Looking at his grandson who threw himself into his arms, Wang Shi'an murmured, "You won this bet."
News of the turmoil in the capital was blocked for a month. It was only a month later that the news spread out, accompanied by the announcement of the new emperor's ascension to the throne.
Everyone who knew Fang Zhiyi felt their hearts tighten. They didn't know exactly what had happened. The Heaven-Shrouding Guards frequently tried to enter the capital to gather intelligence, but their intelligence network had been cut off as well.
The most crucial point was that Fang Zhiyi had not returned.
Instead, several eunuchs arrived bearing the new emperor's imperial decree, summoning Zuo Qianqiu and others to the capital to seek an audience with His Majesty. When they arrived in the capital, they discovered that besides the leaders of the Heaven-Shrouding Guards, many martial artists from the Jianghu had also been summoned by the decree.
Everyone was utterly bewildered.
That was until they saw the familiar figure standing beside the little emperor.
"Teacher, are they the martial arts experts?" the little emperor asked, his face full of curiosity.
Fang Zhiyi smiled and said, "Yes, every single one of them is an expert. Do you want to learn martial arts?"
The little emperor nodded repeatedly.
"You may."
News that shook the Jianghu spread once again. The imperial court had established a special agency named the Martial Virtue Department. The Heaven-Shrouding Guards were placed under its jurisdiction. In addition, the founding members of the Martial Virtue Department were all concurrently held by the sect leaders or elders of the major martial arts sects.
Simply put, these sects had secured permanent government positions.
Some cursed them for surrendering to the court, but even more people were calculating the future landscape of the Jianghu.
Following the establishment of the Martial Virtue Department, the public security management law for the Jianghu was freshly introduced. It was said that this law was named by Fang Zhiyi, discussed by representatives of the major sects, and finally approved by Qijue.
It explicitly stated that in the future, if vendettas occurred in the Jianghu, the Martial Virtue Department would have the absolute right to investigate. Such violations included, but were not limited to, brawls, frictions between sects, and murder for treasure.
At the same time, the Martial Virtue Department announced to the world that all old, accumulated cases related to the Jianghu would be thoroughly investigated. They encouraged commoners to file lawsuits, striving to create a fair and just order in the martial world.
Initially, some people did not take it seriously, but as soon as they committed a crime, they felt the pressure. Almost all the major sects issued arrest warrants. Combined with the pervasive reach of the Heaven-Shrouding Guards, the offenders were apprehended before they could even remain at large for three days.
Along with changes in some of the court's policies, many preferential policies for martial artists emerged. Many sect disciples chose to join the army, and some even entered the official system through special recruitment. With this step taken, the chaotic order gradually stabilized, and in Western Shu, there was no longer a distinction between the imperial court and the Jianghu.
"My Lord." Someone hurriedly found Fang Zhiyi holding a petition stamped with dozens of bloody handprints. Fang Zhiyi was currently supervising the miserable-looking little emperor reciting his texts. Hearing the voice, he turned to look at his subordinate, whose face was full of excitement.
"Greetings, Your Majesty." The subordinate bowed to the little emperor. The little emperor returned the greeting, "Master." He had never expected that just because he said he wanted to learn, Fang Zhiyi would arrange over a dozen masters for him, nearly torturing him to death. Yet, his grandfather thought it was great, believing that as an emperor, he needed some means of self-defense.
"Dozens of commoners are suing Jiang Gucheng of the Jiang family in Jiangnan for indiscriminately killing innocents!"
Fang Zhiyi smiled. He had finally waited for this.
The Jiang family had a sharp sense of danger and had locked Jiang Gucheng securely at home, thinking that the matter would just blow over like this?
"I will handle this case personally." Fang Zhiyi took the petition.
"This world is too strange. How did everyone become the court's running dogs?" Jiang Xue snorted angrily.
Xiao Yidan comforted her, "I heard that Fang Zhiyi is quite ruthless. He won over many sect leaders and even pulled Qijue into that so-called Martial Virtue Department. But it's none of our business."
"We sons and daughters of the Jianghu are meant to settle our gratitude and grudges freely. Why do they need to meddle in our affairs?" As Jiang Xue was speaking, Jiang Gucheng's agonizing screams came from the backyard.
"My brother is having another episode." Jiang Xue closed her eyes in some pain.
After a good while, the commotion in the backyard ceased, and several people walked out carrying two corpses.
Seeing Meng Xiaodie, Jiang Xue hurried forward. "Sister-in-law, how is my brother?"
Meng Xiaodie smiled and rubbed her head. "He fell asleep. It's fine. Your father found a new miracle doctor for him, who will arrive this afternoon."
Jiang Xue looked at the two dead people; one was a maid, and the other was a middle-aged man. She frowned slightly. "What a bullshit doctor, bah!" She was very angry because recently her father had forbidden her from going out as well, saying that the situation outside was delicate.
Jiang Xue simply didn't understand. The Jiang family was large and powerful; how could a delicate situation affect their own family?
Even those major sects were exceedingly respectful when they came to celebrate her father's birthday every year. Could a mere Martial Virtue Department scare her father that much?
She was just about to speak when a commotion erupted in the front yard.
A servant came running in a hurry. "Miss, Miss Meng, you two need to take the young master and leave immediately!"
Jiang Xue was confused. "Why?"
"Those peasants sued our young master, and the court has sent people to arrest him!"
Jiang Xue was instantly furious. "Who gave them the nerve! Don't they know this is the Jiang family?"
Fortunately, Meng Xiaodie was worried about Jiang Gucheng's condition. After much persuasion, Jiang Xue finally agreed to take her brother away first.
"Great Hero Jiang, your son has committed the crime of murder multiple times. You aren't going to harbor him, are you?" The person who came was the eldest disciple of the Lingshan Sect, wearing the uniform of the Martial Virtue Department with a token hanging at his waist.
Although Jiang Jun was displeased, as an experienced veteran of the Jianghu, he knew that the Martial Virtue Department was currently very powerful, and he could not confront them head-on. "My Lord, my son is ill, as everyone in the martial world knows. He has been at home and hasn't stepped out the door. This must be a false accusation by someone."
"Whether it's a false accusation or not, we will know once we interrogate him. Hand him over."
"This..."
Seeing the butler winking at him, Jiang Jun immediately changed his attitude. "Go ahead and search, but don't think you can just search my, Jiang Jun's, residence today and leave it at that!"
"Oh? Is there a problem with us handling a case?"
"The old Prime Minister is an old acquaintance of mine, and the Governor-General of Jiangnan is also an old friend. Boy, even your master has to call me senior when he sees me. Don't be too arrogant." Jiang Jun was already harboring some anger, and at this moment, he toughened his stance.
So what if it was the imperial court? Didn't he have a background in the court as well? He really didn't believe that a mere Martial Virtue Department would dare to challenge the Jiang family.
"Are you comparing backgrounds with me?"
Only then did Jiang Jun realize that the person speaking to him was the one standing behind the eldest disciple of the Lingshan Sect.
He didn't recognize this person, but he still maintained the demeanor of an expert. "What if I am? My Jiang family has never meddled in Jianghu affairs. I ask myself and believe I have done right by the court and my friends in the martial world. If your Martial Virtue Department throws its weight around to bully people, I, Jiang Jun, will definitely not let this go!"
The man laughed. "Your background is just the Jiang family as a local power, a retired old Prime Minister, and a Governor-General of Jiangnan, right?" He slowly walked to the front of the crowd and gave a toothy smile. "I'm so scared. You have people above you. But, there is no one above me anymore."
end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia
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."
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.
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
