A moment of stiff silence.

After a long while, Ying Bai drew a breath and murmured: “The one just now… was the Queen?”

In that instant he’d been too anxious and tense, striking without reservation. He’d only seen a mass of bright red, vaguely feeling the voice was familiar, with that robe’s collar covering half the face – he truly hadn’t seen Jing Hengbo clearly.

No answer was needed. Gong Yin’s actions at this moment already represented everything.

Ying Bai felt bitter in his mouth. Even now he didn’t understand what exactly was happening.

There was no time to think properly now. Three chi of blue steel gleamed like autumn water before his throat. Opposite him, Gong Yin’s eyes were sharper and colder than autumn water.

He had never imagined encountering such a scene in his lifetime.

He had never imagined Gong Yin would point a sword at him.

They had known each other since youth in humble circumstances. Gong Yin was a staff disciple taken in by the former state preceptor, he was a warrior recruited by the former state preceptor. In one assassination attempt they had saved each other’s lives, and from then on had been inseparable for many years. He had followed him through every conspiracy and open scheme, every power struggle, walking through the storms of Dige. When he was general, he was deputy general. When he was deputy minister, he was administrator. When he was state preceptor, he was his Jade Photo Dragon Cavalry Grand Commander. Step by step, their footprints wrote the splendid world of youthful confidants.

And today, would they truly cross swords over a woman?

Sword energy and killing intent pressed at his throat. As long as Gong Yin moved his wrist, he would have no chance of survival.

Waterfall spray soaked them both. Neither moved. Sword light hung between the water light like a bridge – not a connecting bridge, but a bridge of severance.

Even the great army below seemed to sense this murderous atmosphere, staying silent in fear.

Suddenly a scream rang out from across the way.

Ying Bai stood sideways on the stone platform, seeing a woman in bright yellow dress stumbling toward them.

His heart shook. He had been rushing all the way, knowing someone followed behind. Thinking it was the Queen’s secret guards, he hadn’t paid attention. Who knew she herself had actually come.

The Emerald Queen ran over, first seeing Yu Wuse hanging in the waterfall, drenched until his whole body was blue. She screamed: “Wuse!”

“Mother!” Yu Wuse, awakened by the water, shouted unclearly: “They harmed me! Want to kill me! Save me! Save me!”

The Emerald Queen looked up and let out a second cry even shriller, almost piercing eardrums: “Ying Bai!”

Hearing this suddenly, Yu Wuse was stunned, struggling to turn his head to look up, but the water flow made it impossible to open his eyes. How could he see?

“A bunch of idiots!” Seeing Ying Bai being pointed at with a sword, the Queen flew into rage: “What are you all standing around for! Charge the formation! Rescue His Highness… and Ying Bai! Kill those two!” She pointed at Gong Yin and the man in brocade.

The man in brocade smiled, tossing the antidote in his hand.

“Kill me and your son gets to accompany me. Quite nice – come on then.”

“Who are you? What’s going on?” The Emerald Queen frowned.

“Ah? Oh.” The man in brocade smiled with airy indifference: “I don’t know.”

People were already beginning to charge the formation. The waterfall direction was the life gate – gradually people broke through the formation and rushed over. The Emerald Queen pointed at the stone platform: “Shoot! Shoot that sword-wielder to death!”

“Stop!” Ying Bai roared angrily.

The Emerald Queen was stunned. She lifted her skirt, climbed onto the round stones, and pointed at Ying Bai’s nose from afar: “Are you crazy! Open your eyes and see clearly – this is your son! Your son! You bastard, you didn’t care about me or want me back then, now you won’t care about or want your son either?”

The army was dumbfounded – wasn’t the Queen’s royal consort the former grand minister? Hadn’t he died many years ago…

Oh my, accidentally overhearing royal secrets – what to do!

“Shoot! Shoot! Don’t listen to Ying Bai! He’s nothing! I’m in charge!” The Emerald Queen waved her hands repeatedly.

“I said stop!” Ying Bai’s voice was deep and resonant, shaking her until she nearly tumbled off the round stone: “Yu Ming, if you don’t listen to me today, never think of seeing me again!”

“Fine if I don’t see you! When have I ever seen you before?” The Emerald Queen retorted while making a gesture to lower both hands.

Gong Yin watched this family of three, suddenly dropped his long sword, turned and plunged into the waterfall.

