The First Marquis of Daxuan

Yan Liu was imprisoned in this celestial prison for hundreds of years.

Although I didn't have much interaction with the prisoners, they all looked familiar to me.

This is also one of the reasons why Su Mu chose Yan Liu.

Su Mu had neither the patience nor the time to talk to each prisoner individually.

Yan Liu finally saw a glimmer of hope for freedom, and he devoted himself wholeheartedly to his work.

He quickly investigated the situation of everyone in the prison.

Because he was still unclear about Su Mu's personality, he did not offer his own judgment, but simply presented the investigation results to Su Mu.

“I have already asked about everyone’s name and background.”

Yan Liu said somewhat cautiously, "I have a secret method that can guarantee that none of them are lying."

Su Mu nodded.

He just randomly picked someone, extracted their essence according to the warden's instructions, and then sent that essence away.

He did this to prevent the other celestial beings in the heavens from discovering the changes in the prison.

According to the warden, if the source cannot be received from outside one day, the Heavenly Emperor will send someone to come.

The situation here will no longer be able to be concealed.

Su Mu hasn't figured out the situation in the Heavenly Realm yet, so he doesn't plan to take action directly.

He needs to use the prison's unique environment to familiarize himself with the heavens.

As for that unfortunate soul whose essence he extracted—

It's just bad luck for the other party.

Fortunately, these people have been imprisoned for many years and have long been accustomed to having their essence extracted.

Extracting their essence once more wouldn't kill them.

When Yan Liu went to investigate the prisoners as Su Mu had instructed, the prisoners' previously lifeless hearts began to stir again.

Seeing Yan Liu regain his freedom, how could they not be tempted?
Therefore, when faced with Yan Liu's investigation, almost everyone revealed their secrets without hesitation.

Su Mu flipped through the prisoners' files one by one, and asked casually without looking up.

“Yan Liu, if you continue to stay in the cage, although your source energy will be extracted, at least you will be able to keep your lives.”

But if I release you now, you may soon be surrounded and attacked, and you may very well lose your lives.

Su Mu said slowly, "If you die because of this, will you regret it?"
If you had to choose, what would you choose?

"I'd rather die!"

Yan Liu said without hesitation, "I'm not afraid of dying, I'm only afraid of dying a miserable death."

"If I could fight against the celestial beings, even if I died in battle, I would die a swift and painless death."

Yan Liu is not a fool.

He could naturally see that although Su Mu had subdued the warden, he now only controlled the prison.

Outside this prison, there are countless celestial beings.

These celestial beings are the most dangerous.

It's safe to say that once they leave this prison, they will face unimaginable attacks.

Even if they stay here, those celestial beings will eventually discover the prison's existence.

They'll still be dead then.

To be honest, although they have left the prison, the possibility of them escaping the Heavenly Realm is still very small.

Even so, Yan Liu would choose this path instead of being locked up in a cage like a dog.

"Do other people think the same way?"

Su Mu continued to ask.

"Of course! We're all at the Primordial Beginning Realm, and who isn't a top expert in their own world?"
Who would willingly choose to live like a dog?

Yan Liu said, "If it weren't for the cowardice of ending one's own life, everyone would have given up on living long ago."

Now that you've given us the chance to fight against the Celestials, no one will hesitate at all.

"Alright, let them all out."

Su Mu said calmly, "If the Heavenly Emperor is ruthless, then don't blame us."

Yan Liu nodded vigorously and turned to release the crowd.

The warden was bound hand and foot, sitting in a corner of the hall with a cold smile on his face.

"Here, it's all in vain no matter what you do."

"Once the Heavenly Emperor discovers your existence, he can destroy you with a single hand."

The warden said to Su Mu, "So what if you recruit these people?"
These people are nothing but a bunch of useless trash.

Facing the Heavenly Emperor, no matter how many people you have, it's useless!

The warden had a fanatical trust in the so-called Heavenly Emperor.

In his mind, the Heavenly Emperor was omnipotent.

Although Su Mu was strong, he was still insignificant compared to the Heavenly Emperor.

