“Actually, you didn’t need to search for so long...” Fang Zhiyi grumbled.
Xiaoxiaohei remained calm: “It’s not easy to find a body close enough to the host’s that the world won’t reject it.” He paused, adding, “And host, you can barely hold back your smile.”
Fang Zhiyi coughed: “Really? Ahem, ahem, ahem.”
Having once been an emperor, he recognized at a glance that the ornate robes he wore were embroidered with four-clawed dragons—the original owner’s identity was obvious!
“I’ve waited so long for this day...” Fang Zhiyi was thrilled inside. Finally, he got to start as a prince.
“Ahem... I wonder what happy thought happened upon the Prince...” a man’s voice interrupted Fang Zhiyi’s daydream. Fang Zhiyi looked up and saw the scene before him.
A man dressed like a scholar stood about two steps away, sporting a pair of curled mustaches, his eyes full of calculation.
Behind him, a man with disheveled hair knelt on the ground, guarded by two sword-bearing soldiers.
“Uh...” Fang Zhiyi didn’t quite grasp the situation.
Seeing that he was finally paying attention, the scholar-dressed man said slowly, “Your Highness, Li Zi disobeyed orders this time. He must be severely punished.”
Fang Zhiyi looked at the disheveled man, who seemed about to defend himself but lowered his head instead.
Xiaoxiaohei, at an inappropriate moment, shoved the original owner’s relevant backstory into Fang Zhiyi’s mind, nearly making him jump.
The dynasty he was in was called the Great Zhou, and the current emperor was his elder brother.
According to the current trajectory, the Great Zhou wasn’t far from collapse. The court was riddled with fierce factional strife, eunuchs and civil officials divided into two opposing camps, constantly suppressing each other. The emperor, by nature lenient, and with the royal family’s power already waning in his generation, found himself largely powerless.
Fang Zhiyi loved wealth and had used his status as a prince to amass plenty of silver. Originally, he just wanted to be a rich prince. But everything changed after a minister introduced him to a strategist.
This strategist was named Ye Chengtian. He was sharp-minded, and with his schemes, Fang Zhiyi scrounged up even more money, earning him significant trust. When Ye Chengtian felt the time was right, he began brainwashing Fang Zhiyi.
Gradually, Fang Zhiyi grew dissatisfied with his lot. Guided by Ye Chengtian, he began to believe he was the one who should sit on the dragon throne.
Ye Chengtian had remarkable connections, even rallying many ministers to Fang Zhiyi’s side. Fang Zhiyi’s ego inflated wildly, to the point where he thought he could ascend the throne the next day, letting his underlings stir up trouble.
The Great Zhou, at the time, was rife with internal and external troubles. The Liao Kingdom loomed beyond the borders, peasant uprisings erupted within, and the court factions were no saints. The emperor was mentally exhausted and had no time to deal with Fang Zhiyi.
Just as Ye Chengtian finished his preparations, an accident occurred. A servant in the prince’s manor overheard Fang Zhiyi’s conversation with Ye Chengtian, and promptly sold the information to the eunuch faction. Knowing that a stable emperor meant their own power, the eunuchs reported the matter to the emperor.
When the emperor learned that his own brother had raised private soldiers and had imperial robes made, he couldn’t believe it. Though he and Fang Zhiyi had never gotten along, it shouldn’t have been this absurd. Still, he yielded to the eunuchs’ persuasion and led a group to the prince’s manor.
That day, the secret chamber beneath the rockery was exposed, and the completed imperial robes were revealed before the emperor.
By all rights, anyone would have been doomed—rebellion was the gravest of crimes. Yet the emperor couldn’t bring himself to act. He merely scolded Fang Zhiyi and ordered him confined to his residence for reflection.
But Fang Zhiyi felt that since he had been discovered, he had no chance left if he didn’t act now. The moment the emperor left, Fang Zhiyi launched his revolt.
The rebellion went smoothly, without any real resistance.
Fang Zhiyi preened, not realizing that everything had been planned by the Ningxi faction and Ye Chengtian. They were dissatisfied with the disobedient emperor and had long wished to replace him with a more compliant one.
The emperor committed suicide, and Fang Zhiyi got his wish to sit on the throne. Though the world called his rule illegitimate, Fang Zhiyi didn’t care—he became emperor only to amass more wealth.
With the former emperor’s downfall, the eunuch faction suffered a heavy blow. The Ningxi faction firmly controlled the court, and they found the new emperor easy to manage: just give him money.
In no time, the already crumbling Great Zhou grew even more decayed. Corrupt officials levied excessive taxes, and the military’s morale disintegrated.
It was then that Ye Chengtian disappeared, having gathered large amounts of intelligence.
The southern peasant rebellion marched on the capital, while the Liao Kingdom in the north also advanced. Fang Zhiyi scrambled to command resistance, but he soon realized few followed his orders. Most ministers were preoccupied with their own schemes.
Within just a few years, half the Great Zhou’s territory fell. The capital was breached, and Fang Zhiyi was captured while guarding his hoarded treasures.
The loyal assassins and guards trained by Ye Chengtian all abandoned him, unwilling to risk their lives. Fang Zhiyi became a captured emperor—and only then did he witness things he’d never dared imagine.
The six leading ministers surrendered to Liao, offering vast sums of gold and silver to save their own skins. To brownnose, they had even prepared Liao-style clothing in advance.
The powerful peasant army, encountering Liao forces, was swiftly routed and became a band of wandering rebels, looting everywhere and bringing misery to the people.
What tortured Fang Zhiyi most was when certain areas resisted to the death, leading Liao’s army to order massacres. When the bloody casualty figures were delivered, the Liao emperor even cheerfully invited Fang Zhiyi to review them together.
At that point, Fang Zhiyi finally understood how terribly wrong he had been. He had no idea how to rule, and he had only accelerated the Great Zhou’s demise.
That very night, Fang Zhiyi shook off his guards and hanged himself in the ancestral temple.
Fang Zhiyi took a deep breath and looked again at the people before him.
Seeing his expression, Ye Chengtian turned and ordered, “What are you waiting for? Follow the rules—drag him out and behead him!”
The two guards exchanged glances, bowed to Ye Chengtian, and each grabbed the kneeling Li Zizai: “Brother Li, we’ll see you off...”
But Fang Zhiyi spoke: “Wait.”
Everyone paused. Ye Chengtian turned to Fang Zhiyi: “Your Highness, you know the situation. Without strict discipline, we can’t control the subordinates...”
Fang Zhiyi nodded: “You’re right. Execute him.”
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.
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
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."
