But he was a clever man. When the aging king asked him which prince was the true heir born bearing an omen, he did not choose to lay it bare. In truth, he understood very well that neither of them had been born with an omen. The so-called omen at birth was merely someone deliberately stirring up momentum.
At least in his eyes, neither possessed a Spiritual Root nor any talent. The Heavenly Dao would not lavish excessive favor even upon heaven's chosen, much less upon the heir of some tiny kingdom in a remote borderland. It was nothing more than human scheming.
At the time, Wen Chishan did not know that power could turn a person straight into a demon. What seemed like an inadvertent step into the matter had, in fact, already entangled him in another's karma. By the time he came to his senses and raised his head, the entire small kingdom had been utterly overturned.
In truth, at the very beginning, it had had nothing to do with him.
But Chishan could not bear to watch people die before his eyes. Of the two heirs, only one was fated to succeed, while the other was fated to die. Yet he felt that one of them possessed a kind and benevolent nature, with the breadth of heart to tolerate others. Thus, though he made no act of favoritism, human hearts were sharper than he had imagined. By the time he realized it, that benevolent heir had already died beneath the other's blades and spears.
The old king died, and the new king ascended the throne. The newly enthroned king was exceptionally brutal, imposing harsh rule upon the people. He even executed every retainer who had once supported the other heir. Should anyone among the populace offer sacrifices