While in Battle Through the Heavens, one can pre-appoint oneself as an emperor.

Chapter 368 An Old Friend Separated for a Thousand Years

"Father-in-law should know what I want to do. Are you sure you want this Imperial Jade?"

"Only in this way can we persuade the Thunder and Flame clans to stop interfering in the matter of the Heavenly Tomb. I can also guarantee that as long as there is even one person left from any of the three clans, this Imperial Jade will not fall into the hands of the Soul Emperor!"

Under Chen Xiao's intense gaze, Gu Yuan nodded emphatically, his words resounding.

Seeing Gu Yuan's solemn expression, which seemed like he was making a vow, Chen Xiao's opinion of his father-in-law changed somewhat.

Gu Yuan may not be as bold or powerful as Hun Tiandi and Xiao Xuan, but he is not without merit.

At the very least, they are quite good at observing subtle signs.

"Alright, since that's the case, then you can have this Imperial Jade."

Without hesitation, Chen Xiao tossed the Imperial Jade to Gu Yuan.

Since someone was willing to do it for him, Chen Xiao didn't mind making things easier.

"I won't let you down. If you have nothing to do, bring Xun'er back to visit more often. After all, this is Xun'er's home."

"Of course, if Father-in-law has nothing else, I will take my leave." Chen Xiao stood up and cupped his hands in greeting.

Gu Yuan nodded, stood up, and watched Chen Xiao slowly disappear from sight.

Standing there stunned for a long time, Gu Yuan finally sat down again, stroking the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor Jade in his hand, muttering as if to himself, "Truly, one wrong step leads to another."

"Clan leader, must we really do this? If we proceed, our clan's strength will be greatly diminished, and we might even lose more than half of our clan's strongest members!"

A voice suddenly rang out, and the Black Annihilation King appeared from the void.

Gu Yuan was not surprised by this. He didn't even raise his head and said helplessly, "Gu Lie, you've misunderstood. It's not that I want to do it this way, but that's the only way we can do it. Don't listen to what he says, but look at what he does. The Imperial Jade that the Medicine Realm deliberately left behind is proof of that. His intentions haven't changed in the slightest."

"Therefore, by having us handle it, we can at least ensure that we retain some of our strength. If we let that kid handle it—"

"Admittedly, with Xun'er around, he won't let the Ancient Clan end up like the Medicine Clan, but it certainly won't be much better."

"Things are fine as they are for now. If he is truly confident in handling everything, and even reaches that level, what harm is there in our ancient clan submitting to him?"

"Conversely, even if he fails to achieve that, although our ancient race will suffer a great loss of strength, we will still be the only ancient race that survives!"

"As for the Heavenly Tomb, whether he takes charge of it or keeps the status quo, it won't make much difference to our ancient clan. With Xun'er around, he can't possibly refuse to give us a single spot."

The Black Annihilation King was able to cultivate to the level of an eight-star Dou Sheng, so he was definitely not stupid. After listening to Gu Yuan's brief explanation, he understood all the issues.

The disappearance of Void Devouring Flame has deprived the Soul Emperor of a major boost, making him even more eager to collect the ancient jade. This last piece of Tuoshe Ancient Emperor Jade will be the fuse for the foreseeable future.

Wherever it is, there is bound to be unrest!

Gu Yuan, representing the three races, accepted the challenge by asking them to come over. From now on, the Soul Emperor's attention will definitely be drawn to this place, and he will spare no effort to compete for it.

As for the Lei and Yan clans, although they were dragged into this mess by Gu Yuan without really understanding what was going on, there was nothing they could do about it.

Just as Gu Yuan said, none of them wanted the Soul Emperor to collect all the ancient jades.

Or rather, they didn't want anyone other than themselves to be able to collect all the ancient jade pieces.

Because once a new Dou Di appears in this world, the existing order will be broken instantly, and at that time, these ancient races will be the first to be affected!

In conclusion, the Black Annihilation King could foresee that in the coming period, the four races would inevitably fight to the death for this Emperor Jade, and no one knew how much strength they would ultimately retain.

"Don't tell anyone about what happened today, including Gu Dao and the others. Before discussing it with Lei Ying and Yan Jin, I need to go to the Heavenly Tomb!"

Black Annihilation King stared blankly at Gu Yuan, suddenly feeling that the clan leader today was somewhat unfamiliar, as if he had gained a certain boldness that he did not have before, and was about to embark on a high-stakes gamble.