Ying Bai reached out to grab him, only catching a piece of his clothing – wet and cold sliding through his palm, like his inexplicably dejected mood at this moment.

He leaped down from the stone platform, cut the rope, and Yu Wuse fell stiffly into his embrace.

Ying Bai swept across the pool water, using internal force to drive away the cold while looking down at his face.

Though still a tender young face, Yu Ming was right – this child was unmistakably his son. Almost exactly molded from the same cast as his own youth.

The child’s brows showed blue qi, clearly poisoned. He looked toward the man in brocade, who smiled and tossed over a pill.

“This isn’t because you asked for it,” the man in brocade said with indifferent cunning: “It’s what that person you harmed went through great hardships to obtain.”

Ying Bai felt even more confused. The Emerald Queen angrily rushed over, her face sprouting more spots from excitement.

“What is this thing,” she snatched the medicine: “Summon the physician to examine it first…”

Ying Bai snatched it back and without another word, fed it into Yu Wuse’s mouth.

The Queen was stunned, her face twitching for a long moment before she wailed: “Wuu!”

“Every time you do this, every time you do this…” She covered her face sobbing: “Won’t listen to anything I say, won’t care about anything I ask, always have to oppose me on everything…”

Ying Bai stared at her with a headache, wondering how this woman’s temperament had become even stranger after twelve years apart.

Yu Wuse in his arms groaned and slowly awakened. Ying Bai immediately looked down, holding him tighter, slightly nervous.

No matter what, this was his son. All these years he hadn’t known of his existence. Now that father and son finally met, would this child smile, cry, resent, or…

Yu Wuse opened his eyes, stared at him, and after a long moment suddenly grinned and said clearly: “Daddy!”

Ying Bai’s hands trembled, nearly dropping him. In an instant, waves surged in his eyes – all sorts of past events.

When he’d left in anger years ago, wandering alone all these years, with no ties and never thinking he should have any ties, occasionally during festivals there were inevitably moments of loneliness and melancholy.

Then suddenly learning he had an eleven-year-old son, then having that son in his arms at this moment, completely without reservation, so warmly affectionate, calling him daddy.

His heart warmed, his nose felt sour and swollen. At this moment he truly felt some guilt, thinking that when he’d left in anger over losing his past love and feeling Yu Ming had schemed to trap him, he hadn’t owed much to anyone else, but he owed this child alone. He couldn’t help holding him even tighter.

“Daddy, you’ve finally come back. I’ve been waiting for you so long…” Yu Wuse embraced him back, whispering in his ear: “I’ve wanted to poison you for a very long time too.”

…

Gong Yin plunged into the rolling waterfall.

Passing through that fierce sheet of snow-white water, behind was pure blackness. This mountain wall slanted downward, sliding all the way down.

This gave him some comfort – at least along this path, Jing Hengbo wouldn’t suffer major harm. But who knew what she’d encounter at the bottom? If it was a field of large stones…

With a “swish” he’d reached the end, swept down by the water flow and sliding several chi on the ground. Feeling it was still a flat surface, he was about to slide down following the water flow when suddenly alarm rose in his heart. He pressed his hand down and his body flew up, stopping.

He stood in the darkness, water drops dripping from his body, sparkling and bouncing in the blackness. By the time they reached him they’d become ice beads, then rustled down.

The rustling sound suddenly vanished at one palm’s distance to his side. He flicked his fingertip, the finger wind striking empty space.

There was an empty cliff to his side!

His heart immediately went half cold. His vision was slightly clearer now, finally seeing clearly that under his feet was a stone beam, half suspended in air, half a zhang wide. Someone sliding down from above, if unlucky, could easily slide off.

Below was about three zhang high – the height wasn’t too bad, but the problem was the jagged rocks below. Falling onto them would mean serious injury if not death.

Then he discovered what seemed like a red mass below!

Greatly alarmed, he quickly slid down the stone beam and grabbed that red mass, shouting: “Hengbo…”

His voice stopped.

What he held was soft – just clothing, no person.

Not seeing a person was better than seeing a corpse. Comforting himself thus, he began searching bit by bit below, walking through the small area of several zhang square with no trace found.

