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.
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!
iaobai: "Councilor Dad, front me some funds. I want to hire ten thousand professional miners for a project!" [Five-Star Mission Issued: Capture the leader of the Blood Heaven Pirate Gang, who is on the run in the Radiant Star Sector. It is said the gang has over a hundred members. Proceed with caution.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, lend me the family's hundred-thousand-strong Lu Army!" [Seven-Star Mission Issued: Subdue a juvenile Void Dragon Beast.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, I'm taking your tamed Void Dragon Beast King out for a family reunion!" I said, System, don't you have any slightly more challenging missions? You're just not up to par! [Nine-Star Mission Issued: Become the Human Councilor.] Lu Xiaobai: "Dad, there's a small matter I'd like to discuss with you..."
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
