As he dismissed the statue, he noticed that the young woman looked troubled, so he asked, "What's wrong?"

In front of her was a wide, deep rectangle hole with a large mound of dirt piled beside it. Her next task was to place her grandmother in the hole and bury her.

"It feels improper," the woman said, biting her lips. "I can't bury her like this. It feels like I'm burying an animal, not a human."

Liu Xing glanced at the hole, the grandmother, and the earth pile beside her, understanding what she meant. "Usually, people are buried in a coffin."

"Yes. A coffin." The woman nodded. "I want a coffin for her." Then she bit her lips again. "But we can't get that, can we? I'm in danger, and burying her in a coffin is a luxury I can't afford."

Liu Xing had experience creating a crude coffin, but even he needed time to make one. Without nails, he'd have to use wood, and while creating a coffin wouldn't take a whole day, it would take several hours. She had said it herself—she was still in danger and couldn't afford to waste more time.

So, Liu Xing came up with an idea inspired by Mamat's funeral.

"While it's not a coffin, I think I can do something."

Liu Xing looked around and saw several trees in the distance. He ran to a nearby tree with his lightning blade, cut it down, and made a dozen wooden planks from it. The planks were not cut with the same exact size, but it would do.

"I'll help you," he said.

Liu Xing entered the grave and asked the young woman to help lower her grandmother's body. He gently received her and carefully placed her on her right side at the bottom of the grave, ensuring that the deceased's left shoulder touched the earth.

Then, Liu Xing began placing the wooden planks diagonally over the body. He arranged the planks to form a pitched roof-like structure over the deceased. This way, when they buried her, at least no dirt would touch her body directly.

This was how Muslims in Indonesia were buried. How Mamat was buried.

"How about this?" Liu Xing asked.

"Better," the young woman nodded, looking satisfied.

He told her to start filling the hole with earth, and Liu Xing began to tamp down the earth that the young woman threw into the hole. They did this for several minutes until the hole was filled and a small mound of dirt piled up on top.

Liu Xing's robe was now dirty. Yet, he didn't feel upset or angry. After all, he had just helped two people: a grandmother who had already died and her mourning granddaughter.

"Thank you very much," the woman smiled at him. Her cheeks were flushed red, her eyes still wet, and yet she smiled like a sunflower—bright and refreshing.

"You're welcome," Liu Xing nodded. "Now that this matter is over, I must go. I need to meet the emperor. There's important news he needs to hear."

Hearing what Liu Xing said, the young woman's smile suddenly vanished. "You want to go to that golden castle?" The woman glanced to the side, toward the capital, with a sad expression.

Seeing her expression, Liu Xing felt that this woman is probably related to the emperor, and her expression made him wonder about her circumstances.

"My name is Yang Liangyu. The Emperor is my father, and he was murdered today by my younger brother."

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Upon hearing this, Liu Xing blinked several times. "What?"

"The emperor is dead. My younger brother usurped the throne by killing him, and my older brother, who was supposed to be the next emperor, is furious and trying to kill him. The capital is now a battleground for them."

Liu Xing's brain worked hard to digest the information. After a moment, he inhaled deeply and turned his body toward the capital. From a distance, the capital looked serene, but he tried to sharpen his senses, attempting to hear, see, or feel something there. For several moments, he didn't catch anything, then he began to hear faint shouts, small rumbles here and there, and a faint sound of explosions. His nose also began to catch the unique smell of blood, but this was probably from the people he had killed earlier.

He inhaled deeply again and turned his head toward Yang Liangyu. "Are you sure?"

Yang Liangyu pressed her lips together, looking down for a moment as if trying to hide her sadness, but then she nodded.

Liu Xing clenched his fist and felt irrational anger. He thought about the sixteen spirit beasts that were probably rampaging around. He wanted them dead, so he had come to this place to seek help. But to think that the emperor had just died and now there was a civil war happening in the capital—it felt like heaven had sent him bad luck to balance out the good luck he'd had.

"Mr. Liu Xing, can you escort me to a safer place? While I'm not a vital target for my younger brother, he could still capture me to consolidate his power. I don't want that to happen. I don't want him to become the true emperor."

Liu Xing thought for a moment. He was still in a hurry; he wanted to do something about those spirit beasts, but now his main destination was gone. Since the emperor was dead and his two sons were fighting for the throne, he could assume that the power of this empire was also split in two.

"Let's talk for a moment," Liu Xing said. He pointed at a cliff where he had slept. "Let's go there. I want to confirm some information from you."

She agreed, and both of them ended up inside his man-made cave. There were the remains of burning wood in the center of the cave, and they both agreed to partially close the cave entrance to prevent someone from seeing them. Closing it wouldn't hide their presence fully, but at least it would obstruct sight and sound. Liu Xing chose to use his turtle to close it.

Now, in a cave that was partially dark, he and Yang Liangyu sat face to face.

"Let's begin with my side," Liu Xing said. "As I said, my name is Liu Xing. I'm an outer disciple of Purple Moon Sect. I'm now in the middle of a race. Do you know about it?"

"Yes," she nodded. "It's a big event, and people in the capital, whether peasants or nobles, can't stop talking about it."

"Good. So, the race is simple. We need to gather as many treasures as possible. The three people who gather the most treasures are the winners. I came to this empire to get several treasures, but I met an old man in Mystic Moon City named Bai Lin, and he said that his grandson was murdered by something."

From here, he told her about the Xia clan, especially Xia Juetian, and the sixteen spirit beasts that were now probably roaming the Twelve Sun Empire, hunting for cultivators with bloodlines, and possibly splitting up right now.

As she listened to his tale, her face grew paler with each passing second. She understood the weight of this situation. If this matter wasn't quickly settled, there was a chance that thousands of spirit beasts would annihilate this empire and possibly other neighboring nations.

"Now, I came here to meet the emperor, to force him to make several teams to subdue those sixteen spirit beasts. Additionally, I also wanted to contact my sect about this, but obviously, my plan was ruined before it began when your brother decided to kill your father."

"What a disaster!" she exclaimed. "We need to do something!"

"That's the crux of the problem. What should I do now? Do you have any suggestions? Do you have a method so I can communicate with my sect?"

He actually didn't know what to do.

"The method to communicate with Purple Moon Sect is only known by my father and his advisors. Unfortunately, my younger brother killed them all."

Liu Xing bit the inside of his cheek. That meant there would be no communication with his sect. For a moment, the thought of leaving this empire came to his mind, and this time, this thought had a logical basis. Since he couldn't gather enough force to subdue those spirit beasts, he needed to go to other neighboring nations. Although doing that would be abandoning this empire and the people inside it.

"What tier is your empire, and how many Sun Refining cultivators and Sun Collapsing cultivators does your empire have?" Liu Xing asked.

Purple Moon Sect has many vassals, each categorized into tiers. There are Base, Earth, and Heaven tiers. Base tier vassals have their strongest cultivators at the Core Splitting realm. Earth tier vassals boast cultivators up to the Sun Collapsing realm, while Heaven tier vassals host the powerful White Sun realm cultivators. Each tier is further divided into three sections: lower, middle, and upper.