People don’t just vanish. Finally he returned to that fox fur cloak, moved it aside, and discovered the cloak was stuffed in a hole. The hole was very narrow, snaking downward like a snake. The hole faced directly toward the bottom of the stone beam.

Obviously, Jing Hengbo had slid all the way down to the bottom. With her slender figure, she’d slid into that hole without obstruction, but the fox fur cloak was too large and was left behind, blocking the hole’s entrance.

He couldn’t enter that hole, nor could he guess where it led. He could only pray it continued as a smooth downward passage with an exit outside the mountain.

Now all he could do was quickly leave the valley and circle around Yi Mountain to search for her.

He had to pick up the fox fur cloak and head out of the cave all the way.

…

Ying Bai suddenly felt a chill in his abdomen.

A numbing sensation spread through his whole body.

At the same time, with a “whoosh,” a stone struck Yu Wuse’s shoulder and his body went rigid.

Ying Bai looked up to see Gong Yin emerging from the cave holding red fox fur clothing, standing behind them, staring at Yu Wuse with a face like frost.

Yu Wuse’s face was ashen. He was still in Ying Bai’s embrace – Ying Bai need only lift his hand lightly to strangle him.

The Emerald Queen over there was still shouting at Gong Yin: “Who are you? Why attack my son? Someone come, arrest them all…”

“Stop!” Ying Bai quietly snapped, and the Emerald Queen’s chattering mouth suddenly stopped. But still unwilling to give up, she said angrily: “They kidnapped my son…”

“Your son had a chance to escape. We had already planned to release him.” Gong Yin said lightly: “But he refused to leave, poisoning the food, thinking that after poisoning us he could return to search us. He also tried to kill this person,” he pointed at the man in brocade. “This person planned to kill him. My companion couldn’t bear it and proposed hanging your son on the waterfall for the Emerald army to rescue. The waterfall was precisely the formation’s life gate – this would give your son a chance at life while also saving your great army. My companion…” He paused, murderous intent showing in his eyes: “Her injuries hadn’t healed. For your son’s life, she braved the waterfall alone, but was forced off the waterfall by you husband and wife together. Now her life or death is unknown.”

He rarely spoke so many words, but at this moment, there were reasons he had to speak.

Ying Bai’s face grew even more blue, his expression both ashamed and regretful. In his anxiety for his son’s safety, he hadn’t had time to see who that person was. How could he know there were so many details involved?

The Queen listened in a daze, thought about it, then sneered: “Your story is bizarrely fabricated! Setting aside that my son would never be so vicious – where in the world are there such kind-hearted people who would go to such great lengths to save Wuse for no reason? Speak! What are your ulterior motives!”

“Shut up.” Ying Bai couldn’t bear it anymore and angrily said: “Stop the nonsense and quickly send people to search!”

The Queen stared at him, her eye circles gradually reddening. Suddenly she sneered: “Fine, you’re ordering me around again, just like back then, ordering me to be obedient in every way, right? Don’t you think about whether now is the same as back then? What right do you have to order me around?”

Ying Bai was speechless, but said again: “Regardless, please first send people to search and rescue.”

“Won’t listen, won’t listen! Why should this queen listen!” The Queen cursed and rebutted while waving at her subordinates.

The Emerald royal army acted on orders, the crowd dispersing. Only then did Ying Bai grit his teeth and say: “Why go to such great lengths to save Wuse? Because Wuse is my son!”

“How did they know…” The Queen suddenly burst with joyful surprise: “Could it be you’ve already publicly acknowledged Wuse?”

Seeing her joyful expression, Ying Bai couldn’t bear to destroy her happiness, but ultimately could only heavily shake his head: “…It’s because Wuse looks too much like me. They recognized…”

“Your acquaintances? Who?” The Emerald Queen was somewhat disappointed and immediately resumed her wariness.

Ying Bai looked at Gong Yin. He understood Gong Yin’s meaning – what he needed to do was cooperate.

Having already wronged the Queen, of course he should repay her. The Emerald tribe’s friendly cooperation would be the greatest gift to repay the Queen.

“The one who fell just now…” he said, “is the Black Water Queen.”

The Emerald Queen was stunned. Yu Wuse suddenly looked up.

