Starting with being handed over to the Imperial Concubine, building a family with a thousand-year hi

"I knew you'd been cooped up all these days." Xiao Yunshang smiled as Su Mu led her into the library, up the stairs, and into their private bedroom.

The bedroom was quiet and cozy. Xiao Yunshang lay on the bed, still harboring concerns as she recalled the dangers within the black mist. She softly asked, "Were there any unusual actions by those two Star Palace experts in the black mist?"

"Song Qingchang was composed and treated people with kindness and composure, showing no signs of anything amiss," Su Mu replied truthfully. "As for Tula'er of the Three-Eyed Clan, he never showed any obvious hostility throughout the entire process, but he also showed no goodwill whatsoever, always harboring a sense of distance and wariness."

Xiao Yunshang frowned slightly and earnestly reminded him, "You must not be careless. Song Qingmei may seem gentle, but she may be two-faced. You must be wary of both of them."

"I think she's quite sincere."

As soon as Su Mu finished speaking, he secretly regretted it, realizing that the more he said, the more mistakes he would make.

"You're so protective of her, is it because she's beautiful that you're prejudiced and think she's perfect in every way?"

A sly glint flashed in Xiao Yunshang's eyes, and she raised her hand to pinch Su Mu's waist lightly.

"No, absolutely not!" Su Mu quickly reached out and hugged the person tightly, soothingly saying in a gentle voice, "In my heart, no one can compare to you. I know what I'm doing, and I will be on guard against the two of them the whole time, without letting my guard down."

Xiao Yunshang was about to say something more when Su Mu leaned down and kissed her, melting away all her words.

A night of tenderness, a perfect ending to the dual cultivation of souls.

The following morning, as dawn broke and the rising sun bathed the imperial city, Su Mu and Xiao Yunshang walked out of the library side by side. Their auras were warm and mellow, and their cultivation foundations were becoming increasingly solid.

In the spacious courtyard of the library, Xiao Yunshang no longer suppressed her cultivation, and a dazzling Thunder Phoenix Martial Image appeared in the air.

She was over a month pregnant, and the fetus in her womb was slowly taking shape. While the fetus was not yet fully stable, it was the safest time to condense her divine form. Once the divine form was formed, it would help her imprint top-tier divine runes on her physical body, successfully transforming her innate Xuan Lei body into a true divine body, protecting herself and her fetus as they grew steadily.

In the blink of an eye, the sky above the imperial city changed dramatically. Thick dark clouds surged and gathered, and thousands of thunderbolts lurked and flickered in the clouds. A terrifying pressure from heaven and earth swept over the entire imperial palace.

The vast and boundless power of heaven and earth surged from the void in all directions, completely enveloping Xiao Yunshang's Thunder Phoenix Martial Image. The test of heaven and earth for the Martial Emperor to condense his divine image has officially begun!

Su Mu and his disciples stood in the courtyard, all on high alert, full of anticipation, to protect Xiao Yunshang as she broke through to the next level.

All the cultivators in the imperial city sensed the strange phenomenon above the palace, and countless eyes were cast from afar, watching closely this transformation of the divine form.

On the third-floor terrace of a high-end restaurant in the imperial city, Tulaer and Song Qingmei stood by the railing, both gazing at the thunderous sea of ​​clouds above the palace, their eyes filled with astonishment.

The two had already found out that the cultivator who had unleashed the Thunder Phoenix Martial Aspect was none other than Su Mu's Daoist partner, Xiao Yunshang.

"Our arrival is quite coincidental." Tular said expressionlessly, with a hint of emotion in his voice. "Just a month ago, Su Mu condensed his Divine Form and stepped into the Martial Emperor Realm. Now, his Daoist partner is following closely behind and is also about to undergo a Divine Form transformation. When this woman first arrived at Tianyuan Star, she was only at the late stage of Martial King. After marrying Su Mu, her cultivation level skyrocketed, and the speed of her progress is simply unbelievable."

"Indeed astonishing." Song Qingmei nodded slightly, her eyes sparkling. "This person has countless opportunities and unfathomable potential. I'm becoming more and more curious about him."

"Curiosity is useless," Tular said calmly. "When we gave up the credit for the Mysterious Pearl, he refused without hesitation, which is enough to prove that he has no intention of joining the Star Palace and does not want to get too involved with us."

"Not necessarily." Song Qingmei shook her head slightly. "Perhaps it's just that he's of upright character and doesn't want to steal the credit of those he fought alongside."

