In the most luxurious private suite of the Star Emperor Hotel in Mingkun Prefecture.
Wisps of incense rose from a pierced copper burner, lending the entire room an atmosphere of profound stillness.
Xu Jiawei stood before a long mahogany table, looking at the slender boy standing ramrod straight across from him. His expression held a measure of helplessness, and a trace of guilt lingered in his eyes that he could not conceal.
As the current ruler of the Star Luo Empire, he had prepared an exceptionally generous offer for this secret meeting.
If the boy so much as nodded, high-grade Soul Bones from the imperial treasury, the finest Mimicry Cultivation Fields, and even the core training program reserved for direct descendants of the Star Luo Imperial Family could all be placed at his disposal without reservation.
Yet Xu Mingzi did not spare the priceless tokens on the table a second glance.
He wore the sharply tailored uniform of Minghuang Academy. His delicate features showed not the slightest apprehension at facing the ruler of an empire, only a coldness that kept others a thousand miles away.
"Your Majesty, the terms you have offered are indeed generous enough to be difficult to refuse."
Xu Mingzi spoke calmly, his voice betraying not the slightest fluctuation of emotion.
"But when I was eight, and my mother lay too sick to get out of bed in a dilapidated thatched hut, where were you and the Star Luo Imperial Family?"
That blunt question left Xu Jiawei speechless.
"..."
He opened his mouth, but for a moment, he could not find a single word with which to refute it.
Xu Mingzi gave him no chance to compose a response and continued.
"The day my Martial Soul awakened naturally, I didn't even have a cheap crystal to test