The White Tiger Duke's Wife Confesses: Was This Really Huo Yuhao's Background?!

Black World, Star Luo Empire, the imperial palace.

Crash!

An exquisite blue-and-white porcelain cup was hurled to the floor, smashing into pieces.

Xu Jiawei, emperor of the Star Luo Empire, stood in the great hall, his chest heaving and his eyes bloodshot.

As emperor of the Star Luo Empire, Xu Jiawei considered himself someone who had weathered great winds and waves.

But the scenes shown on the Heavenly Screen over the past few days had left his heart unable to settle for a long time.

The holy son of Illustrious Virtue Hall, the founder of the Soul Guidance System!

He had washed the Holy Spirit Cult in blood, forced his way onto the throne, and was now leading a great army against the Ming Dou Mountain Range!

With every great deed Huo Yuhao accomplished on the Heavenly Screen, Xu Jiawei's heart grew a little colder.

Because according to Huo Yuhao on the Heavenly Screen, the first thing he would do after razing the Ming Dou Mountain Range...

Was slay the White Tiger Duke, destroy Shrek Academy, and unite the world!

And the White Tiger Duke, Dai Hao, was the foremost pillar of the Star Luo Empire's military!

"Investigate this for me!"

Xu Jiawei slammed his hand on the table and roared.

"You must find out exactly who this Huo Yuhao is!"

"Since the Huo Yuhao on the Heavenly Screen exists in a parallel world, the Huo Yuhao of our world must also be somewhere on the continent right now!"

"He ascended the throne and became emperor, then personally led an expedition to raze the Ming Dou Mountain Range!"

"What does that tell us? It tells us that a genius with unparalleled talent harbors nothing but anger and hatred toward the Star Luo Empire!"

"We must dispel these feelings of Huo Yuhao's before the Star Luo Empire can escape this danger!"

The civil and military officials in the hall fell as silent as cicadas in winter. Not one of them dared cross Xu Jiawei at a time like this.

For everyone knew that Xu Jiawei was not worrying that the sky might fall.

The Ming Dou Mountain Range was the Star Luo Empire's last line of defense against the Sun Moon Empire.

And once the Ming Dou Mountain Range fell, the Sun Moon Empire's army could march straight through and arrive at the gates of Star Luo City!

Just then, however,

A palace attendant entered the hall cautiously and bowed.

"Your Majesty."

"The White Tiger Duke's Wife requests an audience!"

Xu Jiawei was taken aback.

"The White Tiger Duke's Wife?"

"Why would she suddenly come to the palace to see me?"

The White Tiger Duke's Wife was his cousin.

Her mother came from the Zhu Family of the Star Luo Empire, so the White Tiger Duke's Wife also carried the Zhu Family's bloodline and had awakened the Zhu Family's Nether Civet Martial Soul.

Recently, this cousin of his had been bedridden and seldom went out.

Even on ordinary occasions, she rarely attended palace banquets.

What had brought his sickly cousin to the palace to request an audience with him in person today?

"Let her in!"

Xu Jiawei suppressed his doubts and waved his hand.

A moment later, the White Tiger Duke's Wife was pushed into the hall in a wheelchair by two of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion's personal guards.

She looked even more haggard than before.

Her eyes were sunken, her lips were cracked, and her hands trembled incessantly on the wheelchair's armrests.

"Cousin, what happened to you..."

Before Xu Jiawei could finish, the White Tiger Duke's Wife burst into tears.

"Your Majesty, save me! My crimes deserve ten thousand deaths!"

Wailing, the White Tiger Duke's Wife struggled to get out of the wheelchair and kneel.

Xu Jiawei's brow immediately furrowed.

"What exactly happened? Tell me slowly."

Sobbing, the White Tiger Duke's Wife began to tell her story in fits and starts.

Back when the White Tiger Duke, Dai Hao, still lived in the Duke's Mansion, he had had an affair with a maid there named Huo Yun'er.

Later, Dai Hao spent years away leading troops in battle, and what the White Tiger Duke's Wife feared most finally came to pass.

Huo Yun'er had borne Dai Hao a son.

As the duke's wife, how could she tolerate a lowly maid's son taking a share of her two sons' standing?

So after Dai Hao went off to war, the White Tiger Duke's Wife began to target Huo Yun'er and her son, a campaign that lasted for years.

She withheld their food and clothing, sentenced them to hard labor, made Huo Yun'er wash clothes in a single layer in the dead of winter, and beat and kicked her at the slightest displeasure.

Later, she went so far as to scheme and incite the young Dai Huabin to vent all his anger on Huo Yun'er.

In the end, Dai Huabin beat Huo Yun'er to death.

Not long after Huo Yun'er's death, her son disappeared from the White Tiger Duke's Mansion, and his whereabouts had been unknown ever since.

"I thought that bastard had died out there long ago."

The White Tiger Duke's Wife wept until she could barely breathe.

"But after watching the Heavenly Screen these past few days, I finally learned..."

"Huo Yuhao, the emperor of the Sun Moon Empire on the Heavenly Screen, is Huo Yun'er's son! He's that bastard who escaped from the White Tiger Duke's Mansion!"

"Huo Yuhao on the Heavenly Screen has already declared that he'll slay the White Tiger Duke and raze the Ming Dou Mountain Range!"

"But what will we do if things end the same way in our world?"

Deathly silence fell over the hall.

The civil and military officials exchanged glances, every face displaying an extraordinarily vivid expression.

Xu Jiawei stared fixedly at the White Tiger Duke's Wife, his chest heaving.

After a long while, he finally forced out a sentence through gritted teeth.

"You mean to say..."

"That Huo Yuhao on the Heavenly Screen, the Star Luo Empire's greatest threat today..."

"Was driven away by your White Tiger Duke's Mansion?"

"And you had a hand in his mother's death too?!"

The White Tiger Duke's Wife lowered her head, not daring to speak.

"Outrageous!"

Xu Jiawei was beside himself with rage.

"Do you have any idea what a calamity the fine deeds you and your son have done could bring upon the Star Luo Empire?"

"To do such a thing is a disgrace to the reputation of the imperial family and the White Tiger Duke's Mansion!"

"Guards!"

"By my order, place the White Tiger Duke's Wife under house arrest in the Duke's Mansion. Without my decree, she is not to set half a step outside its gates!"

"Also, send an eight-hundred-li express at once and inform the White Tiger Duke of everything that happened here, exactly as it happened!"

"Yes!"

Several palace guards answered the command and pushed the White Tiger Duke's Wife away, slumped in her wheelchair.

Just then, a palace guard hurried into the hall, dropped to one knee, and held a document over his head with both hands.

"Your Majesty!"

"There has been a breakthrough in the matter you ordered investigated!"

"This information was just sent back by the Star Luo Empire's spies!"

Xu Jiawei snatched the document and quickly read through it.

After a long while, he slowly spoke, a trace of bitterness in his voice.

"Shrek Academy..."

A chorus of sharp intakes of breath rang out in the hall.

Shrek Academy was the continent's foremost academy, and experts gathered like clouds in the Sea God Pavilion!

If Huo Yuhao were hiding anywhere else, the Star Luo Empire could simply send troops to seize him.

But if he was at Shrek Academy...

Xu Jiawei closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

When he opened them again, the composure of an emperor had returned to his eyes.

"Prepare a generous gift in the name of the Star Luo Imperial Family."

"I will personally write a letter to be sent to Shrek Academy."

"Also, pass my secret orders to the hidden agents stationed outside Shrek City. They are to keep a close watch on Shrek Academy's every move!"

"At the slightest stir concerning Huo Yuhao, report to me immediately!"