[Supremely devious + refuses to play by the rules + an ultimate battle of wits between father and son + an explosively satisfying ensemble cast]
The failed scholar and poisoner Shen Ruhui twirled his folding fan, grinning more coldly than a ghost. “Your Highness, under the laws of Great Sheng, smashing up shops in the street is against the rules.”
Xiao Jingjue toyed with the golden abacus in his hand, his peach-blossom eyes brimming with menace. “The rules? I’ll pay five times the price to buy their lives. That’s the rule! Anyone who dares fight back, I’ll personally wipe out their entire clan!”
Pei Yuan, the fierce general of the northern frontier, drew his notched steel saber and spat blood onto the ground. “The emperor’s edict means nothing! My brothers eat Ning Wang’s grain and take Ning Wang’s rewards. If Your Highness says to cut someone down, I’ll slaughter his whole family today!”
Half a year later.
The powerful families of Jiangnan had been uprooted, and Jinling had become Xiao Jingjue’s personal fortress.
Inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
Hearing the secret report brought by the shadow guards, the assembled officials trembled with fear, convinced that the emperor would send a massive army south to put down the rebellion.
The iron-fisted old emperor Xiao Honglie had climbed to the throne over mountains of corpses and raised his son like a poisonous creature. Reading the secret report’s outrageously thuggish, shameless extortion tactics, he did not fly into a rage. Instead, he let out a chilling laugh.
“Good! What a little bastard!”
The old emperor slammed his hand down and shattered the imperial desk. His cloudy eyes blazed with bloodthirsty fervor. “The whole court thinks he’s a useless wastrel who only knows how to hoard wealth. Only I know the mad hunger for power that makes this boy devour people without even spitting out the bones... He’s exactly like I was back then!”
“Sixth Son, my dear Sixth Son, I’d like to see whether you dare sit on that dragon throne by stepping over my corpse!”
