Chapter 87: Undercurrents

ready cleared the eighth round, his spiritual energy had been depleted by half. That's when he realized something was wrong, but it was too late.He managed to squeeze through the ninth round, but in t..."Su Xinxing, young master!"

These two attendants bowed slightly to Su Xin, even with a hint of respect.

"Both of you are very polite. Su Xin also smiled and bowed."

And as the conversation progressed, Su Xin also understood.

Although I am only away for half a year this time, the changes in the Su family are huge.

Originally, due to the death of the Patriarch and the massacre by Nie Jiuyou, the Su family had fallen completely, with its followers dwindling.

The only remaining disciple who achieved the Void-Breaking Realm was Zhao Tianlei. Even he only stayed because he wanted to seize the resources of the Su family.

At that time, the Su family was still surrounded by crises. Besides the openly hostile Pang family, the Situ family was also eyeing them covetously in secret.

Under these circumstances, no one was willing to join the Su family anymore.

Since Su Xin's rise, especially after winning first place in the hunting competition and becoming a disciple of Tianyan Palace, the Su family has been completely different.

Disciples of the Heavenly Flame Palace walked almost horizontally within the Heavenly Flame Empire, and no one dared to provoke them.

The families of the disciples of Tianyan Palace will also receive protection from both Tianyan Palace and the imperial court.

Moreover, any disciple of the Tianyan Palace possesses unlimited potential. As long as no accidents occur along the way, they will inevitably become top-tier powerhouses of the Heavenly Flame Dynasty in the future.

Furthermore, the Su family had previously destroyed the Pang family, absorbing their assets and resources. Naturally, with increased resources at their disposal, more powerful individuals were willing to join the Su family and become their followers.

Over the past six months, the Su family has recruited over a hundred disciples. Among them, there are as many as four powerful cultivators who have broken through to the Void Refinement realm.

Su Xin is only seeing two of them now. The other two are stationed elsewhere with the Grand Elder.

"Uncle Two, where is Father" Su Xin asked.

“Since you went to participate in the imperial hunt, elder brother has often gone into seclusion. He stays shut away for a few days at shortest, and as many as ten or half a month before he shows his face again. Two days ago, elder brother entered seclusion once more. If you want to see him, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a few days until he comes out of seclusion,” Su Baihu said.

"Seclusion, huh" Su Xin nodded secretly. "Fine, it's not urgent anyway, just wait a few more days."

Su Xin was chatting with the members of his Su family.

And the news of his return to the family had already spread throughout the entire Su family. The Su family was teeming with people, not just numerous relatives and retainers, but also a large number of guards, maidservants, and servants. Among them were some informants planted by external forces.

These eyeliner strokes immediately sent the news of Su Xin's return to the family in an incredibly subtle way.

……

In a dimly lit room, candles flickered.

A gray-clothed old man stood respectfully there, while on the desk in front of him, a middle-aged man in fine clothes with an eight-character mustache was holding a brush and writing intently.

His writing was ugly and strange, obviously he wasn't very skilled at calligraphy. However, there was an extraordinary depth and mystery in every character he wrote.

After a moment's pause, the middle-aged man with the bushy mustache stopped his movements, placed his brush on the inkstone, then picked up the painting and leaned closer to gently blow on the still-wet ink.

"Look, how do you like the characters I've written" the middle-aged man with a walrus mustache asked.

That grey-robed elder merely glanced at the painting for a moment and then said, "Your Majesty's calligraphy is unique."

“Unique Yes, very unique. ” The middle-aged man with a distinctive eight-character beard smiled, clearly very pleased with his own calligraphy. “This character is truly excellent. The more I look at it, the more I like it. Later, I'll have someone frame it and hang it in the living room. From now on, anyone who comes to visit me will first have to admire my calligraphy.”

The gray-robed elder looked very calm.

He knew that the master before him, King Qi, although middle-aged, had a rather eccentric temperament and was somewhat nonchalant about the world.

At least that's what it looks like to outsiders.

After a long while, King Qi finally set down the painting in his hand.

"Su Xin, Su family…"

King Qi, with his hand resting on his head, lightly tapped his temples. "Unexpectedly, the fallen Su family would still produce such a dazzling genius. If I had known this beforehand, I should not have listened to that person and gone against the Su family."

"My second older brother is the same way. Although I sent a squad of Yinglong Guards to raid the Su family at night before, in the end we didn't succeed, did we"

"If I had simply admitted my mistake and offered an apology to the Su family, there might have been room for reconciliation. However, my second brother insisted on bringing this conflict out into the open, forcing me and the Su family into a complete state of opposition."

King Qi had some complaints.

The "second brother" he mentioned refers to the Heavenly Flame Emperor.

Since there's no room for compromise anymore, and Su Xintong is so talented, it's better to just get rid of her sooner rather than later.

King Qi waved his hand casually and instructed, "By the way, since they are disciples of Heavenly Inferno Palace, don't have our own people make the move. 'Nine Assassins' has been loyal to this king for so long, and hasn't truly worked for this king yet. This time, let their people make the move."

Tell them to keep their hands clean. If they can kill Su Xin, that's best. Even if they can't kill him, don't leave any trace for anyone to find.

The gray-robed elder nodded, then turned and left.

