My Wife Turns Out to be an Empress of the Dynasty

"How on earth is Little Junior Brother's cultivation progressing so rapidly? It's only been half a month, and he's nearly reached the same level of mastery as our master's hundred-year cultivation. It's enviable, really."

"Just a while ago, a notorious bandit, skilled in hardened body techniques, was causing trouble at the foot of the mountain. Little Junior Brother was out distributing alms for the first time and happened to bump into him, accidentally killing the bandit with a single slap!"

The senior disciples, who were all old enough to be the young acolyte's father, gazed at him with envy. They thought that the fight between immortals that destroyed their temple must have somehow triggered Little Junior Brother's awakening.

Still uncomfortable with the attention, the young acolyte lowered his head and began to silently recite the divine scripture left by his Immortal Brother.

Since he started practicing the Profound Heaven Sutra, he felt smarter and had even managed to kill a bad guy. But his master and senior brothers still treated him like a child, which frustrated him.

"I wonder when Immortal Brother will leave his retreat. Has he eaten the food I brought him?"

As he muttered the scripture, the young acolyte glanced over toward Gu Lan's mountain.

Aside from himself and Qing Yunzi, no one in the Azure Cloud Sect knew about Gu Lan's presence. Each morning at dawn, the young acolyte would secretly deliver food to him, never once encountering Gu Lan directly. In his mind, Gu Lan had elevated from a handsome scholar to a revered Immortal Brother.

With his breakthrough and the opportunity to reopen the sect, Qing Yunzi's spirits were high. But after the reopening ceremony, his first task was to instruct his naive disciple to bring another meal to the Immortal, Gu Lan. Though Gu Lan likely didn't need mortal food, this gesture was Qing Yunzi's way of showing respect.

Hearing the food delivery task, the young acolyte's face brightened. He didn't enjoy crowded places, and delivering food to Immortal Brother allowed him to enjoy a solitary mountain stroll — his favorite thing.

"Chicken in one hand, duck in the other, a chubby little lad, strolling the mountain path..."

Carrying the food, he ran briskly along the steep mountain trail. Despite not having learned any body techniques, his movement had become surprisingly agile since he'd started practicing the Profound Heaven Sutra. Just like when he dealt with that bandit, a single reflexive slap had sent the foe off to the afterlife without any chance to retaliate.

"Darling, is that little fellow the disciple you selected for the Tianji Pavilion?"

"He has some natural talent. He might even do well with our Snow Clan techniques, though he's already studying the Tianji Pavilion's introductory methods…."

In the mountains, Gu Lan and Mu Yuyan stepped out of the cave dwelling and spotted a young Daoist boy running toward them.

Over the past few days, aside from cultivating, Gu Lan had recounted to Mu Yuyan all the events he had experienced—from the battle in the Immortal Realm to his arrival in the Mortal Realm.

Seeing the young Daoist, Mu Yuyan took a liking to him as well.

The Snow Clan was currently in a period of development, and whenever she came across promising talents, she couldn't help but want to recruit them.

However, the Tianji Pavilion itself was not flourishing in numbers. Among the students of the Lanyan Royal School, only Mo Li had successfully become an outer disciple of the Tianji Pavilion. For the other disciples, joining the Tianji Pavilion was still quite challenging.

Under such circumstances, she could only suppress her desire and reluctantly give up.

"Ha, Honey, you're starting to sound like me! The little fellow has potential, and Zhongren is already aware of him."

Gu Lan chuckled. The young acolyte had already begun learning the Profound Heaven Sutra within half a month, so Gu Lan had sent word to Zhongren. Delighted, Zhongren planned to visit the Mortal Realm after matters in the Immortal Realm were settled.

For now, though, Gu Lan did not intend to take the young acolyte to the Tianji Pavilion. His fate was deeply tied to this Mortal Realm, and his family was still alive, so it wasn't an ideal time for him to leave.

After half a month of recovery, Gu Lan had regained ten percent of his strength, much faster than anticipated. He attributed this progress largely to Mu Yuyan's assistance. Balancing yin and yang, after all, was an essential part of the Dao.

Given his quick recovery, it seemed likely that Divine Son Arthur's recovery would be swift as well. Knowing Arthur was back in the Immortal Realm made Gu Lan feel that his stay in the Mortal Realm was no longer necessary. He decided to return to the Immortal Realm to continue his recovery and work on One Breath Into Three Clarity, the last stage of self-dissection.

As the acolyte approached, food in hand, Gu Lan sent a beam of spiritual light to him, transmitting a sword technique to settle his karmic debt from recent days.

With that, Gu Lan and Mu Yuyan, without concealing their forms, stepped onto the Merit Golden Cloud and used the Divine Space Ring to ascend directly to the Immortal Realm in front of the young acolyte.

As they ascended, the surrounding air filled with spiritual energy, creating extraordinary phenomena in the sky. Such phenomena often appeared when transitioning from a lower realm to a higher one, signifying ascension. The location of an ascension often became a blessed land, where cultivators could progress more quickly than usual.

"Senior Brothers, look!"

"Such dense spiritual energy on that peak! There must be a rare treasure there. Let's go check it out!"

A few Taoist disciples busying themselves at the temple entrance looked up at the sight in awe.

"Could it be another immortal fight?"

Fear crept into some of their faces as memories of the previous divine clash resurfaced, recalling how their sect temple was completely leveled. Now that it was rebuilt, another encounter would mean destruction once more.

"Quickly, report this to Master!"

But at that moment, Qing Yunzi had already been alerted. He stepped out of the temple, his eyes twinkling at the heavenly display.

"Ascension in broad daylight! That person is indeed an immortal!"

"Immortal Brother even has an Immortal Sister!"

"Are you two leaving? Won't you stay for a meal first?!"

Below the phenomena, the young acolyte gazed up at the sky. Although a sword technique had been imprinted in his mind, he paid it no mind. Instead, he shouted in the direction of Gu Lan and Mu Yuyan.

Hearing his words, Mu Yuyan found it amusing, though Gu Lan was already accustomed to the acolyte's unique way of thinking, second only to Chen Feng's quirks. Perhaps this was the price one paid to bear the destiny of the world.