If I'm a bastard, then what does that make you?
Hua Zhen grinned and couldn't help mocking him. Although Hua Xiong was his blood brother, they had never been particularly close. And honestly, compared to that useless Hua Ye, there was no real hatred between them at all.
In the broader environment of the Tiangong, familial affection was worth nothing. The absence of hatred between brothers did not mean they shared any deep bond. Scheming and infighting still surfaced from time to time, though Hua Zhen had always been indifferent while Hua Xiong performed his one-man show alone.
Thinking it over carefully, Hua Zhen could understand what Hua Xiong meant by saying he had ruined him.
In the past, he and Hua Ye had formed a delicate "balance" within the Tiangong, regarding each other as "rivals." No one paid attention to him, so he naturally lived freely and at ease.
But now that balance had been broken. Hua Ye held all the power in the Tiangong, and of the four princes, only the two of them remained. Hua Xiong had been pushed straight into the eye of the storm, and it was easy to imagine how miserable his life in the Tiangong had become.
Hua Xiong studied Hua Zhen with a gloomy expression. He no longer looked like the vigorous young man he had once been. Strands of silver hair layered over one another, painfully conspicuous, while deep wrinkles lined the corners of his eyes. For some reason, Hua Xiong, who had been boiling with rage, suddenly felt a trace of sorrow at the thought of one creature mourning another's impending death.
The fat hand clutching Hua Zhen's collar slowly loosened, though Hua Xiong's expression remained ugly. "Honestly, Hua Zhen, I want nothing more than to kill you right now!"