The poorest member of the Imperial Guard, the Empress begged me to embezzle.

The Demon Emperor Tu Shanling smiled gently. After a moment of contemplation, she waved her slender hand, and a blinding golden light flashed by, teleporting everyone in the hall except Chu Xiu to several miles away.

She hesitated for only a moment before deciding to tell this young man, whom she had just met and whose words and actions she found very interesting, the secrets that the demon race had kept hidden for ten thousand years.

"Telling you won't hurt. After all, you and I are the only two beings at the bottom of the lower realm. Perhaps without your help, I would not be able to fulfill my Tushan clan's long-cherished wish to return to the upper realm after ten thousand years."

Chu Xiu keenly caught the key words in Tu Shanling's words:

"The Tu Shan Clan? Returning to the Upper Realm?"

Tu Shanling sighed softly, sat up straight, stretched, and unabashedly displayed her shapely figure under her red dress to Chu Xiu.

She stood up and looked up at the boundless blue sky above the palace.

"You should have heard of the Tushan Fox Clan, right?"

Chu Xiu nodded. "Along with the Qingqiu Fox Clan, you are one of the two major clans of the Nine-Tailed Spirit Foxes. I have long admired your name."

The nine-tailed spirit fox has transcended the realm of demonic beasts. Although it is still referred to as a demon, it is now a divine beast recognized by the Heavenly Dao!

As the leader of the Tushan Foxes, Tushan Ling's bloodline is far superior to that of the demons in the lower realms. No wonder she was able to become a demon emperor at such a young age.

Tu Shanling continued to ask, "Then do you know why this world has Tu Shan foxes, but no Qingqiu foxes?"

Chu Xiu pondered for a moment, then raised an eyebrow and asked, "Could it be that Your Majesty, or rather, the origin of the Tushan Fox Clan in this world, comes from the Upper Realm?"

Tu Shanling sighed, "That's right, you are a supporter of the Murong clan of the Great Zhou... Of course, now the Murong clan should call you their protector..."

"You should know that the Murong clan, like my Tushan clan, originates from the Upper Realm, or rather, we are originally people of the Upper Realm..."

"It was only tens of thousands of years ago, during the battle between the two great immortal kings in the upper realm, that I sided with the loser and was thus exiled to the lower realm, where I remain to this day."

Tu Shanling turned to look at Chu Xiu: "The ancestor of the Murong clan in the lower realm, truly worthy of being human..."

"As a direct descendant of the Murong clan, when choosing the Immortal King he would support, he simultaneously appointed his younger brother as the leader of a collateral branch of the Murong clan, ordering him to support another Immortal King..."

"In this way, no matter which Immortal King is defeated, the Murong clan will not be wiped out, and there will always be a place for the Murong clan in the Upper Realm."

"My ancestors from the Tushan clan chose to be devoted to the immortal king who protected Tushan, and in the end, they were exiled to the mortal realm."

"However, as early as ten thousand years ago, my Tushan clan had prepared to return to the upper realm at the cost of blood, but it was thwarted by the Murong clan, which had just established its kingdom at that time..."

Chu Xiu was taken aback: "Former allies, now mortal enemies...?"

"So, the demon race under the rule of the Tushan Fox chose to frequently invade the territory of the Great Zhou for ten thousand years as a way to vent their anger?"

"Venting your anger? My Tushan Fox Clan isn't that childish..."

"Our invasion of the Great Zhou territory is to find the Soul-Refining Lotus that our clan nurtured with our own bloodline, which was then stolen by the Murong clan!"

Soul-Refining Lotus?

Chu Xiu was taken aback, and shrank back guiltily, not daring to look Tu Shanling in the eye for the first time.

Little did he know that the Soul-Refining Lotus already had an owner...

Therefore, the Soul-Refining Lotus, a divine artifact that the Tushan clan had spent tens of thousands of years cultivating and which could help their clan return to the upper realm, was once seized by the Murong clan, making the two clans mortal enemies...

However, the Soul-Refining Lotus fell into Chu Xiu's hands ten thousand years later, which led to his current strength and fame as the number one in the world!

