The heavenly tribulation was suppressed, and the dark clouds that had been lingering over the imperial palace dissipated.
Xu Mo breathed a sigh of relief. "Fortunately, it was suppressed in time. Otherwise, if the heavenly tribulation for becoming a saint descended, the entire imperial palace would be reduced to ruins, and it might even affect the entire imperial capital!"
When he broke through to the Quasi-Saint realm back then, the heavenly tribulation had directly annihilated a mountain, leaving behind a depression.
Now that he was breaking through to the Saint realm, the heavenly tribulation's power would undoubtedly be even more ferocious, possibly with qualitative enhancements. He couldn't be careless.
To survive the heavenly tribulation of becoming a saint, one had to find a safe and secluded place.
Looking at the depleted heavenly materials and earthly treasures in the treasury to the right of the cultivation chamber, Xu Mo felt a pang of heartache.
These were all his cultivation resources, thrown into the Chaos Furnace to be refined, all for that final push.
Fortunately, he succeeded. Otherwise, he would have cried himself to death.
It wasn't easy to accumulate such a vast treasury of heavenly materials and earthly treasures. Xu Mo had spent over twenty years to gather this much.
Normally, he cultivated slowly and frugally. After all, even emperors were poor!
Of course, this poverty was relative.
When Xu Mo first became emperor, his cultivation resources were abundant. But as his realm increased, ordinary heavenly materials and earthly treasures were no longer sufficient.
Moreover, the effects of heavenly materials and earthly treasures repeatedly refined by the Chaos Furnace hundreds of times had diminished to their extreme.
At this point, he needed heavenly materials and earthly treasures that had never been refined by the Chaos Furnace before. However, such rare treasures were not easy to obtain, and even fewer came into Xu Mo's possession.
"After I pass the tribulation and become a saint, I'll have to go to the Southern Domain to collect some heavenly materials and earthly treasures," Xu Mo murmured to himself.
The Great Wilderness Southern Domain was a vast primeval forest, filled with many rare grand medicines, all of which had not been refined by the Chaos Furnace.
Leaving the cultivation chamber, Xu Mo returned to his sleeping quarters and saw Gongsun Rou standing at the entrance, as if she had been waiting for a long time.
"When did you get here waiting? Come in," Xu Mo said.
Hearing Xu Mo's voice, Gongsun Rou quickly turned around. Upon seeing Xu Mo appear, a look of joy flashed across her face. She lowered her head and bowed, "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty."
Xu Mo waved his hand, signaling her to dispense with the formalities.
But Gongsun Rou still completed the bow respectfully before entering the sleeping quarters and facing Xu Mo.
"Your Majesty, those Earthlings have entered the imperial capital and are currently being held," Gongsun Rou reported.
Hearing this, Xu Mo's spirits lifted!
The fellow villagers from Earth had finally arrived. He felt a surge of excitement.
Gongsun Rou noticed the change in His Majesty's expression and was somewhat surprised.
Why did His Majesty react this way upon hearing that the Earthlings had arrived at the imperial capital?
Could it be that His Majesty was interested in these Earthlings?
She secretly noted this down.
Xu Mo said, "Where are those people now? I want to go and see them personally to check the situation!"
Meeting fellow countrymen, he was already eager.
Moreover, he had many questions to ask them and seek answers.
"Those Earthlings are confined to the prisoner-of-war camp," Gongsun Rou replied. Then she added, "If Your Majesty wishes to go there personally, I will have the people there make preparations."
The prisoner-of-war camp was very dirty and chaotic. She naturally couldn't let His Majesty enter such a filthy place.
Xu Mo, however, shook his head, unconcerned. "No need. I'll go directly. Isn't making preparations in advance a waste of time and manpower? Xiao Rou, formalism is unacceptable!"
He lectured Gongsun Rou earnestly.
Gongsun Rou's heart tightened. Although she didn't know what "formalism" meant, she knew that whatever His Majesty said must be correct.
"Your Majesty, your humble servant knows her mistake. I will never repeat it," she said with a look of shame.
She thought to herself that she would have to check His Majesty's "Sacred Words Record" upon returning to find out what "formalism" meant.
Xu Mo smiled and said no more. Instead, he asked Gongsun Rou to lead the way to the prisoner-of-war camp to meet the Earthlings who had accidentally intruded into the Great Wilderness.
...
Meanwhile, in the prisoner-of-war camp.
More than two hundred Earthlings were all confined here, heavily guarded by soldiers, making it extremely secure.
The environment here was far better than the prison in the Eastern Garrison's military camp. Although it was still somewhat dirty and messy, it was at least habitable.
The group huddled together, nervously awaiting their fate.
The moment they entered the imperial capital, they were stunned into silence, unable to believe that such an orderly kingdom of cultivators actually existed on this new continent.
In fact, the prosperity of the entire kingdom of cultivators exceeded their imagination.
Of course, what shocked them the most was the extraordinary power these people possessed, able to fly in the sky and wield god-like abilities.
This had shattered the scientific common sense of Earth and destroyed everyone's worldview.
"Will we die? What is their purpose in bringing us here?" someone asked fearfully.
"Probably not. If they wanted to kill us, they would have done so long ago and wouldn't have kept us until now. I think they might want to interrogate us."
"Interrogate? They don't understand our language, how can they interrogate us?"
"Are you stupid? Didn't you witness the methods of these cultivators in that prison? They can perform soul-searching, directly extracting memories from your mind. Bringing us to this more prosperous city must be to have more powerful cultivators perform soul-searching on us."
"Ah... then aren't we doomed? After soul-searching, if we have no further use, we'll be at their mercy."
"Are we just going to resign ourselves to fate?"
The group whispered amongst themselves, their anxiety growing with each word.
Some began to suggest that the Chinese among them should try to negotiate with the cultivators, perhaps they were truly related from thousands of years ago.
The Chinese immediately expressed their displeasure, asking why they should be the ones to go.
Although many things in this kingdom of cultivators were similar to ancient China, this did not prove that this new continent had any connection to ancient China.
What if they angered these cultivators by going to negotiate? What if they were beheaded? Who would seek justice for them?
The two groups immediately started arguing, their faces flushed.
Professor Lin Wencheng and his granddaughter and grandson did not join the argument; they stayed aside to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
Professor Sam and Alice were also together. Looking at the arguing crowd, Alice shook her head slightly and sighed, "Even at this point, these people still have the energy to argue."
"They are too anxious and fearful, using arguments to release stress," Professor Sam said with sharp eyes.
He saw through it clearly. These people were actually using the loud arguments to temporarily forget the impending crisis.