Hearing the words “Your Majesty” and “Yuluo,” Li Yuhan visibly froze for a moment, but immediately his anger flared uncontrollably.
“How dare you deceive me, you brazen thief?!”
Li Yuhan grabbed the girl’s wrist with force, causing her to let out a painful scream.
“Pain, pain, pain! Your Majesty, please calm down and listen to me, listen! I’m not lying to you—I really am Yuluo…”
“Have you taken my brother captive? Return him to me at once!”
Li Yuhan squeezed the girl’s neck tightly, his eyes blazing with fury.
“Your Majesty, I truly am Yuluo. I don’t know how it happened, but I’ve turned into a woman.”
Li Yuluo felt her breathing grow increasingly difficult.
Helpless, she had no choice but to strike back—her claw slashed forward.
The claw tore through the chest of the Dragon Robe.
Although this attack barely fazed Li Yuhan, he showed a look of surprise.
“This is… Blood Nether Technique?”
Yuluo clutched her own neck, panting heavily, and nodded hastily.
Li Yuhan stepped back two paces from the girl, staring at her in disbelief.
“You… you really are my brother, Prince Kang, Li Yuluo?”
“Your Majesty, you don’t believe me because at first I couldn’t believe I had become a woman myself,”
Li Yuluo said bitterly.
“Then how did you end up like this?”
“I don’t know.”
The girl shook her head.
“At the time, the young master was torturing me. I would rather die than submit, but in the end, I don’t know what kind of spell he used. When I came to, I had become like this.”
“Is there such dark sorcery in the world?”
Li Yuhan was stunned and asked the Blood Nether Divine King beside him,
“Do you recognize this technique?”
The Divine King, who looked like Li Yuluo in his male form, shrugged and said,
“Unfortunately, I don’t know.”
“But since this woman can use Blood Nether Technique, she can only be your missing brother. She’s not lying.”
“Just knowing Blood Nether Technique isn’t enough to prove she’s Yuluo, right?”
“Li Yuhan, surely you don’t believe that the inferior technique of the Blood Nether Sect’s secret art is the same as the Blood Nether Technique this King taught you and your brother?”
The Divine King stopped calling Li Yuhan “Your Majesty” and addressed him by name.
“That low-grade technique, modified many times and retaining less than thirty percent of its essence, does not deserve to be called Blood Nether Technique. Li Yuhan, stop deceiving yourself. This woman is your brother in person.”
Li Yuhan finally accepted the truth before him—that the girl had been the brother who had grown up by his side since childhood.
“Who turned you into this? The ‘young master’ you mentioned—is that him?”
Only then did Li Yuluo realize she had forgotten to switch her form of address back; she instinctively called him “young master.”
“The person who kidnapped me that night is named Zhang Qingyao, the young master of the Zhang family, a powerful cultivation clan in Ningzhou. He’s the one who turned me into what I am now. If I don’t call him ‘young master,’ he beats me… I had no choice.”
Li Yuhan just opened his mouth, speechless.
He helped the girl up, seated her in a round chair, and poured her a cup of tea.
“Yuluo, tell me everything you’ve been through in detail.”
So Li Yuluo began recounting, and Li Yuhan remained silent, listening attentively.
“Your Majesty, Zhang Qingyao only let me go because the entire Zhang family has been arrested. He wants to save his family, so he wishes to propose cooperation with Your Majesty.”
In front of Li Yuhan, the girl showed none of the submission and docility she had before Zhang Yuge.
Her words were filled with disdain and contempt for Zhang Qingyao.
“And what do you think?”
“W-what?”
Li Yuluo was stunned.
“You came to me, telling me Zhang Qingyao wants to cooperate. I want to hear your opinion. Do you think I should work with that Zhang fellow?”
Li Yuhan said this while staring unblinkingly at the girl, searching her eyes for something.
“My… my opinion is…”
Li Yuluo stammered.
“Your Majesty, to be honest, I think our situation is very dangerous. Only the two of us remain in the Royal Family. The Five Great Clans are all our enemies. We can agree to cooperate with Zhang Qingyao for now, and then plan from there.”
Li Yuluo spoke nervously because Li Yuhan’s gaze never wavered, making her feel immense pressure.
Besides, somehow, Li Yuluo felt like an envoy sent by Zhang Yuge to negotiate with Li Yuhan, which made her uneasy.
“Your Majesty, your humble brother will never betray you. You are my only family, my only elder brother. Now that I’m back by your side, Zhang Qingyao can no longer lay a hand on me. Once we eliminate the troublesome Five Great Clans, we’ll join forces to deal with Zhang Qingyao.”
Before Li Yuhan, the girl knelt down and swore her loyalty and faith.
This was also Li Yuluo’s true feeling—blood is thicker than water, and this familial bond was not easily broken.
The two brothers had depended on each other since childhood, and the same was true in the palace—they supported one another.
To reassure the Five Great Clans, Li Yuluo had fashioned herself into a pleasure-seeking gourmand; thus she earned the title of “Carefree King.”
“I think your brother makes a good point. Aren’t you troubled by the Rain-Invoking Ceremony? Now that your brother has turned into a woman, he obviously can’t serve as the Imperial Advisor. You could let that young master of the Zhang family play the Imperial Advisor, putting on a show on stage, while you remain backstage as a good emperor.”
“On the day of the Rain-Invoking Ceremony, the Five Great Clans will be there, that troublesome Zhang young master will be there, his family too, everyone will be present. It just so happens that this King can catch them all in one net. They will be delicious nourishment. What do you think, brother?”
One moment he was the majestic Divine King, the next he transformed into the obedient, well-behaved younger brother.
“…You cannot harm Yuluo. Apart from Yuluo, you may deal with the others as you see fit,”
Li Yuhan said calmly.
Even though he had tasted betrayal many times, even if Yuluo might betray him in the end, it didn’t matter.
No matter the outcome, he would spare Yuluo.
“Agreed.”
Back in reality, Li Yuhan helped the kneeling girl to her feet, his tone filled with remorse:
“Yuluo, I have wronged you during this time. It is my incompetence that caused you to become like this. I have failed you. I promise you, I will cooperate with that Zhang fellow. But it’s for your sake—I will give him one chance. Trust me, sooner or later, I will find a way to turn you back into a man.”
“Your Majesty…”
Looking up at her brother, tears streamed down the girl’s cheeks.
“Brotherly love really is touching,”
the “Li Yuluo” beside them applauded.
“Oh no, now it should be called sibling love.”
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