Everyone had lines that they wouldn't cross. Tianming's was that he would try his best not to harm innocent people if he could. Using their weaknesses was one thing, but the question lay in how they were used. Sovereign Xi had used the threat of slaughter to get Tianming to bend to her will, but that was completely different from Tianming using Yun Tianque's family to lure him into a trap. The main difference was how the hostages were treated.

He wasn't the kind of fool that would give up on a great chance to build his faction just because he wanted to be known as a 'good guy', so he didn't feel any remorse when resorting to less than savory methods. After all, being ethical and judgmental was the luxury of the rich and powerful, who dictated what was acceptable and what wasn't. While Li Muyang had...