"What? Six thousand men were beaten down by Fang Zhiyi's few dozen people? And over a hundred dead, over two hundred wounded?" The emperor received the news immediately and was startled. Was this Fang Zhiyi really that formidable? He felt an inexplicable pang of regret, though he couldn't tell whether he regretted failing to win Fang Zhiyi over or failing to seize him when he returned to the capital.
"Yes, Your Majesty. I heard that Fang Zhiyi was struck by a stray arrow during the pursuit and has now been escorted away by his men."
But the emperor's mind was full of questions: "Six thousand men couldn't defeat a few dozen?"
"Your Majesty, now is not the time to marvel at this. We need to handle the situation at once!" Prince Min also hadn't expected that that useless Wei An couldn't even keep Fang Zhiyi's few dozen men cornered.
The emperor was still in shock.
"Your Majesty! Wei An's unauthorized action has already spread across the capital. I'm afraid people will think that Your Majesty could not tolerate Fang Zhiyi and sent Wei An to attack him!"
The emperor finally snapped out of it: "Nonsense! It was Wei An who mobilized troops on his own to ambush and kill Fang Zhiyi!"
"But there are already rumors in the city saying that Your Majesty couldn't tolerate Fang Zhiyi, who had just rendered great service..."
The emperor fell silent for a few seconds: "Send men to arrest Wei An! I will have him punished for his crimes!"
After everyone else had left, Prince Min looked at the grim-faced emperor and suddenly spoke: "This situation isn't bad after all. Fang Zhiyi is gravely wounded, and Wei An will be punished..."
"Bullshit! What about my reputation? My reputation?" The emperor paced around in fury, then finally turned to Prince Min, "Amin, send men to pursue Fang Zhiyi and find out the truth. At the same time, send some reliable people to the border to begin taking over the defenses!"
Wei An hadn't even had the chance to share his good news with the emperor and Qingqing before he was thrown into prison. His crimes were proclaimed to the public, with the clear message that everything was done by Wei An on his own initiative and that the emperor would never harm those who had rendered meritorious service.
But the rumors didn't die down; if anything, it seemed someone was deliberately fanning the flames.
The news that "the emperor sent Wei An to assassinate Fang Zhiyi, the border-guarding general" spread from the capital.
Prince Min's spies, after much investigation, finally obtained intelligence.
Fang Zhiyi's wounds were severe — he was at death's door!
Meanwhile, the court's appointed men had successfully entered the border army, using the pretext of sharing Fang Zhiyi's military duties to begin taking over affairs. Now the entire court was waiting for news of Fang Zhiyi's last breath.
But the general sent to take over never actually saw Fang Zhiyi. He only knew that Fang Zhiyi had taken residence at Linguan Pass, where his trusted men guarded him closely, refusing entry to anyone.
Wei An, locked in the imperial prison, looked at He Yinqing, who had come to visit him, with righteous indignation: "They don't dare to stand up for themselves, but they come after me!"
He Yinqing's gaze at him was complicated.
Wei An was truly handsome.
But she truly had no other choice.
Xiao Xiao, who had become her sworn enemy, had found her and laid out her final solution: He Yinqing should enter the palace as an imperial consort, and the emperor would then show leniency toward Wei An.
He Yinqing let out a bitter laugh. So after all that circling around, the ultimate winners were still the emperor and the princess. The emperor had used Wei An's hands to remove Fang Zhiyi, then imprisoned Wei An on charges of assassinating a great general. She would marry Wei An to save his life, and as for Xiao Xiao, she would have Wei An's heart... What a calculated scheme.
The pair of lovers gazed deeply at each other through the prison bars. The sight made the jailer a little nauseated.
"Qingqing, don't enter the palace! For my sake, don't go! I'm not afraid to die! I'm not!"
"I must go. I will plead with the emperor to spare your life."
"Qingqing!"
The emperor was in high spirits, having resolved two major matters at once. But there was one person who irked him: Consort Fang. Ever since news of Fang Zhiyi's grave wounding had arrived, she had refused to leave her quarters. Now she had even hung white mourning silk around her palace — wasn't that just a slap in the face?
So when Fang Yunlan requested to see her brother one last time, the emperor granted it immediately.
It wasn't as if he liked her anyway. Now that Fang Zhiyi had lost his military power and was on the verge of death, what harm was there in kicking her out?
Fang Yunlan left in a pitiful state — one carriage, one maid, one driver, nothing else.
Oh, and Princess Xiao Xiao's sneers and taunts.
But Fang Yunlan looked numb, not uttering a single word in response.
Fortunately, the love-lorn protagonists were too wrapped up in their romantic drama to pay attention to the already out-of-the-picture Fang siblings. Fang Yunlan's numbness didn't last long, either.
That was the message Fang Zhiyi had left her before he departed.
Find a way to escape on your own. If you can't, just wait to die.
The man who took over the military command was Prince Min's nephew. Before he arrived, Prince Min had instructed him to take over as quickly as possible and to break up Fang Zhiyi's loyal units, dispersing them to other garrisons.
Li Xiang had expected the border army to be a tough nut to crack, but to his surprise, the orders he sent to the officers did not meet any resistance. They all accepted their reassignments and left for their new posts.
After finishing that business, Li Xiang began to ponder Fang Zhiyi's condition. People kept saying he was on his last legs, yet he just wouldn't die. Li Xiang had gone to visit him twice. The area was guarded by Fang Zhiyi's personal soldiers, and given the man's reputation, Li Xiang didn't make a fuss. He saw Fang Zhiyi lying weakly in bed, looking as if he might pass at any moment — but no matter how long they waited, he didn't die.
By now, though, it hardly mattered. The border army had been reorganized, and Li Xiang had placed his own trusted men in key positions. Even if Fang Zhiyi suddenly rose from the dead, he couldn't stir up any trouble.
At least, that's what Li Xiang believed.
That's what everyone believed.
The female lead's romance plot pressed on. Wei An had saved his life but lost his noble title. He was resentful, and worse, he was no longer allowed in and out of the palace. He couldn't see Qingqing, and his heart was breaking.
He Yinqing in the palace felt the same. What she had dreamed of was a life with one man alone, not becoming an imperial consort.
Melodrama struck again. The princess, eager to win Wei An's favor, secretly smuggled him into the palace, bringing Wei An and He Yinqing together. The two even planned to elope, but their scheme was exposed. The emperor flew into a rage, and to protect Wei An, Xiao Xiao went so far as to invoke the Empress Dowager, breaking openly with the emperor.
Prince Min continued playing the devoted suitor. Losing to the emperor stung, but he could accept it — but losing to Wei An? He would never tolerate that.
Just as the capital was in chaos, urgent news arrived from the border.
"What? Li Xiang is dead?" Prince Min was shocked.
Li Xiang's personal guard, his face covered in blood and grime, reported: "General... the general was beheaded by soldiers under his own command! Fang Zhiyi — Fang Zhiyi has rebelled!"
"What?!"
The news of Fang Zhiyi's rebellion raced into the palace, bringing the lovers' melodrama to a halt.
The man who was supposedly at death's door had come back to life? Was this a joke?
"That's not right. The border army has been resupplied with court-appointed men. How did he..."
] [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!"
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
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!
