I Don't Agree to the Terms

"Prince Surth, please return to your chamber," an Iron Armor Man clad in some sort of black metal blocked Gu Shanhai, preventing him from leaving the prince's palace.

At that moment, he was impersonating the Emperor's 197th offspring. It wasn't that he deliberately played the role of a grandson; rather, other than sons, no one else had access.

This Prince Surth had no freedom at all and was raised in the Imperial Palace like a pig.

"Of course, Iron Guard. I was just taking a look at the door," Gu Shanhai didn't clash with the Iron Guard. These guards, formed from a combination of Ghost Energy and human bodies, had their bodies long since fused with an armor of Ghost Energy.

After Gu Shanhai infiltrated the Imperial Palace, this sense of disconnection had grown more severe, giving him the illusion of being in an ancient fantasy world.

The prince had only two ways to leave the Imperial Palace: the first was to become a Prince, and the second was to give up his prince identity.

Regardless of which option he chose, it implied giving up the succession to the throne.

How to become a Prince, Gu Shanhai wasn't sure yet, but he couldn't give up his prince identity. Having just arrived, he had to at least get a clear picture before proceeding.

It could be confirmed, though, that becoming a Prince seemed to require passing some trials.

Among this generation's Crown Princes, not a single one completed the trials to become a Prince; all the active Princes were contemporaries of the Emperor.

"Iron Guard, I want to know how to become a Prince?" Gu Shanhai casually asked.

"I don't know, Prince Surth," answered the Iron Guard. Although human, much had been erased from him and he was instilled with loyalty to the Royal Family. He would answer what he could, and he would plainly state if he didn't know or couldn't answer.

"However, to become a Prince, you must at least reach adulthood and undergo a ceremony of adulthood."

After saying this, he added another line.

The Surth that Gu Shanhai had replaced would reach the age of majority in three days, and the ceremony of adulthood was already being prepared.

"I see," Gu Shanhai suspected there was a difference between a prince who had reached the age of majority and one who hadn't. Precisely because of this, he had chosen this Surth.

Surth had been rendered into an anti-recognition system by him to deal with potential checks such as bloodline verification and soul inspection.

Initially, he had thought to guard against something, but now the divide between the royal family and the parliament seemed even greater.

It could be that the parliament and the public sided with technology, while the royal family had taken a completely new path through Ghost Energy.

Moreover, this path might have been ancient, not a recent development.

Back in his chamber, Surth wasn't favored; being too far down the line and lacking any remarkable traits, his treatment was quite ordinary.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and soon an Iron Guard came to take Gu Shanhai to the ceremony of adulthood.

It wasn't any bizarre gathering, but took place in a temple deep within the Imperial Palace.

It wasn't the temple that paid tribute to each dynasty's emperors but a special temple that hung with a black sun and a black moon.

Gu Shanhai could see that both the black sun and the black moon contained an aura unique to Ghost Energy.

Moreover, although called Ghost Energy, it was actually more akin to the manifestation of death, merely contained within it.

Instantly, Gu Shanhai thought this was about screening whether the princes possessed certain traits. If so, they would be cultivated intensively; if not, they would be confined to the palace forever with no way to emerge, unless they chose to give up their prince identity.

This was also the choice of most princes who lacked the necessary qualities after their adulthood ceremony.

However, Gu Shanhai suspected that choosing this path might result in the erasure of the prince's memories and the construction of fictional memories to integrate them into society and prevent secrets from leaking.

Sometimes even without the prince's consent, memory erasure might be carried out directly, and then they were expelled from the Imperial Palace.

Fortunately, there was no need to worry about living conditions, as the Royal Family would provide a generous sum to ensure a carefree life for the princes, but only for their generation, without sustaining the next.

"Prince Surth, please stay alone under the glow of the dark sun and the black moon for one hour. After one hour, the ceremony of adulthood will be completed."

The Iron Guard Commander said coldly, then left the temple and even closed the door.

Inside the temple, darkness fell, with only the faint glow of candles illuminating.

Seeing this, Gu Shanhai was a bit shocked; it was the first time he saw someone inviting the wolf into the den while also giving him an opportunity.

Thus, he decided not to waste this hour.

He first took a round inside the temple, and through the bas-reliefs on the walls and the books stored there, he quickly learned about the dark sun and the black moon.

They were essentially sources of Ghost Energy radiation. If a prince or princess survived the radiation process and successfully awakened these two distinct physiques, they could harness the power of Ghost Energy.

The dark sun's Ghost Energy was chaotic and fierce, while the black moon's Ghost Energy was ordered and gentle; the two were entirely different, making it impossible for anyone to wield both abilities simultaneously.

"Truly destructive..."

Gu Shanhai realized that whether it was a prince or a princess, as long as they were exposed to Ghost Energy radiation and failed to harness its power, they definitely wouldn't live past thirty.

'The Royal Family relies on the dark sun and black moon, two special devices that degrade the power of death into Ghost Energy, and it's even the type of Secondary Ghost Energy that can be adapted by the human body.'