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

With the True Fire enhancement complete, a series of benefits followed. What originally required a full six months to fully refine a high-grade sword embryo can now be completed in a maximum of ten days, saving time and effort.

Moreover, the powerful true fire can temper the physical body and spirit in reverse, strengthening the foundation and resilience; it can accelerate the cultivation efficiency of condensing spiritual energy into true qi and transforming true qi into true essence, helping the imperial primordial spirit to grow and mature rapidly; and it can comprehensively amplify one's own combat power, bringing immeasurable benefits.

The battle within their consciousnesses continued, remaining deadlocked. In this state, Su Mu was unable to leave and could only quietly guard the secret chamber on the second floor, focusing on his cultivation and waiting.

Time flows on, and the years pass without incident. Soon it was March 5th, early morning, and the sky was just beginning to lighten.

Within the Great Qian Empire, in the distance, black mist surged across the sky, and another giant ancient warship, enveloped in a sky full of gloomy black mist, crashed to the ground with a deafening roar, shaking the surrounding area.

As soon as the warship landed, it collapsed and broke apart due to uneven stress. The massive hull was torn into pieces, and thick wood chips and hard components flew and scattered in all directions, creating a terrifying scene.

Along with the flying debris, countless human cultivators' corpses and mangled limbs were also scattered everywhere, and the stench of blood instantly filled the surrounding area, a truly shocking sight.

A figure in red robes, engulfed in flames, sped out from the shattered core of the warship, pursued relentlessly by several eerie black shadows.

The eerie black shadows were born to rely on the black mist for survival and dared not break free from the binding aura of the black mist for long. After chasing for a while, they took the initiative to give up the entanglement and returned to the vicinity of the warship wreckage, where they lingered.

The warship was completely destroyed, reduced to ruins, but the accompanying black mist remained intact, rapidly spreading and covering all the wreckage areas, creating a gloomy and chilling atmosphere.

The flames around her slowly subsided, revealing a beautiful woman in red with a cold and aloof demeanor, standing in the void.

Gazing at the corpses and severed limbs scattered on the ground, and at the hideous and eerie black shadows floating in the black mist, the woman in red was filled with intense sorrow, boundless hatred, and unbearable grief and indignation.

She had no intention of staying there any longer. Suppressing her grief, she leaped into the air, intending to find local human cultivators and inquire about the recent unusual developments across the continent.

Flying low over the road, asking everyone they met for information, they sped towards the capital of the Great Qian Dynasty without stopping.

As dusk approached, while traveling, the woman in red heard about the strange phenomenon of black fog that had suddenly appeared around the imperial city. She immediately changed direction and rushed to the scene to investigate.

In a short while, she arrived at the outer edge of the black mist. Completely ignoring the layers of guarded royal experts and soldiers, she instantly erupted with true fire, broke through the barriers, and brazenly entered the heart of the black mist.

In no more than twenty breaths, the woman in red rushed back out of the black mist and escaped.

It was visible to the naked eye that the protective true fire around her body was thin, dim, and listless, clearly indicating severe depletion. This was enough to show the overwhelming power of the black mist's suppression; even she could not remain within it for long.

Several eerie black figures rushed out of the black mist in pursuit, but after several attempts, they dared not stray far from their lair. A moment later, they all returned to the depths of the black mist and took up their original positions.

The woman in red, carrying several broken limbs, completely lost control of her emotions and burst into tears, ignoring the onlookers around her.

The soldiers and royal warriors on duty nearby could all sense the powerful and unfathomable aura of her cultivation. They were filled with fear and no one dared to approach and disturb her. They could only stand at a distance and watch silently.

After weeping for a long time and venting her grief, the woman in red composed herself, carefully put away the severed limbs in her hands, turned around and flew to the side of a royal grandmaster, politely inquiring about the details of the situation.

Her tone was humble and polite, but the pressure of her cultivation naturally emanated from her, pressing down on the royal grandmaster, making him tense and stiff. He dared not hide anything and told everything truthfully.

The sky gradually darkened.

The woman in red flew straight into the Great Qian Imperial City and entered the palace without any hesitation.

She made no attempt to restrain her divine sense, letting it spread out freely and scanning the entire palace.

After completing her divine sense investigation, she swayed and landed in the courtyard of the library.

Su Mu, who was on the second floor of the library, immediately noticed the arrival of the woman in red.

He used his divine sense to signal all the powerful figures from the imperial palace who had rushed over to leave.

These palace experts were utterly powerless against the woman in red before them.

"I apologize for the intrusion, but I humbly request an audience."

A clear and melodious female voice suddenly rang in Su Mu's ears.

"Just come up to the second floor."

Su Mu responded in kind, using telepathic communication.

Before long, the woman in red entered the library, slowly climbed the stairs to the second floor, and went straight into Su Mu's room.

"My name is Wen Qianzhu, and I am a disciple of Yunxiang Valley."

The woman in red introduced herself first, and bowed to Su Mu with her hands clasped in greeting.

"Are you someone who has returned from beyond the realm?" Su Mu asked.

"That's right." Wen Qianzhu nodded gently. "The warship I was on crashed in the southern part of the Great Qian Dynasty. Before coming to the capital, I went to the black fog area two hundred miles away from the capital and even went inside to investigate."

"Why did you specifically seek me out?" Su Mu asked again.

He knew that Yunxiang Valley was a top sect that had survived from ten thousand years ago in this world. Since they had similar origins, there was no barrier between them when they talked.

At the same time, he could also see that Wen Qianzhu's lower abdomen was slightly protruding, indicating that she was already six months pregnant.

"I do need to speak with you."

Wen Qianzhu raised her hand and retrieved several severed limbs from the wreckage of the warship. Her voice was heavy with sorrow as she spoke, "These are the remains of my husband. I brought him out of that warship in the black mist, but I couldn't find his storage ring. I heard that your clone once ventured deep into that black mist; I wonder if his storage ring ended up in your possession?"

"this……"

Just as Su Mu was hesitating whether to tell the truth, Jinzi, who was fast asleep beside him, woke up.

Jinzi twitched his nose and immediately caught the strange scent emanating from the severed limbs.

No one expected that it would suddenly open its mouth wide and swallow all the broken limbs on the ground in an instant.

Jin Zi is now at the peak of the late stage of level five cultivation, and his body has grown considerably since he first followed Su Mu.

Its wingspan is over two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters), its height is nearly half a zhang (approximately 2.6 meters), its belly is wide, and it has an enormous appetite.

It devoured the food at an extreme speed, and Su Mu and Wen Qianzhu had no time to stop or react.

Birds of prey are naturally carnivorous; it's an instinct ingrained in their very bones.

Moreover, Jinzi has extremely high bloodline and has already cultivated into a demon body. Devouring the flesh and blood essence left behind by the strong is a shortcut for it to improve its cultivation.

Su Mu had long sensed that the remains brought by Wen Qianzhu were surrounded by a rich and persistent aura of true spirit, which was why they could remain fresh for so long and not easily decay. It seemed that Jin Zi had also taken a liking to this primordial spiritual energy.

"You beast!"

Wen Qianzhu was both anxious and furious, and shouted sharply, "Spit it out right now!"

She had noticed the gold long ago and could tell that this golden-feathered bird was extraordinary, but she had something on her mind and originally did not intend to investigate further.

She never expected that this domesticated, seemingly intelligent spirit bird would publicly devour the remains of a human cultivator.

Jinzi could understand Wen Qianzhu's words.

Being publicly called a wicked beast filled it with resentment, and it refused to spit out what it had swallowed.

It simply turned its head to the side, completely ignoring Wen Qianzhu's scolding.