Chapter 362: Truth

That visitor claimed to be an immortal from beyond the realm, but what he exuded was not celestial aura—it was the same nauseating, destructive aura as that inside you.

He coveted Consort Shu's physique, or rather, he coveted the Great Yin royal family's status; Consort Shu was merely a convenient target. After that night, you came into being.

Shut up, shut up, you're spouting nonsense!

Yin Zhen struggled desperately, his eyes bulging from sheer terror.

He vaguely guessed what Gu Yuan was about to say—the truth that he could never accept!

Gu Yuan ignored his roar and continued:

Afterward, the mysterious figure left a remark, saying he would return on some future day to claim his bloodline, and the old emperor…

Gu Yuan glanced at the Crown Prince behind him and chuckled, "Your illustrious and mighty father had long sensed this matter. Yet he not only kept silent but, to cover up the royal scandal—and even to study the power of that extradimensional demon—forcefully suppressed it. He publicly claimed Consort Shu was pregnant with a dragon seed, bestowing the demonic fetus that exuded evil from the womb with the title of Great Yin prince."

That is you, Yin Zhen.

Gu Yuan's words thundered like divine lightning from the heavens, booming throughout the Buddhist Hall!

Crown Prince Yin Ti staggered back in shock, gulping a breath of cold air.

He had always believed he was vying with his brother for the throne, yet he never imagined his greatest nemesis wasn't even of Great Yin's blood!

He is a wild offspring left by an extradimensional demon!

No… impossible… this is absolutely impossible. I am the emperor's son; I am the child of destiny!

Yin Zhen's spiritual world collapsed completely at that moment.

The royal lineage he boasted of, the scheming he undertook to seize the throne, his self‑righteous restraint and nobility—all turned into a colossal joke before Gu Yuan's blood‑soaked revelation!

He isn't even a person; he's merely a container forced into the palace to bear demonic power!

A spawn that even his birth mother would have wanted to strangle!

Why did you ask her why she didn't save you? Why did she look at you that way?

Gu Yuan pointed at Consort Shu,

Because each time she sees you, she recalls that demon and the humiliating disgrace she suffered. She practices vegetarianism and chants sutras not to pray for you, but to suppress the hatred that wants to tear you apart. The old emperor gave her the blood droplet not out of trust, but to have her use it to tightly monitor you, this potentially out‑of‑control monster.

「Ahhhhh—!!! 」

Yin Zhen let out a scream of ultimate anguish, smashing his head wildly against the blue‑gray stone slab until blood poured, trying to mask his soul's tearing with bodily pain.

Consort Shu slowly opened her eyes, two streams of clear tears sliding down her pale cheeks.

She didn't look at the wildly rolling Yin Zhen on the ground; instead, she bowed deeply toward Gu Yuan.

"Thank you, Lord Gu, for speaking the secret that has been bottled inside me for over twenty years."

Consort Shu's voice was choked, yet carried an unprecedented sense of release: "This monster ruined my life. Every day I stare at his face, at the ever‑growing demonic aura on him; I've longed to perish with him. Now, at last, he will receive his retribution."

Yin Zhen roared wildly, snapping his head toward Consort Shu: "Who is that man in black?! Who exactly is he?!"

【9】 "Aren't you curious?"

Aren't you curious?

Gu Yuan rose, walked to Yin Zhen's side, and looked down at him from a height,

"Your father has fourteen princes. Your talent, intellect, and abilities are all mediocre. Why did he choose you? Did he grant you that still‑considered precious power because you're prettier than the others? Or because you see yourself as a child of destiny, thinking this should be normal?"

"Because the blood flowing through you is his bloodline."

Gu Yuan's gaze turned ice‑cold,

"He was merely retrieving a pawn he casually placed years ago. He let you usurp Great Yin's realm and pollute its destiny with source‑erasing power, simply to turn this world into fodder he can harvest at will."

"And you, from start to finish, have been nothing but a pitiful dog used by your own birth father."

"No… this isn't true… you're lying! You're all lying to me!"

Yin Zhen collapsed onto the cold stone slab.

