Chapter 674: A Sudden Change

The moment that absurd emotion rose in Li Luo's heart, low murmurs of shock and suspicion began to rise around the White Jade Plaza as well.

Because the little king's transformation was simply too obvious.

His hair cascaded down like a waterfall, breaking free of the crown's restraint, the strands a lustrous black; the already somewhat fair skin now took on a crystalline, translucent quality; his frail body stretched taller, becoming slender and upright; the dragon robe that had once fit perfectly was instantly pulled taut, sharply accentuating the sudden swell of fullness at his chest.

His delicate face grew ever more feminine, the space between his brows coming to resemble the Eldest Princess's by a few degrees, though compared to her grace and composure, he now carried a certain soft allure.

And though he was clearly only about ten years old, and had until now been nothing more than a little boy, in the blink of an eye he had become a well-developed young girl.

The sudden change in his body left the little king frozen for an instant; his frame began to tremble, and though he did not know why such a terrifying transformation was happening to him, a wave of fear had already welled up from the depths of his heart.

Because he understood that at this moment, this change would surely be fatal.

At such a solemn and grand ceremony, the king of Great Xia himself had transformed before everyone's eyes—from a boy into a girl?!

How utterly shocking.

It would strip him of every last shred of royal dignity!

Boom! Boom!

And just as fear gripped the little king's heart, the first to react was not the many onlookers, but rather the Guardian Grand Array high in the sky—terrifying waves of energy erupted within it like peals of thunder, and the entire sky seemed to warp at that moment.

It looked as though the Guardian Grand Array itself was enraged.

Feeling the Guardian Grand Array tremble, the little king's heart turned to ice, for at that instant he suddenly recalled a secret saying passed down through the royal house: only a son of the Gong family could wield the Guardian Grand Array of Great Xia.

But now, having suddenly changed from a boy into a girl, did that not mean he had lost the qualification to inherit the Guardian Grand Array?

And without the Guardian Grand Array in hand, the so-called throne he sat upon simply could not be held steady!

"How could this happen?! How could this happen!!" The little king's voice began to tremble; this sudden change turned his entire mind into a tangled mess, for such a transformation was simply too inconceivable!

He had been a boy for so many years, only to become a girl on the very day of his coronation—how utterly absurd.

He looked down at his now slender palms, and saw that the formation symbol that had once taken shape in his palm—the one that controlled the Guardian Grand Array—was slowly beginning to fade away.

The little king's face twisted in terror; his other hand hurriedly reached over, fingers digging desperately at that ancient symbol, his nails scoring bloody lines into his palm, panic-stricken beyond measure: "Don't disappear, don't disappear! I am the king of Great Xia, I have the right to control you! You are not allowed to disappear!"

He understood all too well the importance of today's ceremony, and how much effort he and his sister had poured into it; if he failed, then his royal uncle would surely seize the opportunity to make trouble and take complete control of power, and in time, he, the king, would be reduced to a mere puppet.

Those ministers who supported him would also gradually distance themselves from him because of this change in his body.

Without the deterrent might of the Guardian Grand Array, he simply could not hold that seat steady.

Yet his efforts had no effect whatsoever, for the ancient symbol in his palm had already completely vanished; at the same time, the enormous Guardian Grand Array overhead, after letting out a sound like an enraged roar, also gradually dissipated beneath countless gazes of absolute horror.

This was, without question, an announcement to everyone that this succession ceremony had failed!

Whoosh!

The Eldest Princess in the viewing gallery finally snapped out of her shock at that moment; she sprang to her feet abruptly, her breathtakingly beautiful face flushed a livid iron-blue, and within her narrow, elongated phoenix eyes, a rare flicker of panic and disbelief also passed.

Because the sudden crisis before her had likewise exceeded her imagination.

The younger brother she had relied on for so many years had, right beneath her very eyes, suddenly become a younger sister!

How could this possibly be?!

At this moment, even with her temperament, a wave of dizziness washed over her.

Immediately, her phoenix eyes snapped toward the Regent King on the other side, a look of furious rage and hatred surging up within them: "Gong Yuan, what exactly did you do?!"

Although Gong Yuan appeared to be sitting there doing nothing, the Eldest Princess had an intuition that the sudden crisis before her eyes could not be separated from him—after all, if the little king failed to inherit the Guardian Grand Array, Gong Yuan would be the greatest beneficiary!

Facing the Eldest Princess's rare display of fury, the Regent King merely sighed, regarding the little king on the Sacrificial Heaven Platform with an expression of profound regret, and said: "Luan Yu, it is indeed heartbreaking that such a thing has occurred, and it is only natural that you suspect me. But do you truly believe I have the ability to turn a boy into a girl?"

"Or have you considered another possibility... that Gong Jingyao—he... her true gender was deliberately concealed from the moment of birth?"

"Heretical nonsense!" The Eldest Princess's willow-leaf brows shot upward, her voice icy to the extreme.

She had never heard such a thing; even when their father king passed away, he had never mentioned it to her, so the Eldest Princess felt this was impossible.

"My royal brother only ever had two children—yourselves. He always wanted a son to inherit the position, because he understood that only a son could inherit the Guardian Grand Array. Perhaps that is also why, despite the fact that you are clearly so much more outstanding than Gong Jingyao, he never intended to make you the queen of Great Xia."

"But Gong Jingyao's birth dashed his hopes, because she too was a girl... and in his desperation, he resorted to certain special measures—a method that concealed Gong Jingyao's true gender. Perhaps he believed that by doing so, he could deceive the Guardian Grand Array's detection?"

The Regent King paid no heed to the Eldest Princess's icy gaze, and continued his analysis on his own.

"Tell me—could the Yin-Yang Green Lotus behind Gong Jingyao be the very thing that concealed her gender? The Black Lotus poison, though it brought her suffering, could also mask her gender."

"I imagine my royal brother had made thorough preparations, which suggests that his method had a very high chance of truly deceiving the Guardian Grand Array. But what no one anticipated was... Luan Yu, you actually found someone who could dissolve the Black Lotus poison—I recall it was that Li Luo, yes?"

"He dissolved the greater part of the Black Lotus poison, breaking the balance of the Yin-Yang Green Lotus, so the concealment was no longer perfect. Combined with the Guardian Grand Array's tempering power, it was just enough to dissolve the remaining Black Lotus poison. But once the Black Lotus poison dissolved, Gong Jingyao's true gender was restored."

The Regent King interlaced his fingers, tilted his head to look at the Eldest Princess, whose face was gradually turning pale, and the smile at the corner of his mouth grew ever more pronounced.

"So..."

"Luan Yu, it seems the painstaking measures your father king laid out have instead been utterly destroyed by you."