Star Luo Empire, Zhu Manor.
Knock, knock, knock~
"May I come in?"
"Come in."
The door closed. The Soul Guidance Lamp inside was still lit, and six-year-old Zhu Zhuqing was already fully dressed, seated at the table in the main room.
Seeing her little sister, such a tiny thing, clearly so sleepy she could barely keep going yet still forcing herself to sit straight and look alert before her, Zhu Zhuyun's beautiful eyes dimmed. Yet a hint of a smile entered her voice:
"I ran into some servants along the way and got held up. Have you been waiting long?"
Zhu Zhuqing merely shook her head, saying nothing more about that. Instead, she went straight to the point. "Before you came, I already verified it. People without the notebook and chat group really can't see these things."
As she spoke, Zhu Zhuqing willed the chat group's supplementary terms open and pointed to the confidentiality clause.
Zhu Zhuyun's expression sharpened. "Who did you test it on?"
"My personal maid," Zhu Zhuqing said calmly. "Revealing the notebook and chat group's existence to anyone outside the group triggers the punishment mechanism. I'm not stupid enough to tell her everything."
Zhu Zhuqing had merely called the maid into her room, then kept the panel open while asking her to chase away flying insects.
Naturally, the maid had seen nothing. Even now, she was still in the side room questioning her life.
Zhu Zhuyun nodded in satisfaction. "My dear little sister, thank goodness you weren't that stupid. Otherwise, your big sister would have had to clean up your mess."
"Big sister?" Zhu Zhuqing's cool, childish voice was full of scorn:
"From the day your fiancé threatened me in public, I no longer had a sister."
The warped relationships within the Star Luo Imperial Family and the Zhu Family might not have been known to everyone on Douluo Continent, but they were certainly no secret.
A genius born anywhere else would undoubtedly be nurtured as a promising seed. At the very least, they would receive good care and education.
But being born into the Dai Family or Zhu Family was no stroke of good fortune.
Under the deliberate guidance of the two families' elders-or, more bluntly, the emperor of the Star Luo Empire-talented Zhu girls and Dai boys were forcibly paired off from childhood.
Then they were indoctrinated with the belief that their other siblings were all enemies, beginning an exceptionally cruel competition.
Nor did that competition gradually subside as they grew older. Instead, it only intensified.
In the end, aside from the single pair who successfully ascended to the positions of emperor and empress of the Star Luo Empire, the vast majority of the other competitors would be eliminated outright by the victors!
Zhu Zhuqing was only six that year, while Dai Mubai, the future husband the Star Luo Empire had assigned her, was eleven. One had innate Soul Power approaching rank nine, while the other was even close to innate full Soul Power. Their prospects seemed limitless.
Yet in the peculiar environment of imperial struggles, that little bit of talent seemed hardly worth mentioning beside an age gap exceeding five years.
Zhu Zhuyun was thirteen that year, with innate Soul Power approaching rank eight, a rank-twenty-six Soul Grandmaster.
Dai Weisi was sixteen, with rank-eight innate Soul Power, a rank-thirty-two Soul Elder!
That gap could no longer be bridged through hard work alone.
Everyone knew that rather than competitors, Zhu Zhuqing and Dai Mubai were better described as two whetstones.
The significance of the Star Luo Imperial Family having failed to produce a single Titled Douluo in several thousand years only kept growing.
Living in such a foul environment, it was better to beg others for mercy than to drive oneself harder.
Looking back several dozen generations, there had indeed been losers who knew their place and were spared by the victors, allowed to live with their martial souls crippled.
Unfortunately, Dai Weisi was clearly not a magnanimous man.
Not long ago, after Zhu Zhuqing's martial soul awakening ceremony, perhaps provoked by her outstanding talent, Dai Weisi had threatened her in public.
Her father and mother had been as indifferent as ever. That was nothing.
But the sister who had showered her with love and care ever since she could remember...
Had chosen silence.
The gentle, kind sister in her memories seemed to have been nothing but a false illusion all along.
Compared with the blow Zhu Zhuyun had dealt her, even Dai Mubai, who had likewise cowered to one side, only daring to sulk and looking furtive, seemed to count for nothing.
From that day on, Zhu Zhuqing had never smiled again.
Zhu Zhuyun paid no heed to her sister's icy tone. Following the pattern of their exchanges over the past few days, she ought to have answered with a sneer, then reminded her like a petty villain reveling in her advantage:
"Zhu Zhuqing, remember this: we aren't sisters, but enemies who might fight to the death as soon as tomorrow."
