When Medusa heard this, she looked at Gu Shenge's smiling, handsome face. Her alluring, soul-stirring light-purple eyes brimmed with indignation, and she bit down on her pearly white teeth, spitting out two words through clenched teeth.
"Husband!"
"Yeah! 罒▽罒"
Hearing her call him husband, Gu Shenge nodded in satisfaction and said gently:
"Since my beloved wife wants so badly to know where I came from, I naturally won't hide it from you. But there are too many people here, and it's hard to talk freely. Let's return to the Divine Temple first, and I'll tell you everything there."
"Hmph!" Medusa gave a soft snort and tried to wriggle free of his embrace. But Gu Shenge wrapped one arm around her slender serpent waist and the other beneath her long, beautiful legs, then lifted her up in a bridal carry and held her close. They couldn't have been more intimate.
Such an affectionate gesture in front of everyone—especially with all the Snake-people staring at them in surprise—brought a shy blush to Medusa's pretty face. She hardly dared to look up. This was so unlike her usual queenly image that she ordered Gu Shenge in a low voice:
"Gu Shenge, put me down! I can walk by myself!"
Looking at the embarrassed Medusa in his arms, Gu Shenge's smile grew wider. Ignoring her protests, he lowered his head and kissed her inviting red lips. He claimed their queen right in front of all the Snake-people, provoking envy and jealousy in many of them.
Only after a long while did Gu Shenge finally lift his head, still reluctant to stop. Medusa had been kissed against her will, and her face was so red it looked ready to drip blood.
The Dou Qi Wings unfurled behind Gu Shenge. His golden wings beat as he carried Medusa toward the Divine Temple.
It didn't take long for news that the Wang Fu had killed Mo Basi with a single punch to spread, from Snake-Person City throughout the Eight Great Tribes and the other medium- and small-sized tribes.
The incident angered the Mo Snake Tribe, but they didn't dare show it. After all, their own leader had brought this on himself by provoking the Wang Fu.
And now that Mo Basi was dead, the Mo Snake Tribe had no leader. Rather than seek justice for their dead chieftain—a matter of little importance—they were much more interested in who would take his place.
"What?! You're from another world?!"
Medusa's voice rang out in the bedchamber of the Divine Temple, full of astonishment. The Snake-Person Queen stared at her husband in disbelief. He had just said that he came from another world! It was simply too hard to believe!
Gu Shenge told Medusa not to be too surprised. Her reaction was exactly what he had expected. Then he explained in a gentle voice:
"My beloved wife, there's always another world beyond the one we know, and there are always stronger people beyond the strong. The Dou Qi Continent we're on now is only one of countless lower planes. Above the Dou Qi Continent lies the Great Thousand World. Your husband comes from there."
"Lower planes? The Great Thousand World?"
As Gu Shenge explained, Medusa gradually calmed down. If she couldn't even accept something like this, how could she be queen?
Gu Shenge nodded and used the Dou Qi Continent as an example, carefully explaining what the Great Thousand World was.
"The Great Thousand World is where countless lower planes converge. It's home to countless races and a gathering place for the most powerful heroes. Take the Dou Qi Continent, for example. The Great Thousand World is like the Central Plains within it—a vast land rich in resources and filled with powerful people. And the Dou Qi Continent is like the Jia Ma Empire. My beloved wife, do you understand the comparison?"
After listening, Medusa understood what Gu Shenge meant. She looked at him with even greater surprise.
She had assumed Gu Shenge was descended from one of the great clans in the Central Plains. She hadn't expected him to come from a higher realm—from another "Central Plains."
Medusa questioned Gu Shenge again. "Then why did you come to the Dou Qi Continent?"
"Hmm... It's a little complicated, but you can think of it as my family dumping me here."
Gu Shenge made up an excuse, and Medusa believed him. After all, it was common for the powerful forces in the Central Plains to send their descendants to harsh places to undergo trials.
Medusa naturally assumed that Gu Shenge was a descendant of a powerful force in the Great Thousand World, sent to the harsh Dou Qi Continent to undergo a trial.
That also explained why Gu Shenge had suddenly appeared on her island and why he could produce the Nine-Colored Heaven-Swallowing Python Origin, an Emperor-Tier Cultivation Technique, and all kinds of high-grade pills.
Perhaps the rare treasures she considered priceless meant little to Gu Shenge.