Tu Shanling noticed that Chu Xiu suddenly began to avoid her gaze and was a little puzzled. Just as she was about to ask, Chu Xiu, who had noticed something was wrong, interrupted her.

"Cough cough!"

"Then how did His Majesty advance to the true pinnacle?"

"Doesn't the law of the lower realm only allow one being at the pinnacle to appear in the same era?"

Upon hearing this, Tu Shanling stepped forward, placed her slender hand on Chu Xiu's shoulder, bent down slightly, and stared intently into Chu Xiu's eyes with interest, smiling as she said:

"That's a question for you, Lord Chu..."

Chu Xiu raised an eyebrow. "Ask me?"

"I wonder what methods you used to make even the mighty Heavenly Dao so wary of you, to the point that it went so far as to change its own unchanging laws to target you, this...rising star?"

Tu Shanling's words made Chu Xiu suddenly realize:

"You mean, the reason you were able to break through to the limit was due to the Heavenly Dao of the lower realm? Its purpose is... to make you my enemy?"

“That’s right!” Tu Shanling’s lips curled into a playful smile. “However, I’m not a fool…”

"So you want me to be your enemy, the number one in the world who is also at the ninth level of the Profound Immortal Realm, while you let it sit back and watch the tigers fight, and then reap the benefits in the end...?"

"Although I do not know how Lord Chu achieved his current accomplishments, I do know that Lord Chu is a friend, not an enemy. It is the Heavenly Dao, which seems to protect the lower realm but is actually shackled to it, that is our common enemy!"

Chu Xiu immediately understood Tu Shanling's purpose. "So, Your Majesty wants to join forces with me to defeat that guardian of the Heavenly Dao's shackles, and let me help your Tu Shan clan return to the Upper Realm?"

"That's right!"

Tu Shanling smiled and said, "Although I don't know why the Murong Clan chose you as their help in returning to the Upper Realm, I believe that the Murong Clan's choice is not wrong."

"I do not wish to damage the relationship between Lord Chu and the Murong Clan. I simply wish to establish a friendly and mutually supportive relationship with Lord Chu, just as the Murong Clan has done, so that Lord Chu may know that even though I, Tu Shanling, am at the same level as you, we are friends, not enemies!"

Chu Xiu nodded slowly. It would be best to join forces with the Demon Emperor, who was at the same level of cultivation, to deal with the Heavenly Dao Shackle Guardian whose strength was unknown.

Moreover, if I can help the Tushan clan return to the Upper Realm, I will have more confidence to venture into the Upper Realm after I, who was originally isolated and helpless, go there.

As one of the few divine beast clans, the Tushan clan's ability to participate in the battle for the Immortal Emperor's throne back then suggests that their foundation in the Upper Realm is not to be underestimated...

Moreover, the Tushan Fox has a powerful ally, the Qingqiu Fox clan, which is also a divine beast...

Befriending and joining forces with Tu Shanling seems like a win-win situation!

But soon, Chu Xiu thought of something and asked Tu Shanling:

"If Your Majesty leads the Tushan Fox Clan away from the mortal realm, then who will be in charge of this vast demon race?"

Without the control of Tu Shan Fox, the calamities caused by the demon race will likely become even more severe for the human race...

Tu Shanling shook her head and sighed, "The rest of the clansmen cannot leave the lower realm. Only I, who am at the same level as you, can travel with Lord Chu to the upper realm."

"Among the demon races in the lower realm, our Tushan clan possesses the strongest bloodline power. With us here, we will never allow other demon races to wreak havoc on the human world."

Only the End of the Realm can allow him and Chu Xiu to leave the lower realm together?

Chu Xiu was filled with doubt.

The strongest member of the Murong clan that he knew was the Sword Emperor Murong Nantian, whose cultivation was only at the peak of the eighth level of the Profound Immortal Realm...

If what Tu Shanling said is true, then no one in the Murong clan can accompany him...

How then can the Murong clan fulfill their long-cherished wish of returning to the upper realm?