His thoughts drifted away, returning to the past.
His name was Yin Shuli, and he was the twin son of Crown Prince Wei Huaixu.
They looked almost identical when they were born, even the moles at the corners of their eyes were exactly the same.
However, two people from the same background have completely different fates.
Wei Huaixu is the Crown Prince of Donglin Kingdom. He is of very noble status and has been living a life of luxury since childhood. He is a proud and virtuous prince, respected and admired by all.
And he, Yin Shuli, was a shadow guard who could not even show his true face, a rat in the gutter, a demon who crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
When the Empress gave birth to them, she discovered they were twins and immediately sent them to Jinling.
Upon arriving at the Han family home, the nanny who had brought her there was killed. To cover their tracks, her maternal grandmother borrowed the surname of a relative from her maternal family and named him Yin Shuli.
Because the Empress had a difficult childbirth, he was born with a weaker constitution. He could only walk at the age of three and could only speak a complete sentence at the age of four.
In the Han family, he was always the one who was bullied. The Han children called him a bastard and a good-for-nothing. They would tear up his books and then tell the teacher that he did it on purpose, so that he would be criticized by the teacher; they would throw his things into the pond, force him to go down and pick them up, and then tell the elders in the family that he insisted on going into the pond to catch fish, which is why he got his clothes wet; they would also deliberately block the door when he was using the toilet, and then throw firecrackers inside, laughing at him for being so scared that he wet his pants.
Back then, he was timid and would only hide and cry when he was bullied. He dared not fight back, fearing that he would face even fiercer retaliation.
Only his maternal grandmother treated him well in the Han family. She would save the best food and drinks for him, and only his maternal grandmother believed that he was not the bad child that others said.
His maternal grandmother was the only light in his childhood.
His world was plunged into complete darkness after his grandmother passed away.
He was twelve years old that year.
Apart from his maternal grandmother, no one in the Han family knew his true identity. His cousin, who had always disliked him, threw him into the Shadow Guard camp.
The Han family has been secretly training shadow guards for the royal family. All they have to do is be completely obedient to the emperor, empress, and crown prince, and carry out tasks such as murder, investigation, delivering letters, and trading. In short, they do everything that cannot be done in the open.
This Shadow Guard camp is comparable to a hellish battlefield.
Every year, batches of people are sent to the camp. Most of them are of lowly birth; some are sold, and some are tricked into coming with a steamed bun or a few coins.
They trained together in this place, categorized like objects: the quick-witted were in one group, and the agile were in another. Every so often, there would be an assessment, and the bottom performers would be executed on the spot, their heads impaled on steel pillars by the training ground, to be watched over by the others every day, serving as a daily reminder.
Yin Shuli wasn't very bright, and his skills were average. He was assigned to the most dangerous group, where only the most ruthless person could survive to the end.
During his long time in the Shadow Guard camp, he never slept through the night. He had to be on high alert every day because he might be killed in his sleep.
He didn't dare to eat anything casually; he wouldn't touch any food that had been out of his sight, because he feared it might be poisoned.
To survive to the end, he was surrounded by wolves and tigers, and everyone wanted him dead.
Lacking exceptional talent, he could only work harder, strive more, and persevere more diligently than others. He was always the first to arrive at the training ground and the last to leave. Day after day, he seemed tireless.
Inevitably, some people will feel indignant. Everyone here is a rival, and no one wants to see their opponent become stronger.
So someone tried to assassinate him while he was training at night.
He was exhausted from long hours of training, and although he barely dodged the blade, he was still cut on the arm. His opponent gave him no chance to recover and immediately launched another attack.
One sword, two swords, three swords...
He was soon covered in wounds and looked utterly disheveled.
Many people came to watch, but no one intended to help.
In this dog-eat-dog world, being eliminated or killed only proves that you are not as skilled as others; no one cares whether the means are honorable or not.
If you lose, there is only one outcome—death.
Yin Shuli gritted his teeth, his mouth filled with the taste of blood. He stared at the man opposite him, whose eyes were filled with murderous intent as he thrust his sword forward, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes.
The moment the blade stabbed at him again, he dodged to the side, and the blade pierced his left shoulder. This time, he did not dodge, but grabbed the blade with one hand and pulled it out fiercely.
Blood flowed from between his fingers, staining the sharp blade.
The other party was stunned.
He saw that Yin Shuli actually smiled.
That smile was chillingly cold.
Then he watched in astonishment as the other person snapped the sword in half with their bare hands.
"Uh—" He didn't have time to dodge at all. Yin Shuli was too fast. In the blink of an eye, he was already behind him.
The next second, the man collapsed to the ground and couldn't get up.
The broken blade pierced straight through his throat.
Yin Shuli raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his face. Blood mixed with sweat trickled down his cheek. He swept his sharp gaze across the onlookers and said coldly, "Does anyone else want to challenge me?"
No one answered.
His appearance at that moment was truly terrifying; he was covered in blood, and his eyes still held a murderous intent, like a vengeful ghost.
Yin Shuli spat out a mouthful of blood at the corpse on the ground, then stepped over it and walked towards his house.
Soon someone came and disposed of the body, and everything returned to normal.
Yin Shuli became famous overnight, and no one dared to provoke him again.
Unbeknownst to them, after returning home that day, as he washed the blood from his hands, his fingertips trembled uncontrollably. This was the first time he, someone who had never dared to watch a chicken being killed, had actually committed murder.
It would be a lie to say I wasn't afraid.
But all he wanted was to live.
In order to survive, he had to transform himself into a complete demon.
The assessment method for this group was also very simple and brutal—a fight to the death.
Unlike other groups of personnel who are assessed periodically, they only have one assessment, and only one.
On the constructed arena, there are no weapons; everyone is naked, and victory is achieved by killing their opponent. The victors cannot rest; they must immediately engage in combat with new opponents until only the last person remaining on the stage achieves final victory.
Yin Shuli survived these battles, standing exhausted and wounded at the summit, stepping over mountains of corpses.
Liu Shushu was right when she said he was a vengeful ghost who crawled out of hell to claim lives.
His hands are stained with countless drops of blood; isn't he a demon?
After leaving the Shadow Guard camp, he was assigned to the emperor's side and became a shadow guard named Ashu.
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