Chu Mansion.

Chu Mo sat quietly reading a book when suddenly a cold arrow shot through the window, hitting a pillar beside him. The force of the arrow was tremendous, embedding a third of it into the pillar!

If this arrow had hit his forehead, he probably would have died! So Chu Mo was startled, taking a deep breath. At this moment, sounds of shouting and clothes swirling came from the yard outside.

Next, skilled guards from the Chu Mansion pursued the assailant. Meanwhile, a steward anxiously asked from outside, "Young Master, are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Chu Mo was somewhat shaken, but still appeared calm. Although his constitution was weak, he was the son of a great general!

In the face of danger, he remained composed.

Then, Chu Mo turned to look at the arrow, on which a letter was tied.

Chu Mo took down the letter, opened it for a glance, and then slightly frowned. A trace of anger involuntarily appeared in his pure eyes.

He then burned the letter and tossed it into a flower pot.

Afterwards, he sat there again, as if nothing had happened.

Three days later, he went out into the streets alone, seemingly like he was shopping, but instead headed towards a secluded area. When he entered a deserted alley, two people suddenly appeared in front and behind him.

These two individuals were both dressed in black, masked, with a fierce glint in their eyes. Without a word, they directly attacked Chu Mo. Two sharp flashes of cold light slashed towards Chu Mo's head!

Chu Mo stood there as if he didn't feel anything, appearing to be scared stiff in their eyes!

A teenage boy, encountering such a situation and not screaming, was already quite strong.

Thud!

Thud!

Two muffled sounds, followed by both attackers collapsing to the ground right in front of Chu Mo. They instantly died!

Then, several figures emerged from the shadows. They quickly surrounded Chu Mo to protect him, cautiously scanning the surroundings, and then asked Chu Mo, "Young Master, are you alright?"

Chu Mo shook his head and walked over to one of the corpses, forcibly enduring the stinging impact of the blood's stench, and pulled down one of the attacker's masks.

Behind the mask was a very young yet unremarkable face, looking utterly ordinary. If seen on the street, it would be hard to pick out.

"Assassins," someone said solemnly, "don't bother checking, such people won't carry anything that could prove their identity."

Chu Mo nodded and then said, "Let's go, let's head back."

The group proceeded directly back towards the Chu Mansion.

This incident sparked a huge uproar throughout the Imperial Capital.

Who dared to attempt an assassination of the great general's son in broad daylight?

For a time, people were talking everywhere.

Soon, a rumor spread that the prince from a neighboring country, who admired the Ninth Princess and had heard she frequently visited the Chu Mansion, grew jealous and hired assassins to kill Chu Mo!

This rumor quickly became rampant. Everyone was cursing that neighboring country's prince. Although Great Xia's citizens were reluctant to see the stunningly beautiful Ninth Princess romantically involved with Chu Mo, they were even less willing to see her marry a neighboring country's prince.

Everything seemed to have no connection whatsoever with Liu He. As for other influential young men in the Imperial Capital, they all behaved very obediently, not even leaving their homes in recent times.

Soon after, the emperor of Great Xia, Dragon, was furious, demanding through diplomatic channels that neighboring Great Qi clarify the situation.

Of course, Great Qi refused to acknowledge anything; not only were they not involved, even if they were, they wouldn't admit it.

The Crown Prince of Great Qi openly raged, "What does this have to do with me? Chu Mo? I've never even heard of this person!"

Further rumors suggested that the great general Chu Tianji was livid over the incident, wanting to petition the emperor to march troops on Great Qi!

Yet, the royal palace did not approve this.

As a result, a rift appeared between Chu Tianji and the emperor over this issue...

In any case, various rumors kept flooding in lately, leaving people overwhelmed.

In the royal palace.

The emperor's expression was grim as he asked in a low voice, "Still haven't figured out who is behind this?"

An elderly eunuch softly replied, "No evidence, the enemy was too clean. But this matter, I do have a suspect."

"You mean Liu He?" The emperor was no fool; he already had suspicions as to who could be responsible.

The old eunuch sighed softly, "The Liu family has been raising private troops for years, also stockpiling wealth and grain..."

"What are they planning?" The emperor couldn't help but shout, "Do they intend to rebel?"

