The ancestral temple was brightly lit by rows of oil lamps. The spirit tablets on the altars cast an eerie chill through the hall.
Firelight swayed, throwing shadows. Yan Emperor Shang Jianxiong stood before the tablets of the Shang clan's ancestors, gazing at them. Majesty showed on his face, his eyes complicated as he prayed inwardly to his forebears.
When news of the Yan-Zhao War arrived, he had been greatly surprised. He had not expected Zhao Kingdom to collapse so quickly. It had millions of troops, yet a single battle had clamped shut on Zhao Kingdom's throat. Zhao Kingdom stood on the brink of destruction. Yan Kingdom had actually driven Zhao Kingdom into a dead end, forced it to the verge of national ruin!
A year or two ago, he would never have dared dream of such a situation. Back then, it had been Yan Kingdom's own precarious state that kept him from sleeping or eating in peace.
Though he had nothing to do with directing the war to destroy Zhao, he was, after all, Yan Kingdom's emperor. Under his rule, Yan Kingdom had once again achieved glorious feats. Today, he had come to tell his ancestors of it.
In short, it came down to one sentence: Yan Kingdom had destroyed Zhao Kingdom under his hand!
Chief Palace Eunuch Tian Yu entered the hall, walked quietly to his side, and softly said, "Your Majesty, it is late. Please rest."
Still staring at the tablets, Shang Jianxiong answered something entirely different, abruptly saying, "Tian Yu, the merit of expanding territory—what Taishu Xiong always wanted to accomplish but never could, I have accomplished!"
The implication was that he was stronger than Taishu Xiong!
Even Tian Yu, his personal servant, could not help the corner of his mouth twitching at those words. This