Mysterious mirror hanging high

The interior of the palace was extremely spacious, but the furnishings were exceptionally simple. Apart from a few glass palace lanterns emitting a soft glow in the four corners, the most eye-catching feature in the center of the main hall was an enormous brocade and jade bed that resembled a small martial arts arena!

On this giant bed, a scene unfolding that would leave any normal cultivator speechless and shatter their worldview was the "Feast of Beauties."

Her jade-like body lay sprawled out, amidst boundless spring colors.

Li Huaiyou roughly counted and found that there were no fewer than twenty or thirty women, each in a different posture, leaning, reclining, or lying on the huge bed.

However, what made Li Huaiyou's scalp tingle was far more than just these human women.

His gaze swept across the area and he was shocked to discover that many non-human beings were mixed in with it!

Surprisingly, there were also quite a few female demons with beast heads and human bodies mixed in among them.

Even in the corner, a "woman" with a wood-like texture and even visible growth rings at her joints sat quietly on the edge of the bed. Her face was indistinct, except for her eyes, which were two faint green lights. Several tender green leaves sprouted from her hair—this was actually a plant spirit!

The most unsettling thing was a clump of translucent, gelatinous substance near the foot of the bed.

It barely maintained the outline of a human, but its surface was like swampy mud, with tiny bubbles constantly rising to the surface... Its featureless "face" was facing Li Huaiyou, as if it were "watching" him.

"What is this? A slime monster?" Li Huaiyou thought to himself, cursing wildly.

Humans, demons, spirits, and even this almost demonic slime monster... all gathered together like this made Li Huaiyou's eyelids twitch.

At the center of this brocade bed, surrounded by people like stars around the moon, was none other than the patriarch of the Yuwen family, second only to the emperor, and one of the Eight Divine Generals who established the dynasty in the past, Yuwen Xuandu!

This man was nearly 13 feet tall and had an astonishingly strong physique. His upper body was completely naked, and his chest and arms were covered with scars. He had a square face with a thick, snow-white beard. At this moment, his eyes were half-closed, as if he was dozing.

Li Huaiyou tried his best to maintain a respectful expression, striving not to reveal anything unusual. He knelt on one knee, raised the wooden tray above his head, and said loudly:

"Li Huaiyou of the Divine Cauldron Immortal Dynasty pays respects to Lord Xuandu! This humble cultivator has come to pay his respects on the orders of the founding emperor!"

Yuwen Xuan opened his half-closed eyes and glanced at Li Huaiyou:

"Surname Li? Is it the Li family from the Eight Great Families?"

"In reply to your question, sir, Huaiyou comes from a humble clan, not from the Longxi Li clan..." Li Huaiyou said respectfully.

"Oh? I didn't expect that the Divine Cauldron Immortal Dynasty is no longer as conservative as it used to be, and has also learned to appoint talented people from humble backgrounds."

Yuwen Xuandu sighed, "Since the Yuwen family left the Immortal Dynasty, I haven't seen my old friends for a long time... Brother Ying, are you still in good health?"

"Emperor Taizu was still in his prime, so naturally he was in his prime."

Li Huai said with concern, "However, the Immortal Dynasty is now in dire straits... I have come here today on orders to ask for your help, sir."

"The Celestial Dynasty is, after all, a Celestial Immortal power, and it has some connection with my Yuwen family. Could it be that we have offended some True Immortal lineage?" Yuwen Xuandu asked in confusion.

"No... This is a long story." Li Huaiyou recounted the events in detail, which made Yuwen Xuan frown deeply.

"You mean, the mighty Celestial Dynasty is actually being overwhelmed by a junior Celestial Immortal who has risen to prominence? Brother Ying, you're really getting worse as you get older... But if it's really as you say, then frankly, there's no use in you coming to me."

Yuwen Xuandu shook his head and said, "I have neglected the path of immortality for a long time, and now I am only a cultivator in the early stage of the Heavenly Immortal realm. In terms of supernatural powers and combat strength, I am not necessarily stronger than Brother Ying. He can't even handle this. You want me to settle this matter?"

"Please, sir, consider our past relationship..."

Li Huaiyou used his magic to hand the jade box on the tray to Yuwen Xuandu: "Here is the token of the founding emperor. His original words were: 'If Brother Xuandu sees this, he will surely lend you a hand.'"

Yuwen Xuandu picked up the jade box, opened it, and saw what was inside. He fell silent for a moment.

Li Huaiyou had never dared to look at the token in the jade box before, and now he was quite curious, but he didn't dare to use his divine sense to probe it directly, for fear of offending the celestial being in front of him.

Yuwen Xuandu took the initiative to show him the contents of the box, saying, "Hehe... a spirit stone... and a mid-grade spirit stone at that! Brother Ying is very thoughtful."

"Now the entire Immortal Realm is filled with immortal spiritual energy, and almost all the mines only produce [Immortal Essence Stones]. These [Spirit Stones] are probably produced in the lower realm, right? It's kind of you, Brother Ying, to have kept some of them."

A look of reminiscence seemed to flash in the eyes of the white-bearded old man: "Back then... Brother Ying and I both came from humble backgrounds, and we were both rogue cultivators who came from a cultivation market... I was at the ninth level of Qi Refining at that time, and Brother Ying had just established his foundation."

"But at that time I was still short of spirit stones for the Foundation Establishment Pill, so Brother Ying took out a mid-grade spirit stone and lent it to me to make up for the lack of Foundation Establishment Pill."

"This mid-grade spirit stone was originally intended for Brother Ying to use to build a foundation-building cave dwelling. However, he delayed it for more than ten years in order to prepare for my foundation-building."

"Without this mid-grade spirit stone, I would probably have wasted another ten or twenty years in the Qi Refining stage, and might have missed the best time to establish my foundation, thus ending my path to enlightenment."

Yuwen Xuandu pondered and said, "Although I later followed Brother Ying in his campaigns to establish the great foundation of the Immortal Dynasty, the merits I made could be repaid even with a thousand or ten thousand mid-grade spirit stones."

"Debts of spirit stones are easy to repay, but debts of human kindness are hard to repay in a lifetime."

“Brother Ying is a man who cares a lot about his reputation. If he hadn’t encountered an insurmountable obstacle, he would never have sent me this mid-grade spirit stone… Now, what do you want me to do? With this favor owed to me, I will go no matter how difficult it may be.”

Li Huaiyou bowed deeply: "Could you please ask Lord Yuwen of the Heavenly Mansion to take action and kill that Iron-Legged Immortal [Xiao Buyi]?"

Yuwen Xuan frowned and said, "I cannot make a decision on this matter."

"I won't hide it from you... Ever since Tianfu ascended to the Immortal Realm, his cultivation has progressed at an astonishing pace, but I don't know when he suddenly changed his personality. Even leaving the Divine Cauldron Immortal Dynasty was his decision."

"Don't be fooled by my current indulgence in sensual pleasures in this palace. In reality, I am under house arrest. There's nothing else I can do."

"Don't be fooled by the fact that my cultivation level is among the top in this clan, second only to Tianfu. In reality, I've long since stopped managing affairs. All matters, big and small, are decided by my son, Tianfu."

Yuwen Xuandu sighed, "You can't even get me to leave this palace, let alone order the Heavenly Palace to kill someone for the Divine Cauldron Immortal Dynasty? That would be extremely difficult."