Battle Through the Heavens: Starting with Cao Ying as an apprentice

She recognized this place—the inner space of Su Baichen's Heavenly Profound Pearl.

Through the barrier of the jewel, she saw the outside world rushing past.

The magma gradually turned from crimson to dark gold, and the temperature rose to a terrifying level that was enough to instantly vaporize a Dou Huang powerhouse.

Su Baichen moved through the lava like a fish, and wherever he went, occasionally a fire lizardman would appear, but they would all be reduced to ashes with a flick of his finger.

After an unknown amount of time, the outside world suddenly went dark.

Zi Yan saw through the barrier that Su Baichen had broken out of the magma layer and was now suspended in absolute darkness.

There is no light, no sound, and even the space itself has a solidified, heavy feel.

He took out the ancient jade from the Xiao family that he had borrowed from Xun'er. It was emitting a warm and gentle light, like a lighthouse in the darkness.

As expected, the ancient jade from the Xiao family resonated with the ancient emperor's cave...

Su Baichen muttered to himself, then sped off in the direction indicated by the jade pendant's light.

The darkness was boundless, and time lost its meaning here.

Zi Yan paced anxiously inside the Heavenly Profound Pearl. She could feel that the further she went, the stronger the sense of oppression emanating from the surrounding space became.

It was as if an invisible hand was tightly gripping every inch of this area.

Finally, a blurry outline emerged from the darkness ahead.

That was a door.

The door was unimaginably large, its doors towering over a thousand feet high, and was made entirely of a material that was neither gold nor jade, with a faint luster flowing across its surface.

Even through the Heavenly Profound Pearl, Zi Yan could feel the ancient and terrifying pressure emanating from that door.

Su Baichen stopped in front of the giant gate and put away the ancient jade. He looked up at the gate that separated the inside from the outside, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

[The methods of a Dou Di... this spatial restriction is practically a cage tailor-made for Zhu Kun. The Ancient Emperor Tuoshe probably sensed his presence nearby long ago, and therefore specifically reinforced the space here.]

"Su Baichen, where is this—" Zi Yan finally couldn't help but speak from inside the Heavenly Profound Pearl.

Before the words were even finished, a sudden change occurred!

From the shadows beside the giant gate, a glimmer of purple-gold light suddenly shone.

That was an eye.

A giant dragon eye, over a hundred meters in diameter, with pupils like molten purple-gold, reflected Su Baichen's tiny figure deep within its vertical pupil.

As the eyes opened, a terrifying pressure poured out like a flood bursting its banks, instantly filling the entire dark space!

Zi Yan's breath hitched—it was a tremor and... resonance originating from the deepest part of her bloodline.

The owner of the dragon's eyes slowly moved his body, and in the darkness, a silhouette even larger than the mountains gradually appeared.

Even in absolute darkness, the purplish-gold scales shimmered with a magnificent luster, each scale bearing the marks of time and ancient power.

"Roar--!!!"

The dragon's roar shook the space, and the terrifying sound wave unleashed a tangible impact. Su Baichen took three steps back before barely managing to stand firm, his robes fluttering in the wind.

His face was grave, and alarm bells were ringing in his mind.

[As expected... a late-stage Nine-Star Dou Sheng, truly worthy of being one of the three greatest late-stage Nine-Star Dou Sheng experts of this era.]

The dragon slowly lowered its head, its eyes, large enough to swallow mountains, fixed on Su Baichen. Its voice, like rolling thunder, echoed through the space: "Whoever comes here, do you possess the complete Tuoshe Ancient Emperor Jade?"

Su Baichen took a deep breath and raised his head to reply, "Only a part."

The dragon remained silent for a moment, its whiskers whipping like long whips in the darkness: "If you have no complete ancient jade, what brings you here?"

Its voice was cold and deep, carrying the indifference that had settled from a thousand years of solitude.

In its view, the person in front of it was simply lucky to have found this place with the broken jade.

To truly open the ancient emperor's cave, all eight jade pieces must be collected.

If this person leaves here, the broken jade will remain here, and the ancient jade in the outside world will no longer be complete, making it extremely difficult to find this place.

Therefore, even if the visitor's strength had reached the level of a Dou Sheng, it had to let him leave.

However, Su Baichen's next words stirred up a monstrous wave in the dragon's heart, which had remained undisturbed for a thousand years.

"We came to reunite with our relatives."

As he spoke, he gently held up the Heavenly Profound Pearl in his hand. In a flash of light, Zi Yan's figure appeared beside him.

The moment Zi Yan appeared—

The dragon's pupils, which were hundreds of meters in diameter, suddenly shrank to the size of a pinhead!

Blood boils, soul trembles—it's a bond that transcends time and space, etched into the very essence of life.

Without any verification or even a word, the dragon understood everything the moment it saw Zi Yan's purple-gold eyes, which were exactly the same as its wife's.

"Child... child..."

The dragon's roar, which had been low and deep for thousands of years, now trembled noticeably.

It cautiously extended its front paws—the tips of which were larger than Zi Yan herself—wanting to touch her, yet afraid of hurting her.

Zi Yan subconsciously took a half step back and hid behind Su Baichen.

This subtle movement caused the dragon's massive body to tremble violently, and a clear pain flashed in its eyes. The pain was so profound that it caused ripples to spread through the surrounding space.

