Above The Heavens I Stand

Su An awoke to the sound of footsteps and opened his eyes.

He froze when he saw big black eyes filling his vision and screamed, crying uncontrollably soon after.

"Wahhhhh!" Su An's cries echoed and the door burst open revealed by his grandfather.

"Su Cheng! How dare you scare my grandson!" Su An's grandfather shouted as he pointed at his panicking son, Su Cheng.

"It wasn't intentional!" Su Cheng said quickly. He hadn't imagined Su An would wake up and cry when he was examining the mark on his forehead.

"Babu." Su An said as he waved at his grandfather with happiness.

He didn't want to see his girly father for a single second.

He declared Su Cheng as a creepy feminine guy as he was inwardly a girl.

"See, An'er likes me better than you." The old man boasted when he picked up Su An and cradled him.

"Eh?..." Su Cheng stared at his father who was playing with his son.

"Yan'er!" Su Bing called as she picked Su An from Su Yan's grasp.

"Look, your holding him too hard." She rubbed the red marks on Su An's arms as he reprimanded her husband and son.

Su An was staring at his grandmother with reverence.

'I can just complain to her when they annoy me.' He thought with glee.

"Gah!" Su An said as he pointed at his cheeks.

"You want your-"

"Bah!" Su An quickly waved his arms in denial. 'I do not want my cheeks to be pinched thank you very much!'

Su Bing caught on and noticed his cheeks were slightly swollen and ordered solemnly. "No body is allowed to pinch my grandson's cheeks!"

Feeling her husband's questioning gaze, she replied, "They're swollen."

Su Cheng froze and he knew he had another duty when his mother stared at him. He had to prevent it or he would suffer.

"His Highness Crown Prince Zhao has arrived!" A sudden shout boomed to which Su An and Su Cheng froze.

"..." Su Yan frowned and grumbled. "That stupid l.u.s.ty haughty prince is here! That old fool probably wants him to come here for experience..."

Su Cheng wondered why the emperor chose him to be the successor to the throne.

Su Cheng followed his parents along with his wife as he held Su An who was staring at the entrance of the Su Clan Residence intensly.

He was going to humiliate that sc.u.m.

『You can speak now.』The system announced.

'Isn't that too fast?' Su An regret asking it just after he spoke.

『You're better of dying.』

"Elder Su." Prince Zhao greeted Su Yan and Su Bing and soon greeted his grandmother and parents.

Su An noticed the finally arrived and Prince Zhao was alone as his horse was neighing.

When his sight landed on Ling Cai, his eyes flashed with undisguised l.u.s.t but he froze when he felt a icy cold glare.

'You are unfortunate that my vocal cords fully developed only now, sc.u.m. Just wait until news of the child of the Su Clan is an unprecedented genius as he can talk and walk in a few months reaches your ears.' Su An thought as he glared at Prince Zhao.

"I've come to represent the Imperial Family to congratulate the genius of the Su Clan." Prince Zhao said in an amiable tone as he dismissed the cold glare since it vanished.

"Mn."

Su Cheng nodded as Prince Zhao boiled with anger at being seen but not being bowed at and flattered since he was the crown prince.

He kept it in since his father constantly reminded him to not mess with the Su Clan but all it did was view his father as a weak man as Prince Zhao saw the Su Clan as nothing.

"I would like to see the child and I wonder if you have named it yet?" Prince Zhao asked.

"Su An." Su Cheng replied coldly. His parents did nothing but stare at Prince Zhao with a hostile glare but Prince Zhao didn't notice as he thought they were looking up to him.

"So he's the one who caused all that ruckus yesterday." Prince Zhao said with a warm smile once he spotted Su An.

Su Yan nodded.

"May I hold him?" Prince Zhao asked still wearing his smile but his eyes flashed with malicious intent.

Su An knew he was going to do something to him because he disliked their clan and mostly him.

Su Cheng gave Su An to Prince Zhao who held Su An. Su An felt a sliver of Qi intending to harm him enter his body so he sent it back to Prince Zhao thinking, 'It wasn't me but the system protecting me.'

"Ahhhh!" Prince Zhao cried as his arms suddenly withered and blood dripped down his lips.

Su Cheng quickly grabbed Su An before Prince Zhao would try to drop him and scanned Su An's body noticing that a trace of Qi had torn Su An's meridiana but they were healing at a visible rate.

Su An's meridians were torn but with the system they would be healed in no time so it wasn't a problem. It was just that it was for the Su Clan. A big problem.

Su Cheng informed Su Yan and Su Bing as well as Ling Cai via Divine Sense.

"Prince Zhao. Why did you tear my son's meridians?!" Su Cheng roared while noting to find out the reason why Prince Zhao was harmed as well.

Prince Zhao didn't answer as he stared at his hands in bewilderment and despair. It was Su An who was supposed to be crippled not him!

Prince Zhao suddenly felt his body being stabbed a thousand times and cried in pain.

"Arghhhh!"

Su Cheng's black hair was tinted with red as his mind was filled with rage.

Su An laughed his b.u.t.t off in his mind as the sight of his angry father was too comical.

"W-Wait!" Prince Zhao flailed his hands in fear as he realised Su An was the one who attacked him just now.

