But now, the White Tiger Dagger was here, connected to Yuhao's Spirit Eyes martial soul. Those people had taken him to Yun'er's grave…
All the clues lined up one after another, pointing to a truth he had never even considered—or never dared to consider.
Dai Hao's body began to tremble uncontrollably. He pointed at Huo Yuhao, his voice carrying a terror even he did not notice, mixed with a faint, fragile hope.
"You… you are… Yun'er's child? She… she gave birth to a baby… for me?!"
"Now you can finally recognize me, can't you? My 'great' father, Duke White Tiger, Lord Dai Hao?"
Huo Yuhao's voice was as cold as a mysterious ice sealed for ten thousand years. Every word was filled with bitter hatred.
After confirming the other party's identity, Dai Hao's heart was a whirlwind of emotions. There was a moment of excitement, but it was quickly swallowed by an endless, hazy shock.
He truly had a son wandering outside, and he had never known.
"Yuhao…" Dai Hao opened his mouth, but he had no idea what he could possibly say.
"Shut up. You don't have the right to call my name!"
Huo Yuhao suddenly cut him off. The anger and resentment he had suppressed for more than ten years erupted like a volcano.
"Do you know how my mother and I lived?
In the Duke's Mansion, we weren't even as good as servants. My mother waited day and night, hoping you would come and see her even once. And you? Where were you?
You were busy 'guarding your empire.'"
He took step after step toward Dai Hao, his eyes sharp and unforgiving.
"Do you know how my mother died?
She worked herself to exhaustion and fell ill, all for you, for you—an irresponsible father and husband!"
Dai Hao was overwhelmed by the force of his words and stumbled back. His face was bloodless, his lips trembling, but no sound came out.
Every sentence Huo Yuhao spoke was like a sharp knife, driving straight into his heart.
"And then…"
A cruel pleasure surfaced on Huo Yuhao's face.
"Do you know how your son, Dai Huabin, died?"
Dai Hao suddenly raised his head. His eyes widened with shock and disbelief.
"I killed him."
Huo Yuhao pronounced each word clearly, like a death sentence.
"In Mingdu, I personally handed him. Dai Yueheng carried it to him…"
He pointed straight at Dai Hao and laughed maniacally.
"When he blocked that knife just now, I saw everything from the side. I could've saved him, but I didn't. I watched him die right in front of your eyes. Hahaha!"
"You… you…"
It was as if five bolts of lightning struck Dai Hao's head at once. His whole body shook violently. He pointed a trembling finger at Huo Yuhao, and suddenly a mouthful of blood spurted out backward.
Rage, grief, disbelief…
All kinds of emotions flooded him in an instant, smothering his words.
Huabin…
So he also died at the hands of this child—at Yuhao's hands…
And he might have been saved.
After the boundless fury came, what rose up in his heart was an ever-deepening depression and guilt.
He stared at the crazed Huo Yuhao before him, as if seeing the very embodiment of his life's greatest failure.
Yes…
If he hadn't been so indifferent back then, Yun'er would never have fallen into despair.
If he hadn't neglected his duties as a father, this child would never have been abandoned outside, forced to endure endless suffering, to finally become so extreme that he hated everything.
The root of all of it lay with him—Dai Hao.
He laughed miserably. His voice was hoarse and broken, overflowing with endless regret.
"Retribution… This is all retribution…
For Yun'er… and for you… it's all because I failed to fulfill my responsibilities as a father…
I… I didn't even know you existed…
In the entire Duke White Tiger Mansion, I alone… I alone was kept in the dark…"
His gaze went unfocused. Slowly, he traced the engraving on Huo Yun'er's tombstone with his fingertips, then let his eyes fall back onto Huo Yuhao's hate-filled face.
"No… It's all my fault…"
He murmured, a flash of resolve suddenly lighting up his eyes.
"These are sins I committed… So I should be the one to repay them…"
Before the words finished leaving his lips, and before Huo Yuhao could even react, Dai Hao suddenly raised his palm. He gathered the last remnants of his soul power into it and, without the slightest hesitation, struck himself in the heart's major vein.
Boom—!
With a muffled sound, Dai Hao's body went rigid. His pupils dilated in an instant.
He gave Huo Yuhao one last, deep look. That gaze was so complex it defied understanding—there was guilt, there was relief, and perhaps there were traces of a regret too heavy for words.
Then his once-majestic body slowly toppled backward, crashing heavily to the ground before Huo Yun'er's grave. His life was snuffed out.