Seeing this, Su Baichen sighed and stepped forward, blocking the path between the man and the dragon.

"Senior, could you please transform into human form first? Your current appearance... is indeed a bit frightening."

The dragon—Zhukun—froze for a moment, then nodded hastily: "Yes, yes...transform, it's time to transform..."

It seemed that it was only then that it realized how terrifying its thousand-foot-long dragon body was to its daughter, whom it was meeting for the first time.

Its body shone with a brilliant purple-gold light, and as the light flowed, the enormous dragon body rapidly contracted and condensed.

When the light faded, the colossal dragon that had blotted out the sky was no longer there; in its place stood a middle-aged man dressed in a purple-gold robe.

Chapter 232 Father and daughter meet!

"My child, my child, do not be afraid, I am your father!"

He leaned forward slightly, trying to exude the most harmless aura; his voice was deep and resonant, yet somewhat hoarse due to the emotion it contained.

It contains within it a guilt that has been buried for thousands of years, the ecstasy of something lost and found, and a clumsy yet overwhelming fatherly love that is almost overflowing.

"My father? Where did I get a father?"

As if burned by those words, Zi Yan suddenly shrank her entire body behind Su Baichen, revealing only one hand tightly gripping the hem of Su Baichen's clothes, her knuckles white.

Her voice was tinged with obvious sobs, yet it forced out a sharp question, each word carrying a chilling coldness and a stubbornness of self-protection.

"Where was my 'father' when I was being chased by monsters with nowhere to run and shivering in the mud?"

She began to choke up, her speech quickened, and those deep-seated wounds surged forth like a flood bursting its banks.

"Where was my 'father' when I was so hungry that I was dizzy and could only eat earthy grass roots and bitter, unripe medicinal herbs?"

Tears finally streamed down her face, leaving two streaks on her slightly dusty cheeks.

"I hid in the cold cave, crying until my voice was hoarse from fear and loneliness, but there was no one to hold me in. Where was my 'father'?!"

Her voice suddenly rose, filled with a century of pent-up grievances and anger, like the mournful cry of a wounded young animal.

"Now...now you suddenly appear and claim to be my father? What do you want?"

She peeked out from behind Su Baichen's shoulder, her red, tear-filled eyes fixed on Zhu Kun. Her gaze was filled with distrust, pain, and a deep, hidden longing that she herself was unaware of.

"You expect me to rush over and acknowledge you right now? Why should I?!"

"What do all those long, cold nights I endured alone, those helpless tears I swallowed, those wounds on my body from thorns and bites from weak monsters... mean?!"

She practically screamed the last sentence, her small body trembling violently from the intense outburst of emotion.

"You are not my father...I have no father! I don't!"

After she finished yelling, as if she had used up all her strength, she buried her face back in Su Baichen's back. Suppressed, broken sobs came intermittently, filled with heartbreaking pain and despair.

Zi Yan's heart-wrenching questions were like the sharpest dragon scales, scraping fiercely against Zhu Kun's heart.

This once mighty Dragon Emperor, who commanded the respect of all living beings, appeared so helpless and insignificant in the face of her tearful roar.

He wanted to step forward, but his feet seemed to be nailed to the spot by invisible chains—his daughter's tearful and distrustful eyes were more solid than any prison in the Imperial Realm, firmly keeping his longing heart away.

Watching her hide behind Su Baichen with complete trust, only a trembling purple hem of her dress showing, Zhu Kun felt an unprecedented sense of powerlessness and pain.

The pain was so vivid that it almost made him forget the loneliness and resentment he had felt while being imprisoned by Emperor Tuoshegu for ten thousand years.

In the end, all his imperial majesty and millennia of vicissitudes transformed into a pleading gaze directed at Su Baichen, almost humble.

This young man embodies the trust that his daughter can rely on.

Su Baichen naturally understood the unspoken message in those eyes.

He sighed inwardly, turned around, and gently placed his warm hand on Zi Yan's back, which was heaving from crying. The movement was gentle but carried a unique soothing power.

"Zi Yan".

"Don't rush to deny everything, okay? Let me say a few words."

His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly pierced through her sobs.

"I won't listen... Waaah... He just left me..." Zi Yan shook her head, tears streaming down her face, burying her face even deeper, her voice muffled, full of childlike stubbornness and sadness.

"That cave was so dark and cold... I couldn't find anything to eat, so I had to gnaw on those bitter and hard medicinal herbs... and fight with other magical beasts for food... Other magical beasts all had clans and elders to protect them... Only me... I was all alone..."

The more she spoke, the more aggrieved she became, as if the loneliness and fear accumulated over hundreds of years had finally found an outlet.

"I know those days must have been very difficult." Su Baichen's voice remained calm, like a gentle stream, trying to soothe her agitated emotions.

"But you should know that no matter how ferocious the monsters outside are, when they chase you to the vicinity of the cave, they will always linger outside a certain boundary, not daring to actually break in?"

Zi Yan's crying abruptly stopped. Long-buried memories were quietly stirred.

Yes, those ferocious beast eyes, the stench, and the greedy roars always made the area outside the cave restless and wary, as if there was an invisible wall.

As a child, she thought it was the strangeness of the cave, or her own good fortune.

Su Baichen noticed her change and continued in a calm tone, "I later carefully explored that cave. In the deepest part of the cave, in the void, there is a drop of extremely pure primordial blood containing the might of a vast dragon."