"You know, Little Hei, the gods in this world probably shouldn't meddle in mortal affairs, right?" Fang Zhiyi asked.
Little Hei replied, "That's correct. They say it would disrupt the order of heaven and earth."
"Good to know." Fang Zhiyi suddenly thought of something. "Just wait. Tomorrow I'm going to pass the imperial exams, then I'll make that monk write 'Drop your butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot' a thousand—no, ten thousand times!"
But as he was lost in his fantasy, a sudden cry rang out.
Fang Zhiyi snapped back to reality and saw that the bandit leader had burst through the villagers' encirclement, tackled the monk who was sitting cross-legged reciting sutras, and pressed a blade to his neck.
"Nobody move! If anyone comes closer, I'll kill him!"
The monk, clearly flustered, stammered, "Benefactor, benefactor, think twice! As they say..."
Before he could finish his rambling, the leader smacked him on the head. "Shut up, you bald donkey!"
The monk looked wronged, his eyes pleading as he glanced at the villagers.
Fang Zhiyi found it amusing. "Well, Your Eminence, now's your chance to shine. We rough folk just seek vengeance. Since you're here to preach your Buddhist teachings, now's the perfect time to prove yourself."
"I..." the monk began, only to receive another blow to the head.
"Everyone stay put! His Eminence has a plan!" Fang Zhiyi said.
The villagers exchanged glances, hesitating, and held back, their eyes fixed on the monk.
Seeing this, the bandit leader snarled, "Move aside, or I'll kill him!"
"I... I..." The monk felt the bandit's agitated knife slice his neck, and terror overtook him.
Fang Zhiyi watched with folded arms, knowing full well this monk couldn't die—after all, on the journey to fetch scriptures, he was captured by demons countless times yet always bounced back; his fate was already sealed.
The bandit kept threatening the crowd to clear a path. The villagers, timid by nature, actually stepped aside.
"Benefactor, you... put down the knife. I can guarantee your safety," the monk finally managed to say.
The bandit spat. "You? Just you? Hah! When my brothers were beaten to death earlier, you said nothing. Now you guarantee my safety?"
The monk trembled. "Benefactor, I... I am on an imperial mission to seek the scriptures. These are Sui Dynasty commoners; they will naturally heed my advice..."
Fang Zhiyi's smile froze.
"Baldy! What did you just say?" he blurted out. But the sudden shout startled the nervous bandit, who instinctively tightened his grip on the knife just as the monk turned his head.
Right before everyone's eyes, the monk slit his own throat.
Even the bandit leader was stunned. "I... I didn't... it wasn't me!" He shoved the monk's corpse away and fled.
The sudden turn of events left everyone dumbfounded. No one chased the escaping bandit; instead, they all stared at the monk writhing on the ground, clutching his throat.
"Liang Kingdom..." Fang Zhiyi suddenly remembered. From beginning to end, the monk had only called himself "Tripitaka" and never once said he was "Tang Sanzang"! He had simply assumed this guy was Tang Seng! That meant—
Fang Zhiyi turned to Little Hei, who sighed helplessly. "I told you, things might be a bit different. I came in a hurry; I wasn't sure myself..."
Fang Zhiyi's mind raced. The Sui Dynasty? The Sui Dynasty lasted only a short time, but it did have an emperor who greatly promoted Buddhism... Yang Jian!
That made sense! Fang Zhiyi looked around again. Earlier, he'd wondered why a village under Tang rule was so impoverished, but ancient commoners' lives were generally like that, so he hadn't thought much of it. Now he saw clearly.
The Sui Dynasty? It followed the Wei, Jin, Southern, and Northern Dynasties, and the regime had just stabilized, naturally leaving the people to suffer.
He stared blankly at the monk's fallen body, his mind buzzing.
Because of his interference, this Tripitaka had died? What now?
The villagers were murmuring among themselves, but Fang Zhiyi didn't catch what they said. His mind was in turmoil.
Timing-wise, it fit. If this Tripitaka was real, then he was the ninth incarnation of the scripture seeker! The next would be Tang Sanzang, and his previous life had likely been associated with Emperor Wu of Liang, Xiao Yan—another devout Buddhist.
But he had just died right in front of him?
A hand patted Fang Zhiyi's shoulder repeatedly. He whipped around, his fierce glare startling the old village chief.
"Xiao Wu..." the chief stammered, fear in his eyes. "What do we do now? The great master died in our village. If the emperor finds out... we're all finished!"
Having just witnessed Fang Zhiyi's martial skill, the chief instinctively turned to him for help.
Fang Zhiyi realized this too, but he was still baffled. According to his knowledge of history, there was no mention of a Tripitaka going on a scripture quest during the Sui Dynasty. He had no idea what the connection was between this monk and Yang Jian.
Seeing Fang Zhiyi silent, someone suddenly noticed something strange and whispered among themselves.
"Little Hei, I feel like something's off," Fang Zhiyi said.
"Like what?"
"Something just tried to bind me," Fang Zhiyi replied.
Little Hei was calm. "That's probably the karma of this world... You've been here less than a day and already entangled yourself with this monk's fate. He died because of you..."
"What do I do?"
Before Little Hei could answer, Fang Zhiyi caught a figure from the corner of his eye. He jumped in shock.
He saw the dead monk standing there, staring at him. The gash on his neck was still there, but no blood flowed.
Seeing his reaction, Little Hei looked confused. "What's wrong?"
Fang Zhiyi pointed beside Little Hei. "You can't see him? The monk!"
Little Hei looked around. "Don't scare me. What monk?"
Fang Zhiyi's scalp tingled. Even Little Hei couldn't see this Tripitaka's soul? What was going on?
"What's happening to you?" Little Hei sensed something wrong.
Fang Zhiyi didn't answer. He stared at the ghostly monk, who stared back. After a long moment, the monk pointed at his own corpse, then at Fang Zhiyi.
The villagers were still deciding what to do when Fang Zhiyi suddenly moved. He stepped forward, snatched the monk's cassock from his body, gestured at the air, and—to everyone's astonishment—wrapped the cassock around himself.
"Xiao Wu, what are you..." The chief tried to stop him, but watching Fang Zhiyi gesticulate at nothing sent chills down his spine.
Then, without hesitation, Fang Zhiyi picked up the monk's belongings, pulled the travel permit from his robes, and finally took the reins of his horse.
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
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!
and couldn't return to the real world. Finally, I gave up and decided to go with the flow, only to discover that writing a diary could make me stronger. Since no one could read it, Su Luo wrote freely, daring to pen anything and everything. Female Lead #1: "Not bad. This diary helped me steal all the protagonist's opportunities. I just want to get stronger." Female Lead #2: "I don’t care about reaching the peak of the cultivation world. Right now, I just want to enjoy the chaos." Female Lead #3: "What? Everyone around me is a spy? I’m the Joker Demon Lord?" ... It’s so strange. Why is the plot completely off track, yet the ending remains the same? Are you all just messing with me?!
