(Side Story) The Lonely King 01

"We might have come to the wrong place. We've been to too many places, and I mixed them up..." Little Hei said as soon as they entered this world.

Fang Zhiyi shot it a helpless look.

"Let me find it... let me find it..." Little Hei rummaged through its own body, looking extremely abstract.

But Fang Zhiyi frowned and looked down below.

A large group of barbarians had charged into a town and started burning, killing, and looting. The screams and curses of the common folk drifted into their ears from time to time, followed by roaring flames, accompanied by the weird laughter of those barbarians.

"Found it! This is the right one. Come on... hmm?" Little Hei noticed Fang Zhiyi staring intently downward, and it took a glance as well, finding nothing unusual. "What's wrong?"

"Little Hei, this is..."

"Forgot? You were emperor here once. It's kind of nostalgic, honestly. I wasn't around that time, and you managed to turn things around all on your own. Tsk, tsk."

Fang Zhiyi's frown deepened.

"Come on, dynasties rise and fall—that's just how it is. You can't expect to sit on the throne forever like that previous emperor did."

Fang Zhiyi let out a sigh: "Since we're already here, it must be fate."

Little Hei looked up at the sky: "What fate? The Heavenly Dao of this world is so weak... Let me tell you, you can't go messing around. What we did before was recruitment—we can still explain that when we go back. But if you, right now..."

"I can be a client too, can't I?" Fang Zhiyi said suddenly.

Little Hei was taken aback: "You..."

Fang Zhiyi nodded: "That's right, I can be a client. After all, I was once the emperor here."

What made him angry was also simple: the flow of time in this world wasn't fast, and after he had left for so long, only a few decades had passed here. Yet in that short span alone, the dynasty had suffered a great calamity.

Originally, when he left, he had carefully arranged everything and even returned the body to its original owner.

The original owner was also a diligent emperor. He knew how hard-won all of this was, so he devoted himself almost entirely to state affairs. But he didn't have Fang Zhiyi's physique, and he fell ill after just a dozen or so years—and once he fell ill, he never recovered.

Fortunately, Sima Ying had borne him two sons. The eldest son was honest and steady. In order to safeguard the realm and stabilize the country, the original owner left a final edict, letting the eldest son, Fang Qian, succeed him.

But Fang Qian—to put it nicely, he was benevolent; to put it bluntly, he was too honest for his own good. And because of that, the Eastern Depot, which Fang Zhiyi had originally established, gradually spiraled out of control. Especially after Fuhai retired to his hometown, the Eastern Depot split from within, fighting endlessly over power.

Fang Qian had long ago lost the ability to rein in the Eastern Depot.

Still, the foundation Fang Zhiyi had left behind was solid enough, so everything was more or less normal. But then Fang Qian, with his wooden-headed way of thinking, did something that left the entire realm bewildered—he became a monk!

After passing the throne to his son Fang Tianyun, he became a monk!

At that point, the court fell into complete chaos. The officials who had been firmly suppressed by Fang Zhiyi started to get restless again, scheming behind the scenes. The Eastern Depot became even more brazen, actually starting to fool the new emperor. Fang Tianyun had been arrogant and self-important since he was a child, and he was overjoyed when the eunuchs praised him.

Just then, the general guarding the border reported that the barbarians had repeatedly invaded and that reinforcements were needed. Under the suggestion of the chief eunuch Qian Zhong, Fang Tianyun slapped his thigh and decided to personally lead a military campaign.

Nobody could stop him—even the Grand Empress Dowager's words meant nothing. The only thing Fang Tianyun had latched onto was that if he personally led the campaign and won, he would be written into the history books.

A wastrel emperor plus a few Eastern Depot eunuchs—the consequences were easy to imagine.

The two hundred thousand troops the court sent out were utterly annihilated, and Fang Tianyun was captured outright.

When news reached the capital, the entire court was shaken. People immediately went to find Fang Qian, but Fang Qian seemed to be addicted to being a monk and simply said that he was no longer Fang Qian before sending the court's envoys away.

So there was no choice—the dynasty found itself without an emperor. Because of this, the barbarians advanced unopposed and devoured most of the northern territories.

Some defending generals refused to surrender, choosing to hold their ground even knowing the court couldn't send reinforcements. But unfortunately, the barbarians had the emperor in their hands. Whenever they pushed him to the front lines, who dared to loose an arrow at him?

And so it went, a once-prosperous dynasty was reduced to only half its original territory.

The cowardly court officials simply abandoned the capital, fleeing south with a young prince to establish a new court to keep breathing. But the people in the north suffered greatly—the barbarians used the men as slaves and treated the women and children like livestock.

As for Fang Tianyun, he was fine. The barbarians figured he was at least nominally an emperor, so they kept him penned up. Fang Tianyun didn't mind it at all, and in fact, he eventually married a barbarian woman and lived a life of complete comfort.

"Yue Anyao replied. She said that since this was originally your doing, letting you be the client isn't out of the question." Little Hei paused.

Fang Zhiyi nodded, his gaze deep and heavy upon the burning city.

"But it's been a long time since you went home for a meal. She said she'll make an exception this time, but you have to come home and eat."

Fang Zhiyi's expression changed: "I think... the rise and fall of a dynasty is perfectly normal, don't you think? Every family has its good-for-nothing kids. How about we just—"

Little Hei stared at him blankly: "The mission has been issued."

Fang Zhiyi's face twisted with bitterness: "I miscalculated."

"The anchor point has been set. We have three options..."

Fang Zhiyi waved his hand: "No need."

"Huh?"

Fang Zhiyi turned to face it, fixing his eyes on Little Hei: "I said, no need for all that trouble. Go find someone who resembles the original owner well enough—any background will do."

Little Hei froze for a moment, then immediately understood: "You mean to..."

Fang Zhiyi let out a faint smile: "Sometimes, there's no need to start all over from scratch. Too troublesome."

"But..."

Fang Zhiyi cut him off: "Go find him. I believe you can do it. Once I'm done using that body, I'll give its owner a windfall of wealth and fortune beyond imagination."

"Fine, fine. But if we end up getting scolded, you're the one taking the heat." Little Hei grumbled as it left.

Fang Zhiyi's gaze turned back to the scene below. The cries of women drifted up faintly—just in time, as the barbarians were still in the midst of their incursion. Everything was still salvageable.

Back then, it had been his own fault. To solidify imperial authority, he had propped up the eunuch faction, because in a certain sense, the eunuch faction was the emperor's faction. But once imperial power waned, the eunuchs became the grave-diggers of the dynasty.

The fire in the city raged for three days and three nights, and not a single imperial soldier appeared. One could only imagine how much water was in Fang Tianyun's brain. The court officials, meanwhile, were busy calculating their own gains and losses. This dynasty...

"Found him! Let's go!" Little Hei's sudden appearance cut off Fang Zhiyi's train of thought.