The cause of all this, Yuanen Yehui, was currently feeling somewhat dissatisfied.
Her delicate brows furrowed slightly as she muttered under her breath, "These two were way too fragile. If I'd known, I wouldn't have started the fight so early."
"Are the others not here yet?"
Just then, someone arrived to answer her question.
A dragon's roar echoed—From the distant sky, a rift in space appeared. A pair of dragon claws reached out, tearing open a spatial passage with a powerful force.
From the rift emerged Xie Xie's martial soul true form: the Time-Space Dragon, riding the clouds and mist.
On its spine stood three imposing figures with distinct auras—clearly no ordinary beings.
They were, of course, Ye Xinglan, Xu Lizhi, and Ya Li.
At Ye Xinglan's waist hung a long, starry sword—her martial soul, the Star God Sword.
The sword glowed with starlight, and a halo of starlight encircled her body.
With her swordsmanship having reached the level of a Sword Deity, she had been building up her energy the entire journey.
At this very moment, the instant she arrived on the battlefield, Ye Xinglan made her move.
Swish!
She took a single step forward—drawing her sword and striking in one seamless motion.
A massive sword of starlight extended upward to connect with the celestial bodies, and downward to pierce the deepest abyss.
The surrounding space was permeated with the power released by Xie Xie, enabling the giant sword of starlight to instantly arrive before Yuanen Yehui.
Though it did not finish her off in one strike, it forced her to retreat from Le Zhengyu and Xu Xiaoyan, effectively rescuing her companions from danger—which was enough.
As expected, things were proceeding without any major surprises.
A holy figure, the Prayer Angel, suddenly rose from within the deep crater.
Bathed in angelic radiance, she shattered Yuanen Yehui's gravitational field and healed the injuries sustained by Xu Xiaoyan and Le Zhengyu.
The six of them regrouped—under the pressure of six peak combatants.
Yuanen Yehui made the reasonable choice to retreat, while the Shrek Seven Devils and Ya Li chose to...
"Pursue!"
In the blink of an eye, with a mere exchange of thoughts, they made their decision.
Choosing to pursue wasn't difficult—they held the advantage now.
Since she was already an enemy, since they had caught her, and since it was now a six-against-one situation, it was only logical to eliminate the threat entirely.
Seven streaks of shooting star-like light chased across the sky.
Their direction: the city of Aolai, where Di Tian's "family of four" resided.
Meanwhile, in a very "cozy" room...
At a dining table filled with rare and precious ingredients, Di Tian's eating posture was oddly refined, as though he were a new son-in-law awkwardly sharing a table with a family dog.
He also gave off a distinct vibe—like he was ready to bolt the moment he finished eating.
As it turns out, things developed precisely along those lines.
After wiping his mouth with a napkin, Di Tian didn't hesitate or offer pleasantries. He simply said his goodbyes to Tang Ziran and Lang Yue, and left with Gu Yuena.
Just as he'd said from the beginning—he was merely there for a meal.
He left behind only one cryptic line that baffled the couple:
"Soon, your son's friends will come visit you."
Bidding farewell to Tang Ziran and Lang Yue, Di Tian and Gu Yuena walked out the door.
As they strolled, Gu Yuena kept glancing back every few steps, her delicate brows tightly knit.
Seeing this, Di Tian chuckled and asked, "What's wrong?"
"You're a girl leaving home—can't bear to part with your parents?"
"Want to cry it out? While I'm in a good mood, I promise not to laugh at you."
Gu Yuena completely ignored his teasing assurances.
"What did you do?"
Though she no longer possessed the divine-level mental power of a God King, she had dwelled at that level for many years—her insight remained sharp.
Combined with the fact that Di Tian had made his moves right in front of her, and considering their deeply intimate connection, she could faintly sense he was up to something.
Wherever Di Tian passed, strong traces of spiritual energy lingered—though they dissipated quickly.
She could only sense these remnants—nothing more specific.
They strolled like a young couple along the roadside.
Di Tian explained affectionately:
"Our carefully crafted VCR—it'd be a shame if Tang Wulin didn't see it from his 'ex-boyfriend table.'"
"At this moment, Tang Wulin is right on the cusp of inheriting the Shura God's divine seat. He can't be bothered with anything else."
"Tang San's divine consciousness not only has to guard Tang Wulin, but also reconnect with the Douluo Divine Realm that was swept into temporal turbulence. That consumes a massive amount of divine energy just to send over the inheritance seed of the Shura God, and he still has to face questioning from the other gods in the realm. He's got no time either."
"When inheriting a divine seat on the Douluo Plane, crucial moments in the inheritance always involve some sort of illusory trial."
"It's strange, but undeniably real."
"Possibly influenced by some mysterious law of love on the Douluo Plane, these illusions almost always involve romantic entanglements."
"In short, within the cause and effect of inheriting a divine seat, romantic complexity is inevitable."
"These illusions are a fusion of 'what I think' and 'what he or she thinks.'"
"Just like Tang San's inheritance of the Sea God and Shura God seats—entangled with his partner Xiao Wu and his opponent Qian Renxue."
"Or when Qian Renxue inherited the Angel God seat, the illusion placed her together with Tang San."
"Or two thousand years ago, when the divine path of god candidate Tang Chen began with his love story with Poseidon High Priest Bo Saixi."
"And Huo Yuhao... well, I won't even get into him—his intentions were always singular and pure."
"What I just did was merely spice up Tang Wulin's illusion a bit."
"After all, people have this tendency—however strong or weak—to cling to the past and to emotion."
"Especially when facing a life-or-death crisis, memories flash by like a film reel."
"And from here, it should begin and end accordingly. A full circle."
"I hope Tang Wulin enjoys the 'gift' I prepared for him."
Gu Yuena listened quietly. Her beautiful eyes flickered with surprise, but soon calmed down.
Di Tian had surprised her too many times—she was almost immune by now.
Even the private matters between people—he seemed to know them all.
As if nothing in the world could escape his understanding.
"Aren't you worried that telling me all this means I'll inform Tang Wulin?"
"Heh~"
"I'd love for you to contact Tang Wulin and tell him everything."
"If you manage to reach him, that means I can trace his hiding spot."
"Ever since you held me back last time and let Tang San's divine consciousness escape with Tang Wulin, I've never been able to find them."
"Not even when Er Ming came to the Star Dou Forest with that fake-suffering act—I couldn't trace them then either."
"Same with the Shrek Seven Devils and Ya Li."
"All I can say is, Tang San sure knows how to hide—thanks to the central power of the Divine Realm."