Starting with being handed over to the Imperial Concubine, building a family with a thousand-year hi

Hornfortz carefully stored Tusir's storage artifact, then raised his hand to collect the mangled corpse of Horn Domain. Beside him, a Horned Scale Clan Celestial God, his killing intent surging, spoke in a deep voice: "We will immediately march to Tianyuan Star and grind that human cultivator to dust, avenging our fallen kin!"

Jiao Fuzi shook his head slightly: "That person was able to kill nine people from the Corner Domain in an instant. The power of his trump card is no less than my full power. We just had a great battle, and our source energy has been greatly depleted. It's not too late to find a planet to recuperate until we are in full strength before heading to Tianyuan Star."

The remaining two celestials nodded in agreement. The three of them immediately left the chaotic rock planet and found a nearby habitable planet to cultivate in seclusion and recuperate.

……

On Tai Dou Star, in the Star Palace of the Three-Eyed Clan God-King, news of the sudden extinguishing of Tusir's exclusive Dao Intent Soul Lamp reached the Three-Eyed Clan God-King's ears immediately. The God-King slowly walked to the window, raised his eyes to gaze at the vast starry sea, his brows furrowed deeply, and his deep eyes seemed to be secretly plotting something.

A moment later, without turning his head, he instructed the clansman who had come to deliver the message: "Order Tuji to go to Tianyuan Star immediately and first confirm whether Su Mu is still alive. If Su Mu is not dead, stay on Tianyuan Star and find out who in the Star Palace has been in contact with Su Mu recently."

"Your subordinate obeys." The messenger bowed, accepted the order, and turned to leave the main hall.

Tianyuan Star, the Great Qian Imperial City. After slaying nine Horned Scale Clan Great Gods, Su Mu returned directly to the Imperial City. He didn't specifically investigate Tusir's fate; with a series of calculated moves laid out, and surrounded by three Heavenly Gods, Tusir had no chance of survival—Su Mu was certain of this.

As soon as Su Mu returned, Xiao Yunshang handed Su Changsheng over to Su Song, instructing her elder brother to look after his younger brother while he played. She then quickly went to find Su Mu and inquired about his journey. Upon hearing that Tusir had most likely died at the hands of the Horned Scale Clan, Xiao Yunshang was secretly delighted. That day, Tusir's harsh rebuke had terrified Su Changsheng, and both she and her husband were fiercely protective of their own, naturally hoping for the other's fate.

After a brief moment of joy, Xiao Yunshang was filled with worry: "The Three-Eyed Clan's Heavenly God went out with you and eventually died. The Three-Eyed Clan will never let this go."

Su Mu smiled calmly, reached out and pulled his wife into his arms, gently comforting her: "The rules of the Star Palace are a double-edged sword. They can restrict me from personally killing Tusir, and they also prevent the Three-Eyed Clan from openly attacking me. My wife, you don't need to worry too much."

Su Mu had already thoroughly planned this entire affair. Firstly, Tusir did not die at his hands. Even if the Three-Eyed Clan wanted to pin the blame on him, they could only devise a scheme in secret and dare not act openly. Even if the Three-Eyed Clan intended to use someone else for assassination, members of the Star Palace had the right to refuse missions that exceeded their capabilities and were fraught with danger. The Three-Eyed Clan's room for maneuver was extremely limited.

Secondly, the Star Palace is not only home to the Three-Eyed Clan, which possesses a God-King; the Human Clan also has Xiao Xuance in charge. His recent displays of strength have undoubtedly been noticed by the Human God-King, and this check and balance is sufficient to restrain the Three-Eyed Clan's actions.

With these layers of constraints, Su Mu can buy himself a considerable amount of time to grow. Now, with his own abilities alone, ordinary gods can no longer harm him. If he can use this time to fully cultivate his adopted sons and daughters and accumulate various treasures, he will have the confidence to contend with even a God-King in the future.

During the days after returning to Tianyuan Star, Su Mu spent his time playing and frolicking with Su Changsheng and Su Song. He released Song Qingmei and her disciples from the Time Mirror once, distributing appropriate pills according to their individual needs for breakthroughs. Afterwards, they returned to the mirror to cultivate diligently. It wasn't that Su Mu was urging them, but rather that the rapid advancement brought about by the hundredfold increase in speed within the mirror had already captivated them, making them unwilling to stop cultivating.

