"Prince, what do these terms mean—money house, accounts register, and operations hall?" Li Zizai finally asked once they were inside a room.
Fang Zhiyi spread out a sheet of paper and began writing names as he explained: "Money house, as the name suggests, handles my money... You do the filtering, and I'll make the final decisions. Besides that, they actually need to set up money houses on my behalf."
"The accounts register requires fewer people—just the bookkeepers. Pick a few trustworthy ones from the ranks below, ideally people who don't know each other."
"The operations hall needs more people. Select a few with sharp minds and good skills."
"As for trade transport and external liaison, one handles shipping, the other gathers intelligence and deals with local powers."
Li Zizai felt completely lost. He could read, and now looking at Fang Zhiyi's handwriting, the very first name listed was the current Grand Preceptor Wang Changlin. Following that, the page was filled with names of various officials, arranged in order by rank.
"Prince... what are you planning?" Li Zizai couldn't help but feel a twinge of unease.
They'd barely managed to cover up the rebellion matter, and the Prince had only just walked free from the imperial prison. Was he stirring things up again? If something else went wrong, even the Emperor might not be able to protect him this time.
"These... are all the rotten worms of Great Zhou." Fang Zhiyi tapped his brush lightly and smiled.
"One more thing... I don't understand why you kept those assassins and the private soldiers Ye Chengtian trained. They're always going to be a threat."
Fang Zhiyi set down his brush, turned to look at Li Zizai, and said: "Oh? Then tell me, how should I handle them?"
"With all due respect, I suggest you hand over their roster to the Emperor." Li Zizai bowed his head with folded hands.
Fang Zhiyi let out a soft laugh: "Do you know why Ye Chengtian wanted to kill you? A man as clever as him—he knew all about your soft-hearted weakness."
Li Zizai bit his lip.
Fang Zhiyi patted Li Zizai on the shoulder: "Because I have only you on my side who is truly loyal to me and still cares about Great Zhou. As long as you're alive, he can't sleep at night."
Li Zizai looked up sharply.
"All these years, I've been observing. I'm not stupid. Do you think Wang Changlin would suddenly be so kind as to recommend a strategist to me out of nowhere? And Ye Chengtian—asking for nothing, just happy to make money for me? Was he insane?"
Fang Zhiyi picked up his brush again, wrote down Ye Chengtian's name, and then drew a heavy cross over it.
"He clearly planned to use me to fight the Emperor for the throne. The assassins he raised, the private soldiers—they were meant to help me ascend at first glance, but really, they were for plunging Great Zhou into chaos."
"He's from Liao Country."
Li Zizai was stunned. He had truly been unaware of that.
"Ye Chengtian is from Liao Country... Then doesn't that mean Grand Preceptor Wang..."
Fang Zhiyi snorted in disdain: "Don't worry. Old Man Wang is a native of this country. But those types—they all lean whichever way the wind blows. Court politics... it's beyond what I can explain to you."
Li Zizai's face flushed. He was just a low-ranking officer; what did he know about all these schemes?
"From what I know about Ye Chengtian, for quick results, he probably gathered those assassins through threats and intimidation. You have to understand—fear makes people fear you, but it also makes them hate you. When that hatred peaks, betrayal follows."
"On the other hand, endless leniency makes people think you're weak and pushover. They'd look down on you—just like my imperial brother."
Li Zizai wanted to cover his ears. How could the Prince say something like that? That was treason.
"In the founding years of the dynasty, an imperial brother like him might have earned the world's praise. But now... with wolves everywhere, being a benevolent ruler won't save Great Zhou, nor will it save the people."
Li Zizai was dazed for a moment, but he understood that line: the Prince wasn't planning to rebel—he wanted to save Great Zhou.
A strange feeling swelled in his chest he couldn't name. He looked at this money-obsessed Prince before him and suddenly felt a faint glow radiating from him.
"But Prince, you've been stripped of every official title. All you have left is the title of Prince. How can you save Great Zhou like that..."
Fang Zhiyi turned to Li Zizai.
"I'm starting to think Ye Chengtian had every reason to kill you. You really do say whatever comes to mind."
Li Zizai lowered his head.
"Never mind. Let me show you what a man with no power or status can achieve." Fang Zhiyi turned and walked toward the door. "Only when I have no power, no influence, and carry a blemish—only then will those vermin lay off me for a while. So our time is tight."
Li Zizai pursed his lips: "I'll get started on what you've ordered right away, Prince!"
"Oh, one more thing." Fang Zhiyi called him back. "You'll have to work hard these next few days."
"Your command!"
"Ye Chengtian is dead, so the connections he relied on are gone. But all the farmland, shops, and managers he set up in my name—I need that information brought to me immediately." Fang Zhiyi stared intently at Li Zizai.
Li Zizai bowed deeply: "Yes!"
Xiaoxiaohei waited until Li Zizai left before asking, "Prince... no, Host, are you trying... to save this kingdom?" Having passed through previous worlds, it had gradually gotten some understanding of Fang Zhiyi—his mind was utterly unfathomable.
Fang Zhiyi remained silent, merely brushing his fingers over the list of names.
"Host, even though the main body has instructed you to play it however you want, given the original owner's situation, the pressing task is to pack up and head south. Great Zhou is hanging by a thread."
Fang Zhiyi looked at his fingertips—the ink from the names was still wet, staining them black.
"Hanging by a thread? I've never had a better hand to play!"
Xiaoxiaohei was startled. Was this host going mad again?
"Hey, Shao Bai, did you hear?" A private soldier whispered as he swept the floor. "The Prince said he's opening a few pawnshops and money houses outside. I heard Liu Laogou and Zhu Hong were chosen."
Leng Shaobai said nothing, focusing on his own task.
"We don't work for that surname Ye anymore. It feels so good. I was so tense before, afraid I'd drop dead any day."
A voice came from the distance.
"Leng Shaobai! Get over here quick!" Li Zizai waved from afar. "The Prince wants to see you. Put in some effort, kid—don't make me lose face!"
"Yes!"
Watching Leng Shaobai scurry away, the private soldier shook his head: "Hmph, looks like another sweet gig."
Before he finished his words, someone else shouted: "You there, sweeping the floor! Hurry up—the hall master's calling a meeting!"
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.
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!
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'!"
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."
