38: The Useless Son-in-Law (The End)

That cry of "Brother Yun," filled with a sob, traveled through twenty years of wind and frost to echo in the dilapidated courtyard.

The lake of Su Yun's heart rippled slightly.

The surviving Su Family clansmen, especially the younger ones, cast confused, scrutinizing, and even slightly resentful gazes toward him.

"He is Su Yun?"

"The traitor who caused our families to be destroyed and our people to die?"

"Why is he here? And he even saved us?"

Amidst the whispers, the Su Family Elder, covered in wounds, had his pupils contract violently. He stared fixedly at Su Yun's face, his cloudy eyes bursting with an expression of disbelief, his lips trembling.

"So similar... too similar... You... are you the Third Young Master?"

Su Yun did not answer, merely looking at them quietly.

"Shut up!" the Elder suddenly turned around and harshly scolded the young clansmen behind him.

"What do you know!"

Old tears streamed down his face as he could no longer support himself; his knees softened, and he knelt down in Su Yun's direction.

"Third Young Master! You are still alive! Heaven has blessed my Su Family!"

This kneel left all the surviving clansmen stunned.

Through the Elder's intermittent, tearful account, Su Yun finally pieced together the truth of that year.

"Treason" was merely an excuse.

At the same time he was being besieged at One Thread Sky, the Imperial Family's butcher knife had already swung toward the Su Family.

His father, the Head of the Su Family, along with several Spirit King Realm Old Ancestors and the strongest Grand Elder, had voluntarily appeared to cover the retreat to buy time for the women, children, and Bloodline of the clan; they all died in battle.

As for this branch of survivors, they had relied on the secret protection of the Eldest Princess, who had long since married out, to hide and survive until now.

"Third Young Master, you are now the strongest person in the Su Family. Please take charge of the Family and lead us... to revive the Su Family!" The Elder sobbed uncontrollably, kowtowing heavily.

Su Yun helped him up.

"We will talk about the revival later," his voice was calm. "Revenge is my business alone."

He could not drag this remaining Bloodline into endless slaughter again.

Su Yun refused the position of Family Head. He used the influence he had cultivated for many years to secretly escort all the clansmen out of the Tianhuo Empire and send them to his fief in Great Qin.

There, with Princess Qin Yinuo present, they would receive the best arrangements.

After settling all worries, Su Yun was left with no attachments and set out alone on the path of revenge.

The first stop: the Wang Family.

That night, the Wang Family estate was engulfed in soaring flames.

Su Yun entered as if into an uninhabited land; with his Spirit King Realm Seventh Level strength combined with the Burning Heaven Art, no one could stop him.

In the deepest part of the Wang Family, the last remaining Spirit King Old Ancestor had his protective spiritual light shattered by a single finger from Su Yun and was pinned to the wall, his face full of terror.

"Who exactly are you, Your Excellency! What grudge or enmity does my Wang Family have with you!"

Su Yun stood in the firelight, expressionless.

"Su Family, Su Yun."

Those four words filled the Wang Family Old Ancestor's eyes with despair and regret.

In the next moment, his head flew off.

The Wang Family was exterminated.

Next was the Zhao Family, which was similarly wiped from the Tianhuo Empire overnight.

In just a few short months, news of a mysterious powerhouse codenamed "Ghost King," who used thunderous methods to annihilate several noble families and severely damage top-tier clans, swept through the Tianhuo Empire like a storm.

The Lower Four Sects were uprooted, and the Upper Four Families were also severely weakened by his assassinations and destruction of their industries, leaving everyone in a state of panic.

The Tianhuo Imperial Family was happy to see this happen, taking the opportunity to suppress the surviving families, consolidate power, and settle the internal strife that had lasted for years.

Su Yun knew that the Tianhuo Imperial Family's foundation was far beyond what these noble families could compare to, and there might even be old monsters at the Half-step Earth Spirit Realm.

He suppressed his final hatred and quietly returned to his fief to enter seclusion again.

Thirty years passed in the blink of an eye.

