Then let them offer their loyalty!

Page 642

She wasn't afraid of anything else, except death. Or rather... she was afraid of dying before her enemy.

If she dies before she has killed all the enemies who have humiliated, hurt, and betrayed her, she will surely die with her eyes wide open in disbelief!

As for... will Qiu Tu violate, humiliate, or torment me?

Princess Xi is not afraid. She has weathered even the darkest times over the years. As long as she survives, she will one day get her revenge on Qiu Tu!

Just then, as Princess Xi was pondering this, Qiu Tu finally spoke.

He stood up, reached out his hand to the half-collapsed Princess Xi, and said, "Let's talk, Xi Xi."

"I think there might be some misunderstanding between us."

Princess Xi was taken aback when she heard Qiu Tu's overly affectionate address.

If Qiu Tu used that term to address other women, those women would most likely get goosebumps.

After all... in relationships between men and women, using affectionate terms that go beyond the bounds of the relationship won't bring you closer; instead, it can easily create resentment.

But... Princess Xi is different.

Hearing that affectionate address she hadn't heard in countless years, Princess Xi was momentarily lost in thought. For some inexplicable reason, she felt a stirring within her.

After all, he was captured as a child and used for experiments, then imprisoned in a dark and dreary laboratory where his "catastrophic abilities" were periodically extracted; after successfully taking revenge, he was tricked into serving under King Kang, only to be deceived again, thus beginning his revenge once more...

From childhood to adulthood, she received almost no family affection or care.

This kind of affectionate nickname is almost unheard of...

Unfortunately, Princess Xi is no longer the little girl she once was.

If she had encountered Qiu Tu's methods before being scammed a second time, she might have genuinely developed feelings for him and even gradually fallen in love with him.

But now, she is a woman who has honed her skills for 13 years and stands at the pinnacle of the empire!

So, in just a second, she came to her senses, gave a self-deprecating laugh, and instead of taking Qiu Tu's outstretched hand, she stood up from the ground on her own.

Although he reached out and found nothing, Qiu Tu didn't care.

He smiled and withdrew his hand, then gestured towards the sofa in the inner room and said, "Let's go sit down and talk."

Princess Xi knew that with Qiu Tu's strength, she couldn't escape on her own, so she might as well see what Qiu Tu was up to.

So, without any hesitation, she went to the sofa in the inner room and sat down.

Seeing this, Qiu Tu also walked over and sat down next to Princess Xi, then said, "Xi Xi, are you very disappointed in me now?"

Even though she had become a prisoner, the Princess Consort Xi still exuded an air of authority after more than a decade at the peak of her power.

She looked at Qiu Tu with her bright blue eyes and then said bluntly, "Yes."

Qiu Tu wasn't surprised. He smiled and said, "What if I said... I was actually helping you?"

Perhaps realizing that Qiu Tu wasn't planning to kill her, or perhaps out of a sense of resignation, Princess Xi sneered twice, "Heh... then I believe you."

Princess Xi's expression clearly contradicted her words, so Qiu Tu grabbed her hand, placed it in his own, and said earnestly, "Xi Xi, let me explain to you slowly."

"What is the purpose of your coup?"

"Is it to regain power over the shelter? To become its master?"

Princess Xi's expression remained unchanged; she sat regally, gazing straight ahead.

Qiu Tu said, "But... even if you become the master of the Sixth Sanctuary, what good will it do?"

"What is your base of support for governance? What is your political foundation?"

At this point, Qiu Tu paused, giving Princess Xi ample time to think, before slowly answering his own question, "Yes...King Kang."

"Your ruling base is the royalists, the group that was most loyal to Prince Kang back then."

"Your political foundation is... you are the mother of King Kang's child."

"To put it bluntly, they are not loyal to you, but to that child."

"You are just a product of a transition."

Upon hearing Qiu Tu's analysis, Princess Xi's eyes, which had remained unchanged throughout, finally showed a slight fluctuation.

As a woman who stood at the pinnacle of power in the 6th Sanctuary and could rival Kou Xuan, she had actually discovered this problem long ago.

