's eye twitched slightly.
He had told her long ago? What had he said?
He'd said, "I'm Brother Cao," and she'd taken it for bragging, while Xiao Cui had laughed it off as a joke.
Now that she thought about it, every word this man had said was true.
Ye Lingling took a deep breath and continued, "So those girls on the rankings really were being guided by you?"
Cao Xiyu nodded. "That's right."
Ye Lingling furrowed her brows slightly. "No wonder I've always felt a little dizzy ever since the Sky Screen appeared."
"It turns out I had too many green hats weighing me down."
Cao Xiyu's heart tightened.
Good heavens. His usually gentle and virtuous wife had quite the sharp tongue. Just how much anger had she been holding in?
Ye Lingling slowly rose to her feet and approached him, one step at a time.
At last, she stopped in front of him, leaned down, and said coldly into his ear, "Out of nowhere, I've gained more than a dozen good sisters. Husband, aren't you going to explain?"
He fell silent for a moment.
What needed to be confessed had to be confessed eventually.
"Madam."
"What I said before was true: I created the Yin-Yang Reincarnation Technique. Of course, it really is a dual cultivation technique. That's how I can help those girls increase their strength while making myself stronger, too."
Ye Lingling's face remained expressionless. "Go on."
"As for why they improved so quickly, it's because I have a Dream Space. Time flows differently inside it. One year in the space is only one day in the outside world."
Cao Xiyu paused. "That's also how I could guide so many girls in their cultivation without ever leaving Ye Family Fortress."
The Dream Space? One year in there was one day outside?
So that was why. No wonder he had cultivated so many geniuses without ever leaving home.
"Also, the jade pendant you found was something I arranged."
Ye Lingling's pupils contracted slightly.
The jade pendant she had found ten years ago—the very pendant that had brought her to Cao Xiyu and changed her life completely.
Ye Lingling closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, she had calmed down considerably.
All the strange things from before finally made sense.
After a long silence.
Ye Lingling slowly asked, "So those girls on the Genius Ranking really all... did that with you?"
"That's right. The Yin-Yang Reincarnation Technique can also be cultivated alone, but every girl chose the shortcut."
He hadn't forced anyone. The girls had simply been far too enthusiastic!
The corner of Ye Lingling's eye twitched slightly.
So many green hats—she'd basically been wearing them every day. For all she knew, she might even have been wearing several at once. What a bastard.
Silence settled over the room again.
Cao Xiyu said, "Madam, I..."
Before he could finish, soft lips pressed against his.
After a long while, their lips parted.
Ye Lingling stepped back and looked at her husband's dazed face, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly.
Ye Lingling tilted her head, thinking it over. She looked almost playful:
"My husband has been cheating on me behind my back for years, sneaking around with other girls. Over the past ten years, it must have happened thousands upon thousands of times. And I was kept in the dark, completely unaware."
"Put that way, I really do have it pretty bad. I'm the most miserable wife on the continent, bar none."
Cao Xiyu's heart leaped into his throat.
But then Ye Lingling suddenly smiled.
"But what if I put it another way?"
"My husband is handsome as a jade tree, peerlessly beautiful, and powerful enough to dominate the Divine Realm. He has countless confidantes, yet he chose to stay by my side all along."
"He gave me peerless cultivation arts and helped me cultivate to level ninety-nine."
"For ten years, he loved me and gave me a special affection he gave no other girl."
"Doesn't that make the whole thing sound completely different?"
Cao Xiyu froze.
"So..."
Ye Lingling gently took his hand. "I'm not angry with you, husband."
Only then did Cao Xiyu let out a breath of relief. "As long as you're not angry, madam."
Ye Lingling leaned into his arms and listened to his strong, steady heartbeat. In a soft voice, she said, "But, husband, there's one thing you have to promise me."
"Name it, madam."
"Even if those girls come here in the future, I'll always be your one true wife."