His Father Strikes, Refining Six Thousand Otherworld Dao Domains and Annihilating a Billion Li!

The entire expanse of nothingness shattered at that moment.

The enormous claw fractured inch by inch in the void. Cracks spread like a spiderweb, covering the entire palm in an instant before it exploded into countless fragments of chaos. Those fragments churned in the void for a moment, then vanished completely.

That voice...?

"Who's there?!"

The enormous crimson eyes in the mirror abruptly contracted, disbelief surging through their pupils as though they had seen something utterly terrifying.

"It's you!?"

"You... how could you possibly-"

That voice was filled with terror, but it cut off before it could finish.

The enormous crimson eyes shattered in the nothingness.

As though something had crushed them from within, the light in their pupils dimmed and vanished in an instant. Those enormous crimson eyes spanning the sky began to fracture and disintegrate, erased outright!

"Su Qi!!"

"You've ruined our grand undertaking! When the two worlds shatter someday... our Ancient Prison Imperial Clan will surely kill you-!!"

Rumble!!

The nothingness fell quiet once more.

Chaos no longer churned, and heaven and earth no longer collapsed. Everything returned to its original state at that moment.

Su Linxian stood where he was, his pupils contracting slightly.

That voice. That power.

They were far too familiar.

"Linxian."

Just then, a lazy, clear voice sounded from behind him.

Su Linxian turned around.

A youth in blue had appeared in the nothingness at some unknown point. Ripples spread beneath his feet, and a faint, gentle smile remained on his lips.

Su Linxian asked, "Father? What brings you here?"

"I came to see you." Su Qi smiled and glanced at the Kunwu Mirror hovering behind Su Linxian. The silver-white ancient mirror was still rotating slowly, but the images on its surface had vanished, leaving it calm once more.

"You've become a Half-Step Divine Emperor?"

"Not bad."

Su Linxian fell silent for a moment before asking,

"Father, have you been watching me all along?"

"When that little fellow used the Kunwu Mirror earlier, I sensed it." Su Qi raised a hand and pointed at the mirror.

"My son, although the Kunwu Mirror can reveal the future, those in the God Emperor Realm can detect it."

"When you peered into the future just now, that person in the mirror sensed you and tried to erase your past self through the Kunwu Mirror. That was why I appeared."

"He was... a Divine Emperor of the Otherworld's imperial clan."

Su Linxian's heart jolted.

The God Emperor Realm?!

No wonder. No wonder that aura had been so terrifying that even I trembled all over.

If Father hadn't appeared just now...

Su Linxian's expression darkened. He scarcely dared imagine the consequences.

That bastard.

Once I attain the Divine Emperor realm and the two worlds open, I'll settle today's debt along with all the rest!

Watching Su Linxian's darkening expression, Su Qi seemed to sense the killing intent surging within him. He smiled and shook his head.

"Still, my son, you needn't worry too much."

"Erasing someone's past through the river of time is exceedingly difficult."

"Without the Kunwu Mirror acting as a medium today, those Otherworld Divine Emperors couldn't have glimpsed so much as a trace of you, even if they searched for ten thousand years."

"That fellow suffered a backlash. Even someone in the God Emperor Realm won't find that easy to bear."

Su Linxian inclined his head slightly.

"I understand, Father."

Su Qi looked at him, shook his head slightly, and chuckled.

"It seems you're still dissatisfied."

He raised his arms and stretched. The sleeves of his blue cloth robe slipped down, revealing slender, pale wrists.

"Since the Otherworld struck first and broke the rules, I naturally cannot turn a blind eye."

At those words, a faint gleam flashed through Su Qi's eyes.

"My son, watch closely."

"Today, I'll let you witness..."

"The might of a Divine Emperor."

Su Qi reached out and grasped at the air.

Rumble-!!!

Countless thunderbolts burst from the nothingness. Violet-white lightning flooded the entire void, illuminating the dark chaos. Those thunderbolts tore through space and the barriers between worlds...

Meanwhile, in the Otherworld.

Beneath a blood-red sky, the Otherworld army assembled.

Densely packed figures covered the entire land. Those Otherworld creatures came in all shapes and forms, their auras terrifying. Before the army, several figures stood with their hands behind their backs, each radiating a fearsome aura beyond the Emperor Realm.

Suddenly!

At the summit of the blood-red sky, a figure whose overwhelming presence resembled an abyss lurched violently.

"Pfft-!"

Divine Lord Ancient Prison spat out a mouthful of blood essence.

That Divine Emperor blood spilled from the sky. Dark-red droplets fell into the army below, each containing destructive power beyond the Emperor Realm.

The instant they struck the ground, clouds of bloody mist exploded outward. Swathes of Otherworld creatures evaporated within them, unable even to scream.

"Ancient Prison!?"

"What's wrong?!"

"What happened?!"

Several figures whose faces could not be made out stepped from the void, each radiating an extraordinarily terrifying aura.

Divine Lord Ancient Prison's expression darkened to the extreme.

His six pairs of pupils contracted simultaneously. His face was deathly pale, and traces of undried blood remained at the corners of his mouth.