Damn! She should've squeezed more treasures out of him for the betrothal gifts!
At that moment, Medusa felt she'd lost out badly.
After a while, Medusa continued, "If that's true, does that mean a Dou Di from the Dou Qi Continent is only as strong as a Dou Emperor in the Great Thousand World?"
Gu Shenge shook his head.
"The Great Thousand World doesn't cultivate Battle Qi. It cultivates Spiritual Energy, and it has many different realms. When powerful people from lower planes ascend to the Great Thousand World, the laws there forcibly transform the energy within them. The result varies—some grow stronger, others weaker. As for what realm a Dou Di would correspond to, I'm not entirely sure."
In truth, based on his own estimation, a Dou Di from the Dou Qi Continent should be equivalent to a Sovereign in the Great Thousand World.
The original novel of The Great Ruler mentioned that Xiao Yan went to the Great Thousand World to uncover the mystery of the ancient Dou Di's disappearance. Upon arriving, he was transported to the Lesser West Heaven Realm, where he met Luo Tianshen, the patriarch of the Luo God Clan. With Luo Tianshen's help, his Battle Qi was assimilated into Spiritual Energy.
Decades later, he went alone to the mighty Fire Spirit Clan of the Great Thousand World to demand one of its Heavenly Flames, introducing himself as the "Flame Emperor." He fought the entire Fire Spirit Clan single-handedly, leaving them so helpless that they had no choice but to awaken their Fire Spirit Ancestor, who had been sleeping for tens of thousands of years.
The two fought an earth-shattering battle. Their towering flames reduced an abandoned continent to nothing, yet the Fire Spirit Ancestor still couldn't gain the upper hand or do a thing to Xiao Yan. In the end, he could only admit defeat and let Xiao Yan take the clan's sacred flame.
In his previous life, some people online claimed that a Dou Di was equivalent to a Heavenly Sovereign because Xiao Yan defeated the Fire Spirit Ancestor, who was a Heavenly Sovereign.
But don't forget, Xiao Yan defeated the Fire Spirit Ancestor decades after arriving in the Great Thousand World. He didn't defeat him the moment he got there.
Unless Xiao Yan had made no progress at all during those decades and had remained a Dou Di the entire time, the claim that a Dou Di was equivalent to a Heavenly Sovereign simply didn't hold up.
So Gu Shenge believed that a Dou Di was only equivalent to a Sovereign. That didn't mean Xiao Yan himself was only a Sovereign. When Xiao Yan had broken through into the Great Thousand World, he must already have come a long way along the path of the Dou Di. After his Battle Qi was transformed into Spiritual Energy, he might have reached the peak of the Sovereign Realm—or even become an Earthly Sovereign.
Gu Shenge looked at the slightly dazed Medusa and drew his beloved wife into his arms. He gently played with her dark hair, lowered his head, and breathed warmly against her ear before kissing her earlobe, teasing and tantalizing her.
Medusa's body trembled. A warm sensation enveloped her ear, and an unusual flush crept over her pale earlobe. Then Gu Shenge's voice sounded beside her ear.
"My beloved wife, since you're going into seclusion, how about helping me find something before you do?"
Medusa's face flushed slightly. She slapped away Gu Shenge's hand as it stroked her body and told him to behave. Then she asked, "What is it?"
After being warned, Gu Shenge obediently placed his hand on Medusa's abdomen and replied, "A Heavenly Flame."
P.S. I know plenty of experts think I got this wrong and that a Dou Di shouldn't be equivalent to a Sovereign, but the answer is easy to see.
Xiao Xiao, Xiao Yan's daughter, is a perfect example. To ascend from the Dou Qi Continent to the Great Thousand World, one must reach the Dou Di realm. Yet when Xiao Xiao appeared in The Great Ruler, her cultivation was only at the Sovereign Realm.
So it's obvious: Dou Di = Sovereign.
At the end of Wu Dong Qian Kun, Xiao Yan and Lin Dong met, but the story never said that their strength was equal. Lin Dong sensed an extremely blazing aura from Xiao Yan, while Xiao Yan said that Lin Dong was a formidable person.
Also, Xiao Yan had already reached the peak of the Dou Di realm by then, while Lin Dong had only recently broken through to the Ancestor Realm. So this shows that the Ancestor Realm is stronger than the Dou Di realm.
Before you continue