Mortal: I'm in Tianxing City, intelligence updates daily.

After hearing this, Li Shizhou thought to himself, "I hope this trip is to the Void Heaven Palace."

Now, his fragmented map of the celestial realm has revealed a small sword indicating direction. If the secret realm arranged by the Star Palace is not here, then things will be troublesome.

He stood up, collected all the treasures he could carry with him, then gave Zhuo Ruting a few instructions with his divine sense before heading straight for the Star Palace's Inner Affairs Hall.

Upon arriving at the Inner Affairs Hall, guided by an elderly Foundation Establishment disciple in black robes, they arrived at a side hall equipped with a defensive array.

"Uncle-Master Leng, your disciple Li Shizhou has come to await your orders."

"Come in," came the man's deep voice, and at the same time, the array light screen was opened.

As soon as Li Shizhou entered, he saw that in the huge palace, there was only a middle-aged man wearing a purple-gold crown, sitting cross-legged behind a brown tea table. He was none other than the Nascent Soul Ancestor of the Leng Ning'er family.

"You arrived quite quickly, come and sit down," said Uncle Leng in a calm tone.

After responding, Li Shizhou walked over and sat upright on the futon in front of the tea table.

After pouring him a cup of tea, Uncle Leng said, "Don't be so reserved. I promised before that I wouldn't conscript you for a hundred years, but this trip is actually a great opportunity for you. If you don't want to go, I won't force you and will find someone else."

The other party was just being polite, so Li Shizhou naturally didn't dare to refuse. He respectfully said, "I dare not disobey my master's orders. May I ask where this secret realm is located and what my task will be after entering, so that I can make preparations in advance?"

While pouring himself some tea, Uncle Leng said unhurriedly, "Have you ever heard of the Void Heaven Palace?"

Upon hearing the words "Xutian Palace," Li Shizhou's anxiety subsided, and he replied, "I know a little about it."

"It's good that you know, it saves me the time to explain. This time, the sect has selected several cultivators to enter the Void Heaven Palace. You are responsible for escorting one of the alchemists to refine a batch of pills inside."

Li Shizhou was puzzled after hearing this. After passing the first test of the outer hall of the Void Heaven Palace, one could indeed pick spiritual herbs inside, but only for one day. If one was delayed, one would be trapped inside and die.

Since it concerned his own life, he still asked, "Why not pick the medicinal herbs and refine them in Tianxing City?"

"Naturally, it's because that spiritual medicine is not easy to preserve. Don't worry, everything else for this batch of pills is ready. It will be completed in a few hours. After that, if you want to continue to the second level, or even enter the inner hall, it's entirely up to you."

"I see. This disciple will certainly do his utmost."

Just then, someone outside requested an audience. After a few breaths, a petite girl in a white dress walked in.

She entered and greeted them with a bow: "Greetings, Senior Uncle Leng, Greetings, Senior Brother Li."

Li Shizhou nodded to the girl, whose name was Wen Qiao'er. She was an alchemist in the sect and had recently advanced to the early stage of Core Formation.

The "Blood Spirit Fruit" that was taken from Li Shizhou back then was prepared for her by Aunt Wen Qiao'er.

Although it was a fair trade at the time, Wen Qiao'er still felt some gratitude towards Li Shizhou. After he mastered alchemy, Li Shizhou asked her to refine pills several times, so they had developed a certain relationship.

Wen Qiao'er came in and found a seat.

Uncle Leng continued, "You're lucky. Qiao'er specifically asked you to escort her into the alchemy workshop this time. Otherwise, this opportunity might not have fallen into your lap."

After he finished speaking, he took out a wooden box from his storage bag and handed it over: "You are only in the mid-stage of Core Formation. This is a talisman left behind by a Nascent Soul elder of the Star Palace who has passed away. It is quite useful in dealing with the ghosts in the first level, so I am giving it to you for self-defense this time."

Li Shizhou took it, opened it, and saw that it contained a purple talisman.

Although he was protected by the "Soul-Crying Beast" and was not afraid of those ghosts and spirits, he naturally thanked them and gladly accepted the talisman.

Moreover, he originally had the Void Heaven Remnant Map to guide him into the Void Heaven Palace, and now he has to protect someone for no reason, which can be considered a small compensation.

Afterwards, Uncle Leng and Li Shizhou gave them a few instructions, telling them to stay in the Inner Affairs Hall and not to go out, and to set off the next day.

.....

The next morning.

Li Shizhou and the petite white-clad girl Wen Qiao'er stood on a giant flying sword, with fierce winds howling around their protective aura.

Two white-robed old cultivators stood at the tip of the sword; they were the law enforcement elders of the Star Palace.

Both men had white hair and beards, and possessed an air of otherworldly grace. Both were at the Nascent Soul stage of cultivation. One of them had a cold and stern expression, while the other, on the contrary, appeared kind and benevolent.

Besides the four people, there were two male cultivators from the Star Palace standing on the flying sword, both of whom were at the late stage of Core Formation.

The flying swords beneath everyone's feet were magical artifacts called "Sun Piercing Swords," belonging to the cold-faced Star Palace Enforcement Elder, whose surname was Ximen.

When they set off, Li Shizhou heard the elder in charge of law enforcement announce the name of the sword, and couldn't help but take a few more glances at it.

In the original book, if it weren't for the "Wolf Head Jade Ruyi" and the "Imperial Scale Armor" protecting him, Han Laomo would have been cut in two by the "Sun Piercing Sword".

Although it was his duty, Elder Ximen was ultimately assassinated in Tianxing City by the highly skilled Han Laomo.

The "Sun Piercing Sword" carried everyone for more than ten days before stopping on a deserted black island, where golden light could be faintly seen in the distance.

The kind-faced elder of the Star Palace Law Enforcement set up an array on the island, and the group rested under the array's light barrier.

After some time, Elder Ximen stood up and said, "Alright, you juniors should enter the Void Heaven Palace in batches, so that if you follow the two of us in, people will remember you as Star Palace cultivators, and you might be targeted by other cultivators when we retrieve the treasure."

Upon hearing this, a blue-robed late-stage Core Formation cultivator bid farewell, took out a flying magic weapon, and fled towards the direction of the golden light. After a short while, he disappeared without a trace.

On the third day, Li Shizhou and Wen Qiao'er finally took to the air.

After flying for more than an hour, a magnificent palace suspended thousands of feet in the air came into view.

The palace was nearly a hundred feet tall and was entirely constructed of white jade. It emitted a faint glow, making it appear both magnificent and extremely mysterious.

The entire palace was surrounded by a thick golden array of light.

Without pausing for a moment, the two propelled their escape light into the array's light barrier, easily flying inside.

As soon as you enter, a towering entrance, over ten feet high, comes into view, with the three ancient silver characters "Xu Tian Dian" (Hall of Emptiness) inscribed on it.

These three ancient characters exude an astonishing aura, making one afraid to look directly at them.

Behind the entrance is a narrow and deep passage.

Li Shizhou and Wen Qiao'er landed on the ground, and their divine senses were suppressed as soon as they entered the passage.

The two walked along the passage, looking around. The walls emitted a faint light, indicating that there were also arrays or restrictions in place.

After walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, they crossed a light curtain radiating blue light, and a huge hall hundreds of feet wide and long appeared before them.