"Since your Heavenly Emperor is omnipotent, does he know that you have become a prisoner?"
If he's really that powerful, shouldn't he be rescuing you now?

Su Mu said calmly.

"It's not that we don't want to save them, it's just that the time hasn't come yet!"

"It is the warden," said the prison warden.

"Alright, let's just say it's not the right time yet."

Su Mu smiled faintly and said, "Anyway, the Heavenly Emperor is omnipotent, and our fate is the same regardless of the outcome."

Why don't you tell me more about the situation in the heavenly realm?
"Among these 120 celestial beings, are you the weakest?"

"Bullshit! There are at least ten people who are weaker than me!"

The warden, enraged and embarrassed, rebuked him.

Su Mu chuckled to himself.

It turns out it was eleventh from the bottom.

But that's terrifying enough.

With such strength, the warden ranked over 100th among the 120 celestial beings in the Heavenly Realm.

To be honest, although the warden was defeated by him, the warden would be an absolute powerhouse anywhere else in the world.

A Primordial Realm expert.

The previous leader of Huangtiandao Tiangang, Xia Zhizun, only had more combat experience than him; his true strength was only about the same.

The celestial beings in this heavenly realm are indeed terrifying.

Although Su Mu appeared calm and collected on the surface, he never let his guard down, nor did he ever underestimate the celestial beings of the Heavenly Realm.

He left the warden behind to avoid alerting the enemy.

If the warden is killed, the Heavenly Emperor will probably immediately become aware of his presence.

At that time, he will have no choice but to fight against the celestial beings in the heavens.

"You think I don't know what you're up to?"

The warden sneered disdainfully, still maintaining an air of superiority even after becoming a prisoner.

"Let me tell you, even if you knew our strength, what good would it do? You would only feel more desperate."

The warden did not hide anything.

It's because he always felt that the celestial beings were superior and didn't take ordinary people seriously at all.

In his eyes, ordinary people don't even have the right to be compared with them.

"Let me tell you, besides this prison of mine, there are 119 palaces in the heavenly realm, and each palace is overseen by a celestial being."

The Heavenly Emperor resides in the very center of the Lingxiao Palace.

The warden said, "If you have the ability, then go directly to the Lingxiao Palace and kill the Heavenly Emperor. At that time, all the celestial beings in the Heavenly Realm will submit to you."

Do you have that ability?

He had a provocative look on his face, as if he wanted to provoke Su Mu into challenging the Heavenly Emperor.

Su Mu, of course, would not fall for such a simplistic provocation.

With a faint smile, Su Mu continued, "Where is the corpse of that super strong expert you mentioned?"

"Right below the Lingxiao Palace."

The warden sneered, "The Lingxiao Palace is built right on top of those powerful figures."

Let me tell you again, the essence extracted from you was sent to the Lingxiao Palace.

The Heavenly Emperor used those primordial elements to dissolve the power protecting the corpses of the strong.

The warden made no attempt to hide anything.

Because he knew that it wouldn't matter if he told Su Mu these things.

If Su Mu wants to access the corpse of that powerful figure, he must pass through the Lingxiao Palace.

The Heavenly Emperor resides within the Lingxiao Palace and never leaves.

“I will go. If you live to see that day, you will see how I step into the Lingxiao Palace.”

Su Mu said calmly.

He raised his palm toward the warden.

"what are you doing?"

suddenly.

The warden's face showed a look of horror.

He had never been so afraid, not even when facing death.

But now, he couldn't help but scream.

“Here, no matter how loud you shout, no one will hear you.”

Su Mu said with a faint smile.

He grabbed at the air, drawing out streams of power from the warden.

That is the origin of a Primordial Realm expert.

Su Mu also realized that the source of power wasn't just something the prisoners had, but the warden also had it.

From then on, the source of sustenance supplied to the Heavenly Emperor every day came from the jailer.

With the warden's cultivation level, he should be able to hold out for several years without any problem.

...Several days passed in the blink of an eye.

Su Mu sends out his source every day, and this source naturally comes from the warden.

The warden was deathly pale and lay on the ground as if he had exhausted himself.

He struggled, but he couldn't break free at all.

He couldn't even bring himself to commit suicide.

