Shrouding the Heavens: Those Years as the Empress's Strictest Master

Let me explain the update schedule after launch.

Qidian has changed its recommendation system for new books, and I still don't quite understand it.

I checked the numbers today. This book has only a third of the bookmarks my previous one had at launch, but everyone's follow-up reading has been quite strong, and the follow-to-bookmark ratio is better than my last book's.

Tomorrow, when it launches, I'll start with ten thousand words a day and see how the first-subscription results go. If first subscriptions exceed five hundred, I'll keep up ten thousand words a day for a month after launch. For every additional hundred first subscriptions, I'll add another month of ten-thousand-word daily updates, and so on.

Of course, no matter what, there will be at least six thousand words a day after launch, so please rest assured!

As for average subscriptions, once they reach five hundred, I'll add two extra chapters. For every additional hundred average subscriptions, the same applies.

Once monthly votes reach one thousand, I'll add two extra chapters. For every additional thousand monthly votes, I'll add another two chapters, and so on.

Alliance Leaders will get five extra chapters, and so on. Silver Alliance Leaders are a bit too much to hope for... so let's leave it at that for now.

Also, if I need to take leave after launch, I'll make up the missed updates later when I have time.

Finally, readers who came over from my previous book should all know that Dami never abandons a story midway. Even if the book gets banned, I'll do everything I can to release it and give the story an ending, so please subscribe without worry!

One last thing—please subscribe!

Please subscribe!!

Please subscribe!!!

Dami will kowtow to everyone a few times first...

Women Are No Less Than Men

? Chapter 46: The Arrogant Veterans Reappear (4K, Please Subscribe!)

Splash...

Cultivation diagrams brimming with innate Dao rhythm unfolded one after another within Suiren Lianlei's sea of consciousness. Dao sounds accompanied them, concise yet striking directly at the core of Human King Body cultivation!

The diagrams and sounds cut straight to the point, revealing the secret behind the Human King Body's innate supremacy. They allowed her to vaguely comprehend the possibility of her combat strength advancing into a higher realm...

Beyond that, an ancient scripture that nearly made her choke with excitement emerged within her sea of consciousness.

"This Yin-Yang Mill Scripture is only for reference and insight. Do not become deeply immersed in it..."

Outside, Tan Lin's voice remained calm.

Yet these final words reached only the ears of this junior from the great sect.

Tan Lin had also placed restrictions upon the Yin-Yang Mill Scripture, leaving outsiders no way to glimpse it.

This ancient scripture was the foundation of his Dao attainment. Though it was not true Yin-Yang harmony, it was still the only known method currently in existence capable of successfully cultivating both Lunar and Solar power.

Back then, many Primordial Emperor Clans had been willing to trade ancient arts and divine gold materials merely for a look. Even if they could not cultivate it directly, they could still draw inferences from it, yet Tan Lin had refused them all.

Not even Tianling's Heavenly Mystic Ancient Clan had been an exception.

Because the scripture had not been completely perfected, he had only passed down a fragment of it within the Human Emperor Hall lineage. After his death, its contents had likewise faded into obscurity.

Passing it on to this junior today not only settled the karma of the Human King Bloodline from years past, but also stemmed from seeing that her talent was indeed remarkable. In this great age, she had hope of glimpsing the mysteries of the Quasi-Emperor Realm, thereby strengthening the Causal Line that had already connected to him. In the future, she might bring him considerable gains.

"Remember what I said before..."

The Human Emperor finished speaking.

Suiren Lianlei's delicate body trembled. It was as though she had heard the heavenly sounds of the Great Dao, and the difficult truths of the Dao that had troubled her for so long began to dissolve one by one.

Her voice shook with excitement.

"This junior... this junior, Suiren Lianlei, thanks Your Majesty the Human Emperor for your guidance! This junior will remember Your Majesty's teachings and never disgrace the name of the Human King Body!"

No longer merely clasping her fists or bowing, she now knelt before Tan Lin and kowtowed heavily. The endless gratitude and reverence in her heart reached their peak at that moment.

For the grace of transmitting the Dao and resolving her doubts, this kneel and kowtow were well deserved!

