Invincible Dad-Chapter 621 Life is Colorful_1

Sikong Jiu coughed, his pupils rapidly contracting.

He simply couldn’t believe that The Supreme Emperor’s wife was pregnant again.

It was common knowledge that once one entered the Emperor Realm, having children was an incredibly difficult feat. This was a shackle imposed by the invisible Heavenly Dao Laws, something no race could ever change. Even the astonishingly talented Great Emperor Yin Yang only had children before his ascension, and he had to seal them within the Tree of Eternal Life to shield them from the grasp of karma and law. Only then was there a surviving descendant of an Emperor Realm expert.

But now, not only did Xu Lai have his first child after becoming an emperor, but he was also having a second.

Sikong Jiu suddenly furrowed his brow. Could the issue not be with The Supreme Emperor, but with his wife, Ruan Tang? Although it’s said that the higher a Cultivator’s boundary, the harder it is to have children, it’s not as if it’s easy for an ordinary person either, especially when conceiving with someone in the Emperor Realm... Exactly how did they manage it?

Sikong Jiu rubbed his head, unable to find an answer after pondering for a long time. It all ended in a deep sigh.

Never mind.

It’s a good thing The Supreme Emperor has offspring. It means Earth will be safer, and by extension, I’ll be safer too.

What a pity... I swallowed that candied hawthorn before I could even bite into it, and it was the last one...

Sikong Jiu was extremely vexed. He would just have to wake up early tomorrow and buy another. However, Old Zhang had raised the price of his candied hawthorns. He’d heard it was because Old Zhang needed to buy a house for his son in the provincial capital, which was why he’d finally raised the price—which had remained the same for decades—by a single yuan.

Sikong Jiu once heard someone say that life is full of colors. He didn’t agree. He believed life was a complex mixture of the five flavors: sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty.

And the sourness was something Sikong Jiu especially liked. He liked it so much that it could make him temporarily forget all his troubles.

As long as the world had candied hawthorns, life was worth living.

***

While Ruan Tang and Xu Lai strolled and picked flowers, massive waves were stirring the Martial Dao World of Hua Country. Several major news bulletins had spread, leaving them unable to find a moment’s peace the entire day.

"The Moon Clan’s one hundred thousand elites have laid siege to Chang’an City."

"A single sword strike from the Sky Ranking has slain tens of thousands from the Foreign Clans!"

"The mysterious and powerful Sword Ranking now bears its first name: seven-year-old Xu Die has entered the Divine Gate Realm, setting a new record."

"The character for ’Xu’ on the Sword Ranking is missing a stroke, altering its appearance."

"..."

Any one of these reports alone could shake the Martial Dao World to its core. All of them together felt like a dream.

However, news concerning Chang’an City was still restricted to Martial Ancestors of the Eighth Grade and above. Below the Eighth Grade, all attention was fixed on the Sky Ranking and the Sword Ranking.

「At this moment, in the South Sea of Hua Country」

There lay a misty island, home to the Blade Sect’s Sect Gate—one of the famed Three Sects and Nine Pavilions. At the center of the island stood a gigantic long blade, hundreds of meters tall like a mountain peak, its edge emitting a chilling glint under the moonlight. It was originally a piece of Meteoric Iron that had crashed onto the island. From the day the Blade Sect was founded, successive sect masters had poured their efforts into polishing and forging it, finally transforming it into a Holy Artifact imprinted with the sect’s legacy and insights.

Beneath this Holy Artifact, thousands, sometimes even tens of thousands, of Blade Sect disciples would sit in meditation day and night. But today, the area was desolate and cold, with only a few dozen people standing there.

However, any hundred-year-old Martial Dao expert from Hua Country would have been utterly astounded by the sight. The twenty-one people standing there were the sect and pavilion masters of the Three Sects, Eight Pavilions, and Eleven Holy Lands from the last two generations!

The only one missing was Cai Lu, the current Pavilion Master of the Tian Ce Pavilion. He had been crippled by the backlash from divining Xu Lai’s fate and was currently undergoing treatment back at his pavilion.

Mo Lian of the Dao Sect, Shen Xun of the Formation Sect, Qi Jiuyang of the Blade Sect, Daoist Chi Huo of the Red Fire Pavilion, and the other eleven current masters all looked at their own predecessors with eyes full of sorrow. The former sect masters had retired and should have been enjoying their twilight years within their sects or, at the very least, cultivating in seclusion. But today, they had all emerged, gathering at the Blade Sect for one reason and one reason only: the Yunxiao Sect!

