The eldest daughter's scheming, the crown prince's exclusive favor to the venomous concubi

The man's eyes finally changed, but Jian Yue couldn't decipher what they meant, and couldn't help but frown slightly.

The man in black then spoke.

"The secret of the Ironclad Divine Weapon is no longer a secret, yet it has been passed down mysteriously for centuries without any changes. Do you know why?"

Jian Yue smiled and said, "There's no reason why; naturally, someone will mediate between us."

The man in black nodded: "That's right, so the Shangguan family is the key."

Jian Yue was puzzled and asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"

The man in black suddenly gave a sarcastic smile and said, "Don't you know that? You're stupid too."

Jian Yue: ...

Why does this retaliatory tone feel so satisfying?

She suddenly chuckled, shook her head, and sighed, "Yes, I am indeed not smart enough, otherwise, I would have figured out all these things around me long ago."

Upon hearing this, the man in black continued, "So what if you're clever? How many people have been outsmarted by their own cleverness? You call yourself Shangguan, but do you know anything about the true identity of the Shangguan family?"

The true identity? Jian Yue was somewhat bewildered. The Ironclad Divine Soldiers were already the biggest secret of the Shangguan family. Even now, the royal family wanted to pry a crack in the Shangguan family's mouth and take control of this force.

To this day, they have never even touched the face of the Ironclad Divine Soldiers, and the Shangguan family has remained tight-lipped about it, never mentioning it. So, the fact that this man in black suddenly revealed the Shangguan family's identity is quite intriguing.

Seeing that Jian Yue was looking at him without speaking, the man in black continued, "The so-called Ironclad Divine Weapon of the Shangguan family does not exist at all. The so-called Ironclad Divine Weapon is just a gimmick to make the royal family wary."

Jian Yue was somewhat shocked, her eyes wide as she stared at the man in black: "Are you telling the truth?"

The man in black retorted, "How can it not be true? If it weren't true, why didn't the Ironclad Divine Weapon appear to stand up for the Shangguan family when Shangguan Linglong disappeared and was captured sixteen years ago? If it's true, as the rumors say, that the Ironclad Divine Weapon is in the control of the Shangguan family, then the Shangguan family is practically on the verge of collapse, and the Ironclad Divine Weapon should naturally have appeared to intimidate them. So why has it remained hidden?"

Jian Yue immediately stood up, but suddenly felt a blur before her eyes, and then staggered and sat down again. After a long while, she murmured, "So, the Shangguan family is nothing more than a pawn, a pawn used to confuse the public?"

"Of course it is."

Upon receiving this affirmative answer, Jian Yue glared at the man in black, her eyes flashing with hatred.

"Who exactly are you? Was everything about the Shangguan family, including my mother, orchestrated by you?"

The man in black raised an eyebrow, a playful expression on his face, and looked at Jian Yue, saying, "So what if I am? So what if I am not? Do you think you can control it?"

"why?"

"For no reason other than this, this is the fate of the Shangguan family."

The man in black spoke frankly, his face devoid of any extra expression. He looked at Jian Yue, letting the hatred on her face gradually intensify, but he didn't care at all as he walked over to her, sat down opposite her, and said, "Shangguan Linglong's matter is her own fault, she has no one else to blame."

Jian Yue gripped her thighs tightly with both hands and said coldly, "You can't blame others? What about you? You just treat us like pawns to be manipulated? Is this what you call fate? I refuse to accept it."

"So what if you're not convinced? Can you win the argument?"

Seeing that Jian Yue remained silent, he continued, "The Shangguan family and the Murong family are inherently opposed. Their coexistence is merely a fulcrum, and once this fulcrum is unbalanced, it will lead to the final showdown between the two families."

It's obvious the Shangguan family failed; this is their fate. What injustice is there? Shangguan Jianyue, you call yourself Shangguan, yet you know nothing of the Shangguan family's destiny. How can you bear the name Shangguan?

Upon hearing this, Jian Yue suddenly smiled and said, "What do you mean I can't bear it? Your words are extremely contradictory. First, you said that the Shangguan family is nothing but a puppet in your hands, and then you said that I can't bear the surname Shangguan. You're elevating Shangguan. Why is that? Are you slapping us and then giving us a sweet treat? Are you expecting us to continue to serve you unconditionally?"

As Jian Yue spoke, she stood up and leaned forward, saying, "If you want me to continue working for you, at the very least you have to tell me who you are and why you're doing this. Otherwise, I will absolutely not listen to you."

The man in black looked coldly at Jian Yue: "Do you have the right to negotiate?"

“No, but I know that if you abandon the Shangguan family, you will have to train other people. Compared to this, which exposes too much, you will still choose the Shangguan family.”

Jian Yue straightened up, looked at the man in black, and asked, "Who are you?"

The man in black paused for a moment before saying, "Black Wind. The third-generation commander of the Ironclad Warriors' Valiant Battalion."