However, upon further reflection, it seems that their side has gained a top-tier expert who would never be an enemy, while the Soul Clan has lost Void Devouring Flame. With this addition and subtraction, the gap in raw strength is quite significant, so it is not surprising that Gu Yuan dared to take a gamble.

"Yes!" Taking a deep breath, Black Annihilation King bowed and agreed.

Gu Yuan nodded slightly, put away the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor Jade, and headed straight for the location of the Heavenly Tomb.

Deep within the second sky, the tomb.

Gu Yuan had always known that Xiao Xuan was here, but today was the first time he had come in person since Xiao Xuan's death.

It wasn't that Gu Yuan couldn't get in; he simply didn't want to face Xiao Xuan.

"Old friend, an old acquaintance has come to visit; may I have the honor of seeing him?"

The vast sound echoed in the Heavenly Tomb, over and over again, without ceasing for a long time.

After a long while, as if he couldn't stand the noise any longer, the white-haired Xiao Xuan finally appeared in front of the stone tablet.

"Gu Yuan——"

Looking at the figure high in the sky, Xiao Xuan's gaze was somewhat complicated.

He harbored some resentment towards the ancient tribe because they had not kept their promises.

In the original timeline, Xiao Xuan didn't hold it against Xiao Yan, simply because Xun'er and Xiao Yan had a relationship.

But now, Xun'er and Xiao Yan have absolutely no connection, so Xiao Xuan naturally finds the ancient clans displeasing no matter what.

"What are you doing here? This is not a place for you to come to the Heavenly Tomb."

"Old friend, I have nothing to say about the Xiao clan. I will give you an explanation later. But before that, I have something I want to ask you to confirm." Gu Yuan sighed and said, sensing that Xiao Xuan's tone was unfriendly.

Seeing Gu Yuan's appearance, Xiao Xuan shook his head: "Explanation? There's no need. I will come to find you in person in the future. Speak, what do you want to ask?"

Does an energy entity have a future?

Gu Yuan felt a growing suspicion, but now was not the time to delve into it. Suppressing his doubts for the moment, Gu Yuan looked directly into Xiao Xuan's eyes and asked seriously, "My old friend, you've already taken half a step and seen the scenery beyond the Dou Sheng realm. I want to know, has Chen Xiao also taken that step?"

Gu Yuan had doubts when he first met Chen Xiao, because with his strength, he couldn't see through Chen Xiao at all.

He wanted to ask directly, but although he and Chen Xiao seemed to be very close as father-in-law and son-in-law, they weren't actually that close, and there was even some distance between them.

Therefore, Gu Yuan resisted the urge to ask Chen Xiao and instead sought confirmation from Xiao Xuan.

Meeting Gu Yuan's gaze, Xiao Xuan suddenly laughed, his laughter growing more and more hearty, completely disregarding Gu Yuan's expression.

He couldn't help it; he didn't want to lose his composure, but after thinking about it carefully, he just couldn't help himself.

After all, Chen Xiao is Gu Yuan's son-in-law. Normally, they should be on the same side. This time, their alliance would be invincible.

However, this winning hand has been played terribly. Xiao Xuan found it all quite amusing, and when he looked at Gu Yuan again, it was as if he were looking at a broken chessboard.

"Interesting, very interesting!"

"Gu Yuan, I suddenly really want to see the Soul Emperor. If he knew that out of the three of us, you ended up last, all of us in such a muddled way, I wonder what his expression would be?"

Those words were a little harsh.

But this also indirectly answers Gu Yuan's question.

After retorting to Gu Yuan a few times, Xiao Xuan finally composed himself and looked at Gu Yuan's less-than-pleasant expression with a hint of envy.

"Gu Yuan, putting aside the past, from an outsider's perspective, you've stumbled upon two of the most correct things in your life."

"Firstly, she gave birth to a good daughter."

Secondly, they sent that girl to the Northwest!

"Since you've made this special trip for an answer, I won't hide it from you anymore. As you suspect, Chen Xiao did indeed take that step, and he went even further than I did back then. You probably made this guess after seeing him leave the Heavenly Tomb, right?"

Gu Yuan nodded silently.

Xiao Xuan smiled, looking as if he had just expected it: "Then you probably don't know that what you saw today was just an avatar."