“Black Water Queen?” The Emerald Queen murmured the repetition, suddenly her eye circles reddened again as she angrily said: “No wonder everyone says you have special feelings for the Queen, willing to give up your Grand Commander position to follow her to the ends of the earth. I still didn’t believe it, always refuting it as rumors. Now it seems it’s absolutely true… She’s even willing to risk her life to save your son! Next will Wuse have to call her mother?”

The expressions on Ying Bai and Gong Yin’s faces were spectacular. The man in brocade “pfft” spat out.

The angle from which women view things… truly bizarre in every way.

Gong Yin coldly glanced at the Emerald Queen – Jing Hengbo would only be the mother of his children!

“Look at your half-dead appearance… she just fell down! If you want to save your queen then save your queen – why did you have to slander Wuse like that? Wuse is gentle and kind, always a good child. Look…” She suddenly noticed Yu Wuse was intimately embracing his father.

She stopped talking, a bit jealous, a bit surprised, but mostly delighted, so much so that she was radiant. She immediately cast aside the jealousy she’d just felt.

“Wuse,” she said with relief, “I was still worried you wouldn’t behave. It’s so good that you’re this sensible…” She turned to Ying Bai: “Ying Bai, see, wasn’t I right? Did I raise Wuse well or not? Is he both obedient and sensible, just like when you were little?”

Ying Bai slowly raised his head.

Looking at Yu Wuse, he had already been immobilized by Gong Yin’s finger technique, unable to move. He couldn’t withstand Gong Yin’s cold energy, his face pale and shivering. Seeing the look directed at him, Yu Wuse first instinctively tried to dodge, but seeming unwilling to submit, he turned back, his large eyes glaring at him viciously.

That gaze was stubborn, yet vaguely containing anger, sorrow, resentment, and unconscious pleading…

Beneath this child’s soft exterior was a hard, complex heart. Meeting such a gaze, Ying Bai felt his heart blocked.

He turned his gaze away and looked at the Emerald Queen. Her expression was complex – joy at her son’s survival, resentment toward him, but mostly surprise and satisfaction at this warm father-son embrace scene. His heart stirred, suddenly remembering how she, pregnant before marriage, had endured under the equally hot-tempered old king’s威压.

How had she withstood all the court criticism and malicious gossip, insisting on giving birth to this child?

When he and she had that one night of folly years ago, his beloved had died tragically. He was certain she was responsible, left in anger forever, and after leaving the Emerald tribe, heard that she, the crown princess, had been deposed and reinstated three times, almost becoming a laughingstock of the six kingdoms and eight tribes. At the time he had felt faint satisfaction, thinking she was finally tasting the bitter fruit of her bad temper, receiving the lesson she deserved.

But only today did he learn that the three depositions and reinstatements weren’t because of her violent temper, but because of that child who shouldn’t have appeared.

How had she survived these years?

He gazed at the marks on her face. Looking carefully, they weren’t pockmarks but various uneven bumps. Her facial skin was in terrible condition – whether from excessive internal heat or physical reasons.

Yet at this moment every bump on her face was glowing – that was her relief and pride, because of the child Wuse.

She must have suffered hardships all these years. Wuse was her only support.

Ying Bai quietly turned his head, no longer looking at Yu Wuse, and said gently: “Yes, he’s very good. You…” He hesitated, then finally said: “…have worked hard.”

The Emerald Queen trembled.

For an instant she seemed about to cry, but immediately forced her eyes wide open, rolling her eyelids upward to stop her tears.

She held her head high, nostrils facing him, her voice somewhat proud yet laughing: “Hypocritical man!”

Ying Bai kept his head down without moving. Yu Wuse unexpectedly widened his eyes, momentarily unable to react. Gong Yin’s brow was cold as frost, the man in brocade smiled mockingly.

“Ah, Wuse,” the Emerald Queen took a long time to adjust her emotions, secretly turning to dab her eyes with a handkerchief, then turned back with a serious expression: “Your father seems to have lost his strength. Why don’t you help him up!”

Yu Wuse seemed finally awakened by this shout. He looked around in confusion, then suddenly pushed Ying Bai hard.

Ying Bai fell to the ground with a bang, unable to struggle up.

The handkerchief in the Emerald Queen’s hand dropped to the ground. She opened her mouth but couldn’t make a sound.

“Why should I help him! Why should I help him!” Yu Wuse suddenly jumped up, ice shards sliding off his body with clinks. He wiped his face where tears and ice beads mixed together, falling down with patters: “Why should I help this man who played around then abandoned us! Why should I call this heartless man father!”