But there was no other way. All her political foundations stemmed from King Kang. Without King Kang, it would be difficult for her to make a significant impact in the Sixth Sanctuary.

Or rather... given her status, no one would believe she wasn't part of Prince Kang's faction.

Of course, she had considered ways to resolve the issue.

Thinking this, she glanced at Qiu Tu and then said bluntly, "I've thought about all of what you've said."

"But! I have time!"

"King Kang is dead, and his influence will gradually diminish over time."

“As long as I control the sanctuary, power will be concentrated in my hands. Over the next decade or so, I can cultivate loyal confidants and influence, gradually weakening the influence of the King of Kang.”

Qiu Tu smiled and pointed out the core problem with Princess Xi's plan: "But will you have time to cut it all down?"

"Or rather... can that so-called Crown Prince Kang really hold out that long?"

Upon hearing Qiu Tu's words, Princess Xi, who had been calm and collected, suddenly narrowed her eyes and tensed up.

Perhaps realizing her loss of composure, Princess Xi quickly suppressed her shock.

She glared at Qiu Tu and retorted, "You actually wanted to murder the Prince of Kang?!"

Qiu Tu shook his head slightly and then said, "Your Highness, there are only the two of us in this room."

"And your life is in my hands."

"Let's be honest with each other. Why do we have to hide things like this?"

Princess Xi: .....

However, as a shrewd politician, Princess Xi knew that there were some things that could be done, but never admitted.

After all, no matter how outrageous the actions, there's always a reason to justify them.

But once you admit it, it's very difficult to refute it.

So she fell silent for a moment, not saying a word.

Seeing this, Qiu Tu knew that the road to winning over Princess Xi was still long and arduous.

So he didn't insist. Instead, he stroked Princess Xi's hand and said earnestly, "You keep saying that I betrayed you."

"But...aren't you also plotting against me all along?"

“I didn’t know about some of your past experiences, so I never thought about it in that way.”

"But after I found out, I immediately realized something was wrong."

After summarizing, Qiu Tu said with a distant gaze, "You possess a dual cataclysmic pathway. The surface cataclysmic pathway is 'Order-Reshaping,' while the underlying cataclysmic pathway is 'Destruction-Revenge.'"

"Among the 'Destruction-Revenge' path, the more ruthless the revenge, the greater the increase in strength."

"Your first enemy is your own family, the Lin family; your second enemy is the Queen; and your third enemy is Prince Kang."

"They are all people who have betrayed you, hurt you, and humiliated you."

"Therefore, every time you successfully take revenge on someone, your strength will increase dramatically."

"When you joined the Kangwang faction, you were just entering the 4th stage. After taking revenge on the Queen, you will most likely be in the middle of the 4th stage."

I don't know how talented you are.

"But it would be very difficult to improve this special kind of catastrophe through daily cultivation."

"Furthermore, your foundation was weak to begin with, so you need to solidify it and secretly become the lord of the region. You also need to improve the strength of your 'Order' pathway. Considering all this, it seems reasonable for it to take seven or eight years of painstaking effort."

Upon hearing this, Princess Xi's expression completely vanished, her gaze as deep and unfathomable as the ocean floor, devoid of any ripples, filled with darkness...

Qiu Tu gently touched her hand and then said, "So... I speculate that perhaps exactly three years ago, you finally succeeded in breaking through to the fifth rank."

"Gained a third Cataclysmic Ability..."

"I don't know exactly what this cataclysmic ability is. But I guess it might be related to pregnancy, offspring, bloodline parasitism, and so on."

At this point, Qiu Tu gave Princess Xi a deep look and said, "After all... the timing of Prince Kang's appearance was too bizarre."

"If you and Prince Kang were truly happy and fulfilled, you would have had children long ago."

"And if your relationship has always been bad, then it shouldn't suddenly get better and then you get pregnant."

Princess Xi took a deep breath and closed her eyes. In psychology, this is a typical example of avoidance.

