Inside the Black Tiger Stronghold, several leaders were drinking and cursing about their recent poor earnings.
"That Fang Zhiyi actually assigned armed soldiers to escort the horse caravans! Our brothers didn’t get a single advantage."
"Boss, if this goes on, we’ll starve to death. Baldhead is done for, but these soldiers are really hard to deal with."
The boss viciously threw down the bone in his hand: "No matter how tough they are, they still can’t breach our Black Tiger Stronghold! We’ll catch them off guard... Besides, Marshal Luo sent me a letter..."
"Boss!" A lackey rushed in, panting heavily.
"What’s the panic?" The boss was in the middle of posturing and looked displeased.
"Fire! Fire!"
"What fire?" The leaders froze.
"The soldiers set the mountain on fire!"
"What???"
Cao Wenjie was both terrified and awed by the marshal before him. Proud of his cunning, he had considered bribing the bandits’ inner circle, even poisoning them—but he never expected the simplest, most brutal solution: setting the mountain ablaze.
The Black Tiger Stronghold sat atop a steep mountain, surrounded by dense forests. Now, in autumn, the dry foliage made it the perfect tinder. With the marshal’s move, the stronghold was bound to panic.
"Zhao Dezhu, make sure the firebreaks are checked." Fang Zhiyi patted his shoulder. Zhao Dezhu nodded in acknowledgment. Earlier, the marshal had ordered men to dig a ring of "trenches" around the area. At first, they thought it was for combat—only to learn it was a firebreak. Though they didn’t understand, the marshal’s orders were to be followed without question.
"After all this training, don’t screw up at the critical moment! Cao Wenjie! Follow me!" Fang Zhiyi called out, then added to Zhao Dezhu, "The bandit leader will be publicly executed by firing squad. The rest will be handed over to the judiciary for sentencing. If possible, put them to hard labor—free labor isn’t easy to come by these days."
Zhao Dezhu nodded.
Cao Wenjie was stunned once again by Fang Zhiyi. He couldn’t fathom the marshal’s thoughts—first, they were here to suppress bandits, then suddenly they took a detour to grave-robbing!
Fang Zhiyi stood before a massive tomb, eyes closed in waiting. Suddenly, gunfire and cannon blasts erupted from the west—the mountain fire must have forced the bandits out, clashing with the troops.
"Blow it!" Fang Zhiyi’s eyes snapped open.
Without hesitation, Cao Wenjie lit the fuse he had been holding.
News of Fang Zhiyi’s eradication of the Black Tiger Stronghold spread throughout Anning, earning widespread praise. Under his governance, the region flourished in peace, and the elimination of banditry boosted morale.
Only the finance director grumbled as he watched a hefty sum vanish under Fang Zhiyi’s spending spree. Fang Zhiyi pretended not to hear—he was short on funds, having poured much into improving livelihoods. Now that everything else was progressing, equipment couldn’t lag behind, so he splurged on purchasing blueprints from overseas at high prices.
Finally, he found time to visit his unlucky son. To his surprise, though Fang Yaozu’s face bore bruises, his body looked much sturdier. Yet, at the sight of his father, Fang Yaozu instinctively lowered his head.
"Wang Biao."
Wang Biao hurried over. "Marshal, another lecture today?"
"Not today."
Wang Biao sighed in relief. Whenever the marshal lectured on military strategy, he struggled not to doze off. Today, at least, he was spared.
"Today’s an exam."
"What?"
As Fang Zhiyi left the barracks, Fang Yaozu followed.
"Something on your mind?" Fang Zhiyi eyed him.
Fang Yaozu nodded. "I’d like to go home for a couple of days."
Fang Zhiyi studied him, then seemed to recall something and agreed.
The two returned to the city together. Having been confined to the barracks for so long, Fang Yaozu marveled at the changes around him—it felt like only a year, yet everything had transformed.
"Crushed stone roads?" Fang Yaozu stepped on the unfamiliar path, intrigued.
"Why so many students?" A group of children laughed as they passed by. Fang Yaozu stared, then watched as they cheerfully greeted his father, who smiled and waved back.
It felt surreal.
Inside the city, the streets were no longer dirty and chaotic, though slogans adorned the walls:
"Pee in public, lose your privates (no jokes)."
"Think before you litter—you’ll eat what you throw."
"Women’s Skills Training Center, address..."
Fang Yaozu gaped at the newfound cleanliness of Anning. The townsfolk seemed to know his father well. Watching his father’s warm interactions, a pang of guilt struck him.
Suddenly, a kick sent him stumbling. Thanks to his military training, he caught himself and stood straight, facing his father, who had dismounted without him noticing.
Fang Zhiyi pointed at an elderly tofu vendor. "Apologize."
Fang Yaozu froze.
Another kick.
His spirit long tempered, Fang Yaozu bowed and apologized without question—though he had no memory of the old man.
The vendor was flustered. "Marshal, what’s this about? This—this isn’t necessary!"
Fang Zhiyi stopped him. "You deserve it, elder."
That day, instead of heading home, Fang Zhiyi took Fang Yaozu through every street in Anning. The routine never changed: a kick, then forcing him to apologize to strangers.
Fang Yaozu was baffled, but under his father’s authority, he dared not protest.
After the city, they ventured into towns and villages. Fang Yaozu witnessed the prosperity his absence had brought—commoners thriving, many recognizing Fang Zhiyi not with fear, but admiration.
Yet the kicks continued. By the end, he limped, his rebellious spirit flaring in silence.
Finally, they stopped in a golden wheat field. Fang Zhiyi clasped his hands behind his back. "Do you know why I hit you?"
Fang Yaozu glanced at the distant guards and shook his head.
You’re the father—you can beat me if you want.
But then, Little Hei’s tendrils slithered into his mind.
Fang Yaozu’s expression twisted from blankness to agony. Drenched in sweat, his body gave out, and he collapsed to his knees.
Fang Zhiyi raised a hand to stop the approaching guards and looked down. "Now tell me—was I right to consider executing you at the start?"
Tears streaked Fang Yaozu’s face as he lifted his head.
"Father, I was wrong."
Fang Zhiyi shook his head. "Those words aren’t for me, nor are you worthy of saying them to me. But you’re a soldier now. A soldier’s fate is to die in battle. As for the sins you owe—repay them in the next life."
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
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!
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
