1373 Born of the Same Roots

The man snorted as he narrowed his eyes dangerously at the boy, shooting him a cold, venomous look.

"Don't call me that!" he spat in disgust, sneering thereafter. "It's all due to my carelessness that the plan failed! I didn't expect your father to have groomed two extraordinary sons! If I knew about it, I wouldn't be in such a state!"

His hostage, Mu Linfeng, struggled incessantly in his arms.

Mu Lianjue growled at him. "Behave and don't move! I'm warning you: I don't have the patience to deal with you! Don't blame me for being merciless should you misbehave!"

"From what you've done, you're past caring about showing mercy!" The older brother gnashed his teeth in anger.

The other only cackled at that. "Are you blaming me now? You disregarded our kinship first! Didn't you try to abandon me here earlier?! What?! Brother, a child actually managed to frighten you! If the news spreads, you'll surely be many people's laughingstock! The second family head of the Mu is actually intimidated by a seven-year-old—I see that your entire life has been wasted!"

"Shut up!" The older brother fumed. "Fourth Mu, you should be the one bearing your sins! What do you mean by me disregarding our kinship first?! You're the truly heartless person here! You murdered Liancheng, plotted Yishan's death, and even poisoned our father's medicine. You've committed such atrocious acts! The one utterly devoid of conscience here is you! To think I considered our blood ties; in the end, you bit the hand that fed you! You're a true disappointment!"

"Is it my fault?!" questioned the younger brother hysterically. "Is it my fault, brother?! If you didn't join hands with the elders and supported Mu Yazhe, would I be where I am now? You wouldn't be in such a state, too if not for that! I'm sure you're filled with regrets now—ha ha! You spent so much effort in grooming him, only to have him fall out with you! What about your painstakingly groomed pawn? That pawn pays no heed to you at all! All of this huge Mu empire should've belonged to me! Everything could've been better; the Mu Group would've expanded majestically! Alas, you just had to go and support a pawn. Ha ha! Second Mu, I see that you have big ambitions, too! You wanna make use of our nephew like a puppet and swallow this vast piece of empire for yourself!"

The further he spoke, the darker his brother's face got. The latter growled, "Shut up!"

"What? Have I gotten a rise out of you? Ha ha! It's all true, though! I am nowhere as ambitious as you are!"

As he squinted his eyes, his voice took on a sinister tone.

His bitter-cold voice revealed his deep resentment. "If not for your stupidity, I wouldn't be in such a state now! Brother, if I must die here tonight, then you all will have to die with me!"

"What a fool! Fourth Mu, you're truly a great disappointment!"

He snapped, "Shut up! It's all thanks to you that I ended up this way! It's all your fault—yours!"