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

"Thank you for your guidance, senior!"

"Without the help of my seniors, I'm afraid I would never have been able to understand the truth on my own in this lifetime!"

Chu Xiu bowed deeply and thanked the man in the dragon robe.

The man in the dragon robe shook his head and said, "If you didn't have such an extraordinary mindset, even if I gave you pointers, you wouldn't have been able to understand. You should thank yourself."

"You flatter me, senior." Chu Xiu still bowed and asked respectfully, "May I ask your name, senior?"

As the golden dragon's thunder illuminated the tunnel's end, he also saw the remains of the emperor, whose immense power still emanated from him even after many years of death.

This senior must have been an unparalleled expert in his lifetime.

A look of regret and reminiscence appeared in the remnant soul of the man in the dragon robe. "My name is—Yao Zhong!"

"In the present-day Tianlu, there should be very few people who remember me."

Chu Xiu remained silent.

That is indeed the case; otherwise, the tomb of our predecessors would not be in such a dilapidated state, reduced to an unmarked ruin.

"Yao Zhong... the name of this senior will live on in my heart forever!"

"I wonder if you have any wishes, senior, that I can help you with?"

Yao Chong glanced back at Chu Xiu and laughed, "You little rascal, you know very well. My remnant soul is bound by my corpse and cannot leave the tomb. There are indeed two things I would like to ask you for help with."

Chu Xiu grinned: "I have no way to repay your great kindness. Please give me your instructions, senior."

Yao Chong turned his head and focused his gaze on Tu Shanling, who was meditating and breaking through to a higher realm outside the tunnel entrance.

"This girl, is she from the Tushan Fox Clan?"

Chu Xiu nodded.

“I have an old friend from the Tushan Fox Clan. When the Tushan Fox Clan was wrongly banished to the Ancient Realm by the Immortal Emperor, she was not on the Heavenly Continent. Moreover, due to her special talent, she was granted special permission by the Immortal Emperor to stay on the Heavenly Continent.”

"Since then, she has lived in seclusion in Tushan for over 100,000 years... 100,000 years, my body has been decayed by time, I wonder if she is alright..."

"Since that girl has come to Tianlu with you, she must have come with an important mission from her clan. She will definitely go to the ancestral land of her Tushan clan. Therefore, I would like to ask you to pass on a message to my old friend."

Yao Zhong sighed, "Tell her... that I may have made a mistake by sending her out of Tianlu without her permission that day, but I don't regret it."

My lingering soul will soon dissipate. If she is willing, please set aside past grievances and come to see me one last time…

Chu Xiu frowned, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

Yao Chong shook his head, saying helplessly, "You can't help me with this matter of my remnant soul now. Don't worry about it. I've been dead for far too long, so long that even the will of Heaven is urging me to leave, but..."

"Forget it, why bother talking so much to a junior like you?"

Yao Zhong interrupted his reminiscence, looked at Murong Si, and smiled at Chu Xiu:

"The Tu Shan clan and the Murong clan are both clans that were banished to the lower realm by the Immortal Emperor. Yet you, brat, have brought representatives of both clans to the Heavenly Continent. Are you trying to challenge the Immortal Emperor?"

Chu Xiu laughed and said, "A golden carp is no ordinary fish; it will transform into a dragon once it encounters wind and clouds."

"They were the cream of the crop among the common people of the lower realm; they just happened to run into me, this tyrant who couldn't bear to see human suffering..."

"I, Chu Xiu, accept your request, senior!"

Yao Chong nodded, reached out towards the end of the tunnel, and the petrified giant sword in the corpse's hand flew towards the two of them, hovering in front of Yao Chong as if it were a dead object.

Even when Chu Xiu used his Qi-gazing technique, he couldn't sense any magical fluctuations from the petrified giant sword's exterior.

"Take this sword as a token and give it to my old friend."

"Now, she is the only remaining Tushan fox clan member in Tianlu, and she is not difficult to recognize."

"This sword was sealed by me before my death, so it is not an inanimate object. However, breaking the seal is a gradual process and requires a certain level of strength. If she refuses to accept this sword, then I will give it to you."

"This sword is made of naturally occurring materials, yet crafted by human hands. Its quality is comparable to the pseudo-immortal artifact within your body."

Yao Chong waved his hand, sending the petrified giant sword to Chu Xiu.

Chu Xiu was not surprised that Yao Chong knew about the existence of the Heaven-Suppressing Ruler, because even the cultivation level of this senior's remnant soul was unfathomable.

Chu Xiu said somewhat awkwardly, "But senior, this sword is already like this... I can't just take it out and smash someone while I'm fighting, can I?"

Yao Chong smiled and said, "When you advance to the True Transcendent Realm, you can remove the first layer of seal on this sword, and then you will know its power."

