What made things worse was that he accidentally caught sight of the boxes sent by these two families.
He was all too familiar with them—this was exactly how the previous county magistrate had accepted bribes.
Could it be that the master was also...? Wang Jia felt uneasy. If the master was embezzling, should he pretend not to see it or... just pretend not to see it?
Fang Zhiyi had visited all the influential families in his jurisdiction, asking them strange questions. After finishing his rounds, he returned to his private quarters and began scribbling notes. He also had arrangements for the constables—first, he taught Wang Jia and the others some unusual military formations, then ordered them to gather the local garrison troops every afternoon for training.
When questioned, he simply said he’d read about it in a book.
On top of that, Fang Zhiyi kept dispatching messengers and posting recruitment notices for soldiers.
Wang Jia grew increasingly baffled by the master’s actions. At first, he thought the master was planning to embezzle on a grand scale, but now it seemed different. The wealthy families were voluntarily bringing gifts to visit him, often staying for entire afternoons. Even former rivals were arriving together, appearing strangely close.
When Fang Zhiyi took out silver to recruit more soldiers, Wang Jia’s heart trembled violently.
Could it be... the master was planning a rebellion?
The thought startled even himself.
But if the master was rebelling, should he join him or... join him?
However, his dilemma didn’t last long, because Fang Zhiyi assigned him a task—to escort his family back to their hometown.
The journey was a thousand miles long, and Wang Jia’s unease only deepened. He had also heard another rumor—their county magistrate was actually the son of Fang Huatian, the current prime minister of the court!
Before leaving, he wanted to bid farewell to the master, but he overheard Fang Zhiyi lecturing the wealthy families about strange terms like "resource integration" and "foreign trade." He couldn’t understand a word, but the heads of those families listened with rapt attention.
Wang Jia didn’t get it, but one thing was clear—the master was crossing the line. If someone reported him, he’d be done for. But then again, who would dare?
Besides, in Qingping County, there was no official higher than Fang Zhiyi. Whatever he did, the final say was his alone.
Meanwhile, Song Yunfan was counting the days in prison.
Finally freed from the cangue, he heard his cell door open again. This time, he was cautious, but the moment his hand touched the door, the shout came: "Prisoner escaping!"
Naturally, he was beaten again.
This time, however, they didn’t put the cangue back on him. Instead, they threw him into a larger cell filled with petty criminals—brawlers, thieves, vandals—people who’d usually be released after a short stint.
But Song Yunfan sensed trouble the moment he entered. The inmates glared at him, and some even recognized him.
"Because of you escaping, our sentences got extended!"
"Beat him!"
"Don’t kill him—aim for the butt! The butt!"
As the blows rained down, Song Yunfan finally understood. The jailer had announced that because of his repeated escape attempts, the magistrate was furious—so furious that he extended everyone else’s sentences as punishment.
In reality, this was just to keep them from leaking information outside.
Additionally, according to the laws of the Great Qi, ordinary prisoners were to be released after serving their time. Fang Zhiyi found this a waste of manpower, so he introduced "labor reform." Every prisoner except Song Yunfan was sent out daily to work—chopping wood one day, hauling stones the next, even repairing city walls.
Exhausted after a day’s labor, the prisoners returned to find Song Yunfan sound asleep. Needless to say, they didn’t take it well.
While overseeing the new recruits’ training, Fang Zhiyi received a reply letter. Unfolding it, he broke into a smile.
A subordinate asked, "What’s the news, sir?"
Fang Zhiyi glanced at him. "Heh, the hot potato’s been tossed away!"
Over at Panlong Stronghold, the bandits were growing restless. They had been on high alert, ready to storm the execution grounds, but after two months, there wasn’t even a verdict.
Rumors spread in the stronghold—some complained that Song Yunfan was ruining their livelihood. Because Xiaotian Hu had ordered everyone to stay on standby, they hadn’t raided in two months. If this continued, they’d starve.
Even the strategist, Xue Qi, was losing patience. Finally, Xiaotian Hu relented, allowing his men to go out in shifts to "work."
It was at this moment that Song Yunfan was escorted out of Qingping County—by imperial troops!
Song Yunfan was dumbfounded. What kind of treatment was this for just killing one person?
During the handover, he overheard the magistrate whispering to the commanding officer.
"That’s the one."
"No doubt about it—treasonous poetry!"
"I didn’t dare handle it myself."
"Take this, for your troubles."
Watching them openly engage in bribery and hearing the words "treasonous poetry," Song Yunfan felt trapped in some elaborate scheme.
Then, someone brazenly shoved a rolled-up cloth into his clothes. His scalp prickled—were they framing him this openly?
Fang Zhiyi couldn’t be blamed. He had sent three batches of letters—the first to forge alliances, the second to strengthen them, and the third to offer a "great merit"—a captured rebel, an undeniable one.
Who would’ve thought his reputation was so impeccable that no one doubted his claim? The governor of Changping Prefecture immediately dispatched troops to retrieve this "rebel." With the empire unstable, the emperor despised rebels the most. Presenting one would surely earn praise.
Because the troops arrived so quickly, Fang Zhiyi’s "evidence" wasn’t fully prepared. They barely finished in time.
Watching Song Yunfan gagged and hauled away, Fang Zhiyi waved reluctantly.
"Hope we never meet again," he muttered. He was busy enough—holding meetings with local gentry, uniting them under common goals, teaching them how to profit, and indoctrinating them with new ideas. It was exhausting.
But bad news soon arrived—Song Yunfan had been rescued. The Panlong bandits ambushed the escort and freed him.
Fang Zhiyi spat in disgust.
Little Hei remarked, "It’s to be expected. You killed the protagonist’s father—what else could happen?"
Fang Zhiyi smirked. "Doesn’t matter. Now he’s officially a rebel, and he’s made an enemy of Changping Prefecture. Panlong Stronghold is doomed, and the governor owes me a favor. Either way, I win."
Just then, Wang Jia rushed in—he had only returned a few days prior.
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!
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?!
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
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.
