A single shout of "Shut up!" rang out.
The eunuch who had been so arrogant and overbearing fell silent as a cicada in winter. His legs gave way, and he really did drop to his knees with a thud.
His mouth hung open, but he couldn't make a sound. It was as though his throat had been stuffed with cotton, and every trace of color drained from his face.
Wh... what on earth was going on?
Dai Weisi didn't spare him another glance and walked straight past him.
"Get up and lead the way."
"Y-yes! Your Highness..."
The eunuch scrambled to his feet, not daring to show the slightest negligence. Bent at the waist, he led the way with quick little steps, his head hanging low.
The path from the bedchamber to Chengtian Hall wasn't particularly long.
The palace guards along the way wore varying expressions when they saw the eldest prince appear.
Some were sympathetic, some regretful, but more watched from the sidelines with cold indifference.
In the brutal meat grinder that was the Star Luo Empire, losers had no right to mercy.
Yet as Dai Weisi walked past them, every guard involuntarily straightened his back and tightened his grip on his halberd.
They felt an unprecedented pressure.
The man walking past them no longer seemed to be the eldest prince who, according to rumor, had been unable to recover after his defeat. He was a peerless ferocious tiger patrolling his territory!
Every step he took was steady and powerful. The presence he gave off without meaning to was as sharp as a blade, making even these battle-hardened elites tremble with fear.
Chengtian Hall was the center of power in the Star Luo Empire.
Inside, the atmosphere was solemn and dignified, yet undercurrents churned beneath the surface.
Civil and military officials stood in ranks on either side, while a middle-aged man in black-and-gold dragon robes and an imperial crown sat upright on the dragon throne.
His face bore some resemblance to Dai Weisi's, but he was more imposing and colder.
His tiger-like eyes flashed brilliantly as they opened and closed, commanding awe even without anger.
He was the ruler of this vast empire, the Star Luo Emperor.
At that moment, a tall prince of the imperial clan, who also had a head of golden hair, stood in the center of the hall, delivering an impassioned speech.
"Your Majesty! I, Prince Cheng, Dai Tianfeng, joined by thirty-six ministers, submit this memorial in tears of blood!"
"The eldest prince, Dai Weisi, is rash by nature and makes no effort to improve himself. He suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Prince Dai Mubai in the Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament, utterly disgracing our Dai imperial family!"
"If such a mediocrity were made crown prince, it would truly be a misfortune for the Star Luo Empire and for all its people!"
"By contrast, the second prince, Dai Mubai, possesses exceptional talent and surpassing intelligence! At the age of only seventeen, his Soul Power has already reached level forty-five!"
"Such talent is as rare as a phoenix feather or a qilin horn in the empire's thousand-year history! In the future, he will surely break through his shackles, become a Titled Douluo, and lead our Star Luo Empire to unprecedented glory!"
Dai Tianfeng paused, then his voice rang through the hall once more.
"Your Majesty, please follow the will of heaven, depose Dai Weisi, and appoint Dai Mubai crown prince in his place!"
"Your Majesty, please set aside the elder and appoint the younger, for the sake of the empire!"
"We, your ministers, second the motion!"
In an instant, more than half the officials in the hall dropped to their knees in unison, making an imposing display.
The Star Luo Emperor sat upright on the dragon throne, his expression as still as water. He did not declare his position at once, but his eyes, fixed on the hall's entrance, revealed everything: bone-deep disappointment in his eldest son, Dai Weisi, and a firm resolve.
Just then, a eunuch's high-pitched announcement came from outside the hall.
"Eldest Prince Dai Weisi has arrived-"
At the announcement, Dai Weisi appeared in the doorway of Chengtian Hall.
He was bathed in sunlight streaming in from outside, its golden halo making his pupils look even deeper. Then he walked in, step by step.
The previously noisy hall fell silent in an instant.
Every gaze focused on him.
Dai Weisi ignored the gazes of schadenfreude, indifference, and mockery, walking to the center of the hall without looking to either side.
"Eldest Prince, what face do you have left to see His Majesty? Kneel!"
Before the Star Luo Emperor could speak from the dragon throne, Prince Cheng, Dai Tianfeng, spoke first.
Dai Weisi, however, simply stood there in silence and did not kneel.
"Hm?"
The Star Luo Emperor's brows immediately furrowed.
Just then, a minister with a goatee stepped out from the crowd, pointed at Dai Weisi, and said with a sneer:
"Dai Weisi, you still have the nerve to stand?"
"How many resources have His Majesty and the empire poured into you? Which of those precious medicinal herbs wasn't offered to you first? You received more than ten times what His Highness the second prince did!"
"And what came of it? Is this how you repay His Majesty and the empire?"