He had always believed he was a noble of Great Yin, the most prestigious bloodline of the Great Yin Divine Dynasty.

His patience, his scheming, his step‑by‑step tactics—even willing to murder his father and brothers—were all to reclaim the dragon throne that should have been his.

But now, Gu Yuan's casually delivered yet cutting words mercilessly shred his laughable pride, his self‑respect, and the royal bloodline he once flaunted.

He is not a prince.

He isn't even a normal human.

He is merely a spawn the extradimensional demon forced into this world to corrupt it, a monster despised and cursed by his birth mother day and night, a pitiful vessel the so‑called father‑emperor kept in the inner palace as a test subject and tool!

「Ahhhhh—!!! 」

As Yin Zhen's Dao heart utterly collapsed, the source‑erasing power he had barely restrained inside him lost all restraint.

It has no emotion, no loyalty; when it sensed its host's spirit world completely collapse, it unhesitatingly began the cruelest backlash.

"Chichichi…"

A chilling corrosion sound echoed outside the Buddhist Hall.

The gray‑black mist that once surrounded Yin Zhen for attacking enemies spiraled back wildly, crawling through his seven orifices and every pore of his skin, desperately burrowing into his body.

"Save me… Mother Consort, save me… It hurts…"

Yin Zhen rolled wildly on the ground as his body began undergoing a terrifying mutation.

It was as if an invisible giant hand were forcibly kneading his form.

His back bulged high, accompanied by a dull sound of flesh tearing, as a dozen thick gray‑black tentacles studded with barbs and suction cups burst through his flesh.

Yet these tentacles didn't attack Gu Yuan or the Crown Prince; instead, like uncontrolled vipers, they abruptly reversed direction, stabbing violently into Yin Zhen's own thigh, abdomen, even his eye sockets!

"Retribution… this is retribution!"

Consort Shu watched the agonized, now wholly inhuman Yin Zhen writhing on the ground; her cold face showed no maternal pity, only a pathological pleasure from twenty‑plus years of suppressed hatred finally released.

She clenched the bodhi seed prayer beads in her hand tightly,

"You wretched spawn, you should have died long ago! You and your demonic father both deserve eighteen layers of hell!"

Meanwhile, the Crown Prince Yin Ti, standing aside, watched Yin Zhen's miserable, near‑death state, his chest heaving violently as his eyes filled with scarlet blood vessels.

Exhilaration!

An unprecedented, exhilarating pleasure, like a long-suppressed volcanic eruption, instantly destroyed all his reason!

He recalled the time he was imprisoned in the deepest part of the heavenly prison, where it was pitch-black and there was no daylight.

The four pitch-black chains forged from Annihilation Source Power pierced his limbs day and night.

The torment of being unable to live or die made him countless times want to bite his tongue to end his life.

He recalled his gentle and virtuous crown princess.

The woman who always gently tidied his attire was brutally humiliated by that beast Yinzhen; in despair she bit through her own throat and died with eyes unclosed.

He recalled the hundreds of his maternal clan—those who once commanded the court as pillars of the state, those infants still in swaddling crying for food—all, under a single edict from Yinzhen, were exterminated, their blood staining the entire Vegetable Market.

«Yinzhen—you beast! You bastard!!! »

The Eldest Prince let out a heart-rending roar and violently drew the gold-inlaid waist sword that symbolized his status as the eldest imperial son.

The blade scraped across the bluestone slab, sending out blinding sparks and a chilling screech.

He stepped toward the writhing Yinzhen on the ground, his eyes holding no brotherly mercy, only an overwhelming urge to devour him alive.

«You have taken everything from me, you killed my wife's clan, you forced my father to death! Today I will cut you a thousand times, slice your flesh piece by piece, to offer it to the hundreds of souls I have lost. »

The Eldest Prince gripped the sword hilt with both hands, raised it high, and aimed the blade at Yinzhen's already mutated head.

He wanted to end with his own hands the enemy who had taken everything from him, and to wash away all his humiliation with the blood of that wicked spawn.

«Die! »

The Eldest Prince bellowed, exerting all his strength, and fiercely brought down the long sword in his hand!