"You're not going to help, but you came to find me first?" Fang Zhiyi looked at Xu Xiaocao with interest.
Xu Xiaocao immediately lowered her head. "I—I can't help... Sister just ran off after them, and I didn't know what to do."
Someone nearby said, "Report it to the officials! There are plenty of patrolling constables on the street today, why didn't you—"
"Those constables wouldn't bother with this. All the beggars in Huai River are connected, everyone knows that."
"That's right. Last time I saw that old beggar Six Fingers chewing on roast chicken with a smug look on his face. He ate better than my family on New Year's Eve."
Fang Zhiyi stood up, and Xu Xiaocao quickly followed behind him.
But once he stepped outside, he didn't go looking for Xu Xiaoya. Instead, he headed straight in the opposite direction.
"Brother Fang, aren't you going to look for Sister..."
Fang Zhiyi shook his head. "Her own karma. I can't interfere."
A flicker of delight passed through Xu Xiaocao's eyes. "Sister really is troublesome, always causing trouble for Eldest Brother Fang. When she comes back, I'll have to talk to her properly."
Fang Zhiyi glanced at her but ignored her and kept walking.
Xu Xiaocao followed behind him, watching as, without even blinking, he paid for a quiet little courtyard.
"This should be enough for her to live in," Fang Zhiyi said with a deep breath.
By now, Xu Xiaocao's inner sense of unfairness had turned into jealousy, barely hidden. If Xu Xiaoya hadn't told her so much, hadn't shared her story, she wouldn't have started thinking this way. She might even have been grateful. But now that she knew Xu Xiaoya had also suffered, her resentment churned relentlessly.
Fang Zhiyi was well aware of all this, but he couldn't be bothered to deal with it. As he tucked his silver back into his pouch, his gaze landed on the fake talisman Xu Xiaoya had begged for him the night before.
"This little girl actually dared to follow all the way here?" The old beggar was surprised. Xu Xiaoya also realized she probably shouldn't have come, but seeing herself surrounded by several beggars, she forced herself to stay calm. "I—I'm warning you, my little sister went to notify my family! Give me back my money pouch!"
"Six Fingers, she's threatening you!" another beggar jeered.
The old beggar called Six Fingers gave a lecherous grin. "Little girl, do you even know where you are? This is our home. Easy to get in, but getting out? Now that's the hard part."
"What are you going to do?" Xu Xiaoya started to panic.
At that moment, she finally felt a wave of regret. She should have listened to Gousheng earlier—if it wasn't her business, she shouldn't have stuck her nose in it. If she hadn't given that beggar money, would all this have happened?
"Do? Hehe... Someone guard the door, keep your eyes sharp!" Six Fingers rubbed his hands together. "Not a bad-looking little thing. What a shame."
Xu Xiaoya suddenly dashed toward a door, rushed inside, spun around, and slammed it shut, pressing her entire body against it.
The beggars outside froze for a moment, then burst into laughter.
"She actually ran right into the trap?"
Xu Xiaoya smelled a strong, foul odor. Only then did she notice several half-grown children in the room staring at her in terror. Their hands or feet were bound with straw ropes. One of them had no legs at all.
"AAAAAHHH!!!"
Her scream only made the beggars outside laugh even harder.
"Stop screaming. Be good, and you'll have better days ahead. Don't think your family will find you. Look at these kids—none of them ran away from home. Ask them now, do their families even want them anymore?"
Xu Xiaoya's mind flashed back to the threats her foster mother, Widow Li, used to scare her with. She said naughty children who ran away from home would be grabbed by beggars, their legs cut off, tongues sliced out, eyes gouged, and then sent out to beg.
Terror filled her face. "Aren't you afraid of the authorities?"
"The authorities? Hahaha! Let me tell you—our boss has connections high up!" The voice outside dripped with arrogance. "Come out now, let us have some fun with you, and maybe we'll let you off easy..."
"Little ass, who are you talking to? Huh? Who wants to come in?" The voice suddenly turned confused.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Crap—Little ass, he—he's dead!"
Chaos erupted outside. Xu Xiaoya still held the door shut, not daring to speak. She just stared at the children inside.
"The gate of heaven~ The souls of the dead~ I, the Taoist, am a man of leisure~" Faintly, she heard someone singing, the tune strange and off-key. It sounded familiar. Then—a hand slammed hard against the door.
She flinched, but the hand, along with the body it belonged to, slid to the ground.
Silence fell outside.
Ignoring the stench, Xu Xiaoya took a deep breath and slowly cracked the door open. One look was all it took—she saw the old beggar lying at her feet, eyes wide open, dead with a look of endless regret.
"This thing works pretty well for collecting souls too. Hmph."
She followed the voice and saw Fang Zhiyi flick the black sword in his hand with his middle finger, a look of satisfaction on his face.
Had Gousheng killed again?
Fang Zhiyi turned and met her gaze.
"Let's go?"
Relief flooded Xu Xiaoya's heart. She pushed the door open, glanced back at the children, and was about to ask Fang Zhiyi something. But he had already walked out of the courtyard.
Fang Zhiyi leaned against the wall by the gate, carefully wrapping his black sword in cloth, showing no intention of helping.
Xu Xiaoya came out, followed by several filthy children. Two of them were being carried by their companions.
"Breeding and mutilating for begging—some people really have no shame," Fang Zhiyi said with a cold laugh.
"Wait!" Xu Xiaoya turned and ran back inside. When she came out again, she was holding her small money pouch.
Fang Zhiyi curled his lip. "Is it really worth it..." Before he could finish, he caught sight of smoke rising from the yard.
"You—"
"Gousheng, don't worry. I'll protect you too!" Xu Xiaoya said earnestly.
Fang Zhiyi looked at the fire she had set, not knowing how to react. Was this the decisiveness of a villain? Just casually killing people and burning the evidence? That didn't seem right.
"Not afraid of me killing people this time?" Fang Zhiyi asked.
Xu Xiaoya stared into his eyes and replied, "They deserved it. Gousheng, you did a good thing." She looked at the children. As she made up her mind to lead them out, she had seen two smaller children dead in the corner—the foul smell came from there.
The destruction of a beggars' den barely caused any ripples. To the authorities of Huai Jiang City, a few dead beggars meant nothing.
When Fang Zhiyi led Xu Xiaoya back to the little courtyard he had bought for her, disappointment flashed through Xu Xiaocao's eyes.
If only Xu Xiaoya hadn't come back.
But the next moment, she still smiled and rushed forward. "Sister, I was so worried about you!"
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.
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
