13: I want to marry you.

The Gu Family estate was now a scorched wasteland.

Among the ruins and broken walls, the smell of blood mixed with the acrid scent of burning was pungent and foul.

A slender figure was curled up like a ghost in the shadow of a collapsed rockery.

Gu Lingshuang's body trembled slightly.

This trembling did not stem from fear, but from a massive shock that threatened to tear her Divine Soul apart.

The Gu Family was gone.

Annihilated by the Su Family, by that Su Xuanchen who should have perished after failing to break through to the Saint Realm.

The future had completely deviated from the trajectory she remembered!

"Why..."

"Why is it like this?"

Just as her mind was reeling with shock and doubt.

An indifferent voice sounded abruptly behind her, without any warning.

"Are you looking for me?"

Gu Lingshuang felt every hair on her body stand on end!

She whirled around, her pupils contracting sharply.

Unbeknownst to her, a young man wearing starry robes was standing quietly just three feet behind her.

His face was flawlessly handsome, his eyes deep and calm, as if they could see through all the falsehoods of the world.

Su Xuanchen!

Gu Lingshuang's mind went blank. Before she could think, her body's instincts reacted first!

"Boom!"

She struck out with her palm!

Her Spirit Sea Realm cultivation erupted without reservation at this moment, her palm wind carrying a hint of Eternal Realm pressure!

Simultaneously, her figure instantly blurred.

Nine Moon Phantom Body!

One transformed into nine!

Nine identical figures simultaneously tore through space towards nine different directions, attempting to flee!

This was one of the life-saving Divine Abilities she had relied on to become famous in her previous life. Even a Saint, caught off guard, would find it difficult to capture them all.

However.

Su Xuanchen simply watched her quietly.

That gaze looked as if he were watching a child trying its best to perform.

"Interesting."

He praised softly.

"To unleash Eternal Realm combat strength while only at the Spirit Sea Realm... truly worthy of the future Empress."

As his words fell.

He slowly raised a hand.

There was no earth-shattering power, no world-destroying Laws.

He merely gave a gentle squeeze towards this piece of Void Realm.

Hum!

Space solidified at that moment.

As if it had turned into a piece of transparent amber.

Gu Lingshuang's nine figures, which were about to vanish into the Void Realm, along with the resolute expressions on their faces, were instantly frozen in mid-air, unable to move.

An invisible cage had quietly formed.

A monstrous tidal wave surged in Gu Lingshuang's heart.

All her Divine Abilities, all her power, seemed so pale and weak before this single hand.

This was a crushing disparity in strength!

She forcefully suppressed the horror in her heart and looked coldly at Su Xuanchen.

"A dignified Saint, ambushing a junior like me who's only at the Spirit Sea Realm... don't you find it laughable?"

She tried to use words to find a possible opening to turn the situation.

Hearing this, Su Xuanchen smiled.

"Junior?"

He took a step forward, his figure instantly appearing before Gu Lingshuang's true body, facing her across the invisible barrier, their eyes meeting.

"A 'Spirit Sea Realm' Cultivator who can perform the Nine Moon Phantom Body, unleash Eternal Realm combat strength, and has a fragment of an Emperor-Aura Primordial Spirit hidden within her Divine Soul?"

Su Xuanchen curled the corner of his mouth playfully.

"Should I call you Gu Lingshuang, or should I address you as... Myriad Tribulations Empress?"

Boom!

This sentence exploded in Gu Lingshuang's mind like a world-creating thunderclap!

Her pupils shook violently, and for the first time, an expression of unconcealable horror and disbelief appeared on her face!

He knew!

How could he know?!

Returning through Rebirth was her greatest secret!

Besides herself, no second person could possibly know!

Looking at her ghost-seeing expression, the smile on Su Xuanchen's lips deepened.

This reaction satisfied him.

After all, Gu Lingshuang was a peerless Empress who had commanded the myriad Daos and fought her way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

After a brief shock, she quickly calmed down.

Her gaze became extremely sharp, staring intently at Su Xuanchen.

"Who exactly are you?"

"You absolutely cannot be Su Xuanchen!"

In her memory, that Su Xuanchen, though also considered a hero of his generation, his Heart-Nature, scheming, and methods were worlds apart compared to this unfathomable man before her!

"I am Su Xuanchen."

Su Xuanchen spoke plainly, as if stating a fact.

Gu Lingshuang didn't believe him.

She gritted her silver teeth, a flash of resolve passing through her eyes.

At this point, she could only gamble!

"Since you know my identity, then you should also understand what kind of terrifying Karma you would incur by killing me!"

Her voice regained the majesty and cold pride of an Empress.

The next second.

She unhesitatingly activated that final Primordial Spirit fragment deep within her Divine Soul!

"Boom!"

An indescribable, supreme Divine Might erupted from within her!

A dazzling Emperor-Aura Light shot into the sky, instantly tearing apart the spatial cage Su Xuanchen had set up!

Gu Lingshuang's figure slowly rose within the light.

Her plain, simple robe transformed into a magnificent Imperial Robe woven from Red Lotus Immortal Fire.

Her three thousand strands of black hair floated without wind, and an Imperial Crown condensed from myriad Laws slowly formed above her head.

Her face, at this moment, became sacred and majestic. As her Phoenix Eyes opened and closed, it seemed as if suns and moons sank and epochs changed!

It was a style that transcended all living beings, looked down upon eternity, and commanded the myriad heavens!

Even Su Xuanchen couldn't help but show a flicker of admiration in his eyes upon seeing this scene.

Truly a peerless, unparalleled style.

Looking down at Su Xuanchen from above, Gu Lingshuang's voice was indifferent, like a decree from the Heavenly Dao.

"Su Xuanchen, you are interesting."

"This Empress gives you an opportunity."

"From this day forward, become my Dao Protector."

Her voice carried an irresistible temptation.

"When I re-ascend to the Emperor's throne, I can impart to you peerless Cultivation Techniques, assist you in breaking through to Saint King, attaining the Great Emperor Realm, and even take you with me to Ascend to the Immortal Domain, achieving immortality!"

She offered a condition that no Cultivator could refuse.

However, as soon as the words were spoken.

That overwhelming imperial majesty surging from her receded like the tide.

The Imperial Crown above her head dissipated, and the Imperial Robe on her body reverted to that plain, simple garment.

Gu Lingshuang's body swayed, her face instantly turning paler than snow. Her aura withered to an extreme, her Realm even falling from the Spirit Sea Realm back to that of a Mortal.

Forcing the activation of the Primordial Spirit fragment was too great a drain on her current self.

But she didn't care.

She believed no one could refuse such temptation.

She looked at Su Xuanchen, awaiting his submission.

Su Xuanchen looked at her, the admiration on his face slowly fading.

He nodded, his expression solemn.

"I believe it."

He praised sincerely.

"The Empress's style is indeed peerless."

The corner of Gu Lingshuang's mouth had just begun to curve into an almost imperceptible smile.

She thought he had agreed.

However.

Su Xuanchen's next sentence froze the expression on her face completely.

He gave a tender smile, so gentle it seemed capable of melting eternal glaciers.

Looking at her, he slowly spoke in a tone that brooked no argument.

"Merely a Dao Protector? That's not enough."

"I've decided."

"I want to marry you."

"From now on, as your husband, I will guard your path and help you re-ascend to the Emperor's throne."

Gu Lingshuang: "?"

She was utterly stupefied.

Her mind, a complete blank.