"Father? A traitor to the realms?"
Chu Tian's grip on the Path-Shattering Key tightened sharply. His gold-and-black eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. He knew his father too well. Chu Tianwang had lived his life with honor, fighting heaven and earth for the Human Race. How could he bear the infamy of being a "traitor to the realms" who had "slaughtered a city"?
"A phantasm playing at gods and ghosts thinks it can shake my resolve?" Chu Tian snorted. He tucked the Path-Shattering Key into his robes, raised the Hongmeng Human Emperor Sword, and strode toward the ruined city.
The moment he passed through the gate, a stench of blood so thick it made him nauseous struck him. Mutilated corpses covered the streets, and blood stained the flagstones red. Countless translucent gray-white phantoms wandered among them, their faces twisted as they wailed.
The instant Chu Tian entered the city, every phantom stopped. Their hollow eye sockets fixed on him.
"Someone from the Chu Family... Someone from the Chu Family is here!"
"The father's debt falls to the son! Kill him!"
As the phantoms shrieked, the scene around Chu Tian rippled like water. An impossibly vivid vision from the Primordial Era burst open before him.
In the vision stood a prosperous city of the Primordial Era. A younger Chu Tianwang, his white robes stained with blood, wielded a sword streaming with dense Jiemie Black Mist. Like a merciless god of slaughter, he cut his way through the city. With one swing, thousands of civilians turned to ash beneath the black sword light. With one palm strike, he shattered the bones of countless defenders.
The Chu Tianwang in that vision had eyes cold beyond measure, without a trace of pity, as though he reveled in the slaughter.
"Do you see? This is the