Helange ruled the empire not through bloody methods nor through the royal family’s special status within the empire, but through his own overwhelming strength.
The sudden transformation of the red-plum hairpin truly startled him. The petals’ ambush was swift as well, but for someone with powerful mental strength like him, the distance between them was enough for him to react and block the attack of the red plum petals.
He drew the sword at his waist. As a special weapon capable of carrying both mental power and supernatural abilities, [Ten] held an extremely high status among weapons. After Helange infused it with his ability, the special patterns along its slender blade glowed with a clear, translucent light, blocking all the red plum petals attempting to strike him.
The sharp blade collided with the petals, producing crisp ringing sounds.
A trace of surprise flashed through Helange’s eyes.
What hard petals! Even after clashing with [Ten], they had not suffered the slightest damage. One had to know that [Ten] could easily slice apart meteors of extremely high hardness!
He stepped back, seriousness appearing in his eyes. His amber pupils reflected the crimson red plum petals, like a bright moon dyed in blood, carrying a faint chill.
In an instant, silver-red flames flooded the blade of [Ten]. The suddenly blazing red fire revealed Helange’s fierce momentum. When the west wind overwhelmed the east wind, the red plum petals—beautiful yet filled with hidden killing intent began to tremble.
But she refused to back down.
Protecting her little master was her task. As long as she held on a little longer, Pu Pu would arrive. When that happened, no matter how powerful the human was, he’d be finished!
Meanwhile, in the mere few seconds between Helange drawing his sword and the two sides confronting each other, Arcius, who had only turned around where he stood, stared in shock at Helange being forced to draw his weapon. Subconsciously, he reached toward his bangs only to touch empty air.
The red plum hairpin, utterly mismatched with his tall figure, was gone. Instinctively he connected it with the red plum petals floating beside him and swallowed with difficulty.
The little hairpin is so strong!
Just as that thought appeared, Helange moved again.
Holding his sword, he slashed downward through the air. The devouring silver flame traced a dazzling arc across the sky. Under its terrifying heat, several petals lost their vitality, turning ash-black and drifting down from the air.
The other petals sensed danger and retreated quickly. Helange pressed forward step by step, shattering the red plum petals with a single strike. Unable to bear the force, they transformed into the form of a human girl and fell beside Arcius.
The girl looked fifteen or sixteen. The red hem of her skirt was torn to pieces, and silver-red flames were still burning across it.
Helange was very satisfied with the result of that strike. Just as he was about to eliminate this unknown alien species that dared challenge his authority, Arcius suddenly stepped in front of her and disobeyed him once again.
“Don’t touch her!”
This was the little hairpin his mother had given him. No one was allowed to hurt it!
Little Red Plum wasn’t the type to surrender so easily. She slapped out the flames burning on her skirt, stood up, and glared angrily at Helange.
“Don’t be afraid of him! I’ll protect you!”
She looked small and adorable, and her words didn’t sound threatening at all—more like she was acting coquettish. Arcius knew she wanted to protect him, but when their strength clearly didn’t match, fighting head-on was like throwing an egg against a stone.
He lightly touched the soft petals still floating beside him.
“Be good. Don’t fight.”
Helange was too strong. The devouring silver flames he possessed could even burn intangible mental power. If Little Red Plum confronted him, she wouldn’t gain anything.
Hearing his words, the red plum petals that had been hovering restlessly in the air ready to shoot out at any moment—restrained their hostility. They floated beside him, withdrawing their attack and instead taking a protective stance.
Helange, however, was not so easily satisfied after being provoked. Looking down at Arcius surrounded by red plum petals, he said,
“It seems I underestimated you. Being able to command an alien species, you’re somewhat capable.”
Arcius’s gaze grew complicated.
The one who could command alien species wasn’t him, but his well-behaved, soft, and easily crying mother.
He shook his head. “I’ve already explained it clearly to you. I have no interest in controlling the empire. Please don’t make things difficult for me.”
