A quarter of an hour later, two figures, one large and one small, finally emerged from the Tingxiao Imperial Palace.
The two stood in the air, and at that moment, a faint pressure enveloped the skies above the entire Su Imperial Clan.
Su Ting, the patriarch of the Su Imperial Clan, stood a step behind.
As Su Ya and the others had expected, although Su Ting's face was not battered and swollen, bruises were faintly visible on his face and exposed arms.
Most likely, this was after Su Ting had done his best to heal those flesh wounds before leaving the Tingxiao Imperial Palace.
Otherwise, he would probably have looked even worse!
Su Ting stood silently behind Su Chen. In his entire life, he had feared neither heaven nor earth, only his old father.
That fear had been beaten into him since childhood.
Now, seeing Su Ya and the others desperately trying to keep the corners of their twitching mouths down, Su Ting clenched his fists inside his sleeves.
Those fellows must have been beside themselves with glee at seeing him get beaten up, right?
Once his father was no longer here, just wait and see how he got nice and intimate with Su Ya and the others!
"Pass the word. Everyone at the Quasi-Emperor Realm and above is to gather in the main hall immediately. Everyone else, wait outside!"
As his voice faded, Su Chen vanished from where he stood.
Before long, everyone was seated in orderly rows in the Su Imperial Clan's main hall.
Besides Su Ya and the dozen-odd Quasi-Emperor Realm elders, there were nearly twenty other Quasi-Emperor Realm experts.
Most of them, however, were between the first and fourth heavens of the Quasi-Emperor Realm.
Outside the main hall, several hundred members of the Su Imperial Clan knelt.
"Daddy! Did something big happen? Why does it seem like all the clan's experts are here, except for the Great Emperors? Could it be that things over at the Realm Sea have already reached their limit?"
Outside the hall, a kneeling little girl quietly asked the man beside her.
The man shushed the little girl, signaling for her to be quiet. "Shh! Nannan, don't talk!"
"Did you see? The patriarch seems to have recovered. He's full of life! Even the Devil Emperor of All Living Beings couldn't do anything to him. Wiping out the Devil Emperors in the Realm Sea is only a matter of time!"
On the other side, a man spoke in a low voice.
He had just watched the patriarch enter the main hall with his own eyes. Looking at his complexion, who would believe that Devil Qi had entered his body and left him at death's door?
"Don't any of you know? Didn't you see that young man inside?"
Another person raised his eyes slightly, signaling for everyone to look inside the hall.
"Hiss!"
At the sight, many of them sucked in a breath of cold air. "Who is that? How dare he sit in the main seat? Is he crazy?"
Smack!
The moment he finished speaking, someone smacked him on the head. He bared his teeth in pain, not knowing who had done it.
"Shut your dog mouth! Word is, that man is the old ancestor! The old ancestor who lived a second life, you idiot!"
The person who spoke wore a panicked expression as he explained.
Didn't this damn fool see that even their patriarch treated the young man with the utmost respect?
Even if a Great Emperor ancestor of the Liu Imperial Clan were here today, their patriarch could march right up and give him two solid punches at the slightest disagreement.
Other than an ancestor of their Su Imperial Clan, who could make their patriarch act as respectfully as a grandson?
"An old ancestor? He lived a second life? Heavens! Pah, pah, pah! This mouth of mine deserves a beating!"
With that, the man slapped himself several times in succession. He struck his face until it turned red, yet there was not a trace of resentment or displeasure on it.
"Our Su Imperial Clan shall flourish!"
"All right, shut up, all of you! Listen to what the old ancestor and the others have to announce!"
At that moment, a somewhat older elder put a stop to their whispers.
But as news spread that their old ancestor had lived a second life, irrepressible smiles appeared on every face.
Meanwhile, inside the main hall.
Su Chen reclined somewhat lazily in the main seat, his elbow resting on the armrest and his palm propping up his cheek as he swept his gaze over those below.
Patriarch Su Ting sat one place below Su Chen.
Farther down, seated on both sides, were the Su Imperial Clan's Quasi-Emperor experts.
Thirteen seats at the front had been left empty.
Those were the seats reserved for the Su Clan's dozen-odd other Great Emperors!
"Tell me, then. What's the situation now?"
Only after seeing that everyone had arrived did Su Chen slowly speak.
Although he had taken possession of this body, its original owner's memories were fragmented. Furthermore, having been in seclusion for a long time, he knew nothing of recent events.
"Let me explain!"
As soon as he spoke, Su Ting rose to his feet.
"Over the past thousand years or so, the Devil Race in the Realm Sea has grown increasingly active. Ordinarily, with the Nine Heavens Devil-Suppressing Mystic Firmament Grand Array suppressing them, their numbers should have been dwindling.
"Even if those Devil Emperors and Quasi-Devil Emperors could withstand the array's lethal suppression, the devils equivalent to our human Emperor Realm, or the even weaker King Realm, could not possibly have held out for so long.
"Besides that, not only has the power of those Devil Emperors failed to weaken, but they have even grown noticeably stronger. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been grievously wounded by them.
"We suspect that something extraordinary has appeared in the Realm Sea, and that the devils have relied on that 'thing' to withstand our Su Imperial Clan's suppression.
"At this rate, the Nine Heavens Devil-Suppressing Mystic Firmament Grand Array will surely break within a hundred years, and our Su Imperial Clan will become their first meal once they break through!"
As Su Ting spoke, fighting intent surged in his eyes.
But there was hatred in them as well.
Suppressing the Devil Race was not the Su Imperial Clan's responsibility alone, yet over the years, the other imperial clans had acted as if they were uninvolved, as though suppressing the Devil Race had nothing to do with them.
If Great Emperor experts from the other imperial clans had supported them, they would not have ended up in such dire straits.
"A thing?"
Hearing this, Su Chen abruptly extended his divine sense, and in an instant it reached the Realm Sea.
It even reached the very depths of the Realm Sea!
At the same time, in the deepest part of the Realm Sea, a pair of eyes abruptly appeared on a black mass that looked like a black ball.
Dense layers of black spikes suddenly emerged across its surface, looking like body hair standing on end.
For some reason, in that instant, it had sensed an indescribable power.
It had even felt a fear arising from the very origin of its life.
But after sensing carefully now, it found nothing, and the pair of eyes on the black ball finally withdrew again!
"Heh! Interesting!"
Having withdrawn his divine sense, Su Chen curved his lips slightly and chuckled.
"Did you ask for help? What did the Liu Imperial Clan say? What's the position of the other imperial clans?"
"Surely our Su Imperial Clan can't be left to shoulder the burden of suppressing the Devil Race alone!"
As he spoke, Su Chen picked up a thousand-year-old spirit peach from the plate beside him and bit into it, sending juice splashing.
"Reporting to you, old ancestor!"
At that moment, Su Ya stood and bowed deeply. "Over the years, we have sent people to the Liu Imperial Clan to ask for assistance, but they believe that with the Nine Heavens Devil-Suppressing Mystic Firmament Grand Array in place, those sealed devils cannot possibly stir up any trouble and will only slowly perish with the passage of time!
"So we have never received any aid whatsoever from the Liu Imperial Clan!"