Jian Yue was taken aback: "The armored soldiers really exist? Then what you just said..."

"What is true may be false, and what is false may be true."

The man in black also stood up and said, "Shangguan Linglong lost her qualification to join the Ironclad Soldiers fifteen years ago, which led to a grave mistake and her imprisonment until now. Now, Shangguan Jianyue, are you willing to give up everything and become a member of the Ironclad Soldiers? From now on, will you remain steadfast and follow me to the death?"

Jian Yue frowned: "I don't want to."

Upon hearing this, the man in black suddenly flew into a rage, his inner strength surging within him. He raised his hand and slammed it directly onto the table, instantly shattering the entire table into wood chips that flew through the room.

Jian Yue stepped back to avoid being caught in the crossfire, coldly staring at the man in black. She took out a small seal from her bosom and said, "This is your Ironclad Soldier's Tiger Tally, isn't it?"

The man in black paused, and Jian Yue smiled and continued, "The armored soldiers really exist, and the Tiger Tally has been controlled by the Shangguan family for generations. However, because the first generation of the Shangguan family did not leave any information about what this thing was, they lost the method of controlling these armored soldiers."

And you, after the changing times, have been forgotten in the dust, yet because of ancestral precepts, you are forbidden from being born. Therefore, you seek to steal the Tiger Tally to gain your freedom. Tell me, am I right?

After Jian Yue finished speaking, the man in black said coldly, "You're talking nonsense. How could something so small be the Tiger Tally? This is just the seal of our Xiaoji Camp's commander, which was stolen by Shangguan Linglong."

"That's a lie. My grandfather recognized this thing too. Although he didn't say what it was, he understood its importance from his eyes. That's why he entrusted it to my mother for safekeeping. But he didn't expect that you would target my mother. To protect the tiger tally, my mother sewed it into her clothes."

Upon hearing this, the man in black suddenly chuckled and said, "What else have you figured out?"

Jian Yue narrowed her eyes and said, "It would be unreasonable to say that you didn't know where this thing was hidden. The first thing you said when you came to my room was that you wanted this thing. Obviously, you knew where it was and when it came into my hands. So, I dare to say that you knew the location of this thing sixteen years ago, but you didn't come to get it."

At this point, Jian Yue frowned and lowered her eyes, saying, "So, it doesn't make sense that you came to find me because of the Tiger Tally. And your claim that the Shangguan family is controlled by the Ironclad Soldiers is also illogical. I suspect that everything you're doing and saying is a test for me."

At this point, Jian Yue looked up and saw a smile on the other person's face. She couldn't help but ask, "Who exactly are you, and what do you want?"

The man in black said, "The armored soldiers have been silent for many years. Don't you want to know why? And what about that so-called blood-red coral, the seal in your hand, and the connection between your mother's imprisonment and framing? Don't you want to know?"

"Of course I've thought about it, but I'm not sure."

The person in front of her was too mysterious. She didn't know which of his statements was correct, as he kept saying one thing and another. He spoke very little, and she was the one doing all the talking and asking questions, but his answers were all ambiguous.

The man in black seemed unhurried. He kicked away the wood chips under his feet, sat back down on the stool he had been sitting on, dusted himself off, and said, "Call me master, and I will tell you."

Jian Yue's forehead twitched as the man in black continued, "Don't be upset. Look at me, I look like I'm in my early twenties, but I'm actually forty-five. I could easily be your father."

Jian Yue pulled out another tube and said, "You're so casual? That surprises me."

"Surprised? You've passed my test, so naturally you'll become my apprentice. Otherwise, why would I tell you everything that's going to happen next?"

The implication is that if you don't become my apprentice, I won't tell you about the tricks involved.

The man in black looked at Jian Yue smugly. Jian Yue thought he was not even twenty years old and was simply an idiot.

"A test? Don't tell me that everything you just did was a test? Tell me, what were you testing? What do I, Shangguan Jianyue, have that's worth testing?"

Jian Yue deflected the question like a tai chi master. After thinking for a moment, the man in black said, "How about this, I'll give you a little treat first. Do you remember the song your mother, Shangguan Jian Yue, knows?"

Finally, the love song was mentioned. Jian Yue pursed her lips and nodded. Then the man in black said, "This song was given to your mother by a fortune teller inside the Ironclad Soldier. To be precise, it was given to your mother before she met Qiu Zhennan. The reason was that she was going through the same test as you."

Jian Yue frowned, and the man in black sighed and said, "It's a pity that your mother failed. She didn't understand her fate from the lyrics of these songs, and she stubbornly fell into them, even losing her body and her life."

As he spoke, his deep eyes gradually darkened, and his low tone became serious.

"The existence of the armored soldiers is a fact, and the fact that the Shangguan family controls them is also a fact. But there is something else that many people don't understand, namely that the armored soldiers will choose their own leader."