Reborn as a lotus, she initially refuses to hand it over to the state.

The desolate sound traveled through the ancient road and landed in the Azure Lotus Cave.

The ten lotus leaves on the Chu boat stopped at the same time.

His consciousness followed the Jianmu root network and continued to spread behind the Heavenly Gate.

Above the rifting star.

The first corpse to open its eyes stood up. It was covered in tattered black armor, its left shoulder was completely shattered, and half a spear was stuck in its chest.

The spear did not pierce flesh, but instead nailed a silver-black vertical pupil totem firmly to its heart.

The corpse reached out and grasped a broken ancient flag beside it. The flag unfurled, revealing a Jianmu totem in the dark starry sky.

When Mu Cang saw the ancient flag, his aged face instantly lost all color: "The Guardian Army of Ten Thousand Spirits."

Chu Zhou scanned it with his divine sense: "You know them?"

Mu Cang gazed at the corpses rising one after another on the rifting star: "During the heyday of the Jianmu Ancestral Court, all spirits were divided into nine border-guarding armies."

"They do not belong to any race, but only obey the commands of the Lord of Jianmu and the Ancestral Court of All Spirits."

"Before the ancient road broke, the last guard army was ordered to stay outside the Heavenly Gate to help all realms retreat back to the ancestral realm."

"But later, the Heavenly Gate closed, and they never returned."

Chu Zhou's divine sense landed on the tattered ancient flag. The flagpole was broken, and the flag was covered with marks left by swords and blades, but even so...

The corpse still held the ancient flag upright.

"What era are we in now?"

The corpse spoke again.

This time, its voice clearly reached Kunlun, and also spread throughout Heilonghu and the lunar defense line via Jianmugen Network.

Xuanweizi looked towards the Heavenly Gate: "The first year of the Ancestral Realm Calendar's revival."

The pale flames in the corpse's eye sockets flickered gently: "Resurrection? How long has the ancestral realm been dormant?"

Xuanweizi had no answer.

The ancient history of the ancestral realm has long been severed, and no one knows exactly how many years the Heavenly Gate has been closed. Yet, Mu Cang spoke up at this moment: "At least ten thousand years."

The corpses on the rift star fell silent, and behind it, more and more of the guardian army's corpses rose from the ice, ruins, and wrecked war chariots.

They waited for ten thousand years on the ancient road.

Without reinforcements, without orders, and without even knowing if the ancestral realm still existed, the corpse clutched the ancient banner: "Where is the Hunting Court? Has it been destroyed?"

Chu Zhou's voice came through the Jianmu Root Network: "No, just a month ago, my ancestral realm buried the Seventh Hunting Court fleet."

The corpse suddenly raised its head, and two pale flames in its eyes pierced through the leaves of the Jianmu tree, as if landing on Chu Zhou.

"Who are you?"

On Heilong Lake.

The ten lotus leaves of the Chu boat unfold.

The shadows of blue-silver lotuses lingered along the root network of the Jianmu tree, reflected outside the Kunlun Heavenly Gate.

"Ancestral Realm Green Lotus".

The corpse saw the phantom of the blue lotus, and then it saw the Jianmu tree with only nine leaves behind Chu Zhou.

It remained silent for a long time, then slowly lowered the broken flag in its hand: "The Jianmu tree still has descendants, and the ancestral realm has not perished. That's enough."

These two words were spoken.

Above the rifting star.

The deathly aura emanating from many of the corpses began to subside little by little.

Chu Zhou could sense that what truly awakened these corpses was not the newly opened Kunlun Heavenly Gate.

Rather, it is some kind of power hidden deep within the rift star.

Just then.

The corpse suddenly raised its hand.

The broken flag pointed directly at Kunlun Tianmen: "Close Tianmen, do not enter the ancient road."

Xuanweizi asked, "Why?"

The corpse made no secret: "We were defeated. The last human king severed the Jianmu Ancient Road and erased the coordinates of the ancestral realm from the starry sky, leaving behind the last piece of pure land."

"Once the Heavenly Gate reopens, the coordinates of the Ancestral Realm will reappear."

Xuanweizi's expression darkened: "The Hunting Court will come?"

