In his later years, he was backstabbed by his third wife, and he awakened the Wei Xiaobao system

The gilded candlesticks in the Taiji Hall still emanated a warm aura, and Lu Yunyan's fingertips still lingered with the trembling spiritual energy from her Divine Transformation breakthrough. She stared at the blood-red lines on her palms, still lingering. They were the mark of the fusion of the royal blood and essence, now coiling around her heart like a venomous snake.

From outside the palace came the sound of the night watchman beating the watch. His cry of "It's dry, be careful with fire" was particularly harsh in the silent palace.

"Yunyan, it's time to take action."

Lu Tianxiong's voice came from behind, with unquestionable majesty.

He casually slammed the Dragon Slaying Sword on the table, and the dragon pattern on the scabbard hit the green jade paperweight, making a harsh sound.

The Great Qin ruler's face still bore the fatigue of his breakthrough, but his eyes were unusually bright, as if burning with two will-o'-the-wisp flames. "The side branch of the royal family holds half of the power of the Mad Blood. If we don't seize it sooner rather than later, it will become a grave threat."

Lu Yunyan turned abruptly, the golden dragon pattern on her ornate clothes gleaming coldly in the candlelight. "Father, the side branch is also of royal blood. How can we..."

Her voice suddenly choked in her throat as she recalled the pale faces and trembling hands of the direct elders during the sacrifice last night.

They had paved the way for her to break through with their lives, but now they wanted her to wield the knife against her own people.

Lu Tianxiong suddenly roared, slamming his palm against the wall, causing the soaring dragon on the mural to shed golden dust. "Those who are not of our race must have different hearts! When your uncle rebelled, did he even consider our bloodline?"

He stumbled forward, grasping his daughter's wrist, his nails almost digging into her flesh. "Do you think the Dragon Suppression Valley and the Skyfire Pill Alliance will tolerate the rise of the Great Qin? If we don't gather the power of the Mad Blood into one body, we will be crushed by the Immortal Sect sooner or later!"

Lu Yunyan felt dizzy and the warmth from her father's palm burned her.

She remembered that when she was a child, her father often held her in his arms to watch the meteor shower in the palace garden. His palms were warm and generous, and he would gently tell her stories about the ancestors of the Qin Dynasty.

But now, those eyes were filled with madness and greed, just like the tyrant recorded in history books who massacred his own brothers.

"Your Majesty, please think twice!" The palace door was suddenly pushed open, and an old man in a gray robe staggered in.

The imperial jade token on his waist had been removed, and his white hair was disheveled like grass. It was Bai Wenshan who had been stripped of his title of imperial teacher.

The old man fell to his knees on the blue bricks, blood splattering from his forehead. "The power of the mad blood is inherently heart-wrenching. If you continue to slaughter your own kind, you will be punished by heaven!"

Lu Tianxiong's face instantly darkened. He stared at the bloodstain on Bai Wenshan's forehead and suddenly revealed a cold smile. "Heavenly punishment? Back then, you advised me to postpone opening the spiritual vein mine, saying, 'The land's potential is limited, so we need to keep a third.' What happened? If I hadn't forced the mine, how would the Great Qin support 300,000 cultivators?"

He slowly drew out the Dragon Slaying Sword, the cold light from the blade making his pupils turn blue. "You always say I'm crazy, but in this chaotic world, even the sane ones have long been imprisoned!"

"Father, don't!" Lu Yunyan exclaimed, trying to stop him but was pushed away by an invisible force.

The moment the Dragon Slaying Sword was unsheathed, a trace of sadness flashed across Bai Wenshan's eyes. He looked at Lu Yunyan and suddenly smiled with relief: "Your Highness, my only regret... is that I was unable to teach you that benevolence is the foundation of governing a country..."

The sword flashed like lightning and blood splattered.

Bai Wenshan's head rolled to the ground at Lu Yunyan's feet, with fresh blood beads still on his gray beard.

The old man's pupils gradually lost their luster, but he always maintained an upward-looking posture, as if he was gazing at the blood moon outside the temple.

Lu Yunyan felt her stomach churning. She stumbled and held onto the table, her nails digging deep into the wood, leaving four bloody marks.

"Did you see it?" Lu Tianxiong lifted Bai Wenshan's head with the tip of his sword. Blood dripped down the sword onto the blue bricks, forming dark red flowers.

