Such a scene, neither Prince Jingkang nor his men had ever witnessed before.

The ferocious beasts, under Wen Yuesheng’s command, couldn’t gain any advantage at all.

She had already slain three vicious beasts, her gaze cold and steady as she raised her eyes to look at Prince Jingkang.

Prince Jingkang paused for a moment, then suddenly sneered, about to command all the surrounding beasts to attack, intending to tear Wen Yuesheng apart.

However, when he looked up, he saw Wen Yue casually toss her already coiled sword onto the ground.

Beasts are not like humans; their bones are strong, and regular blades would suffer significant damage when striking these beasts.

But no matter the circumstances, having a weapon is better than having none when surrounded by so many ferocious beasts.

Her sudden action made King Jingkang’s brow twitch. He cast a cold, calculating look at her.

Before he could think it through, Wen Yuesheng’s voice rang out: “Attack.”

As soon as she finished speaking, there was a brief silence.

Then, suddenly, a large number of soldiers surged into the national temple.

The synchronized sound of their heavy footsteps echoed throughout the temple.

Prince Jingkang, seated on his horse, watched as soldiers poured in from all directions. His previously triumphant expression slowly froze.

He looked around, finally fixing his gaze on Wen Yue, his face darkening as he said, “So, you had already set up an ambush here?”

He had broken out of the Dali Temple prison without any problems, thinking the prison guards had been affected by his poison. But now, it was clear… she had done this on purpose!

Prince Jingkang was first enraged, then smiled weirdly. He placed his left hand on his mouth and blew a whistle.

As soon as the whistle sounded, the beasts he had released became bloodshot and went into a frenzy.

The beasts gathered together, roaring and digging large pits in the ground with their massive claws, preparing to pounce on the crowd.

Two more beasts stood beside Wen Yuesheng.

She was positioned right in front of the beasts, close to them. Yet, when she saw the beasts go mad, she didn’t even move.

Her expression remained calm as she slowly raised her eyes.

After exchanging glances with Prince Jingkang, she raised her right hand slightly and calmly said, “Prepare the crossbows.”

As her words fell, countless crossbows suddenly appeared on the high walls surrounding the temple.

Numerous crossbow bolts, gleaming coldly, aimed directly at the vicious beasts.

Under the icy sunlight, Wen Yuesheng coldly ordered, “Exterminate all the beasts, leave not a single one alive.”

In that instant, thousands of arrows were unleashed.

The sharp and piercing crossbow bolts rained down like a storm, killing all the beasts Prince Jingkang had brought with him, as well as the few generals by his side.

All of this happened in the span of a single night.

As Prince Jingkang’s men kept falling, he suddenly raised his head to look at the distance.

There, sitting was his father, the Emperor.

After a brief silence, Prince Jingkang began laughing maniacally.

The entire royal temple was in chaos. Amid the bloodstains and the pungent smell, his mad laughter was sharp and jarring, echoing in everyone’s ears and sending chills down their spines.

He laughed wildly, tears streaming down his face.

Behind him, Yan Ling and the commanders of the three elite armies arrived simultaneously, their swords gleaming coldly as they rested on his shoulder.

The generals by Yan Ling’s side pulled King Jingkang off his horse and forced him to the ground.

Since their arrival, he did not resist.

Surrounded by heavy troops and facing countless crossbows, he had no room for resistance.

Only when his hands were bound and he was escorted before the Emperor, did the madness in his expression gradually fade.

He looked around at the soldiers clad in black armor, at the expressionless Wen Yuesheng, and at Yan Ling who had suddenly appeared, before turning to the Emperor with a mocking smile.

“Father, Father, if you want my life, just say it outright! Why go through all this trouble setting traps?”

His eyes were full of madness, his face twisted.

The Emperor, pale and leaning on someone for support, finally managed to sit by the flowerbed.

His deep, cold gaze remained on Prince Jingkang for a long time, unmoving.

After a long time, just as everyone thought the Emperor wouldn’t speak, the Emperor finally said, “I didn’t fail to give you a chance.”

His voice was hoarse and weary, no longer carrying the previous authority and coldness.

“A chance?!” Prince Jingkang laughed, as if hearing something incredibly absurd. “Then tell me, Father, what chance did you actually give me?”

“Was it this broken body? Or the position of Prince Jingkang, which I can never ascend to? Or was it your laughable concern?”

With each word he spoke, the Emperor’s face darkened.

Yan Ling stood aside, his gaze cold.

Among the Emperor’s four sons, the eldest was brutal, the second was treacherous.

Prince Jingkang had grown up in the palace under the torment of these two.

The eldest prince was violent, but he only physically harmed others. Prince Jingkang, however, was a complete pervert.

He was born weak, so he learned to act obediently in front of the Emperor.

But behind the scenes, he enjoyed raising ferocious beasts.

When Yan Ling was a child, Prince Jingkang raised vicious hunting dogs.

