“What are you hiding?” a bandit suddenly shouted, swinging his blade. The villager was cleaved down in a single stroke, and the small trinket in his hand was snatched by the bandits.
“Alas, lay down your butcher’s blade, and you shall become a buddha,” Tang Seng said, pressing his palms together at the sight.
This remark made the bandits laugh.
“Monk, you’ve gone soft in the head from all that chanting,” the Chief sneered, waving a hand casually. “You’re in luck—we’ve got a rule: we don’t kill men of the cloth. Make sure you tell your Buddha how kindly we treated you.”
Just then, a subordinate reported that the search was done—they’d only grabbed some grain and the monk’s horse.
The Chief’s eyes then fell on a few village women. With a look, his men seized them, kicking an old man who tried to shield one of them to the ground.
“Move again, old fool, and you’re dead!”
Tang Seng reached out a hand but ultimately fell silent.
He watched as his horse, the villagers’ belongings, and the women were taken away.
“Ah…”
“Chief! Let’s grab our staffs and fight them!” a middle-aged man yelled. The bandits had come so suddenly that many villagers were unarmed and had suffered heavily.
Living here meant constant vigilance against raiders. Usually, they’d just loot and kill a few to show force—but this time, they’d also taken the village women.
“Fight how? We can’t beat them,” the old village chief said, his face full of despair.
A Buddhist chant rang out.
“Amitabha. Hatred begets hatred. Good sirs, you must set aside your anger and not deepen the feud with the bandits.”
The surviving villagers turned to look at Tang Seng.
One young man rushed forward and grabbed Tang Seng’s sleeve, weeping. “Master, those bandits are brutal! They’ve killed so many of our people—are we just supposed to watch them keep doing evil? They even stole your horse!”
Tang Seng slowly shook his head, his expression sorrowful but stubborn. “The world runs on cause and effect. If you answer violence with violence today, a worse retribution will come tomorrow. Buddha is merciful; only forgiveness can dissolve sin.”
He paused. “As for my horse—being taken today means our bond has run its course.”
The villagers stared at him. Few of them could even read, but his words seemed to make some kind of sense—though none could grasp what kind.
Then a man came running up, panting.
“You bald donkey! So full of compassion—why didn’t you preach all that to the bandits?”
Everyone turned to see Fang Zhiyi.
Tang Seng blinked, then pressed his palms together. “Young benefactor, evil men will meet their match. They are guilty, but you should keep compassion in your heart.”
Fang Zhiyi laughed in fury.
“Why didn’t they just kill you?”
“Well said. Even if they had slain me just now, my heart would not waver. As the Buddha says, if I do not enter hell, who will?”
Fang Zhiyi sneered. “Whoever wants to can—but not me! Listen, if you want to be compassionate, that’s your business. But I don’t let a grudge cool overnight!”
As he spoke, he spun around. The bandits had come back.
“Monk—that robe of yours looks valuable. Hand it over,” the Chief said, naked greed in his eyes. Apparently, one of his men had tipped him off after they left.
Tang Seng faltered. “This robe was gifted to me by the reigning king…”
“Hah! The emperor? He can’t boss us around here,” the Chief scoffed. “I’m not asking, monk.”
Tang Seng forced himself to stay calm, his voice trembling. “This robe carries boundless Buddhist law. You defile it at your peril. To me, it is as precious as my wisdom—a sacred relic for spreading the Dharma and saving all beings.”
The bandits burst into laughter. The Chief snarled, “Enough chatter! Buddhist law, sacred—in my eyes, it’s just something pricey. Hand it over, and you live!”
Tang Seng trembled but clung to the robe. “Amitabha! Cease all evil, practice all good. If you persist in your folly, you will fall into the endless hell and suffer the cycle of rebirth. Lay down your blade, and you may yet become a buddha!”
The bandits paid him no mind and swarmed him. Tang Seng was shoved to the ground but still held tight to a corner of the robe, chanting sutras as if the sound alone would scare them off.
The villagers watched, unsure what to do.
Then a scream made the bandits scrabbling over the robe turn around.
They saw two of their comrades lying dead on the ground, their knives now in the hands of a young man.
“Hey, kid—what do you think you’re doing?” the Chief roared. Someone dared to resist him?
Fang Zhiyi cocked his head. “What am I doing? I’m doing you!”
In one swift motion, two more bandits nearby fell dead, cut down with brutal efficiency. The villagers were stunned—when had Xiao Wuzi become so vicious? Yet as they watched him move, a strange thrill rose in their hearts.
“Get him!” the Chief barked, panicking. He could tell this kid was no ordinary lamb for slaughter—he was an old hand at killing!
If it had been the original owner of this body, he’d have been finished. But Fang Zhiyi was far beyond their league. A few dodges, a few counters—several more bandits dropped, leaving only the Chief and three cronies.
Fang Zhiyi grinned as he advanced.
Then came that grating voice again.
“Young benefactor, killing is the gravest evil! How can you indulge in such bloodlust? These bandits have done wrong, but they should be reformed by Buddha’s grace—karma will take its course. Your slaughter heaps massive sin upon your soul…”
“Shut your mouth, or I’ll cut you down too!” Fang Zhiyi pointed his bloody blade at Tang Seng, who was clutching his precious robe. “You want to talk about karma? Sorry, I follow the Dao! If I don’t kill them today, my own path will be unsettled!”
He looked around. “What are you all waiting for? Afraid now that there are fewer of them? You love getting bullied?”
Hearing this, a young man who’d been itching for action rushed out with a carrying pole. “Everyone, let’s go! Smash these bastards!”
With one brave soul leading, others followed.
Tang Seng tried to stop them, but no one listened anymore.
He could only watch in anguish as these people committed murder before his eyes.
“No wonder Sun Wukong barely visited Tang Seng after becoming a Buddha,” Fang Zhiyi muttered, spitting at the bald monk who sat with eyes closed, legs crossed, and palms pressed together, muttering scriptures. “If I had to think about what this guy did before, I wouldn’t just forgive him—I’d want him dead.”
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
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.
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."
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