A knowing glint flashed in Qiu Tu's eyes, realizing that his guess was most likely correct.

So he continued, "Of course, the reason I suspect Prince Kang has a problem is because there's one sentence in all the intelligence about you and Prince Kang."

"King Kang took you as his second wife because of the Queen's dying wish." (Chapters 563 and 571)

Qiu Tu said, "This is a very interesting statement. It is difficult for someone who is not in officialdom and is not very meticulous to understand the hidden information value of this intelligence."

"What this sentence actually means is: King Kang doesn't really have much affection for you, and he didn't really want to marry you."

"And following this information..."

"This information didn't come out the year you got married. It was compiled by various shelters in recent years."

"So why did we come to this conclusion?"

"It's obvious... that it's because your relationship with King Kang has been strained over the years. And that's why the various shelters came to this conclusion after investigating the reasons."

Qiu Tu said, "After I deduced this information, I also tentatively sought confirmation from the Kou family."

"As I expected, although you are a princess, you have been living alone all these years under the pretext of 'cultivating alone.' You only appear with Prince Kang on important occasions."

"And it seems that there is not much deep affection between you and King Kang; there is a sense that you are only superficially compatible."

"But three years ago, your relationship with Prince Kang suddenly improved rapidly. And you even took the initiative to spend the night in Prince Kang's palace."

"And a month later, you got pregnant."

"After that, as you became pregnant, King Kang's health suddenly deteriorated, and he fell seriously ill after the child was born."

Qiu Tu looked at Princess Xi and then said earnestly, "This is too much of a coincidence. So coincidental that... even Prince Kang himself noticed the problem."

Upon hearing Qiu Tu's analysis, Princess Xi finally had no way to deny it.

She sighed softly, then opened her eyes, her azure gaze fixed on Qiu Tu, her exotic face etched with hatred. "That's right. I'm the one who killed Prince Kang!"

"He deserves to die!"

At this point, Princess Xi glared at Qiu Tu, with a sense of utter despair, as if she had finally given up after suppressing her anger. "And you guessed right! The way I killed Prince Kang was through the child!"

"Bloodline Demonic Embryo! My third cataclysmic ability after advancing to the fifth rank!"

"As long as the target is unguarded, I can extract a wisp of their spiritual energy and merge it with my own, thus nurturing a 'demonic embryo' within my body!"

"The 'demon fetus' grows just like a normal baby, and its bloodline is the same as mine and the target's, so it's immune to any tests. However! The 'demon fetus' doesn't need the mother's nutrition to grow; it needs the target's life!"

"As the 'Demon Embryo' grows and is born, the target's life force will be continuously drained. Unless they discover this problem and abort the Demon Embryo, their life will be drained by the 'Demon Embryo' every day they live!"

"King Kang is already considered powerful and resilient. I originally thought he would die the moment the 'demon fetus' was born, but he actually managed to hold on for almost two more years!"

Seeing that Princess Xi agreed, Qiu Tu nodded slightly.

He said, "But a 'demon fetus' shouldn't be able to grow up, right?"

Princess Xi gave Qiu Tu a deep look and said, "Yes. The demon fetus will live to be a little over two years old at most."

"That is, an ordinary baby dies when it begins to show signs of consciousness."

"At that time, the life it has absorbed will be fed back to me, helping me to improve further."

Qiu Tu nodded slightly, "That's why you're looking for outside help at this time."

Since Qiu Tu has probably seen through even her biggest secret, Princess Xi has nothing left to hide.

So she openly and frankly admitted her conspiracy, "Yes."

“I deliberately left Shelter No. 6 for two reasons.”

"Give the Kou family a chance. And find a scapegoat."

"The Kou family has always been ambitious. Moreover, taking advantage of Prince Kang's serious illness, they kept transferring the royalists to other places. This shows that they have long harbored the intention to usurp the throne."

"When I left the Sixth Sanctuary, the 'Demon Fetus' remained in the Central Command. Whether the Kou family plotted to harm Prince Kang or the 'Demon Fetus,' they eliminated potential threats and closed loopholes for me."