Return to the Emperor Clan's Su Family: His Father Appears with Divine Emperor Might!

In the void of the Ziwei Domain.

Su Linxian traversed the expanse.

As he gazed at the boundless chaos around him, one thought circled in his mind.

The god emperor realm...

The peak emperor realm cultivation granted by the system was already at the summit.

But above the peak emperor realm stood the Divine Emperor.

The Divine Emperor was far too distant and elusive.

In his century's worth of knowledge, records concerning Divine Emperors were few and far between. He knew only that it was a higher level beyond the peak emperor realm, a threshold countless Emperors could not touch even after exhausting a million years. Even across all the heavens, those in the Divine Emperor realm could be counted on one hand.

And his father, Su Qi, was one of them.

Su Linxian pondered for a moment.

Since this father I got for free is a Divine Emperor...

Why reach far when the answer is close at hand? I can return to the clan and ask him face-to-face.

With that thought, he hesitated no longer.

He raised his hand and tore open the void, then vanished into the rift.

The Su Family of the Sacred Emperor Clan.

Above the nine heavens, atop a sea of clouds.

Su Linxian stepped out of the void and was stunned at first sight.

A towering, boundless Emperor City floated among the stars. Thousands upon thousands of palaces stood within it, each radiating a weighty pressure that had endured a million years without fading.

At the center of the Emperor City, a divine tree rose toward the heavens. Its crown spread like a vast canopy, covering more than half the city. Primordial chaos purple qi flowed over its trunk, and countless starlike fruits hung among its branches and leaves, each radiating a richness of vitality that made the heart tremble.

The Primordial Chaos Divine Tree.

The name flashed through Su Linxian's mind. He had seen records of it in the ancient texts of the Tianxuan Orthodoxy. The Primordial Chaos Divine Tree was an innate spiritual root born at the dawn of primordial antiquity; a single tree could sustain the circulation of spiritual qi throughout an entire great world. Only three had existed in all of primordial antiquity. He had never imagined that the Su Family of the Emperor Clan would possess one.

"Your Highness, Divine Son!"

An excited voice rose from below.

Su Linxian looked down to see Shenyue Su approaching with dozens of elders.

The elders behind him all wore delighted expressions. Some were so overcome that tears streamed down their aged faces.

"Your cultivation is astonishingly profound, Divine Son!" a white-haired elder said, his voice trembling. "I sensed your aura just now. It is like an abyss, like an ocean—utterly unfathomable!"

Su Linxian landed and swept his gaze over the crowd, letting it linger on Shenyue Su's face for an extra moment.

He was slightly surprised, but quickly regained his composure.

"Clan leader." He gave a slight nod.

Shenyue Su spoke respectfully.

"My respects, Divine Son."

Su Linxian asked directly, "Where is my father?"

Shenyue Su raised her hand and pointed toward an area deep within the Emperor City, shrouded in primordial chaos purple qi. "The Divine Emperor is cultivating in the ancestral grounds. Grand Elder, escort His Highness there."

An old man with snow-white hair and beard stepped out of the ranks and bowed. "Your Highness, please follow this old man."

Su Linxian followed the Grand Elder through layer upon layer of palaces and through the purple curtain of light cast by the Primordial Chaos Divine Tree, finally arriving in a realm entirely different from the Emperor City.

Here, the mountains were verdant and the waters clear. Spiritual qi was abundant to the utmost, and even every mote of dust in the air radiated primordial chaos purple qi. Mountains rose like dark brushstrokes, green waters murmured, and a bamboo bridge spanned a stream where brocade carp swam below.

At the end of the bridge, a youth was fishing.

The youth's features were delicate yet unremarkable, and he looked no more than fifteen or sixteen. Wearing a blue cloth shirt washed nearly white, he sat barefoot on a bridge pier with an ordinary bamboo rod in his hand.

His hair was tied casually behind his head, with a few loose strands falling over his forehead. He looked utterly languid, as though he were dozing.

The Grand Elder walked up to the bridge and bowed with the utmost respect. "Divine Emperor, His Highness the Divine Son has arrived."

Su Linxian was dumbfounded.

He stared at the youth for a long while, turned to look at the Grand Elder, then turned back to look at the youth again.

This is my father?

So young?

He looks a few years younger than me.

