Chapter 127: Chapter 127

Actually, today’s breakthrough of Su Hao was entirely within Su Zhou’s expectations.

The reason why the Heavenly Fire Guards and Nether Fire Guards were able to arrive before the Su family without being annihilated outright was only one.

It was to temper Su Hao.

Back when Su Hao’s Supreme Bone was reforged for the first time,

Su Zhou had used countless precious elixirs, even the Leaf of Reversing Three Lifetimes, which grows at the fringes of the River of Time, was consumed by Su Hao…

Therefore, the foundation contained within Su Hao’s body was unimaginably terrifying.

Over these years, although Su Hao’s cultivation advanced at a frightening pace, stepping into the Star-Wielding realm at the mere age of seven, Su Zhou knew that this was not the entirety of his potential.

A deeply hidden medicinal potency had long been slumbering within the body of the little rascal.

Only during life-and-death combat, when blood and qi surged, could that potency nourish him.

This was also why Su Zhou often had the little rascal spar with members of the family.

But in family sparring, everyone held back; under such conditions, the refinement of that hidden medicinal power each time was extremely limited.

Yet this battle between Su Hao and the two Guards of Heavenly Fire and Nether Fire was a fight born of fury, a murderous intent chilling to the bones!

In this battle, he unleashed all his strength without reservation, and thus stepped directly into the realm of Half-Step Moon Grasping.

A half-step Marquis* at the age of seven, looking through ancient times until today, never before seen!

[*Marquis is a title given to those in Moon Grasping Realm]

The Wang family’s most proud Guards, these were nothing more than whetstones Su Zhou had prepared for the little rascal!

That was their only purpose.

At this moment, the leaders of Heavenly Fire and Nether Fire knelt on the ground. Their mission had been to seize back the Heavenly Fire and incidentally annihilate the Su family, to glorify the Wang family.

But now, thousands of their soldiers had been slaughtered alive by that young supreme, while the two of them did not even have the right to stand up.

They had not even laid eyes upon the so-called Su family.

“This Su family… just what kind of terrifying power are they!!”

The Heavenly Fire leader murmured weakly.

But then, his eyes suddenly contracted. Everything before him made his whole body turn cold.

Before his eyes, indistinct ethereal auras began to ripple.

Space itself was torn apart, and a colossal tree trunk, vast and boundless, slowly reached out.

The powerful aura of the void made everything in the surroundings begin to subtly transform, as many rocks turned into nothingness.

“The Ancient Void Tree!!”

The Nether Fire leader spoke in disbelief.

The Ancient Void Tree, one of the nine legendary divine trees, grows in the void itself, the most mysterious and ancient.

It is said the Ancient Void Tree is a seedling of Jianmu, the World-Creating Divine Tree.

Once fully grown, it could transform into a complete world, containing endless spiritual energy.

Throughout the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, the Ancient Void Tree had appeared only four times; without exception, it was always within powers unimaginably old and strong.

And even for those powers, their Ancient Void Tree was only at a seedling stage.

Yet the Su family’s Ancient Void Tree was colossal, without boundary, as if it could prop open the heavens themselves.

A force that could possess such a divine thing…

If they wished to destroy the Wang family, it might only take a mere conversation!

“We were wrong… we were so wrong… the Wang family did not just provoke a powerful enemy…”

The Heavenly Fire leader’s face twisted into a smile uglier than crying: “The Wang family is seeking death!!!”

He wailed in despair.

Then, before his eyes, a towering figure stepped out from the Ancient Void Tree.

That figure seemed to be accompanied by ten thousand Dao, terrifying power coiling around him.

That silhouette seemed to stride through ancient and modern, suppressing all under heaven. With but one glance, he felt his whole body turn cold.

It was this man, only a single word from him, and he could not move.

Feeling that boundless Dao-rhythm crushing down, the Heavenly Fire leader wanted to beg for mercy.

But the moment he opened his mouth.

An autumn wind passed, lonely and cold, and then he turned into ashes, disappearing completely…

Beside him, the Nether Fire leader witnessed this and nearly had his Dao-heart shatter from fright.

He knelt on the ground, not daring to make a sound.

It felt as if he were surrounded by an endless sea of death.

“Go back and tell the Wang family…”

“Prepare their coffins…”

Su Zhou’s indifferent voice echoed.

