16: Three days later, the wedding

The Su Family's main hall was deathly silent.

Su Xuanchen's words, "I will take her as my wife," exploded in the minds of all the Elders like a thunderbolt from the Nine Heavens.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

Dozens of Su Family Elders, who had lived for centuries or even millennia, wore stiff expressions as if collectively paralyzed.

Their mouths agape and eyes wide, their faces were the picture of someone seeing a ghost.

Take a wife?

The Longevity Old Ancestor, who had been single for six thousand years, wholly devoted to the Dao, and viewed women as tigers, was going to take a wife?

Moreover, the one he was going to marry was... Everyone's gaze instinctively converged on the stunningly beautiful girl held in the Old Ancestor's arms, her face deathly pale and her body trembling.

A member of the Gu Family?

And a direct-line junior with a cultivation level of only the Spirit Sea Realm?

Insane!

The Old Ancestor must have gone mad!

After a brief, deathly silence, the hall instantly erupted into chaos!

"Did I hear correctly? The Old Ancestor wants to marry a woman from the Gu Family?"

"And she's just a fledgling girl in the Spirit Sea Realm! What... what's the point of this?"

"Could it be... this woman possesses a special Physique that can aid the Old Ancestor's cultivation?"

"Nonsense! I think the Old Ancestor has been in seclusion for too long and is just pent up! This is a classic case of the domineering Old Ancestor falling for me!"

The Elders whispered among themselves, exchanging all sorts of outrageous speculations.

Gazes filled with curiosity, scrutiny, or pity fell upon Gu Lingshuang, making her feel as if needles were pricking her back.

Gu Lingshuang's body trembled even more violently.

Her face had flushed from deathly pale to a humiliated crimson.

Her icy phoenix eyes burned with towering fury!

"Kill him!"

"I will definitely kill him!"

A silent roar echoed frantically in the depths of her Divine Soul.

She, the esteemed Myriad Tribulations Empress, was actually being treated like a trophy, with her marriage publicly announced by a mere Saint from the Lower Realm!

What an unparalleled humiliation!

Amidst this chaos, Clan Chief Su Jingyuan took a deep breath and stepped forward from the crowd.

Suppressing the shock in his heart, he bowed respectfully to Su Xuanchen.

"Old Ancestor."

His voice carried a barely perceptible tremor.

"Your marriage is, of course, a joyous occasion of immense importance to the Family. However..."

Su Jingyuan cautiously raised his head, glanced at the expressionless Gu Lingshuang, and spoke with difficulty.

"However, this woman is a direct-line descendant of the Gu Family. The Gu Family's Bloodline has always been strange and unpredictable. I fear there might be hidden dangers that could be detrimental to the Old Ancestor..."

Before he could finish his sentence.

Boom!

A terrifying and overwhelming pressure erupted from Su Xuanchen's body!

It wasn't a deliberate attack, merely the natural release of a wisp of his aura.

But, the might of a Saint was beyond the comprehension of Mortals!

Su Jingyuan felt as if an Primordial Divine Mountain had suddenly crushed his Divine Soul, leaving him instantly breathless.

He grunted, his face turning deathly pale in an instant. His figure swayed violently, as if he were about to be pulverized by this pressure the next second.

Thud!

Su Jingyuan could no longer hold on. His knees gave way, and he heavily knelt on the ground, cold sweat pouring from his forehead like paste, his eyes filled with terror.

"Old Ancestor, please calm your anger! Jingyuan knows his offense!"

He pressed his forehead tightly against the cold floor, his body trembling like a sieve.

In an instant, the entire hall fell into dead silence once more.

All the whispering Elders were like ducks with their necks wrung, their expressions completely frozen, leaving only shock in their eyes.

Grand Elder Su Tieyan silently lowered his head, burying the trace of resentment that had just surged deep within his heart.

The Old Ancestor was no longer the Old Ancestor of the past.

Now, he was a Saint!

He was the... god of the Su Family, whose word was law and whose will could not be defied!

Su Xuanchen retracted his pressure.

He didn't even spare a glance at Su Jingyuan kneeling on the ground, as if he had merely swatted away a bothersome fly.

He scanned the hall, his voice indifferent and leaving no room for doubt.

