"Die, you fiend!"
The young heroes who had been preparing to leave all halted in their tracks.
"Father!" Mei Ruoxue gasped. He Wugui pulled her back, frowning.
The blade stopped just before Fang Zhiyi's eyes—he had caught it between two fingers.
The attacker's expression shifted, then he unexpectedly drew a second dagger from his waist with his left hand, thrusting it toward Fang Zhiyi's abdomen.
"Showing up after hours? That’ll cost extra," Fang Zhiyi muttered. His left hand shot out like a claw, seizing the man's wrist. A crisp snap followed, and beads of sweat broke out on the attacker's face, though he didn’t cry out.
Fang Zhiyi glanced back. "Old He, this one’s tougher than you. Didn’t even whimper."
He Wugui’s face darkened as he spat in annoyance.
"Lu Zhaoran, the Twin-Blade Wanderer? Even you’ve come?"
Hearing the familiar voice, Lu Zhaoran tilted his head slightly and spotted He Wugui, his eyes widening in surprise. A moment later, his other weapon was also disarmed.
"Fifty taels," Fang Zhiyi said coldly.
Lu Zhaoran was baffled. What was happening?
"Let’s go, let’s go. I’m starving," the onlooking young heroes said, slinging arms over shoulders as they wandered off. A gust of wind swept past, leaving Lu Zhaoran feeling like a fool.
That evening, another person joined the dinner table. After going through nearly the same routine as He Wugui, Lu Zhaoran, too, succumbed to the aroma of the food and dug in ravenously.
He Wugui wore a smug look, like a seasoned elder. "Well? How’s my cooking?"
Lu Zhaoran, mouth full, mumbled, "Mediocre. And you, colluding with a fiend—aren’t you ashamed of tarnishing the reputation of the 'Gentleman’s Sword'?"
"If you’ve got such pride, don’t eat! Starve, then!"
The two bickered relentlessly.
Meanwhile, Mei Ruoxue seemed lost in thought.
He Wugui noticed and asked softly, "What’s wrong, girl?"
Trembling, Mei Ruoxue pointed at the roasted venison leg. "This... this was the fawn I saved."
The table fell silent—except for Lu Zhaoran, who kept chewing.
"That arrow wound was distinctive. I remember... Father, you all..." Her voice quivered, on the verge of tears.
He Wugui shifted uncomfortably. He knew what Fang Zhiyi had done, but he’d considered it normal and never mentioned it.
Fang Zhiyi remained expressionless as he picked up a piece of meat. "Want some?"
Mei Ruoxue stared at him, eyes red.
"Enough already," He Wugui said, heart aching for the girl.
Fang Zhiyi spoke calmly. "Before this, you’ve eaten rabbit, venison, pheasant, boar... You always fought for the biggest share. You’ve even gained weight."
Mei Ruoxue looked down at herself—it was true.
"But I didn’t know! If I had—"
Fang Zhiyi raised a hand to cut her off. "Let’s skip the distant examples. Just tell me—how did you save that fawn?"
Mei Ruoxue answered reflexively, "I was playing in the mountains and saw it lying there, an arrow in its leg. It looked so pitiful, so I... You’re all so cruel!"
As she began to protest again, Fang Zhiyi interjected, "Beyond the two mountains behind us, there’s a village. In it lives a hunter whose wife died young, leaving only his blind mother and three-year-old child. Every day, he treks through the woods, gathering firewood and hunting to earn enough for his mother’s medicine. Today, because you saved that deer, he returned empty-handed. His child and mother cried from hunger at home."
Mei Ruoxue froze.
He Wugui gave Fang Zhiyi a complicated look. Even Lu Zhaoran stopped chewing.
"Am I the cruel one? The silk robe you wear—how many silkworms died for it? The pearl on your hairpin—it came from an oyster that had to die for it. And your winter fur coat—how many animals gave their lives for that? We’re not wealthy. Should we rob people to buy medicine for animals? Do you know how many common folk can’t even afford medicine when they’re sick?"
"That deer was full-grown, not a fawn. And that bird you saved—it was attacked by a hawk. Did you ever think the hawk would go hungry because of you? This is nature’s way. Plants wither and bloom; animals live and die. For humans to survive in this world, we must neither slaughter recklessly nor preach empty compassion while ignoring the necessities of life. What you must learn is reverence—for nature, for life—not mindless kindness."
"Giving meat to that poor family? That’s kindness. Building a nest for a bird? Also kindness. Respecting life doesn’t mean saving every creature. It means understanding—understanding people’s needs to survive, without abandoning compassion for all living things."
His words left Mei Ruoxue in prolonged silence. He Wugui seemed thoughtful. Lu Zhaoran frowned and resumed eating.
Only Old Lan muttered inwardly, Deputy Fang, you’re loaded. You’ve collected two or three hundred taels just from challenge fees lately...
The night passed without incident.
Mei Ruoxue seemed to have cried, but when she opened her door the next morning, the bird she’d saved was hopping cheerfully at her doorstep.
For the first time, He Wugui spoke to Fang Zhiyi without hostility. "Wasn’t that too harsh? The girl’s still young..."
Fang Zhiyi shrugged. "As a fiend, I might die any day. What happens to her then? If I don’t teach her reality now, she’ll be trampled on later."
He knew Mei Ruoxue was eavesdropping.
From that day on, Mei Ruoxue seemed to mature. She even pestered Fang Zhiyi to teach her martial arts—a request both He Wugui and Lu Zhaoran vehemently opposed. They offered to instruct her instead, much to Fang Zhiyi’s relief. He focused instead on filling her head with tales of the Jianghu’s dangers and deceptions.
After a nudge from Little Hei, Fang Zhiyi learned that "Lin Muran" had arrived.
To his surprise, Mei Ruoxue didn’t bring the half-dead boy home. She hesitated, watching the unconscious youth, then ran back to inform Fang Zhiyi. She wasn’t sure if the boy was faking—after all, she knew Fang Zhiyi’s identity. Mei Ruoxue had grown cautious.
By the time Fang Zhiyi arrived eagerly, Lin Muran was already gone.
Little Hei explained: The transmigrator took over. He woke up and left on his own.
"Tsk. The protagonist’s luck really is something," Fang Zhiyi drawled, his gaze piercing as he stared at Little Hei.
Little Hei fidgeted, unsure where to put his hands.
Fang Zhiyi didn’t blame him for the lack of warning. As an awakening fragment of the Heavenly Dao, it was a miracle Little Hei wasn’t actively aiding the protagonist.
The world’s will was meddling again. But this harem-seeking protagonist’s future wouldn’t be smooth sailing.
Outside Fang Zhiyi’s bamboo grove, visitors came and went these days—some even forgetting why they’d come in the first place.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
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."
