Chapter 1: Palace Coup
Early morning, midnight.
Sun Moon Empire, Imperial Palace, Chongming Hall.
Three-year-old Kong Tianming stood at the entrance of the hall, his expression exceptionally calm as he watched the fires spreading across the palace halls and listened to the sounds of slaughter echoing throughout the palace.
He knew that the Sun Moon Palace Coup had begun.
After tonight, Crown Prince Crown Prince Xu Tianhe would become the former Crown Prince. Under the cover of loyal subordinates, he would flee and remain in exile all the way to the Heavenly Soul Empire, where he would eventually be saved by Fan Yu. From then on, he would change his name and become He Caitou.
As for Xu Tianran, the son of a Prince, he would benefit from his father's successful coup and become the new Crown Prince of the Sun Moon Empire.
"Young Master, please return to the hall to rest. It is very dangerous outside right now; you cannot go out."
The Captain of the Imperial Guard of Chongming Hall looked at the three-year-old child before him with a troubled expression. Fortunately, the Young Master was only standing at the entrance and had no intention of walking out, allowing him to breathe a sigh of relief.
As the Captain of the Imperial Guard for Chongming Hall, the palace upheaval had nothing to do with him.
He had only one mission: to protect the direct grandson of the Chief Venerable of the Venerables Hall.
Currently, the Chief Venerable was in secluded cultivation.
During this period, if anything happened to the Chief Venerable's grandson, let alone his own head, even the heads of his entire extended family wouldn't be enough to pay for the mistake.
"Rest?"
Kong Tianming glanced at the Captain of the Guard nonchalantly.
"It's so noisy outside, how do you expect me to rest?"
The Captain's heart shuddered, his legs went weak, and he knelt on the ground, cold sweat pouring down his body.
"This humble servant has failed in his duty, I beg the Young Master for forgiveness!"
Kong Tianming didn't spare him a glance and turned to walk back into Chongming Hall. His childish voice echoed through the spacious hall, his tone lazy and casual, as if he were stating a trivial matter.
"Tell them to get lost. If I don't sleep well tonight, you know the consequences when Grandfather finishes his seclusion."
The Captain felt as if he had been granted a grand pardon and hurried to obey.
"Yes! Yes! Yes! This servant will do it immediately and guarantee they won't disturb your peaceful dreams."
With that, he ran out of the palace courtyard gates as if flying, wishing his parents had given him two more legs.
Chongming Hall, Inner Hall.
Kong Tianming lay on a carved bed made of Ten-thousand-year Sandalwood, covered by a Ten-thousand-year Silk Quilt that felt light as air. Smelling the elegant and gentle fragrance, he soon put the palace coup out of his mind and drifted into dreamland.
The flames of war outside Chongming Hall grew more intense, yet they all coincidentally stayed far away from this place, one of only two pure lands in the palace.
(The other pure land was the Venerables Hall.)
Several hours later.
The sky brightened.
After sleeping soundly for the night, Kong Tianming walked through the devastated palace streets, followed by a group of guards and servants.
Everywhere they went, palace staff and soldiers could be seen cleaning up the battlefield.
"Tell me, what happened last night?"
Kong Tianming walked at the front of the group, his tone calm and casual.
"In response to the Young Master," the Captain of the Guard immediately bowed and stepped forward, staying half a step behind Kong Tianming, and answered in a low voice:
"Prince Heng, in order to rectify the national foundation, launched the Sun Moon Gate Incident. He now holds great power and is the strongest contender for the throne while it remains vacant."
This was phrased very officially.
Even in a transcendent World, legitimacy was very important.
Then again, what emperor would want to leave a foul reputation in the history books after their death?
Even though the Captain knew the truth wasn't as he described, Prince Heng was only one title away from the position of Emperor of the Sun Moon Empire.
A lowly Captain of the Guard like him didn't dare risk the execution of his entire clan to speak the treasonous truth.
After all, Kong Tianming had a noble status and nothing would happen to him if he heard the truth, but the one who spoke it would be in a different situation.
Any random charge would be enough for him to die a hundred times over.
Kong Tianming headed east, eventually strolling to the front of the Sun Moon Hall.
The Sun Moon Hall was the residence of the Crown Prince of the Sun Moon Empire, equivalent to the Eastern Palace where the Crown Prince lived in the Huaxia dynasties of his past life.
At this moment, inside the Sun Moon Hall that symbolized the status of the Crown Prince, Kong Tianming saw a familiar face—the son of Prince Heng, Xu Tianran.
At this point in time, Xu Tianran was not yet a eunuch.
With all three legs intact, he stood in the Sun Moon Hall, directing palace staff to tidy up his future residence, looking incredibly high-spirited.
Indeed, with the talent of Innate full soul power, the Purple Imperial Heaven-Destroying Dragon Martial Soul—the most powerful among the three Legacy Martial Souls of the Imperial Family—and being on the verge of becoming the Crown Prince of the Sun Moon Empire, who wouldn't be dazed?
"Brother Tianran, why are you standing in Brother Tianhe's palace?"
Hearing this, Xu Tianran turned around abruptly. Upon seeing that the speaker was Kong Tianming, the ferocious look on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a refined and gentle expression.
He could not afford to offend the direct grandson of the Chief Venerable.
Didn't he see that his old man had to wait until Grandmaster Kong Deming was in seclusion to launch the coup? By the time the Enshrinement Master finished his seclusion, it would already be a settled matter.
For the sake of the Imperial Family's stability, the Enshrinement Master wouldn't say anything and could only accept the current facts.
"Ah, it's Lord Xiao Kong."
Xu Tianran squatted down like an easygoing older brother from next door and patted Kong Tianming's head.
"Imperial Brother Tianhe was abducted by bad people, and his whereabouts are currently unknown."
"However, we have already sent extra manpower to rescue him. I believe it won't be long before we can save Imperial Brother Tianhe from the hands of those villains."
"Abducted by bad people?" After hearing this, Kong Tianming asked casually:
"Does that mean the token symbolizing the status of the Crown Prince of our Sun Moon Empire has also disappeared along with Brother Tianhe?"
"Uh... yes." Xu Tianran's hands, hidden in his sleeves, clenched tightly, his sharp nails piercing his skin and drawing bright red blood.
He was absolutely furious inside!
Although under the current situation, he could become the Crown Prince of the Sun Moon Empire even without that token, it would make his tenure as Crown Prince imperfect.
He was a perfectionist.
He hated all imperfect things! He hated anything with a flaw!
And yet, someone just had to poke at his sore spot. But he couldn't afford to offend this person, so he could only stand there with a forced smile, feeling both angry and stifled.
"It's really gone?"
Kong Tianming sighed and shook his head, saying:
"Then you must find it as soon as possible. Otherwise, the next Crown Prince will be the first in the history of our Sun Moon Empire to not have the Crown Prince's token. How pitiful; this matter will surely be recorded in the history books and be remembered for eternity."
Listening to these words, Xu Tianran felt as if an invisible blade had been plunged deep into his heart.
That really stung!
After seeing off this ancestor he couldn't afford to provoke, Xu Tianran's expression changed instantly, his face darkening so much it looked like it would drip water.
"Search! Send everyone out to search!"
An ancient dragon's roar sounded, and rings of Soul Rings appeared behind Xu Tianran.
Yellow, Yellow, Purple, Purple, Black.
Fifteen years old, a five-ring Soul King!
His face was distorted as he roared like a vicious dragon:
"Find Crown Prince Xu Tianhe at all costs and bring back the Crown Prince's token for me!!!"