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

After learning about the auction arrangements for tomorrow, Lan Ying bid farewell to Chu Xiu and left.

Chu Xiu returned to the Jade Pavilion alone and lay down on the comfortable soft bed in the number one room in the Heavenly Palace that the Jade Pavilion's manager, Cui Ming, had arranged for him.

Recalling Lan Ying's parting words, Chu Xiu felt a headache coming on.

Ye Wujiang's only daughter...

His fiancée...

Chu Xiu sighed deeply, realizing he had fallen into Ye Wujiang's trap.

If I hadn't been greedy for short-term gains and accepted this ridiculous position of young sect leader, I wouldn't have been forced into a marriage for no reason.

If it were a normal marriage agreement, one could persuade Ye Wujiang to break off the engagement with Ye Wujiang's daughter.

However, this marriage contract was made by Ye Wujiang with his own inner demons as a vow, which makes things difficult.

"Miss is still young. According to the Demon Clan's ten-year age system, she is only a little over eighteen years old. Even the Sect Master is helpless against her willfulness..."

"If the young master encounters any difficulties with the young lady, I hope the young master can be lenient with her... If you confront her head-on, it may backfire..."

Lan Ying's advice echoed in his mind, and Chu Xiu sighed helplessly.

His biggest weakness is his emotional intelligence when dealing with girls.

His previous female friends, such as Murong and Tushan, were all of excellent character, requiring no effort from him to cultivate the friendships.

Therefore, I have never put any effort into making friends.

"Fine, we'll deal with whatever comes our way."

Chu Xiu cast aside his distracting thoughts, sat cross-legged to regulate his breathing, and waited for the grand ceremony to begin the next day.

There are a few items he wants at tomorrow's auction, but since he has already accepted the responsibility of hosting the auction, it is not appropriate for him to participate in the auction as a guest.

Never mind, it's not a necessity. We can ask Ye Wujiang for it later.

After his experience at the Demon God's Tomb, his cultivation level had reached the late stage of the Reincarnation Realm.

It had only been a few months since he advanced to the Reincarnation Realm, yet his cultivation level had jumped from the early stage of the Reincarnation Realm to this point. The effects of the ancient god's essence blood and his natal star chart were truly terrifying.

Chu Xiu recounted his own path to improvement. Apart from continuing to collect the essence blood of ancient gods and cultivating star power to illuminate his natal star map, the only other way he could improve his cultivation was by circulating the Supreme Qiankun Technique to refine the ghost mist in the Misty Sea.

However, Chu Xiu intends to temporarily abandon the latter until he has ascertained the relationship between Nightless City and the Misty Sea.

To prevent Ye Wujiang or Misty Sea from setting a trap for him, even though the Supreme Qiankun Technique could rapidly increase his cultivation level in a short period of time, this was the only way.

After all, no matter how high one's cultivation level is, one must be alive to enjoy it.

As for magic, he already possesses the Myriad Swords Technique, which he created based on the power of Heaven and Imperial Qi, as well as the Heaven-Slaying Arrow, a mysterious demonic technique bestowed upon him by the Butterfly Queen.

The former, as an immediate attack method, has an almost inexhaustible source of imperial energy as its foundation, so it is naturally not afraid of exhausting its own magical power.

The latter, along with the Ten Thousand Swords Technique's Ten Thousand Swords Return to One, can be used as a killing move. When used at full power, it can kill someone in the late stage of the Reincarnation Realm.

In addition, with Xue Li, a late-stage Reincarnation Realm cultivator, as his protector, there should be no need to worry about his safety.

With his mind focused, Chu Xiu immersed himself in his body, observing the blood flowing through his heart.

The blood that emitted a faint purple-gold light was a mutation resulting from the fusion with the essence blood of an ancient god.

Perhaps he is no longer a pure human being, but an anomaly possessing the essence of human blood, the essence of ancient gods, and the essence of demon gods.

But in the end, he is still a person, and no matter how he changes, he can never forget his roots.

As far as Chu Xiu knew, the human race of Tianlu also originated in the ancient era.

In that era, gods, demons, and monsters roamed the world, and humans were merely at the bottom, barely surviving in the Great Wilderness under the protection of a handful of powerful human beings.

The strongest human beings of that era were recognized by the ancient gods and revered as gods and men.

But after an unprecedented war between the various races, the gods disappeared from the world, and the human race lost their gods, once again becoming the lowest of the various races.