"Yes." The pale flames flickered in the corpse's eyes. "And the first to find you may not be the current Hunter's Court."

The voice just fell.

boom!

A loud bang suddenly came from the depths of the rifting star.

Tens of thousands of weapons on the surface of the star trembled simultaneously.

In the darkness, a silver-black vertical pupil opened, but the pupil did not grow on any particular living being.

Instead, it covered a small portion of the Rift Star, with countless black roots extending from the edge of the vertical pupil and burrowing into the depths of the Rift Star.

The ends of all those roots were connected to the remains of a border guard.

[Ding! Ancient slave soldier mother seal detected.]

The target has been linked to the remains of 43,621 border guards.

The remnants of the border guards' souls have been corrupted by the Hunter's Court's slave seal.

[The Slave Soldier Mother Seal is passing through the Kunlun Heavenly Gate, repositioning the ancestral realm's coordinates.]

[Warning: The exposure of ancestral realm coordinates is increasing.]

Chu Zhou's heart sank.

The Hunter's Court had already planted a backup plan within this border guard force.

Instead of destroying the corpses, they turned the border guards into hunting dogs.

Once the Ancestral Realm reopens the Heavenly Gate, the Slave Soldier Mother Seal will be revived, and these ancient guards will be used to help the Hunting Court find the location of the Ancestral Realm.

On the split star.

The first corpse to awaken suddenly froze.

The vertical pupil totem on its chest, pinned by a spear, began to struggle violently.

Click!

A crack appeared on the surface of the spear.

A ray of silver-black light emerged from the vertical pupil.

The pale flames in the corpse's eyes were quickly replaced by a silvery-black color.

It suddenly dropped the broken flag.

He grasped the spear in front of his chest with his right hand and slowly pulled it out.

With each inch it was pulled out, its royal aura grew stronger.

"Retreat..." The corpse's teeth chattered, and a hoarse voice squeezed out from its throat: "Retreat to the ancestral realm, close the gate!"

The words fell.

Its right arm had already risen uncontrollably, and the spear in its hand was thrusting towards Kunlun Tianmen.

boom!

A streak of silver-black spear light pierced through the ancient path, and Xuanweizi stepped in front of the Heavenly Gate to block it.

The ancient sword was drawn, and a sword domain instantly unfolded in the human world.

The sword light and the spear light collided, causing the entire Kunlun Ice Plain to tremble violently.

The ice beneath Xuanweizi's feet cracked backward for thousands of meters, but he did not retreat.

The human sword domain transformed into countless transparent longswords, grinding the spear light inch by inch.

"Senior," Xuanweizi looked up at the ancient road, "I apologize for my rudeness."

A sword light crossed the Heavenly Gate, but instead of striking the corpse's head, it landed on the silver-black vertical pupil on its chest.

clang!

The sword light shattered.

Only a faint mark appeared on the silver-black vertical pupil.

Xuanweizi's expression changed slightly.

He had just advanced to the ninth rank, and although he did not use his full strength in this sword strike, it was enough to cleave through the physical body of an ordinary eighth-rank cultivator.

However, the slave seal was only scratched with a shallow mark.

"It's no use." The corpse trembled violently: "As long as the slave soldier mother seal is not destroyed, the border guards will be under its control forever. Kill me, then close the gate."

One of Chu Zhou's silvery roots had already followed the Jianmu root network and entered Kunlun.

The roots pierced through the crack in the Heavenly Gate and directly entangled the spear in the corpse's hand.

The Azure Lotus Spiritual Flame surged along the spear shaft, and the Silver Black Slave Seal immediately emitted a piercing scream.

The silver-black light in the corpse's eyes was also temporarily suppressed.

[The Azure Lotus Purification is effective against the Slave Soldier's Seal.]

The power of the Slave Soldier's Seal originates from the Slave Soldier's Mother Seal deep within the Rift Star.

If the slave mother seal cannot be destroyed, the target will fall under control again.

Chu Zhou had already made up his mind.

This border guard force must not be killed.

They guarded the ancestral realm for 100,000 years along the ancient road.

Even if the physical body has long since died, the remnant soul should return to the ancestral realm, instead of continuing to be a slave soldier in the hands of the Hunting Court.

