"Your Majesty, I believe this matter should be entirely up to Your Majesty to decide," Huang Huaili said.
The young emperor smiled somewhat shyly. "Then, then as for the remaining vacancies in the various ministries, I will leave it to you, Chancellor Huang, to decide."
Guo Qianyue, who had originally worn a look of impatience, almost had his eyes pop out of his head upon hearing this.
"Your Majesty, this is absolutely inappropriate!"
"Grand Marshal, are you questioning Your Majesty?" Huang Huaili cut in directly.
The few successful imperial candidates did not even dare to lift their heads, but it was obvious that they were somewhat shocked. In ancient times, unlike the future where a single video could reveal everything, in the hearts of these scholars from remote areas, the emperor was a supreme existence, the Son of Heaven. But why did this young emperor seem to have no say at all?
"The Emperor is young! You, surnamed Huang, are clearly bewitching His Majesty!" Guo Qianyue was truly angry. After several clashes, he had suffered quite a few losses. Although the Guo and Huang families were roughly equal in power, the difference lay precisely with the emperor. He did not know what this little thing was thinking. Why did he repeatedly favor Huang Huaili?
Could it be? He only glanced at the young emperor and dismissed his own thought. This was clearly a child, incapable of having any deep schemes. Thus, it was highly likely that this man surnamed Huang was using the emperor to seek personal gain.
Of course, it wasn't that he didn't want to do the same, but primarily that others shouldn't be allowed to do it.
"Ahem, Lord Guo, please speak with caution. We still have candidates here. Do you, Lord Guo, wish to be branded with the crime of monopolizing state affairs and showing great disrespect to His Majesty?" Huang Huaili said slowly. He was delighted right now. Having fought with the man surnamed Guo for over a decade, he never expected the winning edge to lie with this young emperor.
"You..." Guo Qianyue was truly not afraid of criminal charges, but infamy was something to consider. Even if he, Guo Qianyue, was shameless, he had to consider the reputation of the Guo family's descendants. "I beg Your Majesty's forgiveness!"
The young emperor was somewhat panicked. "The Grand Marshal speaks too seriously. It was my lack of forethought..."
"Your Majesty! You do not need to explain yourself to him. As the ruler of a nation, you do not need to explain anything you do to a subject!" Huang Huaili threw out another sentence, striking Guo Qianyue's head directly like a wooden mallet.
Was this man surnamed Huang trying to solidify the pretext that he was bullying the young emperor?
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, but knowing that saying too much now would only lead to mistakes, he could only grit his teeth and endure.
The candidates were clearly somewhat panicked, each with a different expression on their faces. And every single one of their expressions was quietly memorized by Fang Zhiyi.
It wasn't until they returned to the inner palace that an old senior maid, accompanied by two palace maids, suddenly blocked the young emperor's path. "Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager invites you to go over."
Hearing the words Empress Dowager, the young emperor inexplicably felt a bit afraid. This Empress Dowager was not his biological mother, but a concubine of the late emperor. She knew nothing but eating, drinking, and seeking pleasure. Moreover, there had been rumors that the Empress Dowager was having an affair with a certain court official... Of course, the palace maid who spread these words threw herself into a well that very day.
"Let's go." The old maid was not polite at all, stepping forward to pull at the young emperor.
Fang Zhiyi's eyes turned cold. This so-called Empress Dowager was Guo Qianyue's person. It seemed he truly harbored murderous intent toward the young emperor.
Just as he hesitated whether to intervene, the old maid cast a warning glare. But seeing Fang Zhiyi standing there with a wooden expression, the old maid nodded in satisfaction.
"Grand Tutor..." The young emperor looked at Fang Zhiyi for help.
Fang Zhiyi smiled. "Speaking of which, it has been several days since you paid your respects to the Empress Dowager. Your Majesty, you should go."
Looking at Fang Zhiyi's eyes, the young emperor was ultimately dragged away, full of reluctance.
Fang Zhiyi stood in place watching, and from the corner of his eye, he noticed that one of the two eunuchs following behind turned around and hurried away.
Let it be chaotic. The more chaotic, the better.
"Yunzhi! You child, you have been getting more and more out of line lately!" Although called the Empress Dowager, she was actually no more than thirty years old. Her heavily made-up face bore a trace of disgust. As a puppet Empress Dowager pushed into power, she knew very well that this young emperor was nothing but a plaything in the palms of those noble families, or even a scapegoat pushed to the front stage, who could be replaced at any time.
"Come here!"
Li Yunzhi shook his head repeatedly. "No."
"Hold him down and bring him here! Your wings have grown hard, haven't they? Is it your turn to speak casually?" The Empress Dowager's face was full of anger. She had already received a message from Guo Qianyue, hinting strongly that she should teach this young emperor a lesson so he would know whose side he should favor.
The old maid mercilessly grabbed the young emperor and dragged him forward, as if he were not the Son of Heaven, but a little beggar.
Li Yunzhi was terrified. He had been beaten by this Empress Dowager before and limped for over a month before recovering.
"No, no!"
"You are just like your mother, both cheap seeds!" The Empress Dowager raised her hand, while the old maid firmly pinned down the struggling Li Yunzhi.
"Protect the Emperor!" A sudden explosive shout stopped the Empress Dowager's raised hand from coming down. She then watched in astonishment as a group of people rushed in clamorously. The first to suffer was the old maid. She was still pinning Li Yunzhi down when the leading guard kicked her sharply in the calf. Her calf immediately let out a crisp snap, and she howled, rolling on the ground. The next moment, a blade was pressed against her neck.
"Audacious maid, how dare you use force against His Majesty! Do you have a death wish?"
The Empress Dowager, recovering her wits, glared and cursed, "Are your dog eyes blind? I am disciplining my child, what does it have to do with you? Get out!"
The leading Black Armor Guard looked at her coldly. "Empress Dowager, the orders we received are to ensure His Majesty's safety. Please do not make things difficult for us."
Even if the Empress Dowager was a fool, she knew clearly that, frankly speaking, she was just a mascot put on display like the young emperor. But thinking of Guo Qianyue's message, she felt somewhat unwilling to concede.
Just at this moment, another group of people rushed in. They were the Imperial City Guards, generally responsible for patrolling the outer perimeter of the imperial city. As soon as they entered, they drew their swords, forming a standoff with the Black Armor Guards.
Even a fool could see that these two groups belonged to different factions. The young emperor also understood. The Grand Tutor had said that the Black Armor Guards were Chancellor Huang's people, while the Imperial City Guards were Marshal Guo's people.
He had now become a tool for the two men's power struggle.
Fortunately, the situation did not remain deadlocked for long. First, a eunuch came in and whispered a few words to the head of the Black Armor Guards. He then led his men to escort the young emperor toward the door. Without receiving any instructions, the Imperial City Guards did not dare to act rashly, and the two groups separated just like that.
Only the old maid with the broken leg was left rolling on the ground, screaming miserably.
The Empress Dowager was somewhat bewildered. The man surnamed Huang was actually protecting the young emperor? Why?
Spending her days in pleasure, she naturally did not know what had happened recently. She just inexplicably felt that the young emperor seemed to have changed a bit, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what had changed.
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.”
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."
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."
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.
