“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.”
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?!
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!
for mindless slaughter, this isn't for you.] My name is Ye Shu, and I'm a transmigrator. It seems I'm supposed to be the protagonist, but that feels pretty unlikely. This world has been invaded by a system. The antagonists on the other side have suddenly become pure, flawless saints. The female leads have been force-fed the so-called "original plot," making them think they've been reborn. Now, everyone thinks I'm scum. Including the old lady in my ring. And here I am, in the Monster Beast Mountain Range, braising pork. To put my situation in perspective— It's as if, the moment Xiao Yan stepped into the Monster Beast Mountain Range, the Soul Emperor already knew he would become the Flame Emperor, and Yao Lao had been turned to the enemy's side. I have nothing right now. Oh wait, that's not true. I do have a white-haired loli child-bride who's the Heavenly Dao, and her only skill is acting cute. So, tell me guys... what are my chances of making it to the end?
ver to a world of cultivation and returned invincible. Modern medicine is child's play compared to elixirs; technological might crumbles before true cultivation. My name is Qin Ning, Earth's sole cultivator!
