"Don't be greedy for glory. Hit and run..."
"Then why did you turn back and keep chasing? That's because you ran into a suspicious man. If the other side hadn't thought it through and had just wanted revenge at all costs, do you really think you could have escaped with just this handful of men?"
Fatty Liu's excitement was completely deflated.
"Take him away! Thirty strokes of the rod!"
Fatty Liu said nothing in protest. He had just seen the sorry state of the other two raiding parties, and a chill of lingering fear ran through him.
Once the beating was done, Fatty Liu propped himself up with the help of his men.
"Boss Liu, the general is going too far. We won a clear victory..." one of the soldiers helping him up muttered.
But Fatty Liu whipped his head around and snapped: "What the hell do you know? All those years in the army—did you learn nothing? Don't you know what military orders are? Whatever the Grand General says is an order!" Still not satisfied, he tried to kick the soldier, but the motion pulled at the wounds on his backside, and his face twisted in pain.
The young soldier looked a little resentful, but just then a messenger arrived.
"Order from the general: Liu Xi performed exceptionally well this time. He is hereby promoted to Deputy Commander of the Vanguard Battalion!"
Liu Xi's face lit up: "Thank you, General! Ouch... my backside..."
The same disgruntled soldier helped him up again, and Liu Xi said: "See, that's what you don't get. When you follow a man into battle, you want one like the Grand General—clear rewards, clear punishments. That's how men of our background get a chance to climb. You think war is some street brawl between thugs?"
The young soldier lowered his head.
"Your sister has a thing for the Marquis of Ding'an, doesn't she?" Fang Yunlan asked with a smile from her seat in the cosmetics shop.
He Yinqing's ears turned red. "Sister, don't tease me. I'm just an ordinary commoner—how could I ever measure up to the Marquis of Ding'an?"
"Oh? Wasn't it you who said love should be free?" Fang Yunlan teased.
"This... well..." He Yinqing didn't know how to answer. Did she like Wei An? Of course she liked him. Wei An's looks were exactly her type.
But...
"Ah, let me tell you, sister: when it's time to make a move, you make a move." Fang Yunlan's eyes darted to the side, and she caught sight of a sleeve edge at the doorway—the owner of that sleeve seemed to be eavesdropping.
"Anyway, don't worry about status. If it comes to it, I'll throw caution to the wind and propose on your behalf to the Marquis of Ding'an!"
"Oh my! You're embarrassing me to death!" He Yinqing ran off to the backyard.
Fang Yunlan glanced at the doorway, but the sleeve was already gone.
She smiled faintly and raised her voice: "Well, then I'll be off. Think it over properly!"
That night, Fang Yunlan was surprised to see the Emperor in her chambers. She felt a wave of nausea, but remembering her position, she smiled and greeted him.
But the Emperor was in a foul mood, and it seemed he had come to confront her.
"An imperial consort, constantly leaving the palace—what is the meaning of this?"
Fang Yunlan lowered her eyes demurely: "Your Majesty, I... I merely enjoy He Yinqing's company and find myself drawn to her. Besides, I did report my outings to the Empress, and I also brought her some skincare treasures..."
"Nonsense! I ask you—what did you say to Qingqing!"
Fang Yunlan put on a look of utter innocence: "I didn't say anything."
"Didn't say anything?! After you left today, Princess Yuwei had a huge fight with Qingqing. You... you—" The Emperor was clearly livid.
Fang Yunlan felt a surge of inner satisfaction. So this trick had worked after all. Best friends, best friends—they're always the easiest to split from within.
But she didn't let it show: "Your Majesty, I only said... I only said..."
"Out with it!" The Emperor smashed a teacup.
"That He Yinqing has feelings for the Marquis of Ding'an, so I... I wanted to play matchmaker for them..."
The Emperor's eyes went wide. Clearly, neither the Princess nor He Yinqing had told him any of this.
"You... you poisonous woman!" The Emperor erupted in fury. "From this day on, you are forbidden to leave the palace. No—you will stay here, and go nowhere at all!"
With that, he stormed out. Just wait, Fang Yunlan, your good days are numbered.
Fang Yunlan let out a breath of relief, but worry soon crept back in.
This was supposed to be a romance plot, with lax palace rules—even a consort could slip out occasionally. But now she was under house arrest...
The system beside her finally couldn't hold back: "The servants."
Fang Yunlan's eyes lit up. Of course! The leader had told her from the start to win over the servants as much as possible, and she'd done exactly that... Her eyes gleamed.
The leader really thought of everything! Even this step had been anticipated!
Fang Zhiyi and his Vanguard Battalion had vanished for nearly three months.
The army had assumed he was dead.
Letters had piled up like snow flying toward the capital, all of them denouncing Fang Zhiyi for reckless ambition.
But just then—
"You're saying the scouts report that Fang Zhiyi has returned to camp with his makeshift troops?" The Emperor looked at Prince Min, who nodded: "According to the report, that so-called Vanguard Battalion lost nearly half its men, but they made plenty of kills."
"Hmph. A blind chicken finding a worm by luck," Wei An sneered.
The Emperor glanced at him without expression. Even though He Yinqing had said it was a fair competition, the Emperor had no goodwill for Wei An. If it weren't for the fact that Wei An was his man, he'd have sent him to guard the city gates long ago.
Prince Min noticed the tension and quickly spoke up: "That being said, it's now difficult to move against him, since he's accomplished something this time..."
Wei An interrupted: "Riding out to raid a few barbarian tribes counts as an accomplishment? I could do that too!"
Even Prince Min almost couldn't hold back a laugh at that.
"The Marquis of Ding'an needs help getting onto a horse... are you sure?"
"What do you mean by that?" Wei An immediately took offense.
"I meant nothing by it. Let's get back to business. Your Majesty, regarding Fang Zhiyi—"
"Hmph, look at this." The Emperor tossed out a letter, one delivered from the border. "This arrived almost at the same time as the scouts' report."
The letter was nothing more than Fang Zhiyi's report on the operation, generously crediting the Emperor's brilliant leadership for the victory, with a long string of flattery that gave Prince Min goosebumps.
"What do you two make of it?"
Prince Min bowed: "We follow the same plan as before. Victory or defeat, we use this as the excuse to recall him to the capital, then gradually strip away his power, and when the time comes..." He drew a hand across his throat.
With the discussion concluded, the Emperor was eager to slip out of the palace to see He Yinqing. And seeing the white powder smeared on Wei An's face, he felt a flicker of curiosity. Surely he'd look more handsome than Wei An if he wore some too?
Wang Hui looked at the silent Vanguard Battalion and felt a bit lost.
Though it had only been a short while, this ragtag battalion of misfits now carried a faint aura of killing intent. Even the cook from before had a fierce look in his eyes.
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!
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
