My brother entrusted his child to me, and I livestreamed raising the baby, making the Empress cry wi

"Absurd!" Shu Jingwei interrupted sharply, as if she had heard the biggest joke in the world, her face full of mockery and disdain.

"Ye Fan is already dead! How can a dead man speak? Lin Ye, you've run out of tricks, all you can do is play tricks?!"

As she spoke, she raised her chin slightly, looking at Lin Ye as if she were looking at a clown struggling for his life.

Yao Jingyuan steadied himself, stepped forward, pointed at Lin Ye, and righteously rebuked him: "You fiend! Stop playing tricks!"

"You cruelly murdered Ye Guijun, and now you dare to use sweet words to deceive the world; your heart is utterly despicable!"

He spoke in a grand and righteous tone, flicked his sleeves, turned and cupped his hands in a gesture of respect towards Shu Jingwei: "Your Majesty, this man is spreading heresy and misleading the public; he should be executed immediately to set things right!"

The moment he lowered his head, Yao Jingyuan felt a slight sense of relief.

Making the dead talk? That's utterly ridiculous!

The mountain wind howled in his ears. He glanced sideways and caught a glimpse of the cold glint of the blades of the hundreds of guards behind him. The last trace of unease in his heart vanished.

It seems that Lin Ye is also at his wit's end and can only use such a clumsy excuse to buy time.

"Really?" Lin Ye didn't answer, but gently and tenderly stroked the hair of the little boy in his arms.

"Good boy, godfather will let you... meet your father."

Little Douzi raised her teary eyes and looked at Lin Ye with a blank yet affectionate gaze, her little hands tightly gripping his collar.

Lin Ye stopped talking and slowly raised his right hand, palm up.

The next moment, an irregularly shaped stone the size of a fist appeared in his palm.

The stone was translucent with a glassy luster, and its interior seemed to contain a whole expanse of flowing starlight, with a hazy halo slowly rotating at its core.

The moment it appeared, the surrounding light seemed to distort slightly, and a mysterious aura spread out.

"Phantom Stone, activate."

Lin Ye gave a low shout in his heart, then lowered his eyelids, and began to sketch Ye Fan's appearance and mannerisms in his mind.

In an instant, the Phantom Stone shone brightly!

A soft yet bright light rippled outwards from Lin Ye.

Wherever the light passed, the dust in the air seemed to freeze, and a strange, unsettling fluctuation instantly enveloped the area.

Then, under the incredulous, almost glaring gaze of everyone—

Beside Ye Fan's body, which lay quietly on the cold ground, the air rippled like water, and countless tiny points of light appeared out of thin air, like a galaxy flowing backwards on a summer night.

Rapidly converging, intertwining, outlining...

At first, it was a blurry mass, but gradually shoulders, arms, and a torso emerged...

The color gradually faded from a glaring white to a translucent gray.

Finally, a pale gray figure, identical in appearance and build to Ye Fan on the ground, materialized from the ethereal and slowly emerged!

He was dressed in the same coarse old shirt as the corpse on the ground, with clear eyebrows and a high nose.

he--

It has no feet.

Below the legs, there was a swirling, pale gray smoke that sometimes gathered and sometimes dissipated.

He just floated there quietly, the air around him seemed several degrees colder than elsewhere, and a faint smell of decay emanated from him.

After Ye Fan appeared, he lowered his eyes slightly and looked at the already cold body on the ground, a faint complex emotion flashing in his eyes.

Then, he looked up and his gaze fell on the child in Lin Ye's arms—the child who was crying so hard that his whole body was trembling and his little face was red.

His eyes instantly revealed both grief and tenderness as a father.

He slowly raised his translucent hand, as if trying to wipe away the tear stains on Xiaodouzi's cheeks, but his fingertips went straight through.

"Little Pocket..."

He spoke softly, his voice low and gentle, filled with endless pity.

"Don't be afraid, Daddy's here!"

Little Douzi stared blankly at the semi-transparent figure, his little mouth opened as if he wanted to call out "Daddy," but only choked sobs escaped his lips.

Her little hand reached out to grab Ye Fan's right hand, but it passed right through.

Little Douzi tried a few more times in despair, but all attempts ended in failure. She could only sniffle, put her hand down, and continue to tightly grip Lin Ye's clothes.

"A ghost...a ghost!!!"

It's unclear which soldier was the first to break down, but he let out a heart-wrenching scream, his long sword clattering to the ground as he scrambled backward in panic.

This sound was like igniting a powder keg, and hundreds of elite guards were instantly terrified!

Terrified screams, the clanging of weapons, and the screams of pushing and trampling filled the air. The well-organized battle formation crumbled in an instant, and the crowd scattered wildly backward.