“Wuse!” The Emerald Queen was thunderstruck, her face pale as she stepped back, then suddenly rushed forward, raising her hand: “Slap!”

The sound of the slap was crisp. Yu Wuse’s head was knocked sharply to one side, five finger marks immediately appearing on his snow-white face. He spat out bloody saliva.

The previously hardworking, obedient little prince now showed his vicious true nature, his eyes like those of an injured young wolf.

“Hit me! Go ahead and hit me! Since you hit me for him for the first time, there’ll definitely be a next time!” He shouted: “Have the guts to beat me to death!”

“Wuse! Are you mad!” The Emerald Queen’s eyes rolled back, nearly fainting. When officers beside her tried to support her, she pushed them away fiercely.

The toughness and ruthlessness in a woman’s bones supported her from falling. She raised her hand, pointing at Yu Wuse, her tone gradually regaining calm.

“You little bastard, give me an explanation!” she said: “What ‘played around then abandoned,’ what ‘heartless man’! What nonsense have you been listening to? Who taught you to hate your father!”

“No one needed to teach me!” Yu Wuse’s voice was louder than hers: “All of Emerald knows! You were played with then abandoned, you got pregnant before marriage as an unmarried girl, you’re the most shameful crown princess in Emerald history, deposed and reinstated three times! What’s the root of your shame? Is it me? How did I come about? Is it him? If I don’t settle accounts with him, who should I settle with?”

“Wuse…” The Emerald Queen suddenly remembered something, her face pale and trembling, asking in disbelief: “…All these years, when you said you missed your father, when you said you wanted to learn cooking and wine-making to win your father’s heart and keep him so our family of three could live together happily… were you lying to me? Were you always lying to me?”

“Yes!” Yu Wuse’s eyes full of tears, he laughed coldly: “Mother, you’re too kind, too straightforward. Only you would hold no grudge against that hypocrite who played around then abandoned you, still thinking of him constantly. You like him, you can’t forget him, but why should I have to like him and please him? Why? Because he abandoned you? Because he made you suffer humiliation? Or because of him I became a bastard, mocked by other tribal royal children when I’m with them?”

“Wuse…” The Emerald Queen staggered and supported herself against a nearby tree.

“If I didn’t say this, how would you be willing to let me, a prince, learn those lowly tasks like cooking and wine-making? And how could I learn poison arts while learning those things, gaining skills in poisoning?” Yu Wuse sneered: “Mother, you can forget those difficult years, you can forget how you were punished to kneel outside the ancestral temple in heavy snow for being pregnant with me and nearly froze to death; you can forget how you were barred from grandfather’s deathbed and not allowed near his spirit tablet; you can forget that if not for a group of loyal subordinates helping, you wouldn’t have survived, let alone kept the throne! But I remember! I remember I’m a child without a father! My mother was never happy for a single day because he abandoned her, growing bumps on her face early and ruining her looks. And that man, for his cheap woman, abandoned wife and child, drinking and making merry every day, fooling around with a bunch of lowly women…”

“Slap!” Another crisp slap cut off his next words.

“Hehehehe.” Yu Wuse wasn’t angry anymore, wiping blood from his mouth and pointing at the pale-faced Ying Bai: “Mother, blame me and be angry at me as you like. Anyway, I don’t acknowledge this father, I don’t want him, I feel sick looking at him. Today I poisoned him once as a lesson – every time he appears I’ll poison him once. I keep my word.”

The Emerald Queen stared at him blankly, then suddenly pointed at Yu Wuse: “Arrest him!”

“Your Majesty!” The attendant officers were shocked.

“Arrest this rebellious son who can’t distinguish right from wrong! People weren’t wrong about him after all – he really can’t tell right from wrong and acts viciously!” The Queen gritted her teeth: “I’m going to depose him!”

“Your Majesty!”

“Depose me, and where will you find another son?” Yu Wuse sneered.

“Have another one!” The Emerald Queen’s voice was even more righteous than his. She turned to look around and grabbed a nearby officer: “Wang Cheng, it’s you! I’ll marry you tomorrow!”

“Your Majesty!” The officer didn’t dare struggle, his legs nearly giving out.

What was this all about!