His tone was calmer than ever before, almost carrying a hint of negotiation he had never shown before.
Seeing that he still refused to repent, Helange’s anger surged. He raised [Ten] high and slashed downward, the sword tip pointing straight at Arcius.
“That little alien species became your stumbling block?”
His tone was furious.
Understanding him, Arcius immediately raised his voice.
“It has nothing to do with my mom! I just suddenly figured things out. If you dare do anything to her, I—”
Halfway through speaking, he suddenly realized he had said the wrong thing.
Sure enough, Helange smiled with satisfaction and maliciously threatened,
“If you don’t want to lose her, abandon your foolish idea of becoming useless.”
Arcius stared at him, his gaze dark.
“Helange, I never knew you could be this despicable!”
Being called directly by name, Helange didn’t care.
“As long as I achieve my goal, why should I care about the method or the process?”
Arcius had heard those words countless times before, but this was the first time he felt such intense disgust. His hands hanging at his sides clenched tightly, his joints cracking audibly.
Helange was quite satisfied with his reaction. He tilted the sword tip.
“Let me see your abilities. Otherwise—”
“Otherwise what?”
A soft voice suddenly sounded from the entrance of the main hall.
Arcius jumped in fright. He recognized the voice, it was his mom!
Helange’s words were interrupted. He looked toward the entrance and saw a girl standing there.
She wore a pale pink dress that reached her ankles. At the hem hung delicate chains with small lily-of-the-valley flowers wrapped in light gauze. As she walked, the chains made crisp, pleasant sounds—like clear mountain spring water striking rock.
A three-finger-wide belt gently hugged her slender waist, accentuating her graceful figure. Her long black hair was braided into a scorpion tail braid hanging over her left chest, and at the end of it was a beautiful purple datura hairpin.
A breeze blew in from outside the hall, lifting the hem of her dress.
The red plum petals swirling inside the hall seemed to find their backbone. Little Red Plum, who had been knocked into human form, brightened her eyes and turned back into petals, gathering all the others as they rushed into Pu Xin’s embrace.
Pu Xin gently stroked Little Red Plum and stepped into the imperial administration hall.
Helange’s guards quickly recovered and immediately turned their guns toward her, marking her as a dangerous target!
Arcius hadn’t expected his mom to come. He hurried over to her side, his actions making Helange frown deeper.
“Arcius, your hesitation disappoints me greatly!”
He swung his sword down again. The devouring silver flames traced silver-red brilliance through the air. The surrounding air trembled slightly, showing the terrifying power of the strike.
“What does his disappointment have to do with him? Who are you to discipline him?”
Arcius was about to speak, but his mom grabbed his hand and pushed him behind her.
Pu Xin stepped forward and angrily scolded Helange.
She was furious!
Originally she planned to quietly look through photos of her cub when he was little and see why his body had been so weak. But before finding anything, she received a distress signal from Little Red Plum saying her cub was in danger!
She thought it was someone bullying her cub.
But she never expected the bully to be her cub’s father!
Her small figure gave Arcius a harbor-like sense of warmth and safety. The poor capitalist had no idea how powerful his mother truly was. Worried Helange might harm her in anger, he tried to speak again—but his mom pushed him slightly.
The meaning was obvious: Be good, don’t make trouble. Mom’s here.
Arcius could challenge Helange and still stand here only because he carried Helange’s bloodline. The proud emperor would never allow an alien species to challenge his authority.
He sneered. “Because I am his father!”
The emperor who grew up on the battlefield believed in harsh training. He would never allow his bloodline to become a useless person who only clung to his mother!
Pu Xin snorted disdainfully.
“What right do you have to be Xiu Xiu’s father? As a dad, you not only fail to protect your cub—you even take the lead in hurting him!”
Helange sneered.
“I have no right to discipline him? Then what right does someone who has never appeared since his birth have to say such things to me?”
Hearing that, the frowning little dandelion’s face immediately darkened.
Her expression lost its gentleness. Her soft willow-leaf brows turned cold and sharp.
