Reborn as a Prince: From the Start, My Mother Gave Birth to Me by C-Section

I was born into a carefully plotted imperial conspiracy. While still in my mother's womb, I “witnessed” the empress's followers poison her. In the end, she had her belly cut open to save my life, dying with bitter regret.

My birth was no blessing. I was a secret pawn hidden away on the northern frontier. My father, the emperor, saw me as a trump card against a calamity that might one day engulf the realm. The empress saw me as a thorn in her side that had to be removed. They all thought I was just a piece on the board.

They were wrong.

The iron-blooded soul of “Zhulong,” a special forces soldier from my previous life, fused with this life's once-in-ten-thousand-years “Swordheart Glazed Body,” sending me down a forbidden path of dual cultivation no one dared to tread! When the powers of two domains erupted within me, I used overwhelming baleful energy as a furnace, forcibly refining life and death and forging a one-of-a-kind “Sword Body Baleful Domain”!

On the surface, I'm the northern frontier's number-one wastrel, a good-for-nothing anyone can bully, and a smokescreen my father uses to mislead his enemies.

In secret, I'm “Zero,” master of the Zhulong Pavilion. My business empire controls the dynasty's economy, my intelligence network reaches deep into the imperial palace, and my assassins' blades already hang over my enemies' throats!

Seventeen years later, an imperial edict summons me back to the capital. The game is underway, and everyone thinks I'm the expendable pawn being pushed forward. They'll soon learn that even a pawn can flip the board!