"Three days from now, the grand wedding."

"After the wedding, the Su Family will choose a date to relocate our ancestral lands to the Eastern Domain."

Eastern Domain!

These two words once again jolted the hearts of all the Elders.

That was a cultivation Holy Land ten thousand times more prosperous than the Northern Wasteland, teeming with Sects and Holy Lands!

The Old Ancestor's ambition was already so grand!

Just as everyone's minds were reeling, Su Xuanchen released his arm from around Gu Lingshuang.

He clapped his hands.

Clap.

A light sound.

The next second.

The void in the center of the hall rippled like water, and pitch-black cracks appeared out of thin air.

Immediately after.

Under the horrified gazes of everyone.

Figures clad in pitch-black heavy armor, expressionless and exuding an aura of deathly stillness, stepped out from the cracks.

One, ten, one hundred... three thousand in total!

Three thousand Void Breaking Realm Death Warriors!

Their vast, murderous aura converged into a bloody ocean, plunging the temperature of the entire hall to freezing point!

But that wasn't all!

Behind the three thousand Death Warriors, thirty figures with even more terrifying auras crossed the void and arrived.

They wore simple gray robes, each with restrained auras, yet they seemed to harmonize with heaven and earth. Simply standing there caused the space around them to distort.

Eternal Realm!

Thirty Peak Eternal Realm Dao Protectors!

Boom!

The entire hall exploded completely!

Su Jingyuan, Su Tieyan, and all the Su Family Elders stared dumbfounded, mouths agape, eyes almost popping out of their sockets, their minds completely blank, as if witnessing a divine miracle!

This... what a terrifying force this was!

This force was enough to sweep across the entire Northern Wasteland! It could even carve out a place in the Eastern Domain!

Gu Lingshuang's delicate body also trembled violently, her icy phoenix eyes filled with shock!

She stared fixedly at Su Xuanchen, her heart churning with monstrous waves!

"Who... who exactly is he?!"

"This is definitely not the foundation an ordinary Saint could possess!"

"He must be hiding a colossal secret!"

Su Xuanchen ignored everyone's shock.

Pointing at Su Jingyuan kneeling on the ground, he addressed the three thousand Death Warriors and thirty Dao Protectors with a faint voice.

"From this day forward, he is your commander."

"His orders are my orders."

"As you command!"

Three thousand and thirty voices, uniform and devoid of any emotion, resounded in unison, causing the entire hall to hum and vibrate.

Su Jingyuan abruptly looked up, staring blankly at Su Xuanchen, then at the terrifying army capable of overturning the Northern Wasteland.

He understood.

The Old Ancestor was... entrusting this invincible army to him!

A massive surge of warmth instantly washed away all the fear and grievance in his heart.

"Old Ancestor..."

Su Jingyuan's eyes instantly reddened.

This iron-blooded Clan Chief who had led the Su Family for centuries was now as excited as a child. He heavily kowtowed, his voice choked with gratitude and ecstasy.

"Jingyuan... Jingyuan will definitely live up to the Old Ancestor's trust!"

"I will expand our territory for the Su Family, even if it means death ten thousand times over!"

Su Xuanchen nodded with satisfaction.

This was the effect he wanted.

A slap, then a sweet date.

Finally, his gaze fell upon the group of Elders who were still in shock and hadn't yet recovered.

His voice suddenly turned icy cold.

"I have given you ten times the resources."

"I hope to see a qualitative leap in the strength of every single one of you before we relocate to the Eastern Domain."

Su Xuanchen's gaze was as sharp as a blade.

"If anyone, despite having ten times the resources, remains stagnant, being a useless waste..."

He paused, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

"...then don't blame me for crippling you and letting a more capable clansman take your position."

As soon as these words were spoken, all the Elders shuddered, instantly sobering up from their ecstasy.

They felt a chill shoot from the soles of their feet to the crown of their heads. The smiles vanished from their faces, replaced by solemnity and gravity.

"We obey your command!"

Dozens of Elders responded in unison, their voices filled with an unprecedented sense of urgency and determination.

They knew that from this moment on, the Su Family's days of idle comfort were completely over.

A new, iron-blooded era, filled with blood and fire, had descended!