Chapter 1440: Deceptive Dream

"Such an important item, and you hand it to me?" Yun Che gripped the Star God Wheel. Though it felt almost weightless in his palm, it held the fate of a Royal Realm.

If he didn't return it to the Star God Realm, then many years later, with the fall of the last Star God, there would be no Star Gods or Star God Realm left in the world.

Xing Juekong's face twitched violently. How could he possibly want to give it to Yun Che? But he truly had no other choice: "My divine power is crippled. The Star God Wheel... it has become ownerless. Give it to Caizhi... Her compatibility with the Heavenly Wolf divine power surpasses even Xisu's... Let her control the Star God Wheel... and inherit the position of Star God Emperor..."

Among all the Star Gods, Caizhi was the youngest and least experienced, making her unsuitable to take over the Star God Wheel and succeed as Star God Emperor. However, despite his mental confusion, the Star God Emperor understood that if Yun Che was to return it to the Star God Realm, it could only be to Caizhi.

"Heh, heheh..." Yun Che sneered, "Even now, you still want to hijack the feelings between Caizhi and me? You want Caizhi to bear the future of the Star God Realm? Are you worthy?"

"You're not worthy! You don't even have the right to speak her name!"

Xing Juekong lowered his gaze, his lips trembling. The coldness in his soul far surpassed the chill in his body. He dejectedly said, "I know... I'm not worthy of being a father..."

"No, you're wrong," Yun Che cut him off coldly. "You're not unworthy of being a father; you're unworthy of being a human being!"

"Xisu... Jasmine... Caizhi... your own children. Each one is more outstanding than the last, treasures bestowed upon you and the Star God Realm by heaven itself! And what have you done?!"

As Yun Che spoke, his hands involuntarily clenched, almost unable to resist the urge to stomp on his head.

After finding Yun Wuxin and becoming a father with a daughter by his side, he found it even harder to comprehend how Xing Juekong, also a father, could treat his own children in such a manner.

Having lived for so long and reached the pinnacle... do people really all turn out like that?

"Yes... I'm unworthy, unworthy of being a father, unworthy of being human," Xing Juekong said miserably. "But... at least... I cannot let the Star God Realm perish by my hand... I cannot betray my ancestors..."

"Heh, heheheh..." Yun Che sounded as if he'd heard a huge joke. "For those words to come from your mouth is utterly ridiculous."

"The Star God Realm was once such a noble existence, yet it fell to ruin overnight. Who is the culprit behind all of this? You've long since failed the ancestors of the Star God Realm. When you die, they'll tear you to shreds even if they have to storm into hell, ensuring you can never be reborn!"

"..." Xing Juekong's body trembled and went limp, his eyes as desolate as a dead man's.

Yun Che raised his palm, and with a grasp of his five fingers, the Star God Wheel vanished from his hand. He turned away, not sparing Xing Juekong another glance, and said coldly, "Since this Star God Wheel is in my hands, how it's used—whether I throw it away, destroy it, or give it to Caizhi—is entirely up to me."

"As for you... though I wish I could grind your bones to dust, rest assured, I won't kill you. After all, by blood, you are still Jasmine and Caizhi's biological father, and I don't want to become someone who murdered their father."

"However, I will never tell them you are here! Because you don't deserve even an ounce of their concern!"

As his voice faded, Yun Che's palm reached back, and instantly, ice condensed, re-sealing Xing Juekong within it.

He waved his arm, and the newly solidified profound ice flew back into the Underworld Ice Heavenly Pool, in roughly the same position as before.

"The Star God Emperor... your master, she..."

He Ling was at a loss for words to express her shock.

Not to mention Xing Juekong's own formidable power, even if the Star God Realm was destroyed by Jasmine, it still retained several Star Gods and numerous Divine Master elders, remaining an extremely terrifying force that no one dared provoke.

Yet Xing Juekong... had been crippled! And thrown here, sealed in ice, unable to die!

If this matter were to get out, it was unimaginable what a massive stir it would cause.

"He must have been here three years ago," Yun Che murmured. "Master sealed him temporarily and threw him into the Heavenly Pool, afraid I might see him."

"Three years ago, even someone as powerful as Yue Wuya died by Jasmine's hand. It's clear that Xing Juekong must have suffered severe injuries and significant profound energy loss, coupled with his despair and confusion after the Star God Realm's destruction... Only then could Master, relying on 'Severed Moon, Chasing Shadow,' have dealt him such a crushing blow and brought him here."

"But it still involved immense risk."

"It seems she hated Xing Juekong to the extreme back then." Yun Che looked up, his gaze trembling for a long time.

Mu Xuanyin's rage could only have been because of his death...

Today, because Luo Guxie nearly harmed him, she had directly tried to kill Luo Guxie in front of the Heaven Smiting Divine Emperor.

Back then, because of his death, she had brought the majestic Star God Emperor here, leaving him unable to die...

If these things had happened to anyone else, Yun Che would surely have exclaimed that she was a lunatic, an extremely terrifying, utterly insane person.

But all these extremely mad actions of hers were...

Yun Che slowly shook his head, his heart surging like the sea... He didn't know what virtue or ability he possessed to be treated by her in such a way.

"That Star God Wheel, Master, are you planning to give it to the Heavenly Wolf Star God after you find her?" He Ling asked softly.

"Of course not!" Yun Che replied without hesitation. "Caizhi is still young, and her mental state isn't good. Giving this to her would only add pressure and burden. I'll keep it for now and give it to her when she's older."

Yun Che suddenly recalled that Xing Juekong had just said that after he was crippled, the Star God Wheel became ownerless...

