“He ended up staying in the Yiren King’s palace. Then, when I was eighteen, my mother became pregnant again, and the entire palace celebrated. Hua Lin was thrilled, but my mother was constantly worried. In the palace, every child who reaches eighteen must face the trial of the Yiren King’s Sword before the people of the Foreign City. Only by pulling the sword can one qualify to inherit the throne. The sword contains an immense power; whoever can draw it becomes king, while those who fail are consumed by its force. Over a thousand years, many young Yiren have perished trying.”
“My mother worried for me and couldn’t sleep, but there was no way to stop it. The Yiren King’s title wasn’t only the Hua family’s legacy—it was something my maternal grandfather sacrificed his life to secure. As the Yiren King’s daughter, it was my duty to draw the Yiren King’s Sword. At the time, I was undefeated among my generation in the city. I thought… I could draw the sword.”
Bai Shuo remained silent, listening intently.
“But that day, the Yiren King’s Sword chose its master, and it wasn’t me. It was Hua Yong. My mother died that day as well.”
Silence fell over the courtyard.
“What happened that day?” Bai Shuo asked softly.
The Yiren King’s Sword had chosen a master, yet the Yiren Queen met a tragic end?
"That day, the Meng Yu Festival, with the eyes of the entire city upon me, I attempted to draw the Yiren King’s Sword. Yet I couldn’t even get within a meter of it. In the way of the heavens, when one cannot advance, they are pushed back—so the sword’s power recoiled upon me. Just as I was about to perish, Hua Yong took on the backlash of the Yiren King’s Sword for me."
“He saved you?”
“I wish he had never saved me.” Hua Hong’s voice was as cold as ice as she closed her eyes. “I would rather have died that day under the Yiren King’s Sword. But he took the backlash meant for me, and in doing so, he revealed his Hua family bloodline mark beneath his shattered spirit bones…”
The old Foreign City King had only one son, Hua Lin, and the former king had long passed. With Hua Yong still a child, there was no need to ask whose offspring he was.
“My mother was distraught and pressed Wu Zhao for answers. Only then did we learn that the frail Yiren crown prince had once had a lover. They were deeply in love and had vowed to spend their lives together. His marriage to my mother was simply because my grandfather had sacrificed his life to secure his throne. My mother, proud and strong-willed, could not bear such a humiliation. She didn’t survive the night, and she died along with her unborn child.”
Hua Yong was younger than Hua Hong, which meant that the Yiren King had continued his secret meetings with his lover even after marrying into the Mei family. He even dared to hide his son in the palace to be raised by the queen herself. Given Hua Hong’s temperament, it was clear her mother was as fierce and unyielding as they came.
“Where was the Yiren King? Even if the queen was distressed, as someone at the peak of the supreme lord rank, he could have saved her,” Bai Shuo said, outraged.
“Hua Yong’s spirit bones were shattered. The king sealed himself in the stone hall to extend Hua Yong’s life, leaving my mother to die in labor, abandoned.”
Bai Shuo froze, unable to believe what she was hearing.
Hua Hong turned away, a hint of bitterness tugging at her mouth. “Why be surprised? A lover’s son would naturally be more precious than others.”
Her voice, cold to the core, carried an unmistakable sorrow.
Suddenly, Bai Shuo understood. Perhaps in that instant, as the Yiren King left with Hua Yong, the queen had lost her will to live.
Under the dim moonlight, the Yiren King sat before a grave.
“Hong’er has returned. She’s grown up… and she looks very much like you.” He caressed the tombstone, finished his final cup of wine, and walked away without looking back.
“After my mother’s death, Hua Yong became the crown prince. And I, without her protection, became a pathetic joke. So on the day they formally appointed him, I stormed into the Locking Spirit Array. If not for this cursed Yiren throne, my grandfather would not have died, and my mother would never have married that heartless beast. I lost every family member I had, so why should those people live peacefully in this city?”
“But I failed. As the Yiren King’s daughter trying to destroy the foundation of the Foreign City, neither Hua Lin nor the Yiren people could tolerate me. That night, I was banished from the city. From then on, I wandered the three realms until Hao Yue Hall took me in.”
Hua Hong glanced at Fan Yue, then turned to Bai Shuo. “Now you know everything. Do you think I would ever help the Yiren King?”
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