"Duke Lu is innocent. The Lu Clan is innocent!" Xifeng Monarch Chu Xianda cried hoarsely, his heart brimming with grief and indignation.
"That's right. Lu Xingkong is naturally innocent, and the Lu Clan is naturally innocent too." Prince Fu laughed wildly and brazenly. "Lu Xingkong could be called the very model of loyalty and righteousness, a paragon among loyal ministers. But, thanks to my imperial brother, I'm afraid he'll have to suffer because of you. Doesn't it say so clearly in the plays? Loyal ministers never meet a good end."
"Those who submit to me prosper; those who oppose me perish. That is an essential quality, a basic skill, for anyone who would be ruler. Lu Xingkong's temperament is stubborn, his thinking conservative, and he is foolishly filial and foolishly loyal. On top of that, a man like him controls military power. If he cannot be made to serve me, then death is his only road. A man like that—I absolutely will not allow him to continue living in this world. I believe Old Man Song thinks the same."
"You good-for-nothing bastard! He was protecting the realm of my Chu Clan! The loyalty he showed was to the people of my Chu Clan!" Red light flickered in Chu Xianda's right palm, and he struck it toward Prince Fu.
As the ruler of a country, he still needed to possess some basic self-defense skills.
"I'll kill you!" Chu Xianda roared. His heart was filled with deep regret, along with the sorrow of unfulfilled ambitions.
He had never imagined that, just as everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion, they would suffer such a blow.
He was willing to sacrifice everything so that the Chu Clan could reclaim its power. Yet his own younger brother had stabbed him in the back.
The