She stared at Helange coldly.
The red plum petals floating in midair suddenly doubled in size. The tender pink edges faded away, replaced by a stern dark gold.
A chill of winter swept in without invitation.
Moisture in and outside the palace was instantly drained. Snowflakes drifted down in a flurry, freezing cold spreading through the hall.
The red plum petals glowed blood-red against the white snow, radiating a decadent beauty.
Before Helange’s guards could even react, their weapons were sliced cleanly in half. Frozen in place by soft white snow, they could only watch helplessly as six red plum petals joined together and shot toward Helange!
The beautiful six-petaled plum spun like the scythe of death, slicing through the air with a sharp buzzing sound.
Just as Helange widened his eyes at the sudden upheaval, it shot straight toward the center of his forehead!
Helange reacted instantly and raised his sword to block.
But the devouring silver flames did not melt the attacking red plum as he expected.
Instead, the empire-feared [Ten] emitted mournful cries as it clashed with the six-petaled plum.
Crack!
An indestructible weapon—[Ten]—split with a fracture, then was crushed into two pieces by the red plum.
A violent gust swept past.
Still stunned by the sword’s destruction, the emperor suddenly felt pain on his cheek. A bloody cut appeared out of nowhere.
Fine strands of golden hair drifted through the air.
The spinning red plum mischievously sliced them in half before flying back to Pu Xin, turning once again into harmless red petals that circled her happily proud that they had defeated the opponent they couldn’t beat earlier.
Behind Pu Xin, Arcius stared in complete shock.
He slowly turned his gaze to his mother, wearing pretty little leather shoes and barely reaching his shoulder and inhaled quietly.
Why didn’t Lu Xunzhi tell him that Mom was this ridiculously strong?!
Even Helange wasn’t her opponent!
If he had known she was this powerful, why would he bother coming to the palace? It wasted time and made Mom angry because of that jerk!
Pu Xin looked at Helange standing stiffly with half his face covered in blood and lifted her chin disdainfully.
“You don’t seem that impressive. And you think you’re qualified to teach my cub?”
Little Dandelion preferred getting along harmoniously with others. Unless someone crossed the line badly, she rarely humiliated people so directly.
Helange had clearly stepped on her bottom line.
He showed no remorse and even tried to hurt her cub in front of her.
Unforgivable! Helange touched his cheek in a daze.
The warmth of blood and the sting of the wound told him everything happening was real.
Since forging [Ten], he hadn’t met an opponent in more than twenty years.
Yet now his face had been cut and his sword destroyed!
He narrowed his eyes and carefully examined the mother and son standing nearby.
It was obvious they resembled each other greatly.
But he couldn’t understand how she had won Arcius’s affection so quickly.
“You want him to be a useless person?” the emperor stubbornly asked.
He admitted the alien species before him was powerful—the strongest he had ever seen.
But precisely because of that, how could Arcius, who possessed such powerful genes, be weak?
“Useless?” Pu Xin rolled her eyes at him.
Who defined uselessness?
And who had the right to label others that way?
“So are you useless then?” Her soft voice sounded again.
Helange suddenly felt his body tighten.
The arrogant emperor was instantly tied up by emerald vines before he even realized how he had been ambushed.
He tried to break free with mental power.
But the weapon that had once conquered battlefields now felt like a trapped beast, completely unable to break the vines.
The guards who attempted to help were whipped by vines appearing from nowhere and hung up alongside him.
Arcius stared blankly at Helange dangling above the throne.
He cautiously glanced at his mom, who patted his hand gently.
Oh no. Now I want to be useless even more.
Helange was completely furious.
Born the imperial heir and respected all his life, victorious in countless battles against the Zerg, when had he ever experienced being hung up like this?
He glared at Pu Xin. “What did you do?”
Pu Xin was no longer angry after teaching him a lesson. Holding her cub’s hand, she sat down casually and ignored Helange.
Then she asked her cub, “Xiu Xiu, how do you want to punish him?”
