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

He had not yet set off from Tianyuan Continent. If Elder Songhe and his group dared to lie about their location or deliberately deceive him, with his Martial Emperor cultivation, he could catch up with them all in an instant and wipe them out.

Elder Songhe and his group had already been completely manipulated, and they had neither the courage nor the means to deceive Lai Chunshan.

Not long after, Lai Chunshan successfully located the underground sealing point and retrieved the intact divine talisman.

After resting for half a day to stabilize his condition, he no longer hesitated and plunged alone into the mysterious black mist outside the city, returning to the Wulong Continent to request reinforcements.

……

Deep within the imperial palace, in a secret chamber.

Having previously fought against the Fire Phoenix Crimson Feather, resisted the innate divine abilities of two great divine beasts, and activated the anti-air talisman, Su Mu's own power and soul were also greatly depleted.

He returned to his palace, sat cross-legged on the jade bed, closed his eyes and focused his mind, quietly regulating his breathing to recover all his losses.

With the departure of the two level-nine demonic beasts and the human Martial Emperor, the Great Qian Imperial City returned to complete peace. The epic battle in the sky, a clash of water and fire that created a raging inferno, became the hottest topic of conversation among the city's residents.

In the eyes of all the people, the current retired emperor Su Mu was still synonymous with invincibility. Although he failed to kill any of his powerful enemies in this battle, he managed to withstand the successive attacks of three top experts and protect the entire imperial city.

But only Su Mu himself knew that his current combat strength still had shortcomings.

Even when facing two level-nine demonic beasts simultaneously unleashing their innate divine abilities, he still felt extremely strained.

More importantly, the trump card, the Anti-Air Talisman, has already been used twice, and now there is only one last chance to use it, making the trump card reserves increasingly scarce.

Meanwhile, inside the gatehouse of the Imperial Palace Library, Xiao Yunshang, Ding Chao, Chai Min, Chang Wei, and all their relatives had gathered.

Ding Chao clenched his fists, his heart filled with guilt, and said, "Every time a great enemy attacks, my godfather can only fight alone, while we can only watch from the rear. I feel truly ashamed."

Xiao Yunshang spoke softly, gently comforting everyone: "You don't need to blame yourselves. You just need to focus on your cultivation and steadily improve your own cultivation level. That will be the best help you can give Su Mu. There's no need to rush. Forcing your way forward will only become a burden."

Chai Min nodded emphatically, her eyes resolute: "I understand. From now on, I will definitely work harder to cultivate myself and gain the strength to face powerful enemies as soon as possible, so as to share the burden with my godfather."

Chang Wei's eyes burned with anticipation: "My godfather previously bestowed upon me the Qianling Profound Fire Pill. I have fully digested the pill's medicinal power, and it won't be long before I can condense my own Profound Fire and directly break through to the mid-stage of the Martial Emperor Realm!"

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, the group returned to their respective residences to focus on their cultivation, leaving only Xiao Yunshang, Xiao Anran, and Yutian at the gatehouse.

Wen Qianzhu is currently on the first floor of the library, patiently accompanying her young son Su Song, teaching him to read and write, and helping him live a peaceful life.

During this period, everyone's cultivation level improved by leaps and bounds. With the help of his natal spirit flying sword, Xiao Anran broke through all obstacles in just three months and successfully entered the Grandmaster realm. Yu Tian, ​​who possessed innate essence fire, had access to a wealth of cultivation resources, and with Wen Qianzhu's careful guidance, his cultivation level also steadily reached the mid-stage of the Grandmaster realm.

However, since both of them had shallow foundations in their cultivation levels, the system rewards that Su Mu could receive for each breakthrough were very limited.

"You two should also go back and cultivate."

Xiao Yunshang gave the two instructions in a soft voice, then walked out of the room alone and came to the courtyard of the library, where she stood in front of the divine beast Jinzi.

After each major battle, gold would become exceptionally quiet, lying low and recuperating.

Xiao Yunshang took out a high-level demon beast inner core and pure demon beast essence blood from a storage ring and handed them to Jinzi. Jinzi, who had been lying lazily, immediately raised his head, his eyes shining with golden light, and his spirit was instantly boosted.

"You must also cultivate diligently and become stronger as soon as possible so that you can stand by your father's side in the future and help him resist powerful enemies."

As if it understood human speech, Jinzi lowered its head to swallow the essence and blood elixir, then raised its head and let out a gentle groan in response.

It can now successfully devour the essence and inner core of level eight demonic beasts, its cultivation level soaring rapidly, only one step away from becoming a level eight divine bird. As a primordial divine bird, such a cultivation speed is nothing short of heaven-defying across the entire Tianyuan Continent.

In just over half a day, Su Mu completely replenished all his losses, and his cultivation returned to its peak.

His gaze was calm as he secretly calculated: the two level-nine demonic beasts had forcibly activated their innate ultimate moves, resulting in a great loss of their essence. They would definitely need a long time to recuperate before they could fully recover their peak combat power.