“What are you afraid of? I think you’re quite pleasant to look at.” The Queen chuckled: “This kid thinks too much – it’s necessary to clear his head!”

“Yu Ming!” Ying Bai suddenly shouted.

“None of your business.” The Emerald Queen said coldly: “I suddenly understood – I was wrong. All these years not marrying and staying chaste made Wuse misunderstand. He thought I was keeping chastity for you, thought I was an abandoned resentful woman, and he couldn’t hold his head up for not having a father. It’s just a father, isn’t it? I’ll give him one. Wang Cheng, from now on you’re my royal consort. We’ll have the wedding ceremony after returning to Jade City.”

She sneered at Yu Wuse: “May I ask if this father meets your approval? Do you still plan to poison him every time you see him? If he doesn’t suit you, tell this queen quickly and I’ll change him for another, ensuring your satisfaction.”

The onlookers silently lowered their heads – what kind of plot twist was this…

Yu Wuse’s face alternated between blue and white. After a long moment he roared: “Must you degrade yourself like this to disgust me?”

“It’s you who’s degrading us and disgusting all of Emerald!” The Emerald Queen’s color changed dramatically: “When did I raise such an ungrateful rebellious son!”

“If I’m ungrateful, it runs in the family!” Yu Wuse’s little mouth was quite sharp: “Go ask my father!”

“Your ungrateful father just risked his life to save you, his ungrateful son!”

“That’s what he owes me!”

“I owe you too! I owe you a father, and I’m making it up to you right now. From now on, you’re no longer crown prince. Get back to Jade City and reflect on your mistakes!”

“I have no mistakes to reflect on! I wish you and your new royal consort a hundred years of happiness, and hope you quickly have another ungrateful little bastard to kill me and become king!”

“Rest assured! It will definitely be as you wish!”

The officers with lowered heads were already gritting their teeth – the argument was fierce and tense, but why did they want to laugh so much?

The man in brocade was already watching with bright eyes, thinking this scene was deadly entertaining.

Gong Yin was rubbing his temples, never imagining how this family reunion drama had suddenly turned into a domestic ethics soap opera. He wanted to leave, but feared Ying Bai might unjustly lose his life under the siege of this bizarre mother-son pair, so he had to patiently watch.

“Hey,” the man in brocade nudged his arm, “how about we help them out again?”

Gong Yin ignored him.

“There’s definitely a story here, but those two won’t tell it. I must make them speak!” The man in brocade was very determined.

Gong Yin didn’t respond. Ying Bai appeared romantic and carefree but was actually steady and persistent. He seemed to play in flower gardens but was actually bad at handling emotional matters. He seemed to have slept in every brothel bed but actually had never slept with anyone. Deliberately spreading his reputation for romance throughout Dahuang was probably hoping the Emerald Queen would give up and stop looking for him.

He’d vaguely heard about Ying Bai’s affairs back then and always felt there were hidden details. But Ying Bai avoided facing what he didn’t want to confront and wouldn’t change his mind once decided – with this personality, Yu Wuse was absolutely right to be his spawn.

“Where in this world are there no hidden grievances?” he said lightly: “It’s just that Ying Bai swore years ago not to discuss old matters unless facing life and death.”

Facing life and death? That wasn’t hard. The man in brocade raised his hand impatiently: “So noisy.” A surge of energy shot out, whooshing into Ying Bai.

The two who were arguing turned around together. Seeing Ying Bai’s face suddenly turn ashen, the Emerald Queen screamed and rushed over, holding up his head: “Ying Bai! Ying Bai! What’s wrong?”

Yu Wuse stood there, glancing sideways at Ying Bai. His legs moved, then he turned away.

“What did you do to him?” The Emerald Queen angrily asked the man in brocade.

“So noisy, is there no end?” the man in brocade said lightly: “Listening to all this, it’s just trouble caused by one man. I’m kindhearted, so I’ll solve this man for you. He’ll be poisoned in the future anyway, and poisoning over and over won’t let him live long. Better short pain than long pain – no need to thank me.”

“Ying Bai! Ying Bai!” The Emerald Queen, hearing half of this, frantically felt Ying Bai’s chest: “How are you? How are you? Are you poisoned or what? Yu Wuse!” She turned and roared at her son: “Bring the antidote! If anything happens, don’t call me mother anymore!”

