There were countless examples of Xu Tianran discarding his pawns after squeezing every last bit of value out of them.
Take one example.
In the original story, for instance.
To help Xu Tianran ascend the throne, Jing Hongchen had stepped in.
He had given him tremendous support.
Yet in the end, Xu Tianran had never honored his personal promise to preserve the Illustrious Virtue Hall's leading position in research and development and its preferential access to resources after his coronation.
Instead.
Once he ascended the throne, he had killed the donkey after it finished turning the mill.
Using the damage to the Illustrious Virtue Hall and its need for reconstruction as a pretext, he had not only shut Jing Hongchen out.
He had also dispatched him to Heaven Dou City to serve as its governor.
He had stripped him of his core authority entirely.
Later on, he had been reduced to background scenery.
Xu Tianran's actions had undoubtedly chilled Jing Hongchen's heart to the bone.
After all, Heaven Dou City had only just been conquered at the time.
A mere city governor's position.
How could that compare to being the head of the Illustrious Virtue Hall?
Xu Tianran had done this to install "his own people" in positions of power.
Chen Mo had rejected his invitation today without the slightest fear of offending Xu Tianran.
After all, he had not only the Body Sect behind him, but Jing Hongchen as well.
At this point, Jing Hongchen had yet to be stripped of his authority. He remained the dean of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy and the head of the Illustrious Virtue Hall.
On top of that, he had just led the academy's team to a first-place finish in the competition.
His career was on the rise.
Even if