"The only place we can speak peacefully is the family ancestral hall during ancestral rites-and you'll be a memorial tablet while I'm the empress."
Lately, she had learned plenty of similarly icy lines that should never have come from lips at thirty-six degrees.
But Zhu Zhuyun did not do that. She merely turned her calm gaze toward the screen of light.
"Vassal"-what an accurate title. So accurate that she could not even bear to change it, as though keeping it could constantly remind her that sisters killing one another was the fate of Zhu women.
And just then, that "God King" posted another update.
[Lu Chen: God King Tang, oh, God King Tang. Cunning as a ghost you may be, but you'll still end up drinking my foot-washing water.
Never mind. On second thought, I can't reward you.
You didn't see this coming, did you? I've come to raid your home!]
Everyone: ?
His surname was Tang? Raiding his home?
Bibi Dong's delicate body shuddered. The words "Clear Sky Sect" surfaced in her mind; clearly, her thoughts had gone in the right direction.
Was it that "Tang"?
Damn it, someone from the Clear Sky Sect actually became a god?!
By now, Bibi Dong was actually leaning toward believing that the "God King" persona Lu Chen had constructed was real.
In that case, what realm would an opponent capable of forcing a god into rebirth be in?
[Lu Chen: Unfortunately, crossing ten thousand years of space and time to reach the present Douluo Continent consumed far too much power after all.
With rebirth, everything has to start over. Even the memories I gained from observing the river of time have begun developing gaps. Otherwise, I wouldn't need to hurry to record them in a diary.
Speaking of which, isn't it strange? Wasn't Douluo Continent the place that birthed and raised Tang San?
He could bring himself to do this even to it?]
[Lu Chen: Tsk, tsk. Douluo Continent ten thousand years from now is truly miserable. It's practically falling to pieces.
Hopefully, this cultivation system called Soul Masters won't be too difficult, or it might take some effort.
But to protect the safety of countless planes, all this effort is worthwhile!]
Inside the chat group.
[Little Princess (Little Demoness): I feel like I've learned an incredible secret!]
[Little Fox (Failed Delivery): +1. Who is this God King Tang San? Is he from Douluo Continent?]
[Yanzi (Leftover Woman): +1. What does he mean, Douluo Continent is about to shatter? What does he mean, he could bring himself to do this even to his homeland?]
[Little Princess (Little Demoness): No, I have to tell Dad and Grandpa about this. At the very least, we need to establish who Lu Chen and Tang San are!]
Five minutes later.
[Little Princess (Little Demoness): That electric shock hurt so much (ノ˃̩̩⌓˂̩̩)ノ.
Now Dad and Grandpa are staying by my side and won't leave. They keep asking what happened. How can I get them to go away?
Urgent, urgent, urgent, urgent, urgent!]
The system had evidently not expected anyone to still have missed the confidentiality clause, and simply pinned it directly in the chat group.
[Lu Chen is tied to Douluo Continent's survival and is a priority subject of the chat group's attention.] [Group members must not endanger Lu Chen's safety in any way.] [The existence of the chat group and Lu Chen must not be revealed in any way to anyone outside the group, or the punishment mechanism will be triggered.] [Furthermore, the second punishment will be ten times the intensity and duration of the first, and so on.]
"Thank goodness Little Princess took that lightning strike for me..."
Outside the Supreme Pontiff's bedchamber, Hu Liena abruptly halted her steps inward and patted her budding chest, her beautiful little face, already tinged with charm, filled with lingering fear.
The girl was loyal, but she was not stupid.
If she could reveal the chat group to her teacher, an electric shock would have been worth it. But clearly, the chat group would not let her succeed.
Rather than endlessly cycle between electric shocks and her teacher's questioning, she might as well return first and plan carefully.
At that thought, Hu Liena immediately turned to leave.
Unfortunately, Bibi Dong, whose Soul Power was still keeping watch over every corner of the Supreme Pontiff's Hall, was one step ahead of her.
"Nana, coming to see your teacher so late-is there something urgent?"
"Come inside and talk."
The doors slowly opened, and an exquisitely beautiful figure in a pink nightdress appeared before her, smiling gently.
Hu Liena's charming little face went from red to white. In the end, she could only follow her teacher inside as though resigned to her fate.
"Yes, Teacher."
The doors slowly closed, leaving only a faint, barely audible whimper from the girl.
Before you continue