Bai Zihan stood amidst the blood-soaked ground, his sword lowered but not sheathed.

The faint mist of battle still hung in the air, carrying the scent of burnt Qi and iron.

Around him, the corpses of those who had dared to challenge him lay in neat, lifeless halves—Bai Ren's doing.

The battlefield had gone quiet, except for the distant crackle of flames and the occasional dying groan.

The Bai Clan's cultivators stood proud and victorious, while their enemies—what few remained—stood frozen, too terrified to even move.

High above the carnage, the Emperor and the Second Prince watched from their vantage point, surrounded by the surviving commanders and guards of the Falling Star Empire.

None of them looked triumphant anymore.

The Emperor's expression was hard to read—caught between fury and disbelief—while the Second Prince's face had turned an ugly shade of pale.

He stared at Bai Zihan as if staring at a nightmare made of flesh.

He had thought he could achieve everything he planned for—to get rid of his rival, kill Bai Zihan as per his master's mission, and gain massive support from his Master and the hidden backer behind him.

Only to lose everything he had built up.

Bai Zihan's once pristine robes were torn and stained crimson. His elegant looks had been replaced by a more brutal and dangerous image.

He stepped forward. Each step echoed, making the surviving soldiers flinch.

When he finally stopped, he looked straight at the Second Prince and smiled—not kindly, but mockingly.

"So," Bai Zihan said, his voice calm and cutting through the silence like a blade, "was this what you were expecting?"

The Second Prince stiffened, unable to answer.

Bai Zihan tilted his head, the faint curve of amusement still playing on his blood-streaked lips.

"You came with your army, your so-called backers of the Void Refinement Realm and Great Ascension Realm… yet here we are. You—" he pointed lazily toward the prince, "—still breathing only because I haven't decided otherwise."

The Emperor's expression flickered.

He finally understood why Bai Zihan didn't care about him as Emperor—nor about the Falling Star Empire, for that matter.

Now that realization had sunk in, he couldn't help but tremble in powerlessness.

A single Clan!

A single Clan strong enough to destroy an Empire. What kind of logic was that?

Although the Empire itself wasn't yet destroyed—only the Royal Family implicated.

However, in the Falling Star Empire, where the Imperial Family held absolute power (unlike the Desolate Heaven Empire), defeating the Royal Family was as good as destroying the Empire itself.

The Second Prince, Fifth Prince, and even the Emperor now seemed like ordinary men in the presence of the one who was going to dictate their fate.

The Fifth Prince couldn't help but glare angrily at the Second Prince.

He wasn't stupid; he knew this entire disaster was born from the Second Prince's scheme—the same scheme that had led to his beating earlier.

Now, because of his brother's arrogance, they were all in deep trouble, facing an opponent they could never handle.

Only Princess Sun Yaoqing remained calm—eerily calm—watching everything in silence.

Bai Zihan chuckled softly.

"Now then! Shall we decide what your fate is going to be?"

He announced.

The Second Prince's throat went dry. His lips parted, but no words came out.

It was only when Bai Zihan's gaze shifted and his aura sharpened that the prince realized—he was next.

Bai Zihan's golden eyes narrowed slightly.

"Where," he asked, every syllable heavy with quiet threat, "is Elder Shuhai?"

The Emperor was confused. From the start, Bai Zihan seemed to be searching for that person, whom he had never heard about.

The Second Prince was also equally confused. He didn't know how Bai Zihan even knew about his backer.

That name—Elder Shuhai—was one he had never spoken aloud, nor revealed under any circumstance.

Even his Father, the Emperor—who received reports about nearly everything—was in the dark about Elder Shuhai.

Yet Bai Zihan seemed to know about it.

He tried to compose himself, forcing a weak chuckle.

"Elder Shu—who? I don't—"

Before he could finish, the air itself seemed to freeze.

Bai Zihan didn't move, yet the killing intent that erupted from him felt like a blade pressed against the Second Prince's throat.

The prince gasped, his knees almost giving way as his heart pounded violently against his ribs.

