As Liu Xing considered how to utilize the turtle in combat, he noticed the young woman looked troubled and asked, "What's wrong?"

In front of her lay a wide, deep rectangular hole with a large mound of dirt piled beside it. Her next task was to place her grandmother inside and cover her.

"It feels improper," the woman said, biting her lip. "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's body, and the earth pile, understanding her sentiment. "Usually, people are buried in coffins."

"Yes. A coffin." The woman nodded. "I want a coffin for her." Then she bit her lip 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 crafting crude coffins, but even he needed time. Without nails, he would have to use wood joinery, and while creating a coffin wouldn't take a full day, it would consume several hours. She had said it herself—she remained in danger and couldn't afford to waste more time.

An idea, inspired by Mamat's funeral, came to him.

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

Liu Xing dismissed his turtle statue, looked around, and spotted several trees in the distance. He ran to a nearby tree, activated his lightning blade, felled it, and quickly fashioned a dozen wooden planks. The planks weren't perfectly uniform in size, but they would suffice.

"I'll help you," he said.

Liu Xing climbed into the grave and asked the young woman to help lower her grandmother's body. He gently received the body and carefully positioned it on its right side at the bottom, ensuring the deceased's left shoulder touched the earth.

Then, Liu Xing placed the wooden planks diagonally over the body, arranging them to form a pitched roof-like structure above the deceased. This way, when they filled the grave, dirt wouldn't directly touch her body.

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

"How about this?" Liu Xing asked.

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

He told her to start filling the hole, and Liu Xing tamped down the earth she shoveled in. They worked for several minutes until the hole was filled and a small mound marked the grave.

Liu Xing's robe was now dirty, yet he felt no anger or annoyance. He had just helped two people: a grandmother who had passed and her grieving granddaughter.

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

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

Hearing this, the young woman's smile vanished instantly. "You want to go to that golden castle?" She glanced toward the capital with a sad expression.

Seeing her reaction, Liu Xing suspected she was related to the emperor, and her expression fueled his curiosity about her circumstances.

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

Liu Xing blinked several times. "What?"

"The emperor is dead. My younger brother usurped the throne by killing him. My older brother, the rightful heir, is furious and is trying to kill him in return. The capital is now their battleground."

Liu Xing's mind struggled to process the information. After a moment, he inhaled deeply and turned toward the capital. From this distance, it appeared serene, but he sharpened his senses, trying to hear, see, or feel anything amiss. For several moments, silence reigned. Then, faint shouts drifted on the wind, punctuated by small rumbles and the muffled sound of explosions. His nose also caught the faint, metallic tang of blood, though it might have been residual from the men he had killed earlier.

He inhaled deeply again and turned back to Yang Liangyu. "Are you sure?"

Yang Liangyu pressed her lips together, looking down briefly as if hiding her sorrow, then nodded firmly.

Liu Xing clenched his fist, feeling a surge of irrational anger. He thought about the sixteen spirit beasts likely rampaging across the land. He wanted them stopped and had come seeking the empire's aid. To find the emperor murdered and the capital embroiled in civil war felt like a cruel twist of fate.

"Mr. Liu Xing, can you escort me to a safer place?" Yang Liangyu pleaded. "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 considered her request. He was still pressed for time, needing to address the threat, but his primary destination was now inaccessible. With the emperor dead and his sons locked in conflict, the empire's strength was undoubtedly fractured.

"Let's talk for a moment," Liu Xing said, pointing toward the cliff where he had rested earlier. "Let's go there. I need to confirm some information."

She agreed, and they soon found themselves back inside his man-made cave. The remains of a fire lay cold in the center. They decided to partially block the entrance to obscure them from view using his turtle statue.

Now, in the dim cave, he and Yang Liangyu sat facing each other.

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

"Yes," she nodded. "It's a major event. People in the capital, peasants and nobles alike, couldn't stop talking about it."

"Good. The race is simple. We need to gather as many treasures as possible. The top three win. I came to this empire seeking treasures, but I met an old man in Mystic Moon City named Bai Lin. He told me his grandson was murdered."

From there, Liu Xing recounted the story of the Xia clan, particularly Xia Juetian, and the sixteen spirit beasts now likely roaming the Twelve Sun Empire, hunting cultivators with specific bloodlines, and possibly already splitting theirselves.

As Yang Liangyu listened, her face grew progressively paler as she grasped the gravity of the situation. If these spirit beasts weren't dealt with swiftly, they could potentially annihilate the empire and even threaten neighboring nations.

"I came here to meet the emperor," Liu Xing concluded, "to urge him to assemble teams to subdue those sixteen spirit beasts. I also wanted to contact my sect. Obviously, your brother's actions ruined that plan before it even began."

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

"That's the crux of the problem," Liu Xing said grimly. "What should I do now? Do you have any suggestions? Is there any way I can communicate with my sect from here?"

He genuinely didn't know the best course of action.

"The method to communicate with the Purple Moon Sect was known only by my father and his closest advisors," Yang Liangyu replied. "Unfortunately, my younger brother killed them all."

Liu Xing bit the inside of his cheek. No communication with the sect, then. For a moment, the thought of abandoning the empire resurfaced. If he couldn't muster enough power here, perhaps the only option was to seek help from neighboring nations, even if it meant abandoning the Twelve Sun Empire and its people to their fate.

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

Purple Moon Sect had many vassals, categorized into tiers: Base, Earth, and Heaven. Base tier vassals had their strongest cultivators at the Core Splitting realm. Earth tier vassals boasted cultivators up to the Sun Collapsing realm, while Heaven tier vassals hosted the powerful White Sun realm cultivators. Each tier was further divided into lower, middle, and upper levels.

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