Last time at Haiyou, when he had helped save him, he had already felt this child might have been hiding his abilities before, but he hadn’t thought much of it. After all, he had many sons, and quite a few were clever. He treated his sons like subordinates—if they were loyal and performed well, he would give some rewards. As he wished, he had helped dissolve his marriage engagement. After that, he was busy with many affairs, and hearing the son had contracted a terrible disease, he sent someone to check on him and left it at that.
Until his sons began disappearing one after another…
Someone brought over a stool. Prince Da’an sat down with his legs spread wide, waved his hand, and that Embroidered Uniform Guard retreated dejectedly with lowered head.
The Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander behind him stepped forward, selected among the torture instruments arranged on the nearby torture platform, and finally chose an extremely thin small knife. He smiled with satisfaction, his voice thin and bloodthirsty.
Then he began methodically rolling up his sleeves.
It appeared he was going to personally take action.
Prince Da’an watched coldly without moving.
The Embroidered Uniform Guards standing guard remained silent.
That was a skinning knife.
The knife tip pressed against Murong Yi’s chest.
Prince Da’an slowly said, “Now can you tell me how you did it and why you did it?”
Murong Yi smiled. “If I tell you, you’ll let bygones be bygones?”
Prince Da’an let out a cold laugh.
Before his laughter ended, the small knife in the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander’s hand flicked up swiftly. With a flash of cold light, a thin piece of skin was peeled back, revealing the deep red muscle and blood vessels underneath. Surprisingly little blood flowed—the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander’s small knife thrust precisely into the gaps between tendons, saying coldly, “Peel the skin, slice the flesh, strip the bone, and you’ll talk.”
He made as if to continue peeling.
Prince Da’an: “Enough.”
The Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander paused, reluctantly withdrew the small knife, and casually wiped it on his black robe, leaving no trace.
Murong Yi looked down at his slowly bleeding chest and clicked his tongue. “What a pity—such good skin.”
Prince Da’an nearly wanted to hold his forehead.
How had he never noticed this son was so shameless before?
Shameless yet vicious, carrying some reckless bandit and murderous air.
It gave him a feeling of not knowing where to start.
Murong Yi squinted at him and after a long while said, “You’ve been following big brother all along? Ah, how foolish of me—how could I forget you love tailing people most.”
Prince Da’an acted as if he hadn’t heard the sarcasm, saying blandly, “Second brother, fourth brother, eleventh brother—all had accidents at Haiyou. Counting it up, only you appeared at Haiyou. If you were to strike again, the next could only be big brother. Following big brother, wouldn’t that catch you, this rat?”
Murong Yi said, “Too kind, too kind. We truly are rat father and mouse son.”
Everyone: “…”
Prince Da’an: “…”
After quite a while, he steadied his breathing before slowly saying:
“Since you plotted with such determination to murder your brothers, wasn’t it for the throne? Why are you now speaking nonsense with a death-seeking expression? So you’re just a coward after all.”
Murong Yi widened his eyes, looking him up and down in wonder. “My dear father king, are you the kind of fool who would give the throne to whoever killed your sons?”
Prince Da’an paused again.
How had he never discovered this son had the ability to make people want to vomit blood with every sentence?
“Otherwise, why did you commit such heinous acts? For revenge? There’s no need to tell me such jokes.”
“Heinous acts?” Murong Yi said methodically. “I think if I hadn’t killed them, that would truly be heinous.”
“You conscienceless villain, those were your brothers,” Prince Da’an showed no anger, his tone heavy. “I actually gave birth to such a thing worse than pigs and dogs. Killing brothers, murdering fathers—do you think with these disgusting tricks, you could become king of this Liaodong?”
“My brothers?” Murong Yi laughed coldly, tilting his head, his gaze falling on the crowd. “Hey, Dad, tell me, what other tricks are you hiding to deal with me? Just bring them all out to see. What can hiding and concealing accomplish?”
Prince Da’an laughed coldly. “Your eyes still work well in this condition.” He gestured, and someone behind him brought up a prisoner whose legs hung limply, clearly broken. The escort threw him before the torture rack, splashing some blood on the ground.
Murong Yi looked down and said slowly, “Mu Si, still not dead.”
Mu Si propped himself up and crawled upright. “Of course not dead—have to be kept alive to threaten you.”
He looked at Murong Yi, reaching out as if to touch his head, but finally stopped and scratched his temple instead.
Murong Yi said, “Quite clever. But I don’t like being threatened, so you should just… die.”
Something cold suddenly shot from between his teeth, straight toward Mu Si’s throat.
Everyone was caught off guard.
If the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander hadn’t been watching them both intently and suddenly pulled Mu Si away, Mu Si’s life would have been forfeit.
