"Hey, have you heard? The Crown Prince Xu Tiannan, after this assassination attempt, not only lost both his legs—he also lost his third leg."
"For real?"
"I heard it from my aunt's grandfather's cousin's younger brother's brother-in-law… could that be fake?"
"Whoa, that explosive? Tell me the details."
"Ahem, just listen for fun, alright? Don't tell anyone it was me who said it."
"Relax. What's our relationship? I'd never tell anyone."
"I heard that when the assassins captured the Crown Prince, they tortured him mercilessly—first breaking all four of his limbs, and then breaking the fifth limb…"
"…"
And so, the rumor spread—one person told ten, ten told a hundred, a hundred told a thousand—and soon it reached the ears of the powerful nobles throughout Mingdu.
When the Second Prince Xu Tianyu heard the news that his elder brother Xu Tiannan had become impotent, he was overjoyed.
Although he didn't know whether the rumor was true or false, either way, it was good news for him.
If it was true, that was perfect—Xu Tiannan would definitely be stripped of his Crown Prince title by their father, the Emperor.
If it was false, then the rumor would still greatly damage Xu Tiannan's dignity and authority as Crown Prince. That, too, was very beneficial to him.
Thus, as soon as Xu Tianyu heard the rumor, he immediately sent hundreds of people to spread it far and wide.
Whether the rumor was true or false didn't matter—the only thing that mattered was that it spread.
The Third Prince Xu Tianshi also burst into laughter when he heard the rumor. In the past, he had cooperated with Xu Tiannan to deal with their second brother, Xu Tianyu—but he hadn't expected that Xu Tiannan had been hiding his true strength and ultimately eliminated him as well.
Therefore, Xu Tianshi had always been displeased with Xu Tiannan, and upon hearing that the Crown Prince had become impotent, he sent him several beautiful women out of pure spiteful amusement.
Since the Second and Third Princes—the "big brothers"—had already taken the lead, their followers naturally followed suit, fanning the flames and sending more people to spread the rumor.
Under the deliberate guidance and encouragement of the Second Prince and the other powerful nobles, the news that "Crown Prince Xu Tiannan has lost his manhood and can no longer be a real man" spread through Mingdu at an astonishing speed.
In just one day, the entire Mingdu was in an uproar. Countless people were gossiping about it—everyone knew that the Crown Prince Xu Tiannan had lost his third leg.
The next day, when Wang Chen stepped out of his house and heard people all over the streets and alleys gossiping about how Crown Prince Xu Tiannan had lost his third leg and become impotent, even he couldn't help but be surprised.
Wait, this rumor spread too fast!
For a moment, even Wang Chen—the one who had started all this—hadn't expected the rumor to spread so wildly and so quickly.
It had covered the entire Mingdu in just a single day.
If Wang Chen's role in spreading the rumor accounted for one percent, then the Second Prince, Third Prince, and the other nobles accounted for ninety-nine percent.
That's right—on a scale of one hundred, Wang Chen's contribution was only one point.
In fact, even that might be an overstatement.
After all, despite gathering men and influence over the past two years, how could he possibly compare to the combined forces of the Second and Third Princes and the countless noble officials beneath them? They had far more manpower.
Walking through the bustling streets, listening to the people of Mingdu gossip enthusiastically, Wang Chen couldn't help but curl his lips into a faint smile.
Things had gone far more smoothly than he had imagined.
With the terrifying speed of this rumor's spread, it would be absolutely impossible to contain it.
Unless someone fired dozens of rank-nine fixed-installed soul-guided cannon shells and blasted the entire Mingdu into the sky—
Otherwise, even if the Emperor of the Sun Moon Empire personally intervened, the most he could do was make people afraid to discuss it openly.
But completely suppressing the rumor? Impossible.
As for Wang Chen himself—the source of the rumor—he was already practically untraceable.
Because at this moment, there were rumor-spreaders everywhere throughout Mingdu—noble officials, princes' followers—everyone was spreading the story.
At this point, no one could tell who was the original source, who was a secondary spreader, or who was a third-level spreader.
It could only be said that once powerful people began spreading a rumor, the speed of its dissemination became truly terrifying.
As the rumor continued to spread, the person at its center—Crown Prince Xu Tiannan—was so enraged that he nearly died on the spot.
Inside the Crown Prince's Mansion, in the study.
Xu Tiannan's eyes were bloodshot as he sat in his wheelchair, smashing everything in the room to pieces.
"Who?! Who was it?!"
"Who spread it?!"
"The doctors who treated me—I already silenced all of them! Then who else could have leaked it?!"
"Who knew?! Who could it be?!!!"
At this moment, Xu Tiannan had completely lost his mind.
In fact, he had discovered the rumor shortly after it first appeared.
As the Crown Prince of the Sun Moon Empire, he had plenty of subordinates—how could he not have noticed anything?
Upon hearing of the rumor, Xu Tiannan immediately sent men to suppress it—blocking the spread and even killing those who knew.
But rumors are not so easily silenced.
Finding who started the rumor, and then finding everyone they had told—it all takes time.
Moreover, when Wang Chen had sent people to spread the rumor, he had deliberately divided them into several groups to prevent being caught all at once.
Therefore, by the time Xu Tiannan had exhausted himself to seal off one area's rumor, another area had already flared up again.
Then, not just one—several districts erupted with the rumor simultaneously.
This situation drove Xu Tiannan to despair.
He felt as if the entire population of Mingdu was mocking and ridiculing him, the Crown Prince.
How could he possibly suppress something like this?
Mingdu had tens of millions of people
(in the original story, Star Luo City had millions of residents—Mingdu, being the capital, was even larger than the combined capitals of the three Douluo Kingdoms).
He could silence a hundred people, or a thousand.
But could he silence ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million?
How could he possibly silence the mouths of tens of millions?
Now, the entire Mingdu—everyone, high and low—knew that he was no longer a man.
The most crucial thing was that he couldn't even prove his innocence—because the rumor was true.
He really had lost his manhood.
Despair completely engulfed Xu Tiannan. He could no longer think of any way to turn things around or preserve his position as Crown Prince.
Outside the study, Juzi trembled as she listened to the sound of Xu Tiannan smashing things.
She didn't dare step inside.
She was terrified that if she entered, the deranged and desperate Xu Tiannan would take out his anger on her—perhaps even strangle her to death.
Juzi thought to herself,
"I risked my life to save Xu Tiannan, but I didn't expect that just a few days later, he'd be finished.
No, I have to run—if I don't escape now, I'll end up buried with him.
Xu Tiannan, the debt I owed you, I've repaid with my life. From now on, we owe each other nothing."
Not long after Juzi fled—
Outside the gates of the Crown Prince's Mansion, a middle-aged man with an aura of terrifying power proclaimed loudly:
"By imperial decree—His Majesty commands Crown Prince Xu Tiannan to enter the palace immediately. Do not delay! Thus decreed!"