The Emperor remembered that there was indeed such a time, yet those memories felt unreal.
The Empress? He suddenly realized he could barely recall her face, and whenever he tried to focus on it, a sharp, needle-like pain shot through his head.
"I will go and see for myself!" He rose abruptly and strode out.
The eunuch hurried after him: "Your Majesty! Summon the imperial guards! The one who reported back said that Prince Qi, Prince Qi's private army numbers several hundred men at least!"
The Emperor stopped and slowly turned around.
The eunuch froze.
"Guards!"
Two imperial guards turned: "Here!"
"Take him away and lock him up. Interrogate him thoroughly!"
"Yes!"
The eunuch was dumbfounded. What had he done wrong?
"Your Majesty, arresting a minor servant like me is nothing, but please, go rescue the Empress!"
The Emperor found the cries irritating. Fragments of memory flashed through his mind—he had fallen in love with that woman at first sight, secretly vowing to marry none but her. Later, they wed, and she became the Empress of the Great Zhou. But from that moment on, everything had turned surreal.
Everyone who had dealings with the Empress praised her as virtuous and kind. He was pleased to hear it, even—unable to resist her coaxing—brought her to court. When Zhu Hong raised objections, he flew into a rage, but remembering Zhu Hong was loyal to the Second Prince, he held back.
Back in the palace, the Empress’s tearful, aggrieved expression made his heart ache. At her request, he planned to replace Zhu Hong. But within days, Zhu Hong died of sudden illness.
Then the Empress began asking about Prince Qi, and he told her everything. Strangely, he had never thought Prince Qi’s actions were wrong—instead, he felt grateful—but the Empress said Prince Qi harbored treasonous intent, and he actually believed her!
What followed was a purge: everyone associated with Prince Qi was either demoted or dismissed, even Li Zizai, stationed far at the border.
Thinking of how the Empress had dared to deploy troops to arrest Prince Qi, his steps quickened.
That woman had no idea of Prince Qi’s capabilities. How could she be so reckless?
The thought made him pause, his expression shifting. Without another word, he led the imperial guards toward Prince Qi’s mansion.
But when the Emperor arrived, everything was over. Only a richly dressed woman sat huddled and trembling. No corpses were anywhere to be seen—if not for the bloodstains all around, the Emperor might have doubted it ever happened.
"Husband, my Emperor, you’re finally here!" The woman rushed toward him as if he were a savior.
But the Emperor froze. The Empress in his memory was not like this.
Yet when he searched his mind, her face grew hazier. Finally, the Empress in his memory merged with this plain-looking woman before him.
The Emperor dodged abruptly. The Empress lunged at nothing and fell hard.
"Why didn’t you catch me? You’re bullying me too! Boohoo..."
Watching her fake cry, he felt inexplicably sick. His mind drifted back to that night he had sneaked out for the lantern festival. How had he ever taken a liking to this woman? Why had he been so obedient to her?
Looking at her disheveled, weeping figure, a profound sense of unfamiliarity washed over him. Suddenly, a chilling suspicion made him shiver involuntarily.
"Your Majesty! Prince Qi—he’s treacherous, he keeps private troops, he wants to rebel! Brother Emperor, you have to avenge me!"
The Emperor instinctively stepped back.
The Empress, unaware that her system’s disappearance had triggered a world repair, rose and tried to cling to him again.
"Seize the Empress!" the Emperor shouted in panic. The imperial guards behind him hesitated only a moment before moving to arrest her.
The Empress was stunned. She struggled, demanding whether the Emperor no longer loved her or had found someone else. When he walked into Prince Qi’s mansion without looking back, she turned to plead with familiar faces, trying her usual charm. But without the allure system’s help, her tricks failed. Instead, the onlookers felt as if they had been bewitched before.
Afterward, the matter of the Empress was handled very discreetly. Those in the know said she had used witchcraft to enchant people, ensnaring countless victims. In the end, the Emperor confined her to the palace. Even those who delivered her meals were forbidden to meet her eyes, and strict orders were given that no one should ever mention the Empress again.
After all, if word spread that the Empress practiced sorcery, the court would lose all face.
More than anything, the Emperor wanted to find Prince Qi.
But after that day, Prince Qi and his men had vanished without a trace.
In a city in the south, a scholar preparing for the imperial exams passed an inn. The innkeeper was extremely hospitable, offering him food and lodging, and even gave him travel money when he left. The scholar was deeply grateful.
"If I ever pass the exams, I will surely repay you!"
Watching the scholar depart, Leng Shaobai, while wiping a table, turned and asked, "Wang—no, boss—are all the coins we’ve been spending to sponsor these pedantic scholars really worth it?"
Fang Zhiyi fiddled with an abacus. "What do you know? Scholars from the south heading to the capital must pass through here. Cast the net wide enough, and we’re bound to catch some fish."
Leng Shaobai said nothing.
"By the way, Old Dog said there’s a county clerk with a hopeless debt that needs collecting. Remember to handle it later."
"Got it."
"And Zhu Hong sent word yesterday. Li Zizai wants us to help him forge a fake identity. Ever since you left, Li Zizai has been promoted seven or eight ranks in a row, and he can’t handle it anymore. He says he wants to try the ‘fake death’ route too..."
"Tell him to get lost. Follow us into the underworld? Hah—living the good life? Give him a good word: stay put. Maybe we'll bask in his glory someday."
"Oh."
Emperor Tianyun died without ever seeing Prince Qi again, the man he had yearned for his entire life. Folklore varied: some said Prince Qi had ridden clouds and flown away; others whispered that Emperor Tianyun had secretly killed him; still others claimed Prince Qi had fled to the Liao Kingdom—a rumor dispelled only after Grand General of the Border Li Zizai bloodied the Liao forces.
But one thing was certain: Emperor Tianyun had wanted Prince Qi back, to keep him as that idle noble under his watchful eye. Everyone understood that the Emperor feared Prince Qi’s capabilities and schemes, yet no one dared voice it.
In short, no one at court ever saw Prince Qi again.
Or perhaps some did, but they never knew that the "big shot" stirring things up among the common folk was once Prince Qi.
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!
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
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?!
iemie, male, Race: Moon. Hobby: Collecting anomalies. At first, he thought he possessed two systems: the Crimson Rainbow Moon and the Clear Cold Frost Moon. One day, he discovered that he himself could also become a system for others, holding the chessboard of fate. The Eighth Epoch, also known as the Eternal Moon Epoch. Humans, witches, elves, bloodline descendants, specters, demons, and spirits together compose a new history. Walking the path on behalf of the moon, before he knew it, Chen Miemie's footsteps were followed by all manner of strange and wondrous anomalies. As time passed, many titles circulated about him—The King in Yellow, Lord of Anomalies, Heart of the Eternal Moon, and more. "Me? I'm just a traveler who enjoys collecting interesting creatures," Chen Miemie said.