Yet deep within him, a strange resonance stirred in his blood. The sensation was faint and subtle, but unmistakably clear.

This "supreme backing" had clearly been given to him by the system, so he should have felt nothing for the man. Yet standing there, looking at the fishing youth, he felt an indescribable sense of closeness rise from the depths of his blood.

The youth did not turn around. He merely gave a languid hum.

"You're here."

His voice sounded young, carrying a hint of lazy amusement.

"Sit for a while. Wait until the fish bites."

The instant that dragonfish took the hook, the entire stream exploded.

Suddenly.

Splash—!

The water's surface abruptly caved inward, forming a bottomless whirlpool!

A dragonfish leaped from the center of the whirlpool. Golden scales covered its body, two horns grew from its head, and four claws extended beneath its belly. Dark golden light flowed through the gaps between its scales.

It was only three feet long, yet its leap carried a sky-swallowing pressure, as though a true dragon had soared out of the deep sea. The stream beneath it burst into a sky full of mist, through which the faint echo of a dragon's roar resounded.

The emperor realm?!

Su Linxian's pupils contracted.

This fish Su Qi had casually hooked was actually an emperor realm demonic beast.

The dragonfish thrashed and writhed in the air, its golden scales flaring and its whiskers bristling as it unleashed a terrifying pressure.

Yet the bamboo rod and fishing line did not budge. No matter how the dragonfish struggled, it could not escape. With a casual tug from Su Qi, it fell from the air onto the bamboo bridge, its tail slapping the bridge with dull thuds.

"I've been raising this dragonfish in the stream for three million years. It finally took the hook today."

Su Qi stood, tossed the bamboo rod aside, and bent down to pick the dragonfish up off the ground.

He turned, revealing a delicate youthful face, and spoke to Su Linxian with a warm smile.

"My son, I've searched for you for years. To think you were in the Ziwei Domain all along. What a surprise."

Su Linxian looked at that face, younger than his own, and fell silent for a moment before respectfully cupping his hands.

"Father."

Su Qi waved a hand, casually set the dragonfish aside, and walked up to Su Linxian.

He was almost half a head shorter than Su Linxian. Tilting his face upward, he studied his son with eyes full of gratification.

"There's no need for such formality between father and son."

He raised his hand and patted Su Linxian's shoulder, as naturally as a father in any ordinary family.

Su Linxian did not pull away. The closeness he felt deep within his blood left him unable to muster the slightest aversion toward the youth before him.

"Back then, our Su Family faced a powerful enemy. I had no choice but to seal you within the Primordial Divine Source. I meant to keep you safe, but never expected the Primordial Divine Source to be lost in the void and drift through the myriad worlds of the heavens." At this point, a trace of wistfulness entered Su Qi's voice. "I've searched for you all these years, but could never divine your location. Now, seeing that you've reached the peak emperor realm on your own, without relying on the Su Family..."

"I'm proud of you."

Su Linxian parted his lips and offered a polite response. "I'm sorry to have made you worry, Father."

Su Qi glanced at him.

He seemed to see through the distance beneath that politeness, but paid it no mind, simply changing the subject with a smile.

"You're at the peak emperor realm now. Have you come to see me about the Divine Emperor realm?"

Su Linxian nodded, his expression growing more serious. "Exactly. Please enlighten me, Father."

Su Qi smiled, but did not immediately speak.

He turned and walked to the edge of the bamboo bridge, gazing at the stream below.

The stream was clear to the bottom, with brocade carp swimming within it. But now, every one of those carp huddled on the bottom, trembling.

Although the dragonfish had already been caught, its lingering aura still kept these ordinary spiritual creatures from daring to surface.

"A Divine Emperor's power reaches through antiquity and the present."

Su Qi spoke softly, yet his voice carried a heavy weight.

He raised his right hand, palm upward, and lightly touched the void with a fingertip.

"Above, it can turn back and sever the long river of time; below, it can soar forth and annihilate the cosmos."

The instant his words fell, he released a wisp of his aura.

Rumble—!

The entire ancestral grounds shuddered.

A thunderclap exploded out of nowhere in the heavens. Ten thousand miles of clouds surged and rolled backward, mountains bowed, streams stopped flowing, and even the distant Primordial Chaos Divine Tree gently shook its branches and leaves!