“I’m giving you a chance to kill me.”

Jingrong’s hand gripping the sword hilt tightened several degrees.

Wei Yi said: “Draw your sword!”

The hesitation in Jingrong’s heart was swept away as he drew the sword out.

“Shring!”

The sharp blade left its sheath.

Wei Yi narrowed his eyes, yet could still see that glint of killing intent rising in his eyes. He curved his lips: “Jingrong, you’d better not hold back, because I won’t either.”

Having finished speaking, he already raised his sword and thrust it toward Jingrong.

Before the sharp blade arrived, it was quickly deflected by Jingrong’s sword, and at the same time, his body also dodged to the side!

Wei Yi’s eyes tightened, the killing intent between his brows growing heavier.

He continued attacking!

He had practiced swordplay with martial masters for several months. Although his techniques weren’t agile enough and were even somewhat clumsy, each sword he swung carried more force than an ordinary person’s. Even a practiced fighter like Jingrong had to exert himself somewhat to evade the swords thrust at him.

Jingrong couldn’t have imagined that the timid Wei Yi of years past could now wield a sword against him.

Inner demons truly could change a person!

After several moves, the two were evenly matched!

More accurately, Jingrong hadn’t truly intended to kill him with determination. But his repeated forbearance and evasion made the sense of inferiority in Wei Yi’s heart grow ever stronger—it was contempt and mockery toward himself! Gradually, that feeling transformed into endless rage, stimulating his sensitive nerves, causing the speed of his attacks to grow faster and faster, and that bloodthirsty red color in his eyes becoming especially prominent.

At this moment, Wei Yi had only one goal—kill Jingrong!

They say a person driven mad is the most dangerous, and it was absolutely true.

As Jingrong dodged one of his thrusting strikes, the sword in Wei Yi’s hand slashed a wound across his arm.

The clothing split open!

The flesh tore apart!

Blood immediately seeped from the wound, staining his clothes red!

Jingrong’s wrist trembled as he retreated several steps backward, glancing sideways at the blood-soaked wound on his arm.

His brow furrowed tightly!

Wei Yi pointed his sword at him, saying harshly: “If you don’t use your full strength, the person who dies today will be you.”

Hearing this, Jingrong’s gaze gradually deepened.

Veins bulged on his forehead.

He couldn’t avoid anymore!

Therefore—

Disregarding the wound on his arm, he raised his long sword and switched from defense to offense.

Wei Yi was ultimately just a half-baked fighter, completely no match for Jingrong.

In the end—

He forced Jingrong to retreat continuously backward, his heel striking against the stone steps behind him.

“Bang!”

Losing his balance, his entire body fell backward in an extremely disheveled manner, his back pressing against the stone steps.

The bronze-colored long sword in his hand also fell from his grasp, clanging to the ground with a “clang.”

The sound echoed throughout the entire hall!

And before he could rise, the long sword in Jingrong’s hand was already before his eyes.

The sword tip aimed at his throat!

Just a fraction away!

It could take his life!

Jingrong’s features were stern, his expression cold and somber. Positioned against the backlight, he looked down at Wei Yi from above.

“Is this the result you wanted? To force me to kill you?”

“Haha!” Wei Yi laughed loudly, looking at that sharp blade close before him, gleaming with cold light. His gaze gradually moved upward to meet Jingrong’s eyes as he said, “Now the sword is in your hand. You’re the one making the decision! You can choose to kill me, because… if it were me, I wouldn’t give you any chance to speak.”

He was forcing Jingrong!

More accurately, it was provocation!

Jingrong’s wrist was faintly trembling.

Wei Yi continued: “As long as you kill me, you can take Shu’er away. From now on, no one will obstruct you two anymore. Even the entire realm of Great Lin will be yours.”

Having said this, he raised his chin, prepared to die, without a trace of fear in his eyes.

Jingrong had to admit that Wei Yi’s words did indeed provoke him.

Therefore—

The long sword in his hand truly thrust forward, the sword tip pressing against Wei Yi’s throat. But he controlled the force with extreme precision, not piercing the flesh.

He still restrained himself!

At the last second, he withdrew the sword in his hand.

And threw it on the ground.

Wei Yi didn’t seem surprised; rather, it was within his expectations.

“You should have killed me.”

“I’m not you!”

Jingrong stepped back, slowly retrieving something from his sleeve!

A yellow-brown scroll.

Ugh!

That was… the late Emperor’s testament!

It was what Shang Zhuo had obtained from Eunuch Zhang.

Jingrong asked: “I think… you must have guessed, haven’t you?”

Wei Yi looked at the testament in his hand. A flash of surprise crossed his eyes, but it disappeared in an instant. He sat on the stone steps with a kind of lazy, relaxed air.

Taking a long breath.

“I didn’t guess it—I only thought of it.” His face showed a solemn expression as he spoke seriously with Jingrong: “From the late Emperor’s death to the reading of the edict—what exactly happened during that time? Why, when the late Emperor clearly grasped your hand before dying and told you to guard this realm, why didn’t he pass the throne to you? At that time, why did you summon Minister Shang into the hall? And after you were imprisoned, why did Minister Shang go see Eunuch Zhang after seeing you? All of this made me think about it! Moreover, in the late Emperor’s heart, you were the one he recognized as the Son of Heaven of Great Lin! While I am the son of a rebel! How could the late Emperor pass the realm to me? Isn’t that the joke of the century? It’s just that I didn’t figure it out earlier!”

His tone carried a sense of desolation!

That dragon robe of his also seemed so ironic!

Everything he possessed today was false!

All false!

Jingrong looked at him and said in a deep voice: “The fact of Duke Yuguo’s rebellion is true! The innocent and tragic deaths of seventy-some people is also true! Back then, it was the late Emperor who ordered the burning of Duke Yuguo’s manor. The lives owed can never be repaid! And what I owe you likewise can never be repaid! So all I could do was make amends, giving you what Duke Yuguo didn’t get back then! I also firmly believed you could become a good emperor. But I never imagined that such a decision would lead to today’s result. I shouldn’t have yielded the realm to you because of that guilt in my heart. I shouldn’t have pushed the responsibility that originally belonged to me onto you! The one who was wrong was me.”

Deeply pained!

Haha—

Wei Yi laughed loudly.

Laughing with extreme sadness and bitterness.

Laughing with tears in his eyes.

He raised his hand pointing at the testament in Jingrong’s hand, rebuking loudly: “Jingrong, you claim again and again that you yielded the throne to me because of guilt, claim again and again that you didn’t want to compete with me. But if you truly wanted to hand over Great Lin’s realm to me, you wouldn’t have kept this testament until now. You should have burned it that very night. Actually, you never trusted me in your heart at all. You had long prepared to take all this back. Jingrong, you’re the one who calculated everything!”

“Jingrong, you’re the one who calculated everything!”

The last sentence was roared out directly.