Hongjun stared at the drifting golden fragments, furious, panicked, and overwhelmed by bitterness.
He had watched this child grow up. He was not truly heartless, either.
After so many years of Dao Integration, Heavenly Dao had seemed like a disobedient student in his eyes.
Sometimes troublesome, sometimes rebellious, but when all was said and done, he was.
He had never imagined truly destroying him.
From the very moment he underwent Dao Integration, he had regarded Heavenly Dao as his possession, his student, his son, his tool.
He had plotted against him and used him.
But he had never truly wanted him dead.
He could not bear to.
Even if he always talked back, Hongjun had only intended to beat him up, then let him sleep after devouring the Prehistoric World. He would still be his.
Hongjun's nails dug into his palms, but he did not notice.
"Stop! This Seat commands you—"
Heavenly Dao Youth's voice came from within the rift, broken and intermittent, trembling with pain.
"Command... who do you think you're commanding?"
"You're no longer... my Dao Integration cultivator..."
Heavenly Dao Youth rolled about in agony within the Sea of Rules.
"Pain, pain, pain, pain, pain—"
Su Miao tilted her head up at the surging golden sea of Laws, unable to suppress the heart-stopping dread rising within her.
She anxiously stepped forward and asked with concern.
"Are you okay?"
Heavenly Dao Youth found a moment amid his rolling to snap back.
"Do I look okay to you?!"
Su Miao choked on her words, but her mouth was already a step ahead.
"Then stop pulling?"
"I can't stop! If I don't pull, he'll cling on and refuse to leave!"
"Then pull a little gentler?"
"If I pull gently, it won't come off!"
Su Miao's anxiety turned into helplessness.
"...Then carry