So, if he could figure out how to use it, could he cultivate four Star Gods?!

Of course, Yun Che was just thinking. How could something involving Star God power and Royal Realm inheritance be so simple?

Yun Che left the Underworld Ice Heavenly Pool and returned to the Divine Hall, but he didn't see Mu Xuanyin.

Luo Guxie's arrival had caused a rather significant disaster in the Ice Phoenix Realm area. If not for Xia Qingyue and the Heaven Smiting Divine Emperor's power to seal it off, more than half of the Ice Phoenix Realm would have been destroyed. These matters indeed required her personal attention.

He didn't move rashly, sitting on the floor, quietly waiting for his master to return.

In the quiet, the truth revealed by the Ice Phoenix Divine Spirit, the mission he bore, the approaching Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor, the destiny of a world on the brink of drastic change, the unpredictable future, Hong'er and You'er's astonishing origins...

All of it intertwined chaotically in his mind. He wanted to calm down and think carefully about what to do next, but the more he tried to find peace, the more agitated his soul became.

Even the Heaven Smiting Divine Emperor, whose experience and state of mind were a thousand times his own, was in such a state after learning the truth, let alone Yun Che.

Jasmine once said that many things happening to him seemed to prove he was a "chosen one." At the time, he thought she was mocking him, but now... it seemed to really be the case.

There is no free lunch in this world. What you gain, you must pay for. He had everything he had now because of the Heretic God's inheritance, so he should bear the corresponding mission and responsibilities.

But... why me?

On the night of his wedding with Xia Qingyue, he went to the back mountain to clear his head by blowing in the night wind and found Jasmine, who was afflicted with the "God Slaying Absolute Poison." It was through Jasmine that he gained the Heretic God's Profound Veins.

Later, he obtained one core of the Heretic God's power after another: the Heretic God's Seed of Fire, the Heretic God's Seed of Water, the Heretic God's Seed of Lightning... and the Heretic God's Seed of Darkness.

He also met the Heretic God's "two" daughters—Hong'er and You'er.

None of these, neither the Heretic God's Seeds nor Hong'er and You'er, were something he sought out through effort. Instead, they all appeared in his life through a series of different accidents.

Does "destiny's guidance" truly exist?

But the problem was that his thoughts, feelings, and actions were all entirely his own will, with absolutely no sensation of being interfered with or manipulated...

Yun Che thought silently, his thoughts shifting from chaotic to hazy, then unconsciously quieting... He actually fell asleep just like that.

And he had a strange dream...

"Yuanba, you saved me again... Wow! You seem to have gotten so much stronger. You knocked down all those people in just a few moves."

In the dream, he looked about twelve years old, his outer clothes dirty and disheveled, his face smeared with mud. He had clearly just been bullied.

This was a common occurrence for him when he was young, which was why he rarely went out alone, and later, he rarely left Xiao Lingxi's side.

"Heheheh," Xia Yuanba, a year younger than him, chuckled proudly. He waved his arm, stirring a current of profound energy. "Of course! Just the day before yesterday, I had another breakthrough! I'm now at the seventh level of the Elementary Profound Realm, which gave my father quite a fright. Now, even if adults try to bully you, I can knock them down!"

Little Yun Che was dumbfounded. Although his profound veins were crippled, he knew how terrifying it was to be at the seventh level of the Elementary Profound Realm at just ten years old. At least in the Xiao Clan, where he was, no one could possibly achieve that. "Yuanba, you're really amazing. Grandpa said you're the first genius Willow Cloud City has seen in a thousand years, and you might even shake the entire Azure Wind Continent someday... I really envy you."

"Heheh!" Little Xia Yuanba chuckled bashfully, sitting down in front of him. "Actually, I envy you. You have a little auntie, and you can do everything together. As for me, my mother died early, and I'm the only one in my family; I don't even have siblings. If I had an older brother or sister... or even a younger brother or sister, I wouldn't be so lonely and bored."

"Tell Uncle Xia to marry a few new concubines, and then he can have lots of younger brothers and sisters for you," Little Yun Che said.

"My dad won't do it," Little Xia Yuanba said dejectedly. "Every year, many people try to get my dad to marry new wives and concubines, but he absolutely refuses."

"My grandpa is the same," Little Yun Che nodded. Despite his young age, he seemed to vaguely understand. "But even if Uncle Xia doesn't marry new concubines, it's fine. I can be your older brother, since I'm already older than you. It's just that everyone says I'm a good-for-nothing, and I have to rely on you to protect me."

"Ah haha, leave it to me!" Little Xia Yuanba thumped his chest. "My dad said he'll send me to New Moon Profound Palace in a few years. With my aptitude, a little effort will quickly qualify me to enter the Azure Wind Profound Palace. When that happens, I'd like to see who dares to bully you!"

"Heheh, I don't think those bad guys are scary at all now," Little Yun Che wiped the dirt from his face and smiled happily. He looked Xia Yuanba up and down, then asked worriedly, "Yuanba, you seem to have gotten much thinner again. Are you training too hard?"

"Uh..." Little Xia Yuanba looked down at his indeed overly thin frame, reaching up to scratch his head. "I only train for less than an hour a day, so it's not hard at all. And I eat a ton, but I don't know why I'm still so thin. My dad even took me to doctors several times, but they all said my body was fine."

"You definitely still eat too little. You must eat more in the future!" Little Yun Che earnestly admonished him.

"I know, I'll try to eat more," Little Xia Yuanba nodded. Clearly, he was quite dissatisfied with his own thin physique... even though his appetite was actually several times greater than his father's.