The allied forces, which had been brimming with high morale, nearly fell apart in an instant. Large numbers of troops were hastily retreating here and there at every moment.
Almost at the same time, the roar of battle cries rang out, and dust clouds rolled in from the distance—the retreating Jin border troops had turned around and were charging straight at them!
By now, no one doubted the accuracy of the information any longer. This had to have been planned by those Jin border troops all along!
Having rested for several full days, the entire border force mobilized and lunged madly at the retreating steppe coalition. The general had decreed: merit would be counted by heads! Everyone would get a share! Soon they discovered that these fierce steppe horsemen had already lost all will to fight—they were only thinking of fleeing.
The former victors had suddenly become the defeated side. The scattered coalition, fleeing in every direction, could barely put up any resistance against the pursuing Jin army, and suffered heavy losses in no time.
Seeing that he was about to achieve a feat of unparalleled brilliance, Wang Hui also grew excited. But just as they stepped onto the grassland, a military order arrived from the rear—Fang Zhiyi ordered the troops to withdraw.
"What? Why?!" Wang Hui was baffled once again. This pursuit alone could have kept the steppe quiet for a decade!
But why...
A phrase suddenly flashed through his mind.
To nurture the enemy to keep oneself indispensable.
"What?!" In the capital, the emperor, who had just returned from admiring flowers with He Yinqing, had his head full of He Yinqing's complaints about her younger sister. He was somewhat dazed, but when he heard Prince Min's words, he jumped straight to his feet.
"The commander of Longnan has fallen in battle, and the commander of Huangguan has also fallen..." Prince Min gritted his teeth as he read out the list. "In order to maintain an effective counterattack, Fang Zhiyi appointed several new men to fill the vacancies. In addition... the Black Chess Regiment was completely wiped out, and the Xuanjia Camp was completely wiped out..."
Each sentence struck the emperor's heart like a heavy blow.
These men—these border troops—were the elite forces his father had left behind! They were the brave warriors of the Great Jin!
Prince Min continued: "Fortunately, Fang Zhiyi managed to hold off the steppe coalition's attack in time and temporarily drove them back to the grassland."
"In his memorial, Fang Zhiyi also said that he did his best, but these men refused to listen to him and charged out on their own, which is why..."
"Outrageous! What did the spies report?"
"What the spies reported is not much different from what Fang Zhiyi said. Only, the spy said that Fang Zhiyi led the troops in pursuit to the riverbank and stopped advancing, citing insufficient grain supplies..."
The emperor stared at Prince Min: "What is your view?"
Prince Min was silent for a moment: "Your subject believes... it is possible. After all, everyone knows that Yilibu and the others never accepted Fang Zhiyi's authority."
"I am asking you how to deal with Fang Zhiyi! He cost me tens of thousands of brave warriors! And then he let those steppe barbarians escape with his own eyes, leaving endless troubles behind!"
The Minister of War suddenly spoke up from the side: "Your Majesty, we must not act rashly against Fang Zhiyi at this moment."
"Why not?" The emperor's eyes nearly blazed with fury. And how could it be such a coincidence that all eleven original border defense commanders had died in battle? Only a fool would think there wasn't a problem!
The Minister of War took a deep breath: "Your Majesty, Fang Zhiyi now holds sole military command. He cannot be touched."
"Moreover, now that he has driven off the steppe barbarians, his prestige in the army is extremely high. If he were punished at this point, both Your Majesty and the court would earn a bad reputation."
The emperor was stunned.
"Most critically, the steppe tribes have only temporarily retreated—they have not been gravely wounded. If Fang Zhiyi were recalled, I fear complications would arise."
The emperor sank into thought. Wait—by all rights, he should be the one holding Fang Zhiyi in his grip, so how did it suddenly feel... as if he were the one being held hostage by Fang Zhiyi?
"Your Majesty, Fang Zhiyi has submitted a memorial requesting grain supplies, saying that if the steppe coalition comes again, the border troops will be powerless to resist." Prince Min spoke.
The emperor gnashed his teeth: "Approved! Approved! Give it to him!"
Meanwhile, Fang Yunlan also received another letter from her superior. She was beginning to understand Fang Zhiyi's intentions—if you can't rely on the system to survive, you have to adapt to the environment.
