My Wife Turns Out to be an Empress of the Dynasty

A stunningly beautiful young girl held up a massive pine tree, its trunk wrapped in black vines and, to top it off, even shaped like a hammer.

The scene was as out of place as it could be.

These scenes were the product of the disciples of Lanyan Royal School playfully spoofing their lord's script.

Before, Zhongren would merely laugh it off.

He had never imagined that one day, he would witness a similar scene with his own eyes.

"Very... nice!"

Zhongren forced a smile.

Beside him, Chen Feng also wore a matching smile.

Gu Simu, however, was unfazed by this.

She was quite pleased with her new weapon.

Swinging the giant pine hammer, she forcefully smashed it down.

With a thunderous bang, a large, fresh crater in the smooth ground gained an additional, moderately-sized hole.

"The power is quite good, and it's handy too."

Gu Simu nodded with satisfaction.

With a thought, the giant pine hammer began to shrink rapidly.

In just a moment, it had shrunk to fingertip size, becoming a miniature green hammer with a thin black vine.

"It looks pretty good even when it's small!"

Gu Simu smiled and placed it on her wrist.

Seeing this scene, Zhongren and Chen Feng were completely speechless.

They could never have imagined that two of the world's top natural spirit beings would end up as a small trinket in Gu Simu's hands.

"Now we can go help Father!"

"That big firebird is almost out of fire!"

Gu Simu looked in the direction where Gu Lan was, her gaze chilling.

When dealing with enemies, she had never shown mercy.

"Yes, it's time to bring them over."

Hearing this, Zhongren also nodded.

With their power, even handling a regular Main God Realm would be a struggle.

Dealing with someone as strong as Cangming, even beyond God Realm, would naturally be very challenging.

However, before coming here, Zhongren had already arranged for two of Jing Nation's strongest battle formations to be on standby.

One was led by Lin Lu, whose battle formation combo techniques could threaten God Realm experts.

The other was led by Lin Tan'er, whose formation power was even more astounding.

But even so, these two formations wouldn't be able to directly contend with Cangming.

Zhongren and the others didn't intend to fight head-on but to assist from the sidelines.

"This time, we absolutely cannot let the Young Lord of the Ancient God Clan escape!"

Chen Feng's eyes glinted with killing intent.

Thinking back to everything that had happened here recently, the killing intent in his heart kept rising.

He didn't want to experience that feeling of being treated like an ant a second time.

"Roar, roar!"

"Let's go!"

Gu Simu, riding the Fierce Beast Suan Ni, took the lead.

Zhongren and Chen Feng followed closely.

All three moved at incredible speed.

Gu Lan, who was continuously executing Sword Twelve, had long since noticed them.

However, at first, in order to completely suppress Cangming, he didn't dare to get distracted.

Now, being chased by the Golden Crow, he certainly couldn't spare any attention.

He still trusted Zhongren.

Since Zhongren was here, he must have come prepared.

Thus, Gu Lan wasn't too worried.

Even if a crisis arose, he could still use the Divine Space Ring to bring the three of them into it.

What he needed to worry about most now was Cangming's last three Gifted Powers—exactly which three Great Paths they would correspond to.

"Ice, fire, life, sun..."

"Corresponding to blue, red, green, and yellow. That leaves three colors: orange, cyan, and purple!"

"Orange and cyan likely correspond to earth and wood among the five elements. These two Great Paths won't affect me much, but they could be used to escape through teleportation..."

Gu Lan pondered his countermeasures.

He was now strategizing on how to completely pin down Cangming.

No matter how powerful the Ancient God Clan was, he couldn't allow them to simply come and go.

Only by winning this battle could he uncover the reasons behind everything.

While Gu Lan dodged the Sun Fire attacks and contemplated, Gu Simu and the others were not idle.

They arrived at a position a thousand miles away from Gu Lan and Cangming's battlefield.

From this distance, they could avoid being directly locked onto by the other's divine abilities.

At the same time, this distance would give them a bit of reaction time.

These were the experiences Gu Lan had once taught them.

Divine Realm experts had the ability to kill from a thousand miles away without a trace.

But even for God Realm experts, this thousand-mile distance was a limit.

At this distance, using divine abilities still required a moment to activate.

In usual circumstances, this timing wouldn't matter much.

But in a fight with an equal-level opponent, one couldn't afford any distraction.

Just like earlier, Gu Lan seized a moment and completely overpowered Cangming, leaving him unable to fight back.

This is the importance of timing.

In high-level combat, timing is sometimes even more crucial than the power of divine abilities.

Cangming, naturally, sensed the arrival of Gu Simu and the others and even knew they were setting up a large teleportation formation.

"A peerless talent, and one who knows when to play it safe."

"If this person isn't eliminated, he'll be a perpetual threat to my Ancient God Clan!"

Looking at Gu Lan, the madness in Cangming's eyes gradually faded.

He gave his all, using his fourth Gifted Power, which was the strongest Sun Power.

But he didn't expect Gu Lan to be so decisive, directly dodging with a spatial ability without even attempting a test of strength.

Cangming had never expected Gu Lan to have such a deep understanding of spatial rules.

When he first saw Gu Lan use spatial abilities, his heart nearly sank.

Once again, his plans had fallen through.

For Cangming, this was almost a fatal blow.

Under these circumstances, the longer time dragged on, the worse it would be for him.

Looking at his true form, with only three vibrant petals remaining, the madness in his eyes resurfaced.

"I have no choice but to make one last gamble!"

Cangming slowly closed his eyes.

With a wave of his hand, the Linglong Pagoda emitted a spiritual glow as it descended before him.

Inside the pagoda, Busheng Gen was using the Linglong Pagoda's power to constantly attack Gu Lan's Three Clarity incarnations.

But he never would have expected that each of Gu Lan's Three Clarity incarnations was like a turtle with a hard shell.

No matter how he attacked or provoked, they always stayed on the defensive, never counterattacking.

Because of this, over such a long time, Busheng Gen could only use his Gifted Power to drain a bit of divine power, waging a battle of attrition.

Without Cangming's Gifted Power, he stood almost no chance of posing a deadly threat to Gu Lan's Three Clarity incarnations.

Cangming understood this well.

He had brought Busheng Gen and Gu Lan's Three Clarity incarnations into the Linglong Pagoda to trap them, not kill them—killing them was unrealistic.

Moreover, Busheng Gen's Gifted Power could devour any energy and convert it to his own.

This ability could also be used by others.

This was, in fact, Cangming's final trump card.