While kneeling on the ground, Tang Xiu looked at Star Tears’ disbelieving expression and wryly said, “I’m Xiu’er, your nephew, Auntie Star Tears! I once died but am back alive.”

 Star Tears took out a dagger and stabbed her own thigh under everyone’s attention. The moment her blood flowed and she felt the pain from the wound, she pulled out the dagger and didn’t even think to use her Immortal Force to seal it up. She lunged towards Tang Xiu, tightly grabbed his hands, and asked in a trembling voice, “Y-You… are… really Xiu’er?”

 Tang Xiu firmly nodded and let his tears fall, emphasizing every single word he said, “10,000 years ago, you tortured me enough with your training to lay a solid foundation for me to cultivate. 9,000 years ago, you took me to the Demon Realm to fight against demon powerhouses for three years. 8,000 years ago, you went to the Asura Realm by yourself in order to find materials to refine the Universe Origin Pill for me. Eventually, you found Matriarch Floret and returned with serious injuries. 7,000 years ago, you went to Desolate Deluge Secret Mansion alone to save me and brought me out in a narrow escape. 6,000 years ago, you watched me slaughter a Five-clawed Golden Dragon. You extracted the Golden Dragon’s tendon yourself to refine the Rainbow Phoenix Zither. 5,000 years ago, you gave me the Nine Transformation Mind Art to improve my spiritual sense. 4,000 years ago, it was you who…”

 “Enough! Enough.”

 Star Tears hated to shed tears the most in her life. But at this moment, she burst into tears and was unable to control her emotions as she hugged Tang Xiu and cried.

 Back in the past, when she learned that her nephew failed his tribulation and his soul vanished, the pain she felt was like her art was gnawed by millions of ants. She traversed countless Immortal Domains to rush to the place where her nephew crossed his tribulation.

 Back then, she blamed herself countless times for not rushing to be his protector in crossing that divinity tribulation, and neither was she able to see her nephew’s last moment.

 For the last 8 centuries, she had been living in pain and blaming herself every day, praying countless times that her nephew’s soul didn’t vanish, praying that her nephew was still alive in a corner of another world.

 Her dream had truly come true.

 Star Teas hugged Tang Xiu and cried like a child.

 “M-Master… y-you’re Master?”

 Apotheon Myriad Notes, Soaring Plumb, Nine Immortal Fingers, and Enchantress Yu were totally dumbfounded. They had made countless guesses on Tang Xiu’s identity for a year and thought of countless possibilities of his identity. Yet, it never crossed their minds that their Master Star Cultivation Great Emperor was still alive. In fact, it was something that they didn’t dare to think about.

 The four of them were in great pain after their Master died. If it wasn’t for the Vermillion Bird Holy Sect being attacked by powerful enemies, they would’ve probably retreated and lived in seclusion to guard the place they once lived with their Master.

 But right now, their Master turned out to be alive and appeared in front of them. He even braved the risk to rescue them from the Heavenly Mountain.

 No wonder that some people were willing to take the risk of being enemies of some Supremes and rescue them from the Heavenly Mountain. It turned out that the person who pulled it off was their own Master!

 PLOP…

 The four of them knelt down behind Tang Xiu and cried like children.

 After a long while, Tang Xiu loosened Star Tears’ hand and pulled her up from the ground. Then, he turned and pulled Apotheon Myriad Notes’ group of four one by one. Looking at these disciples who he had raised and trained by himself, Tang Xiu patted Myriad Notes’ shoulder and bitterly said, “You’ve been suffering all these years.”

 “We didn’t suffer, Master,” replied Apotheon Myriad Notes as he shook his head vigorously.

 Tang Xiu took a deep breath and shifted to Star Tears, saying, “Auntie Star Tears, please take the Soul Plate, but I must cast a Soul Sealing Spell on you.”

 Soul Sealing Spell?

 After ruminating for a moment, Star Tears understood Tang Xiu’s intention and directly lifted her soul protection and said in a deep voice, “I was going to tell you about this later even if you didn’t mention it. The news that you’re still alive must be concealed. I don’t want you to be forced to reveal your identity because of me. Hence, feel free to cast the Soul Sealing Spell on us. If we were to be captured in the future and the enemy wants to check our memory through the Soul Scouring Art, they will touch the Soul Sealing Curse first and it will directly erase our memories.”

 Apotheon Myriad Notes firmly nodded. “That’s right, Master. Please do it. Our souls will be under the threat of that soul art unless we reach the Supremacy Stage. Your identity can only be kept a secret later if you cast the Soul Sealing Art on us.”

 “That’s right!”

 “Please do it, Master!”

 Soaring Plumb and the rest also voice their opinions.

 Tang Xiu took another deep breath. He not only cast the Soul Sealing Art on Star Tears and Myriad Notes’ group of five, Apotheon Mu and Gu Yan’er turned out to ask to be treated the same.

 After finishing the spell, Tang Xiu said, “Auntie Star Tears, as a matter of fact, I succeeded and survived the tribulation back then. It was just…”

 After detailing what really happened in the past, he finally said, “I just didn’t expect that the two brothers I once trusted the most turned out to hide such evil intentions inside. They even went so far to weed out the source of future troubles that is the Vermillion Bird Holy Sect. But I’m still alive and have come back now, so their ends in the future are inevitable. But I’ll need your help in the future to cultivate a huge immortal legion and groom countless experts out of them. I’ll do my best to obtain cultivation resources for them while doing everything I can to return to the Supremacy Stage.”

