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

Upon hearing this, Su Mu smiled faintly, made no attempt to conceal anything, and lowered his voice to truthfully say, "My adoption of sons and daughters was not of my own volition, but rather guided by an unparalleled being. By following this guidance, I can continuously obtain top-tier cultivation rewards."

Xiao Yunshang's beautiful eyes widened instantly, her face full of surprise.

"Remember not to reveal a single thing to anyone. The other party forbids me from revealing their existence. I'm only making an exception for you because you are my Daoist partner," Su Mu solemnly instructed.

"I understand, I will not divulge a single word." Xiao Yunshang nodded immediately, all her doubts instantly resolved, and she completely put aside her curiosity.

Su Mu said no more and focused his mind on the system warehouse to check the rewards for this breakthrough.

Previously, when Chang Wei broke through to the Martial Emperor realm, the system rewarded him with a top-grade Heaven-rank martial skill, along with various Heaven-rank pills. This time, the reward quality remains the same, but the overall quantity has increased significantly, simply because Su Mu now has more adopted sons and daughters, thus raising the reward tier.

This time, there is still only one top-grade Heavenly Treasure, which is a close-fitting treasure garment—the Imperial Embroidered Dragon Robe.

This dragon robe requires no active activation; simply wearing it close to the body creates a defensive barrier that can withstand powerful attacks from Martial Emperors. Furthermore, it complements the Imperial Crown, significantly increasing the absorption speed of Imperial Qi. With this double enhancement, Su Mu's efficiency in accumulating Imperial Qi skyrockets.

The rewards for pills are far more generous than ever before: a sufficient amount of Enlightenment Pills, Grade 9 Nirvana Pills, newly added Grade 9 Dragon Essence Pills of the Heavenly Rank, and a massive amount of Qian Yuan Divine Glow Pills.

At the same time, a brand new elixir is unlocked: the Mid-Grade Heavenly Rank Qianxu Divine Soul Pill. This elixir specializes in the divine soul and martial appearance, assisting late-stage Martial Emperors in refining their martial appearance, helping it transform into a divine appearance, and successfully breaking through the shackles to enter the early stage of Martial Emperor. Of course, the elixir is only an aid; to break through, one still needs a sufficiently strong foundation in martial appearance and a qualified divine soul realm. The elixir alone cannot forcefully cross a major realm.

Finally, there is an additional treasure: a mid-grade Heavenly Rank clone talisman, which can condense a clone with 100% combat power in times of crisis to fight powerful enemies on your behalf, serving both as a means of survival and combat.

Looking at the abundant rewards displayed in the warehouse, a hint of satisfaction flashed in Su Mu's eyes. His adopted sons were breaking through to new heights, and his own strength and trump cards were growing stronger, enough to handle any crisis that was about to arrive.

The Heavenly Rank Mid-Grade Clone Talisman is of considerable quality. If Su Mu activates this talisman, the clone he conjures will possess 90% of the original's combat power. Currently, Su Mu's 90% strength is enough to directly contend with early-stage Martial Emperors and early-stage Ninth-Rank experts, and he can also easily contend and fight against ordinary mid-stage Martial Emperors or mid-stage Ninth-Rank demonic beasts.

Su Mu retrieved the Imperial Embroidered Dragon Robe from the system's inventory and immediately donned it, replacing his low-grade Heavenly Rank Purple Silk Robe. The Purple Silk Robe was unisex, and Su Mu promptly gifted it to Xiao Yunshang. Ordinary cultivators needed to reach the late Martial Emperor stage and cultivate the Divine Embryo to activate a low-grade Heavenly Rank magic weapon. Xiao Yunshang had only recently cultivated the Profound Fire, her cultivation only at the mid-Martial Emperor stage, but she possessed the Innate Profound Thunder Body, allowing her to barely activate the robe. Even if she couldn't activate it, simply wearing it would provide extremely strong physical defense.

"This dragon robe looks impressive, what grade is it?" Xiao Yunshang asked with curiosity. She didn't mind that Su Mu had worn it before; as long as it suited him, that was enough.

"A top-grade Heaven-rank item," Su Mu replied truthfully.

"As the retired emperor, you are quite suited to wear a dragon robe," Xiao Yunshang said with a faint smile. She did not inquire about the origin of the dragon robe, but she had already guessed that it was a gift from the supreme being who had secretly bestowed countless treasures upon it.

"My wife, you should rest early." Su Mu sat on the bed, and with a thought, he put the imperial dragon robe he had just changed into into his dantian.

