"You..."
"An imperial decree from His Majesty!" Li Zizai suddenly roared. "The rebel Wang Wang, forming factions, embezzling army provisions, oppressing the common people, and even corresponding with the Liao state—executed on the spot!"
Deputy General Wang Wang froze for a moment. "Who... who are you?! Why spew such venomous slander?"
Li Zizai sneered. "Slander? Do the things you've done even need someone else's lies to tarnish you?"
"Ding Qiunan, Li Suyuan, Wang Qianhe, and Xu Zhen are all confederates!" Li Zizai continued to shout.
The several adjutants who had stepped forward were all stunned.
Then they realized that the soldiers behind them had turned their spears on them.
Wang Wang finally grew fearful. He hadn't expected so many soldiers to side with Li Wenlong. His mind raced—had something happened in the capital?
Before he could figure it out, his trusted subordinate behind him suddenly spoke. "General Wang, I'm sorry, but they seem to have more men."
Wang Wang didn't even have time to react before his own men pinned him down.
"The rebel Wang Wang has been captured! Please... hand him over to the Commander for judgment!"
"Please, hand him over to the Commander!"
The soldiers shouted in unison.
"You've mutinied..." one adjutant tried to resist, but then he saw the archers behind Li Wenlong, their bows drawn taut. He immediately shut his mouth—there was no doubt that if he said another word, he would turn into a pincushion.
Zhu Hong muttered, "If you ask me, we came in and should have just loosed arrows straight away. Most of those company commanders are our people anyway."
Li Zizai didn't turn around. "Old Zhu, you're the professional when it comes to intelligence. But the army isn't like the imperial court—we can't kill their former commanders right in front of the troops."
Zhu Hong shrugged. "Well, I'm just here to back you up. The rest is up to you." He paused. "I'll also report the false imperial decree to the Prince."
"The Prince won't hold it against me."
"I still have to report it."
Li Zizai now fully understood—the Prince hadn't lied at all from the start. By merely manipulating his money, he had managed to shake the entire Great Zhou dynasty to its core.
Who would believe that? Even now, no one suspected the Prince!
Inside the capital, the rebel army had blocked off the outskirts, facing off with the imperial garrison, yet the debates within the imperial court still raged on. Most of the Ningxi faction urged the Emperor to flee, but their words were met with contempt from the eunuch faction.
"Running at the slightest trouble—aren't you people ashamed?"
"Exactly. You go on calling us eunuch lackeys, but you're even worse than eunuchs."
But the Ningxi faction couldn't care less. They wanted only to preserve their families and fortunes. As for status—as long as their families remained intact, even a change of dynasty wouldn't stop them from living well.
The Emperor, as always, was gentle.
As always, his words were mild.
"I have decided to stay and live or die with the people. As for you all... flee for your lives. The capital isn't fully surrounded yet; there's still time."
Under the contemptuous gaze of Li Shanxiang and others, one by one the Ningxi faction members turned and hurried away.
They had already made up their minds: only a fool would stay here and die. Better to head south and set up a new emperor. When the border forces returned to retake the capital, they could always come back.
Let the eunuch faction and that useless Emperor die together—perfect.
Slap. Fang Zhiyi placed a black stone on the Go board, cutting off the final escape route for the white stones.
The scout sitting across from him put on a pained face. "Your Highness, you're bullying me too much. I'm clearly a beginner..."
"I enjoy picking on beginners. If you were a master, I wouldn't go looking for unnecessary trouble." Fang Zhiyi narrowed his eyes, grinning with satisfaction.
Night fell. One carriage after another rushed out the west gate—large carts, small vehicles, all fleeing.
Unlike the east gate, which was under siege, the west gate was eerily silent.
"Grand Preceptor, shall we head straight for Jiangnan?" a seated official asked on the carriage.
Grand Preceptor Wang Changlin slowly took a sip of hot tea. "No rush. Let's first pick up the new Emperor."
