"Holy crap!"
They realized things had gone wrong, turned, and ran.
Yue'e, hidden in the shadows, glanced at those fleeing in panic, then looked down and recited the script the master had sent. It was the lament she would deliver soon.
"What? The winter clothes meant for the poor were all burned by those bandits?"
"How can people be so wicked!"
"Heavens, I heard the news too! They said the cloth workshop was going to give winter clothes to all the poor this year, but then, then! Those damned thieves!"
The Nine Clouds of Qingyun couldn't take it anymore. Now, with every few steps, they could hear someone cursing them, using the crudest language imaginable!
They had no way to defend themselves either. Why would the cloth workshop have any motive to burn its own warehouse? Who would believe that?
The local authorities were also more agitated than before. The first time could be called an accident, but the second time was a blatant disregard for the law! The constables even started searching house to house. This made the nine of them sense real danger, so they chose to flee. However, they encountered constables again during their escape, leading to another clash. The Nine Clouds of Qingyun injured several soldiers and escaped outside the city walls.
Fang Zhiyi, at this moment, rubbed his hands together, grinning with delight at the silver before him.
His accountant, Golden Abacus, watching his master's expression, couldn't help but shrink his neck. Truly, when the master didn't act, nothing happened, but when he did, it shook the world!
He had actually managed to openly transport all this silver here, bypassing the official inspections. Normally, transporting physical silver required records with the local authorities, or there would be trouble. Yet, with the master's move, this silver, accumulated over so long, was swaggered out right under their noses.
It was just a pity for those young fools who took the blame.
"Now that we have the silver, proceed as I instructed," Fang Zhiyi said to Golden Abacus.
Golden Abacus nodded. He always harbored doubts about the master's methods, but... well, it wasn't like there were other options, was there?
Watching him leave with the rolled-up blueprints tucked under his arm, a smirk curled at the corner of Fang Zhiyi's mouth.
All the gray-market operations had been shut down. Now, the industries under the Wanbao Pavilion were cleaner than clean. All he had to do was wait for those little protagonists to come sticking their noses in, looking for trouble.
They were practically professional scapegoats, weren't they?
The scale and coverage of Wanbao Pavilion meant it was definitely on the imperial court's radar, with every transaction likely being watched. This time, he just happened to use these nine idiots for a one-time withdrawal. Not bad, really quite useful.
The Nine Clouds of Qingyun still maintained their fervor. Perhaps that was just youth.
Of course, their inexplicable hatred for Wanbao Pavilion deepened a bit more.
This also laid the groundwork for the Drunken Sword Immortal's appearance. When the Nine Clouds of Qingyun actively picked a fight at the Drunken Sword Immortal's tavern, and Xiao Changfeng, also a swordsman, drew his sword to challenge the Drunken Sword Immortal, the Immortal initially wanted to accept. But then he thought of the master's promise, of those ten jars of fine wine—what was face worth! Ever since being expelled from his sect, he'd given up on keeping face!
So, in full view of everyone, he let Xiao Changfeng knock him down.
Even Xiao Changfeng was somewhat stunned. He could sense the man before him was a master, his cultivation even slightly higher than his own. But he... he just fell down? He hadn't even used his full strength...
Why?
"Someone's been killed!"
"Beating people up without paying for the meal!"
"Help! Someone!"
With the waiters' shouts ringing out, the young men instinctively bolted. They had practically developed a conditioned reflex by now.
What in the world was this Wanbao Pavilion? Weren't they supposed to be a Jianghu force? A killer organization? A grand conspiracy? Why did they just start yelling at the top of their lungs at every turn?
Official documents circulated between cities. Soon, wanted notices for the Nine Clouds of Qingyun arrived here. The local officials took one look: Well, well, aren't these the lads who dined and dashed and assaulted merchants?
Having received gifts from Wanbao Pavilion, the local officials naturally got to work, immediately sending people to spread the word on the streets and post rewards for their capture.
Thus, the reputation of the Nine Clouds of Qingyun began to stink.
Having fled the city once more, the nine of them caught their breath, utterly failing to understand why any of this was happening.
"Could it be we were wrong?" someone wondered doubtfully.
Li Wenyan also felt uncertain in his heart. He prided himself on never making wrong decisions, but lately, it seemed every decision he made was a mistake.
"If only those Wanbao Pavilion people would fight us properly, I, a fourth-rank cultivator, fear no one... but they report us to the authorities every single time... this..." Zhao Jinglei angrily punched a nearby tree, causing the sturdy trunk to shake violently.
Xiao Changfeng also felt dejected: "All my superb sword skills are wasted, with nowhere to exert my strength."
Everyone fell silent.
For the first time, someone began to question whether their campaign against Wanbao Pavilion was a mistake at all.
Meanwhile, in the Heavenly City, Prince Xuan was utterly bewildered.
"Prince Xuan is truly a great philanthropist!"
"I once spoke ill of Your Highness. Please do not hold it against this ignorant one."
"This old subject thanks Prince Xuan on behalf of the common people!"
These retired old ministers before him were showering him with praise, leaving him completely baffled.
It wasn't until evening, when his spy delivered a secret report, that he understood.
The industries under Wanbao Pavilion had recently been making a big show of doing good deeds, all uniformly stating to the public that it was Prince Xuan's will. The common people's favor towards this prince had multiplied.
"And because it's known to be Your Highness's enterprise... the local authorities investigating the loss of the charitable funds from Misty Rain Cloth Workshop have dispatched all their top experts in an urgent manhunt for the thieves," the spy reported.
Prince Xuan was dumbfounded. What was going on? He knew of Wanbao Pavilion; he supported it. But weren't all those operations Fang Zhiyi's doing? How had they become his?
And doing good deeds... good deeds...
Prince Xuan suddenly jumped up: "You said WHAT?!"
The spy was somewhat confused: "I said... the people are very grateful to Your Highness, and some local officials have submitted memorials praising your merits..."
Prince Xuan felt his scalp go numb. Praising merits! Showing support! He could already imagine how Emperor Tianyan would deal with him!
Had Fang Zhiyi gone mad?
But on second thought, no, that wasn't like him... So what he was doing was simply to build some reputation and gain some support for him?
Regardless, he was probably in for a rough time this time.
Sure enough, a messenger arrived in the middle of the night, saying Emperor Tianyan wished to summon Prince Xuan to the palace for a "chat."
Prince Xuan went with a bitter expression.
Fortunately, he was no pushover either. In terms of cultivation, he and Emperor Tianyan were evenly matched. In terms of bloodline, they were brothers. Though the Emperor's words were laden with implication, without solid evidence, he couldn't do much to him.
But he also realized one possibility.
With this move, Fang Zhiyi had dragged him out from the shadows. In other words, whereas before he had used Fang Zhiyi as a pawn, now he was the one bound to Fang Zhiyi's war chariot! And it was the kind you couldn't shake off!
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...
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
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!
