Heaven Dou Empire Palace, Imperial Study.
Candlelight flickered, casting shifting shadows across the face of Emperor Xue Ye, made increasingly old by years of chronic poisoning.
He sat behind the imperial desk, holding a cup of ginseng tea, but his gaze was fixed on the golden Sky Screen still hanging in the heavens, his eyes filled with complicated emotions.
A Ke... His A Ke was actually a Soul Douluo at level 89.
He had already sent someone to fetch Xue Ke, wanting to ask his daughter properly what she had been through all these years.
Footsteps sounded.
Emperor Xue Ye looked up and saw the petite figure slowly entering the Imperial Study.
"Your son pays his respects to Father." Xue Ke curtsied gracefully, her voice as gentle as ever.
"Quick, get up, get up!"
Emperor Xue Ye hurried to his feet and personally helped his daughter up, then drew her to sit beside him. His old eyes were filled with relief and pride.
"A Ke, A Ke, you kept this from your father so well! A level-89 Soul Douluo—you... What am I supposed to say?"
Xue Ke smiled faintly, but there was none of her former innocence in that smile.
"Father, there is something extremely important I must tell you."
Emperor Xue Ye froze. Seeing the serious expression on his daughter's face, he felt an ominous premonition rising in his heart.
"What is it?"
Xue Ke took a deep breath and spoke, one word at a time:
"Father, the Crown Prince Xue Qinghe by your side... is an impostor."
"What?"
Emperor Xue Ye shot to his feet, his expression changing drastically.
Xue Ke continued, "The real Crown Prince, my elder brother, has long been dead. The Crown Prince who stayed by your side for more than a decade was Qian Renxue, daughter of Qian Xunji, the former Pope of Spirit Hall, in disguise. Her Angel Soul Bone grants her top-tier disguise abilities. All these years, she has been stealing the secrets of our Heaven Dou Empire to pave the way for Spirit Hall's ambitions."
Emperor Xue Ye's face turned deathly pale at a visible speed. His body swayed, and he had to brace himself against the imperial desk to keep from falling.
"That's not all." Xue Ke's voice trembled slightly. "The deaths of my two elder brothers... my second and third elder brothers... weren't accidents either. Spirit Hall was behind them! They wanted to eliminate Father's heirs and clear the way for Qian Renxue to ascend the throne!"
"Even... your worsening health in recent years was caused by a slow-acting poison administered by Spirit Hall."
"Pfft!"
Emperor Xue Ye suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, staining the imperial desk before him red.
He seemed to have aged ten years in an instant. His once fairly upright figure now stooped like a candle guttering in the wind.
"Qinghe... Xi'er... Hong'er..." he murmured, calling his three sons by name as tears streamed down his face. "My sons... my sons..."
Xue Ke hurried forward to support him, tears welling in her own eyes.
Then Xue Ke fed Emperor Xue Ye the antidote pill Brother Cao had given her.
A moment later, Emperor Xue Ye finally caught his breath. An unprecedented hatred and fury blazed in his formerly clouded old eyes!
"Spirit Hall... Bibi Dong... Good! Very good!"
He suddenly raised his head and roared hoarsely:
"Guards! Summon Prince Xue Xing!"
"Boom!"
The Crown Prince's residence gates were smashed open, and Prince Xue Xing led a large contingent of imperial guards inside!
But by then, the Crown Prince's residence was empty. They had come too late.
"Ah! Spirit Hall! This is too much!!!"
Prince Xue Xing roared furiously.
"Pursue them! I said, pursue them!"
Spirit Hall, Pope Palace.
Qian Renxue stood in the center of the hall, faint golden light swirling around her.
Across from her, Bibi Dong sat upon the throne, her purplish-black eyes resting calmly on Qian Renxue, giving no hint of her feelings.
It was the first time in many years that mother and daughter had faced each other alone like this.
Silence spread between them.
In the end, Qian Renxue spoke first. "The plan failed. That old emperor already knows the truth."
Bibi Dong nodded faintly. "As expected. Since Xue Ke made the list and cultivated that so-called Yin-Yang Reincarnation Technique, it was only a matter of time before she learned everything."
At the mention of the Yin-Yang Reincarnation Technique, both their gazes flickered slightly.
Silence fell again.
A moment later, Bibi Dong suddenly asked, "Xue'er, have you ever cultivated... the Yin-Yang Reincarnation Technique?"
Qian Renxue's pupils contracted slightly.
Of course she had!
On countless nights, she had cultivated in that mysterious dream with a man as transcendent as an immortal, breaking through bottlenecks step by step until she reached her current level. That man... the man who claimed his surname was Cao...
She composed herself and replied calmly, "No. Why are you suddenly asking about that, Mother?"
Bibi Dong didn't answer at once. Instead, she closed her eyes as a faint purplish-black glow appeared around her.
"It's nothing. I just think that Brother Cao isn't a decent man. He's gotten involved with so many young, beautiful women."
Xue'er was breathtakingly beautiful. Bibi Dong didn't want her daughter to follow in her footsteps.
That was right. She was doing it for her daughter's sake. She had more than enough trouble on her own!
She looked at Qian Renxue, and a trace of guilt appeared in those usually cold, merciless eyes.
"Does Mother know Brother Cao?"
"No. How could... I know him?"
Blue Tyrant Academy.
Not a single person gathered on the training grounds had any mind to cultivate.
Every gaze was fixed on the golden Sky Screen high above.
Flender stood with his arms folded. His shoehorn-shaped face was filled with complicated emotions.
Behind him stood Yu Xiaogang, Liu Erlong, the Shrek Seven Devils, and the others.
"Level 89... another level 89..." Flender murmured bitterly. "How many is that now? Doudou, Zhu Zhuyun, Meng Yiran, Xue Ke... every one of them a level-89 Soul Douluo! And they're all young women!"
He looked down at himself. It had taken him decades of cultivation just to become a Soul Saint.
Meanwhile, these people were level 89 at such a young age, just one step away from becoming Titled Douluos.
What he found even harder to accept was that before this, these geniuses had all been completely unknown!
"Are all young people this terrifying now?" Flender sighed at the heavens, feeling as if he had wasted all those decades.
Yu Xiaogang, however, was in a completely different state.
He slumped onto a stone bench nearby. His already pale face was now ashen.
His lips trembled slightly as he murmured something, but no one could make it out.
"It's over... It's all over..."
He looked up at the shining names on the Sky Screen, his eyes filled with despair.
This was the opportunity he had waited decades for!
The Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament was about to begin. He had thought that with Tang San, his disciple with Twin Martial Souls, he would surely dazzle everyone in the competition.
He would prove his theories to the entire continent, prove that his Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul weren't just empty talk!
But what about now?
Twin Martial Souls? A genius?
Compared with those level-89 Soul Douluos, Tang San, a Soul Elder barely in the thirties, wasn't even a joke!
Yu Xiaogang counted on his fingers: one, two, three, four, five.
His proud disciple was a full five major realms behind them!
Yu Xiaogang closed his eyes, and two lines of cloudy tears slid down his cheeks.
At that moment, he felt that his entire life had become a joke.
"In this life... I'm afraid I'll never be able to prove myself..."