The old eunuch suddenly laughed and said, "Emperor, who wouldn't want to own this country? And this dragon throne...who wouldn't want to sit on it?"

As the eunuch spoke, he thrust a blade directly into the emperor's heart!

The Emperor wanted to resist, but at this moment, he found his entire body could no longer move!

This made the Emperor greatly alarmed, exclaiming, "What do you want to do?"

Puchi!

The old eunuch stabbed directly at the Emperor's heart with this knife, then calmly said, "Of course, to kill you."

The Emperor's eyes showed a look of disbelief.

This old eunuch, from the time of his grandfather, had been in the palace, always serving as his grandfather's personal bodyguard. Later, he protected his father for decades. And now, he had been by his side for more than twenty years.

This was a true top master, and the Emperor had always trusted this old eunuch the most!

Anyone in this world could harm him, but this old eunuch would never harm him. So, the Emperor could never have imagined such a thing happening.

The sharp knife pierced into the heart, and the knife seemed to be poisoned. So, the Emperor quickly lost sensation, and with a clang, collapsed to the ground.

At this moment, the old eunuch let out a light chuckle, and his voice had already become very young!

Then, the old eunuch tilted his neck back and forth, as if his neck felt uncomfortable. Then he calmly took out a small medicine bottle from his body and scattered it over the Emperor's corpse.

In an instant, the Emperor's body melted into a puddle of water. Moreover, it was colorless and tasteless, just like a cup of water spilled on the ground.

Then, the old eunuch took off his clothes, grabbed his face with one hand, and tore off a human skin mask. He revealed a dignified middle-aged man's face.

If anyone else were here, they would instantly recognize this man... was actually the top official, Liu Dakai!

And he was indeed Liu He's biological father!

This was simply astonishing!

Because Liu Dakai attended court meetings every day, participated in various activities, and no one would have thought he could secretly appear deep in the palace and replace the powerful old eunuch!

In fact, Liu Dakai had a twin brother!

But this was a tremendous secret within the Liu family. Apart from the twin brothers themselves, even Liu He only knew a little and did not know the whole truth!

The brothers even shared just one name!

What kind of life this was, probably only the brothers themselves understood.

Anyway, all their efforts today had been rewarded.

Liu Dakai calmly took off all his clothes and then took out the Emperor's everyday attire. After putting it on, from somewhere, he found a human skin mask and put it on his face. Then he began adjusting his hair in front of the mirror.

Soon, someone identical to the Emperor appeared here!

Then, he tried saying a few words, and even the way he spoke was indistinguishable from the Emperor. There was no discrepancy at all.

Liu Dakai's face... no, it should be the Emperor's face, showed a strange smile. He whispered, "I've prepared for this day for many years!"

Then, he tossed the eunuch's clothes into the garbage pile.

Over the years, he frequently discarded clothes there. Everyone in the palace had long known this "old eunuch's" peculiar habit, even the Emperor. But the Emperor could never have imagined that all this... was a trap prepared for him...

The Emperor couldn't have imagined either that over the years, Liu Dakai had actually replaced him... favoring countless women in the harem!

Nowadays, many of the new generation of princesses and princes were actually Liu Dakai's descendants.

So, during the royal banquet before, when the Emperor wanted to betroth a princess to Chu Mo, the most furious was not those young princesses, but Liu Dakai!

Because those young princesses were almost all his flesh and blood!

It was from that moment that Liu Dakai grew to hate Chu Mo, the innocent youth. After all, he also planned to eradicate his father. Now, it was just about eliminating one more brat.

"Summon someone, give my decree to call General Chu Tianji back to the Imperial Capital, and then have him come to the palace to meet me!"

"As you command!" Soon, a eunuch went down to deliver the decree.

Liu Dakai strolled leisurely in the palace as if taking a walk. No one could imagine his mood at this moment.

Excitement, vindication, grievance, bitterness, sadness... you could say it was a mix of feelings!

However, all the effort was worth it!

He finally stood in this position, finally sat on that chair!

Great Xia Empire, the year 3673, autumn.

General Chu Tianji was charged with leaking major state secrets, colluding with the empire, forming factions for personal gain, raising private soldiers, attempting rebellion, disrespecting authority, and more than thirty other crimes without any trial. He was executed directly.

Before Chu Tianji died, he roared to the sky, "You are not him!"

But he left only this last statement.