Blood seeped from his chest, staining the grass in front of the tomb a vivid red.
The madness and hatred on Huo Yuhao's face instantly froze, replaced by extreme shock and… blankness.
He…
He died just like that?
The man he had hated for more than ten years, whom he had sworn to drag down, to ruin his reputation, to make him taste every pain—
Just killed himself?
He died in front of his mother's grave?
"No…!!"
Huo Yuhao suddenly let out a heart-rending roar. He rushed forward, grabbed Dai Hao's lifeless collar, and shook him frantically.
"Who allowed you to die?! Who let you die so easily?!
I haven't paid you back enough yet! I haven't shown you the complete downfall of the Duke White Tiger Mansion yet! Wake up! Wake up!!"
But the only response he received was Dai Hao's gradually cooling body and a dead, suffocating silence.
At that moment, the clouds that had been pressing down for so long finally burst. Bean-sized raindrops pattered down all at once, turning into a torrential downpour.
The cold rain washed away the bloodstains on Dai Hao's chest, washed over Huo Yun'er's lonely tombstone, and washed across Huo Yuhao's face.
He no longer knew whether it was rain or tears streaming down.
In the violent rain, under thunder and lightning, Huo Yuhao knelt before his mother's grave. Facing his birth father's corpse, he threw back his head and howled like a lone wolf, pouring all his rage and anguish into the sky.
It was as if he were questioning this cruel fate, as if he were mourning the forever-lost, twisted love of a ruined family.
In the depths of his spiritual sea, Skydream Iceworm shrank his neck and muttered in a low voice:
"What… what's happening… Yuhao now…"
He had no idea how to comfort him. In the end, he could only choose silence.
Electrolux's ancient sigh echoed softly.
"Foolish child… It's all so full of grievance… How unfortunate…"
Even with all his vast experience, in the face of such entangled emotions and a tragedy of life and death, he could only turn everything into a powerless sigh.
The rain poured harder and harder, as if trying to wash away all the sorrow and sin of this world. But what remained was only a cold, empty, dead silence.
…
Star Luo Empire, Imperial Palace.
The once solemn palace was now shrouded in an invisible, crushing pressure.
The attendants held their breath, even softening their footsteps for fear of disturbing the emperor, who sat unmoving on the sofa.
Xu Jiawei held an urgent war report that reeked of beacon smoke. His fingers clenched so tightly that they turned white.
The words on the report were like a red-hot soldering iron, searing his soul—
The Northwestern Army was nearly wiped out…
Multiple Titled Douluo, including Xu Ji and Lieyang, had fallen…
Major General Dai Yueheng had died in battle, attempting to save his father…
Duke White Tiger, Dai Hao… in the end, fought without hesitation to the last and… committed suicide, sacrificing his life for the nation…
The entire Mingdou Mountain Range was lost.
Crack—
The fine white-jade teacup slipped from his weak hand, shattered instantly upon hitting the smooth golden nanmu floor, and the hot tea splashed onto the hem of his dragon robe. Yet he did not notice.
He simply sat there in a daze, staring blankly ahead, as if he saw the forest drenched in blood and adventure from many years ago.
Back then, he had not yet been the Emperor of Star Luo, and Dai Hao had not yet been the mighty Duke White Tiger.
They had been comrades fighting side by side, brothers who could entrust their backs to one another.
They hunted soul beasts together, talked about their ideals beside the campfire, and swore beneath the stars to defend the glory of Star Luo…
Dai Hao's hearty laughter and his resolute, reliable gaze felt as if they had happened only yesterday.
Xu Jiawei suddenly leaned back against the soft sofa, closing his eyes in exhaustion. He lifted his head and took a deep breath, trying with all his might to swallow back the burning sourness that surged into his eyes.
As an emperor, he must not shed tears—
Especially not at a moment that would decide the fate of the empire.
All of this had happened with his tacit approval, and it could even be said that it was part of the plan he and Lu Jingming had pushed forward for a long time.
Yet now that the news of Dai Hao's death had truly arrived, the bitter sorrow and guilt gnawed at his heart like a venomous snake.
Dai Hao had to die.
This cold conclusion had lingered in his heart for a long time.
It was not only because Lu Jingming needed a clean Star Luo Empire, free of the shackles of the powerful old factions, but also because of the stubborn disease deeply rooted within Star Luo itself.
The Duke White Tiger bloodline was not only the pillar of Star Luo's military, but also the core of a complex web of enormous, conservative political interests.
Together with those old nobles who clung to past glories, they had long been the biggest obstacle to Star Luo's progress.
