The fact that the second prince, Dominguez, was given the opportunity to command the army was largely expected, given his reputation for virtue and the favor of Emperor Yassin. However, the entrustment of the fourth prince Christo, with such a heavy responsibility was perplexing. Everyone knew that this prince was a hopeless case, arrogant and unrealistic, with high aspirations but low abilities. How could such a mediocre person be entrusted with an army of 100,000? Matters of state and military affairs are not child's play. Such carelessness by the royal family and the Military Department would likely lead to disaster sooner or later!
Could it be that the ailing Emperor Yassin is finally testing his offspring and making a decision on who will inherit the throne?
Emperor Yassin had ten children, four sons and six daughters. Apart from the eldest prince Arshavin, the second prince Dominguez, the fourth prince Christo, and the eldest princess Natasha, who were already adults, the other five princesses were still young. The second princess Cheryl was only fourteen years old this year, too young to have been formally enfeoffed and was not active in the imperial high-ranking circles.
Of Emperor Yassin's ten children, the third prince is the most mysterious.
Apart from his clear birth record and title, everything else about this third prince remains a mystery.
According to some older courtiers, after the Full Moon, the prince and his birth mother—a commoner concubine who was the most favored by Emperor Yassin— disappeared from the palace in Zenit, and various rumors followed.
Some say this commoner princess was executed along with her infant son long ago for offending Emperor Yassin; others say the third prince tragically died of illness, and the princess died young from excessive grief; still others say this commoner princess had a mysterious background and extraordinary strength, leaving Zenit after giving birth to the third prince; still others say the third prince possessed astonishing talent and was taken in as a disciple by a supreme powerhouse on the continent, who took him away to pass on his skills...
Apart from Emperor Yassin and a few senior officials who knew some of the details, no one in the empire knew the truth about the Third Prince's incident.
The only certainty is that this prince has never appeared, but the royal family has never revoked his bloodline order. The Third Prince's residence in the capital has been empty for many years, but it has always been repaired and managed by the royal family, with considerable manpower and resources spent on its maintenance every year. It has never been abolished. These things seem to prove that this mysterious Third Prince is still alive.
Sun Fei was also very curious about this mysterious third prince.
The Letters and Visits Office, with its resources in the capital, had investigated information about the third prince, but ultimately found nothing, and the matter was dropped.
Now, Emperor Yassin has shown signs of deciding on his successor to the throne. The old matter has been brought up again. According to the imperial etiquette and tradition, the most capable adult princes are respected and are all qualified to inherit the throne. This third prince, who has 'disappeared' but 'exists', is naturally a candidate and cannot be ignored.
Who can guarantee that this long-lost third prince won't suddenly reappear one day and vie for the throne?
Sun Fei's curiosity was piqued once again.
However, this thought only flashed through my mind for a fleeting moment.
Rather than digging up these old, trivial matters of the imperial family, Sun Fei had something more important to do now—to find out about the possessed skeleton as soon as possible, whether it was the resurrected Golden Skeleton or the later Blood-Colored Skull.
Sun Fei had a premonition that there must be some kind of inevitable connection between these people. So after hearing about the mysterious powerhouse that Lloris mentioned, Sun Fei made up his mind to go to the Lyon Empire to try his luck and see if he could get any clues.
Anyway, the journey was not deviating from the original plan, and going to the Lyon Empire was just a side trip.
The seventh day.
Sun Fei received intelligence from the [ Letters and Visits Office ], only then learning of a shocking piece of news that the imperial authorities had not yet announced—
A day earlier, after confirming that they were stationed in the Kingdom of Byzantium, the allied forces organized an elite assassination squad composed entirely of Moon Class experts, intending to take advantage of the capital's weakened high-level military presence to carry out a decapitation operation targeting the imperial family and key noble ministers.
Initially, the coalition's plan did indeed achieve the unexpected effect they had hoped for.
The Moon Class experts who had infiltrated the capital successfully stormed into Saint Petersburg, defeating all the armies that tried to stop them and approaching the Zenit Imperial Family Palace. They swept through the city with overwhelming force, seemingly on the verge of a bloody massacre. However, at the last moment, a mysterious expert who inexplicably appeared from within the palace intervened and slaughtered them all. The Moon Class assassination squad of over ten people was completely wiped out; not a single member escaped, all being killed in a square a hundred meters from the palace...
This suddenly appearing powerhouse did not reveal his identity, only making a brief appearance. According to the [ Letters and Visits Office ] intelligence personnel, that was --
"The incident happened suddenly, and the situation was extremely critical. The palace was on the verge of collapse when a flash of blue light appeared, and in a few moves, dozens of Moon Class experts were swiftly and decisively killed, including a Moon Class Great Perfection expert and a Ninth Dan of Mid-Stage Full Moon Class expert. The mysterious expert streaked across the sky like a blue light; no one could clearly see his figure or face, nor could anyone discern what techniques he used. However, one thing was certain: this mysterious expert was a friend, not an enemy, to Zenit, and it was highly likely that he already had one foot in the Great Sun-Rank Venerable realm, with the other foot only a step away..."
The impact of this event, on a small scale, was not much less than the effect of Sun Fei suddenly displaying his Great Sun-Rank Venerable strength.
The Zenit Imperial Family is becoming increasingly incomprehensible.
How could a mere first-tier empire possess such a powerful foundation and accumulated resources?
The Ten Empires Allied Army suffered a crushing defeat. They had hoped to take advantage of the absence of the King of Chambord in the capital, but instead, they lost more than ten Moon Class experts. Adding to the more than ten Moon Class experts killed by King of Chambord in the Battle of Saint Petersburg, this was becoming an unbearable burden. Even the alliance of the ten empires was on the verge of collapse!
Many people are speculating about the identity of that mysterious powerful figure, and various rumors are circulating.
However, only Sun Fei knew the true identity of this mysterious powerhouse.
With this person stationed in the capital, even if the Ten Empires Allied Army were to send a powerful Great Sun-Rank Venerable to attack, they would likely be doomed.
This is one of the reasons why Sun Fei was so confident in leaving the capital to travel.
The eighth day.
Another event occurred within the Zenit Empire that attracted the attention of countless interested individuals—
Chambord City dispatched a 300-strong elite squad of Urban Management led by Frank Lampard and strategist Old Arjen to join the Second Prince Dominguez's legion and participate in the war in the Southern Frontier of the empire.
A small team of over three hundred people may not seem like much, but the real significance of this matter lies in the fact that many people speculate that this might be a signal from King of Chambord, who is now the Imperial God of War and Guardian Martial Saint, indicating that he has still chosen to stand on the side of the Second Prince.
Moreover, as everyone knows, Leo Frank Lampard, one of the Twelve Golden Holy Palaces guardians of the Chambord City, has broken through to the Moon Class in terms of personal strength. No one knows what level he has reached now. More importantly, this Golden Lion is one of the most trusted and close elders of the King of Chambord and a veteran figure in Chambord City. The fact that he personally leads the army shows the extent of the King of Chambord's support for the Second Prince!
However, the other strategist, Arjen, is not well-known to many.
Therefore, at this time, no one realized what kind of impact this insignificant figure they had overlooked would have on the Southern Frontier frontier of the Zenit Empire and even the fate of the entire empire. By the time they realized it, this person had already become one of the most dazzling generals in the chaos of the empire's war.
Second update.
There will be another update tonight, but it will be a little late.