Chapter 38: The Two Angry Emperors
Location: The Cloud Pavilion – Private Garden
The auction was over. The city was in chaos after an Immortal King was turned into a mortal by a baby's burp.
Inside the serene garden of the Cloud Pavilion, Jiang Chen sat cross-legged on the grass. Floating in front of him was the Dead God Seed.
It looked like a shriveled grey walnut.
"It's ugly," Feng Xi poked it. "Are you sure this is a Divine Treasure? It looks like something I coughed up."
"It is dormant," Mo You explained, sipping tea elegantly (though her shadow was currently strangling a passing butterfly). "The Dead God Seed requires the energy of Creation to sprout. In the Divine Realm, we use the blood of creation beasts. Here..."
She looked at Jiang Chen.
"Here, we have you."
Jiang Chen nodded. "My Grandmist Energy is the essence of creation. But I can't just pour energy into it. It needs soil."
He opened his mouth.
"Open."
A rift opened in his chest, revealing the Internal Universe—the swirling galaxy he had swallowed.
"I'm going to plant it in the center of my Dantian," Jiang Chen decided. "Right next to the Baby."
"Is that safe?" Feng Xi worried. "Xing'er eats everything. He tried to eat the moon yesterday."
"I'll tell him it's broccoli," Jiang Chen said. "He hates vegetables."
He tossed the seed into the rift.
Inside the Internal Universe
The seed floated through the vacuum of space, past the orbiting planets of the Milky Way, until it reached the Grandmist Core.
Baby Jiang Xing was floating there, napping on a bed made of asteroid dust. He opened one eye (the blue sun). He saw the grey rock.
"Yuck," the baby transmitted a psychic wave. "Green thing. No eat."
The seed landed on the core.
Jiang Chen flooded his internal world with EX-Rank energy.
[System Activation: Grandmist Cultivation.]
[Target: Dead God Seed.]
[Action: Germinate.]
CRACK.
The grey shell split.
A root shot out. It didn't dig into dirt; it dug into the Fabric of Space. It rooted itself into the laws of the universe Jiang Chen held inside him.
Then, the stalk grew.
It grew fast. In seconds, it was a mile high. In minutes, it was the size of a planet.
Its leaves weren't green. They were White, shimmering with runic veins. The branches pierced through the dimensional walls of Jiang Chen's Dantian, physically strengthening his body from the inside out.
[Item Evolved: The World Tree (Sapling)]
[Effect: Connects the Internal Universe to the External Multiverse.]
[Bonus: Mana Regeneration increased by 10,000%.]
Jiang Chen gasped in the real world. He felt his veins burning. The tree was knitting his mortal body into a Divine Vessel.
But as the tree grew, its highest branch pierced the "ceiling" of the Immortal Realm.
It sent a signal.
A pulse of pure, unadulterated Trinity Energy (Dragon, Phoenix, Grandmist) shot straight up, bypassing the dimensional barriers, ringing like a doorbell in the Divine Realm.
Location: The Divine Realm – The High Heavens
Millions of dimensions away, in a world where planets were used as stepping stones and stars were used as lanterns.
Sector 1: The Abyssal Void.
A massive black ocean floated in space. In the depths of this ocean lay the Palace of Eternal Night.
On the throne sat a being of unimaginable power. He was 50 meters tall, covered in obsidian scales, with eyes that held the death of a thousand worlds.
The Dragon Emperor: Long Shen.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes.
"My daughter..." His voice cracked the ocean floor. "I smell her. She is alive!"
Sector 2: The Solar Empire.
In a palace made of solidified suns, a man wreathed in white flames sat on a throne of burning gold.
The Phoenix Emperor: Feng Tian.
He stood up, incinerating his throne.
"Xi'er! My little bird! The signal... it is coming from the Lower Realms!"
Both Emperors traced the signal.
They realized two things simultaneously:
* Their daughters were in the same location.
* Their daughters' bloodlines were... mixed.
Mixed with each other. And mixed with something else. A Male aura.
"WHO TOUCHED HER?!" Both Emperors roared in unison from opposite ends of the Divine Realm.
Location: Cloud Soaring City – The Sky Breaks
Back in the Immortal Realm, the sky suddenly turned two different colors.
The West turned Pitch Black.
The East turned Blinding Gold.
The clouds swirled, forming two massive faces in the sky. Each face was the size of a continent.
The pressure descended.
CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
The buildings of Cloud Soaring City shattered. The Sword Immortal Sect, the Long Clan Estate, the Phoenix Pavilion—all leveled in seconds.
Millions of cultivators fell flat on their faces, coughing blood. This wasn't Immortal Pressure. This was Divine Emperor Pressure.
"WHERE IS HE?" The Black Face (Dragon Emperor) roared. His voice caused gravity to reverse.
"GIVE HER BACK!" The Gold Face (Phoenix Emperor) screamed. His voice caused the air to ignite.
Jiang Chen stood in the ruins of the garden. His World Tree acted as a lightning rod, shielding Mo You and Feng Xi from the pressure.
