Outside.
Su Jingheng stood motionless where he was, cradling the Scarlet Blood Divine Spear with his eyes closed like a statue.
Su Yaohuang, meanwhile, wore a face full of worry, hesitating over whether she should go inside and check on her little brother.
"Creak—"
The door opened.
Su Chenxiao stepped out of the room.
"Little brother?!"
A flash of delight crossed Su Yaohuang's exquisitely beautiful face.
She hurried over, immediately grabbing her little brother's hand and carefully examining him.
"Mm... Your blood and qi are flowing smoothly, and your meridians are stable."
"Big Brother, little brother is really fine now!"
Su Jingheng nodded with a stern expression, his emotions unreadable.
Keep pretending! Just keep pretending!
Su Yaohuang curled her lips.
Don't be fooled by Big Brother's poker face and silence—whenever something happened to little brother, he was more anxious than anyone!
Su Yaohuang looked at Su Chenxiao and asked with a smile.
"Little brother, do you know who I am?"
Breathing in the faint fragrance at the tip of his nose, Su Chenxiao smiled helplessly and nodded.
"Alright, Sis."
"I remember everything now."
"Where are Father and Mother?"
Su Yaohuang's beautiful eyes lit up. In her excitement, she stepped forward and pulled Su Chenxiao straight into her embrace.
"People from the Upper Realm's Jiantian Pavilion came. Mother and Father went to demand an explanation."
Overwhelming softness and fullness pressed against him. Su Chenxiao was tightly squeezed against those proud peaks, and suddenly found it hard to breathe.
"Mmph... mmph..."
"Little brother, welcome back!"
"You've suffered too much!"
Su Yaohuang sniffled, her delicate nose twitching.
Outside, she was the aloof and icy Divine Phoenix Empress, standing above all others. But when it came to this little brother, she truly loved him from the bottom of her heart.
Only after struggling for quite some time did Su Chenxiao finally escape that fragrant, enchanting embrace.
Somewhat embarrassed, he rubbed his nose and said.
"Sis, men and women should not be so intimate."
Su Yaohuang froze at his words, then could not help but burst into laughter.
Her eyes curved into crescents, and even the worry in her heart faded considerably.
That smile was like an eternal glacier melting, so beautiful it defied description.
"Little brother, what, you're all grown up now and won't even let your sister hug you?"
"When you were little, you used to clamor every day about sleeping with me."
Su Chenxiao was left speechless.
Now that she knew her little brother was unharmed, Su Yaohuang regained her usual cool bearing. She stared seriously at Su Chenxiao's face and spoke.
"Alright."
"Little brother, the people who bullied you are all in the martial grounds now."
"Their lives and deaths are yours to decide."
"Little brother, your sister won't pry into your private affairs, but you are Su Yaohuang's own younger brother, the son of the Imperial Clan Su Family's patriarch."
"Your experience in the Lower Realm was but a dream beneath the southern bough. Do not let a woman cloud your mind, understand?"
Though she had not said it outright, Sister Su Yaohuang's meaning was already perfectly clear.
Su Chenxiao paused slightly before replying.
"I understand, Sis. Leave these matters to me."
Su Yaohuang nodded, then cast a glance at Su Jingheng beside her and said.
"There, your big brother is here too."
"This guy only just returned from beyond the domain, yet his killing intent is this heavy."
"To avenge you and vent your anger, he wiped out all Four Great Dao Lineages of the Cangshi Realm. The sect masters and elders of those four lineages are in the martial grounds as well, begging forgiveness."
Su Chenxiao glanced at his big brother, then stepped forward. "Big Brother!"
Su Jingheng still wore that stern expression, answering with utmost brevity.
"Mm."
Buzz.
A white divine radiance suddenly flickered.
This was...
Su Chenxiao froze.
Before Su Jingheng, the Supreme Bone quietly floated in the air.
Su Jingheng's voice slowly sounded.
"Now that you possess the Innate Chaos Divine Body, this Supreme Bone is useless to you."
"But since it was something I gave you, it is time for it to return to its rightful owner."
After their parents arrived, they too learned that their little brother's previous condition had been caused by the awakening of another powerful physique.
The Innate Chaos Divine Body was among the top three divine physiques in all the heavens!
Yet compared to their little brother awakening such a heaven-defying divine body, they cared far more about his safety.
Su Chenxiao took the Supreme Bone and fell silent for a moment before speaking.
"Big Brother, thank you."
Su Jingheng nodded and said nothing more.
Only after Su Chenxiao left for the martial grounds.
Did the corner of Su Jingheng's lips lift slightly, revealing an almost imperceptible smile.
Within the martial grounds.
Terrifying crimson divine flames sealed off the area. Under the searing heat, even the empty space around the flames had been burned to nothingness!
Unease and terror hung in the air like a Sword of Damocles suspended overhead, awaiting judgment.
Everyone was restless and panic-stricken.
The atmosphere was so oppressive it was terrifying. Not a single person spoke.
The elders of Qingcheng's Three Great Families were numb like walking corpses whose Divine Souls had been ripped away.
In the span of a single day.
They had witnessed figures of such stature as they had never seen in all their lives.
One after another, the Four Great Dao Lineages' astonishingly powerful, unfathomable supreme elders... even their patriarchs, had been thrown in here.
Every one of them was capable of making the Cangshi Realm tremble with a mere stomp of the foot!
Yet even beings like them knelt upon the ground with faces ashen as death.
The people of Qingcheng had gone from shock and disbelief to utter despair!
"Bastards! What heaven-incurring, earth-resenting atrocity did your Tianqi Dao Lineage commit to provoke a mighty expert from the Upper Realm?!"
"My Cloudsea Sect knew nothing about this matter, yet we were implicated by your Tianqi Dao Lineage and suffered this undeserved calamity for nothing!"
"Tianqi Patriarch, you truly deserve to die!"
The patriarchs of the other three Great Dao Lineages of the Cangshi Realm were each filled with rage.
They wished they could slaughter these people of the Tianqi Dao Lineage on the spot!
Tianqi Patriarch knelt on the ground, his pupils trembling without end.
He only remembered a young man appearing at the Dao Lineage, holding a blood-colored spear and looking like a demonic god.
With a single strike, he had annihilated the Dao Lineage that had stood in the Cangshi Realm for a thousand years!
Before that young man, even he, who had lived for over a thousand years, felt like nothing more than an ant.
Not the slightest thought of resistance could rise in his heart.
"I don't know what my Tianqi Dao Lineage did to offend a mighty expert from the Upper Realm either!"
"But do not panic, everyone. My Tianqi Dao Lineage is under the protection of the Upper Realm's Tianxuan Sect. I have already contacted a mighty expert from the Tianxuan Sect, and they will arrive before long!"
At those words, the expressions of the other Dao Lineage patriarchs finally eased somewhat.
Someone let out a soft sigh and said gloomily.
"All we can do is pray that lord will spare our lives for the Tianxuan Sect's sake..."
Just then.
A gap was suddenly opened in the endless divine flames surrounding the area.
Everyone turned to look at it in unison.
"Little brother, they're all here."
At that moment, a youth in azure robes walked out from the divine flames opposite them, his features handsome and his brows brimming with noble grace.
The youth seemed shrouded in a veil of mist.
Innate Chaos Qi faintly radiated white light around him, while his eyes held a depth that did not belong to someone his age.
Lin Qingran's face was pale, her eyes filled with complicated regret and remorse.
The newcomer was none other than—
Su Chenxiao, whose cultivation had now been restored!
Before you continue