Chapter 150

[Yet unbeknownst to anyone, the Devil Clan had replaced most of the court officials and attended the royal ritual in their stead.]

[The moment the royal ritual commenced, the demons grew restless, plotting to eliminate all the court officials and royal family members present.]

[At that time, demons danced chaotically; the Devil Emperor appeared out of thin air, attempting to eradicate the core strength of the Great Zhou Dynasty during the royal ritual.]

[At that moment, you only thought it was an attack by the Devil Clan, a plot to seize the Human Race’s resources, but now, upon reflection, you realize something was amiss.]

[Firstly, the Border Area of the Four Directions Mortal World would have been sealed off, and without precise coordinates, it would have been impossible for the Devil Emperor to shatter the Void and precisely appear in the Capital city.]

[Secondly, the group of demons that appeared beneath the canal basin must have been unable to replace most of the officials and attend the royal celebration right under the Emperor Zhou’s nose, not to mention without the Bureau of the Lamp noticing, without someone aiding them.]

[How did they deceive Emperor Zhou?]

[Back then, you didn’t think much of it, but now it seems possible that the officials the demons replaced were already underlings of the crown prince; after their consumption by the demons, they took on their forms. With the aid of Different Treasures, even Emperor Zhou was kept in the dark.]

[Thinking of this scene makes your scalp tingle; the crown prince was ruthless indeed, willing to sacrifice his loyal officials to lure out the Devil Clan.]

[And the crown prince succeeded in his goal; from then on, the Bureau of the Lamp could no longer gain Emperor Zhou’s trust. The Bureau you now control is but an empty shell, a mere shadow of its former glory under Cheng Zhihai’s leadership, no longer the beacon for the Human Race it once was.]

[Meanwhile, Emperor Zhou, during the great battle with the Devil Emperor, was ambushed and seriously injured, throwing the Great Zhou court into chaos. The Duke of the State even had to return to the Capital city to suppress the turmoil.]

[The Martial World’s sects also began to fall into disorder from that time on, getting worse each day. The territory of the Great Zhou Dynasty shrunk, now less than one percent of its size during its heyday.]

[Now, under Wu Ling’s leadership, Great Zhou has regained some of its Qi, but much of its land has fallen into the hands of the usurper, King of South Ming.]

[The more you consider it, the more you suspect that King of South Ming might be the crown prince of yore, who killed the real king at some point, assuming his identity and secretly allying with the Devil Clan, causing turmoil in Great Zhou to achieve his goals.]

[Just thinking about how everything you have might have been destroyed by that King of South Ming, the crown prince, fills you with a mixture of sorrow and rage, and you long for a fight to the death with him!]

[But you are not capable now; with the support of the Devil Clan, King of South Ming’s cultivation realm and strength are beyond what you, a mere half-baked Sky-Man, can match. Great Zhou, led by Wu Ling, seems unlikely to survive much longer under his suppression.]

[For now, you can only hope for a day when you’ll either be able to slay King of South Ming or cling to his coattails.]

[Two-star mission: Slay King of South Ming.]

[Mission reward: The famous sword Tongyu.]

[Two-star mission: Align with King of South Ming.]

[Mission reward: A Pug from Hell.]

A series of icy voices echoed in Cheng Guang’s mind, unhurried and devoid of any emotion.

As Cheng Guang listened, he felt a slight shock in his heart.

King of South Ming?

The crown prince??

Did the crown prince pull off a switcheroo?

Did he replace his own brother??

Cheng Guang knew that King of South Ming was Emperor Zhou’s brother, notoriously inconspicuous, never engaged in power struggles, and simply wanted an unremarkable life in his twilight years.

Cheng Guang had met King of South Ming once and remembered him as a cheerful old man who spent days sitting in the courtyard soaking up the sun and often daydreaming for hours on end.

He showed none of the restlessness and ferocity associated with the crown prince.

Was it all a façade, or had there genuinely been a change in his nature??

Cheng Guang had no idea.

Regardless of whether or not the King of South Ming was the true crown prince, one thing was certain.

That was, the crown prince was no tranquil man.

In the future, he could even take 99 percent of the Great Zhou Dynasty’s lands, nearly replacing it entirely.

Cheng Guang even wondered whether, if it were not for Empress Wu Ling’s support in the future, Great Zhou would have already perished, trampled into dust by King of South Ming.

The entire Great Zhou Dynasty would vanish utterly, lost to the relentless tide of history.

“King of South Ming, Devil Clan…”

“How could King of South Ming dare to collude with the Devil Clan? To reclaim his position? Betraying the Human Race just to achieve his end?”

Cheng Guang murmured to himself, massaging his forehead, unable to suppress a wry laugh.

It seems that betrayal is a constant, present in any world, any time.

No matter how the crown prince and Emperor Zhou fought, they were still kin.

But to invite a wolf into the fold was pure folly.