His aura was chaotic and weak, as though something within the river of time had dealt him a vicious backlash.

"Just now, I detected that fellow's aura..."

"I tried to travel against the river of time and erase his past."

What?!

The surrounding luminous figures with indistinct faces all shuddered.

"Ancient Prison, have you gone mad?!"

"The two worlds haven't opened yet! You actually attacked that fellow on your own authority? Do you really think those Emperor Clan people are easy prey?"

Divine Lord Ancient Prison roared furiously, violent killing intent surging through his six pairs of pupils.

"You are all Divine Emperors as well! Having pierced the future, you should know that this man will become a great calamity for our Otherworld!"

"If I had succeeded today, victory would have been ours when the two worlds opened!"

"Heh... victory?" a mocking voice rang out.

"Ancient Prison, you're gravely wounded now. You likely won't recover even after several epochs. Our Otherworld has lost a major Divine Emperor-level fighting force. You should understand the consequences."

"Two thousand years from now, the Six-Pupil Prison Clan will likely have no voice left."

Ancient Prison swept his icy gaze over the Otherworld army still assembling below.

For a wounded Divine Emperor, recovery was unimaginably difficult.

He needed an immense amount of vitality to repair the damage caused by that backlash. The Otherworld creatures below were the finest nourishment.

Damn it...

Ancient Prison raised his hand and spread his fingers.

"Refine."

"Wh-what is this?!"

"It's Divine Lord Ancient Prison!? Why?!"

Countless Otherworld creatures below froze simultaneously, including many members of the Six-Pupil Prison Clan. Their bodies disintegrated and melted under an invisible force, becoming streaks of dark-red bloodlight that shot skyward and entered Ancient Prison's palm.

Hundreds of millions of creatures were refined, every last one!

Rumble-!!

Just then.

The sky tore apart.

A fissure burst open in the center of the sky, and an enormous hand reached through it. Violet-white lightning flowed across the entire hand. Its palm lines resembled mountain ranges and river networks, each containing terrifying power that transcended time and space.

"This aura..."

"A Divine Emperor from the Myriad Heavens?!"

"Bastard! Ancient Prison! Look what you've done!"

The surrounding auras changed drastically as furious roars erupted.

They did not care how many creatures Ancient Prison refined to heal his injuries, but if a Divine Emperor of the Myriad Heavens struck... the price and consequences would be entirely different!

Rumble-

That enormous hand descended.

Crack, crack, crack, crack...

The entire blood-red sky shattered beneath that palm. Abysses ten thousand zhang deep split the earth, and space broke into countless pieces. At the same time, one Dao Domain after another in the surrounding region began to collapse...

Ten billion creatures turned to ash in the aftermath of that palm strike!!

Beneath a single palm, a full six thousand foreign-race Dao Domains were reduced to nothingness!

Su Qi's voice descended from the sky.

"Today, I have destroyed a billion li of the Blood Prison. Consider this a lesson for laying hands on my son."

As his voice faded, furious bellows resounded among the Otherworld's various clans.

"Ancient Prison, the great war hasn't even begun, yet our Otherworld has already suffered such devastating losses! Look what you've done!!"

"Bastard!!"

Back on the other side.

Su Qi withdrew his palm.

Looking down, he saw a mass of savage, violent blood essence from living creatures gathering in his palm.

That mass of blood essence was dark red throughout, brimming with surging vitality. Every strand contained the wildly violent blood energy of living creatures.

It was the essence extracted from countless Otherworld creatures, a supreme treasure capable of utterly transforming someone at the peak emperor realm.

"This is..."

Su Linxian stared at the mass of blood essence, momentarily stunned.

Su Qi smiled.

"The blood of Otherworld creatures. Consider it compensation."

He raised a finger and gently touched the space between Su Linxian's brows.

"To forge your divine emperor body."

Under the Spiritual Rhinoceros Finger, that mass of blood became a streak of dark-red light and entered the space between Su Linxian's brows with perfect precision.

Boom-!!!

Su Linxian's entire body shuddered.

The instant that blood entered him, its violent vitality washed through his bones and flesh simultaneously, and dark-red light gushed outward.

Su Linxian's body was transforming.

Every inch of his skin was reshaped and strengthened by the blood of those Otherworld creatures. Blood energy surged through his body like a roaring true dragon, and every heartbeat sounded like a heavenly war drum being struck!

A divine emperor body!

Su Qi stood to one side with his hands behind his back.

Watching the figure transform within the dark-red light, he murmured,

"The lotus platform is complete, and the lotus body has begun to take shape."

"The day you enter the Divine Emperor realm will be the day your two Divine Emperor seats are fully realized."

An unknown amount of time passed.

The radiance dispersed. Su Linxian's eyes burned with fervor. He felt that his divine body had grown countless times stronger, yet even that astonishingly vast Otherworld blood energy had not been fully refined!

"Thank you, Father."

Su Qi nodded and turned, his gaze falling upon the Kunwu Mirror.

Under his scrutiny, the silver-white ancient mirror trembled slightly. The ancient Dao patterns on its surface flickered, as though enduring an irresistible inspection.

