The man walking in front was tall and strong with a broad forehead, but his hair was half-white, and his spirit somewhat diminished. Feng Miaojun had seen him a few times before and recognized him as the old King of Yao. After two years, his face was as white as paper, no longer alert and spirited as before.

Seeing his disheveled hair and poor complexion, Mo Tizhun couldn’t help but call out: “Royal Father, have they mistreated you?”

“I am well,” the old Yao King shook his head, his voice surprisingly resonant: “My son, I pass the throne to you. From now on, you are Great Yao’s…”

Before the final word “ruler” could leave his mouth, the person standing beside him sealed his mute acupoint with a finger.

It was too late—the King’s words had been heard clearly by all the officials who had come here.

The old King wanted to abdicate to the Crown Prince!

Golden words from jade lips, decisive and irrevocable.

With these words, an immediate commotion swept through the crowd.

“Royal Father!” Mo Tizhun turned his gaze to the person behind the Yao King and said hatefully, “Traitor! I should not have been soft-hearted toward you back then!”

The person escorting the Yao King had delicate features with red lips and white teeth—it was Zuoqiu Yuan, Mo Tizhun’s former good friend and the son of the Imperial Observatory Director.

These two had once been intimate friends who shared everything, but now they were mortal enemies, standing on opposite sides of a dangerous wall. Once they met in battle, it would be a fight to the death.

Had Feng Miaojun been here, she would have confirmed her previous thought: Yun Ya had picked up Zuoqiu Yuan on his way back to Wei, thus giving Wei the advantage of a tiger gaining wings.

The Yao people below, seeing him, showed expressions of hatred and contempt: this man had great talent and knew Yao’s internal affairs, foreign relations, military, and civil matters like the back of his hand. Needless to say, the three-hundred-li Flowing Sand Formation at Miensha Ridge must have been traversed with his guidance to the Wei army, using some unknown method. The Wei army’s subsequent unstoppable advance was likely also due to his familiarity with the garrisons and military forces along the way. Furthermore, having previously been able to freely enter and exit the palace, his understanding of the Golden City probably far exceeded that of Yun Ya.

In this extraordinary plan of the Wei Kingdom, he had likely contributed his intelligence and wisdom.

With such a person aiding the tyrant, the Yao Kingdom had truly suffered a great misfortune.

Zuoqiu Yuan smiled, revealing a set of white teeth: “Yes, you are different from your father. He shouldn’t have killed my entire family, and you, you shouldn’t have shown me leniency.” As Yao’s most wanted fugitive, Mo Tizhun hadn’t pursued him relentlessly, only because the murder of the Crown Prince had been committed by the Imperial Observatory Director himself, while Zuoqiu Yuan had originally been unaware.

Otherwise, Zuoqiu Yuan wouldn’t have been able to flee for nearly two years. This, he acknowledged.

Zuoqiu Yuan sighed: “I owe you, but for this old villain, I must kill him to find peace!” As he spoke the last few words, his voice turned harsh, and then he grabbed both hands of the old Yao King.

And so everyone saw that the old King had silver shackles on his wrists, but both hands had only four fingers each. Where the thumbs should have been, there were only bloody holes!

This Zuoqiu Yuan was so cruel, that he had chopped off both of his thumbs.

“For each day you were late, I chopped off one of his thumbs.”

Mo Tizhun’s eyes bulged with rage as he gritted his teeth: “Zuoqiu Yuan if I don’t kill you, I am not human!”

“That’s all for later,” Zuoqiu Yuan’s expression remained unchanged as he jangled the shackles on the old Yao King’s hands, seeing the pain on the latter’s face. “Why don’t we discuss terms first? If you delay another half day, I fear I won’t be able to resist chopping off his head.”

Mo Tizhun’s eyes moved as he forced himself to calm down: “Where is Yun Ya?”

“I am fully in charge here.”

Zuoqiu Yuan smiled, “There’s no need for State Preceptor Yun to appear. Enough talk—surrender now and you can still have a living, active father.”

Mo Tizhun had anticipated this scenario and immediately put aside his anger to enter negotiation mode: “What if I refuse?”

“Then the Yao Crown Prince doesn’t value the King’s life. Rest assured, since you don’t care about him, I won’t take his life immediately.” Zuoqiu Yuan said coolly, “However, we can try to see how much weight other people hold in the Yao Crown Prince’s heart, for example, this old man’s precious grandson.”

Mo Tizhun’s breath suddenly caught.

The Yao King’s grandson was also the son of Mo Tizhun and Princess Hanyue!

With deep spousal love and paternal instinct, he anxiously asked: “Where are mother and son?”

“Very safe. No one has harmed a hair on their heads—not yet.” Zuoqiu Yuan said slowly, “Starting from now if you don’t surrender within two hours, I will chop off one of your son’s hands. For each additional hour that passes, I will send you another part of his body.” He shrugged, “I hope you consider carefully and don’t exceed ten hours, or I won’t know what else there is to dismember.”

Mo Tizhun’s breathing suddenly grew heavy. Zuoqiu Yuan smiled at him, then pulled the old Yao King back into the Corner Tower.

The old King, who had remained silent with his head bowed the entire time, suddenly lowered his head forcefully and violently rammed it toward the pillar by the door!

With this move, he exerted all the strength in his body.

The pillar of the Red Corner Tower was only a foot away from him. The Yao King had been very docile these past two days, and no one expected him to suddenly seek death. Mo Tizhun was greatly alarmed and instinctively lunged forward without thinking. But the tower’s restriction was triggered, and a barrier immediately blocked him.

Zuoqiu Yuan was equally shocked and grabbed the collar to pull the old Yao King back, but it was ultimately too late:

The latter’s head had already smashed violently against the stone!

“Bang,” a dull sound, like a watermelon being crushed, sent a chill through everyone who heard it.

The old Yao King’s brain burst open, red and white matter splattering everywhere.

This king of half a lifetime of glory met his end by smashing his head against a doorpost in his garden.

Rather be shattered jade than become a burden to his son.

“No—” Mo Tizhun’s eyes turned red, “Royal Father!” In his rage and grief, he could no longer control himself or care about anything else. He drew his long blade and forcibly broke through the formation.

Since taking the position of State Preceptor, his understanding of elemental power and the Way of Heaven has deepened tremendously. His current abilities were incomparable to those of years past. As his wild elemental power flooded into the precious blade, it immediately blazed with brilliant light, with the sword edge’s energy extending more than three feet.

The barrier that the Wei people had expended great effort to set up along the garden wall was designed for group battles, with outstanding defensive capabilities. Yet it was forcibly broken through two layers by this all-encompassing single strike.

The blade energy was like frost. Fortunately, when it reached the third layer of the barrier, its force was finally spent. The Red Corner Tower was preserved but shook as if it had just experienced a magnitude seven earthquake.

Seeing the situation turning unfavorable, Zuoqiu Yuan flashed away, leaping down from the tower and running straight into the garden, leaving only floating words behind: “Do you not want your wife and child to live?”

With all his vital energy surging to his head, Mo Tizhun only felt a buzzing in his brain—how could he hear clearly what this person said? He landed back on the ground and buried his head to strike the wall with several blows, swift and violent as a sudden storm, forcibly smashing open the barrier at this spot.

With a “boom,” he forcibly gouged a large hole in the wall.