With a “ding,” that cold flash embedded in a floor crack.
A group of people rushed over to pinch Murong Yi’s mouth and examine it, fearing more hidden weapons were concealed inside.
Murong Yi spat bloody saliva and laughed. “Idiots, wasted effort. Your great king is very careful—he won’t come within three feet of me, otherwise I’d have greeted him too.”
Suddenly someone touched something on him. He jerked his head away violently, the motion so abrupt it tore his wounds. Blood gushed like a fountain, but it didn’t slow him a step as he said coldly, “Get away!”
That group was startled by his sudden murderous aura. Looking around, they hadn’t felt they’d touched anything particular. Besides, this one who didn’t even frown under heavy whipping—how could he react so strongly to a light touch?
Only someone noticed that just now they seemed to have touched his hair ornament…
That person specifically looked at the ornament, fearing it was some mechanism or hidden weapon. But examining it carefully, it was just wooden. Though quite exquisite and refined, it didn’t look very valuable. Besides, this one was a prince after all—what fine things hadn’t he seen since childhood? How could he react so strongly?
The moment that person’s gaze fell on the ornament, he met Murong Yi’s suddenly raised eyes. Frightened by the grim murderous intent in those eyes, his whole body trembled as he hurriedly looked away.
Whatever precious thing it was—if he couldn’t look, then he wouldn’t.
After being dragged away, Mu Si remained dazed for a long while before suddenly howling, “Murong Yi, fuck your grandfather!”
Prince Da’an frowned.
Though his brothers were all dead, hearing this still felt quite unpleasant.
Even more unpleasant was that the plan to threaten Murong Yi with Mu Si was clearly unworkable.
Murong Yi had killed his brothers. What he most wanted to know was: where did he get the power to do these things?
Whether big brother, second brother, fourth brother, or eleventh brother—any of them had more people and money than him. Big brother was even beheaded despite being surrounded by numerous guards. The others were all lured to Haiyou and murdered there. From Liaodong to Haiyou, the information transmission and situation control all required manpower.
It was well known that Little Eighteen’s maternal family had declined. He wasn’t favored, had no money, no people.
Did the Sun Family secretly leave him property?
Had he secretly accumulated power?
Either possibility was enough to make Prince Da’an uneasy—he had to get to the bottom of it.
Prince Da’an’s dark gaze swept over the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander.
The first moment the incident occurred, he had suspected the Embroidered Uniform Guards.
Looking around, only the Embroidered Uniform Guards had access to current information and could accomplish what they wanted from Liaodong all the way to Great Qian.
However, he had the Embroidered Uniform Guards guard and interrogate Murong Yi. Three days now, with no abnormalities. The torture methods—the Embroidered Uniform Guards were the same as always, his most loyal dogs, showing no mercy or difficulty whatsoever.
The Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander was still that bloodthirsty pervert who got excited seeing torture.
His suspicions had somewhat dispersed. Looking up and down at Murong Yi, whose eyes still burned bright, he found this youngest son increasingly worthy of his attention.
Mu Si was still cursing. Prince Da’an frowned, thinking if not for the fact that his father was an old palace retainer who had been loyally devoted for many years, and fearing that killing his son would discourage the old servants, he would have killed this hot-tempered boy long ago.
He said to Mu Si, “You’ve been silent as a clam these past days too. Are you finally resigned now? He’s heartless—why should you die for him?”
Mu Si shouted loudly, “Great King, this boy is a house-born servant of the Murong Family. From childhood I was taught to be absolutely loyal to my master, never to disobey. Even if the master was wrong, I had to obey first and speak later. This boy has never been compliant by nature and got beaten plenty by my father for it. Now I’m compliant, obedient, doing whatever my master commands—what’s wrong with that? Why should I die for it?”
Prince Da’an said coldly, “Twisted logic! You’re told to be loyal to the Murong Family, not to follow traitors in perverse acts. Since you claim loyalty, then tell me—why did this villain murder his brothers, and how did he do it?”
Mu Si said, “If I tell, will you release me?”
Prince Da’an said, “Just like your master! Just speak—stop babbling!”
“Great King, why he killed them—no need to ask about that. If I had several brothers who bullied me like that since childhood, I’d have killed them too!”
“This shows both your natures are vicious! Mere fraternal discipline, just scolding and beating—how could it lead to this!”
“What ‘mere scolding and beating’? Great King, are you pretending not to understand or is your heart truly hard?” Mu Si said in amazement. “They never scolded or beat him! They tricked him to the snowfield, kicked him into ice caves, stepped on him in frozen lakes, drove him to Ten Thousand Snake Valley—which of these wasn’t life-threatening work? That wasn’t the end of it—they also wanted to sleep with their little brother.”
Prince Da’an: “…”