A voice with an echo of its own.
Fang Zhiyi instinctively looked up. The next moment, he froze. Perched on the glittering throne before him was a... ghost?
The mist-like ghost swayed from side to side.
Suddenly, it shot toward Fang Zhiyi and began circling him again and again, as if utterly confused.
“You... know Fang Zhiyi?”
As Fang Zhiyi stared at the ghost, memories of the past came flooding back.
“Old Ghost.”
The ghost paused, its voice still echoing. “You—you recognize me?”
“What, you don’t recognize people anymore?” Fang Zhiyi was speechless as well. He had imagined every possibility, but he had never expected Old Ghost to be the Emperor.
Old Ghost looked Fang Zhiyi up and down, then from side to side, utterly perplexed. “No, seriously, who are you?”
“Your godfather!” Fang Zhiyi said, reaching out to grab it.
But Old Ghost shrank away with remarkable speed. Faced with this criminal’s provocation, it grew annoyed. “You... Hmm? You...”
It hesitated for a long while before finally saying, “Are you really Fang Zhiyi?”
“Hard to believe the Emperor still remembers me,” Fang Zhiyi replied sarcastically.
“Holy crap! Holy crap! You’re still alive!” Old Ghost instantly became excited. “You just went bang and disappeared back then. And now you’ve become a governor? No way, no way!”
It was practically beside itself with excitement.
“Enough, enough. What happened to you, anyway? I’m not surprised you’ve survived this long as a lingering soul, but you...”
A face appeared in the mist, its expression bitter enough to curdle milk. “It’s all your fault.”
“Huh?”
“Back then, you discovered all that stuff and destroyed that dynasty. Then you just dusted off your hands and left. At first, they developed according to your instructions, but eventually someone started thinking about using the war machines you described as industrial machinery. Then they discovered even greater ruins.”
Fang Zhiyi turned to Little Hei, who spread his hands. “You know we couldn’t possibly have found everything.”
“That was when things got out of hand. A technological explosion followed. They found some black substance and used it as an energy source. Later, Bold Li and Wu San both died, and the people who took over afterward were even less reliable. Technology kept advancing, but their way of thinking remained stuck in the past. Eventually, things turned into this... bizarre mess.” Old Ghost complained bitterly.
“So what happened to you?” Fang Zhiyi simply sat down. “I heard you’ve been Emperor for several hundred years.”
“Bullshit! Several hundred years? It’s been nearly a thousand!” Old Ghost’s voice was filled with resentment.
“I kept using the body you found for me and continued my research. It was much more interesting than studying those cultivation manuals. But eventually, the body broke down. Fortunately, I came up with a way to preserve my lingering soul. By then, I had become a scientist.” It glanced at Fang Zhiyi. “Wu San’s grandson was one of the councilors at the time. I don’t know how they came to the decision, but they pushed me into this position. They said the Emperor’s seat had always been vacant anyway, so it would be better if I took it.”
Old Ghost paused. “Later, I figured it out. The Second Council believed that no matter how much time passed, humanity would still turn on itself over power. So they decided to put someone who couldn’t die on the throne. And, unfortunately, I was the one they chose.”
It sounded deeply aggrieved. “See this wretched throne? In my five-hundredth year, I felt myself beginning to fade. I thought I was finally going to be free. But then those idiots developed a perpetual-energy device, and I recovered!”
Old Ghost pointed at itself again. “You probably don’t know this, but my mind contains the entire history of this empire’s development over the past thousand years! They say learning never ends, but I’m done learning!”
“You have a brain?” Fang Zhiyi asked curiously.
Old Ghost rolled its eyes. “What, you think I don’t?”
Its tone turned somber. “But now the human empire keeps expanding, and more and more problems are cropping up. The council you established has changed beyond recognition. Those nobles are just like the aristocratic clans of old—they spend all day fighting and scrambling for power. It’s exhausting!”
“But you’re the Emperor. Can’t you do something about it?” Fang Zhiyi asked.
