In the Eastern Yue royal palace, a thousand miles away from the Southern Shu Kingdom, Jin Zhong was carrying a brocade box and a letter from outside the Zi Chen Hall to Su Mu.

"Your Majesty, Nangong Ce has sent you another letter, but this time, along with the letter, he also sent you a longevity pill."

Hearing Jinzhong say this, Su Mu sneered. It was exactly what he had expected that Nangong Ce would eventually give him the longevity pill.

Su Mu took the longevity pill from Jin Zhong's hand. As for the letter, he didn't need to read it to know what it contained. It was nothing more than seeking the protection of Dong Yue, on the condition that he enter the Dong Yue Yellow Palace to refine a longevity elixir for him.

Opening the brocade box, Su Mu took out a divine pill. The pill was entirely black and emitted a faint medicinal fragrance.

The scent of the medicine was very familiar to Su Mu, which made the corners of his mouth unconsciously curl up.

Su Mu had taken the Longevity Pill. A few years ago, the prefect of Heyang County presented him with a Longevity Pill from Emperor Shenzong of the Southern Palace as a Christmas gift.

Along with the prefect of Heyang, the people of Nangong Shenzong also presented the divine elixir as tribute.

However, the divine pills presented by Emperor Nangong Shenzong were crimson, while those presented by the prefect of Heyang County were jet black.

The divine pills of the Nangong Divine Sect have always been known for their miraculous effects, relieving fatigue and restoring energy and spirit in a short time, making them truly rare treasures.

The only thing in the world that can be described as a rare treasure is the divine pill of the Nangong Shenzong sect.

However, the divine pills of the Nangong Divine Sect are never sold to the public. Without the generous gift from the Nangong Sect Master, even if an army of 100,000 men were to attack the Nangong Divine Sect, they would not be able to obtain even half a divine pill from it.

When Su Mu received the divine pill from Nangong Shenzong on his birthday, he couldn't wait to take it immediately.

The longevity pills presented as tribute by the prefect of Heyang were given to Jinzhong to be tested by eunuchs.

However, Su Mu did not pay much attention to the divine pill that the prefect of Heyang had presented as tribute back then. After all, in his opinion, no matter how you compare the divine pills in the world, none could be as good as the one that Emperor Nangong Shenzong had presented to him.

Just a few days later, Jinzhong was overjoyed and handed the longevity pill of the prefect of Heyang to Su Mu, saying that the longevity pill presented by the prefect of Heyang was even more miraculous than the divine pill presented by Emperor Shenzong of Nangong.

Later, after Su Mu heard Jin Zhong's account of the origins of the longevity pill that the prefect of Heyang had presented as tribute, he realized that he had almost missed out on this worldly treasure.

It turned out that the eunuch who tested the medicine had tried the miraculous pill that the prefect of Heyang had brought to the palace, and he grew a beard overnight, and even his manhood regained its function.

Fearing being castrated again, the eunuch who tested the medicine concealed the efficacy of the elixir.

One night, while the eunuch who was testing the medicine was on duty outside Su Mu's palace, he heard the sounds of Su Mu and her concubines engaging in sexual intercourse. His instincts, like a wild horse, caused him to lose all reason.

Under the cover of night, he pounced on a palace maid like a hungry tiger, abducting her to the Imperial Garden to have sex with her.

If the Imperial Guards hadn't patrolled to the Imperial Garden, discovered the strange phenomenon in the artificial cave, and subsequently captured the eunuch who tested the medicine, the miraculous effects of the longevity elixir presented by the Prefect of Heyang would likely have been buried.

Afterwards, Su Mu learned of the miraculous effects of the Longevity Pill and immediately took it. Not only did his white hair turn black, and he could enjoy countless women at night without getting tired, but even his long-standing illness miraculously disappeared without medicine.

Afterwards, Su Mu personally summoned the prefect of Heyang and only then learned the whole story of the longevity pill.

It turns out that this longevity elixir was actually auctioned off by Nangong Ce in the Western Liang Kingdom with a starting price of 300,000 taels of silver.