Su Mu naturally wouldn't passively wait in place.

He first spent time with Xiao Yunshang, then swallowed several Mysterious Pills to solidify his foundation, and finally took an Enlightenment Pill to begin his secluded cultivation for enlightenment.

His Imperial Body is now at its peak, and without the aid of divine-grade rare and precious materials, there is no room for further improvement in his physical body. At the same time, the Imperial Crown and Imperial Embroidered Dragon Robe can autonomously absorb the imperial energy of heaven and earth, eliminating the need for him to painstakingly meditate and accumulate power.

The only thing that needs to be carefully honed right now is one's own spiritual foundation and understanding of the Great Dao.

As the power of the Enlightenment Pill spread, Su Mu's mind completely immersed in the Dao Domain, calmly comprehending the profound mysteries of the dual Great Daos of Sword Dao and Imperial Dao.

Time slips away quietly, and the sun and moon revolve.

Before we knew it, it was the morning of July 28th.

Chang Wei hurried to the library gatehouse and met Xiao Yunshang who was waiting there.

"Godmother, is Godfather still in seclusion, cultivating his Dao?"

Xiao Yunshang nodded gently: "You haven't come out of seclusion yet. Do you have something important to discuss with him?"

"Nothing urgent, just came to report good news." Chang Wei couldn't hide his joy, his voice excited. "I've successfully broken through and advanced to the mid-stage of the Martial Emperor realm!"

In less than three months, he broke through two realms from the late stage of Martial King to the mid stage of Martial Emperor. His cultivation speed was terrifying, and he was filled with joy and excitement.

"Congratulations! Your godfather will be overjoyed when he comes out of seclusion and hears of this." Xiao Yunshang smiled gently and instructed, "Go back and consolidate your newly broken-through realm. Do not rush things. Your godfather will summon you after you come out of seclusion."

"Thank you, godmother. I'll take my leave now." Chang Wei bowed and left with a heart full of joy.

July has come to an end, and August has arrived as scheduled.

On August 2nd, Jinzi in the courtyard suddenly closed his eyes and fell asleep. Golden light flowed all over his body, and intricate ancient divine bird patterns surrounded him. His aura rose steadily.

It's clear that Jinzi is about to experience a new breakthrough in his abilities.

Xiao Yunshang was surprised. She clearly remembered that Jinzi had just broken through to the late stage of the seventh level on June 28th. Only a little over a month had passed before he was once again trying to break through to a higher realm.

Ultimately, it was because Su Mu's Imperial Body essence and blood were too extraordinary.

Even before it hatched, the gold had been absorbing the essence of Su Mu's domineering body and blood, and had long since become fully adapted to this supreme energy. Even as Su Mu's physique transformed and strengthened time and time again, the gold could still digest and absorb it without any hindrance, and its cultivation speed increased by leaps and bounds.

On August 4th, Su Mu, who had been in seclusion for more than ten days, slowly opened his eyes, his eyes filled with Daoist charm, marking the end of his Daoist enlightenment seclusion.

The system notification had already sounded during his seclusion, and he already knew that Chang Wei had successfully broken through.

With a thought, he directly summoned Chang Wei remotely, bestowing upon him cultivation resources as usual, and offering words of encouragement.

Chang Wei arrived full of expectations and left with a bountiful harvest.

After seeing Chang Wei off, Su Mu glanced at Jinzi, who was currently undergoing a breakthrough in his sleep, then turned and returned to the secret room on the second floor of the library to check the system rewards brought by this disciple's breakthrough.

Previously, when Ding Chao broke through from the early to the middle stage of the Martial Emperor realm, the system rewarded him with two supreme treasures: the Heaven-rank top-grade "Ten Thousand Swords Thunder Prison True Technique" and the Imperial Crown.

This time, Chang Wei broke through to the same realm, and the system still issued two top-grade Heaven-rank rewards.

The first treasure: the Imperial Ring.

Judging from the name alone, this is yet another piece of the Imperial Set.

The Imperial Ring can amplify the power of fists and palms in all aspects and enhance all close-range fist and foot martial arts. For Su Mu, the most core value of this magic weapon is to maximize the killing power of the God-Slaying Finger.

Su Mu immediately took out the ring from the system warehouse, performed a blood oath ceremony, and wore it on the index finger of his right hand.

The moment the ring touched his fingertip, the three pieces of clothing he was already wearing—the Imperial Crown, the Imperial Embroidered Dragon Robe, and the Imperial Boots—simultaneously shone brightly, and a vast imperial power suddenly erupted.

The four imperial treasures echoed each other, their resonance resounding throughout the secret chamber, and a majestic and high-pitched dragon's roar resounded throughout heaven and earth.

A colossal golden energy dragon, its entire body radiant, materialized out of thin air, coiling and entwining around Su Mu, its majestic power awe-inspiring and awe-inspiring.