It made the Nether Fire leader tremble uncontrollably.

In the next instant, the crushing might upon him dissipated.

Without daring to hesitate even for a heartbeat, the Nether Fire leader turned and fled, not daring to look back.

He only wished to escape this terrifying place as fast as possible.

The Su family!! The Su family were all monsters!!

That little rascal who reversed and slaughtered everything, that young scholar whose words carried the power of the Dao, and that terrifying figure whose silhouette alone he could not even bear to gaze upon, everything feels like a nightmare.

He only wanted to flee, to tell the Wang family everything he had seen.

Strangely, he felt his body becoming lighter and lighter…

Little Su Yun, watching the fleeing back of the Nether Fire Guard, suddenly brightened his gaze from the book he had been immersed in.

“Grandpa Family Leader, why… why is his body slowly disintegrating, yet his soul is unaware, still running, as if alive?”

Hearing this, Su Zhou’s lips curved slightly upward.

“Because… he had already died long ago… Only fear made him live again…”

“Until that final breath dissipates…”

“Grandpa Family Leader, your Dao… it is different from everyone else’s…”

Su Yun raised his head, his black-and-white eyes shining with clarity.

Su Zhou patted Su Yun’s little head, smiling without words.

His gaze drifted toward the direction of the Tianhuo Domain.

“The Wang family of Tianhuo, suppressing two great regions…”

“Truly impressive indeed…”

“To serve as the Su family’s very first stepping stone into the myriad heavens, none could be more fitting…”

Inside the capital of Great Qin.

A Wang family emissary nervously faced Su Zheng.

The moment he entered the imperial city, he felt an indescribably terrifying aura locking onto him.

With his cultivation at the Moon Grasping realm, he felt chilled to the bone.

In his hands he held up a box, speaking respectfully to Su Zheng.

“Your Majesty the First Emperor, my Heavenly Fire Wang family bears no intent to be enemies with the Su family or Great Qin. All the matters before were mere misunderstandings!”

“The true culprit was our family’s Grand Elder, who acted on his own!”

“Now, the family leader is furious, and has already executed the Grand Elder’s entire direct bloodline, while banishing all remaining members from the family!”

“And further, we offer one thousand middle-grade spirit mines, thirty thousand divine origins, and thirty percent of the Tianhuo’s surrounding territory, all surrendered to Great Qin as proof of our Wang family’s sincerity in seeking peace!”

The emissary spoke quickly.

Spirit mines could produce spirit stones, the currency of the cultivation world. A single middle-grade spirit mine could yield around three hundred thousand stones.

And Great Qin’s entire annual expenditure was only six hundred thousand. In other words, these thousand mines could sustain the Great Qin for five hundred years.

The divine origins were even more extraordinary, containing not only pure and extreme spiritual essence but also the ability to seal and extend one’s lifespan.

For those who had not attained true antiquity, they would inevitably be worn away by time. The divine origin was the only way many powerful beings could prolong their lives.

Thirty thousand divine origins, enough to empower even a Sovereign-level expert.

Even the Wang family, drawing from two great regions, could only produce three thousand divine origins in ten years.

In other words, these thirty thousand represented the family’s entire harvest of nearly a century.

Even more shocking was, the Wang family was willing to cede thirty percent of its territory.

This was no longer a mere apology. It was groveling, a desperate plea for reconciliation.

If outsiders witnessed this, they would not believe it.

That domineering Wang family, masters of the Heavenly Fire, showing such respect toward a newly founded empire, toward the not-yet-renowned Su family!

Su Zheng lifted his hand slightly, and the box containing the Grand Elder’s head and the storage ring flew to him.

Casually opening the box, he saw an old face filled with shock and terror, as if its owner had never imagined he would die at that moment.

Su Zheng’s expression remained calm as he casually opened the storage ring.

With a mere thought, instantly, a spirit mine was summoned forth, this was a space-law technique to compress an entire mountain into palm-sized form.

He examined it, and indeed, the contents were as described: one thousand sealed spirit mines and thirty thousand dazzling divine origins.

“Not bad. The Wang family shows much sincerity…” Su Zheng spoke indifferently.

Hearing this, the emissary’s eyes lit up: “Your Majesty, your meaning is!!”