Su Zhan
Su Zhan is the biological father of the infant whose surviving broken soul becomes Su Ming. Though he calls himself an ordinary Abyss Builder, his standing commands respect from the royal family and the Abyss Builders' Progenitor. His self-sacrifice preserves his child and enables Su Xuan Yi to escape, but also leaves that child vulnerable to Su Xuan Yi's later designs.
Biography
The Fifth Furnace and Morning Dao
Su Zhan appears in a sealed memory amid a galaxy filled with corpses, holding his baby while preparing to fight. He tells "Ming Er" that under other circumstances he would have raised him, taught him cultivation, and expected him to surpass both father and royal children. Instead, he chooses to lure away the pursuers threatening Su Xuan Yi and his wife. His cultivation would have allowed him to flee with his son, but he remains behind, self-destructs in dazzling light, and protects the baby's soul through the blast. His final words promise that, if reborn, he would still choose to be the child's father. (Chapter 1136)
When Su Xuan Yi later reaches the battlefield, he finds the broken infant soul still surviving because of Su Zhan's protection and the qualities of the mother's race. He declares the child his own over his wife's objections. Her argument distinguishes the sacrifice clearly: Su Zhan did not die abstractly for the race, but so their family could escape, and exploiting his son would betray that debt. Su Xuan Yi proceeds anyway, adding his blood and eventually using the adopted child to mature the Seed of Life Extermination. Su Zhan's loving act thus becomes the foundation of a false paternal history imposed on Su Ming. (Chapter 1136)
Arid Triad and the dying aeon
Su Zhan survives only through memory, place, and the identity of his child. Su Xuan Yi recalls him when facing death and recognizes the feelings he had long suppressed. Su Ming later returns through Divine Essence Star Ocean to the entrance of the Fifth True World and walks the dust-sealed wreckage where Su Zhan died. The visit brings calm before Su Ming's final preparation against Arid Triad; it is recognition of origin, not a resurrection or recovery of Su Zhan's independent soul. (Chapters 1300–1361)
Appearance and personality
Su Zhan is a middle-aged man whose fighting spirit inspires respect in nearby powerful warriors. He speaks tenderly to his baby without disguising the certainty of death. Fierce courage, paternal love, and loyalty to his best friend converge in the same choice, though the text emphasizes that escape remained possible and sacrifice was deliberate.
Abilities and cultivation
His exact realm and named Arts are not stated. Su Zhan claims ordinary Abyss Builder status, yet is respected even by the royal family and Progenitor, and Su Xuan Yi's wife says his cultivation could have carried himself and his child to safety. His demonstrated final technique is self-destruction on a battlefield, producing enough force to erase his body and the infant's body. He simultaneously preserves the baby's soul, but the soul remains broken rather than restored; survival also depends on qualities inherited from the mother. The feat is terminal and cannot be treated as repeatable combat power. (Chapter 1136)
Relationships
- Su Ming: Su Zhan is the biological father of the infant soul that becomes Su Ming. His protection makes that survival possible, while Su Ming later visits the place of his death. (Chapters 1136, 1358–1361)
- Su Xuan Yi: Su Zhan sacrifices himself so Su Xuan Yi and his wife can escape, trusting his best friend to encounter the surviving child. Su Xuan Yi adopts and exploits that child instead. (Chapter 1136)
- Unnamed wife: Su Zhan remembers her at death. She later waits for husband and child, stops smiling after their loss, and dies without their return. (Chapters 1136, 1300)
Items
No weapon or personal treasure is securely associated with Su Zhan. The child he carries is a person, not an item, and the later Seed of Life Extermination is inserted by Su Xuan Yi rather than owned or used by Su Zhan. (Chapter 1136)