Moreover, the more than 40,000 ancient border guard corpses mean more than 40,000 complete ancient inheritances.

The Ancestral Realm Human Race has just acquired its first King Realm expert, and the Flame Evolution has only been underway for a month.

If the remnants of this border guard army can be brought back to the ancestral realm, the human race will be able to truly mend the broken path of cultivation.

Little Jinbao lay down next to the Jianmu tree.

The golden scales inside his body became increasingly bright.

It raised its claws and pointed at the broken giant tree in the center of the rift star.

"Master, the Heart of Ancestral Gold is down there, and it seems to be weighed down by something as well."

Chu Zhou's divine sense followed the location pointed to by Xiao Jinbao.

Below that broken Jianmu tree.

Numerous black roots are intertwined together.

At the center of the root, a golden heart is slowly beating.

With each pulsation, a ring of golden ripples spreads out, forcing back any black roots that try to approach.

Below the Heart of Zujin, there is a giant silver-black nail that is ten thousand meters long.

A giant nail pierced through the star.

It is also the core of the slave soldier's mother seal.

Chu Zhou finally understood.

The Hunter's Court is not incapable of taking the Heart of Zujin.

Instead, they used the Heart of the Ancestor as the energy source to keep the planet from collapsing.

As long as the heart of Zujin continues to beat.

This slave nest can then exist indefinitely.

The remains of the border guards will never be able to shake off the mark of slavery.

Mu Cang also clearly saw the scene deep within the Rift Star.

"Lord of the Azure Lotus, that giant nail should be the boundary-suppressing nail used by the Hunting Court to seal off the world."

"To retrieve the Ancestral Heart, we must first remove the World-Suppressing Nail. However, once the World-Suppressing Nail is removed, this star is likely to shatter completely, and the more than 40,000 corpses of the World-Suppressing Army on it will also be destroyed."

Chu Zhou's divine sense swept across the entire Rift Star.

Shattered stars, broken Jianmu trees, and the remains of over 40,000 border guards controlled by slave seals.

There is also the Hunter's Mother Seal hidden deeper within the Rift Star, which is not something that can be solved with just a lotus leaf.

He needed manpower, and he also needed a way to bring everyone back to the ancestral realm after the collapse of the planet.

Chu Zhou's consciousness turned towards the Azure Lotus Cave Heaven.

The mountain spirit is cultivating beside the mountain-supporting stone.

Ten ancient mountain phantoms slowly rotated behind it.

Bai Shan Jun lay prostrate before the Wanling Battle Merit Monument, the Zhenxing White Tiger bloodline now completely stable.

Although Lin Qingxue is on the moon, she can reach any of the six major leyline nodes at any time through the Jianmu Root Network.

As for Xuanweizi, he was already guarding the Kunlun Heavenly Gate, and Chu Zhou quickly made arrangements in his mind.

"Mountain King".

The mountain demon opened its eyes: "Master."

"Take the Fuyue Embryo Stone with you to Kunlun. I need you to suppress a star that is about to collapse."

Shan Kui stood up and held up the Fu Yue Tai Stone with both hands: "Alright."

Chu Zhou then looked at Lord Baishan: "Lord Baishan."

Lord Baishan also stood up: "Your subordinate is here."

"Within the ancient road lies the mother seal of a hunting slave soldier."

"Find it, tear it apart."

Bai Shanjun's eyes gleamed with a white-gold tiger-like aura: "I obey."

The Jianmu Root Network unfolds within the Qinglian Cave.

A verdant gate leading to Kunlun appeared before them.

Shan Kui and Bai Shan Jun entered one after the other, and Xiao Jinbao immediately flew up: "Master, I want to go too."

Chu Zhou wrapped a root around it: "You will stay by my side."

Little Jinbao glanced at the Ancestral Gold Heart in the Jianmu leaf.

This time there was no struggle.

It followed its roots and landed on the edge of Chu Zhou's lotus platform, nodding earnestly.

Chu Zhou looked at the moon one last time: "Lin Qingxue."

The surface of the moon.

Lin Qingxue stopped in her tracks.

The blue lotus mark on her chest lit up, and Chu Zhou's voice came to her ears.

"There are more than 40,000 ancient remnants of souls within the Kunlun Ancient Road."