Every breath felt like standing at the edge of a cliff—one wrong word, one twitch too many, and he would plunge into a bottomless abyss from which there was no return.

"Hah… Hah…"

Cold sweat drenched his back as he struggled to breathe, the invisible pressure crushing him like a mountain.

"Don't try my patience, Second Prince!"

Bai Zihan's tone was cold.

"Try that again, and your head will be flying off your body."

There was no need to explain further; anyone could tell from Bai Zihan's eyes that it wasn't an empty threat.

He has already shown more than enough to make everyone understand that if he doesn't get the answer he wants, they will be killed.

The Second Prince seemed to be also realizing the reality. If he tried to pull something similar to earlier, this time, he would be killed.

He had already revealed every trump card he possessed, even the secret power he had cultivated behind his father's back.

What good would deception do now?

He gave up and decided to just tell everything honestly.

"I—I don't know where Master is!"

Bai Zihan's gaze sharpened dangerously.

"You don't know?"

The prince flinched.

"He gave me all the support he could."

Those supporters had either fled or been slain by the Bai Clan's Grand Elder chasing them down.

"He said there was no need for him to appear. Now that I think about it… he's likely fled."

Thinking back, his master had always been cautious—if the slightest part of a plan went wrong, he would never appear again.

He reckoned this time was the same. Unless someone confirmed the plan's success, Elder Shuhai would never return.

With his defeat and all his men dead, it was clear he had been abandoned along with other people who followed him.

He hesitated, eyes darting toward Bai Zihan. He didn't know whether Bai Zihan believed him or not, but it was the truth.

Bai Zihan obviously didn't trust him, yet could tell the prince was likely being honest.

However, whether the prince spoke truth or lies—if he was no longer useful, what use was there in keeping him alive?

Still, there was more information to extract.

Even if Elder Shuhai had escaped, perhaps the prince knew something about his true motives—or the organization behind him.

"How did you meet Elder Shuhai?" Bai Zihan asked. "And what do you know of him?"

The Second Prince didn't answer right away. His head hung low, lips trembling faintly—not from fear this time, but from exhaustion.

His eyes were hollow, as if something inside him had broken.

When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet.

"…It doesn't matter anymore, does it?"

His words carried the weight of resignation.

The proud prince who once schemed to inherit the throne now looked like a man who had seen the heavens fall.

He took a long breath and began to speak, slowly and steadily.

"I don't know who he really is. Only that he called himself Elder Shuhai. He appeared to me three years ago—when I had nothing."

He looked up, his face pale but calm.

"At that time, I wasn't even considered a real candidate for succession. My talent was mediocre, my cultivation had stalled, and my bloodline was tainted. The court barely remembered my name."

His hand clenched into a fist, faint bitterness creeping into his voice.

"But then he appeared. Master Shuhai. He said he could make me strong… that I had the 'right temperament' for greatness."

A hollow chuckle escaped his lips.

"And I believed him. No! I want to believe him."

He said.

"He also made them true. Because after he appeared, everything changed. My cultivation soared. He gave me treasures, pills, and techniques that even the royal treasury couldn't dream of possessing. With that, I began to expand my faction—and became a real contender for the throne."

"Before I realized it, I had power. Real power. Supporters from great clans and cultivators of high standing at my command. And most importantly, I had my master's support."

He let out a bitter laugh. After all, he knew deep inside that he never had real power, those were what his Master gave him.

One word from his Master was enough to destory any illusion that he had. But he continues to believe that it was his, that's the only way he could move forward.

"Though he claimed to be at the Great Ascension Realm, I always felt he was hiding his true strength. Seeing how he could command and dispatch so many Great Ascension cultivators, he might have actually been at the Immortal Realm."

The Emperor's expression darkened.

It was common for princes to use underhanded means in the battle for the throne—but to be controlled by an outsider? That was no longer ambition. It was betrayal.

Perhaps it was good that the scheme was exposed and ended before it succeeded.

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