Confession of the False King Hades

"Ian Yan? Is that really you?" Lily Bai called out in surprise.

"It's me! Am I dreaming right now?" Ian Yan replied.

"If you can see me, then it's not a dream. If you can't, then maybe it is," Adrian Drake said coolly from the side.

Ian Yan looked at him. "Adrian Drake, you're here too?"

"I've been standing here this whole time, and yet you only talk to the Crown Princess?"

"Crown Princess? Oh... Right, the Fifth Highness is already Crown Prince now..." Ian Yan's eyes looked a bit dazed.

"What are you doing here? Are you cultivating some special technique?" Lily Bai asked him.

Ian Yan gave a bitter smile. "It's a long story. Please, just get me out of here first!"

"How do we open this cage? Who has the key?" Lily Bai asked.

Ian Yan said, "My younger brother, Yan Cang."

Lily Bai nodded. "Where can we find him?"

"He should be impersonating me and running the Underworld, hanging around the places I used to frequent..." Ian Yan told her all the details.

Lily Bai nodded again. "You two wait here for me. I'll be right back."

Adrian Drake knew her cultivation far surpassed his own, so he just nodded and let her go on her own.

Lily Bai used stealth to visit the places Ian Yan mentioned, and sure enough, she found Yan Cang.

She used a Talisman to make him invisible too, then directly dragged him to the Nine-bend Nether River.

The moment Yan Cang saw Ian Yan, his face changed dramatically.

"Yan Cang, you have two choices now," Lily Bai said. "First, let your brother out. Second, if you refuse, I'll kill you and then find another way to free him."

Yan Cang sneered, "Who are you trying to scare? Us Underworld cultivators can't be killed!"

"Why do you think that?" Lily Bai shot out a sinister black Talisman charged with demonic energy. "Want to try it?"

This was a demonic Talisman from her mother, Bianca Whitefan—capable of killing any cultivator.

Underworld cultivators are extremely sensitive to death. The moment he saw that Talisman, he knew he was finished.

After weighing his options, Yan Cang finally released Ian Yan.

Then the four of them returned to the residence of King Hades.

Ian Yan cleaned himself up and finally looked like a proper person again.

Only then did he explain the whole story to them.

Twenty years ago, just after Sean Shaw was elevated to Crown Prince, Yan Cang made his move and ambushed him.

Then Yan Cang impersonated Ian Yan and acted as King Hades for twenty years.

The reason he didn't kill Ian Yan, but kept him imprisoned, was because the death of anyone above Divine Lord rank would trigger celestial phenomena.

Afraid of arousing suspicion in the Divine Realm, he never killed him—just kept him hidden.

"Ian Yan, good thing you never got married," Lily Bai blurted out first. "Otherwise, your wife would've been sleeping with an impostor for twenty years."

Ian Yan gave a bitter smile and looked at Yan Cang. "Did you really want to be King Hades that badly?"

Yan Cang hung his head in silence.

"If you wanted it that much, you should've just cultivated harder. I would've gladly given up the throne," Ian Yan said. "But is this really the way? Does it feel worthwhile? Aren't you exhausted?"

He still hung his head and said nothing.

"Enough! No point asking him anything," Lily Bai chimed in. "We won't get a straight answer. Let's just abolish his Divine Vein and drag him to the Execution Platform."

"Wait! I was wrong!" Yan Cang cried. "I really know I was wrong. I'll tell you everything, just don't kill me!"