Everyone present, including an old Human King with Great Saint cultivation who had come to Big Dipper this time, revealed envious expressions.

To receive personal guidance from a former Dao Attainer, and one whose teachings perfectly matched her own physique because they shared the same origin—what an immense opportunity and fortune was that?

"Just let nature take its course."

Tan Lin spoke indifferently.

He shook his head inwardly.

Clearly, she had not understood the deeper meaning behind his words.

Perhaps only when she encountered that little girl on the road to the Emperor in the future would she truly understand what he meant.

When that little girl saw the Yin-Yang Mill Scripture's divine power upon her, she would understand as well and would not try to kill her.

That would naturally become another layer of karma.

As his thoughts turned.

Tan Lin suddenly realized that the women of this era seemed especially stunning compared to those of other times.

Leaving aside the future Empress and this junior, the contemporary God King Physique of the Jiang Family in the Ziwei Star Domain whom he had seen in the Drill Tower previously also seemed to be a woman?

Gu Qingying, the divine maiden who oversaw the diagrams of Big Dipper's Spring Autumn Pavilion, was likewise exceptionally gifted. She had broken into the Great Saint Realm with the bearing of the Eight Forbidden...

By contrast, among the male cultivators, there were currently no particularly outstanding figures.

Tap... tap...

After receiving such enormous benefits and completing her grand salute, Suiren Lianlei knowingly stepped aside.

There were as many cultivators around who wished to personally pay respects to His Majesty the Human Emperor as carp crossing a river. She could not monopolize all of His Majesty's remaining time by herself.

The moment she withdrew, Suiren Hong, the old Human King from the Ziwei Star Domain nearby, hurried forward. But before he could speak, a commotion suddenly erupted among the surrounding crowd.

"Y-Your... Your Majesty... do you still remember this subordinate?"

"Your Majesty... this old servant is Guo Ziqian..."

Suddenly, several aged cultivators dressed in Primordial Era human attire staggered forward, calling out to Tan Lin in hoarse voices.

Tan Lin looked toward the voices.

In the next instant, a rare trace of daze appeared in his deep gaze.

He recognized the identities of these old cultivators.

They had all once been soldiers and generals under his command!

The lines connecting them to him were all attached to the tangled main line of the Human Emperor Hall, branching outward from it. They had initially remained dim, only lighting up again after his return.

This was why Tan Lin, whose attention had long been focused on the Causal Lines of the Undying Heavenly Emperor, Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable, and others, had not noticed them immediately.

"You... were all still alive..."

Tan Lin looked dazed.

After a million years, seeing several former subordinates again gave him the feeling that an entire lifetime had passed.

He had originally believed that all those familiar faces from the Primordial Era had vanished into the river of time and space.

Today had truly brought him several unexpected joys...

His state of mind rippled. With a sudden sweep of his sleeve, he moved the old men into the grand hall. He himself entered as well, vanishing from the sight of the outside world.

"It is good that you are alive. Good that you are still alive..."

Inside the great hall, Tan Lin's face became clear. Sighing, he stepped closer to his old subordinates and stacked the trembling hands of the five elders together, enclosing them within both of his own.

"Seeing you makes me feel as though I have returned to the Primordial Era. But most people have already passed on, and you... have all grown old as well."

"Time is a blade. Who can avoid growing old? After so many years, Your Majesty, only you... are still as heroic and majestic as ever..."

Guo Ziqian, who now stood bent at the waist and had once been a proud and valiant general upon the battlefield, studied Tan Lin's face and remembered one event after another from the past.

Remembering those days of resisting the Primordial clans, tears streamed down his aged face.

"After Your Majesty fell back then, the Human Emperor Hall went through repeated upheavals. In the end, certain petty villains seized power. Not only did they fail to think of making progress or how to resist the invasion of foreign races, they instead became ever more excessive in harming and exploiting their fellow clansmen under their rule.

"Since the Human Emperor Hall was established under Your Majesty, the strongholds opened along the Extraterrestrial Ancient Road were all lost one after another within just a thousand years..."

