Xue Zhao! (Please invest! Please send recommendation votes! Please send monthly votes!)

The next morning.

On the first day of the new term, Qin Xu and Vielvi arrived at the classroom.

The other twenty-six students of the Young Heaven Class had already arrived early and were waiting inside. Dressed in white-and-gold uniforms, they were all brimming with energy, their faces radiant as they chattered excitedly among themselves.

"Your Highness!"

As Qin Xu and Vielvi entered the classroom, a sharp-eyed boy spotted him immediately, sprang out of his seat, and shouted, instantly silencing the room.

Then everyone noticed Qin Xu and Vielvi. Not all of them recognized him, but even one or two people recognizing him was enough for the others to catch on.

After the first boy, two more stood up and called loudly, "Your Highness!"

The others rose one after another. Whether hesitant or decisive, they ultimately joined in the same greeting: "Your Highness!"

"Sit down, everyone. I'm a student now, not the grand duke. You don't need to salute me. Just keep it in mind." Smiling, Qin Xu waved for them to sit. His gaze swept the room, and he noticed that someone actually hadn't stood up, which caught his attention.

He gave them another look. They were two girls, one of whom was none other than Ye Guyi, whom he had met the previous evening. She looked somewhat stunned. The other, seated beside Ye Guyi, was a white-haired girl with an exquisitely beautiful, expressionless face and pale blue eyes filled with an empty indifference.

Qin Xu had a vague guess as to her identity. With a soft chuckle, he withdrew his gaze and looked at the boy who had recognized him first. Sure enough, it was a familiar face.

"You're Meng Xin, aren't you? I remember your father is General Meng Tian of the Black Dragon Legion," Qin Xu said.

"Hehe, that's me, that's me!" Meng Xin looked rather simple and earnest. At Qin Xu's words, his grin practically stretched behind his ears, and he kept chuckling. "Your Highness still remembers me! That's wonderful!"

"We'll be classmates from now on. Just call me by my name," Qin Xu said with a smile, patting Meng Xin's shoulder.

"No, no! If my dad found out, he'd beat me to death!" Meng Xin shook his head repeatedly, refusing with a terrified expression.

Qin Xu could only resign himself to it and did not insist. He then approached the two who had stood after Meng Xin and greeted them by name. Like Meng Xin, they looked overwhelmed by the honor. It left him feeling rather reflective. These were heirs raised by great families, after all. Even at such a young age, they understood social niceties and knew their manners.

Compared with commoner children, who were generally still rather innocent and naïve at this age, these noble children were indeed somewhat more accomplished at this stage.

He and Vielvi sat in the two empty seats in the middle of the front row.

Qin Xu could clearly feel the many gazes fixed on him from behind. It felt wonderful. He enjoyed being the center of everyone's attention.

"Qin—Xu, they're all looking at us! This feels amazing!" Vielvi said excitedly, leaning against Qin Xu with delight. She had instinctively started to use her familiar form of address, but remembered Qin Xu's repeated requests that morning and corrected herself.

Vielvi and Qin Xu were the same kind of person. They naturally enjoyed the feeling of being noticed, respected, and admired. This outgoing personality was one manifestation of a leader's disposition, though Qin Xu was more restrained while Vielvi was more flamboyant.

"Composure. Show a little composure," Qin Xu reminded her. He could hear people whispering behind him, seemingly saying things like, "It's amazing that we get to be classmates with His Highness," which filled him with secret delight.

He took a stack of documents out of the Black Dragon Ring.

The Young Heaven Class had twenty-eight students in total. Aside from Qin Xu, Vielvi, and the two specially admitted students with innate full soul power, Xue Zhao and Ye Guyi, the remaining twenty-four all came from Yongdu City and Tianxing Commandery.

Yongdu City needed no explanation; it was where the Heavenly Profound Academy was located. Tianxing Commandery, meanwhile, was one of the Black Dragon Duchy's nine commanderies and formed its Imperial Capital Region. Before the Black Dragon Duchy was established, Yongdu City had been Tianxing Commandery's principal city. After the duchy's founding, Yongdu City was elevated to the national capital, and Tianxing Commandery's principal city was moved to Yaolong City.

Thus, these twenty-four students were all citizens of the Black Dragon Duchy's Imperial Capital Region.

Of them, eleven came from commoner backgrounds and thirteen from non-commoner backgrounds. If Xue Zhao and Ye Guyi were included, the numbers of commoner and non-commoner students were exactly thirteen each.

"Non-commoner backgrounds" here did not refer solely to nobles. It also included students from Soul Master families. The greatest difference between them and students of commoner origins was how their martial souls were awakened: one group underwent awakening within their families, while the other did so through awakening assemblies.

These twenty-four Young Heaven Class students had undergone screening by both the royal palace and the Heavenly Profound Academy. They were carefully selected talents, assessed not only for their innate soul power but also for their martial souls' potential.

Among them, two had rank-nine innate soul power, seven had rank eight, and the remaining fifteen all had rank seven. Judging their futures on this basis alone, if they grew up without mishap, they would produce at least two Titled Douluo!

