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!”
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