After all, he was still the cub’s father.
Even if he was annoying, she couldn’t completely disregard her cub’s feelings.
Arcius’s expression became extremely complicated.
He had never imagined the man who once felt like an insurmountable mountain would fall into his hands so easily.
After careful thought, he handed his mom a glass of water.
“Let’s ignore him. Can we just go home?”
Helange was still his father and had indeed taught him many things growing up. Even if he never gave him fatherly warmth, without him he wouldn’t have survived.
He couldn’t let his mom kill him.
The empire couldn’t lose its emperor overnight either. As Helange’s only legitimate heir, if Helange died, he would inherit the throne and work himself to death.
He just wanted to stay by his mom’s side and be a useless person—not sacrifice himself for a country he didn’t care about.
Seeing that her cub didn’t want to pursue it further, Pu Xin gulped down the water and nodded, pulling him toward the exit.
Helange watched them swagger away, veins bulging on his forehead in anger.
But as their figures grew smaller, the vines binding him not only didn’t loosen, they tightened further.
A bad premonition suddenly rose in his heart.
Soon he saw the most outrageous scene of his life—
The rare flowers carefully cultivated outside the administration hall by Kamel stood tall, shaking their pretty blossoms and lining up like a small parade marching inside.
Whenever they passed a guard, they politely extended their branches—like elegant ladies at a banquet and whacked them with a neat lash.
The emperor who had just felt deeply humiliated widened his eyes.
When a solid whip finally struck his chest, his face flushed red as he experienced true humiliation.
To make matters worse, a purple datura flower shook its trumpet-shaped blossom and loudly declared:
“If you bother me and my cub again, next time we’ll smack your butt!”
It was Little Dandelion’s soft voice.
Helange nearly fainted from anger.
Meanwhile, the little dandelion who had secretly taught the bad father a lesson behind her cub’s back walked calmly away.
Passing a flowerbed, she glanced at Kamel, who had been tied up and gagged by vines.
“I’m taking the photo album. Since you took decent care of Xiu Xiu, I won’t argue with you.”
Arcius followed behind her in a daze the whole time.
On the frontline battlefield, Lu Bieling had just arrived when he suddenly received a message from Little Dandelion.
Thinking she missed the cub, he prepared to let his cheap son reply.
But after reading the message, he raised an eyebrow.
[Little Trouble-Maker]: Zhizhi’s Dad, I misunderstood you before. You’re a good father QAQ
Lu Bieling: “?”
Did Little Dandelion take the wrong medicine? Complimenting him out of nowhere?
[Little Trouble-Maker]: Wuuu thank you for raising Zhizhi so well wuuuuu…
Question marks popped one after another over the marshal’s head.
Afraid Pu Xin would keep sobbing endlessly, he racked his brain before replying with something safe.
[Zhizhi’s Dad]: Xunzhi is also my son.
[Little Trouble-Maker]: 030
Marshal Lu Bieling felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
Did Little Dandelion really take the wrong medicine?
Or was she missing the cub so much that her mind was becoming unclear?
Having learned how to surf the interstellar net, Little Dandelion often sent that emoji to her cub and didn’t realize it might look strange sending it to Lu Bieling.
She put away her communicator and rubbed Xiu Xiu’s hair twice.
“From now on you have Mom. You don’t need your bad dad anymore!”
Arcius obediently lowered his head and lightly wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“Mm.” Seeing him behave so well made Pu Xin even happier. The tiny frustration caused by Helange’s words disappeared completely.
Before, she had been careless and allowed someone to take her cub away.
From now on, she would watch over him carefully and never give anyone another chance!
Just as she was about to say something, she suddenly saw a familiar face among the pedestrians whose hover car had just passed.
It was Ye Hanzhou.
She immediately sat up straight, pushed away Arcius who was leaning over, and pressed both hands against the car window while craning her neck to look back.
Excitedly, she shouted, “Xiu Xiu! Xiu Xiu! Third cub! My third cub! Stop the car quickly!”