"The Su family…" Qi Wang continued to ponder, "If blame must be placed, it lies with the old ancestor of the Su family. He was too stubborn back then. If he had been like the one from the Situ family and pledged allegiance to me long ago, there wouldn't have been so many problems. Even if that old ancestor died later, with my protection, who would dare touch the Su family"

King Qi shook his head, then suddenly turned his gaze to the calligraphy before him.

Just now, he thought his painting was very good, the more he looked at it, the more satisfied he became. He even said he wanted the servants to frame it and hang it in the living room. But in the blink of an eye, when he looked at it again, no matter how he looked at it, he found it awkward.

With a whoosh, Qi Wang tore the painting to shreds with his bare hands. Then he picked up a brush again.

"Write another one!"

"Heh heh, this one, this king wants to write it with a bit more domineering flair!"

King Qi continued to "research" his own calligraphy.

……

Yongan County, Su family.

Su Xin had been back at the Su household for three days. His father, Su Bai, was still in seclusion.

For these three days, apart from his normal cultivation, he mostly stayed in the Su family's martial arts field, sparring with numerous members of the Su family.

While it was called "cutting and polishing each other" (切磋), in reality, it was just guidance.

"Slap!" "Slap!" "Slap!"

Su Xin still acted the same as before, holding a branch and casually swatting away the weapons from the tribal warriors one by one.

No one can last more than a move against Su Xin.

Su Xin's understanding of the ambiance is truly profound!

That was comparable to the strength of an ordinary Nirvana Realm expert. Even the two disciples who had already reached the Void Breaking Realm had previously made their move, purely comparing their skills. As a result, they were still defeated in just one move. The gap was simply too large.

This also made the Su family members excited and deeply moved.

"Brother He, do you think that young master of the Su family has a chance to break through to the Nirvana Realm in the future"

The two Nirvana Realm disciples stood together, watching Su Xin spar with members of the Su family in the martial arts arena, chatting idly.

"As a disciple of the Tianyan Palace, as long as they don't perish halfway, there is already a high probability that they can break through to the Nirvana Realm. As for this Su Xin, he is so young, but his comprehension and artistic conception are so high, it's simply terrifying. The probability of him breaking through to the Nirvana Realm in the future will definitely be even higher."

"Haha, if he can truly break through and reach the Nirvana Realm in the future, then you and I will have found a good patron!"

These two people are full of expectations for Su Xin's growth.

At this time…

Su Xinxu, the white tiger, walked over.

Second Uncle Su Xin stopped his movements.

"Big brother is out of jail, he wants you to go see him right now," Su Baihu said.

"Hao Su trusted him wholeheartedly and immediately set off.

"

Still in that dimly lit study.

"father"

Su Xin bowed respectfully, his eyes also falling upon Su Baichen at the desk.

Compared to nine months ago, when Su Xingen left the Su family to participate in the imperial hunt, Su Bai's face looked noticeably older, with more white hair and even his gaze seemed clouded. This made Su Xin frown.

He was very worried about his father's health, but his father refused to tell him anything.

"

My dear, Father is very happy.

"

Su Bai wore a faint smile on his face as he looked at Su Xin, "From your return to the family until now, it hasn't even been a year and a half, has it Your father remembers that when you first came back, you were affected by the Demon-Banishing Prison. Your cultivation level had barely reached the threshold of the True Martial Seventh Realm."

"But now, in just over a year, you have broken through to the Void Realm and appeared before your father!"

"But at such a young age, you already possess such cultivation, and to achieve it in just over a year... Your talent surpasses that of your father by far, too much!"

With you here, my Su family will have nothing to worry about in the future!

Su Bai Chen, as the head of the Su family, was very strict with both his own son and the younger members of the Su family.

But today when I saw Su Xin, Su Bai's admiration was completely unconcealable.

"How are you doing with your cultivation at the Tiangyan Palace" Su Bai asked.

"It went rather smoothly," Su Xin said. "By the way, Father, something happened on the previous hunt..."

Su Xin briefly recounted his experience of encountering the black-handed butcher who attacked San while hunting.

"The Prince Qi's Mansion" Su Bai narrowed his eyes.

"As expected, the one who led the Yinglong Guards to attack my Su family back then must be this King Qi, Su Xindo."

"King Qi" Su Bai sneered coldly. "This King Qi is indeed a character. Back when our ancestor was alive, he even tried to woo our ancestor in his bid for the throne. Back then, he was quite polite to my Su family. But who would have thought that after our ancestor's death, this King Qi immediately joined forces with the Situ family and attacked my Su family."

Su Xin listened to Su Bai's words, but his brows furrowed slightly.

It wasn't that Su Bai's words were problematic, but rather his tone when mentioning the King of Qi and the Si clan was... slightly too detached.

It's as if he didn't care much about the Qi king or the Sifu family.

I feel like there's some 'pride' going on here.

Yes, that's awesome!

His father's kind of 'pride' was completely different from Xia Mang's.

Summer Mango is born arrogant and looks down on others.

And his father's kind of arrogance, it's like it's ingrained in his bones. Although he speaks very gently, he has a natural indifference towards everyone.

"Father, what kind of experiences has he actually had" Su Xin's heart was full of curiosity.

"My dear, come with me.

Su Bai stood up.

And Su Xin also followed Su Bai into the water, leaving the study.

……e Xu Chen Tao with a single sword. Such strength, even among the invincible ones in the Void Breaking Realm, would definitely be top-notch.……Beyond the secret realm, within that majestic ancient palac...