Longevity starts from having a daughter in old age

As the lights faded, they revealed two figures, one tall and one short. The tall one was a young man, dressed in a green robe. He exuded an air of nobility. The shorter one was an elderly woman, dressed in a grey robe. Her face was full of wrinkles, and she leaned on a purple wooden cane.

The young man stood half a step behind the old woman, bowing slightly, treating her with clear respect.

Both had a powerful and majestic aura, akin to towering mountains, especially the old woman. Her presence imbued a sense of grandeur and profound depths that was insurmountable.

Xu Mu was startled awake almost right away, looking at the two people in astonishment.

The auras of these two individuals far exceeded his, and they most certainly weren’t at the Golden Core Stage.

In the meantime, the individuals who were searching the palace felt this intimidating aura and hastily came running out from inside the palace to bow.

“Salutations, esteemed ancestor! Greetings, Seventeenth Imperial Uncle!”

The respectful reverence displayed by these individuals when addressing the old woman went beyond words, making Xu Mu feel like a student facing their parents.

Even the proud Seventh Princess couldn’t avoid this.

Who exactly was this old woman? What kind of identity did she have to frighten the prideful Seventh Princess so?

Xu Mu was greatly shocked.

“Mmm.”

The old woman nodded at them, her face expressionless as she turned to look at Xu Mu.

Among the people present, Xu Mu was the only outsider. The others were all princes and princesses. Not attracting attention would be difficult.

According to the information she received on the way, a Nascent Soul Stage expert had appeared in this area. Given the royal family heirlooms in these princes and princesses’ possession, it was not strange that they survived. But the fact that Xu Mu, a Loose Cultivator, survived was worthy of another look.

“To think that this old hag is still alive!” the Black YuanYing inside him sneered derisively.

Ignoring the Black YuanYing, Xu Mu went up to pay respects politely, “Junior Xu Mu! Greetings, the two seniors!”

The old woman didn’t speak. She only gave a slight nod to Xu Mu. After which, she withdrew her gaze to look at the Crown Prince who was standing at the front.

While Xu Mu’s presence was somewhat unexpected, it was not significant enough to warrant her further attention.

“Chen’er, could you please recount the whole situation?”

The Crown Prince’s real name is Li Quanchen.

His position and cultivation level were the highest here, so naturally, she asked him first.

“Yes!”

Li Quanchen respectfully recounted the information he knew. The old woman then interrogated others individually, including Xu Mu.

Xu Mu straightforwardly claimed that it was due to good fortune that he and the Seventh Princess got trapped together. And that it was with the help of the Seventh Princess’s power that they barely survived.

Whether it was out of fear for the old woman or other hidden motives, the Seventh Princess also didn’t reveal the truth.

The old woman didn’t suspect their accounts. Perhaps in her mind, their story sounded plausible.

After inquiring everyone, the old woman ordered the young man to stay behind and safeguard everyone while she went alone to chase the Black YuanYing.

Based on the information gleaned from their accounts, she guessed that the Black YuanYing must have been formed by a secret technique. The fact that it had barely reached the Nascent Soul Stage was a reasonable assumption, and it was unlikely to pose a threat to her.

This also indirectly explained why the others managed to escape.

The gap between the Nascent Soul Stage and the Golden Core Stage was vast. Even with Nascent Soul Stage artifacts, they may not have survived against a genuine Nascent Soul Stage opponent, let alone when they also had to deal with formations and numerous golden pill corpses.

The current explanation couldn’t be more logical.

“Our esteemed ancestor is three generations above us. She is from the same generation as the founding ancestor of the royal family. Even our ancestor addresses her as ‘aunt’. Her cultivation is just one step away from reaching the late stage of the Nascent Soul. She has practiced numerous powerful Divine Skills. I didn’t expect her to be nearby. Now that Black YuanYing certainly won’t escape!”

After the old woman left, the Fifth Prince excitedly sent a message to Xu Mu. It was probably to alert Xu Mu and prevent him from offending the old woman.

“Just an old geezer, nothing more! After cultivating for more than a thousand years and consuming countless heavenly treasures, he only reached the middle stage of Nascent Soul, what a waste!” The Black YuanYing inside his body said disdainfully.

If he had the old woman’s resources, at worst he would have been a Great Cultivator in the late stage of Nascent Soul.

Xu Mu was too exhausted to retort.

Anyone who could cultivate to the middle stage of the Nascent Soul was surely a prodigy. Across the entire continent, there were very few at the middle stage of the Nascent Soul Stage. Even in any major sects, they would be important figures. Can’t believe this guy looks down on the middle stage of Nascent Soul?

“Who was that young man?”

Xu Mu asked mentally.

“My half-brother from the same father. A complete waste. During the competition for the throne, he was entirely invisible. It’s estimated that he must have taken some secret medicine; otherwise, with his qualifications, it would be impossible for him to cultivate to the Nascent Soul stage!”

The Black YuanYing was even more disdainful when discussing the Seventeenth Imperial Uncle.

“I have always been curious, isn’t it said that the higher the cultivation, the harder it is to have offspring? Why does your Imperial family still have so many direct descendants?”

As far as he knew, the First Prince, the Seventh Princess, including Li Youlan, were all born by the emperor at the Nascent Soul Stage. This fertility rate feels like it rivals the system’s talent.

“Of course it’s because of some medicine. It’s not a secret, but I don’t know what kind of medicine it is. The old fellow holds all the cards!”

“Oh!”

Xu Mu didn’t press on.

If there wasn’t any family talent, he might have been inclined to find out, but now it didn’t matter much either way.

Because the Seventeenth Imperial Uncle was watching on the side, Xu Mu did not dare to talk too much with the Black YuanYing and continued to find a place to sit and recover his injuries.

The Seventh Princess and others continued to search the palace. After the search, they started hunting corpses and ghosts nearby, remaining busy.

The heavily lost individuals now could only hope to achieve good rankings to recover some of their losses.

The Seventeenth Imperial Uncle didn’t always stay by their side, he also entered the palace to collect useful clues, and occasionally release his divine intent to check on their situation.

Time just like that quickly passed, after around five to six days, the old woman who went out seeking returned with a gloomy face.

“I’ve turned the whole space upside down, even using divine skills to search the heavens and earth, but haven’t found a single clue!”

If it weren’t for the residual aura left in the palace, the old woman would suspect that they were conspiring to deceive her.

“How is this possible?”

“Impossible!”

The group couldn’t believe this outcome.

This isn’t the outside world, the area is limited, where can the other party hide? With the old woman’s means, if the other party just hides in this space, it would be impossible to escape.

Only Xu Mu found this natural, because that shadow was merely a trace of the Black YuanYing’s divine intent. After it left, it dissipated on its own, so there was no way it would leave any traces.

The Black YuanYing inside his body, naturally, chuckled in triumph again.

This made Xu Mu couldn’t help but sigh, indeed they were all from the same family, just like the Seventh Princess, they looked down on everybody.

“You all continue your trial! We will guard here until the trial ends. If you encounter him again or find useful information, you can directly message us!”

The old woman took out a few message jade slips and gave one to each of them, including a lucky Xu Mu.

After bidding farewell, everyone left separately. Xu Mu and the Fifth Prince left together.

Before the Seventh Princess left, she glared hatefully at Xu Mu – her gaze filled with threat.

After they had moved away from the central palace, the Fifth Prince cautiously inquired, “Friend Xu, do you and the Seventh Princess have some misunderstanding?”