"Are you trying to cause trouble again?"

"That statement needs to be corrected. How can dual cultivation be considered a bad thing?" Su Mu reached out and put his arm around Xiao Yunshang's shoulders. The two lay down on the bed together and spent the night in tender intimacy.

The following morning, Su Mu used his divine sense to summon Chai Min and handed her a Qianxu Divine Soul Pill.

"Thank you so much for your kindness, Godfather!" Chai Min said with deep gratitude.

"Focus on your cultivation and strive to reach the Martial Emperor realm as soon as possible," Su Mu encouraged Chai Min. He eagerly anticipated Chai Min's breakthrough to the early stage of Martial Emperor. Previously, when Chai Min advanced from the mid-stage to the late-stage of Martial Emperor, the system directly awarded her a divine-grade reward; this time, crossing a major realm to break through to Martial Emperor, the reward grade would only be higher.

"I will certainly not let my godfather down!" Chai Min was equally full of expectations. Since obtaining the Qianxu Divine Soul Pill, her determination to break through to the Martial Emperor realm had become even stronger. However, she had only been in the late stage of the Martial Emperor realm for a month, and her foundation was still shallow. A single Qianxu Divine Soul Pill was not enough to support her to directly break through to the Martial Emperor realm. Martial arts cultivation should not be rushed; steady progress and accumulation are the right path.

Chai Min's foundation was actually quite strong: a massive amount of Mystic Pills nourished her soul, Enlightenment Pills enhanced her comprehension of the Great Dao, and the large quantity of Qian Yuan Divine Glow Pills gifted by Su Mu continuously solidified her divine embryonic power; she had already consumed a seventh-grade Nirvana Pill, and once her Xuan Body underwent another transformation, she could consume an eighth-grade Nirvana Pill, causing her physical foundation to surge once more. The pills produced by the system were completely free of impurities and flaws, and as long as the supply of high-level resources continued, her rapid cultivation would not leave any hidden dangers.

After Chai Min left, Su Mu went to the courtyard to play with little Su Song. Little Su Song was three months old, could speak clearly and say quite a few words, and could walk steadily and run quickly on his own.

That same afternoon, Lai Chunshan and his group followed the trail and found the level nine fire phoenix. Lai Chunshan was a Martial Emperor, with swift flight speed and a wide range of divine sense coverage. In addition, the fire phoenix did not deliberately hide its tracks, making it a very conspicuous target, and finding it was effortless.

"Fellow Daoist, please do not misunderstand. We have no ill intentions and are friendly." As soon as he saw Huo Huang, Lai Chunshan immediately spoke up to show goodwill.

Above the east coast, the level-nine fire phoenix, which had been circling low in the sky, stopped flapping its wings and warily scrutinized the group. It could sense the repulsive and suppressive power emanating from these humans and instantly determined that they were not native cultivators of Tianyuan.

"We are of different races and have never met before, so how can you talk about us being friends?"

"As the old saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend," Lai Chunshan replied. "We share the same enemy, so we can barely be considered allies."

"A common enemy?" The level nine Fire Phoenix was slightly taken aback. "Are you talking about that human in the palace?"

"That's right." Lai Chunshan nodded.

"You come from the Wulong Continent?" Fire Phoenix pressed.

"That's right." Lai Chunshan didn't try to hide it.

"Did they come specifically to deal with that person from the palace?"

"To be honest, besides this matter, we have another important matter to attend to." Lai Chunshan pretended to be frank. "I have heard that there is a place where a Martial God rests in the Tianyuan Continent, which contains unparalleled opportunities. I intend to go and explore it."

"I know that area too," Fire Phoenix replied, then asked, "Have you collected all four divine talisman tablets?"

"This... I haven't collected them all." Lai Chunshan shook his head. "I originally had three pieces, but two were taken away by that person from the palace, and now I only have one left."

"Since you know about divine talismans, senior, you must have one in your possession as well?" Elder Songhe asked respectfully, bowing deeply.

"That's right." Seeing that the other party was honest, Fire Phoenix no longer hid anything.

"We both have a blood feud with that person in the palace, why don't we join forces to kill him?" Lai Chunshan suggested.

"Killing him will not be easy," Fire Phoenix said in a deep voice. "He wields a spell to prevent the sky from flying, and I suffered a great loss from that last time."

"That divine talisman might only be able to be activated once," Lai Chunshan analyzed. "Even if it can still be used, as long as we plan carefully and are not simultaneously imprisoned by space, we have a very high chance of killing him by joining forces."