"You're pretty good, little loser."
Emperor Zhou looked at Chu Tianxiao and said with interest: "Let me guess, you should have already made some plans for the current situation? No matter what I ask or say next, have you already thought of a countermeasure?"
Chu Tianxiao bowed and replied calmly: "Yes, Your Majesty."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Zhou said calmly, "But you probably can't guess what I'm going to say next."
After saying this, Chu Tianxiao stared at him and said, "Your Majesty, please speak."
Emperor Zhou stared at him and spoke word by word.
"Little prodigal, I want to thank you."
"Thank you for your training tower, thank you for your spiritual rice, and thank you for disrupting the cicada's plan that night."
Emperor Zhou looked at Chu Tianxiao, his eyes revealing sincere emotions.
"That night, I was trapped in a trap, and I was worried about the situation in Kyoto and my people... If you hadn't broken the edge and shaken the chessboard, the consequences of that night would be unpredictable... Everyone thinks that I saved the day, but I know very well that the person they should thank the most is you."
At this point, Emperor Zhou patted Chu Tianxiao on the shoulder and said, "Thank you, little prodigal."
After these words fell, even though Chu Tianxiao had thought of countless possibilities before coming here, he never expected that the King of the Great Zhou, the master who had ascended to the fifth realm, would say "thank you" to him repeatedly...
You know, this is not just an ordinary big shot, this is a thank you from the most powerful emperor of the Shenzhou vast land... In his position, the word "thank you" is not so easy to say, let alone to a junior like Chu Tianxiao
But think about it the other way around, once you say it, what an honor it would be for others? Even though Chu Tianxiao has received a lot of praise in the past few days, all of it combined is probably not as good as a "thank you" from Emperor Zhou!
Not to mention, Emperor Zhou said it so many times in a row as if he didn’t care about the money!
Such an opening was beyond Chu Tianxiao's expectations!
However, he was smart after all, and he came to his senses after a moment's glance. He smiled, clasped his fists and said, "I also want to thank Your Majesty."
"Oh?" Hearing the voice, Emperor Zhou's pupils shrank slightly. He looked at him with interest, and then heard Chu Tianxiao smile faintly.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your holy voice. Thank you, Your Majesty, for lending me the Heavenly Conch. Thank you, Your Majesty, for returning in time and saving everyone."
After a pause, Chu Tianxiao sat down, picked up a pot of wine, poured a full cup, and said with a smile: "Of course, the most important thing is... Thank you for your Majesty's family dinner, thank you for your Majesty, for inviting me to drink..."
"When we drink and sing, what is life like?"
After these words fell, Emperor Zhou's eyes suddenly lit up, and then he laughed heartily, sat down opposite Chu Tianxiao, and said: "In all these years, you are the first person who speaks to me like this..."
"… It's lonely at the top. Your Majesty, there's nothing you can do about it."
"Yes..." Emperor Zhou picked up a glass of wine, looked at the starry night sky outside, and said leisurely, "Everyone says that the palace is locked up with palace maids and old ladies behind red walls, but they don't know that I am also locked up in this purple forbidden area..."
Looking at Emperor Zhou like this, Chu Tianxiao felt touched for some reason and drank a glass of wine.
Emperor Zhou's eyes showed admiration, and he said, "Little prodigal, I have a question for you, you must not deceive the emperor."
Chu Tianxiao's pupils shrank, and he clasped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, please ask."
"What do you think of this evening's talk?"
Chu Tianxiao was silent for a moment after hearing this, and then he said casually: "The king and his subject are friends regardless of age."
After hearing this, Emperor Zhou slapped the table and laughed heartily: "How dare you say that? Do you know that I can sentence you to high treason just based on this statement?"
Chu Tianxiao said: "Your Majesty has already thanked me, so you shouldn't be punished for my words. I said this just to return your Majesty's 'thank you', and to say something from the heart..."
As he spoke, he smiled faintly: "In fact, your Majesty's attitude towards me is not how you should treat a subject. Although I know that all this must have a reason, and most of it is related to my father, I will not ask, because this is a secret. If your Majesty wants to tell me, he will tell me naturally. If not, it is useless to ask."
At this point, Chu Tianxiao stood up, feeling the night wind, and said leisurely: "Of course, the most important thing is that the night wind is chilly here, and the words will dissipate as soon as they are spoken... Your Majesty, you should know what I mean."