Old Ghost stared blankly at him. “Brother, I never wanted to rule the world in the first place! I just wanted a body so I could cultivate! They want to rule the universe? Do you have any idea how much work that is? I did consider learning from you and killing them all, but what would I do afterward? I’d have to handle everything myself! I’m not you! You’re smart enough to deal with it all. I’ve had enough! Now that you’re here, I quit. I absolutely quit!”
“I’m just waiting for this thing to run out of energy so I can finally disappear.” It pointed at the throne. “Power, technology—all of it can go to hell!”
Fang Zhiyi suddenly understood. “So your creation of the Imperial Guard was...”
“That’s right. It was to stop some idiot from recharging me!” Old Ghost said, entirely without shame. “If I hadn’t suddenly seen your name, I wouldn’t have sent the Imperial Guard out at all. It would have been better if they’d forgotten about me! I’ve been quietly hiding here for hundreds of years!”
It paused, then muttered under its breath, “Their greed is too great. If I hadn’t established the Imperial Guard, I might have ended up as a research specimen the next time around. They’d be studying how to achieve immortality.”
Little Hei and Fang Zhiyi exchanged a glance. Who knew what those people had been thinking when they made this fellow Emperor? Still, it was no small feat to torment a mere lingering soul into longing for death.
Old Ghost continued rambling. “It happened in my five-hundredth year. Half the council members at the time wanted to take advantage of the situation and control me. Fortunately, their abnormal behavior was discovered. From that moment on, I knew I wasn’t safe anymore. That was why I established the Imperial Guard to protect me, then stopped appearing in public. If I couldn’t afford to provoke them, I could at least hide from them, couldn’t I?”
Fang Zhiyi looked at it for a long while.
“I have an idea.”
Old Ghost answered without the slightest hesitation. “Tell me! As long as it can kill me, I’m willing to do anything!”
“It won’t come to that. All you need to do is cooperate with me and endure it a little longer. I can get you out of here.”
The commander of the Imperial Guard was very curious. No one had ever stayed inside the Emperor’s palace for so long. He had been there long enough that the commander was beginning to wonder whether the governor intended to assassinate the Emperor.
But the Emperor was immortal and indestructible.
Since its establishment, the Imperial Guard had followed a single principle: protect the Emperor and carry out every order he gave. Yet ever since the commander had taken over, the Emperor had never issued a single order.
Then the door opened, and Fang Zhiyi waved to him.
The commander felt as if he were in a daze.
The next day, news spread throughout the empire that the Emperor had pardoned all of Fang Zhiyi’s crimes. The decision shocked the council, as well as every noble in the empire.
It was the first time they had ever received an order from the Emperor—the same Emperor who had remained in existence for over a thousand years.
Some people wanted to raise objections. But when they saw the Imperial Guard effortlessly pierce several Destroyer-model suits belonging to those who had shown disrespect toward Fang Zhiyi, they chose to keep their mouths shut.
y came from. The chests contained supplies, currency, class-change scrolls, skills, talents… and even godhood! The laws of the world were completely rewritten. This became a world where everyone gambled with their fate! Some people, despite having nothing, opened a divine artifact and rose to the top, eventually ruling the world. Others went bankrupt, opened nothing but worthless junk, and leaped from skyscrapers in despair. Lin Ye arrived in this world from another reality, utterly bewildered. “What is going on? Why is everyone a gambling addict?!” “Opening chests? No way. I refuse to gamble. I’ll start with myself!” Until— On his first chest, he obtained a Mythic Talent: Void Incarnation! He could become completely intangible, pass through all things, and reduce everything to nothingness! … On his fiftieth chest, he obtained a Mythic Weapon: Blade of Karma! With a single slash, karma shattered, twisting the universe and overturning the myriad phenomena of creation! … On his ninety-ninth chest, he obtained a Mythic Divine Treasure: Primordial Purple Energy! It could split open the heavens and earth, create all things, and evolve countless worlds with a single thought! Lin Ye: “Now that I think about it… shouldn’t someone have told me that every chest is guaranteed to contain something Mythic?!”
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
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.
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."
