Fang Zhiyi became the emperor, and Xue Wanqiu came and went from the imperial palace as if it were her own home. No one even dared to cross her, knowing of her ambiguous relationship with the emperor. The previous commander of the Imperial Guard had merely obstructed her once, and in the blink of an eye, Fang Zhiyi had him exiled to the borderlands to eat sand.
Fang Zhiyi was indeed willing to listen to her in everything. She approached him with a proposal to recall her cousin, Wei Lin, to serve as the new commander of the Imperial Guard. Without a word of objection, Fang Zhiyi agreed. He had met Wei Lin before; the man had helped him considerably before he ascended the throne and seemed utterly loyal.
Xue Wanqiu further proposed bringing Xiao Ce into the Ministry of Revenue and having Liu Yan take over the Salt and Iron Commission. To make her happy, Fang Zhiyi waved his hand and approved it all.
Even when someone accused Liu Yan of past embezzlement, Fang Zhiyi frowned and suppressed the accusation.
These people understood nothing! Anyone recommended by Wanqiu was surely a capable minister!
And indeed, with him as their backing, these men gradually consolidated power. Court affairs became easier for Fang Zhiyi; even if he didn't attend, they could handle everything. This gave him more time to spend with Xue Wanqiu.
But Xue Wanqiu had been very busy lately. After being brushed off several times, a flicker of displeasure stirred in Fang Zhiyi's heart.
However, he never imagined the downfall of the Northern Dynasty would come so abruptly. In just one night, the capital erupted with battle cries. The Imperial Guard rebelled. Apart from a few of his personal guards, he found himself surrounded by enemies on all sides!
It wasn't until he saw his own key ministers clustering around Xue Wanqiu as she stepped forward that he remained in a daze.
Fang Zhiyi was imprisoned. He wanted to ask Wanqiu what had really happened, but no one answered him.
It was only on the day a eunuch brought a pot of poisoned wine that he learned Xue Wanqiu, with the help of several men, had become the first empress regnant since the dynasty's founding. Today was her coronation day, the day the dynasty changed.
Fang Zhiyi felt as if struck by lightning. "Wanqiu... did she... did she mention me?"
The eunuch, taking pity on him, rambled on at length. From him, Fang Zhiyi learned that all his brothers were dead. The eldest had been torn apart by five horses, the second cut in half at the waist. The fourth brother suffered the worst fate; for cursing Xue Wanqiu, he had his tongue cut out and eyes gouged.
Xue Wanqiu's purpose in such cruelty was solely to intimidate the remnants of the former dynasty. But she still wasn't at ease, fearing a counterattack from the plot.
Immediately afterward, families connected to the imperial clan were purged. Not even infants under a year old escaped. It was said the orders came from the Imperial Guard commander, Wei Lin. Fang Zhiyi's mother and her entire family became headless ghosts. And he himself was the last remnant of the former dynasty.
Fang Zhiyi closed his eyes and drank the cup of poisoned wine.
"This old servant has told all he knows. Your Majesty, please do not blame me." The old eunuch pressed his palms together, bowing repeatedly. He believed in such things.
But as Fang Zhiyi fell, his lips still murmured Xue Wanqiu's name.
If I hadn't been born into the imperial family, would the ending have been different?
"Bullshit!" Fang Zhiyi, already somewhat depressed from becoming emperor again, grew even more so after reading the plot. "How utterly despicable this guy is!"
Xiao Hei, arms crossed, nodded. "Exactly! That woman is too wicked!"
Fang Zhiyi was taken aback. "I was talking about the original host!"
"Ah? Oh, oh, right."
The more Fang Zhiyi thought about it, the angrier he became, and he couldn't help but curse aloud. "What a damn simp..."
As soon as the words left his mouth, he bumped into someone around the corner. Fang Zhiyi saw a petite young woman. Rubbing her head, she looked up with a pained expression. Recognizing Fang Zhiyi's face, her eyes held confusion.
"Your Majesty, I just heard someone say 'simp'... Could it be you..."
Fang Zhiyi looked at her in surprise, then noticed the system following the girl. It looked rather dim-witted.
"A mission-taker," Xiao Hei's tentacles occasionally extended from its body.
Unexpectedly, the girl suddenly straightened up and bowed. "Hello, senior! I'm a novice! I look forward to your guidance!"
Fang Zhiyi was stunned. "Wait, what did I say?"
The girl grinned sheepishly. "An ancient emperor would never use a word like 'simp,' so you must be the senior sent to guide me, right?"
Fang Zhiyi glanced at her. He remembered this original character. Due to intense pressure from court ministers, even his mother had gotten involved, forcing him to reluctantly marry the daughter of an official. But he never touched her once until his death. He'd heard that on the day he was captured, this woman had set herself on fire and died.
He quickened his pace, putting distance between them. Staying away from mission-takers was necessary.
But the girl stuck to him like glue. "Senior, senior, what are we doing now? Are we going to put the female lead in her place?"
"Senior, senior, does your system have a shop?"
"Senior, my name is Xiaotao. You can call me Peach. What's your name, senior?"
Fang Zhiyi paused mid-step, looking back at her. Xiaotao? He actually knew one, but she was definitely not this noisy.
"Listen, you do your thing, I'll do mine. We have nothing to do with each other, understand?" Fang Zhiyi said patiently. He was realizing this mission-taker seemed genuinely a bit clueless.
Xiaotao nodded vigorously. "Understood! You're planning to first pretend to maintain the previous aloofness, then strike at the female lead at the critical moment!"
Fang Zhiyi opened his mouth but ultimately said nothing.
Xiaotao walked away, muttering to herself.
"That system didn't detect me?" Fang Zhiyi watched the system that seemed as silly as Xiaotao.
Xiao Hei just glanced over. "A primary-level system. Quite stupid."
"That's fine." He turned and continued walking.
Xiao Hei imitated Xiaotao's tone. "Senior, what are you planning to do? Hey? Putting the female lead in her place is this way!"
Fang Zhiyi said nothing, simply raising a middle finger.
The current situation wasn't great. Wei Lin had already taken over as commander of the Imperial Guard. Xiao Ce and Liu Yan had also firmly established themselves. If only he had arrived earlier, things would have been much easier to handle.
Thinking this, Fang Zhiyi shot a glance at Xiao Hei, somewhat reproachful. Xiao Hei, not understanding, just grinned.
The silver lining was that Xue Wanqiu trusted him completely, having only bribed one minor eunuch to keep an eye on him.
Seeing Fang Zhiyi change into plain clothes and head out of the palace, the long-accustomed eunuch thought nothing of it. Even pretending to be busy to shirk his duties, which conveniently suited Fang Zhiyi's intentions.
Xue Wanqiu held the dress she had personally designed, immediately stepping forward as her male lead entered the courtyard.
"We really should have discussed this matter with His Majesty first. What we're doing is somewhat excessive."
Hearing this, Xue Wanqiu couldn't help but frown. My Brother Wei is truly an honest and kind man. Don't worry, Brother Wei, I will definitely not let you suffer! Xue Wanqiu hurried forward.
Xiao Ce and Liu Yan, who had entered the courtyard with Wei Lin, simultaneously glanced at the dress in Xue Wanqiu's hands. A twinge of sourness rose in their hearts, but both quickly suppressed it.
"Brother Wei, you know perfectly well the Emperor has no desire to attend court audiences."
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?!”
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."
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
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.