Xu Jiawei knew very well that when he and Xu Jiujiu had worked hard to develop soul tools and catch up with the tide of the era, the greatest resistance they faced did not come from outside, but from the vested interests within the empire.
Those people feared change, feared that new technologies would shake their power and status, feared the unknown.
In his later years, Dai Hao had actually started to understand and even somewhat support Xu Jiawei's thinking, but under the heavy pressure of the conservative bloc, progress was difficult and reforms nearly impossible.
Xu Jiawei had once chosen compromise, hoping to deal with the situation slowly and gently.
The result was severe internal friction and missed opportunities.
Lu Jingming's method was simple, direct, and undeniably cruel—
If you refuse to accept the wave of the new age, then you will be completely swept away along with the old era you cling to.
Ju Zi and the army of the Sun Moon Empire she led were the sharpest scalpel in Lu Jingming's hand, accurately cutting away the most stubborn necrotic flesh of Star Luo Empire.
The destruction of the White Tiger bloodline and its associated military-political forces was indeed painful, but it also removed the greatest obstacle.
"Brother Hao… I'm sorry…"
Xu Jiawei silently repeated these words in his heart, full of bitter helplessness.
For the future of Star Luo, and to ensure a glimmer of life for its people in this dramatically changing continental pattern, he had no choice but to sacrifice this brother—this pillar of the empire.
The imperial throne had always been cold and lonely.
…
With the clash at the Mingdou Mountain Range temporarily settled and the core of the White Tiger faction completely shattered, Haiyuan City— which had always seemed to be observing from above, detached from the struggle—finally moved.
Lu Jingming's first order was concise and powerful.
The anonymous passenger who had come from the Astral Express, Dan Heng, carried the Cloudpiercer Spear, led a group of Fools with strange equipment and surging elemental power, and commanded the disciplined, kill-intent-filled Night Return Army. They descended like soldiers of heaven and appeared at the most important western gate of Star Luo Empire—Yuming City.
Their arrival was not merely reinforcement, but a direct takeover of the defensive line.
With absolute strength and an unyielding stance, Dan Heng assumed command of Yuming City. The remaining Star Luo garrison troops were orderly reorganized and incorporated into a new defensive system.
Faced with this mysterious force—utterly different from any army they had ever seen—and the coordinated combat capability that surpassed their understanding, the remaining Star Luo generals did not even dare to think of resisting.
Soon after, under the comprehensive direction of Xu Jiawei and Princess Xu Jiujiu, an Imperial Edict spread through the empire at maximum speed.
The Lord of Haiyuan City, Lu Jingming, was specially appointed as the Supreme Commander of the Three Armies of Star Luo Empire, taking full charge of all military affairs and the resistance against foreign enemies.
This decree sent a massive shock through the upper echelons of the empire. Yet with the royal family's full support and the current unstable situation, all objections were forcibly suppressed.
Lu Jingming smoothly took over all the imperial border defense reserves, as well as the remaining forces not entangled in the White Tiger faction's downfall.
Then came the true thunderclap.
Liu Hutailang personally led his Molten Knights onto the battlefield.
The Molten Knights were the crystallization of Haiyuan City's technology. Each knight was equipped with a Molten Fire Mecha designed by Herta, referencing the SAM series mecha technology.
These mecha not only granted terrifying defense and mobility but also carried a wide array of devastating energy weapons.
Once fully unleashed, a single Molten Knight's combat strength was sufficient to confront an ordinary Titled Douluo head-on.
Under the command of Firefly, five hundred Molten Knights swept across the front like a blazing torrent of steel with astonishing efficiency.
They ignored terrain, moved at high speed, and often sliced through the core of the Sun Moon Empire's formations before the enemy could react.
Blazing light blades tore through enemy mecha, and heavy cannons roared as they obliterated soul tool positions. Wherever they passed, the armies of the Sun Moon Empire melted away like ice and snow.
In just a few days, the long defensive line previously breached by the Sun Moon Empire was abruptly pushed back.
The Sun Moon troops that had invaded Star Luo territory were either completely annihilated or forced to flee in haste to the western side of the Mingdou Mountain Range.
And that was not the end.
Lu Jingming himself led a new army composed of Star Lou Reserve troops and the elite forces of Haiyuan City to launch a counteroffensive.
He used no particularly fancy tactics—only pure, overwhelming technology and force.
Compared to Haiyuan City, the advanced soul tool technology that the Sun Moon Empire had relied on to dominate the continent suddenly seemed… outdated.
…