"You're too cruel!"

He spoke to Su Mu with deep resentment.

The loss of their origin is what these celestial beings fear most.

If they were merely killed, the Heavenly Emperor could retrieve them from the river of time.

But if their source is drained, they will completely disappear, leaving no trace in the river of time.

Since there are no traces, it is naturally impossible for it to be revived.

This is a radical and drastic measure.

The warden was genuinely terrified.

He answered whatever Su Mu asked, only hoping that Su Mu would give him a quick death.

However, Su Mu is not interrogating him now.

Because Su Mu also discovered that no matter how much the warden told him, if he wanted to leave the Heavenly Realm, he still had to get past the Heavenly Emperor.

The celestial realm is actually quite simple.

One hundred and twenty celestial beings each performed their duties, working together to maintain order in the heavenly realm.

The order of the celestial realm is to find ways to obtain the corpse of the powerful.

It is precisely because the celestial realm is so simple that conquering it is even more difficult.

There are no cumbersome institutions here, only these 120 top experts. It's impossible for outsiders to sneak in.

Whether Su Mu wants to establish himself in the Celestial Realm or leave the Celestial Realm to return to the outside universe, he must go through these powerful Celestial beings.

Ultimately, it comes down to the size of the fist.

Dealing with one or two Celestials is manageable, but facing one hundred and twenty Celestials would only make Su Mu feel his scalp tingle.

Even with Yan Liu and his men, he wasn't confident he could fight his way out of the Heavenly Realm.

"Back then, the Heavenly Realm split into two groups. One group consisted of the current Heavenly Emperor and others, while the other group consisted of Huang Tiandao and his people."

Huang Tiandao and his group were no match for the Heavenly Emperor, so they were banished from the Heavenly Realm. The fact that they were able to escape back then means they had found a way to escape together—”

Su Mu pondered repeatedly, and suddenly an idea popped into his mind.

He had learned about the feud between Huang Tiandao and the Heavenly Realm from the warden.

When they split up, the Heavenly Emperor originally intended to exterminate them all.

However, despite paying a heavy price, thirty-six of Huang Tiandao's men still managed to escape.

Based on the timeline, the celestial realm in that world should also be closed.

Su Mu also asked the warden this question.

But even the warden didn't know how Huang Tiandao's men escaped.

If Su Mu wants to leave the Heavenly Realm now, then Huang Tiandao's fellow escapees from back then are his only way out.

If we stay in the Heavenly Realm, the Heavenly Emperor will discover this place sooner or later.

At least for now, Su Mu does not have the confidence to defeat the Heavenly Emperor.

"Sect Master, the person is back!"

Just as Su Mu was pondering, Yan Liu suddenly rushed in, looking excited as he spoke to Su Mu.

"Old Wu is back!"

"Let him in."

Su Mu's face lit up with joy, and he said in a deep voice.

The old Wu that Yan Liu mentioned was named Wu Changzhong, and like Yan Liu, he was a powerful expert at the peak of the Primordial Realm.

Wu Changzhong comes from a place called Shadow Star. He has a special talent: he can transform into shadows and hide invisibly.

After learning that Su Mu wanted to deal with the Celestials, he volunteered to go outside the prison to find out the situation.

A moment later, Yan Liu walked in with a middle-aged man.

Wu Changzhong looked unremarkable. He clasped his hands in a salute to Su Mu and said in a deep voice, "Sect Master, I have not failed you!"

A smile also appeared on Wu Changzhong's face.

This trip was the most dangerous thing he had ever done in his life.

Several times, he almost got discovered by the Celestials.

Once discovered, not only will he himself be doomed, but everyone in the prison will also fall back into the hands of the Celestials.

Fortunately, he eventually returned alive.

"Just as you told me, Sect Master, there are a total of 120 palaces in the entire Heavenly Realm. They are scattered throughout the Heavenly Realm like stars in the sky."

As Wu Changzhong spoke, he began to draw on the ground.

He drew a map of the entire celestial realm.

The celestial realm is not very large; it is shaped like a disc, with a diameter of only ten thousand miles.

Wanli.

That sounds huge.

