"Yan'er, you must have heard that long ago, there were Dou Di on the Dou Qi Continent, haven't you?"
Looking at Xiao Yan's curious face, Xiao Zhan continued to shroud himself in mystery.
"Yes."
Xiao Yan nodded. He had read in ancient books that Dou Di had indeed existed on the Dou Qi Continent, and quite a few of them at that.
"Then do you know where all those Dou Di went?"
Xiao Zhan smiled faintly, continuing to keep him in suspense with an air of unfathomable wisdom.
"Where did they go?"
Confusion appeared on Xiao Yan's face, and he shook his head. How could he possibly know such secrets?
"After becoming Dou Di, they were too powerful to remain in this realm for long. They had to shatter the void and enter another world."
Xiao Zhan gazed up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, looking inscrutable.
"Another world!"
Xiao Yan was stunned. There was another world above the Dou Qi Continent?
"That other world is called the Great Thousand World. Only the Great Thousand World can truly be called boundless."
"Yan'er, did you know that beneath the Great Thousand World, there are countless Small Thousand Worlds like the Dou Qi Continent?"
Xiao Zhan looked at Xiao Yan. Seeing his dumbstruck expression, he couldn't help feeling a little smug.
"Now do you understand what I meant earlier?"
After hearing such an astonishing secret, Xiao Yan remained dazed for a long time.
"Father, how do you know all this?"
A moment later, Xiao Yan came to his senses and looked at Xiao Zhan in confusion.
Logically speaking, someone with his father's strength should never have known such earth-shattering secrets.
Xiao Zhan sighed, a complicated expression appearing on his face.
"Because I came down from the Great Thousand World."
"What?!"
Xiao Yan stared at Xiao Zhan in utter disbelief.
"Father, you're joking, right?"
The Great Thousand World was a world that only Dou Di could ascend to.
With his father's strength, how could he possibly have been there?
Xiao Yan looked at Xiao Zhan skeptically, unable to believe it.
"Joking?"
"I'm certainly not joking."
Xiao Zhan shook his head, pride gradually surfacing on his face. "Not only have I been to the Great Thousand World, I was also one of its mightiest experts."
"One of its mightiest experts?"
Xiao Yan was shocked again. Just how powerful would one of the Great Thousand World's mightiest experts be?
"Indeed. In my youth, I fought my way out of the Desolate Domain, subdued the prodigies of the Three Thousand Dao Provinces, swept aside the Immortal Kings of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, and battled three Quasi-Immortal Emperors alone in the boundless Boundary Sea. In the end, I attained the rank of Immortal Emperor, and the world reverently called me... the Desolate Heavenly Emperor!"
As he recounted his battle record, Xiao Zhan discreetly invoked the power of the Family Domain.
An invisible pressure immediately bore down on Xiao Yan. Looking at his father's proud face, a glimmer of admiration flashed in his eyes.
For some reason, he suddenly believed him!
Hearing Xiao Zhan's invincible battle record filled Xiao Yan with excitement.
The Desolate Heavenly Emperor!
What a domineering title!
To think Father was actually so powerful!
What Xiao Yan failed to notice was that the Black Ring on his hand suddenly flickered with a faint, eerie light.
A moment later, Xiao Yan calmed down, and a trace of confusion returned to his face. "Then, Father, if you were that powerful, why did you end up in the lower realm? And why is your strength... so weak?"
Seeing the skepticism on Xiao Yan's face, Xiao Zhan's mouth twitched slightly.
This son of mine isn't so easy to fool!
A hint of desolation suddenly appeared on Xiao Zhan's face, mingled with unwillingness.
"Father, what's wrong?"
Noticing the change in Xiao Zhan's expression, Xiao Yan hurriedly asked.
Xiao Zhan fell silent for a moment before saying, "Not long after I attained the rank of Immortal Emperor, three other Immortal Emperors came to find me. They said they had discovered ruins left behind by the Immortal Ancient Era and invited me to explore them together. Without thinking much of it, I accepted their invitation."
At this point, a trace of anger appeared on Xiao Zhan's face. "Who could have known it was a plot aimed at me!"
"Those three despicable scoundrels had already laid an earth-shattering killing formation inside the ruins. They joined forces, intending to suppress and kill me!"
"Despicable!"
"Shameless!"
Hearing Xiao Zhan's words, Xiao Yan's face also filled with anger, as though he himself had been the one suppressed.
"Father, what happened next?"
Eager to learn the outcome, Xiao Yan hurriedly pressed him.
"After that..."
A complicated look flashed in Xiao Zhan's eyes.
"Trapped within the killing formation and surrounded by three Immortal Emperors, I was gravely wounded. In the end, I could only use a secret art to force my way through the formation. A wisp of my immortal soul escaped into the lower realm, allowing me to reincarnate."
"Reincarnate..."
"So that's what happened!"
Realization dawned in Xiao Yan's eyes. His father was actually the reincarnation of the Great Thousand World's Desolate Heavenly Emperor.
"Then, Father, why have you been... all these years?"
Xiao Yan thought for a moment, another hint of confusion appearing in his eyes.
What he meant was:
Father, you make yourself sound so incredible.
But nothing you've done over the years has had any of the Desolate Heavenly Emperor's grandeur, has it?
It really was rather hard to believe.
The mighty Desolate Heavenly Emperor reincarnated, and this was all he amounted to?
"The price of the secret art I used in my previous life was too great. My immortal soul was severely damaged. After reincarnating, my true spirit was clouded, and I lost the memories of my previous life.
Xiao Zhan sighed at his question and said, "Only a year ago did my true spirit awaken, gradually restoring the memories of my previous life."
"Those three shameless scoundrels are entirely to blame for reducing me to this state."
Xiao Zhan suddenly clenched his fists, his face furious as he gritted his teeth. "One day, I'll fight my way back into the Great Thousand World and settle the score with those three bastards!"
Xiao Yan was equally furious, united with him against their common enemies.
With his father reduced to such a state by others, anger was only natural for him as his son.
"Then, Father, how much of your strength have you recovered?"
Xiao Yan suddenly looked at Xiao Zhan with anticipation.
Since his father had awakened the memories of his previous life, didn't that mean they no longer needed to fear retaliation from the Misty Cloud Sect?
"How much of my strength?"
Xiao Zhan gave a bitter smile. "How could it be that simple? My current strength isn't even one ten-thousandth of what it was at my peak in my previous life."
Disappointment appeared on Xiao Yan's face.
Yet Xiao Zhan's next words sent a jolt through his heart.
"Still, even with less than one ten-thousandth of my strength remaining, on this tiny Dou Qi Continent, as long as no Dou Di appears, no one is my match."
Xiao Zhan gazed up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, an air of pride arising unbidden.
Vaguely, Xiao Yan seemed to glimpse a shadow of the "Desolate Heavenly Emperor."
A Dou Di?
How long had it been since a Dou Di had appeared on the Dou Qi Continent?
So that meant Father's current strength, here on the Dou Qi Continent...
Already made him invincible?
At that thought, Xiao Yan couldn't help looking excited.
"Father, no wonder you dared to provoke the Misty Cloud Sect like that today. With strength like yours, the Misty Cloud Sect isn't worth a damn!"
Before you continue