Chai Min and the other adopted sons and daughters they had taken in years ago became increasingly aware that their cultivation could not keep up with Su Mu's pace, so they cultivated even more desperately. Their godfather gifted them countless rare and precious materials, and they were eager to share the burden with Su Mu. However, the enemies Su Mu faced grew stronger day by day, and they were no longer able to help him. Only by closing themselves off to cultivate day and night could they find some peace of mind.

After a long period of arduous training in the Time Mirror, and with the added blessing of the elixirs bestowed by Su Mu, Chai Min and the others have all touched the threshold of breakthrough. With the special time flow within the mirror, the outside world will only need a few days to hear the good news of their breakthroughs.

Several days passed, and the Horned Scale Clan had yet to come to the imperial city seeking revenge, causing Su Mu to feel a slight sense of disappointment. This disappointment wasn't due to fear of the Horned Scale Clan or a desire for a quick victory. The Horned Scale Clan, with only a Celestial God present, had never been a concern for Su Mu. What he truly cared about were the storage treasures carried by the Celestial Gods, especially Hornfortz—the strongest member of the Horned Scale Clan, who undoubtedly controlled most of the clan's accumulated treasures.

His adopted son and daughter still need time to break through, so Su Mu can only pin his hopes on annihilating the Horned Scale Clan and seizing resources to accelerate his own cultivation.

Another day passed, and the Horned Scale Clan had not yet appeared; instead, Song Pingchao arrived first. Upon seeing Su Mu, Song Pingchao went straight to the point, asking about the most pressing matter on his mind: "I heard on my way from Tai Dou Star to Tian Yuan Star that Tusir was tragically murdered after accompanying you on your journey. What exactly happened...?"

He paused mid-sentence, then looked at Su Mu with a probing gaze, awaiting his reply.

Su Mu did not deliberately conceal anything, but only omitted the details of his secret planning and scheming, truthfully recounting what had happened: "Tusir rushed to Tianyuan to find me, ordering me to go with him to the surrounding planets to search for traces of the Horned Scale Clan, so I went along." "Unfortunately, we had extremely bad luck; the hunter became the hunted, and we were surrounded by the entire high-ranking members of the Horned Scale Clan." "Afterwards, Tusir and I split up to fight the enemy. I killed several Horned Scale Clan Great Gods and took the opportunity to escape back to Tianyuan Star. Tusir faced three Horned Scale Clan Heavenly Gods alone. My cultivation was too weak, and I dared not return to check on his safety."

Song Pingchao's eyes twitched slightly; he knew perfectly well that this was all Su Mu's scheme. Weak cultivation? Once your God-King level puppet is unleashed, the three Horned Scale Clan Celestials will be utterly helpless.

Su Mu deliberately concealed his trump cards, refusing to use his puppets to assist Tusir, clearly intending to use the Horned Scale Clan to eliminate this Star Palace colleague with whom he had a grudge. Understanding the situation, Song Pingchao secretly rejoiced. Fortunately, his granddaughter, Song Qingmei, had taken Su Mu as her godfather, and he hadn't been arrogant or provocative during her last visit to Tianyuan Star. If he had completely broken ties with Su Mu back then, and one day he were secretly plotted against and killed, he probably wouldn't have understood why even in death.

Upon learning of Tusir's death, Song Pingchao smiled and said, "Tusir held a high position in the Three-Eyed Clan. If he had died in the past, you would have inevitably attracted a lot of trouble. But the situation is quite different now."

A glint flashed in Su Mu's eyes, and he immediately pressed, "Does Fellow Daoist Song mean that the Star Palace Human Race God-King is willing to step in and protect me?"

Killing a high-ranking Celestial God of the Three-Eyed Clan would easily incur the wrath of their God-King. The only explanation for Song Pingchao's confidence in not needing to fear the Three-Eyed Clan God-King now is that the Human God-King Xiao Xuance has taken notice of Su Mu and is willing to support him.

Song Pingchao nodded slightly and told the whole story of how Xiao Xuance had sent him to help Su Mu.