Hearing this, Emperor Zhou nodded slightly and said, "Little prodigal son, I can only tell you one thing, the time is not yet ripe..."
"However, I can answer all your questions, except for the matter about Zhong Yi... As for Zhong Yi, I can tell you that he is absolutely not in danger."
"Now, you may ask your questions."
After saying this, Chu Tianxiao smiled faintly, sat down again, and said, "Well... First question... Did your Majesty know that the demons would take action that night? Otherwise... the person who came to deliver the message that night should not have come twice."
Emperor Zhou's eyes lit up slightly, and he nodded, "That's right... Now that I think about it, it was a wise decision for me to let Mr. Gao hand over the 'Western Formation Hub' to you before he was discovered."
"Of course, the premise is that you must be smart enough... Fortunately, you are indeed smart enough!"
"You... have lived up to my expectations!"
Chu Tianxiao clasped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, you are too kind... The second question is, how did Your Majesty know that I broke the Black Sky Blood Altar?"
Emperor Zhou said, "Because the Black Sky Blood Altar is closely related to the method used to trap the withered array... Once I escape and get some information, it will be easy to deduce what will happen next."
Chu Tianxiao narrowed his eyes slightly: "The situations of the two parties are not independent? But intersecting? Is this a coincidence?"
Emperor Zhou said slowly: "I knew you would have this question, and this is one of the important things I want to tell you..."
Hearing this, Chu Tianxiao clasped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, please speak."
Emperor Zhou poured a glass of wine and said slowly: "Little prodigal, do you know that the demons are not a race native to the human world, they... are outsiders?"
Chu Tianxiao nodded: "I understand this."
"So... have you ever heard of the word 'demon world'?"
Hearing this, Chu Tianxiao's pupils shrank slightly: "Please give me your guidance, Your Majesty."
Emperor Zhou drank the wine and said slowly, "The vast land of Shenzhou and Tianhuang Continent are both called the 'human world', but this does not mean that the 'human world' is the only universe. There are still some universes similar to it outside the 'human world'... The 'demon world' is one of them, and it is also the only world outside the 'human world' that we can be sure of."
After hearing this, Chu Tianxiao reacted quickly: "In other words... the demons came from the 'Demon Realm'? They have been in this continent for thousands of years, right? What are they... doing here?"
"...Yes, you accepted it faster than I thought." Emperor Zhou didn't know that Chu Tianxiao had already seen this kind of talk before he traveled through time, and he praised, "Why the demons came to the human world, no one knows, but their wolfish ambition to occupy the entire human world is obvious..."
Chu Tianxiao was silent for a moment: "But this is different from what your majesty said..."
“Don’t worry, you need to be patient when listening to the story.” Emperor Zhou said leisurely, “Over the years, Shenzhou Haotu has been continuously gaining a deeper understanding of the demon clan, and has captured a lot of important intelligence through multiple operations... Now we can be sure that the demon clan of Tianhuang Continent has established a connection with the Demon Realm. The cicada that night is the best proof!”
"In addition, there is another extremely important piece of information..." Emperor Zhou said, "Chan is Ku's disciple, and Ku does not have only one disciple. If the information is correct, it should be a demon princess named '珟'. She should be a woman, and has already controlled the 'Chihuo Palace' of the two demon factions. And 'Chan', I don't know what means, has controlled the other faction, 'Xuehan City'!"
After listening to Emperor Zhou's words and combining them with what Chu Tianxiao had figured out in the past few days, a thread gradually became clear...
Seeing Chu Tianxiao's slightly dazed expression, Emperor Zhou nodded and said, "It seems that you, the little prodigal, have also guessed it... Yes, this is a game."
"A game to determine the true successor of Ku's mantle!"
"Ku... Use the human world as a chessboard, and all living beings as chess pieces. Let Chan and Kun... sit down and play chess!"
"The game that night was the result of their game, and when you destroyed the Black Sky Blood Altar, the winner and loser of that game became clear."
Emperor Zhou said: "Although Chan still descended in some way in the end, he only had less than 50% of his cultivation at that time... He was no longer a threat."
Then he stood up and said meaningfully: "The Forbidden City is very big..."