Could it be Miss Emily?

　　No, that's not right either. Miss Emily has long since become a scholar, so it can't be Michael Carter...""Stop guessing. Even if you guessed all day, you wouldn't get it. The saint-grade scholar from the The Grant Family—you know him too. It's none other than Miss Susan's husband, Charles BakerYoung Master Baker.""

　　""Him?

　　No way!

　　Wasn't it said that he failed all four times he challenged the Qinglian Sacred Dao Stele?

　　Everyone in Qingyun City knows about this—he couldn't even pass the upper grade, so how did he suddenly obtain the saint-grade True Fate Dao Seal?""

　　""He was just hiding his abilities before. Otherwise, how could a prodigy like Miss Susan have married him?

　　Say what you will, Charles Baker is still the son of a peerless sage. If the father is a sage, how bad could the son possibly be?

　　He was just keeping a low profile before, not wanting to show off.""

　　""That's true. I always suspected it—'a starved camel is still bigger than a horse.' How could the son of a sage be so mediocre?""

　　""By the way, do you know what poem or essay Young Master Baker used to gain the recognition of the Sacred Dao Stele?""

　　""Of course I do! It's all over Qingyun City. Everyone who's heard it says it's a poem that will be passed down for generations.""

　　""Stop rambling and tell us already.""

　　""Listen carefully...

　　Ahem...

　　In a towering building a hundred feet high, one could pluck the stars with a hand.

　　One dares not speak loudly, for fear of startling those in heaven.""

　　""What a line: 'One dares not speak loudly, for fear of startling those in heaven.'

　　Young Master Baker truly is silent for four years, then amazes everyone with a single phrase—even the heavens are startled! A saint-grade scholar—he's the first saint-grade scholar in the history of our Qingyun City, isn't he?""

　　""Exactly. Now, who in Qingyun City doesn't know of Young Master Baker, who astonished the heavens with a single phrase?""

　　In Dongxian Garden, Susan Grant looked complexly at the piles of large and small gift boxes filling the courtyard, unable to describe her feelings.

　　""Miss, Master Heihe sent someone with a congratulatory gift, congratulating Young Master Baker on his promotion to scholar.""

　　""Miss, Fourth Master also sent someone with a congratulatory gift.""

　　""Miss, the son of Master Yu Jia came to congratulate Young Master Baker on his promotion to scholar.""

　　""Miss..."" Susan Grant wasn't impressed by these gifts, but they did help her vent some of the resentment she'd held in her heart for so long.

　　Back then, her father and Charles Baker's father arranged their childhood engagement. But who could have known that when Charles Baker was only eleven or twelve, the peerless sage would fall in the war against the demonic path, leaving only Charles Baker in the Bai family.

　　The elders of the The Grant Family originally planned to have Susan Grant break off the engagement and marry into another prestigious family, but Susan Grant's father insisted that the then seventeen-year-old Susan Grant marry the twelve-year-old Charles Baker, and even took Charles Baker in to live with the The Grant Family, making him a son-in-law who married into the family.

　　Because of this, many in the The Grant Family turned against Susan Grant's father. A few years later, he passed away from illness, in part due to the emotional strain from this matter.

　　After her father's death, although Susan Grant was talented, she was still a woman who had married poorly. She was not favored in the The Grant Family, and often suffered cold words and ridicule. Though she lived in the The Grant Family, few relatives interacted with her. Scenes like this, with so many elders and relatives sending gifts and congratulations, she hadn't seen in years.

　　Susan Grant had imagined countless times that, once she achieved success in her cultivation, the elders and relatives of the The Grant Family would look at her differently. But she never imagined that this day would come early because of Charles Baker.

　　""To live as splendidly as summer flowers, to die as quietly beautiful as autumn leaves.

　　Have I really misjudged him all these years?

　　Or has he simply never shown me his true self?""

　　Murmuring this line of poetry, Susan Grant couldn't help but become a little lost in thought.

　　Although the poem that astonished the heavens earned Charles Baker the saint-grade True Fate Dao Seal, in comparison, Susan Grant preferred this line of poetry.

　　Charles Baker had no idea what Susan Grant was thinking, nor did he entertain the guests who had come to offer their congratulations. At this moment, he was fully focused on circulating the ""Cangtian Overlord Art"" to adapt to the baptism of the True Fate Dao Seal on his body.

　　A blazing white humanoid silhouette flickered faintly on Charles Baker's body, as if a shadow formed of light. It was impossible to tell if it was male or female—just a figure of chaotic light, exuding a strange, awe-inspiring, and absolute aura. This was the saint-grade True Fate Dao Seal that Charles Baker had obtained: ""Ten Directions Ancient Emperor.""

　　The blazing white currents flowing from the Ten Directions Ancient Emperor merged into the qi cultivated by Charles Baker, transforming all of it into blazing white qi. At the same time, it nourished Charles Baker's flesh, bones, and blood, making them tougher and granting him boundless strength.

　　The scholar ranks are divided into lower three grades, middle three grades, and upper three grades, with the saint grade adding one more, making a total of ten grades.

　　If a scholar is promoted with a lower-grade True Fate Dao Seal, the seal can only advance three stages at most—that is, the lower three grades.

　　A middle-grade True Fate Dao Seal can advance six stages in total; an upper-grade can advance nine; and the saint grade can advance ten.

　　In simpler terms, Charles Baker's Ten Directions Ancient Emperor can transform ten times—the highest possible number of transformations for a True Fate Dao Seal among first-rank scholars. However, to achieve these transformations, one must cultivate scholar-level techniques.