"Oops," Jiang Chen dusted off his shoulder. "I think the in-laws are home."
Mo You looked pale. "That's Father."
Feng Xi looked excited. "That's Dad! He looks angry! Is he going to burn the city?"
Jiang Chen flew up.
He hovered in the sky, a tiny speck between the two colossal faces of the Gods.
"Hey!" Jiang Chen shouted, amplifying his voice with the World Tree. "You're breaking my property! I just bought this city!"
The two giant faces looked down at the speck.
"A MORTAL?" The Dragon Emperor scoffed. "YOU ARE THE ONE WHO STOLE MY DAUGHTER?"
"YOU SMELL LIKE HER," The Phoenix Emperor hissed. "AND YOU SMELL LIKE... HIM." He glared at the Dragon Emperor.
"WHY ARE OUR DAUGHTERS TOGETHER?" Both Emperors demanded.
Jiang Chen smiled. He crossed his arms.
"They are together," Jiang Chen announced loudly, "because they are my Wives."
Silence.
Absolute, terrified silence filled the Immortal Realm.
Then, the sky exploded.
"WIFE?!" The Dragon Emperor roared. "YOU DARE DEFILE THE PRINCESS OF THE ABYSS?"
"WIFE?!" The Phoenix Emperor shrieked. "YOU MARRIED A LIZARD'S DAUGHTER AND MY DAUGHTER AT THE SAME TIME? YOU TWO-TIMING MONGREL!"
"DIE!"
"BURN!"
The two Emperors couldn't descend fully because the laws of the universe prevented Divine Entities from entering the Lower Realm directly. But they could send an attack.
A Black Claw the size of a moon descended from the West.
A Golden Beak the size of a sun descended from the East.
They were aiming for Jiang Chen.
"Husband!" Mo You screamed, transforming into her dragon form to fly up.
"No!" Feng Xi transformed into her phoenix form.
"Stay back!" Jiang Chen ordered them. "If you intervene, they will just grab you and pull you back to the Divine Realm. I have to tank this."
Jiang Chen looked at the incoming apocalypse.
"World Tree... lend me power."
The sapling inside him vibrated. It pumped the energy of the Internal Galaxy into his veins.
But it wasn't enough. These were Divine Emperors.
"Son!" Jiang Chen yelled internally. "Wake up! Grandpa is trying to kill us!"
Inside the Dantian, Baby Jiang Xing saw the giant Claw and Beak entering his sky (via the World Tree connection).
The baby frowned.
"NO."
The baby reached out and grabbed the World Tree. He channeled his Spirit Lamp authority through the branches.
In the real world, a massive, spectral image appeared behind Jiang Chen.
It wasn't a god. It was a Giant Baby.
The Spectral Baby wore a Golden Crown. One eye was black, one was blue.
The Spectral Baby reached out its hands.
Left Hand grabbed the Dragon Claw.
Right Hand grabbed the Phoenix Beak.
"PLAY?" The Spectral Baby giggled.
CRUNCH.
The baby squeezed.
The avatars of the two Divine Emperors... shattered.
The Black Claw dissolved into smoke. The Golden Beak dissolved into sparks.
In the Divine Realm, both Emperors recoiled, feeling a sting on their real hands.
"WHAT..." The Dragon Emperor stared at his trembling hand. "WHAT WAS THAT?"
"A CHILD?" The Phoenix Emperor gasped. "THAT ENERGY... IT HAD MY FIRE... AND YOUR DARKNESS... AND THE GRANDMIST."
They looked down through the dimensional rift. They saw the tiny Jiang Chen. And behind him, the fading image of the Crowned Baby.
"A GRANDSON?" They whispered in unison.
The anger vanished instantly.
"I HAVE A GRANDSON!" The Dragon Emperor roared, this time in triumph. "AND HE HAS MY EYES!"
"NO! HE HAS MY CROWN!" The Phoenix Emperor argued. "THAT IS A SOLAR CROWN!"
"IT IS A DRAGON CROWN!"
"I WANT TO SEE HIM!"
"HE IS COMING TO MY PALACE!"
"NO, MINE!"
The two faces in the sky started biting each other.
Thunder rumbled. Dimensions cracked. The Immortal Realm shook as the two Dads fought over custody of a grandchild they hadn't even met yet.
Jiang Chen floated in the air, sweating profusely.
"They stopped trying to kill me," Jiang Chen noted. "Now they're just killing each other."
Mo You flew up next to him. "That went... better than expected?"
Feng Xi flew up on the other side. "Dad looks happy. He's setting the sky on fire. That's his happy dance."
Jiang Chen sighed.
"We bought some time," he said. "But now they know where we are. They won't stop until we go up there."
He looked at the World Tree inside him.
"We need to ascend. Fast. Before they destroy the Immortal Realm just to get a closer look at the baby."
[System Notification]
[Event Complete: Meeting the In-Laws.]
[Relationship Status: Complicated.]
[Grandparents' Obsession Level: MAX.]
Jiang Chen looked at the bickering sky faces.
"Let's go pack," Jiang Chen said. "We're moving out."