Hey, did you hear? Crown Prince Xu Tiannan wasn't just crippled in the assassination—he also lost his third leg.
"For real?"
"I heard it from my uncle's grandfather's cousin's younger brother's brother-in-law… would that be fake?"
"Wow, that explosive? Tell me the details!"
"Ahem, just take it as a joke for fun, but don't say it came from me."
"Relax, we're brothers—my lips are sealed."
"They say when the assassins captured the Crown Prince, they tortured him mercilessly. First, they broke his four limbs, and then they broke his fifth limb…"
"…"
And so the rumor spread—one to ten, ten to a hundred, a hundred to a thousand—until it reached the ears of Mingdu's nobles.
Second Prince Xu Tianyu, upon hearing that his elder brother Xu Tiannan was no longer a man, burst into laughter.
He didn't know if the news was true, but either way, it was good for him.
If true, wonderful—the Crown Prince would surely be stripped of his title.
If false, the rumor still gravely damaged Xu Tiannan's dignity. That alone was worth celebrating.
So Xu Tianyu immediately ordered several hundred people to spread it further.
True or false didn't matter. What mattered was spreading it.
When Third Prince Xu Tianshi heard the news, he too was delighted. Once, he had cooperated with Xu Tiannan to suppress Xu Tianyu, only to discover too late that Xu Tiannan had hidden his true strength and eliminated him as well.
Thus, he bore resentment toward Xu Tiannan. Now, upon hearing the rumor that the Crown Prince had lost his manhood, Xu Tianshi mischievously sent several beauties as "gifts" to his elder brother.
With the second and third princes leading the charge, their subordinates naturally fanned the flames, sending men everywhere to spread the rumor.
Under the deliberate direction of Xu Tianyu, Xu Tianshi, and many powerful nobles, news of the Crown Prince's lost dignity—his inability to sire heirs—spread through Mingdu at terrifying speed.
In just one day, the entire capital was in an uproar. Countless people knew the Crown Prince had "lost his third leg."
The next day, as Wang Chen stepped out of his home, he heard the gossip echoing in every street and alley.
Wait… the spread was this fast?
Even he, the instigator, hadn't imagined the rumor would blaze across Mingdu so fiercely in just a single day.
If Wang Chen contributed one point to its spread, the second and third princes—and their countless retainers—contributed ninety-nine.
In truth, Wang Chen's two years of quietly gathering men couldn't compare to the power and influence of imperial princes and high-ranking nobles.
Walking through the city, listening to the people's heated chatter, Wang Chen's lips curled into a smile.
Things had gone even smoothly than expected. At this rate, the rumor could never be fully stopped.
Unless someone launched dozens of ninth-rank fixed-mounted soul-guided shells and blasted the entire capital into the sky…
Otherwise, even the Emperor himself could only suppress open discussion, never truly erase it.
And as for the source, by now it was impossible to trace. Too many were spreading it: nobles, officials, princes, all fanning the flames.
At this point, who could distinguish the originator from the countless secondary and tertiary spreaders?
Indeed, when the powerful spread rumors, the speed could only be described as terrifying.
At the heart of it all, Crown Prince Xu Tiannan was nearly driven to his death by rage.
Inside the study of the Crown Prince's mansion.
Xu Tiannan sat in his wheelchair, eyes bloodshot, smashing everything in sight.
"Who was it?! Who spread it?!"
"I silenced every doctor who treated me—how could it have leaked?!"
"Who knows the truth?! Who?!"
He had completely lost control.
In truth, he had learned of the rumor soon after it began spreading.
As the Sun Moon Empire's Crown Prince, his intelligence network was vast. How could he not notice?
He had immediately dispatched men to suppress and silence anyone spreading it.
But how could rumors be contained so easily?
To identify a spreader, then find everyone they'd told—that took time.
And Wang Chen had deliberately divided his men into small groups to spread the rumor, preventing them from being caught all at once.
So whenever Xu Tiannan managed to clamp down in one area, it had already sprung up in another.
Soon, it wasn't just one area but many, everywhere at once.
Despair engulfed him. It felt as though the entire city of Mingdu mocked him.
How could he block it? Mingdu held tens of millions of people.
He could silence a hundred mouths, a thousand perhaps—but could he silence ten thousand? A million?
No.
And now the whole capital knew the Crown Prince could no longer be a man.
Worst of all, he couldn't even prove otherwise—because the rumor was true.
Xu Tiannan truly was impotent.
Crushing despair overwhelmed him. He could see no path left to secure his throne.
Outside the study, Juzi trembled at the sounds of destruction. She dared not enter.
She feared that if she went in, Xu Tiannan—mad with grief—would use her as a target for his rage and kill her on the spot.
Juzi thought anxiously,
"I once risked my life to save him. But now… he's finished. If I don't escape soon, I'll be buried with him. Xu Tiannan, I've repaid your kindness with my life once. From now on, we're even."
Not long after Juzi fled…
At the gates of the Crown Prince's mansion, a middle-aged man with a terrifying aura announced loudly:
By imperial decree! His Majesty summons Crown Prince Xu Tiannan to the palace immediately. No delay permitted. Thus decreed!