Although she made this explanation, she already knew in her heart that Su Mu truly had no interest in recruiting Star Palace.

"Do you think he gave it his all in yesterday's battle to kill the Demon Commander?" Tular suddenly turned and asked.

"They must have gone all out," Song Qingmei replied truthfully.

"I think so too." Tular nodded, then added with certainty, "But he must still have top-tier trump cards he hasn't used yet, and he still has extremely deep external forces to rely on."

"Perhaps." Song Qingmei secretly agreed. As true gods of the Star Palace, both of them had kept their ultimate trump cards unused. It was normal for Su Mu to be patient and hide his strength.

At noon, the thunder subsided and the churning clouds dispersed.

Xiao Yunshang's Thunder Phoenix Martial Aspect successfully transformed into a stable Divine Aspect, her aura surged, and her cultivation steadily entered the early stage of the Martial Emperor Realm.

"Congratulations, Godmother, on your great advancement in cultivation, breaking through to the Divine Phase stage!"

Chai Min's disciples were the first to arrive and offer their congratulations, and many of his adopted sons and daughters who lived in the imperial city also came to the palace to offer their congratulations.

Tula and Song Qingmei also flew into the palace, offering polite congratulations to maintain a facade of harmony.

In the afternoon, the crowd gradually dispersed, and the palace and library returned to tranquility.

Xiao Yunshang sat cross-legged and regulated her breathing, adapting to the all-around combat power boost brought by the Divine Image. She devoted herself to trying to imprint divine runes on her physical body by relying on the power of the Divine Image. With the blessing of the Divine Image, she imprinted divine runes at twice the speed, far surpassing the progress of ordinary Martial Emperors.

In the days that followed, she steadily imprinted divine runes while refining the low-grade divine stones left behind by Moen, absorbing pure divine power to nourish herself and nurture the fetus in her womb.

Su Mu did not waste his time. He successively swallowed several Qianxu Divine Soul Pills to strengthen his divine soul foundation. Afterwards, he took the Enlightenment Pill and entered a deep state of entering the Dao. He devoted himself to studying various Dao origins, integrating them, and refining his own Dao foundation.

On October 7th, Su Mu, who was engrossed in comprehending the Dao, heard a familiar system notification.

[Congratulations to my adopted son, Ding Chao, on successfully advancing to the late stage of the Martial Emperor realm. The system reward has been deposited into the warehouse; please check it yourself.]

Su Mu remained calm and focused, still immersed in the state of enlightenment, continuing his cultivation and enlightenment.

Ding Chao, having successfully broken through, came to the library to report as promised. Upon learning that his godfather was in seclusion for intensive cultivation, he bowed to Xiao Yunshang to report and then quietly left without disturbing her.

In the following days, several adopted sons and daughters who had followed him from the Wulong Continent broke through their cultivation levels one after another.

Among this group of disciples, only one was human; the rest were cultivators from other races. Some had broken through from the early to the middle stage of Martial King, some from the middle stage to the late stage, and some even broke through to the middle stage of Martial Emperor. All of them were making continuous progress.

However, the disciples' cultivation levels were limited, and the highest reward distributed by the system was only a top-grade Heaven-level item, with no God-level treasures produced.

On October 15th, Su Mu exited the deep cultivation state, marking the successful conclusion of his seclusion.

In the courtyard, the spirit pet Jinzi was still curled up and asleep. The dazzling golden light surrounding its body had gradually subsided, clearly a sign that it was about to awaken and complete its breakthrough.

With a thought, Su Mu opened the system warehouse and checked the accumulated breakthrough rewards one by one.

As expected, Ding Chao broke through to the late stage of the Martial Realm, and the system rewards indeed contained a divine-level treasure.

A low-grade divine sword of the divine rank—the Purple Cloud Divine Sword!

With a true divine-level offensive treasure in hand, Su Mu's basic attack power increased significantly. Combined with the divine-level combat skill, Sunfall Slash, his overall power surged several times over, resulting in a qualitative leap in his combat strength.

Apart from the Purple Cloud Divine Sword, the rest are all kinds of top-grade Heaven-rank pills and talismans, with ample reserves.

Su Mu walked out of the library, first checking on Jinzi's condition, then using his divine sense to summon all his adopted sons and daughters who had recently broken through, giving them generous rewards as usual, carefully encouraging them, and stabilizing the morale of his subordinates.

Not long after, Tulaer and Song Qingmei entered the palace together and found Su Mu.