The Star Luo Emperor had four sons.
The second son was utterly useless, beaten like a spinning top by Dai Weisi, unable to fight back.
The third son, Dai Mubai, was nothing but a beast, utterly lacking in responsibility!
Only this fourth son possessed both civil and military talent, with the potential to surpass the ancestors of Star Luo!
In this situation, how could they let someone else take the throne and make a mess of things?
If there were only the Star Luo Empire, that would be one thing.
The problem was, Heaven Dou to their north wasn't a pushover either!
The moment turmoil broke out within the Star Luo Empire, the Heaven Dou Empire would swoop in.
Not to mention the Spirit Hall, which had risen like a dark horse in recent years!
They had finally found a golden legend with the potential to vie for supremacy. They couldn't let him go to waste.
The Star Luo Emperor looked at the civil and military officials kneeling throughout the hall.
His body trembled with rage.
"Good! Good! Very good!"
"You're all standing on his side, then? Nobody move!"
"Let me have a good look at you, Star Luo's pillars of loyal ministers!"
But everyone still lowered their heads and cried out in unison:
"Your Majesty, please calm your anger! We deserve death!"
They didn't want to offend the Star Luo Emperor either.
But who wouldn't want to help unify the Douluo Continent and become one of the founding supporters of the new ruler?
The current Dai Yunzhao really did have the potential to accomplish that!
Even if he couldn't, he could still keep the Heaven Dou Empire firmly in check and perhaps even win vast gains.
Heaven Dou had produced Xue Qinghe, whose name was known throughout the world.
They couldn't possibly send Dai Mubai, that spineless little beast, to face Xue Qinghe, could they?
He'd get beaten like a dog!
And if Dai Mubai started talking about wanting freedom and the like, then threw down the crown and refused to rule, they'd all suffer for it.
Rather than say they were protecting Dai Yunzhao, it would be more accurate to say they were protecting their own future livelihoods!
It didn't matter whether Dai Yunzhao or Dai Weisi won.
That little beast, Dai Mubai, couldn't be allowed to win!
The Star Luo Emperor raised a trembling hand and pointed at Dai Yunzhao.
"Yunzhao, you tell me!"
Even now, he still wanted Dai Yunzhao to confess and make way for the Evil Eye White Tiger.
For Grandmaster's ridiculous theory, he was actually willing to give up his most talented son!
Dai Yunzhao's eyes held a hard edge. "Your Majesty, call me Crown Prince! Otherwise... please strip me of my title!"
Father and son faced each other; ruler and subject stood opposed!
The Star Luo Emperor had never expected things to end this way.
He had already rehearsed the whole scene.
Once Dai Yunzhao was dead, he would weep bitterly, then naturally bestow the position of Crown Prince on Dai Weisi.
Finally, after a show of reluctance between ruler and ministers, he would give Dai Yunzhao a grand funeral!
He would posthumously grant him a princely title and bury him in the imperial mausoleum.
Anyone watching would see a loving father, heartbroken over his son.
But Dai Yunzhao had overturned the board!
He had killed Dai Weisi!
The Star Luo Emperor had to admit that a tremendous panic had seized his heart.
Otherwise, he could simply have left the position of Crown Prince vacant and waited for Dai Mubai to return.
It was he who had brought up the idea of immediately summoning Dai Mubai back and refusing to hand the throne to Dai Yunzhao!
He had only said those things because rage had clouded his mind. He never should have spoken them in court.
If he hadn't, Dai Yunzhao might have continued to endure it.
But now he had said them!
He had been the one to tear away the pretense!
And yet his beloved Dai Weisi was already dead.
Even now, he still hadn't seen his son's body!
Another outstanding son stood before him, forcing him to abdicate!
This was a capital offense.
By law, every high-ranking official in the court ought to die.
But how could he execute them?
How would the court historian record his tyranny?
Would the Heaven Dou Empire to the north, or the ever-watchful Spirit Hall, seize on this as an excuse to march on Star Luo?