"In truth, we have long suspected that the current Yunxiao Sect may no longer be the Yunxiao Sect of old," the old Pavilion Master of Tian Ce Pavilion said. He was ancient, with half his hair gone, but no one dared to underestimate him. This man was a true sage.

"If Tan Chang hadn’t pointed it out, I’m afraid I would still be hesitating, unsure if my suspicions were correct."

"So, you all needn’t worry or despair about our upcoming trip to the Moon to investigate those mass graves."

The old Pavilion Master’s gaze swept across Mo Lian, Qi Jiuyang, and Daoist Chi Huo with gratification, a hint of emotion in his voice. "Today’s youth are stronger than us old fossils. I can rest easy leaving the Sects and Pavilions in your hands."

For some reason, hearing his words, Qi Jiuyang and the others felt an inexplicable ache in their hearts. They wanted to say something but didn’t know how to start.

"Nonsense," the old, hot-tempered Pavilion Master of the Red Fire Pavilion snorted. "Each generation must be stronger than the last. What sense does it make to grow weaker?"

"No dynasty remains at its peak forever," the old Sect Master of the Dao Sect said, shaking his head. "It’s just a pity about the Penglai Sword Pavilion... Alas."

"The Penglai Sword Pavilion brought about its own demise! They deserved it!" the old Pavilion Master of Red Fire Pavilion bellowed, pointing at Daoist Chi Huo’s nose as he berated him. "And how could you idiots get involved in their foolishness? If not for the magnanimous Senior Xu Lai seeing through the Moon Clan’s divisive plot, it wouldn’t just be the Penglai Sword Pavilion—the entire Three Sects and Nine Pavilions would have been wiped from history. And you lot would have been branded criminals of history, forever cursed on the pillar of shame by future generations!"

"..."

Daoist Chi Huo didn’t dare utter a single word, his meek and compliant appearance almost comical. Mo Lian and Qi Jiuyang, who usually didn’t get along with him, didn’t dare to laugh, as they too were being scolded so harshly they couldn’t even lift their heads. In front of their old masters, they were still just children, even if these "children" were mostly in their fifties and sixties.

"Enough. You’ve been scolding them for decades, haven’t you?" the old Sect Master of the Formation Sect interjected, rubbing his brow. "Don’t forget why we are here today."

"Hmph. Let’s go," the old Pavilion Master of Red Fire Pavilion grunted.

The eleven elders exchanged no more words and turned to leave. However, they didn’t get far.

The old Sect Master of the Blade Sect, his face dark, kicked Qi Jiuyang. "What are you standing there gaping for? Hurry up and summon the Starry Sky Gate!"

"Right, right," Qi Jiuyang stammered, snapping back to reality. He quickly took out a jade token, which bore a single rune in the shape of a blade. He poured all his Spiritual Energy into it.

RUMBLE...

The void trembled faintly as a giant, ancient bronze gate slowly began to manifest.

One minute passed. Then two. After a full three minutes, the Bronze Giant Gate was still only halfway formed, the other half stuck in the void.

Growing impatient, the old Sect Master of the Blade Sect kicked him again. "Get aside and watch! Thirty years have passed, and you’re still in the mid-stage of the Golden Core Realm. Have you no shame?"

The old Sect Master’s Spiritual Energy surged like an ocean into the jade token, and the Starry Sky Gate instantly appeared in its entirety.

"You all still have a long road ahead of you. You must work harder," the old Sect Master of the Formation Sect remarked with a sigh.

"..."

Qi Jiuyang felt so aggrieved he could have spat blood. Back when the old sect masters retired, wasn’t their cultivation only at the early or middle stage of the Golden Core Realm? They got to spend the last thirty years in quiet, secluded cultivation, free from worldly distractions, to reach the peak of Golden Core. Our generation is already working incredibly hard!

Qi Jiuyang said gloomily, "Old Sect Master, when will you be back? The Moon Clan is cunning and treacherous. You must be careful."

None of the eleven elders walking toward the Starry Sky Gate looked back or said a word.

An unsettling feeling washed over Qi Jiuyang, and he couldn’t stop himself from crying out a title he hadn’t used in thirty years.