MTLNOVEL Chapter 633: You shameless child
Ten minutes passed.
His breath came in shallow bursts, not from pain, but from the crushing pressure of the Divine Aura that saturated the chamber. It pressed into his bones, invaded his soul-space, and clawed through his thoughts like divine fire. His divine veins pulsed erratically, struggling to circulate power that refused to flow.
Above him, the sea of eternal lanterns flickered, their soul-bound flames responding to his suffering. They shimmered like stars drowned in repentance, acknowledging his penance with quiet reverence.
Suddenly, footsteps echoed into the hall but Han Xin didn't move. He didn't need to. He knew the rhythm of that stride. It was most definitely his father.
Outside, muffled through the sealed doors, his mother's voice rose in reprimand. But Han Jun was resolute. This time, he would not bend. With a wave of his hand, the doors shut, sealing the hall and barring her entry. Han Xin remained kneeling, the light above burning deeper into his spirit.
Han Jun walked over, his robes trailing threads of law and light, each step bending the air around him. The eternal lanterns suspended above flickered in reverence, their soul-bound flames dimming as if bowing to his presence.
His brocade boots clanked against the celestial marble, stopping just before the kneeling figure of his son. Han Xin remained bowed low, forehead pressed to the sacred floor.
"Do you remember your identity?" Han Jun's voice was low, but it carried the weight of judgment, the kind that could shatter mountains.
Han Xin did not lift his head. The marble pulsed beneath him, divine pressure seeping into his bones. His silence was not rebellion. It was that of confusion. Of course, he knew his identity? What kind of question was that?
"Answer me," Han Jun said, sharper now.
Still kneeling, Han Xin whispered, "Are you asking as my father… or as the Divine Emperor?"
The words hung in the air like a suspended blade, poised to fall.
Han Jun's eyes flared. "You—" he began, voice rising, but he caught himself in time. His fury coiled inward, tempered by centuries of discipline.
He stepped closer, his shadow falling over Han Xin like a celestial eclipse.
"Why did you give Xiang Yu a Divine Seed?" he asked, voice trembling with restrained wrath. "Do you not respect me as your father anymore?"
The question struck Han Xin like a thunderclap. His mind went blank. The question pierced deeper than any divine light. He had no answer, only the echo of Xiang Yu's name pulsing in his soul.
He had no memory of it. He truly didn't remember ever doing that. But just as he was about to deny it, a flicker crossed his mind. It a faint memory.
He recalled his favourite scenery in his spiritual realm, where the air shimmered with peace and the world felt suspended. He was pressing Xiang Yu down on the bed letting out a strong groan as he unleashed his divine power.
Han Xin, "..."
His fists clenched against the marble floor, the divine pressure pressing into his spine like a thousand weights. Shock rippled through him but beneath it, a strange joy bloomed. The missing pieces now aligned. That light in the spiritual realm… it had been his Divine Seed.
AN: Yes, you just kicked your child sir. Mama won't like that when he finds out lol.
"I don't remember doing it," Han Xin said slowly, lifting his head just enough for his voice to carry. "But… Father, shouldn't you be happy?"
Han Jun stared at him. The lanterns above flickered, uncertain, as if the very laws of heaven hesitated.
Han Jun's expression shifted not with rage, but with something colder. He had just realised he had raised a shameless bastard.
"You shameless child," he whispered.
Because Xiang Yu bore demon blood, a lineage cursed by the Heavenly Mandate. To grant him a Divine Seed was to defy cosmic law. Their offspring would be an abomination, a fusion of divine purity and infernal corruption. A being that could unmake the balance of realms.
Han Xin bowed his head again, not in guilt, but in quiet defiance. His heart beat steadily, not with fear, but with conviction. Even when unconscious, he had chosen Xiang Yu. And he would choose him again.
Han Jun stood over his son, fists clenched at his sides, divine power simmering just beneath his skin. The urge to strike Han Xin ,just once, just enough to shake some sense into him was overwhelming. But he didn't dare.
If even a scratch marred that precious face, his wife would be so furious she might not speak to him for a year. And while a year was nothing to immortals, to Han Jun, a single day of her silence was unbearable. It made him itchy inside, like divine ants crawling through his ribs. It was extremely torturous thus he restrained himself.
"You stay here obediently," he snapped, voice tight with frustration. "Don't get up without my permission."
He didn't wait for a reply. He turned and stormed off, muttering curses under his breath.
Han Xin barely registered the sound of his father's retreating footsteps. His thoughts were elsewhere. A small smile crept onto his lips. He was going to be a father. But then the smile faltered. What if... what if Xiang Yu wasn't happy about it?
The warmth in his chest vanished, replaced by a cold knot of anxiety. What if Xiang Yu rejected the seed? Rejected him?
He knelt for hours, the divine light above searing into his mind. It dredged up every careless word he'd ever spoken to Xiang Yu, every moment he had failed to see him, failed to protect him. This was his biggest conviction. His spirit frayed at the edges, unraveling under the weight of guilt. And still, he knelt.
Because to rise before the aura lifted would be to reject the lesson. And in the Divine Realm, rejection was not met with wrath. It was met with erasure.
***
The Hall of Celestial Deliberation was a spectacle of divine grandeur, pillars carved from starlight, floors veined with threads of law, and a ceiling that mirrored the shifting constellations of the upper realm.