A Man in His Twilight Years

Kong Jie had chosen to be a good man in recent years not because he had truly seen the light and repented for his life, choosing to wash his hands of everything.

He had chosen to be a good man because his great-grandson had been born. As his descendants multiplied, so did his weaknesses and vulnerabilities. He was no longer the fearless man of his youth, without a single weakness on his body.

It was because he could sense that this sham Titled Douluo, forcibly elevated to Rank 91 through countless Pills, secret techniques, and Soul Bones, could at most live another ten years. He could no longer shield his descendants and family from the wind and rain...

And more importantly, the man he had spent his life following might not even outlive this short-lived man whose own time was running out.

Or rather, even if that man managed to cling to life for more than ten years, Kong Jie did not believe the Emperor would still be capable of controlling the court or have the spare strength to protect his family.

He remembered all too well what he had done to those great nobles after the palace coup, and the methods he had used to suppress the opposition.

That was why he was terrified—terrified that after either he or the Emperor died, his family and descendants would be besieged and purged by the other nobles over what had happened back then.

He feared Chen Li and lowered his head not because he feared Chen Li's status or power, but because what he owed Chen Li was more than even his life could ever repay.

When he awakened his Martial Soul, his Innate Soul Power had been only Rank 7. His Martial Soul was not a complete Moon Martial Soul like his great-uncle's, but one of the Moon Phase Martial Souls commonly found within the family. Neither his Martial Soul nor his Soul Tool had ever shown enough talent for him to inherit the family.

He was nearly eighteen and still only an ordinary Soul Elder and Level 3 Soul Engineer. In order to go further, he had no choice but to enlist in the army, hoping to force out his own potential that way.

But while seeking military merit on the battlefield, his entire unit was caught in an encirclement designed by Douluo Continent's side. The Dragon Elephant Soul Tool Legion came to rescue them, and it was then that Chen Li, who had joined the military in his youth, saved him.

Then, after learning that Chen Li had a relationship—though not quite that of master and disciple—with his great-uncle, whom he had met only a few times, he directly acknowledged Chen Li as his Big Brother. With that powerful frontline shield protecting him, he gradually found his footing on the battlefield and slowly gained opportunities to stand out.

Yet despite owing so much, he had stolen Big Brother Chen Li's childhood sweetheart and caused his first love to die through his own recklessness.

Chen Li had been wounded by love and remained unmarried for life, still alone even now. Yet he, this great villain, had shamelessly continued living after getting the woman he loved killed. He had even married and had children, and now his family was filled with descendants.

Even after spending decades in the interrogation department, until his heart had long since hardened like iron, Kong Jie still felt a wave of terror whenever he thought of the people he had wronged.

As time passed, he grew older and drew ever closer to death. He feared that if he met his former lover after dying, what sort of expression he would even be able to make.

That cowardly, timid man from back then had died on the battlefield long ago. What survived was merely a walking corpse that had wronged everyone.

"Cousin, Hall Master Hongchen, I will report this matter to His Majesty. I believe His Majesty will certainly make a fair judgment."

Kong Jie wiped the saliva from his face with his sleeve, then took a deep breath and bowed to Chen Li and Jing Hongchen.

Seeing this, Jing Hongchen and Chen Li, who had been boiling with rage, exchanged a glance. They then dispelled their Martial Soul Possession and quietly waited for the matter to unfold.

Black Moon Douluo, the Emperor's Chief Eunuch, lapdog, executioner, demon from hell...

During the years of chaos within the Sun Moon Empire caused by the struggle for the throne, these titles were terrifying enough to stop children from crying at night.

Perhaps he had not contributed the most during the palace coup, but he was undoubtedly one of the few people the Emperor trusted most.

Within a luxurious bedchamber in Mingdu, an aged middle-aged man lay on a bed made from some special wood brimming with life force, slowly receiving treatment from the Healing Soul Masters around him.

Several healing-type Soul Douluos and more than a dozen healing-type Soul Sages surrounded the bed, treating the aged middle-aged man.

Several healing abilities and Soul Skills that dispelled negative effects, whether life-based, holy, or Spirit Attribute, fell upon the man. Those numerous complex techniques would have been enough to pull an ordinary person back from death's door, yet they brought little improvement to him.

The man looked no older than middle-aged, yet he was profoundly aged.

Though he was the Emperor of the Sun Moon Empire, where black skin was considered the orthodox bloodline, scarcely any black could be seen on his body.

Even with deliberate concealment through dress, his skin was only slightly darker in tone than that of an ordinary person. Thrown out into the open, he would be no different from any ordinary person of Douluo Continent or the Sun Moon Empire. One simply could not see the so-called "pure bloodline" of Sun Moon Empire nobility in him.

The faint aura of death and age around him did not come from physical aging either. It was the result of a mental collapse and trauma so severe that his body had begun to gradually fall apart along with his mind.

The life force within him was abundant. Although most of it had come from supplements of medicinal herbs, Pills, and various treasures rather than being cultivated through his own efforts, making it somewhat insubstantial, it was indeed more vigorous than that of an ordinary Titled Douluo.

Judging by the life force in his body and his Titled Douluo-level cultivation, at just over fifty years old, he should have been at the strongest age of his life.

Under normal circumstances, while he could not remain on the throne for a full hundred years, serving as Emperor for another fifty-odd years would have been effortless.

Yet in contrast to his body's vigorous life force, his mental state was extraordinarily fragile. Compared to before, it was not even half of what it had once been.

Nothing remained of the resolve he had possessed when he devoured his brother's power and began his invasion of Douluo Continent.

Now, he did not even dare claim to be stronger than that former elder brother of his. The Emperor who had once sought to conquer two continents could only curl up like a cripple atop a Rank 9 Soul Tool, relying on external aid to maintain his condition as best he could.

"Enough..."

Feeling the immense disparity between the fullness of his body and the emptiness of his mind, the man's condition worsened further, and his eyes grew even more fragile and dim.

He raised a hand and waved it at the Soul Masters around him. The Healing Soul Masters tactfully withdrew, leaving only one attendant quietly inside the palace.

The man lay upon the Rank 9 Soul Tool crafted from a living Hundred Thousand Years plant-type Soul Beast, his mood heavy and silent.

Xu Pingye, the current Emperor of the Sun Moon Empire and father of Xu Tianran and Xu Tianba, gazed at the familiar ceiling above him. He let out a long, distant sigh as his thoughts churned endlessly.

Is this the power of a Peerless Douluo? Or rather, is this the power of a Peerless Douluo-level Evil Soul Master...

It cannot be cast off or cured. Even after summoning the Sun Moon Empire's finest Healing Soul Masters and trying every possible method, they can only barely slow the curse's progression.