 “This issue is not your responsibility alone. It’s the common purpose of all of us,” Star Tears said. “Xiu’er, you’ll become the Emperor of the Great Tang Empire and we’re all officials of the empire. I firmly believe that the empire will continue to grow and prosper under your leadership, where peerless geniuses and true powerhouses will constantly emerge. At that time, we will storm the dens of our enemies and annihilate them completely.”

 ****

 Time fleeted by and years passed by in flash.

 It felt like a flash moment, but Tang Xiu had returned to the Immortal World for 10 years. During this decade, except for the early years that he spent wandering around, he stayed in the Misty Spring Ocean and immersed himself in his cultivation, while the situation in the Misty Spring Ocean itself constantly changed.

 At present, the entire Misty Spring Ocean was firmly under Tang Xiu’s control. The region may not be a huge star domain, but he had formed a large army here.

 All four legions, the Dragon Army, Tiger Army, Phoenix Army, and Martial Army, now consisted of 500,000 people each.

 Four major legions with a total of 2 million soldiers. Although most of them were children raised from a very tender age, they all had reached the first threshold after 10 years of training. Even in these 10 years, the four army commanders, Tang Guang, Mo Awu, Hao Lei, and Chen Shaohua, had been leading their respective army continuously in the campaign to sweep over the surrounding starfields. This tempering from frequent life-and-death battles yielded rich combat experience to them.

 On Repose Cliff.

 Tang Xiu stood on the edge of the cliff and watched the four rows of military officers of the Great Tang Empire, who stood in front of him. Then, he spoke in a deep voice, “I hereby announce that the expansion campaign starts now!”

 “By your command, Your Majesty!”

 Hundreds of generals and military commanders of the four major legions knelt on one knee and shouted loudly.

 The moment after, Gu Yan’er appeared next to Tang Xiu after they left. A smile adorned her beautiful face as she started to speak, “I just received the news from Jin Shi. His intel operatives have found some leads to the Secret Palace of Drunken Immortal Supreme. There are still 3 years left before that place opens, but experts from tens of Immortal Domains have begun to hurry towards the Immortal Abode region. Shall we get involved in this event?”

 Immortal Abode domain? Drunken Immortal Supreme?

 With a surprised look on his handsome face, Tang Xiu said, “Drunken Immortal Supreme was an extremely powerful expert with few rivals in the entire Immortal World about 80,000 years ago. Rumors have it that he left his legacy in the Immortal World when he ascended to the Gods Realm. I didn’t expect it to be discovered now, more so in the Immortal Abode region.”

 “For hundreds of thousands of years, the number of powerhouses in the entire Immortal World who ascended to the Gods Realm is definitely less than 100 people.” Gu Yan’er sighed. “It’s said that Drunken Immortal Supreme was an eminent one, the leading figure among these less than 100 people as well. The inheritance he left behind in that Secret Palace will absolutely drive countless Immortal powerhouses crazy.”

 “If memory serves, from the historical records, Drunken Immortal Supreme said that the Secret Palace he left behind bars the Supremacy Stage powerhouses from entering. You must be at most at the Perfected Golden Immortal Stage if you want to get his inheritance. Further, the danger you’ll face in that Secret Palace will be more dangerous the higher your cultivation is.”

 “Well, I think that would be quite a suitable place for us, no?” Gu Yan’er smiled.

 Tang Xiu nodded in response and then thought for a moment. Then, he said, “This is a huge opportunity, so we must go there. I don’t have much interest in the inheritance of Drunken Immortal Supreme, to be honest, but we need the countless immortal treasures he left there. It should be noted that Drunken Immortal Supreme was the richest Immortal 80,000 years ago!”

 “That Secret Palace is going to open about 3 years from now,” Gu Yan’er said. “It will take us about nearly 2 years to get there from here. I’m afraid that it will take us longer should we encounter some troubles and delays on the road.”

 “Yan’er, I want you to stay here and guard the Great Tang Empire for me,” said Tang Xiu.

 “No. I don’t want to stay, Master.” Gu Yan’er refused with a forced smile. “Just ask Martial Aunt Star Tears to help you manage the Great Tang Empire.”

 “No can do.” Tang Xiu shook his head and said, ” Auntie Star Tears’ character is not suitable for the job.”

 “But…” Gu Yan’er’s lips wriggled and she wanted to argue more.

 Tang Xiu raised his hand to interrupt her and stated with all seriousness, “I understand what’s in your mind, Yan’er. I do. But you’re one of the people who can make me feel at ease with enough cultivation level and management ability to control the entire Great Tang Empire. I can only feel at ease to fight for this opportunity if you’re the one at the helm here.”

 “But I…”

 “Please promise me, Yan’er.”

 Tang Xiu grabbed and hugged her. With his lips pasted on her ears, he softly said, “Yan’er, Drunken Immortal Supreme’s Secret Palace is very likely ridden with grave dangers. I’ve got you back and I never want to see you run into any accidents again. I can only feel at ease if you stay here. I’m sure you’re very clear about your Master’s abilities, yes? I’m sure my chance of getting the treasures in that Secret Palace will greatly increase if I have nothing else weighing on my shoulders. Just wait for me to come back.”

 Although Gu Yan’er was very unwilling, she couldn’t say anything since Tang Xiu took the initiative to hug her and spoke to her like this. She could only feel helpless and silently nodded before saying, “But you must be extra careful, Master. You must return safely even if you gain nothing over there!”