"To be kind to the enemy is to be cruel to yourself. There are sixteen Nascent Soul cultivators in the side branches of the royal family. If they unite..." He suddenly leaned close to his daughter's ear, and his voice was as low as a poisonous snake spitting out its tongue.

"Do you really think those elders from the direct lineage gave you their blood essence last night just to help you break through? They were afraid that the side branches would take action first and steal the power of the Crazy Blood!"

Lu Yunyan felt cold all over, and felt that her father's words were like a sharp knife, cutting out the truth that she had always been unwilling to face.

She remembered that when she was offering the sacrifice, her third uncle looked at her hesitantly before donating his blood and essence. In his eyes, there seemed to be a hint of guilt besides determination.

It turns out that the struggle between the direct line and the side branches has never ceased, but it was once covered in the guise of "royal glory", but now it is finally coming to a bloody end.

"Go get ready."

Lu Tianxiong shook the blood off his sword and casually threw the head into the corner, "At three o'clock in the morning, I will personally support you.

Remember, no one can be left alive."

He turned and walked out of the hall, the hem of his dragon robe sweeping across Bai Wenshan's body, stirring up a cloud of blood.

Lu Yunyan looked at her father's back and suddenly remembered the illusion she saw in a trance when she broke through last night: the entire Qin Palace was flooded with blood, and she was standing in the middle of the pool of blood, holding the blood-stained Dragon-Slaying Sword in her hand, with the corpses of royal family members piled at her feet.

At that time, she thought it was an illusion brought about by the thunder tribulation, but now she feels that it might be the future that is about to happen.

......

At three quarters past midnight, the bell and drum towers of the Qin Imperial City rang on time.

Lu Yunyan stood on the top of the imperial palace, looking at the royal villa in the distance. It was brightly lit and the sound of children's laughter could be heard faintly.

In her palm was a blood-red jade slip, which recorded the birth dates and cultivation methods of all the side branches of the royal family. It was sent to her by her father last night.

"Your Highness, the time has come."

Xiao Cui, the personal maid beside him, reminded him in a low voice, with a hint of trembling in her voice.

The girl had grown up beside Lu Yunyan, but now she didn't dare look directly into her eyes. She just lowered her head and stared at the blue bricks on the city wall.

Lu Yunyan took a deep breath and raised her hand to summon the Ten Thousand Blood Spirit Lamp.

The spirit lamp emitted a sharp scream in the night sky, and the blood-red flame instantly surged three feet, making her face look like an Asura.

She bit her tongue and spat a mouthful of blood onto the spirit lamp. Suddenly, countless blood-colored chains emerged from the spirit lamp and flew towards the royal villa.

“Ah——” When the first scream came, Lu Yunyan trembled all over.

She saw a figure in the distant villa with a blood-red chain piercing his chest and nailed to the locust tree in the courtyard.

That was her cousin Lu Mingxuan. She had seen him at the royal banquet last month. He was holding his newborn son, grinning from ear to ear.

"The power of mad blood belongs to me!"

Lu Yunyan heard her own voice echoing in the night sky, but it seemed to come from another person's throat.

The power of the spirit lamp pulled her towards the villa. Wherever she passed, blood-red chains burrowed into the bodies of the royal family members like living creatures, forcibly drawing out their essence and blood, condensing them into blood-red beads that flew towards her dantian.

"Yunyan, what's wrong with you..." The Second Royal Aunt's voice stopped abruptly. Lu Yunyan watched the elder who had loved her since childhood turn into a pool of blood in the blood-colored chains, and she felt as if her heart was tightly grasped by an invisible hand.

Second Auntie's hairpin fell to the ground. It was a birthday gift she had given her last year, with the words "Long Live a Hundred Years" engraved on it.

"Stop hiding, come out."

Lu Yunyan landed next to a rockery and looked at the boy huddled in a cave.

He was the youngest child in the side branch, only twelve years old, and was trembling while holding a stuffed bear.

The young man looked up and saw her, a glimmer of hope flashed in his eyes, but when he touched the spiritual lamp in her hand, it instantly turned into fear: "Royal sister, I'm afraid..."?

Lu Yunyan's fingertips were trembling, but the flame of the spirit lamp became more and more vigorous.

She remembered that when she was twelve years old, she also held a teddy bear in her father's arms and listened to him tell her bedtime stories.