"Many of the surviving brothers lost heart and gradually began to think of laying down their armor and returning to the fields..."

The old cultivator with a large black mole above his left eyebrow said through tear-filled eyes.

"The five of us also retired at that time. Using some Divine Source Liquid seized in past campaigns against the Primordial Royal Clans, we sealed ourselves away until this Ancient Era. Seven hundred years ago, we awakened from Divine Source alongside Gong Xuan, that descendant who became a lackey of a Restricted-Area Supreme."

"Gong Xuan did not lay a hand on you?"

Tan Lin asked.

"Alas..."

Guo Ziqian sighed.

"Though we all looked down on that later-generation fellow, to be fair, throughout these long years, without him mediating between the Human Emperor Hall and the restricted areas and providing a certain degree of value...

"Without that connection, the Human Emperor Hall would likely have been destroyed in one upheaval after another. There was even a high chance it would not have survived the chaos at the end of the Primordial Era..."

At this point, he paused and looked at an old man beside him with a face full of snow-white beard.

"Strictly speaking, Gong Xuan is Old Pang's twenty-third-generation descendant through an outside branch. Backed by the restricted areas and holding great power, he sidelined old men like us, but he never killed us. He handled matters smoothly and always left a way out..."

Hearing this, Tan Lin nodded slightly.

If that was the case, then it was not too strange.

It also meant he had not been wrong to spare that man's life when he had infiltrated the Human Emperor Hall earlier to seize the true soul fragment of the Human Emperor Banner.

When facing Restricted-Area Supremes and that kind of imperial suppression, not everyone could laugh proudly with blade in hand and face heaven unflinchingly.

If descendants and disciples later chose betrayal in order to survive or preserve their lineage, there was not much to blame them for.

He himself had once fallen in a hunt by Supremes, so what right did he have to dictate the affairs of later generations?

The Human Emperor Hall of today was no longer the Human Emperor Hall he had personally founded in the Primordial Era.

If he felt anger over this and went outside to bully the weak, massacring the lineage's cultivators and purging them all, it would only prove his own incompetence.

It would only show that the state of mind he had tempered over three lifetimes amounted to nothing more than that.

If he were truly strong, he should sweep away every threat and flatten the restricted areas, rather than leave the problem to future generations.

At his level, he had long stopped focusing on such matters from before his Dao attainment.

"Other than Guo Ziqian, the four of you do not have much lifespan left..."

As he reminisced about Primordial Era events with his former subordinates, Tan Lin finally fixed his gaze on the other four and spoke gravely.

"You and Guo Ziqian are all Great Saints, and you have all taken longevity-extending treasures. Why are your lifespans nearly exhausted? I see that he still has at least five hundred years left to live."

"Your Majesty, have you forgotten? Didn't Old Guo take it upon himself back then to 'matchmake' that Ancient Emperor's daughter from the Heavenly Mystic Ancient Clan with you?"

Pang Ya, the old man with the snow-white beard, explained the reason in detail.

"After Your Majesty fell, that Ancient Emperor's daughter visited the Human Emperor Hall several times. Once, she ran into this bastard and gave him a small bottle of divine liquid from a half-divine medicine. Otherwise, with this bastard's fierce charge-first temperament in battle during his younger days and all the hidden injuries he accumulated, he would not have lasted longer than us old fellows!"

Guo Ziqian looked displeased at that and glared at him.

"You damned Old Pang! Who are you calling a bastard?! I think you're plainly jealous of my good fortune and envious of my luck!"

"What if I am calling you a bastard..."

"You..."

Seeing that the atmosphere in the hall seemed to be turning unpleasant, the old cultivator with the large black mole above his left eyebrow raised a hand, wiped away the hot tears from his face, and roared.

"Enough! Before His Majesty, what kind of behavior is this?!"

Buzz...

The moment the old cultivator with the black mole shouted, the entire great hall seemed to fall silent for an instant.

Guo Ziqian and Pang Ya, those two once-proud and valiant generals, cautiously glanced at Tan Lin. Only after seeing no displeasure on his face did they quietly breathe a sigh of relief.

Seeing this, Tan Lin's emotions stirred.