“Fine, I won’t!” Yu Wuse’s voice grew quieter under her glare, saying in a small voice: “I’ll call you mother empress…” Seeing Ying Bai’s condition, he finally pulled out a small bottle from his chest and threw it over.

Ying Bai had been poisoned first, his mind already somewhat confused. Hit by the man in brocade’s finger technique, he felt all his blood vessels seemed severed with little life left. At this moment his heart was both pained and sad, emotions intense. Thinking that at life and death’s edge, what restraints remained, he smiled wearily and grasped the Emerald Queen’s hand.

The Emerald Queen was so startled her whole body shuddered. She looked at Ying Bai as if seeing a ghost, her eyes rigid as she murmured: “You’re really dying, you’re really dying. All these years, from beginning to end, you never willingly touched me once…”

Ying Bai heard this hazily, feeling slightly heartbroken, finally saying softly: “Let the past be past. I didn’t know you had such hardships all these years, didn’t know about Wuse… Forgive me for this matter, and I… I’ll forgive you for killing Yu Fei back then…”

The Emerald Queen suddenly froze.

Before Ying Bai finished speaking, his hand dropped down, slipping from her palm as he closed his eyes.

The Emerald Queen sat there stupidly, not even knowing to grab him. Kneeling on the ground, her body suddenly went soft, collapsing like mud.

Yu Wuse rushed over, supporting her shoulders, shouting: “Mother! Mother!”

The Emerald Queen seemed awakened, suddenly pushing him away and throwing herself onto Ying Bai like a madwoman. Everyone thought she was going to give him a farewell deep kiss and were considering whether to look away, but she lowered her head and bit Ying Bai’s neck.

Sharp teeth instantly pierced the skin, blood flowing out. Even the man in brocade was stunned by this move. Yu Wuse reacted fastest, rushing to pull his mother: “Mother! Don’t go mad! Don’t go mad!” while quickly striking pressure points on her back.

After several strikes, the Emerald Queen suddenly released her bite, mouth full of blood, teeth pink, fierce as a mother beast. Her gaze looked around viciously for a long moment, then suddenly she looked up: “Ahhhhhhhh!”

The scream echoed through the mountain valley, full of accumulated grief and anger. Twelve years of suppressed grievance and pain, twelve years of struggle and loneliness, twelve years of helplessness and bitterness, twelve years of mother-son dependence’s warmth and permanent regret – all in this howl to heaven.

The waterfall seemed to cease flowing from the fierce sound, the mountain forest trembled, the great army turned back in panic, silent in the wind, hugging their arms tight, remembering all irreversible sorrows in life.

She knelt on the ground, facing the blue-green sky, on New Year’s Day, screaming out the resentment and injustice buried for twelve years.

“Ahhhh even today you only remember Yu Fei! Why! Why!”

“Ahhhh do you know that little bitch – I forced her to death, but if I didn’t force her to death, she would have conspired with others to kill you, destroy your Ying family, and take my crown prince position!”

“Ahhhh you only know she died in your arms, holding your hand before death saying she was pregnant with your child. Ahhhh there wasn’t even a mouse in her belly, and even if there was it wouldn’t be yours but her lover’s! Do you know she never actually slept with you – your first time was with me, I was the substitute!”

“Ahhhh you only know that New Year’s Eve night I got you drunk and gave myself to you, then sent people to assassinate her so your rescue was too late. You consider this a lifelong regret and left in anger never to return. But do you know that wine banquet was arranged by Yu Fei! She wanted to kill you when we were drunk, then frame me, getting the Ying family to betray me and support her, helping her gain the crown prince position. My sister’s schemes were deeper than Tianlie Canyon! She used her own body to exchange for half the court officials’ loyalty – the green hats on your head could last ten years without repeating, do you know, do you know!?”

“Ahhhh when I got you drunk that time, I never even touched you! I was already pregnant then and had to rush to kill that little bitch. When you sobered up I had just returned, and you turned and punched me. How cruel your heart was – that punch nearly killed Wuse!”

“Ahhhh do you know how vicious that bitch was? She had long been drugging me, making bumps grow on my face early, making me violent and irritable, increasingly losing father’s favor. This damn heaven! What kind of fate did it give me! Even dead she could continue harming me, making me lose my looks, lose my peaceful temperament, and in the end, lose my beloved…”