Su Yun successfully achieved a Breakthrough to the Spirit King Realm Ninth Level.

In these thirty years, the world's situation changed again. Internal turmoil broke out within the 'Imperial Dynasty' that ruled over the various Empires, leaving them with no time to look elsewhere. The various Empires lost their final restraint, and wars of annexation broke out completely.

Emperor Qin's secret order arrived, appointing Su Yun as the Grand Marshal of the Military, commanding the entire army of Great Qin to begin the final decisive battle to unify the world.

Another thirty years passed.

Under Su Yun's leadership, Great Qin's iron hooves trampled across all directions, successively annihilating countries like Tianhuo and Tianfeng.

In the Late Stage of the war, Emperor Qin himself, supported by a massive amount of resources, successfully broke through his Bottleneck and entered the Earth Spirit Realm that countless people dreamed of, suppressing the national Luck with absolute martial force.

Great Qin leaped to become the most powerful Empire in this realm.

When the war ended, Su Yun's cultivation had also reached the Half-step Earth Spirit Realm.

He did not return to the Qin Capital to receive rewards. He knew very well that the iron-blooded emperor, who had already become an Earth Spirit Realm expert, would never tolerate the existence of a Prince of a different surname whose merit, prestige, and strength were enough to threaten him.

Su Yun quietly withdrew to a remote small city to assault the final Bottleneck.

Six years later, above the city, Spiritual Qi gathered into a massive vortex, with purple lightning and golden light flashing; he successfully ascended to the Earth Spirit Realm.

The phenomenon was earth-shattering, alarming the Spirit King Realm experts of this country. When these experts arrived, they discovered that the one who triggered such a phenomenon was actually a Senior powerhouse.

Su Yun returned to Great Qin, to the Qin Capital. The capital was in an uproar as the long-vanished Prince Yun returned.

Emperor Qin summoned him.

The two faced off, and Su Yun's display of Earth Spirit Realm cultivation triggered Emperor Qin's wariness.

Su Yun said he had no intention of competing and was focused solely on seeking the Dao.

Su Yun reached an agreement with Emperor Qin, and he also became an Earth Spirit Realm powerhouse backing Great Qin.

Time flew by, and a hundred years passed.

Relying on the mysteries of the Burning Heaven Art, Su Yun's cultivation reached the Earth Spirit Realm Third Level. Meanwhile, that ambitious Emperor Qin was stuck firmly at the Earth Spirit Realm First Level, unable to advance further.

After a hundred years of development, the Great Qin Empire already had the air of a "Small Imperial Dynasty."

On this day, whether it was the bustling Qin Capital or the Su Yun in seclusion, both looked up at the same time.

The sky turned dark.

It wasn't dark clouds blocking the sun, but a kind of oppression originating from the Soul. The entire world seemed to be gripped by an invisible giant hand, and all things fell silent.

Above the Qin Capital, space silently split open, and two blurred figures stepped out.

Their faces couldn't be seen clearly; they just floated there quietly, as if they were one with heaven and earth.

One of them casually extended a finger toward the heavily guarded palace below, where the Formations were fully active.

There was no loud noise, no light.

That palace, which had gathered a hundred years of the Empire's Luck and was indestructible, along with the Earth Spirit Realm Emperor Qin presiding within, quietly turned into nothingness, from the grand architecture down to every grain of dust.

After doing all this, the two figures seemed to sense something and turned their heads together, their gazes crossing ten thousand miles to land on the deep mountains where Su Yun was located.

Su Yun's figure appeared on the mountain peak.

He looked at those two figures, his Earth Spirit Realm Third Level aura released without reservation, yet he felt like an ant facing the sky.

An indifferent voice, devoid of any emotion, echoed in his mind across time.

"Small Imperial Dynasty? Overstepping."

"Shall be extinguished."

As the words fell, one of the figures made a gentle grasping motion in his direction.

The world before Su Yun's eyes instantly shattered into billions of fragments of light and shadow.

The feeling of annihilation reaching deep into his Soul was the final memory of his life.