With Empress Zhu making the list, the entire continent erupted in an uproar.
"As expected, it's still the Yin-Yang Reincarnation Technique!"
In teahouses and taverns, discussions rose and fell in a steady stream.
"Another top-tier married woman. Brother Cao's eye for them is as venomously sharp as ever!"
"Zhu Yunyun? The Star Luo Empress? Is Brother Cao some kind of empress hunter?" Someone counted on his fingers. "The Heaven Dou Empress, Liu Yixue, and the Star Luo Empress, Zhu Yunyun—he's taken the empresses of both great empires! What kind of move is that?"
"The same old recipe: daughter makes the Genius Ranking, mother makes the Combat Power Ranking."
"When the Zhu Zhuyun and Zhu Zhuqing sisters made the list, I thought something was off. Now their mother's on it too. The whole family of three, neatly lined up. Brother Cao really knows how to have fun!"
"Damn it! I refuse to accept this!" A young Soul Master slammed the table and jumped to his feet. "Does having strength mean you can do whatever you want?"
"What do you think?" The person beside him rolled his eyes. "He slapped ten God Officials to death with one hand. Can you do that? If not, then shut up."
"Neither the daughter nor the wife escaped Brother Cao's clutches," someone said gleefully. "I wonder what the two emperors think about this?"
"Xue Ye the Great has already cried himself unconscious in the latrine. Dai Tianfeng probably won't be far behind."
"Hahaha!"
Ye Family Fortress, courtyard.
Ye Lingling set down her teacup and turned to glare at her husband.
If nothing unexpected happened, the entire Combat Power Ranking would probably be filled with her husband's old flames.
The Heaven Dou Empress, the Star Luo Empress—they had all cultivated the Yin-Yang Reincarnation Technique.
What was so good about these older women? Could her husband be into that sort of thing?
Sigh, the number of hats on her head just kept growing!
She had no idea how much energy her husband had poured into these older women. Every one of them was at level ninety-nine!
Even with so many women, her husband still dragged her off every day to practice the Spring and Autumn Staff Technique.
How could a person have so much energy!
Zhu Zhuqing wore a complicated expression. "Sister, Mother made the list! She cultivated the Yin-Yang Reincarnation Technique too!"
Zhu Zhuyun, however, seemed quite calm. The corners of her mouth even curled into a faint smile. "I suspected it long ago. With Mother's looks, it would've been strange if she hadn't made the list."
She had noticed the oddities about her mother, Zhu Yunyun, long ago: the distant look in her eyes when she occasionally drifted off, and the subtle, distinctive aura she carried—the one that came from cultivating the Yin-Yang Reincarnation Technique.
Now, everything had been confirmed.
She glanced at her younger sister beside her, quietly doing the math in her head.
This was great. Their Zhu Family's side had gained another ally.
With the three of them joining forces, how could they lose out to anyone else in front of Brother Cao?
Heaven Dou Empire, Moonlight Pavilion.
Aloeswood incense burned in the pavilion, its fragrance clear and distant.
Twelve students stood in two rows, each with a different posture.
The curtain to the side room lifted gently, and Tang Yuehua walked out at an unhurried pace.
Today she wore a silver palace gown. Her hair was loosely pinned with a white jade hairpin, and she wore no other adornments.
No pearls or jewels, no gold or jade, yet simply standing there, she made all the furnishings in the room seem superfluous.
Her beauty lay not in the perfection of her features, but in an innate, effortless grace, like an orchid in a secluded valley. She neither competed nor clamored for attention, yet no one could ignore her.
She stopped three feet in front of the students—not too close, not too far, just the most appropriate distance for conversation between nobles.
"The first lesson in etiquette isn't how to bow, nor how to advance or retreat," she said, her voice clear but not cold. "It's how to keep your heart firmly anchored in the present at all times."
She began to stroll lightly past them.
As she passed each student, she paused briefly, sometimes correcting the angle of someone's chin with a glance, sometimes touching their shoulder lightly with a fingertip to remind them to relax.
"You came to Moonlight Pavilion to learn rules and cultivate poise. But I want to tell you that true noble bearing has never come from piling up memorized rules and regulations. It comes from whether your shoulders are relaxed as you walk, whether your back straightens naturally as you sit, even from the rhythm of your breathing."
"Remember, you're learning all this not to make yourselves stiff and constrained, but to help you remain composed in any situation. That composure is what true nobility is."
Her voice had barely faded.
High above, golden light surged across the Sky Screen once more!
A golden pillar of light descended from the sky, enveloping Tang Yuehua!
[Combat Power Ranking, Thirteenth Place: Tang Yuehua.]
[Identity: Member of the Clear Sky Sect, Master of Moonlight Pavilion.]
[Strength: Level 99 Titled Douluo.]
[Techniques: Yin-Yang Reincarnation Technique, Heavenly Demon Chaotic Dance.]
[Rewards: 8 Teleportation Talismans, which can transport the user to any location on Douluo Continent; Soul Power increased by one level; divine skill: Moon Reflecting Thousand Waves, which can discern what others are thinking.]
The whole room fell silent.
The twelve students stared blankly at the figure enveloped in golden light, their eyes wide with shock.
"Master Yuehua... made the list?" someone stammered.
"Level 99 Titled Douluo? The Yin-Yang Reincarnation Technique?" Another student's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets. "Wasn't Master Yuehua... wasn't she only level nine? How did she become level ninety-nine?"
Bathed in golden light, Tang Yuehua remained composed.
The students' eyes brimmed with reverence.
"As expected of Master Yuehua! Even after making the list, she can stay so composed!"
"This is true noble bearing! Unshaken even as Mount Tai crumbles before you!"
Tang Yuehua smiled faintly. "That's all for today's lesson. Tomorrow, we'll learn how to walk."
Only after everyone had left did she slowly claim her rewards.
A divine skill? One that could discern what others were thinking.
The corners of her mouth lifted slightly.
Not bad!
From now on, when she was with Brother Cao, she could discern what he was thinking. With a single thought, she'd know which position to use.
Her partnership with Brother Cao would surely be seamless, flowing as naturally as water.
Heaven Dou Empire, Imperial Palace.
Xue Ye the Great slumped on the dragon throne, his face deathly pale. He looked much older.
Tang Yuehua.
The woman he had longed for over so many years. He had thought that one day he would move her and win her heart.
He hadn't expected her to make the list too!
She had cultivated the Yin-Yang Reincarnation Technique too!
She had gone to that Brother Cao too!
After his empress, another woman he loved had been snatched away by Brother Cao.
Xue Ye the Great closed his eyes, two muddy tears sliding down his cheeks.
"Unreasonable..."
"This is too much! This is too much!"
Xue Ye the Great raised his head and sighed. "I... What's the point of being emperor anymore!"
Holy Soul Village, a cave.
Tang Hao sat cross-legged at the cave entrance, gazing at the Sky Screen, his expression more complicated than ever.
His little sister had made the list. He ought to have been happy, but he couldn't feel happy at all.
His Ah Yin had been stolen some time ago by some damned bastard, and he still hadn't found her.
Now his little sister was gone too, off to be that Brother Cao's concubine.
Tang Hao closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Yuehua..."
"If that Brother Cao bullies you, tell your big brother. Even if I can't beat him, I..."
He couldn't finish.
He couldn't beat the man, so whatever he said was pointless.
He couldn't even beat his little sister as she was now.
"Ah Yin... where are you?"