But for experts at the Primordial Realm, or even those at the Primordial Beginning Realm, ten thousand miles is not such a long distance.

"I discovered that the celestial realm seems to be a yin-yang symbol."

The Lingxiao Palace you mentioned, Sect Master, is located in the core of Yangyu.

A thick white mist swirled beneath it; I felt myself being assimilated as soon as I got a little closer, so I couldn't see clearly whether there were any corpses within the white mist.

Wu Changzhong said, "Then I went to the core of the Yin Fish, where there was a black mist that was impossible to approach."

I tried it, and if I got even a little closer, I felt like my soul was being torn apart.

Wu Changzhong described it in more detail than the warden.

Before he left, Su Mu had already told him the information he had obtained from the warden.

One of Wu Changzhong's tasks was to verify whether what the warden said was true or false.

“The entire edge of the celestial realm is shrouded in chaos. I couldn’t find the entrance I came from, and I couldn’t pass through the chaos either. If I got too close, I would be bounced back.”

Wu Changzhong said.

Su Mu looked at the map drawn by Wu Changzhong, a thoughtful expression on his face.

The celestial realm, shaped like a yin-yang fish, should have its anode point being the corpse of a powerful being mentioned by the warden.

What about the cathode point?
The warden did not mention this.

According to the information Wu Changzhong gathered, there was no palace at the Yin Yin point, and that place was inaccessible.

Logically speaking, since there is the corpse of a powerful person at the anode point, there should probably be something similar at the cathode point.

If Su Mu could think of this, the Heavenly Emperor certainly could too.

After all these years, has the Heavenly Emperor never explored the Yin Yin point?
After thinking for a while, Su Mu told Wu Changzhong to go and rest first, while he went to the warden.

There's nothing at the cathode.

The warden said in a defiant tone, "Or rather, there might have been something, but now there isn't."

The Heavenly Emperor once went inside to explore and told us personally that there was nothing inside.

Like the anode, the cathode also possesses forces capable of harming us, and we typically avoid approaching those areas.

"Did those celestial beings of Huangtiandao escape from the Heavenly Realm from the Yin Extreme Point back then?"

Su Mu asked.

The warden paused for a moment, then couldn't help but look up at Su Mu.

"You suspect that the cathode point is a channel?"

His expression was gloomy and uncertain, as if he had thought of something.

"It seems that this is indeed the case."

Seeing the warden's reaction, Su Mu smiled faintly and said.

The warden probably really didn't know how Huang Tiandao's celestial beings escaped.

But it seems that this Heavenly Emperor is also hiding something.

"The corpse of that powerful being was placed at the anode point, which has a powerful defensive force that can only be neutralized by the source of power."

Su Mu said slowly, "Theoretically speaking, there should be a similar existence at the cathode point."

Since you can reap such great benefits at the anode point, is it possible that the benefits at the cathode point have already been taken by someone else?

"impossible."

The warden said, "We've spent so many years and still haven't gotten the body from the anode. Who can take the benefits from the cathode?"
Even at the Yin Yin point, there is the corpse of a powerful figure. The person who obtained it must be a top expert, so how could they remain unknown?
I admit that there may be a fellow being at the Cathode Point who has left the Celestial Realm, but that's all.

I absolutely do not believe that there could be two corpses of unparalleled powerhouses in this world.

Su Mu didn't argue with him.

Arguing about this kind of thing will not yield any results.

"What secrets does the cathode hold? Why don't we go and see for ourselves?"

Su Mu said calmly.

"If you're willing to die, of course I won't stop you."

The warden sneered, "Do you think those celestial beings from Huang Tiandao escaped so easily back then?"

They suffered over half their casualties, and only a small number managed to escape.

"Warden, you'd better pray that the negative point isn't too dangerous, or you'll be the first to die."

Su Mudao.

"What do you mean?"

The warden was taken aback.

"I will take you with me."

Since the source can dissolve the power of the anode point, it might also be useful for the power of the cathode point.

I can't possibly waste my own essence to resist that power, can I?
I think you wouldn't mind helping me out again.

Su Mu said with a half-smile. (End of Chapter)