"The Kunwu Mirror, an origin-grade divine treasure of the Primordial Imperial Court."

"It reflects the past, present, and future, and sees through the river of fate. This is indeed a fine treasure."

"But remember one thing."

"The future shown by the Kunwu Mirror is not immutable."

"The future holds countless possibilities. What you see is merely one of them. Do not let the images in the mirror shackle your choices."

Su Linxian inclined his head slightly and nodded as he spoke.

"Understood."

Su Qi smiled and reached out to pat his shoulder.

"Go."

His figure slowly faded into the void, his voice dissipating.

Su Linxian watched the spot where that figure had vanished.

After a moment of silence, he closed his eyes and withdrew his divine sense from the Kunwu Mirror.

Inside the stone hall.

Su Linxian opened his eyes and let out a long breath of stale air.

The Kunwu Mirror still hovered before him, a faint silvery-white glow flowing across its surface.

Yu Yao and Mu Chiyu sat nearby, both watching him with different expressions.

Yu Yao spoke cautiously.

"Master... what did you see?"

Su Linxian did not answer. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he tucked the Kunwu Mirror into his sleeve.

"Nothing."

"Get ready. Tomorrow, we'll retrieve the Imperial Court Core."

The next day.

Su Linxian and his companions returned to the vast subterranean space deep underground.

The Imperial Throne still stood at its center, its back towering into the clouds, the nine coiled dragons on its armrests lifelike.

But the black orb hovering above the Imperial Throne had grown even more violent than it had been three days earlier, its grayish-white markings writhing wildly.

Mu Chiyu stood before the Imperial Throne. "Are you confident?"

The system panel appeared again. The Mustard Seed Space's rating had gone from extremely dangerous at the outset to dangerous now.

Now that his Divine Emperor Foundation and Divine Emperor Body had taken shape, he was more than capable of dealing with a newly born Heavenly Evil Aura.

Su Linxian smiled.

"More or less."

"Wait outside."

Mu Chiyu glanced at him, her voice a little softer than usual.

"All right. Be careful."

Su Linxian waved a hand.

He stepped forward and walked up to the Imperial Throne.

The black orb seemed to sense his approach. Its grayish-white markings abruptly surged, and black energy seeped through cracks in the chains, rushing wildly toward him.

The next instant.

Bzzzt-!

Su Linxian vanished from where he stood.

His vision flipped and twisted in that instant. Everything around him changed at dizzying speed, replaced by a world resembling the void of the Myriad Heavens, boundless, dim, and deathly still.

Inside the Mustard Seed Space.

Su Linxian surveyed his surroundings.

Countless ruined Dao Domain fragments floated through this space: broken mountain ranges, upside-down palaces, and all manner of shattered stars.

The Dao Domain fragments slowly rotated in the void, connected by dark red veins, as some presence continually drained and refined them.

"It does look a little like a secret realm's pocket world..."

Su Linxian spread his divine sense, covering the entire Mustard Seed Space.

He soon picked up the trace of that wisp of evil aura.

The Heavenly Evil Aura was fleeing deeper into the space at an astonishing speed.

"Trying to run?"

Su Linxian sneered.

He turned into a streak of light and gave chase.

Sensing the pursuit behind it, the wisp of evil aura abruptly accelerated.

Boom! Boom!...

It kept changing direction in the void, sweeping past one ruined Dao Domain after another. Every Dao Domain it passed was devoured by the evil aura in an instant, turning grayish-white, as though reduced to the state of nothingness before heaven and earth first opened.

Watching everything around him as he pursued it, Su Linxian frowned more and more deeply.

"What a strange power."

"It isn't simply devouring them..."

It felt more like a reset!

The evil aura devoured the Dao Domains far too quickly. It had neither form nor substance, and any divine ability that struck it would be swallowed up.

"In that case..."

Su Linxian raised his hand and spread his fingers.

"Heavenly Prison Art!"

Bzzzt-

A colorless radiance spread from within him, blanketing the entire void. The fleeing wisp of evil aura suddenly froze.

"Bind!"

Countless golden divine chains materialized and extended from every direction, wrapping the wisp of evil aura layer upon layer and imprisoning it firmly in the void!

The evil aura battered the golden cage wildly.

Clang! Clang!...

Every impact shook heaven and earth, producing a deafening, muffled crash!

The Heavenly Evil Aura suddenly stopped.

Black energy seeped through the gaps in the chains, trying to devour and assimilate the golden divine chains. But the escaping evil aura was crushed into nothingness the moment it touched them.

Su Linxian landed before the golden cage and said evenly.

"Not running anymore?"

The wisp of evil aura suddenly grew calm.

Black mist slowly churned and took shape inside the cage. It no longer fled wildly or battered its prison.

Instead, confined within the golden chains, it slowly condensed into a new form.

A little girl in a black dress.

She looked no more than five or six years old. She wore a pitch-black long dress, her ink-dark hair falling to her waist. Her delicate face was pale, as though she had never seen sunlight, and her eyes, like black gemstones, were calm and indifferent.

She slowly turned around.

Facing Su Linxian, she said softly.

"Why do you want to erase me?"

"I only want..."

"To live."