In the end, this precious longevity elixir was auctioned off by the prefect of Heyang for a huge sum of 500,000 taels of silver and presented as tribute to Su Mu.

Su Mu received such a generous gift, but instead of investigating how a sixth-rank official could afford 500,000 taels of silver to purchase a divine pill, he specially approved the appointment of the prefect of Heyang as a third-rank censor.

Over the years, Su Mu had sent people to purchase longevity pills from the Nangong Shenzong sect, but unfortunately, the longevity pills were made from the essence and blood of the successive sect leaders of the Nangong Shenzong sect.

This has resulted in the Longevity Pill not only being scarce but also extremely precious; even within the Nangong Divine Sect, only three remain.

Su Mu had also sent his highly skilled subordinates to Nangong Shenzong to seize it, but there was a long maze leading to Nangong Shenzong's residence, which was as solid as an impenetrable wall.

Anyone who is not a member of the Nangong Shenzong sect will die instantly upon entering; none will escape.

Faced with such tight security from the Nangong Shenzong sect, Su Mu could only stand by and watch helplessly.

Some time ago, I learned that Nangong Ce had betrayed his master and ancestors for so many years, and had murdered the original Nangong Shenzong sect leader and his wife and young master. Unexpectedly, the young master of Nangong survived in the end and even made contact with the elders of Nangong Shenzong.

Later, the Nangong Shenzong forces besieged Nangong Ce, but he escaped. Therefore, the Nangong Shenzong issued a kill order, claiming that anyone who could kill Nangong Ce would receive a longevity pill.

This order caused a huge uproar, plunging the entire martial arts world into a frenzy as everyone launched a relentless pursuit of Nangong Ce.

For some reason, Nangong Ce actually fled to the Eastern Yue Kingdom and presented himself to Su Mu as a pledge of allegiance.

It was an open secret in the entire Dongyue court that Su Mu had a fondness for taking elixirs. It is likely that Nangong Ce was aware of this secret, which is why he claimed in his pledge of allegiance that as long as Su Mu protected him, he would definitely develop a elixir to ensure Su Mu's long life.

Su Mu was delighted to see Nangong Ce's pledge of loyalty. As he grew older, the relentless passage of time left its mark on him, and he desperately needed someone like Nangong Ce to develop a longevity elixir for him.

After all, who doesn't yearn for immortality?

However, Su Mu's resentment towards Nangong Ce was also deeply rooted, and he still harbored resentment over Nangong Ce's refusal to sell the Longevity Pill a few years ago.

He was even more indignant about the countless secret guards he had carefully trained dying tragically in the Nangong Shenzong's secret forest, so how could he easily accept Nangong Ce's pledge of allegiance?

Therefore, he remained indifferent to Nangong Ce, observing from the sidelines, wanting to see just how sincere Nangong Ce truly was.

"Let Nangong Ce in." Looking at the longevity pill in his hand, Su Mu finally spoke to Jin Zhong.

Jinzhong bowed to Su Mu and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, this servant will go to the Southern Palace to pay my respects immediately." After saying this, Jinzhong turned and left the Zichen Palace.

A short while later, Jinzhong led a man into the Zichen Palace.

The man was tall and had his head slightly lowered, so Su Mu could not see his face.

Upon entering the Zichen Palace, the man knelt in the center of the hall and bowed to Su Mu.

"This humble subject, Nangong Ce, pays his respects to Your Majesty, wishing you boundless blessings and peace."

Su Mu sat on the dragon throne, picked up a cup of tea from the table, took a sip, and slowly said, "Rise."

"Thank you for your great kindness, Your Majesty." Nangong Ce stood up after speaking and looked up at Su Mu.

Su Mu couldn't help but sneer inwardly. This Nangong Ce was truly ignorant of his own limitations, daring to look him in the eye like that.

Su Mu thought to himself that Nangong Ce was probably not ignorant of etiquette, but rather that after becoming the sect leader of the Nangong Divine Sect in recent years, he had become accustomed to being fawned over by powerful and influential people from various countries. Even though he was in such a sorry state as a stray dog, it was difficult to hide his original temperament.