"I need you to discern the location of the slave marks within their bodies."

Lin Qingxue gripped the pulse-listening stone tablet tightly: "I'm coming right away."

The direction of the ancestral realm appeared in her consciousness.

Lin Qingxue took a step forward.

The body disappeared along the network of tree roots on the lunar surface.

When she reappeared, she was already standing in front of Kunlun Tianmen.

Xuanweizi stood guard on the left side of the Heavenly Gate, while Shan Kui, carrying the Fuyue Taishi stone, stood on the right.

Bai Shan Jun's massive body lay prone on the ice field, his gaze fixed on the area behind the Heavenly Gate.

Everyone has arrived.

In the center of Heilong Lake.

Chu Zhou's mind stirred.

A green lotus seed fell from the lotus platform and entered Kunlun through the root network of the Jianmu tree.

A cyan-silver light shone forth, and the lotus seeds quickly took root. A small cyan lotus plant with only three leaves grew out of the ice.

The lotus division has been connected to the main stem.

[Currently, it can support 60% of the body's power.]

After leaving the ancestral realm, the Azure Lotus branch can no longer receive the blessings of the six major ley lines.

Chu Zhou's consciousness fell into the branch.

The cold wind and snow swept across the surface of the lotus leaves.

Ahead lies the Jianmu Ancient Road, silent for 100,000 years.

Chu Zhou first used his main body to insert a root of the Jianmu tree into the Kunlun earth vein.

The azure-silver light spread along the edge of the Heavenly Gate, forming a stable coordinate.

As long as this coordinate remains intact.

Then they can find the way back to their ancestral realm.

Everything is ready.

The three lotus leaves of the Chu boat unfold.

"Walk."

Xuanweizi was the first to step into the Heavenly Gate.

Baishan Jun followed closely behind.

With each step the mountain spirit takes, carrying the mountain's supporting stone, the entire Kunlun Mountains tremble gently.

Lin Qingxue stood beside Chu Zhou.

Little Jinbao was lying on a lotus leaf.

The group passed through the Heavenly Gate, the ice and snow disappeared, and the ancestral mountains and rivers quickly receded into the distance.

When Chu Zhou could see his surroundings clearly again.

They were already standing in the ancient Jianmu Road, but beneath their feet was not a real road, but a stretch of green tree roots that stretched across the dark starry sky.

Countless remnants of the world float on both sides of the tree roots.

Some worlds have been utterly shattered, while others still burn with an inextinguishable flame.

Further away, a cracked star slowly rotated, and more than 40,000 corpses of the border guards stood on its surface.

The border guard commander at the very front, clad in tattered black armor, gripped the broken flag once more.

Its chest mark flashed, but it never took a step forward.

"You people of the future, you should not enter."

Chu Zhou looked at it: "Now that the gate to the ancestral realm has been opened, you will no longer be allowed to guard outside the gate."

The pale flames in the corpse's eyes flickered: "We are already dead."

"Even if you die, you should go home."

Chu Zhou's voice faded.

Surface of a split star.

The weapons in the hands of many border guards trembled.

One after another, long-dormant souls seemed to be reawakened by the words "go home".

Just then.

The slave soldier mother seal deep within the rift star suddenly opened.

Countless silver and black slave marks appeared simultaneously on the foreheads of the border guards.

More than 40,000 corpses neatly raised their weapons.

A chilling killing intent coalesced into a silver-black battle cloud, enveloping the entire Rift Star.

The commander of the border guards trembled violently.

It grabbed the right arm holding the spear with one hand.

But it couldn't stop the spear from slowly rising.

"Go...go quickly!"

Chu Zhou unfurled three lotus leaves simultaneously, and the spiritual fire of the blue lotus illuminated the ancient Jianmu Road.

"Now that I'm here, it's not you who are leaving."

"Hakusan-kun."

Bai Shanjun took a step forward, and the White Tiger Suppressing Kill Domain was unleashed with a roar.

"Your subordinate is here."

"open circuit."

Roar!

The Platinum Tiger Demon soared into the sky.

The next moment, the 40,000 guards took a step forward at the same time, and the entire Rift Star crashed into the Jianmu Ancient Road.