"The court erupted. How could those old nobles, those great families who thought their bloodlines noble, tolerate a woman standing above them? They banded together to oppose her. They wept in court, knelt before the palace gates, and wrote memorials at home to curse her. But the late emperor was set on it. He was determined to make her heir."
"Just then, Her Highness's younger brother—the man who is now the Star Luo Emperor, Xu Jiawei—stepped forward."
Xiao Dingtian's voice turned colder.
"He knelt before the late emperor and said, 'Your son is willing to assist Imperial Sister. I have absolutely no ulterior motives.' He spoke with such sincerity, so movingly, that the late emperor believed him. Half the officials in court were touched, and their opposition began to soften."
"But who could have guessed that it was all an act?"
"The day Her Highness broke through to become a Titled Douluo, the heavens showed strange signs. It should have been an auspicious omen, with the sun and moon shining together, but just as she broke through, a streak of light came plunging down from the sky..."
Xiao Dingtian clenched his fist so hard that his knuckles cracked.
"This old man suspects it was Divine Punishment."
Xu Yanli's pupils contracted.
"Divine Punishment?"
Xu Yanli slowly turned his hands over. If it had been Divine Punishment, then why had the God of Destruction said nothing when his inheritance was passed on? Perhaps it had simply been Tang San acting on his own.
"Yes." Xiao Dingtian gritted his teeth. "That streak of light came down, and Her Highness's Martial Soul... shattered. The wings of her Six-Winged Angel fell away one by one. She collapsed in a pool of blood, covered in wounds. All her Soul Power vanished. She was no better than