But even those hunting dogs had bitten Yan Ling several times, leaving him bleeding.

And unlike Xiao Rui, Prince Jingkang would always tell the Emperor that the hunting dogs were just playing and had accidentally injured Yan Ling.

He would even ask the Imperial Doctor to treat Yan Ling’s wounds.

Then, after Yan Ling recovered, Prince Jingkang would let the beasts tear at him even more savagely.

From a single hunting dog to five.

He enjoyed watching people suffer under the chase of the beasts, their helplessness and pain. The more they screamed, the more excited he became.

His mind was dark and twisted, more so than any of the princes.

And his actions were not like Xiao Rui or Xiao Jin, driven by a desire for power or the throne.

He was purely releasing his malice onto everyone.

Because he was born weak, he wanted to vent that malice on everyone else.

After Yan Ling came to power, Prince Jingkang had nearly died several times at the hands of the beasts he had raised.

After several attempts, he had calmed down significantly. In recent years, he had been protected by the royal hidden guards dispatched by the emperor, hiding within the palace and never daring to step outside.

During these years, others believed his health was poor, which kept him confined. Only Prince Jingkang himself knew the true reason he couldn’t leave the palace.

But the fierce beasts under his command were still slaughtered almost to extinction.

Reluctantly, he turned to some of the less favored illegitimate sons in his family, like Liang Can, to train these beasts for him.

On the day Yan Ling encountered Wen Yuesheng at the royal hunting grounds, he originally planned to deal with Liang Can and his beasts.

After Liang Can died, and the entire Liang family was eradicated, Prince Jingkang had no choice but to show himself again.

For his own safety, he mostly stayed in the palace but never dared to meet the emperor.

Because of this, he no longer secretly kept beasts.

Just before Wen Yuesheng returned to the capital, he made his move, spending a fortune buying a batch of beasts from various places and placing them in his private residence on the outskirts of the capital, waiting for the right moment.

What he didn’t know was that the moment he stepped out of Prince Jingkang’s residence, he was already marked for death.

But Yan Ling discovered certain things and changed his mind.

Under the scorching sun of July, Yan Ling coldly glanced at Prince Jingkang before shifting his gaze to the emperor.

Like in their childhood, Prince Jingkang was cruel and ruthless, but because he was the emperor’s son and physically weak, he received many privileges from the emperor.

Yan Ling wasn’t sure if the emperor knew of Prince Jingkang’s private actions.

But royal family members always trampled on others’ lives as if they were nothing.

Xiao Rui, Prince Jingkang, was even more lawless and unrestrained.

He spared Prince Jingkang’s life not for any other reason but to make the emperor swallow the bitter fruit he himself had brewed.

Prince Jingkang was like a venomous snake hiding in the shadows.

A person so sinister and cruel would never have any family affection; he would only feel that anyone who obstructed him deserved to die.

It could be said that as soon as Yan Ling left the capital to send reinforcements to Wen Yue Sheng on the frontier, King Jingkang had already made his move against the emperor.

“Xiao Ji,” the emperor tremblingly stood up and looked at him. “Didn’t I treat you well? Among my four sons, I gave you the most privileges! How could you do such a rebellious and unfilial thing? You ungrateful son…”

The emperor trembled violently in anger and almost fainted.

The imperial doctor, standing nearby, quickly rushed to him and said, “Your Majesty, calm down.”

The emperor barely managed to steady himself but kept his eyes locked on Xiao Ji.

“Treat you well?” Xiao Ji(Prince Jingkang) laughed wildly, as if hearing a joke. His laughter was so intense that tears almost spilled from his eyes.

He looked up at the emperor, his eyes filled with resentment and hatred:

“If you really treated me well, you should have killed Xiao Rui, Xiao Yin, and Xiao Jin!”

“You should have left this world and the throne to me! Instead, you directly told me that because I was naturally weak, I could never ascend to the throne and would only ever be a dog under their command!”

Xiao Ji’s face twisted with rage, and he continued, laughing maniacally, “My dear father, you really think too highly of yourself. Your so-called favor was just because I had no competition for the throne. I was naturally weak, and I would never have my own children, so you treated me like a pitiful dog!”

“Do you really think of yourself as a kind father? Hahaha, that’s laughable.” He shook his head in disbelief, his eyes full of malice as he addressed the emperor: “Father, you probably don’t know, right?”

“You despised me for my physical weaknesses, so I poisoned Xiao Rui, Xiao Yin, and Xiao Jin with venom,” Xiao Ji laughed wildly. “Hahaha, do you think that Xiao Rui, after so many years of marriage, still has such weak descendants? And when he finally had a healthy child, that child died mysteriously?”

“Why do you think Xiao Yin hasn’t had any children for years and has become a waste?” Xiao Ji laughed even more exaggeratedly, “Is it a coincidence? No, it was all me.”

“Since I can’t be human, I made your sons useless one by one! Father, are you happy now, father!?”

As he revealed these secrets, everyone around him changed their expressions.