For instance, the moment the emperor learned of Fang Zhiyi's victory, she found out right after.
It had to be said, the feeling was quite nice. It was just that she always felt like she was playing the villain.
The content of this letter was simple—just idle chatter. But Fang Yunlan, long accustomed to her leader's tricks, quickly pieced together the message.
"The wind has passed. Do whatever you want to do."
She turned it over and over, reading it several times.
"Leader's meaning is... I can spread my wings now?"
Before she could decide what to do, someone arrived. It was the emperor.
His words were stiff, merely telling her that because Fang Zhiyi had rendered meritorious service, her house arrest was lifted.
Fang Yunlan thanked the emperor with a bright smile, deliberately ignoring his sour expression.
"If you're going to be a villain, you've got to be arrogant and domineering." Fang Zhiyi lounged comfortably in his chair, watching the soldiers training in the distance. Wang Hui stood beside him: "Yes, yes. General, what do we do next?"
"What to do?" Fang Zhiyi glanced at him, somewhat amused. "Why, consolidate our power and defy the court, of course!"
Wang Hui felt awkward. Was that the kind of thing you could just say out loud? In the past, no. But now, Fang Zhiyi could stand in the middle of the parade ground and shout it out loud if he wanted.
The generals planted by the court were all dead, those with ambiguous loyalties had all been suppressed, and almost every spy had been buried. Yet here he stood, safe and sound.
"But General, you only have a little over a hundred thousand border troops... The court still has several hundred thousand soldiers. You should still repair your relationship with His Majesty..." Wang Hui, for the sake of survival, could only side with Fang Zhiyi and think for him.
Fang Zhiyi shook his head: "You don't understand the emperor."
He stood up and stretched.
"When he took over, it was already a golden age. Being a peaceful emperor suits him just fine—chasing women, playing at incognito excursions to show off, and even cultivating his reputation for good governance, hoping for a good name in the history books."
"But I'm different. I don't have that many thoughts. If he doesn't let me be comfortable, he won't be comfortable either. Honestly, if I were in his shoes, I'd have this general called back and executed even if everyone cursed me for it. It's a pity—he cares too much about face."
"But General, if so, what will history say of you?"
Fang Zhiyi said in a deep voice: "To borrow a saying from the founding of the Great Jin—there will always be great scholars to speak on my behalf."
Wang Hui was taken aback. Was there such a saying?
"Pass the order: have Fatty Liu take some men out to the steppe and cause some trouble. Bring back some cattle and sheep!"
"Yes!"
Fang Zhiyi turned back to look at Wang Hui and said with emphasis: "Do you know why you're still standing here?"
"Because... because I must help the General cover things up..."
"Nonsense. What would I need you to cover up? Do you really think they're all fools?"
"Then..."
"I hear that Deputy Commander Wang's family has quite the connections at court. Your father is still the Vice Minister of Personnel, isn't that right?"
"Ah?" Wang Hui's eyes were full of panic.
"Don't panic. Do the tasks I assign you well, and I guarantee your life is safe—and you'll have wealth and honor to boot." Fang Zhiyi's laughter only made Wang Hui's heart beat faster with unease.
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
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!
agon king storylines. At the start, I obtained the "Ultimate Lackey System" - the more I act as a lackey, the stronger I become. What else could I do? I chose to become the personal henchman of the ultimate villain, Su Muwan. I provoke all sorts of chosen ones, snatch away their opportunities, and commit every evil deed imaginable. You ask who's behind me? Hmph! You're not worthy of knowing my lady's name! ...... ....... I am Su Muwan, the eldest daughter of the Su family. Since childhood, I've possessed extraordinary talent in martial arts, which led to my arrogant and domineering personality in my past life. I was even foolish enough to repeatedly challenge those favored by heaven, ultimately resulting in a tragic death. In this life, I must behave and absolutely cannot walk the same path again!! However... SLAP!! "So you're the Dragon King, huh?!" When I saw my little lackey swagger over and viciously slap the Dragon King who was hiding his identity, I felt my heart sink. Su Muwan's suspended heart finally died as she watched Qin Luo, her utterly loyal lackey, standing before her. She fainted on the spot from shock. Heaven is determined to destroy me!! (Pure love 1v1, light-hearted, no angst, single female lead, villain, reincarnation, lackey)