But now, she is the princess of Daqin, a Divine Transformation cultivator who shoulders the fate of the royal family. She has no choice.

"sorry."

She spoke softly, but the bloody chain had already pierced the boy's chest.

The stuffed bear fell to the ground, covered in blood. The boy's eyes gradually lost their luster, but the corners of his mouth still had unfinished words.

Lu Yunyan turned away, not daring to look again. She felt her stomach churning, but she didn't even have the strength to vomit.

The massacre lasted for three full hours.

When the first rays of morning light dyed the sky red, the royal villa had turned into a sea of ​​blood.

Lu Yunyan stood in the center of the villa, her body covered in blood. The golden dragon pattern on her robe had long been soaked with blood, and the original color could not be seen.

At her feet lay the corpses of sixteen Nascent Soul cultivators, each with a bloody hole the size of a bowl in their chest, their essence and blood drained completely.

"Your Highness, we've found a fish that has slipped through the net in the southwest corner!"

A cultivator from the direct lineage hurried over and knelt on one knee. "It's Lu Chengyu, the third son of the side branch. He's fleeing towards the city gate with his wife and children!"

Lu Yunyan looked up and saw three beams of light flying rapidly towards the west in the distant sky.

She recognized one of them as Lu Chengyu's Qingming Sword. He had used this sword to defeat her personal guard during the family competition last year.

At that time, she even smiled and praised his exquisite swordsmanship, saying that he was the pride of the branch family.

"Chase."

She heard her voice become hoarse, as if it had been rubbed with sandpaper, but she didn't hesitate. The spirit lamp lit up again, and blood-red chains pierced the sky, like giant blood-red pythons, flying towards the direction of the escaping light.

Lu Chengyu turned around and saw the pursuers, and a trace of despair flashed in his eyes.

He held his wife's hand tightly and put his son into her arms: "You take the child and go first, I will stop them!"

Without waiting for his wife's reply, he turned and drew his Qingming Sword. A dazzling blue light shone from the blade as he used all his might to perform a life-saving sword technique.

"Cheng Yu!" The wife's cry was drowned out by the whistling sound of the blood-colored chains.

Lu Yunyan watched Lu Chengyu struggle in his chains, the sword's light illuminating his young face, filled with resentment and anger. She suddenly remembered how, as children, they played together in the imperial gardens. He always saved the largest candied dates for her, saying that a princess deserved the best.

"Why are you forcing me?"

Lu Yunyan murmured softly, but the spirit lamp burst out with strong light again.

The blood-colored chain penetrated Lu Chengyu's Dantian and pulled his Nascent Soul out of his body.

The young monk let out a final scream, and his Nascent Soul transformed into tiny specks of starlight in the morning light, dissipating between heaven and earth.

Lu Yunyan closed her eyes and dared not look again.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw Lu Chengyu's wife kneeling on the ground holding the child, trembling all over.

The child was only three years old, staring at her with wide eyes, holding a broken piece of candied date cake in his hand.

"Please, let my child go..." The woman's voice was full of despair. She kowtowed like pounding garlic, and her forehead was hit on the bluestone slabs, leaving bloody holes.

"He doesn't understand anything yet. He's not a monk. He doesn't have the power of crazy blood..."?

Lu Yunyan's fingertips were almost touching the child's hair, but she suddenly withdrew them at the last moment.

She remembered her father's words: "The power of mad blood will awaken within every member of the royal family; it's only a matter of time."

She saw a glimmer of hope flash across the woman's eyes, but in the next second, it was completely extinguished by the blood-red chains.

When the last cry disappeared in the morning breeze, the eastern sky was already completely bright.

Lu Yunyan gazed at the corpses scattered across the ground, feeling all her strength drained away. She stumbled and fell to her knees in a pool of blood. Her Nascent Soul wailed in her sea of ​​consciousness, a fierce conflict between the power of the Mad Blood and her true nature.

"well done."

Lu Tianxiong's voice came from behind. He walked over corpses, his dragon robe stained with blood, but he smiled particularly brightly, "I have arranged a tight net along the border. Even if there are fish that slip through the net, they will not be able to escape the territory of the Great Qin."

He reached out to touch his daughter's head, but when he touched her hair, he was bounced away by an invisible force.