"You're simply, simply a disgrace to the empire!"
Those words struck straight at the heart.
Dai Weisi finally reacted. He slowly turned his head and glanced at the goateed minister with his pale golden eyes.
It was just one glance.
The minister felt as though lightning had struck him. Everything else he had meant to say lodged in his throat, his face turned deathly pale in an instant, and he involuntarily took two steps back.
The majesty and indifference in that gaze made him afraid to the depths of his heart.
Dai Weisi withdrew his gaze and paid the little clown no further attention.
He was nothing more than a minister, yet he dared address Dai Weisi by name in court?
Then his gaze swept across the entire hall.
He saw the "loyal ministers" kneeling in petition, and the "neutral parties" watching coldly from the sidelines.
Finally, his gaze settled on an elderly man at the head of the military officials. He wore heavy black armor, had a mountain-like build and a resolute face, and had not said a word the entire time.
Zhu Xiaotian, head of the Zhu Family and grand marshal of the empire.
He was also Dai Weisi's future father-in-law in name.
Zhu Xiaotian sensed Dai Weisi's gaze and raised his eyelids slightly, but soon returned to a state as undisturbed as an ancient well.
Dai Weisi sneered inwardly.
What a Zhu Family. What a clever scheme.
Their eldest daughter, Zhu Zhuyun, was betrothed to me, and their younger daughter, Zhu Zhuqing, to Dai Mubai.
No matter which of us brothers wins or loses, the Zhu Family will be the final winner.
As for the daughter on the losing side? Most likely, she'll simply vanish from this world along with the defeated prince.
"Dai Weisi, why aren't you kneeling?"
The Star Luo Emperor spoke, a trace of anger already entering his voice.
Dai Weisi raised his head, looked directly at his father on the dragon throne, and slowly said:
"Father Emperor, in my view, after today, you will no longer be my sovereign, nor will you be my father."
"So there is no need for me to kneel."
As soon as he said this, the entire court was shocked!
"Impudent!"
"Outrageous treason!"
The Star Luo Emperor was so furious that he laughed. He slammed a hand against the armrest of the dragon throne and stood up, a terrifying pressure of Soul Power bearing down on Dai Weisi like a landslide and a tsunami!
"Good! So there's 'no need to kneel,' is there!"
"Never in my life have I seen such a rebellious son who has no idea how close he is to death!"
"Hear my imperial decree!"
The Star Luo Emperor's voice was like rolling thunder from the ninth heaven.
"Eldest Prince Dai Weisi is unworthy of his position, defiant and unfilial!"
"Effective immediately, he is stripped of his princely status and reduced to a commoner! Cast him into the cold palace in the northern gardens. Without an edict, he is not to take a single step outside it for the rest of his life!"
When the decree was pronounced, the ministers who supported Dai Mubai all wore smug smiles.
It worked!
Banished to the cold palace? Everyone knew that the Star Luo Empire's cold palace was no place of kindness.
Before long, this former eldest prince would die in an "accident" inside, with not even his bones left behind.
Two heavily armored imperial guards stepped forward, one on each side, reaching out to seize Dai Weisi's arms.
Dai Weisi remained where he stood, his expression frighteningly calm.
He remembered the third option the system had given him after it activated!
"Put yourself on death's ground and live, setting foot on an Asura path filled with slaughter and conquest!"
Acting this way in the hall was naturally an attempt to put himself on death's ground and live once more, obtaining better options and rewards from the system!
Besides, based on his understanding of the Star Luo Empire,
there was no other way for him to get another chance to rise again!
After all, in the Star Luo Empire, from the common people to the imperial court, what mattered was strength, might, and toughness!
If he yielded, he would have no chance at all!
The instant the imperial guards' hands were about to touch him, the cold mechanical voice sounded in Dai Weisi's mind, right on cue.
[Ding! The host has been detected facing a desperate situation. The God-Level Selection System is now in effect!] [Option one: submit meekly. Accept your fate of being deposed and eke out a living in the cold palace. Perhaps you can live a few more days.] [Reward: ten steamed buns and one bucket of clean water.] [Option two: break the net and kill the fish. Unleash your full strength on the spot and splatter Chengtian Hall with blood. Kill as many as you can, then die a heroic death.] [Reward: one resurrection coin (resurrects you on the spot only, but resets your Soul Power to zero).] [Option three: the return of the king! You treat me with indifference today? How could a true emperor allow others to judge him! Before everyone, reveal your strength to your father and the entire Star Luo Empire, and proclaim your rebirth!] [Reward: one Titled Douluo guard and three hundred-thousand-year-old Immortal Herbs (with attributes matching the host's needs)!]