In the study of Wenhua Hall, candlelight swayed.
Xia Wuyang had not spent the day drinking and carousing. Instead, he had come to his study to look through the things Fifth Class Attendant Wang had left behind, many of which were items he had given her in years past.
Neatly arranged inside her Makeup Box were all the gifts he had given her over the years: a Gilded Hand Warmer, a Jade Forbidden Step, a Silk Embroidery Round Fan... Every item had been worn smooth and polished bright.
Although their relationship had grown distant over the years, it was clear Fifth Class Attendant Wang had held him in her heart. She was even beheaded by Bai Qingzhi while trying to defend her honor for him.
If she had not held him in her heart, the best-preserved items in her quarters would not all have been the gifts he had once given her.
In their youth, they had whispered sweet nothings to each other under the moonlit flowers. As someone transmigrated from a past life, he had treated each of his concubines with great care, at least ensuring they wanted for nothing material.
He spent a great deal of time with these women, his concubines, so one could imagine how close their relationships had been.
If he had not been deposed, they might have had many children by now.
But he never expected things to change so drastically. On the surface, he was already old and withered. Had he not awakened the Seven-Aperture Exquisite in time, he would likely be preparing for his own funeral by now. And Fifth Class Attendant Wang had suffered such a senseless calamity.
Everyone in the Eastern Palace said he was benevolent and kind, that he had already done everything he could.
Even Fifth Class Attendant Wang’s family held no grudge against him, believing that this elder Crown Prince had done all that could be expected of him. He could barely look after himself, yet he still took such good care of her family.
But only Xia Wuyang knew that what he had done was far from enough.
’Annihilating their entire clan, leaving no one alive—that is what I must do.’
He had just received intelligence through various channels. In his youth, West Gate Guard Bai Qingzhi had an enemy known as the Blood Shadow Monster, who was a master of the Blood Shadow Palm Technique. Anyone struck by this technique would die in extreme agony and despair.
Although it was only a High Level Combat Technique, its fame rivaled that of many Top Level Combat Techniques.
As it happened, a manuscript of this Palm Technique was stored in the Imperial Palace’s Inner Treasury. Xia Wuyang had skimmed through it once before, and with his innate Unforgettable Memory, he had easily committed it to heart.
He had never considered cultivating it before; after all, it was merely a High Level Combat Technique, and far too insidious and cruel.
’But to deal with Bai Qingzhi and his family... it’s perfect.’
As he caressed a gift Fifth Class Attendant Wang had given him years ago, Xia Wuyang secretly began to cultivate the Blood Shadow Palm Technique.
Aided by his supreme Spirit and Comprehension, his mastery of the Blood Shadow Palm Technique advanced at a terrifying pace, as if on fast-forward.
Blood Shadow Initiation... Minor Achievement... Great Success!
By the time night fell, he had astonishingly reached Great Success in the Blood Shadow Palm Technique, as if aided by the gods. Even Xia Wuyang himself was surprised.
Only then did he summon the Palace Maids to attend to him. After a small meal, he retired to his Sleeping Palace. As far as the attending maids could tell, the elder Crown Prince was exhausted and had fallen fast asleep.
But they did not know that soon after they fell asleep, Xia Wuyang’s eyes snapped open. He activated the Dragon Storage Skill, found a Guard’s uniform, and quickly transformed into a short, stocky, middle-aged man before slipping silently out of the Eastern Palace.
A short while later, Xia Wuyang appeared outside the Imperial Palace. Following the address he had obtained with the Soul Capturing Technique, he arrived at the residence of West Gate Guard Bai Qingzhi.
Outside the vermilion gates of the Bai Mansion, the eyes of the stone lions glinted coldly in the moonlight.
The manor was protected by an Array and riddled with traps. The household servants and Guards were not weak, but before Xia Wuyang of the Fourth Grade Realm, they were utterly defenseless.
THWAP. THWAP. THWAP.
