Shang Xiye threw Shang Xiche, who was tied up like a big rice dumpling, next to the fire.

The young female bandit looked at him and laughed: "Oh ho, Your Majesty, what brings you to this snowy landscape for sightseeing?"

Shang Xiche: "..."

Do you think I want to come? I freaking don't want to come either!

I was doing just fine as emperor, but it was all because of you damned monsters who came back from the Di Kingdom!

Thinking about what he had experienced in the past six months, Shang Xiche felt a surge of sorrow and his eyes welled up with tears.

He wanted to curse Ninth Prince and those bandits, but he couldn't find the right words.

Rome wasn't built in a day.

If he weren't so suspicious, if he were willing to trust the Ninth Prince, and if he had always shared the same hatred and heart with the Ninth Prince;

If he never harbored any intention to persecute the Ninth Prince, and never schemed against or coerced the Ninth Prince;

As intelligent as the Ninth Prince is, he would not have failed to see that the man was possessed by a demon, nor would he have left the capital so decisively.

"Say what you have to say now, or wait until we get back," Shang Xiye said indifferently, his voice cold. "There are still hundreds of demonic cultivators waiting for us to deal with on the mountain. Time is of the essence."

"I'll talk now, I'm afraid if I don't talk now, it will be too late later," Shang Xiche said hurriedly.

Upon hearing this, Ji Fengyao silently took out several more bottles of Blood Cicada's Temptation from her storage ring and threw them into the bonfire outside.

Shang Xiye understood that his wife's actions were buying them more time, so he was no longer in a hurry.

The fact that no one responded to Shang Xiche made him feel a little awkward.

But now he had no more choices or pride, so he could only recount how Dikanlong had possessed him and how, under the instigation of the Empress and the Crown Prince, he had acted against the natural order.

Finally, with tears streaming down his face, he said, "Ninth Brother, I know I shouldn't have doubted you, and I've done many things that didn't deserve your respect. But for the sake of how much Father loves you, I want to ask you for one last thing."

"Come on, you're trying to trick my brother-in-law into doing hard labor for you again. Even if you're unwilling, in the eyes of the world, you abdicated the throne to the crown prince yourself. Do you think my brother-in-law can take it back for you? Wouldn't that make him a traitor?" Ji Fengming retorted bluntly.

“Brother Fengming is right. Isn’t it good for you to be the wealthy retired emperor? The former crown prince is also your son. The throne is still in the hands of your Shang family. It doesn’t matter who takes the throne,” Wanqikafu immediately chimed in to support her.

"Hey! Shang Dongyang is a bastard, the offspring of that bitch Chen Ziyun and that big devil. He has no bloodline of the Great Zhao royal family at all. Otherwise, why would I make things difficult for the Ninth Prince?" Shang Xiche said, jumping up and down in anger, looking like a shrimp that was tied up.

Everyone was stunned.

Even Shang Xiye found this matter somewhat unbelievable: "Brother, are you mistaken? Although the Empress was not a virtuous woman, the Chen family was a prestigious family in Da Zhao. How could she, a young woman confined to her chambers, have come into contact with a prince of Da Zhao?"

"I'm not entirely clear on this matter either. If you want to know the truth, you can only ask that despicable couple. But Shang Dongyang isn't my bloodline, and I heard this from them myself, and more than once," Shang Xiche roared uncontrollably. "Ninth Brother, I know I've fallen for that demon's trick and probably won't survive. But if the Great Zhao dynasty falls in my hands, and the bloodline of the Great Zhao royal family is tainted from my very beginning, I'm truly unwilling to die in peace. I'll have no face to meet the late Emperor and the ancestors of the Shang family after my death!"