With a warehouse full of supplies, I stood alone as king in this chaotic world, gun in hand.

"You actually know everything..." The Empress Dowager's body went limp.

No wonder she sent people to kidnap the head palace maid and wet nurse, but they couldn't find them no matter how hard they searched; it turns out they had already been killed by her son.

As for those two imperial physicians, they both died unexpectedly within a few days. She sent people to their hometowns, only to find that no one was home. She assumed they had fled with their families to avoid being silenced!

"So, you killed those people!" she said, stating it as a fact.

"From the day they were bribed by you, they were destined to die a terrible death. Their whole family will have to go down and be buried with my crown prince. In the Eastern Palace and the Imperial Hospital, I will make all the families of those you have bribed die."

Finally, it was your Ming family. After all these years of scheming, I finally made them go down to be buried with my crown prince. With a few loud bangs, they were all torn to pieces.

Do you know? When I heard that voice that night, I felt extremely pleased. This is the retribution your Ming family deserves—a death without a proper burial.

"Emperor, I underestimated you." The Empress Dowager pointed at him, no longer pretending. "If it weren't for your disobedience, insisting on marrying that Feng Shuhua as Empress and even making that woman's child the Crown Prince."

"It's all because of you. The Crown Prince's death was indirectly caused by you. If you were willing to make Mengqing Empress and Xun'er Crown Prince, why would I be unable to tolerate a mere child!"

"Yes! It was I who didn't listen to you enough, I who stopped letting you manipulate me." Emperor Mingde's face was filled with anger:

"What you and the Ming family want is a puppet emperor, an obedient dog! So that you and the Ming family can continue to control the court."

But on what grounds? Your Ming family is nothing but a bunch of parasites, trying to control my Nangong family's empire, using the national treasury's silver to support their extravagant lifestyles and wasteful spending. I will not allow it to happen to you!

"You worthless wretch! If I had known you would be so disobedient, my Ming family would never have helped you ascend the throne. We should have sent you away with a bowl of poison long ago, so that Xun'er could have taken the throne." The Empress Dowager now deeply regrets not getting rid of this son sooner.

"Let Nangong Xun ascend the throne? He's just a bastard, how dare he!" Emperor Mingde's eyes were full of disdain.

"Bastard?" The Empress Dowager's heart sank. She couldn't understand the meaning behind his words. "What do you mean by that? Explain yourself to me."

"It means exactly what it says." Emperor Mingde gave a cruel smile.

"Before my father passed away, he instructed me to eliminate the Ming family at all costs. How could I possibly allow a woman from the Ming family to bear any royal offspring?"

"What did you say? The late Emperor actually ordered you to eliminate my Ming family?" The Empress Dowager's eyes were filled with shock as she shook her head in disbelief. "You're talking nonsense, aren't you?"

"Not a single word I said is false. Your father has long wanted to destroy your Ming family, and neither Nangong Xun nor Nangong Lingling are my children." Emperor Mingde told her the truth:

"Back then, you forced Ming Mengqing on me. I felt disgusted whenever I saw her. How could I possibly consummate our marriage? All the honors I bestowed upon her were just for show, an illusion."

"How dare you?" The Empress Dowager was shocked and furious, finding it unbelievable. "This is outrageous! How dare you trample on the face of the Ming family like this?!"

"Is it absurd? Compared to the disgusting things your Ming family has done, is it even a trampling?" Emperor Mingde stood up and looked down at her.

"The first time I went to Ming Mengqing's palace, I gave her a hallucinogenic drug, making her believe that she was consummating her marriage with me. In reality, it was Eunuch Hu who used a sledgehammer to complete the act for me..."

"You...you scoundrel! Ming Mengqing is so devoted to you, how could you humiliate her like this..." The Empress Dowager's vision blurred, and she almost fainted.

"Sincere heart? It must be sincere heart for power and wealth! You members of the Ming family are all blinded by greed, where is your sincerity?"

After that, every night I would go to her palace and watch her hug a pillow and moan, and I would feel very relieved.” As Emperor Mingde said this, a murderous glint appeared in his eyes again.

"But I still underestimated how shameless you Ming family members are."

When Ming Mengqing couldn't conceive, she found a wild man to disguise himself as a eunuch and keep him in her palace. She made love to him every night, and eventually became pregnant with Nangong Xun.

Did you know that Nangong Xun is already twenty years old? He married at sixteen and now has a large harem of wives and concubines, but no children?

"What did you do to him? Didn't you?" The Empress Dowager glared at her son, feeling as if he were a demon.

"Of course, you killed my crown prince, how can we let you get away with this?"

Not only Nangong Xun, but also Ming Mengqing and Nangong Lingling, I gave them all infertility drugs; and that wild man, who is said to be her cousin, I made his entire family disappear too!

"You've gone mad...you're a demon!" The Empress Dowager stared intently at him, as if she were seeing this son for the first time.

"You Ming family are all like this, never thinking you've done anything wrong no matter how many evil deeds you commit. I'm simply giving you a taste of your own medicine. You can't even stand being treated the way you did?"

At this point, Emperor Mingde suddenly bent down and leaned close to the Empress Dowager's ear.

"Mother, do you know that the Empress has given birth to another legitimate son for me? He will be the future emperor of the Western Yan Kingdom."

The Empress Dowager's eyes widened suddenly. "Who is he?"

Since the death of the Crown Prince, she had not heard any news of the Empress's pregnancy or when the child was born.

"Could it be the year she fell ill and went to the summer palace to recuperate?"

The Empress Dowager's mind raced, and the names of all the princes flashed before her eyes.

"No matter who he is, given your current situation, even if you knew, he wouldn't pose a threat to you. But I'm determined not to let you know." Emperor Mingde finished speaking and turned around.

"You are my birth mother, I will not let you die. From now on, you can live out your days in the Shouning Palace! As for the fate of the Western Yan Kingdom, it has nothing to do with you anymore."

"You want to imprison me? No! You can't do that!" The Empress Dowager shook her head.

"Guards!" Emperor Mingde shouted towards the outside of the palace.

Upon hearing this, Li Cheng and an Imperial Guard entered the main hall and bowed.

"Please give your orders, Your Majesty."

"Send the Empress Dowager back, seal off Shouning Palace, and without my decree, no one inside shall be allowed to open the palace gates until they are dead," Emperor Mingde issued his imperial edict.

The Empress Dowager's face turned deathly pale. She couldn't believe he dared to treat her like this. "Your Majesty, I am your birth mother! You cannot treat me like this!"

"Empress Dowager, please!" Li Cheng stepped forward, grabbed the Empress Dowager's arm, and dragged her outside.

The Empress Dowager struggled desperately, shouting at Emperor Mingde with a fierce but weak voice, "Emperor, you dare to imprison me, you are unfilial to your birth mother! You will be condemned by the whole world, you will be punished..."