Lu Yunyan raised her head and looked at her father's face, and suddenly felt extremely unfamiliar.

She recalled the righteous spirit that surged in her heart when she broke through last night. She had thought she could protect Great Qin from now on, but she had never expected that the first thing she would have to protect would be such a cruel truth.

"Father," her voice was eerily calm, "from now on, between you and me, there will only be ruler and subject, not father and daughter."

Lu Tianxiong was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter, his laughter tinged with a bit of madness: "Good! Good! This is the kind of iron-blooded emperor I want! Remember, only those who stand on a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood can look down on all living things!"

He turned and left, leaving Lu Yunyan kneeling in a pool of blood, letting the morning breeze dry the blood off her face.

......

In the mountains and forests thousands of miles away from the Great Qin Imperial City, three disheveled figures were moving rapidly.

The leading young monk clutched his chest, blood oozing through his fingers. Behind him followed a pale-faced woman and a teenage boy.

"Father, how long do we have to run?" The young man's voice was filled with fear. He turned his head and looked behind him, as if he could see the blood-red sky. "Why did my sister... want to kill us?"

Upon hearing this, the young cultivator's eyes flashed with pain, but he still managed to speak: "Ayuan, don't ask so many questions, just follow Dad. As long as we reach Dayu Country and find Senior Li Qingfeng, we will be safe."

He reached out and wiped the tears from the boy's face, leaving a bloody mark on his palm. "Remember, never say you are from the Qin royal family again, even if you die."

The woman suddenly stumbled and fell, and the bag in her arms fell to the ground, revealing half a gold medal inside.

It was a token of the Qin imperial family, engraved with a lifelike golden dragon. The young monk's face changed drastically. He hurriedly picked up the gold medal and slammed it hard onto the stone. Gold flakes flew everywhere, stinging the boy's eyes.

"I'm sorry, it's my fault..."

The woman cried and apologized, but was interrupted by the young monk: "Stop talking, leave!"

He pulled his wife up, but at that moment, he heard a sound of something breaking through the air behind him. The three of them turned around at the same time and saw a blood-red sword light streaking through the sky, rapidly flying towards them.

"I can't hide anymore..." The young monk gritted his teeth, protected his wife and children behind him, and used his last magic weapon.

It was a shield engraved with runes, a relic left to him by his mother. The blood-red sword light collided with the shield with a sharp roar, and the runes on the shield shattered one after another. The young monk felt his internal organs vibrate, and a mouthful of blood sprayed onto his wife's face.

"Dad!" the boy exclaimed, but his mother covered his mouth tightly.

The blood-red sword light struck again, this time directly piercing through the young monk's shoulder and nailing him to a big tree.

The woman screamed and rushed forward, but was struck by the sword light and fell in a pool of blood.

The boy opened his eyes wide as he watched his parents die tragically in front of him, and the fear in his heart suddenly turned into anger.

He remembered his father once saying that they had the power of crazy blood flowing in their bodies and were natural warriors.

At this moment, the power was boiling within him. He clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his palms. As blood dripped, a blood-red light burst out from between his brows.

The blood-red sword light paused for a moment, as if sensing something.

The boy took the opportunity to turn around and run. He didn't know where he was going, but he knew that he couldn't stop and couldn't be caught.

He ran wildly through the mountains and forests, branches scratched his face and thorns tore his clothes, but he felt no pain.

There was only one thought in his mind: to survive and avenge his parents.

After running for an unknown amount of time, the boy finally ran out of energy and fell down beside a stream.

He raised his head and saw his face reflected in the stream. There was a blood-red line on his forehead slowly spreading, like a small snake, crawling towards his pupil.

In the distance, he heard the footsteps of pursuers. The boy gritted his teeth, jumped into the stream, and let the current wash him away.

When the afterglow of the setting sun shone on the stream, the boy had already lost consciousness.

His body was carried downstream by the current, eventually landing on an unfamiliar shore. In a daze, he heard someone say, "This child is still breathing. Save him!" Then, a pair of warm hands lifted him up, and he smelled a faint medicinal fragrance, like the scent of the perfume his mother had used when she was alive.

The corners of the boy's mouth rose slightly, and he finally relaxed his tense nerves and fell into a deep coma.

In his last moments before losing consciousness, he heard a gentle voice saying, "Don't be afraid. This is Dayu Kingdom. You are safe."