"Despite your earlier disrespectful behavior, I forgave you and allowed you to walk away," Yuan said to Tan Songyun, his tone cold and unyielding. "But you chose to persist in slandering . While I am forgiving, my patience has its limits. This ti, Lady Tan, you haven't just slandered —you've also involved the Shen Family in your reckless actions."
"I have no excuses," Tan Songyun said, her voice weak and apologetic. "My hatred and desire for revenge clouded my judgnt. If you wish to take my life for offending you, I will not protest. However, I humbly plead with you to spare the Shen Family."
"At least you can admit when you are wrong. Unfortunately, you are not in a position to make any request at this mont."
The Shen Family trembled at these ominous words.
"I will deal with you later."
Yuan turned to look at the Dragon King and the rest of the Shen Family.
"Dragon King, I will give you a chance to talk before I give you my judgnt."
The Dragon King quickly responded, "I have no excuses, Your Majesty. I deserve death for doubting your identity, not to ntion my unruly behavior. I know that I am in no position to request anything, but I just hope Your Majesty can forgive my family. They were against testing your identity from the very beginning, but I forced them to go along with my foolishness."
The Dragon King did not lie. The rest of the Shen Family were still reluctant to confront Yuan despite knowing there was a good chance he was a fake.
After a mont of silence, Yuan spoke, "I don't bla any of you for doubting my identity. As a matter of fact, I am a newly appointed Dragon Emperor."
"A new Dragon Emperor…?" The Dragon King muttered.
There could only be five Dragon Emperors in existence, so the only way for another Dragon Emperor to be appointed was through the death or retirent of an existing Dragon Emperor.
If Yuan had been recently appointed to his position, it ant that he was replacing one who passed away.
'The last ti a Dragon Emperor passed away, we were notified even while in the Fifth Heaven, and I was ordered to personally travel to the upper heavens to attend their funeral. Why didn't we hear anything this ti?' the Dragon King wondered, his mind racing with confusion over the lack of communication.
However, the Dragon King did not doubt Yuan's identity despite this. He figured it was due to other issues.
Yuan continued, his tone unwavering. "I have a rule: if I am going to punish soone, I must punish everyone involved. However, there is one individual who truly does not deserve any punishnt. Out of consideration for that person, I will spare the Shen Family this ti."
The Dragon King and the others felt as if a mountain had been lifted off their shoulders after hearing Yuan's words.
"Thank you for showing us rcy, Your Majesty!" the Dragon King banged his head on the ground as he kowtowed.
Although Yuan didn't specify who this individual was, everyone knew he was talking about Shen Shi.
However, in reality, Yuan never intended to punish them. After all, they were correct, and he was a fraud.
Yuan cleared his throat and said, "Dragon King, stand up."
The Dragon King imdiately stood up, not even bothering to wipe the blood off his forehead unless he was ordered to do so.
Yuan made a beckoning gesture, almost as if he was asking for sothing.
The Dragon King quickly understood what Yuan wanted and retrieved the Ancient Seal.
"I will leave this in your hands," said the Dragon King, and he handed the Ancient Seal to Yuan.
Yuan smiled inwardly after collecting the second of four Ancient Seals out there.
"I will let the Xi Family know of your cooperation when I return."
"There's no need for that, Your Majesty." The Dragon King swiftly rejected.
"Are you sure?"
"I am certain." "Okay. Anyway, now that my business is done here, I won't linger any longer." Yuan proceeded to let Xi ili know of the outco through voice transmission.
The next mont, Xi ili appeared before them.
"That took longer than anticipated. Was there an issue?" Xi ili asked, pretending to have seen nothing.
Yuan shook his head and calmly said, "There's no issue at all. We can leave now."
However, before they left, Yuan turned to look at Tan Songyun and said, "Lady Tan, you and I are not done yet. Follow ."
Tan Songyun silently nodded and followed.
'Good luck, Zither Goddess.' The Dragon King prayed for her inwardly.
As much as he wanted to help her, she was on her own.
After traveling for several days, Yuan finally stopped sowhere in a secluded area.
'Yu Ning, can you create a concealnt formation around us?' Yuan asked her.
"Of course."
Yu Ning took control of Yuan's body for a mont, creating a powerful concealnt formation in the blink of an eye.
'He's an Array Master as well?' The Zither Goddess swallowed nervously.
Once the formation was set up and Yuan regained control over his body, he asked Xi ili to leave them alone for a mont.
"Lady Tan, I would like to ask you a few questions. You must answer them truthfully no matter what. Consider this your punishnt for slandering ."
Tan Songyun was a little bewildered by such a punishnt, but she still nodded her head in acknowledgnt.
"First and foremost, can you tell about the person you're looking for?"
"..."
Tan Songyun answered after a mont of silence, "His na was Tian Kai, my music teacher and lover—or so I thought."
"How long have you known this Tian Kai?"
"About a year before he left ."
"What did you two do during that ti?"
"He taught the zither during the day and showed love during the night," she replied, her voice trembling with suppressed emotion. Despite her attempt to mask her feelings, the anguish and hatred in her tone were unmistakable.
"What went wrong?" Yuan then asked.
Hearing this question, Tan Songyun's body trembled.
"Everything…" she sighed.
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