These fairies want me to deal with them every day.

For example, he might enjoy defiled women he had slept with, and then dump their bodies in the wilderness.

For example, sometimes he looks at me like I'm an enemy.

For example, he would have some women dress in clothes similar to those of his deceased mother, and then kill them in a fit of rage.

Dugu Ming saw all of this, but chose never to say anything.

Now, there's nothing to worry about anymore.

Dugu Xun, lying on the bed, was essentially a cripple; he had not died.

But it's no different from being dead. Not only are his hands and feet missing, but he doesn't even seem to want to say a word now.

Just quietly waiting for death.

This made Dugu Ming sense a sense of destiny. He somewhat understood how much disaster his past actions had brought to his descendants, but...

But life and history are like an unstoppable chariot, rolling forward relentlessly. People cannot change what has happened in the past; they can only tell themselves again and again to accept reality and place their hopes on the future.

But does Dugu Xun, in this state... still have a future?

He looked at Dugu Xun's dull eyes on the bed, which seemed to have lost all their luster, and finally took a deep breath.

"Son, I will avenge you."

These words brought a glimmer of light to Dugu Xun's eyes as he looked at Dugu Ming.

Then I smiled.

Dugu Ming looked at him, "You don't believe me?"

Dugu Xun, however, revealed a madness beneath his weakness: "You can't do it."

Dugu Ming wasn't angry. He just spoke calmly, like an old father, "Even if I can't do it, I will try. You may not know, but some important matters... I'm already involved and can't extricate myself. All I can do is risk my life to give you justice."

Dugu Xun was not moved to tears by these words.

Even his seemingly crazy and even sarcastic smile was exactly the same.

He looked at his father for a long time and only uttered one sentence.

"Everything I have, and everything you have, is your own doing. You can't blame anyone else."

Dugu Ming frowned, and in the end he could only sigh.

Then he stood up and looked at Dugu Ming slowly.

"Get some rest, you'll get better."

After saying this, he turned and walked out of the warm but utterly impersonal room, and stood outside the door.

From inside came his son's almost manic laughter.

"We're all going to die anyway!! Hahahaha... The Dugu family! Everyone in the Dugu family! They all deserve to die! They all deserve to die! Hahahaha..."

He could no longer straighten his somewhat hunched back, but he hurriedly boarded the carriage.

"I asked the driver."

"Your Excellency, where are you going?"

Dugu Ming said, sounding somewhat tired.

"The Imperial Palace."

This was Dugu Ming's fourth trip to the palace in the past three days.

It's just one thing.

Upholding the justice that only he himself believes in, is like a father who has become almost pathologically obsessed with his son.

He knew it, but it was the only thing he could do.

I can only repeat it over and over again.

Then the empress dismissed him with an increasingly impatient tone.

He knew that the empress was biased towards the boy, but it didn't matter.

Some things are like this: a thousand-mile dike can be destroyed by an ant hole.

She didn't believe me after one or two tries, so I tried three or four.

If one or two are not enough, then three or four will do.

He had to curry favor with his ministers, who were with him in good relationships, and submit memorials to him again and again.

It doesn't matter even if they speak extremely carefully, or even if some of them are of questionable status.

All he needs to do is put in his best effort.

This time, he waited patiently outside the Imperial Study for almost half a day.

However, he only spoke to Ye Bingluan for the time it takes to burn half an incense stick before being dismissed with similar words.

"Wait a little longer, I've been very busy lately. I won't forget about the matter concerning the Imperial Uncle."

It seemed like another ordinary winter day.

He's almost sixty, and all this running around, along with the things weighing on his mind, is making him feel exhausted.

He even had a dream on the way back to his residence in the carriage.

Dreams are not a beautiful vision, but rather a reflection of one's youth.

Back then, I was full of youthful vigor, dressed in fine clothes and riding a spirited horse, and I hated evil as if it were my enemy...

But why would he beat that woman to death on such a rainy night?

He still doesn't seem to have figured these issues out.

Under the pitch-black night, the carriage slowly came to a stop. He awoke from his dream, only to find that no one had reminded him that he had arrived at the mansion.

When he lifted the curtain, the night was as deep as the sea spread across the sky; he couldn't see through the clouds, and he couldn't even see the moon.

There seemed to be a deathly stillness in the air.

He saw the coachman, who was lying on the ground, blood flowing from his neck, his eyes wide open, as if he hadn't realized what had happened even in death.

It felt like a premonition.

However, Dugu Ming, sensing the danger, did not choose to run away, but instead walked towards the open gate of the mansion.

He entered the mansion, where blood was everywhere.

It seemed to turn into bright red **.

The corpses lay scattered on the ground, as if they had returned not to their own mansion, but... to hell on earth.

Familiar faces appeared at his feet.

Dugu Ming looked at them as if in a dream.

"Old Li, the gatekeeper..."

"Xiao Huan..."

"noob……"

The names they called out could not be answered, for they had almost bled out of him.

His eyes were wide open.

It's as if they wanted to see themselves one last time, even on their deathbed.

Dugu Ming felt an indescribable emptiness in his heart, his hands and feet trembled, but he didn't seem to be very afraid.

He had already thought of certain things, he had already considered certain possibilities.

He finally knew what his destiny would be like; the end that he had never imagined was now right in front of him.

He didn't stop there, but walked past the corpses and through the vast, yet silent mansion, where he couldn't see a single living person.

But in the end, they arrived in the backyard.

He finally pushed open the door. The fire in the brazier had long since gone out, but the brazier was still neatly placed inside.

But there was no sound of breathing inside.

He held his breath and approached the bedside with a look of despair in his eyes. He looked at his son who had opened his eyes.

Dugu Xun was lying on the bed, his eyes open, seemingly staring at the ceiling.

But his chest didn't rise and fall, and his eyes were bloodless.

He lay there like a frozen painting, perhaps... the quietest moment of his life.

Dugu Ming opened his mouth tremblingly, walked over, and hugged the corpse that had lost its hands and feet with trembling hands.

"Xun'er..."

He found that his dry voice could no longer produce any crying sounds.

His hoarse, unpleasant voice sounded like that of a dying person about to turn to dust.

At this moment, my chest is filled with despair and sadness, as well as a feeling of resignation, but a resignation tinged with deep regret.

He held Dugu Xun's corpse and shook it frantically, his eyes filled with bright red blood vessels.

But it was like a dry howl; not a single tear could be shed from his eyes.

When a figure appeared at the door, he didn't care at all.

He didn't ask why, because he knew why.

He knew that nothing he could do now could undo everything; he knew he was no longer the spirited, impetuous young man who hated evil.

Power, desire, and the steps that follow seem like a ladder to the clouds, leading one upwards.

It turned out to be just a path to the underworld that led me to gradually sink into depravity.

"Xun'er...!"

He cried until his throat was hoarse, and he couldn't make any more sounds.

The figure stood quietly at the doorway.

"Your brother-in-law, don't blame me if you go to hell for this. Things have come to this point, and we have to move on. You have no choice but to use this key."