Wenzhong Angrily Reprimands Di Xin

On his way to the main hall, Di Xin's thoughts were in turmoil, his heart filled with unease. Cold sweat had long since soaked through his inner robes.

"Damn it!" he berated himself inwardly. "I clearly received word long ago that my teacher would soon return victorious, yet I completely cast it from my mind!"

Had he not forgotten this matter, he would surely have put everything in order beforehand and concealed every one of his absurd misdeeds.

First and foremost, he should have had that horrifying, crimson Bronze Branding Pillar before the hall removed overnight. He never would have left behind such damning evidence for Wenzhong to see.

But it was too late now.

Nine peals of bells and drums resounded through the royal palace. Wenzhong had already entered the palace, and that blood-soaked instrument of punishment had surely fallen fully into his sight.

The more Di Xin thought about it, the more panicked he became.

He knew perfectly well that his extravagance, tyranny, and neglect of state affairs over these past years were all taboos Wenzhong had strictly forbidden in the past.

Still, he clung to a shred of self-deceiving luck. "I am, after all, the Human Emperor of Great Shang, ruler of all under heaven. Teacher surely would not humiliate and punish me before everyone."

Yet there was not the slightest confidence behind that hope.

He knew Wenzhong's temperament far too well. Stern and impartial, upright and incorruptible, he could not tolerate the slightest stain in his eyes. He had always judged only by justice, never by a man's rank as sovereign.

In his panic, he secretly counted himself fortunate again. "Luckily, I ordered my beloved consort to hide away for now and not show herself in the palace. With Teacher's unyielding nature, if he encountered her,