The ethereal strikes of the Blood Shadow Palm Technique fell, felling the Bai Family’s household servants and Guards one by one. The moment they hit the ground, the blood poison incinerated their throats and tongues, leaving them to writhe in silent agony.
Xia Wuyang employed the Dragon and Phoenix Body Technique, strolling through the Bai Mansion as if it were a peaceful courtyard. Every living soul he encountered was met with a strike from the Blood Shadow Palm Technique.
A serving girl collapsed by her embroidery frame. A young manservant crumpled at the base of a pillar. Even the old yellow dog at the gate died without a whimper.
In the span of time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the only person left alive in the entire, sprawling Bai residence with its multiple courtyards was Bai Qingzhi, in a bedroom in the rear courtyard.
By now, he had sensed something was wrong. He shook his two concubines awake and drew his Longsword in terror. "Who’s out there?! Guards! Kill him!"
But not a single household servant or Guard of the Bai Family could answer his call. Xia Wuyang, his face obscured, pushed the door open and stepped into the bedroom.
THUD! THUD!
Before Bai Qingzhi could even react, the two beautiful concubines cowering behind him were struck in the head by the Blood Shadow Palm Technique. They collapsed onto the bed in agony, unable to even cry out.
Bai Qingzhi was completely unable to react; he couldn’t even see Xia Wuyang’s figure clearly. The difference in their ranks was a vast chasm, especially when facing someone like Xia Wuyang, with his peerless Comprehension.
Never mind being of a higher rank than Bai Qingzhi; even if they were at the same level, Bai Qingzhi would have been powerless to resist.
"The Blood Shadow Monster! You’re the Blood Shadow Monster who escaped all those years ago?" Seeing the bloody handprints on his concubines’ heads, Bai Qingzhi’s face filled with terror. "No, no, that’s impossible. I killed the Blood Shadow Monster myself! The world just never knew. You can’t be him. Who are you?"
Xia Wuyang had no intention of hiding his identity. ’The man is about to die anyway,’ he thought. ’Why not let him perish in regret and despair?’
’If he knows that killing Fifth Class Attendant Wang in a drunken stupor is what brought annihilation upon the Bai Family, he surely won’t be able to die in peace.’
The muscles on his face shifted, revealing an aged visage. In the next instant, Xia Wuyang seized Bai Qingzhi by the neck. He unleashed the Blood Shadow Palm Technique, and a potent blood poison began to course through the man’s body.
Bai Qingzhi felt an agony so intense it was many times worse than death by a thousand cuts. If not for this fact, Xia Wuyang would never have chosen to cultivate the Blood Shadow Palm Technique.
Staring at the familiar face before him, Bai Qingzhi felt his mind shatter. "You... you’re... the elder Crown Prince!"
He tried to scream for help, but no sound would come out. He could only look at Xia Wuyang with a pleading expression. "Mercy... I know I was wrong... Mercy!"
"You don’t know you were wrong. You just know you’re going to die," Xia Wuyang said, turning a deaf ear to his pleas. "Everyone else in the Bai Family is already on the road to the Yellow Springs. We’re just waiting for you. How could the party start without you?"
The despair and regret on Bai Qingzhi’s face intensified. He knew with chilling certainty that the annihilation of the Bai Family was entirely his fault.
If he hadn’t, emboldened by drink, tried to force himself on Fifth Class Attendant Wang—and then killed her when she fought back for her life—the Bai Family would never have met with such a calamitous end.
Why had he been so arrogant? How could he have dared to touch one of the elder Crown Prince’s concubines? Even if the elder Crown Prince was old and decrepit, how could a man of his stature not have a few trump cards hidden away?
But no one could have possibly imagined that the elder Crown Prince’s greatest trump card... was himself.
He was no powerless invalid; on the contrary, he was a terrifying entity whose power far surpassed the Fifth Grade.
’Since the elder Crown Prince has revealed his identity to me, there is no way he will let me live.’
At this thought, regret consumed him like bone-eating maggots, stealing his breath. Assailed by the twin torments of body and soul, he finally understood the true meaning of a fate worse than death.