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

Even if he activated his escape techniques and talismans, he couldn't escape the golden true fire within his body, and would ultimately suffer the fate of being annihilated, body and soul. The golden true fire raged wildly, Situ Chengjun's spirit body rapidly collapsed, and his life force was slowly draining away.

"How could this be..." Situ Chengjun screamed inwardly, his mind filled with disbelief. "How could I not even withstand a single move? He had no Yuanling aura, clearly not at the Grandmaster level, so how could he kill a True Martial Realm expert like me with a single strike? And what martial technique did he just use? How could it have such power?"

In despair, Situ Chengjun mustered his last ounce of strength to release his primordial spirit, attempting to escape. However, Su Mu was prepared. He first used a soul-capturing technique to immobilize Situ Chengjun's primordial spirit, then with a gentle touch, he shattered it!

Su Mu had already established a solid foundation in sword spirit, and the exposed primordial spirit of a True Martial Realm expert posed no threat to him. Thus, the newly enthroned emperor died, paying a heavy price for his wrong choice.

Just like Xiao Changshan, if he hadn't chosen to stand on the side of the new emperor and hadn't taken the initiative to provoke Su Mu, he wouldn't have ended up like this, and might even have had a bright future.

"Godfather is mighty!" While everyone was still in a daze, Li Lianqing was the first to react, and he knelt down with a "plop" and shouted loudly. His shout brought everyone back to their senses.

No wonder everyone was stunned; what had just happened was truly shocking—a True Martial Realm expert from ten thousand years ago was killed in a single blow, without even a chance to resist. No one could believe it. Everyone had expected a fierce battle, but the conflict ended almost as soon as it began, without any major commotion. Su Mu had ended the new emperor's life with just a simple finger technique!

"Get up!" Su Mu gently helped Li Lianqing up, his tone calm, but inwardly he marveled—the God-Slaying Finger truly lived up to its reputation as a top-tier Heaven-rank martial skill; its power was indeed astonishing. Ordinary people wouldn't have sword-shaped light accompanying their use of the God-Slaying Finger, but having achieved a foundation in sword spirit and possessing profound swordsmanship, he could integrate his swordsmanship insights into the God-Slaying Finger, elevating its power to an even higher level.

"Thank you, Godfather!" Li Lianqing kowtowed repeatedly. When he got up, his back was already soaked with cold sweat, and his face was full of relief at surviving the ordeal.

"I still need to eat lunch. If there's nothing else, you can all leave." Su Mu squatted down, removed Situ Chengjun's storage ring, put away the long sword, and then used the long sword to pierce through Situ Chengjun's inner world of Qi Sea, obtaining the green net magic weapon.

Both the longsword and the green net were low-grade Earth-rank magic treasures, quite valuable, but Su Mu was more concerned with the contents of the storage ring. As for Situ Chengjun's treasure robe, it was too badly damaged after being pierced by the God-Slaying Finger and had lost its value, so Su Mu casually discarded it.

"If the Imperial Preceptor does not mind, Anxun is willing to become his godfather!" Just as everyone was about to leave, Xiao Anxun suddenly knelt down and said respectfully.

Without the slightest hesitation, and no longer caring about the opinions of other members of the royal family, Xiao Anxun knelt directly at Su Mu's feet. In the past, he had still harbored a glimmer of hope that he or another royal genius could rise to prominence and no longer rely on Su Mu, but now, seeing it with his own eyes, he completely dispelled that idea.

With the cultivation resources in Xiao Anran's Void Ring alone, he could only cultivate one True Martial Realm expert at most. Even if the Xiao royal family had a True Martial Realm expert, they would still be no match for Su Mu. Even Situ Chengjun, the True Martial Realm genius from ten thousand years ago, couldn't withstand a single move from Su Mu, let alone the experts cultivated in the present day.

Since he couldn't shake off his dependence on Su Mu, he might as well take the initiative to recognize him as his godfather. This way, he could preserve the status of the Xiao royal family and also secure more cultivation resources for himself and his sister. He addressed Su Mu as "Imperial Preceptor" instead of "Eunuch Su" as a sign of respect and to express his attitude.

"Your Majesty's sincerity is evident, and I cannot refuse such a kind offer. I will accept this godson!" Su Mu said with a smile. He would not refuse anyone who recognized him as their godfather, let alone the Emperor of the Great Qian Dynasty.

[Congratulations, host, on gaining another adopted son! The system reward has been sent to the system warehouse. Please check your account!]

Su Mu didn't rush to check the system rewards, but instead sensed the changes in the imperial aura within the palace. As expected, the imperial aura within the palace was denser than ever before, partly due to the fact that Situ Chengjun had been killed.

In his perception, he also discovered that his affinity with the Imperial Qi had greatly increased. Even without actively absorbing it, the Imperial Qi would continuously flow into his body, nourishing his body and primordial spirit.

He quickly understood the reason—Xiao Anxun recognized him as his godfather, which was equivalent to binding him to the imperial power of Daqian. He had become the behind-the-scenes ruler of Daqian, and the imperial aura would naturally be drawn to him.

"Since my godfather has acknowledged me as his godson and calls me Your Majesty, from this day forward, my godfather will be the Supreme Emperor of the Great Qian Empire!" Xiao Anxun said excitedly while kowtowing.

"Okay!" Su Mu reached out to help him up, speaking calmly.

At this moment, Situ Chengjun's inner world collapsed on its own due to the severance of life force, revealing a soul-type magic treasure shaped like a large bell, which Su Mu casually put away.

As soon as Xiao Anxun stood up, Xiao Anran knelt down as well, and without saying a word, called out crisply, "Godfather!"

She and Xiao Anxun are siblings. Since her brother recognized her as his godfather, it was only natural for her to become his goddaughter.

[Congratulations, host, on acquiring another virtuous woman! The system reward has been sent to the system warehouse. Please check your account!]

Su Mu smiled helplessly and reached out to help Xiao Anran up.

The other powerful members of the royal family did not recognize Su Mu as their godfather not because they did not want to, but because they could not—most of them were Xiao Anxun's elders, and if they also recognized Su Mu as their godfather, the seniority would be completely confused, which would be a loss.

In order to help Xiao Anxun and Xiao Anran improve their cultivation as soon as possible and thus obtain more generous system rewards, Su Mu gave the brother and sister a lot of pills as a gift for them to recognize their godfather.

Although Xiao Anran had a lot of cultivation resources in his Void Ring, he lacked pills to enhance his soul power, so Su Mu specially gave them a lot of Soul Nourishing Pills.

At this moment, Zheng He, who was also in the gatehouse, was completely dumbfounded—in the blink of an eye, he had become brothers with the emperor? They were all godsons of the emperor, so weren't they brothers? Of course, he only dared to think this in his heart and would never dare to say it out loud.

After expressing his gratitude, Xiao Anxun left with Li Lianqing and the others, taking with him the bodies of Xiao Changshan and Situ Chengjun.

"Nothing about today's events is to be revealed to anyone!" Stepping out of the library, Xiao Anxun instructed his entourage, "Say that this ancestor from ten thousand years ago was severely injured in Huitai County, and unfortunately passed away due to a mishap during his treatment!"

Everyone nodded in agreement and praised His Majesty's wisdom. The turmoil was thus averted.

In the gatehouse of the library, Su Mu sat down again and continued eating lunch. He first checked the system rewards he had just received; they were just an extra adopted son and an adopted daughter. The rewards were not outstanding, and there was nothing particularly noteworthy.