While Qin Xu enjoyed everyone's attention, two pretty little girls in a corner of the classroom were also discussing him.

"Yiyi, do you know that grand duke fellow?" The white-haired girl poked Ye Guyi, snapping her out of her daze.

"Huh? Of course not, Sister A Liang!" Ye Guyi quickly shook her head and replied, "I only saw him in the dining hall last night. I had no idea he was His Highness the Grand Duke!"

"Oh..." The white-haired girl stared thoughtfully at Qin Xu's back, her pale blue eyes unblinking.

Qin Xu's guess about her identity was correct. She was the other commoner Soul Master with innate full soul power, Xue Zhao—A Liang from Xuebian Village.

After awakening her martial soul, she had given herself the name "Xue Zhao."

She was the Snow Empress!

The absolute sovereign of the Far North, a born ruler—the Heavenly Snow Woman, the Snow Empress!

Naturally, she had to give herself a commanding human name!

When Xue Zhao was told that her exceptional talent had earned her special admission to the duchy's foremost Soul Master Academy, her first reaction was pride, followed by resistance. Although she was confident that her transformation was perfect, the prospect of leaving the snowy plains for a city still made her somewhat uneasy.

Of course, this was not fear. It was the choice of a mature ruler to lie low.

However, Granny Dou, who had adopted her, wanted her to accept. Granny Dou said this was her destined opportunity, her chance to defy heaven and change her fate! Although she inwardly thought little of it, when she noticed those cloudy eyes brimming with hope, her heart softened and her resolve wavered.

In the end, Xue Zhao agreed.

Of course, she had only agreed because of pressure from that human named Qin Feng, who had suddenly appeared in Xuebian Village. It absolutely wasn't because she wanted to make Granny Dou happy. Yes, exactly. Qin Feng had forced her into it, and once her strength recovered, she would definitely teach him a lesson!

Hmph!

In short, half a month earlier, Xue Zhao and Granny Dou had traveled from the bitter cold of the Far North to the slightly warmer Yongdu City. Uncle Wu Haichao had accompanied them, repeating the same thing throughout the journey: he had been transferred to the capital's Martial Soul Bureau.

It was clear that he was genuinely delighted.

She and Granny Dou moved into a large house in Yongdu City and received a substantial sum of Gold Soul Coins. Uncle Wu Haichao said it was a reward from the royal palace.

A few days later, someone informed her that school was starting, so she entered the Heavenly Profound Academy and spent seven or eight days in the even bigger, better house the academy provided. Unfortunately, she could not bring Granny Dou in to live with her. Still, with Uncle Wu Haichao looking after Granny Dou outside, she had nothing to worry about.

On her second day in the dormitory, Ye Guyi moved in. Xue Zhao fought her and won without question, making this little, exceedingly proud human willingly call her "Sister A Liang." It felt great.

"Sister A Liang, you don't believe me?" Seeing Xue Zhao remain silent, Ye Guyi assumed she did not believe her and grew a little anxious. She hurriedly said, "You know I'm an orphan just like you. You're an orphan from the countryside, and I'm an orphan from the city. Neither of us has anyone to rely on. How could I possibly know the grand duke?"

"I believe you," Xue Zhao said. "I was just wondering, what is a grand duke? Someone told me before that coming here to study meant I could be classmates with the grand duke, but no one told me what a grand duke was."

"Uh..." That remark made Ye Guyi's brain briefly freeze, but she was already used to it. Their time together over the past few days had made her realize that Sister A Liang was a true country bumpkin who lacked certain basic knowledge.

So she explained, "Sister A Liang, a grand duke is actually a king. It's just that there's an even greater king above him, so he can't simply be called a king. He can only be called a grand duke."

"Oh! Now I understand," Xue Zhao said, suddenly realizing. "So this grand duke is the boss of one region. Like the Titan Snow Demon King of the Far North. Although he's the boss of part of the Far North, the boss of the entire Far North is the Snow Empress. Is that what you mean?"

"Yes, yes. It sounds a little strange, but that's the idea." Ye Guyi nodded. Sister A Liang really did know the affairs of the Far North as well as the treasures in her own home. She had never even heard of this Titan Snow Demon King back in Yulong City.

"Then tell me, could I become a grand duke?" Fierce flames flickered in Xue Zhao's eyes. They were something called ambition.

Ye Guyi's brain froze again. Should she say that this was just what she expected from Sister A Liang? She took a moment to recover before saying, "Well... probably not. His grandfather and father were grand dukes, so he's a grand duke too. We don't have elders like that, so we can't become grand dukes."

Hearing this, Xue Zhao grew somewhat annoyed. "Damn it! Shouldn't the strong reign supreme in this world?"

Ye Guyi spread her hands and said, "Yes, and the grand duke's grandfather and father are the strongest people in our duchy."

"Fine, then I'll wait until I grow up!" Xue Zhao chose to compromise for the time being.