Chu Xiu nodded. "Then... what's the second thing?"

Yao Chong put his hands behind his back and said, "A few days ago, I received a definite message from several tomb raiders, concerning whether my soul can survive a little longer in Tianlu."

"I would like to ask you to go to the Western Demon Realm and retrieve something for me—the essence blood of an ancient phoenix!"

"Ancient Phoenix Essence Blood?" Chu Xiu's eyes widened. "You want me to go to the Demon Realm to ask the Phoenix Clan for their blood, and it has to be Ancient Phoenix Essence Blood?"

Yao Chong couldn't help but laugh and said, "It's not about asking the divine beast Phoenix for this item, but about going to an ancient Phoenix tomb to compete for it."

"I only need a drop of this ancient phoenix blood essence, but it is said that there is a well-preserved ancient phoenix corpse in that tomb, from which at least a liter of blood essence can be extracted!"

"The essence blood within this corpse contains extremely rich life force and death force, which can help you understand life and death. Now that you have reached the True Transcendence Realm and understood your true nature, you can break through the Shattered Void Realm to the True Transcendence Realm without any obstacles. However, the realms above the True Transcendence Realm require you to understand life and death in order to possibly reach them!"

Chu Xiu pondered, muttering to himself, "After understanding one's true nature, is it the same as understanding life and death...?"

Yao Chong nodded and said, "Beyond the Path to Truth lies the understanding of the cycle of life and death!"

"Beyond the cycle of reincarnation lies the universe, where the heavens and earth can be transformed in the blink of an eye! The so-called Immortal Emperor stands at the Qiankun Realm, invincible in the world!"

"Then... what about above Heaven and Earth?" Chu Xiu suddenly asked.

Yao Zhong said solemnly, "That's too far away for you!"

"A Celestial Emperor who is invincible in the Qiankun Realm can make all the cultivators in the entire Great Thousand World of Tianlu look up to him, so how can he be above the Qiankun Realm?"

Chu Xiu nodded solemnly. Being overly ambitious was not in his nature; being down-to-earth was!

"I have accepted both of the two tasks entrusted to me by my senior."

"Once my two friends have completed their breakthroughs, we will set off immediately!"

“But seniors…” Chu Xiu looked at Tu Shanwan and Murong Si with some concern, “If breaking through to the Void is a wrong path, then what about the two of them…”

Yao Chong smiled and said, "No need to worry. When you were undergoing your tribulation, I helped them as well through divine thought."

Before he finished speaking, two waves of magical power carrying the aura of shattering the void spread out one after the other.

Almost simultaneously, both women broke through their cultivation levels and successfully advanced to the Void Shattering Realm.

"By the way, there's something I need to ask you."

With a flick of his sleeve, Yao Chong summoned an old man with a bruised and swollen face and covered in wounds, who appeared before Chu Xiu.

It was none other than the purple-robed elder in the Transcendent Realm who had followed Chu Xiu and the other two into the void rift earlier!

"Spare me! Senior... spare me!"

At this moment, the old man was begging Yao Zhong for mercy. He never imagined that this nameless ruin was actually the tomb of a human emperor from 100,000 years ago, and he never imagined that the emperor's remnant soul was still intact!

For a powerful expert at the fifth level of the Transcendent Realm, crushing an ant in front of him is as easy as doing it!

"What should we do with this person?"

Yao Zhong looked at Chu Xiu.

Only then did the old man in purple notice that the three people from before were actually here!

But if the Emperor wants to deal with a tomb raider, why does he need to ask the young man's opinion?

Could this young man be a reincarnation of a powerful figure?

Thinking of this, the purple-robed elder was about to speak, but Yao Zhong snapped his fingers and used his magic to seal his mouth shut.

Chu Xiu glanced sideways at the purple-robed elder, "A piece of scum who wants to kill and rob, senior can kill him."

"A fifth-level True Transcending Realm cultivator is still a valuable asset; wouldn't it be a waste to kill him like this?"

Yao Chong laughed and said, "How about turning him into a puppet to protect you on your trip to Tushan?"

Chu Xiu nodded upon hearing this, "Then we will do as you say, senior!"

Yao Zhong immediately waved his hand and slapped the purple-robed elder on the head, directly erasing his intelligence. Chu Xiu reacted quickly and slapped his own divine soul power into the purple-robed elder's head, engraving a slave mark.

Thus, Chu Xiu, who had just reached the first level of the Shattered Void Realm, now had a henchman at the fifth level of the Transcendent Realm. This should reduce the unnecessary trouble caused by his low cultivation level when he was adventuring in the Heavenly Continent.

After all, someone at the fifth level of the Transcendent Realm is qualified to serve as an elder in a sect.