He had calculated everything, yet failed to account for Dai Yunzhao winning.
And he had even less expected Dai Yunzhao to defy him to his face!
Your Majesty, call me Crown Prince...
Otherwise, please strip me of my title...
Those two sentences circled endlessly through the Star Luo Emperor's mind.
Father and son had come this far. Their bond was spent.
The Star Luo Emperor lowered his hand.
"Strip the Fourth Prince, Dai Yunzhao, of his title and status, and expel him from Star Luo!"
This was his last resort.
He couldn't let the Evil Eye White Tiger, passed down through his family for countless ages, die out!
The civil and military officials wanted to keep pleading, but the Star Luo Emperor's voice rang out coldly:
"Anyone who dares plead on his behalf will be executed without mercy!"
The officials knelt on the ground, not daring to breathe too loudly.
Dai Yunzhao showed no reluctance to leave.
He removed his gold robe with its red trim and wide sleeves, folded it neatly, and placed it on the hall floor.
He also set down the jade thumb ring that represented the emperor's past favor.
Once he had finished, Dai Yunzhao returned to his wheelchair.
"Shadow, let's go."
The Star Luo Emperor stared blankly at the scene before him.
It didn't look as if he had stripped Dai Yunzhao of his title.
It looked more like Dai Yunzhao... had rejected him.
But as soon as the thought arose, the Star Luo Emperor forced it from his mind.
What a joke!
He was the Star Luo Emperor!
In the whole Douluo Continent, only the Heaven Dou Emperor stood as his equal.
What could one mere prince do after leaving Star Luo?
The wheelchair creaked as it rolled out of the hall.
The guards along the way didn't make things difficult for Dai Yunzhao either.
Over the years, he had turned nearly all the rewards he received into money and given it to the common people.
What family didn't have a relative who had benefited from the Fourth Prince's kindness?
The guards watched as Dai Yunzhao departed.
The atmosphere in the hall had fallen to freezing point.
At last, the Star Luo Emperor said coldly, "I have done nothing wrong. Court is dismissed!"
After court, the Star Luo Emperor cast aside all imperial dignity and rushed straight to the palace gardens.
He had ordered everyone not to interfere in the affairs between the two princes.
He had assigned six powerful Soul Emperors to guard them!
He pushed open the garden gate.
The six Soul Emperors' bodies lay torn to pieces on the ground.
As for Dai Weisi, his blood had already run dry!
The Star Luo Emperor could no longer care about his imperial dignity. He threw back his head and wept!
He held Dai Weisi's body as blood soaked through his clothes.
"Bring Mubai back sooner. And... don't let him leave the Star Luo Empire alive!"
The Star Luo Emperor issued his cruelest decree.
For the sake of pure bloodlines, for the son he truly favored, and for the sake of his own face before the court.
He chose to kill his son!
Dai Yunzhao had expected all of this.
He had considered many possibilities, but never imagined that the Star Luo Emperor would ignore the opinions of the civil and military officials and pay no heed to the voices of the realm.
He was simply stubbornly clinging to that damned bloodline!
After the emperor left court, Dai Yunzhao had already boarded a carriage.
Star Luo was a military empire, full of powerful generals and magnates!
The carriage he was riding in belonged to the commander-in-chief of the Star Luo Empire's Spearhead Unit!
The burly man seated opposite Dai Yunzhao spoke in a deep voice. "Your Highness, where are we going next?"
Dai Yunzhao smiled faintly.
"What I want to know is, how many people in the army will follow me?"
Leaning back in the carriage, the burly man gave a rather ugly laugh.
"Your prestige in the military after your last campaign against Heaven Dou is beyond even your own imagination."
"Most of the army's bigwigs are willing to follow you."
"But those soldiers... their homes are in Star Luo!"
Dai Yunzhao nodded.
He had originally thought only this Spearhead Unit would follow him.
But now, it seemed that wasn't the case.
"I can make everyone into true Soul Masters!"
"I'm going to build an army of Soul Masters!"
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