The Worst of the Worst, No Accident

Kong Jie tried again and again, but no matter how hard he tried, he still could not act too forcefully. He could only lower his head and ask in a soft voice, his face bearing a fawning expression that was utterly unseen in ordinary times.

It looked as though the true Imperial Family was not on the opposite side, but Chen Ming's side.

"Cousin, what exactly happened? Why did you have to get into this unnecessary conflict with His Highness the Fourth Prince?"

"An unnecessary conflict? You think this was what I wanted? The Dragon Elephant Sect is near the border, while this is Mingdu. Do you think I brought my juniors all the way from the frontier to the imperial capital for no reason just to stir up trouble?"

"Xiao Ming, tell him what happened. Tell him every word, without leaving out a single detail."

Watching the elders, who seemed to have severe emotional entanglements between them, Chen Ming was also quite curious about what had happened back then. Still, he focused intently and recounted everything that had happened to him today.

Every street they had walked after leaving Hongchen Mansion, every building Xiao Hongchen had introduced, every snack their group had eaten, then how they had encountered the Fourth Prince on the street, how the guards had been stopped, and how the Fourth Prince had looked at Chen Ming with an expression of lust...

Chen Ming described all of it in detail.

After hearing this, Kong Jie remained silent for a long while, not knowing what to say. He looked at the Fourth Prince, his eyes filled with complicated emotions.

Since ancient times, the appointment of a Crown Prince had generally followed three principles: legitimate birth, virtue, and seniority.

However, the current emperor's eldest and second sons had not been born to his principal wife, but to maidservants.

They had neither the support of their maternal families nor displayed exceptional talent or ability. Thus, they had been granted titles and sent away from Mingdu by the emperor long ago, escaping the vortex of chaos.

At present, the person within the Sun Moon Empire closest to the position of Crown Prince was the Third Prince, Xu Tianran.

Xu Tianran's birth mother was not only His Majesty's principal wife, but he himself was also the legitimate son. Moreover, his abilities in every respect were outstanding even by the standards of the Sun Moon Empire's history.

As a Soul Master, he possessed the supreme talent of Innate Full Soul Power and the Purple Blazing Heaven Dragon Martial Soul. As a ruler, he had an innate political instinct far beyond ordinary people, displaying immense charm and the bearing of a leader among the nobility.

In the several tests set by His Majesty, he had handed in an outstanding answer every time.

From his personal martial talent to his aptitude as a ruler, Xu Tianran had no flaws that could be criticized. Coupled with his status, a considerable number of nobles in the Sun Moon Empire had tacitly acknowledged Xu Tianran as the uncrowned Crown Prince and the empire's future heir.

As the emperor's Confidant, Kong Jie knew even better that the outside speculation on this matter was indeed true.

If the emperor had not still been wary of certain factions and had plans of his own, causing him to appear indecisive on the matter, Xu Tianran's position as Crown Prince would have been confirmed long ago.

Yet aside from the uncrowned Crown Prince Xu Tianran, the most favored among the princes of the Imperial Family, for various reasons, was the Fourth Prince, Xu Tianba.

Xu Tianran stood at one level, Xu Tianba at another, while the remaining princes occupied several other levels below them.

Xu Tianba's reputation was terrible. In Mingdu, almost no one was unaware of his infamous deeds.

It would have been one thing if he merely looked down on others because of his status, but he also deeply despised those whose skin was not dark enough. He often publicly humiliated nobles and Soul Masters with lighter skin in public places, cursing them as pigs and dogs.

He believed that only purely black skin represented the true orthodoxy of the Sun Moon Empire, and more than once declared that people of other skin colors ought to be reduced to commoners within the Sun Moon Empire.

Those nobles who had tainted their own "pure" bloodlines should also yield more benefits to the "pure-blooded" nobles.

As for commoners, it went far beyond simply beating or berating them. He felt nothing but malice at the sight of them. He would often use flames for no reason to burn the skin of commoners he disliked until it was charcoal-black, calling it "tanning."

As for whether those people could still live after their skin, flesh, bones, and internal organs had all been burned to charcoal by scorching flames, that was none of his concern.

Although he had shown signs of having a poor mind since childhood, he had at least still been within the bounds of being human. At most, he had been simple-minded, violent, and hot-tempered.

But ever since the current emperor had seized the throne and become exceptionally indulgent toward him, he had seemed to go completely mad, snapping the last string in his mind and acting without the slightest restraint.

As if he had truly gone insane, he felt good about himself every day. No matter what he did, he felt not the slightest guilt, and he committed every evil deed with complete peace of mind.

Toward outsiders, even renowned great nobles within the Sun Moon Empire, he almost never showed any respect.

Other tyrannical young masters bullied men and women alike, but he bullied men and men. Moreover, due to his extreme pride in his own skin color, his sense of beauty was utterly twisted.

Many families had suffered undeserved disasters because their daughters, wives, sisters, or mothers were fair-skinned and beautiful. They were targeted by the aesthetically warped Xu Tianba, leaving their families destroyed and their lives ruined.

If the men of a household had dark skin and strong bodies, they would be abducted by the Fourth Prince. Few ever returned.

Starting nearly ten years ago, many Soul Masters and sturdy young men from other places had begun disappearing without reason, and very few were ever seen again.

Later, for some reason, a servant from the Fourth Prince's residence "accidentally" released several imprisoned Soul Masters. Those fortunate enough to escape revealed the truth.

It turned out that these people had disappeared because the Fourth Prince had imprisoned them for his own unspeakable tastes. His greatest pastime was locking them in underground cells and bringing four lackeys with him to subject them to the ultimate humiliation.

Although the Fourth Prince had indeed received a severe punishment afterward, and everyone who had been seized was given generous compensation, making it seem as if the matter had been settled.

But in the short few years that followed, all those involved in the incident back then died one after another in "accidents." After that, the ones who suffered accidents were those who had investigated the Fourth Prince and those who had shown the most obvious anger and contempt toward him.

Under the interference of the imperial relatives' faction, the matter was ultimately dropped. Every death was labeled an accident.

But to those who still remembered what had happened back then, the Fourth Prince had long surpassed the level of an ordinary bastard.