The sinister smile and murderous intent on Shu Jingwei's face froze completely, twisting into an expression of extreme horror.

Her eyes bulged as she stared intently at the suspended pale gray figure, her pupils shrinking to pinpoints, her lips trembling violently, and her teeth chattering uncontrollably.

"No...no no no...impossible! How could this be!!!"

She let out a shrill, almost piercing scream, and her grip on the reins suddenly loosened, nearly causing her to fall.

She hurriedly gripped it again, but her fingers spasmed and twitched from the excessive force, and the veins on the back of her hand bulged.

Yao Jingyuan was struck dumb, his composure and feigned grief shattered instantly, leaving only a near-dumbfounded terror.

He staggered back several steps, his back slamming against a rock with a thud. The pain brought him back to his senses, but his legs were still weak, and he almost collapsed to his knees.

There really is such a thing as an evil spell to summon souls!

Ye Fan... Ye Fan's soul has really returned!?

No! Stay calm! We must stay calm!

Even Ye Fan's ghost might not know that he was the one who ordered the poisoning...

"Ye Fan!? You...you are now, are you a human or a ghost!? Why aren't you saying anything!? Ah—!! Say something!!"

Shu Jingwei screamed again, almost roaring, her voice hoarse and cracked, her eyes bloodshot as she stared intently at the pale gray figure.

Only now did that figure seem to finally hear the hysterical scream.

He reluctantly shifted his gaze from his daughter and Lin Ye to the emperor, who sat high on his horse not far away, now in a state of disarray and collapse.

That gaze was eerily calm, as if looking down at a frantically hissing insect. His movements were unhurried, carrying an air of superior indifference.

"Shu Jingwei".

Ye Fan spoke, his voice calm and undisturbed, like water deep in a dry well, without a ripple.

He didn't even lift his eyelids, but just looked down at it.

"Just because I punched Yao Jingyuan."

"He didn't even get a scratch."

"Then you will dismiss me from my post and banish my daughter and me to the cold palace."

He spoke in a calm tone, as if reading an old official document that had nothing to do with him.

With each word she spoke, Shu Jingwei gripped the reins tighter, her knuckles turning white from the effort.

Ye Fan's gaze swept indifferently over Yao Jingyuan, who was almost curled up in a ball. There was no hatred or resentment in his eyes, only a scrutinizing look after complete stripping away.

"You knew he resented me, and you knew he used the pretext of 'visiting the sick' to frequently enter and leave the Cold Palace, where he actually humiliated me. You always knew, but you never questioned it or stopped it."

He tilted his head slightly, as if pondering, but quickly seemed too lazy to think about it anymore, his emotions turning into a deeper indifference. "Perhaps, you also want to teach us a lesson?"

"Shut up!" Startled that her secret had been exposed, Shu Jingwei pulled hard on the reins, causing the horse to wince in pain and neigh loudly.

Her chest heaved violently, causing the magnificent dragon-patterned robe to tremble. Her face flushed red and then paled, a mixture of shame and indignation at being exposed.

"I am the ruler of a nation. Why should I explain matters of the harem to you? You are a criminal, so do not presume to speculate!"

Ye Fan remained noncommittal, quietly waiting for her to finish speaking without any change in expression. Only after she finished speaking did he continue in a steady voice:

"You value his ability to please you and indulge him."

"He allowed himself to cut back on our expenses, leaving us without charcoal in winter and ice in summer. He allowed himself to order the palace servants to mock and ridicule us, and to beat and scold us to the extreme."

"Little Douzi was only three years old at the time, and she cried from hunger. The servants, who were in a bad mood, dared to beat and scold her, and even made her kneel in the snow in the dead of winter."

When he spoke of Xiaodouzi, a ripple finally crossed his calm eyes, a mixture of heartache and sorrow, but it quickly subsided.

Because he saw the chubby, healthy baby in Lin Ye's arms. He knew his precious child was doing well, and that was enough.

"I dragged my useless, sick body along and risked my life to protect her, so that she wouldn't be tortured to death."

He raised his eyes and looked at Shu Jingwei again, a mocking smile playing on his lips.

"Shu Jingwei—"

"You are in charge of the palace, with countless eyes and ears. Are you trying to say you were unaware of this?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the mountain wind howled past, swirling up withered leaves, but it could not dispel the pervasive chill and deathly silence that filled the world.

A pale gray, semi-transparent figure "floated" in the center of the crowd, swaying slightly in the wind, as if it might dissipate at any moment, yet it was incredibly solid.

Ye Fan's words immediately caused a huge uproar in the Great Flame Kingdom.