"We will show no mercy to you dogs! We have already bestowed you a great blessing by lending your dog family our protection yet you have the nerve to harm our grandchild!?" Su Yan growled as his white hair floated and his eyes narrowed with anger.

Su Cheng did a grabbing motion toward Prince Zhao while passing Su An to Ling Cai and his figure vanished.

Meanwhile, Su Yan removed the memories of all the bystanders and walked back into the residence after taking Su An from Ling Cai.

...

"I seek an explanation this instant!" Su Cheng shouted as he held Prince Zhao by the collar, leaving him dangling in the air as he stood in the air ablaze.

"Pard-" Prince Zhao's father, Emperor Li hurriedly walked out with guards and spoke in fear as he saw the red flames on Su Cheng's body.

"Sixth Prince." Su Cheng voiced out as he narrowed his eyes before snapping Prince Zhao's neck and threw his body before Emperor Li.

"..." Emperor Li paled and trembled as he looked at his son's body.

The only reason he chose Prince Zhao as the crown prince was to preserve the royal bloodline with his l.u.s.tful nature in case something like this happened.

But the rest of the princes, other than the sixth prince who he didn't favour, were average.

Su Cheng grunted when he saw that Emperor Li paled and then smiled.

"As long as no Su is harmed, we will not disturb you and still protect you as you hide us." Su Cheng spoke as he flicked his finger and the memories of this incident belonging to irrelevant people as erased.

His figure also vanished and he made sure to deal with the other two clans using the same method he did with the imperial servants.

He erased their memories that they knew of their power.

He did this every year once he became the patriarch as some children of the Su were careless so this situation had occurred multiple times.

By the time Su Cheng came back to the Su residence, Su An as already asleep.

Sadly he didn't know that these few years would be the last few years he would get proper sleep.

...

"Our ancestor shouldn't have come to this kingdom... although Emperor Mu deserved our ancestor's protection, his descendants do not..." Su Cheng grumbled as his reddish black hair turned back to black and made his way to Su An's room to discover why Prince Zhao's attack was deflected.

After multiple checks, he could only get the fact it was done by Su An. Su Cheng deducted that Su An did it unconsciously.

Maybe it was an ability of his? After all, he was different from them.

Su Cheng relayed his findings to his wife and parents for only to find them smiling deviously.

"We don't have to worry about An'er now. We just have to wait until he becomes five." Su Yan spoke before he dismissed them before summoning the elders.

The Su Clan had five elders who four of them had their own children.

The first elder was a woman with twin daughters and one son.

The second elder was a man and he had twin sons.

The third elder was a father of one daughter and one son.

The fourth was a man and he had one unborn child.

The fifth elder was a single woman.

They were all assembled in one room and greeted Su Yan with respected gazes.

"You should all know what happened yesterday." Su Yan began to speak.

"Since your wish has been fulfilled, you can stop pestering my son. And now that this is out of the way, make sure to protect the Su children at all costs. You all should know the danger that the phenomenon has brought to our 'branch'." Su Yan smiled wryly.

"After all, you all should have felt that pull, haven't you?" Su Yan looked at them solemnly.

"The urge to prostrate, correct?" The fifth elder answered with a frown.

"Yes. So from now on, make sure the children are close to each other like real siblings." Su Yan replied with mysterious glint in his eyes.

"You really are cunning..." The fourth elder muttered.

Because Su An's presence would be overwhelming for those with their bloodline, they would get used to the pressure and may even improve in the way of cultivation. Su Yan intended to use Su An's presence to train the young ones.

Su Yan smiled in response before his expression turned serious.

"Double the defence but don't make it obvious and spare no resources in cultivating them."

At these words, everyone understood.

So what if they were the hidden overlords of this realm?

It didn't matter if an army of cultivators, a realm below Su Yan's or even on par, came to attack them or take Su An from them. They might even take the other children to take them as their disciples.

The fourth elder was especially worried about this but then he relaxed.

"Even so, we still aren't something to mess with even with our low purity." He probed.

"You damn kid! Why the hell did Uncle Li choose you to inherit the mantle of fifth elder!" Su Yan grumbled.

Unlike other clans, the five elders were all equal in power and only their children could inherit the position to ensure that the bloodline doesn't decline. Only the strongest with the second to sixth highest purity could become an elder.

"Because I'm an only child." The fourth elder replied with a smug smile.

"Tsk!" Su Yan hmphed as he remembered how he beat his two elder brothers to become the patriarch. The two, when defeated, decided to roam

The world since they were forced to battle Su Yan since they were the sons of the partraich before Su Yan - their father.

They knew one of them would roam the world but Su Yan defeating them was a surprise.

"No need to get jealous, haha!" The first elder laughed.

"Who said I'm jealous?" Su Yan dismissed them after in a grumpy mood.

"At least the other clans have to deal with internal strife and we don't." He mumbled with a bit of joy. He didn't know what would happen if he was forced to kill of his two older brothers due to internal problems, luckily it was an established rule that no killing fellow clan members was allowed.

Su Yan smiled wryly before he motioned to peel of his skin only to reveal a handsome man with white hair bat looked to be around twenty.

"Ten years until I will 'die'... and roam the world with my elder brothers and Bing'er..." Su Yan grinned with anticipation.