Little did he know, in just three short months, in order to scramble for a bite to eat, Fang Zhiyi had been leading these few thousand men all over the place, averaging a skirmish every three days. The grassland tribes were completely bewildered—what kind of tactic was this? Had the Jin Kingdom recently suffered a famine?
These Jin soldiers charged in just to steal food?
And what drove them even more insane was that when their allied forces assembled to strike a crushing blow against the invading Jin troops, those Jin soldiers seemed to have gotten word long in advance, turning tail and vanishing into the vast grasslands.
The Great Chieftain was losing his mind. Whose grassland was this, anyway?
It felt like a giant cockroach had flown into your house. You wanted to swat it dead, but it knew your home better than you did. You went to the bedroom, it went to the kitchen. You went to the living room, it went to the balcony.
Even worse, when the allied forces failed to corner the Jin soldiers, they turned around to find their own backyard on fire. Those Jin troops had somehow popped out from behind, going through their usual routine of burning and looting, torching whatever they couldn't carry away.
After a month of this harassment, the grassland tribes experienced for the first time just how infuriating it was to have their own tactics used against them.
And through the constant fighting, those motley recruits gradually shed their initial rawness. Their grip on their blades grew steadier, their eyes sharper. Though their numbers kept dwindling, they had clearly become a disciplined elite force in the making.
Meanwhile, Fang Zhiyi sent another letter home. Though he knew full well it would be scrutinized and read over and over again, a letter home still had to be sent—that transmigrator was, after all, his nominal subordinate.
The return of the Vanguard Battalion left the Guards Battalion and the Forward Battalion feeling more than a little envious, not for any other reason than that the Vanguard Battalion's rations were far better than theirs. Some even learned that the Vanguard Battalion soldiers were paid more silver.
"What gives? They're just a bunch of ragtag conscripts..."
"Shut it. The Grand General already decreed that the Vanguard Battalion keeps half the spoils for themselves. Didn't you see how much loot they dragged back?"
"Yeah, if you've got the guts, go join the Vanguard Battalion yourself and grab some booty."
The old soldier who said this didn't notice the younger soldiers behind him exchanging glances, a spark of fervor flickering in their eyes.
As for Fang Zhiyi's victory this time, the other generals dismissed it as mere luck, though their tones were notably sour.
But among the common soldiers, word spread from mouth to mouth: the Grand General had led the charge himself, a master strategist! And that guy so-and-so, used to be nothing more than a firewood splitter around here, now he's an officer! And they say the Vanguard Battalion is made up entirely of Han civilians! Those wild harriers have been scared shitless!
These rumors circulated among the rank and file.
"Get lost! Who said you could eat first?" A soldier who was busy bragging got kicked in the back. He jumped up in anger, only to see a few arrogant Jin soldiers sneering at him.
The indignation on his face flashed away, and he silently lowered his head, shuffling off. The other soldiers, seeing the Jin soldiers approach, wisely picked up their bowls and cleared out of the way.
"Vanguard Battalion, huh? More like a pig leading a pack of pigs, getting lucky by accident, hahaha." They laughed with insolence, then swept their gaze over the remaining soldiers.
A young soldier, unable to contain his frustration, wanted to argue, but the man who had been kicked earlier grabbed his arm and shook his head.
They were used to it. Whether at home or in the army, they always had to be one step below these Jin men.
"Damn it all, if I get the chance, I'm joining the Vanguard Battalion!" the restrained young soldier cursed under his breath. Some had already secretly reached out to old acquaintances in the Vanguard Battalion.
Fang Zhiyi's reputation was steadily rising, which unsettled the other garrison commanders. Though they still refused to admit it, Fang Zhiyi had indeed come back victorious.
But the next bit of news they received made them sneer again.
"General!" Wang Hui strode into the main tent, holding an imperial decree, breathless with urgency. "A decree has arrived!" Behind him followed two imperial guards.
"Oh?" Fang Zhiyi showed no surprise. He merely rose to his feet, but did not kneel.
The two imperial guards frowned. "Please kneel to receive the decree, General!"
Fang Zhiyi clasped his fists in salute. "Forgive me, I am in full armor and cannot perform the full ritual."
Only then did the three men notice that Fang Zhiyi was indeed wearing his battle armor.
"General, you..." Wang Hui looked baffled, but one of the guards cut him off. "Then hear it standing! Fang Zhiyi, for striking the grassland tribes and upholding the might of the Jin Kingdom, His Majesty is greatly pleased. We summon you to return to the capital at once, so that His Majesty may personally honor your achievements!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Fang Zhiyi reached out and took the decree.
The two guards looked at him. "Pack up and set out, General. We'll wait for you."
But Fang Zhiyi shook his head. "I can't leave."
"What?"
One of the guards snapped, "Fang Zhiyi, are you defying the imperial order?"
Fang Zhiyi replied calmly, "The border conflict has just reignited. As the Grand General Guarding the Frontier, I simply cannot step away."
"Nonsense, what conflict—" The guard's words died in his throat.
A messenger burst into the tent in a flurry. "Bad news, Grand General! The grassland barbarians have formed a united alliance, at least a hundred thousand strong, and they're closing in on our defensive line!"
Fang Zhiyi spread his hands. "There you go."
The two guards exchanged glances, shock plain on their faces.
"You two are welcome to wait here, if you don't mind the fighting," Fang Zhiyi said as he strode out. Wang Hui glanced around and hurried after him.
The two guards hesitated for a moment, then finally mounted their horses and rode off. They needed to report back to the capital right away!
"Grand General! Why—why have those bastards joined forces?" Wang Hui had already spotted the smoke signals rising from Yongning, Yilibu's position. These grassland savages had always fought independently—it had been decades since they'd united to invade the border!
"No particular reason." Fang Zhiyi grinned, then clapped Wang Hui on the shoulder. "Normally, they wouldn't take the initiative to fight us. But what if I slaughtered all their families, old and young alike?"
Wang Hui's eyebrow twitched violently. "Grand General, you..."
"I'm the bad guy here, aren't I? Bad guys do bad things... You didn't think I just had the Vanguard Battalion raiding food supplies all this time, did you?"
Looking at Fang Zhiyi's smile, cold sweat ran down Wang Hui's back.
Brutal.
"Sound the orders!" Fang Zhiyi turned around, and Fatty Liu appeared instantly at his side.
"Forward Battalion, Guards Battalion, and Cavalry Battalion, prepare immediately!"
"Yes!" Fatty Liu was practically beaming with excitement, clearly having transformed from a camp cook into a battle-hungry veteran.
"Pack up everything and retreat thirty li!"
Fatty Liu paused for a second, then nodded. "Yes!"
"Any who disobey, execution!" In wartime, Fang Zhiyi's position granted him absolute authority.
"General, no! Executing officers in the middle of battle—and besides, shouldn't we be reinforcing Yongning? Why retreat instead..."
Fang Zhiyi turned to look at him. "Because I don't need anyone under my command who doesn't follow my orders, Vice General Wang."
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
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."
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
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.
