The Chief didn’t understand what Fang Zhiyi meant, until he saw the ragged cloth in his hand fluttering. Gradually, several human faces surfaced on the cloth, looking as if they were trying to crawl out.
He also recognized them—weren’t they his own men?
“This thing really works… No wonder people say a skill is never a burden,” Fang Zhiyi said with a smile, though to the bandit Chief, that smile was terrifying.
As two wisps of black smoke shot out from the cloth, shrieking mournfully as they lunged at him, the Chief’s eyes went wide with sheer horror.
Not far away, Old Five, clearly delirious from the heat, was watching with a weird, grating chuckle, until Fang Zhiyi walked over and looked down at him.
“The more, the merrier.”
Xiaoxiaohei, observing this host of his, felt an inexplicable surge of fear. It was confused—normally, it only felt such emotions in the presence of its original body. So why…?
As dawn gradually broke, a woodcutter passing by suddenly spotted several twisted corpses. Frightened out of his wits, he plopped onto the ground, then scrambled to his feet and fled in a panic.
“What? That madam showed up with two young girls to apologize?” Young Master Gao asked, holding up his wine glass.
The Steward beside him nodded. “Master, she knelt at the gate for an hour, begging for alms from you.” He glanced around, then added, “Judging by the look of those girls, I reckon she abducted them from somewhere.”
Young Master Gao waved his hand dismissively. “That’s no big deal. But offending me, she…”
“Master, the Governor’s birthday is coming soon. Shouldn’t you prioritize the bigger picture?” the Steward ventured cautiously.
Young Master Gao paused. “Oh, right?” He burst into laughter. “Fine! We’ll settle the business first! Let her in!”
The Steward nodded and turned to instruct a servant to notify Widow Li at the gate.
The servant trotted to the entrance, exchanged a glance with the doorman, and his earlier fawning turned into an arrogant expression. He pushed the door open and said, “Hey, you there, the Master wants to…” He stopped mid-sentence. “Huh? Where is she?”
He looked around in confusion, only to find two trembling little girls.
“That old madam!” the servant grumbled, turning to the doorman, who asked, “What’s wrong?”
Without thinking, the servant replied, “She must’ve taken off and left these two brats here.”
But when he turned back, he was met by a pair of bloodshot eyes.
“Hehe.”
“You—” Before he could finish asking who it was, a kick sent him flying through the doorway.
The doorman, sensing something amiss, tried to step out to investigate but instead saw a strangely dressed man walking through the entrance. His clothes were tattered, and in his hand he carried a crude wooden staff draped with a filthy cloth.
“Bold of you! A beggar! Do you even know where this is—”
Fang Zhiyi turned his head and glared at him. A wisp of black smoke surged from the flag in his hand, and in an instant, the doorman and the servant lying on the ground were overcome with terror, as if they’d seen something utterly horrifying. One started clawing frantically at his own face, while the other choked himself.
Within moments, both fell still.
The black smoke then seized the two souls and dragged them back into the flag in Fang Zhiyi’s hand.
Fang Zhiyi looked down at the thing in his grasp. “Am I that shabby?”
Xiaoxiaohei followed his gaze to the ragged Ten Thousand Souls Banner and said nothing.
“It’s just that circumstances don’t allow for better… If I had the choice, I’d use something nicer,” Fang Zhiyi muttered as he stepped forward. After a few steps, he remembered something, turned back, and poked his head out. Ignoring Widow Li’s stiff corpse slumped at the gate, he smiled at the two little girls. “Come inside and wait. Don’t wander off.”
The girls clung to each other in fear, but out of terror for Fang Zhiyi, they obeyed.
Fang Zhiyi glanced down at himself again. “Am I really that shabby?”
Good thing Little Hei wasn’t around—he’d have never heard the end of it.
“You beggar! How did you get in?” Another man spotted Fang Zhiyi and drew himself up with a shout. “Be careful, or I’ll have you killed and fed to the dogs! Get lost!”
Fang Zhiyi raised an eyebrow. “Are you all this brave?”
He began to wave his flag. With each swing, streams of black smoke poured out—so thick that even an ordinary person could see their eerie quality.
“Ghost! A ghost!”
The man turned and ran.
Fang Zhiyi stood there laughing. “Run, then. Run all you want. None of you are getting away today.” He glanced at the flag again. “Eat up… All fresh.”
There weren’t many neighbors near the Gao estate, because Gao Mingzhi thought ordinary people weren’t fit to live near him. He’d first driven the cloth merchant, Boss Chen, to his death, then forcibly seized the house of the He family next door.
So the screams rising and falling from the Gao residence went completely unnoticed.
Fang Zhiyi sat at the table and, without hesitation, grabbed the roasted chicken to eat. He’d been nearly starving for days.
Gao Mingzhi’s men were all lifeless now. He slumped to the floor, staring at that disheveled figure.
“Immortal, what have I done to offend you?”
Fang Zhiyi ignored him.
“I am Gao Mingzhi! The county magistrate is my uncle!”
Fang Zhiyi kept eating, absorbed.
Gao Mingzhi gritted his teeth. “Immortal, with your skills, if you work with me, high rank and wealth aren’t just a dream!” He seemed to have found a weak point to exploit, completely ignoring the twisted souls swirling around him.
“That’s right! Help my uncle eliminate his rivals, and he’ll rise in office! I’ll reward you with mountains of gold and silver. What do you say?”
Fang Zhiyi looked up at him. He had to admit—this guy had nerves of steel. With so many dead, he was still trying to bribe him.
Gao Mingzhi grew excited. “Immortal, how about it?”
“I slaughtered all your people, and you’re not angry?”
Gao Mingzhi glanced around. “Dying at the hands of an immortal is their blessing! Immortal, won’t you consider my proposal?”
Fang Zhiyi swallowed the meat in his mouth and let out a satisfying sigh.
“A blessing, huh? Then I ought to let you enjoy a bit of that blessing too.”
Gao Mingzhi’s face twisted with dread. This time, he was truly terrified. But Fang Zhiyi paid no heed to his pleas. In the next moment, Gao Mingzhi saw those familiar faces shrieking as they lunged at him, their expressions filled with rage and resentment, slamming violently into his body.
Fang Zhiyi paused, then smirked. “Who’d have guessed? This guy’s got the stuff to be a main soul… Nasty enough, too.”
News of the Gao family’s downfall didn’t spread until the next afternoon, when a deliveryman discovered it. It shook the entire county, and the county office immediately ordered a manhunt for the murderer.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
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.
