"With your paltry tricks, you think you can make me relinquish the throne!"

"Why don't you turn around and look? Your men are all surrounded by my Imperial Guards!"

"What?" Upon hearing this, the Empress Dowager's expression changed as she looked at the large number of soldiers who had appeared outside the palace.

They surrounded all the thousands of men brought by the Prince of Pingxi, forming an impenetrable iron wall.

"Li Shengyuan, how could you? Did you foresee this all along?"

Before she could even react, a knife was thrust against her neck.

It was none other than the sixth prince who had been standing beside her just now, pretending to protect her!

"Li, Li Huaiyan?! You're the Emperor's man!"

The Empress Dowager's face was filled with horror, her expression pale and terrifying. "How... how could this be? You know everything? Even Li Huaiyan was a spy you planted by my side!"

"I have always been the Emperor's man, loyal only to the Emperor! I pretended to join you in the rebellion because the Emperor had long anticipated this day. With the late Emperor's edict in hand, you, Empress Dowager, would not be content! That's why the Emperor has been pretending to ignore state affairs and go along with your wishes, just to make you lower your guard. The more you think he is unworthy to be the Emperor, the sooner you will try to rebel. He did all this to force you to act sooner and make the edict public!"

"The Sixth Prince is right, but I did not expect that you, Empress Dowager, would be so patient and keep it a secret until today!"

Li Shengyuan exuded a cold and arrogant aura, having shed his former carefree and decadent demeanor, and instead radiating a chilling and domineering imperial presence.

"I see that you've decided to rebel now because you think you're old and Kongwang has grown up, and you believe he's capable of challenging me!"

"You want to dethrone me and make your own son sit on the throne!"

"It wasn't for nothing that I've painstakingly cultivated this persona all these years. I've finally managed to trick you into revealing your true colors and exposing your rebellious son!"

"Do you know how hard I've worked to maintain this facade all these years? I dare not relax for a moment. Every time I go to sleep, I think of the imperial edict the late emperor left for you, allowing you to keep an eye on me at all times. I also think of your child who was secretly sent out of the palace in the middle of the night. I don't know where he is now, or if he will suddenly appear and take away everything I've worked so hard to have! I can't sleep at night! I dream of being killed by you all one day!"

"Now, I can finally eliminate this threat forever!" Upon hearing this, the Empress Dowager turned ashen-faced, her eyes filled with shock and regret.

Prime Minister Xia, standing to the side, was completely at a loss. Looking at this sudden turn of events, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning and that his death was imminent!

"It's all or nothing! Now that things have come to this, I have nothing more to say! However, you cannot kill Kong Wang. He is not only my son, but also your brother and the heir of the late emperor. He knows nothing. I forced him to this point. You should not make things difficult for him!"

"How naive! Since Father Emperor has already foreseen this, how could he possibly leave any room for error?" Prince Rui couldn't help but sigh.

Li Changyu was slightly shocked. What shocked him was not the incident itself, but that Li Shengyuan, the usually incompetent and irresponsible emperor, actually knew everything.

Although he knew from the beginning that Li Shengyuan's wisdom was not as he appeared on the surface, he never thought that he would have such a cunning and scheming mind.

In order to accomplish something, one can pretend to be someone else for over ten years!

His desire for revenge, his determination to defeat such an immortal monster with both strategy and intelligence, is no easy task!

Mi Shan subconsciously looked at Li Changyu. She could guess what he was thinking from his heavy expression and understand his worries. Li Shengyuan was indeed not a easy person to deal with.

Throughout history, those who have become emperors have always possessed a certain degree of cunning and ruthlessness.

Perhaps he knows far more than they imagine...

Sure enough, the next moment, Li Shengyuan burst into a mocking laugh: "Mother, Mother, are you still unwilling to tell the truth? Are you trying to deceive me, or are you trying to deceive yourself?"

"Kong Wang, he is not the late emperor's son at all!"