Su Ji's footsteps paused.
He slowly turned around. The night wind rustled the loose hair on his forehead, and his eyes, looking somewhat hazy in the firelight, calmly rested on Zhang Kui.
Zhang Kui's towering, iron-tower-like figure cast a long, twisted shadow in the dancing firelight.
Su Ji's brows twitched imperceptibly.
"Like who?"
Zhang Kui didn't answer directly. He shook his head, his voice somewhat ethereal, as if he were drunk or talking to himself.
"I don't know, it's just an intuition."
"Maybe the alcohol has blurred my vision."
He lowered his head, looking at the incredibly solid, grayish-white earth beneath his feet. His voice carried an unshakeable sense of desolation.
"I have stayed in this mine for nearly a thousand years, suffering erosion day and night. I am already a crippled man, not to mention that my lifespan is running out... I don't even have the confidence to see how far I can go."
"To put it harshly... I am actually nothing more than a walking corpse..."
"At most, I just have a few more emotions and unrealistic delusions than them..."
He looked up, his crimson eyes filled with a self-deprecation that bordered on despair.
"Even if I exchanged you for merits..."
"Even if I really managed to get out, I would just be a slightly stronger ant in this world..."
"The energetic Zhang Kui of the past... the one who suppressed orthodox lineages, died in this mining area long ago..."
"Moreover, I shouldn't pin my hopes on the mercy of those who enslaved me..."
Zhang Kui's tone changed without warning, and a terrifyingly sharp glint suddenly burst from his previously dim eyes.
"After studying for a thousand years, I actually already know a path that will definitely lead out!"
Su Jiu let out a low exclamation in Su Ji's mind, "Senior Brother, is he placing his bet on you?"
Su Ji's heart also leaped, but his face still maintained that somewhat drunken, honest and simple appearance.
"Right in the depths of the mining area..." Zhang Kui's voice was kept extremely low, every word seeming to be squeezed out from between his teeth.
"In the depths of the mining area is buried another close friend of the Immortal Venerable..."
"The friend who fought alongside him until the very last moment..."
Zhang Kui's gaze was deadlocked on Su Ji's face.
"You can resist the baleful aura... Old Man Zhao will definitely drag you to dig up the grave..."
Su Ji's heartbeat skipped a beat.
He almost subconsciously asked in return, "By using the residual will of the Immortal Venerable's friend?"
"Residual will?"
Zhang Kui shook his head, his smile full of sorrow.
"No, it's been a hundred thousand years... kid!"
"Even an Emperor's fate would have decayed by now, how could there be any residual will..."
"For such a monumental event..."
Zhang Kui's voice grew increasingly chilling. The coldness seeping out from his bones made the surrounding firelight seem to dim a bit.
"The faction behind the mine will definitely find a... witness."
"To prove that they were the ones who retrieved the item, and that its appearance in the world is their achievement..."
"Only then can they safely hand it over, instead of having their families destroyed on the eve of the handover, making a bridal dress for others..."
Su Ji's mind raced, and he instantly understood the crux of the matter.
"If that witness is willing to take you away... no one can stop them..."
Zhang Kui looked at Su Ji, his eyes filled with an almost maddening, burning intensity.
"As for how to win the trust of the witness..."
He grinned, revealing two rows of stark white teeth.
"If I knew that, I wouldn't be here drinking."
Su Ji fell silent.
He looked at Zhang Kui, this thousand-year-old mine slave who appeared rough but actually had terrifyingly deep thoughts.
He finally understood the real purpose behind the other party inviting him to drink tonight and telling him so many secrets.
This was a gambler.
A crazy gambler who had already lost everything but was still waiting for one last chance to turn the tables.
And he himself was the hidden card that Zhang Kui had been waiting a thousand years for.
Su Ji took a deep breath and solemnly cupped his fists toward Zhang Kui.
"Thank you for pointing the way, Big Brother Zhang."
His voice had regained its clarity, no longer carrying the slightest hint of intoxication.
"I wonder what Big Brother Zhang wants from me? I, Su Hao, am willing to do my best."
Zhang Kui looked at him, a cryptic curve slowly forming on his deeply wrinkled face.
He did not answer, but simply lifted his foot and stomped heavily onto the dying campfire in front of him.
Pfft!
Sparks flew everywhere as the last wisp of flame was brutally stomped out.
The surroundings instantly plunged into pitch-black darkness where one couldn't even see their own hand.
Only the whistling cold wind of the wasteland continued to whimper.
"I have already gotten it."
Zhang Kui's voice sounded in the darkness, muffled, suppressed, yet carrying a madness that was about to burst forth.
"I've waited so long, just for this moment!"
His voice, carrying the anger and indignation suppressed for a thousand years, explosively erupted at this moment.
"I want someone to overturn this damn mine!"
"I want them dead!"
"How dare they destroy my great path of cultivation!"
"Otherwise, I, Zhang Kui, would at least be a True Immortal of this era, revered by all!"
"I want them to suffer death by a thousand cuts! I want their descendants to become slaves and prostitutes!"
"I want them to suffer endless torture, day and night!"
Those shouts, laced with blood and tears, carried an endless, venomous resentment that completely contradicted his simple and sturdy appearance.
Su Ji stood in the darkness, listening quietly.
He could feel that the towering, iron-tower-like figure in front of him was trembling violently.
This soul, trapped for nearly a thousand years, had finally found an outlet to vent at this moment.
"I don't need any promises..."
"No... tell me..."
"Tell me that you can walk out of here!"
From Su Ji's back, two words finally drifted over after a long while: "I will."
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
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!
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
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!" "......"