Fortunately, in this critical moment, after the demise of gods and humans, a human emperor was born. In the heavenly continent devoid of deities, he led humanity to achieve great things, making humankind the most powerful being on the continent.

The fruits of their labor have endured to this day, and the human race remains the largest race on the Tianlu continent, occupying the most prosperous northern region.

For races like the demon race, only one emperor or one ruler can be born within the same era.

The Sovereign exists as the will and belief of his race, while the Emperor generally exists as the strongest guardian of his race. Under the constraints of certain powers, Sovereigns and Emperors can only cooperate, not be enemies.

If they insist on being enemies, they will have an irresistible force to destroy both of them, and let someone else take the throne as emperor.

Unlike other races, the human race allows multiple emperors and rulers to coexist in the same era, and these emperors and rulers do not refrain from fighting each other.

There was an era when no emperor or king among the human race survived. If the other powerful human race members had not realized the racial crisis and cooperated to establish the so-called Immortal Alliance, thus ensuring the survival of the human race, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

Now, Chu Xiu possesses imperial aura and is clearly one of the candidates for the human race's emperor of this generation.

He knew very well that if he appeared in the Northern Lands, he would become the target of everyone's hatred.

This is also why he previously refused the invitation from the Immortal Alliance.

I am not yet strong enough to protect myself, so I must not put myself in danger.

My primary goal and top priority now is to continue searching for the essence and blood of the ancient gods, as well as astrology and the power of the stars.

Bang bang bang.

A knock came at the door of the No. 1 room, waking Chu Xiu from his reverie.

When Chu Xiu's mind returned to his body, he realized that it was already dawn.

Outside the Jade Pavilion, the area was already bustling with activity.

The person knocking on the door was none other than Cui Ming, the manager of the Jade Pavilion.

Despite holding a respectable position within the Demon Flame Sect, she humbled herself, bringing a basin of clean water and a clean towel to help Chu Xiujie wash and cleanse her face.

"Young Sect Master...would you like to take a bath?"

"I can also help..."

Cui Ming's cheeks flushed, but her words were quite bold.

Chu Xiu shook his head. He didn't have the habit of bathing in the morning. Moreover, for a late-stage Reincarnation Realm expert, ordinary dust and dirt could not get close to him. His physique had long been refined by the blood essence of the ancient god and was almost spotless.

Cui Ming sighed regretfully, then seemed to remember something and reminded Chu Xiu.

“Young Sect Master, last night… Miss came to visit in person, but I asked her to leave on the grounds that you were in seclusion.”

"well done."

Chu Xiu quickly thanked her, as he wasn't prepared to deal with the spoiled and willful young lady Lan Ying had mentioned.

However, that young lady will likely be attending today's grand event, and she might try to embarrass me in front of everyone, so I should be careful.

After bidding farewell to Cui Ming, Chu Xiu went alone to the Wutong Pavilion, took the teleportation array, and entered the aerial pavilion.

The auction was still half an hour away from opening, but the pavilion was already packed with people.

Chu Xiu calmly walked through the crowd and entered the inner chamber, his divine sense sweeping across the entire building.

The first floor of the pavilion is where seats are provided for those who have reached the Great Perfection of the Transcendent Realm.

As for those below the Great Perfection of the Transcendent Realm, they were only qualified to enter the Sky Pavilion and stand on the first floor to watch this unprecedented auction event under the guidance of elders with the Great Perfection of the Transcendent Realm cultivation.

On the second floor, only cultivators at the Reincarnation Realm are qualified to sit. Even old monsters at the Great Perfection of the Reincarnation Realm can only sit at the head of the second floor and cannot go up to the third floor.

When Chu Xiu's divine sense reached the third layer, it was repelled by an invisible barrier and could not penetrate any further.

The third floor is divided into ten luxurious private rooms, each representing the seat of a Qiankun Realm expert.

The ten private rooms on the third floor represent ten top-tier experts at the Qiankun Realm from the three states of the southeast and west who had participated in the Heavenly Auction.

As far as Chu Xiu knew, nine of the ten Qiankun Realm experts had come today.

As for the remaining one, it is rumored that he has refined a Qiankun Dao Fruit left behind by a powerful Qiankun Realm expert of the demon race, and successfully advanced to a higher level than the Qiankun Realm.

It is because of this rumor that nine experts at the Qiankun Realm have gathered at this auction today.