It wasn’t just Zhang Xun. At this moment, everyone in Suiyang City was stirred from their slumber, pouring out into the streets to gaze up at the divine soldiers descending from the heavens.
One hundred thousand troops descended—all of them elite warriors.
This sight immediately moved the entire city, and countless people fell to their knees in reverence.
“Heavenly soldiers! They are heavenly soldiers!”
“We are saved! Suiyang is saved!”
“The banners they carry… Great Qin? Hongwu? Zhenguan?”
“Could that Great Qin be the one we know? What is Hongwu? And Zhenguan…”
“It’s the Great Ancestor! The Great Ancestor has manifested! He has brought heavenly soldiers to save us, the people of Suiyang!”
Words like these were exchanged everywhere throughout the city.
“Minister Zhang, gather all the city’s people here,” Li Shimin declared.
“As you command!”
Zhang Xun, brimming with excitement, hurried off to carry out the order.
Before long, in a vast square, dozens of soldiers were cooking steaming pots of congee. All the citizens formed long lines. Even though Suiyang had reached such dire straits, they still maintained remarkable order—no pushing, no grabbing.
“Delicious! So delicious!”
“I’ve never tasted congee this good in my entire life!”
They had been starving for too long. After months of holding out in Suiyang, their provisions were completely exhausted—even the bark and grass roots had been eaten clean.
They could no longer remember how long it had been since they had enjoyed such thick, hot congee.
At once, both the citizens and Suiyang’s defenders couldn’t hold back their tears.
“Everyone, if it’s not enough, help yourselves to more. Drink as much as you like.”
Qin Ning stood at the front of the crowd. After speaking, he waved his hand, and small packaging bags appeared beside him. “These are pickled vegetables—Fuling brand. Eat them with the congee. There’s plenty to go around!”
“Pickled vegetables?”
Though curious, the crowd soon gathered around. One elderly man picked up a pack, tore it open, and added it to his bowl of congee.
After stirring it a few times, he ate with great relish.
“So good… sob… delicious! Absolutely delicious!”
The others didn’t hesitate and followed suit, adding the pickles to their own bowls.
“So this is pickled vegetables? It’s like preserved vegetables, but the taste is different—better, crispy, and refreshing!”
By the time the meal was over, everyone was in tears.
They had been trapped here for so long, starving for so long, never daring to dream that one day they could still enjoy such a wonderful meal.
Finally, after eating their fill, the people did not disperse. Instead, they gathered in the square.
Li Shimin and the others walked to a raised platform. Scanning the crowd below, Li Shimin took a deep breath and spoke. “As you can see, I am the Great Ancestor of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin. This young gentleman beside me is an Immortal. It is he who brought me from the sixth year of the Zhenguan era to this place, to save the Tang, to save Suiyang, to save all of you.”
“An Immortal? He’s actually an Immortal?”
“So the Great Ancestor traveled here from the Zhenguan era? No wonder he looks so young.”
“Traveling through time? Something like that actually exists in this world?”
The crowd murmured in astonishment.
“This is Ying Zheng, the First Emperor of Great Qin. When Brother Zheng learned that the Tang was in peril and heard of Suiyang’s plight, he did not hesitate to send his troops to our aid,” Li Shimin continued.
“It really is the First Emperor?”
“When I saw the Great Qin banner, I thought it was the army of the Prince of Qin from the Great Ancestor’s youth. I never imagined it was that captivating ancestor of ours.”
“The First Emperor has also manifested! Our Central Plains Tang… is under the protection of an Immortal!”
“Long live the Tang! Long live our ancestors!” the crowd shouted fervently.
Then Li Shimin spoke again. “And this man—he is the founding Grand Founder of a later dynasty, the Ming, the Hongwu Emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang.”
At these words, the crowd that had been chanting “Long live the Tang” instantly fell silent.
“The Ming… Grand Founder?”
“Has our Tang… fallen?”
Led by Zhang Xun, the citizens and defenders of Suiyang wore expressions of deep anguish.
“Since ancient times, no dynasty has been immortal. The Tang cannot escape the cycle of three hundred years, just like the Qin and Han before it. But…”
“Though the Tang may fall, this land—the empire of the Han people—must never fall into foreign hands.”
With that, Li Shimin pointed to weapons neatly arranged not far below: flintlock rifles and percussion guns.
“Everyone, the Han empire cannot be lost. Why not take up arms today and join me in defending Suiyang, defending our homeland!”
“Defend Suiyang!”
“Defend our homeland!”
The crowd, fired up, chanted along with him.
Over the next two days, Li Jinglong led a group of soldiers in teaching the citizens of Suiyang how to use the flintlock and percussion guns.
At dusk, a drone took off, sending back images from afar.
Li Jinglong found Zhu Yuanzhang and the others. “Uncle-in-law, there’s movement at the enemy camp a hundred li outside the city. They’ll likely be here at dawn tomorrow.”
“Good.”
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, then asked, “How are the citizens’ drills coming along?”
“They’re basically trained. They can use the percussion guns proficiently now.”
Hearing this, Li Shimin stood up. “Stop the training here. Let them all get a good night’s sleep tonight. Tomorrow, they will take their places on the city walls and kill the enemy with their own hands.”
…
The next day, at dawn.
On the city walls, rows of citizens stood with firearms in hand.
Compared to a few days ago, they seemed completely transformed—whether in spirit or demeanor, they were entirely different.
Besides the percussion guns, several cannons were mounted on the walls, ready to annihilate any attacker at a single command.
As the morning sunlight began to grow warm, the fog dissipated.
In the distance, the rumble of marching feet grew louder. Li Jinglong raised his telescope and glimpsed a pitch-black sea of enemy troops.
“Uncle-in-law, First Emperor, Old Li Emperor—they’re here,” Li Jinglong reported.
Li Shimin frowned slightly at being called “Old Li Emperor” but let it slide. He shouted, “Everyone, get ready! At my command, open fire!”
Meanwhile, on the enemy side, as they approached within three hundred paces of Suiyang, they halted. A soldier spoke up. “General, something’s off. Look at those people on the walls—they don’t look like defenders. They seem to be commoners?”
The enemy commander, Yin Ziqi, rode on horseback, studying the figures on the ramparts. He let out a cold laugh. “Doesn’t that just prove Suiyang is on its last legs? They’re sending civilians to fight, and they’re carrying nothing but sticks—not even proper weapons.”
“Give the order. Full assault! Today, we take Suiyang!”
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