But the next moment, the carriage came to an abrupt halt, spilling the tea in his hand. This displeased Wang Changlin greatly. "What's going on?!"
The driver pulled aside the curtain. "Grand, Grand Preceptor... we..."
Screams erupted from outside.
Then came the sound of hoofbeats.
Seeing the torches flare up around them, Wang Changlin's heart sank to the bottom.
Steadying himself, he scrambled out of the carriage on hands and knees. "I am Grand Preceptor of the court, Wang Changlin. Please, may the commanding general come out and speak with me."
No one answered him. An arrow flew instead, pinning the Minister of War—who had followed him out—to the carriage, pierced straight through the chest.
Sweat beaded on Wang Changlin's forehead.
"I am Wang Changlin. When you raise an army, it's for money. The Wang family has estates all over Great Zhou—why don't we negotiate..."
Before he could finish, a somewhat teasing voice cut in.
"Grand Preceptor Wang, you once had more money than I, Prince Qi. But not anymore."
A face gradually emerged in the torchlight.
Wang Changlin's heart froze completely.
"Prince Qi! You—you're colluding with rebels!" He froze, then suddenly realized—if that were true, then everything made sense!
He had always thought recent events were suspicious: the sudden revolt of the refugees, the sidelined local officials, a eunuch faction with insufficient ability yet somehow holding its own against them, and the ever-silent border troops. All the anomalies pointed to someone pulling the strings behind the scenes. At first, he'd suspected the Emperor, but the Emperor was under their surveillance, and rebelling against his own rule made no sense.
Until Fang Zhiyi appeared. His mind cleared in an instant—every puzzling piece fell into place.
"It's you! You raised an army in rebellion!"
Fang Zhiyi grinned. "That's right. Back then, you all wanted me to rebel, didn't you? Well, now I am. And you're not happy about it."
"Have you no shame? Instigating civil war in Great Zhou!" Wang Changlin's fury blazed.
Fang Zhiyi shook his head. "You and your cronies, corrupting the government, ignoring the people's suffering—you feel no shame. Why should I?"
"Prince Qi, what exactly do you want? I can negotiate with you. Surely you know my Wang family has flourished for centuries. We have deep roots. With my support, you could replace the current Emperor."
Fang Zhiyi curled his lip. "I detest people like you—always talking about families and claiming the throne. Can't you have some other ambitions?"
Wang Changlin's face darkened like the bottom of a pot.
"Besides," Fang Zhiyi continued, "I know everything about your Wang family—down to the mistresses of your illegitimate son. Rest assured, after you're gone, they'll join you."
"Prince Qi! If you kill me, have you considered the consequences?"
"What consequences? It wasn't Prince Qi who killed you; it was the rebels." Fang Zhiyi waved his hand with a smile. "I just wanted you to die knowing the truth, Old Fox. Doesn't it feel awful, being played for a fool?"
Wang Changlin's son suddenly rushed forward. "Your Highness, Your Highness! I can give you money—please, spare my family's lives!" He pointed behind him. "Money—lots of it!"
Wang Changlin's face was ashen.
Fang Zhiyi sighed. "You really aren't as good as your father. He already guessed what I was thinking."
With that, Fang Zhiyi slowly retreated back into the darkness.
"Once I kill you, won't that silver be mine anyway, Prince?"
lan, the Luo family, tracked him down - along with the babies in their arms. Mo Xuan stared pensively at the paternity test results from over a dozen top institutions, both domestic and international, showing a 99.99% match between himself and the two baby girls. At 23, Mo Xuan, a doctoral student, had become the father of two three-year-old children. The kicker? The mothers weren't even the same person! He gradually realized he was being lured step by step into an elaborate trap designed by these two yandere sisters. "Be good, little Xuan. Sister's life belongs to you entirely." "Brother, if you try to run away, I'll have no choice but to tie you up." Mo Xuan: "Do whatever you want, ladies. I give up."
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.
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."
