Chapter 128: The Tree of the Divine Phoenix

"Father, this matter is absolutely true!"

Gu Shaobai nodded firmly, suddenly realizing that the fact the Princess of the Spring and Autumn Sacred Kingdom possessed the bloodline of a Divine Phoenix was of immense significance.

"From whom did you hear this?" Emperor Gu demanded sharply.

"Father, it was the Young Master of the Demon Race, Di Yi, who told me himself," Gu Shaobai replied respectfully. "Di Yi once fought the Princess of the Spring and Autumn Sacred Kingdom and was left covered in wounds. The Princess even remarked that if it weren't for the sake of the Demon Race, he would already be a corpse."

"Ah, damn it! This is infuriating!"

Emperor Gu suddenly let out a roar of rage, his aged frame trembling violently. His white hair stood on end, and a tempestuous pressure surged from his body like a vast, raging ocean.

"Ah!"

Unable to withstand the pressure, Gu Shaobai let out a cry of pain and was blasted away, crashing to the ground dozens of meters off, looking utterly disheveled. The massive ancient tree behind Emperor Gu groaned and thrashed under the impact of that aura.

"Father, what are you..."

Gu Shaobai scrambled to his feet, staring at the deranged Emperor from a distance, filled with shock and confusion. Why did the mention of the Divine Phoenix bloodline cause such an extreme reaction? What, exactly, was the connection between his father and that bloodline?

"Have I... have I caused a disaster?" Gu Shaobai trembled in his soul, staying far away, not daring to step an inch closer.

Suddenly.

"Hahaha!"

Emperor Gu threw his head back and laughed wildly, his snowy hair dancing in the air. "Good! This is actually a good thing!"

Gu Shaobai’s body shuddered, his mind reeling. "Has Father... gone mad?"

"Damn it, what is the link between Father and the Divine Phoenix bloodline? Why did I have to tell him about it? Idiot! I am such an idiot!"

Gu Shaobai was consumed by regret. If he had known his father would react this way, he would never have come here to speak of it.

"Hahaha, a good thing! A magnificent thing...!"

Disheveled and deranged, Emperor Gu seemed to have lost his grip on reality.

"Father..." Gu Shaobai felt like weeping.

After a long while, the Emperor’s madness gradually subsided. He stood beneath the ancient tree, motionless, as if his soul had departed. Gu Shaobai took a deep breath, approached cautiously, and asked, "Father, are you alright?"

"I am fine," Emperor Gu replied, shaking his head as he returned to his senses.

"That is a relief." Gu Shaobai let out a long breath, finally setting his heart at ease. His father was the Sacred Emperor of the Sacred Domain, the pinnacle of the Yin-Snow Realm; if he had truly lost his mind, Gu Shaobai dared not imagine the consequences.

Then, Emperor Gu smiled faintly. "Bai'er, you have brought me truly great news today."

Gu Shaobai was bewildered. "Father, what do you mean?"

Emperor Gu did not answer directly. Instead, he turned to look at the ancient tree behind him. "Bai'er, do you know what kind of tree this is?"

"Father, what is it?" Gu Shaobai looked up at the ancient, aura-filled tree with curiosity. He had always known it was extraordinary—otherwise, his father would not have sat beneath it for years—but he had never known its true nature.

"Go, stand under the tree and feel it carefully. You will understand," the Emperor said.

Gu Shaobai nodded, walked beneath the branches, cast aside all distracting thoughts, and focused his senses. A moment later, a look of profound shock appeared on his delicate, feminine face. "Divine intent? Heavens, I can feel divine intent! Father, is this a divine tree?"

It was absolutely true. He could clearly perceive wisps of divine intent radiating from the tree, making his legs feel as if they were treading on clouds, light and ethereal, as if he might drift away with the wind at any moment. His heart surged with turbulent waves of disbelief. It was too insane; he had lived his life never knowing that a divine tree of this magnitude had been hidden within the Sacred Domain all along.

"Indeed, it is a divine tree," Emperor Gu confirmed. "Bai'er, gaze into the tree and continue to feel it. See what you discover."

"Understood." Gu Shaobai nodded, staring fixedly at the massive tree, focusing on the subtle divine intent permeating from it.

Suddenly, before his eyes, the tree erupted with a brilliant, seven-colored radiance. The entire structure began to twist and reshape, eventually rising from the ground and transforming into a colossal, seven-colored Divine Phoenix.

"Skree—!"

The seven-colored phoenix let out a sharp cry that echoed through the heavens. A sea of flames surged from its body, as if it intended to reduce the very world to ash.

"Heavens! I saw a seven-colored Divine Phoenix! Father, did this tree transform into it?" Gu Shaobai’s body shook, his jaw dropping in disbelief. It was impossible; the tree had turned into a phoenix—it felt like a dream.

"The tree did not transform into the phoenix," Emperor Gu corrected. "It is, in itself, a Divine Phoenix Tree."

"A Divine Phoenix Tree?" Gu Shaobai’s realization dawned. "Father, I understand now. The bloodline in the Princess of the Spring and Autumn Sacred Kingdom is related to this tree. The Empress of the Spring and Autumn Sacred Kingdom was from the Sacred Domain’s Demon Race. When she left the domain to marry the Emperor of the Spring and Autumn Sacred Kingdom, she took the bloodline with her, eventually bestowing it upon the Princess."

"Precisely," Emperor Gu nodded.

"But Father, I still don't understand. How could such a Divine Phoenix Tree exist in the Sacred Domain?"

"Legend says that in the distant past, the Divine Phoenix clan existed within this domain," Emperor Gu explained. "This tree was planted by their ancestor. It contains not only a drop of the First Ancestor’s blood essence but also the ancestor's inheritance. However, the clan eventually vanished from this domain for unknown reasons. Some say the First Ancestor comprehended the 'Way of Heaven' and led the entire clan to ascend to a world of immortals and gods."

"The Divine Phoenix clan that once lived here ascended to a world of immortals and gods?" Gu Shaobai was stunned. "Father, does such a world truly exist?"

"I cannot be certain," Emperor Gu said, shaking his head. "But it is rumored that the Eternal Stairway is the Way of Heaven."

"The Eternal Stairway is the Way of Heaven? No wonder the restrictions upon it are so terrifying. How could mortals like us ever hope to climb it?" Gu Shaobai gasped, his heart pounding in terror.

It was too frightening. The Eternal Stairway was the path to the heavens! This was a secret of earth-shattering proportions.