Since he had become the emperor, Fang Zhiyi naturally had to move from the Crown Prince's residence into the palace. It was also on this night that he saw the woman who made him uncomfortable again.
A jug of wine, two plates of pastries. Xu Ruyi sat gently in front of him, staring at his face as if meeting him for the first time.
"You are not her," Fang Zhiyi said without even lifting his eyelids.
Xu Ruyi covered her mouth with her sleeve and chuckled softly. "Clever indeed. You are not him either."
Fang Zhiyi looked up at the woman's alluring face. "Although I don't know what you're after, you should know... now that I'm the emperor, your entire family has no way out."
Xu Ruyi seemed somewhat smug. "I don't know whether to praise your arrogance or your confidence. What makes you think you can control the overall situation?"
Hearing this, Fang Zhiyi turned to look outside the door. Four imperial guards stood at the archway outside.
Xu Ruyi also looked over. "If you don't believe me, you can try calling them."
Fang Zhiyi remained silent.
"You are a smart person, so I won't beat around the bush... Ever since you entered this imperial palace, you have become a plaything in my hands." She laughed again as she spoke. "It's quite troublesome to deal with you. I have to make you repeat the original owner's failure before I can extract your soul."
"You don't need to struggle. Given your current body, you probably can't put up any resistance. Right now, many officials in the various ministries of the court have already defected to the Xu family, which means they are my subordinates. As for the palace... that goes without saying."
"It wasn't easy to find an opportunity. I've followed you through three worlds, waiting for the time when that system wasn't around. I didn't expect the opportunity to come so quickly."
Fang Zhiyi watched her pour wine for him and, without hesitation, raised the cup and downed it in one gulp.
"Aren't you afraid I poisoned it?" The woman laughed so hard she trembled.
Fang Zhiyi shook his head. "You wouldn't use such a stupid method."
"That's true. You can live a few more days. Of course, you can also try to turn the tables. I see you are very good at playing from a disadvantageous position." She paused for a moment. "To be honest, I actually admire you quite a bit."
"Oh?" Fang Zhiyi lifted his eyelids to look at her, and suddenly the corners of his mouth curled up.
"Hmm?"
"If you admire me just for this, then you'll probably be prostrating yourself in admiration next."
The woman tilted her head playfully. "You look quite cute when you're being stubborn. Unfortunately... sometimes, relying solely on brains isn't enough to get things done."
Fang Zhiyi smiled and said nothing more.
Xiaocui hurried in, glanced at Fang Zhiyi, and then said tremblingly to Xu Ruyi, "Your Majesty, it's... it's bad..."
The smile on Xu Ruyi's face didn't fade, but her tone grew colder. "What's bad?"
"Lord Xu was just arrested by the Prince of Chu and his men!"
"What? How dare he do that? What is his status?" Xu Ruyi turned her head.
Just as she spoke, another eunuch rushed in.
"Empress!"
"Speak!"
"It's chaos, absolute chaos! Prince Qi and Prince Wei took their men and arrested many officials from the Six Ministries. Now there are patrolling soldiers everywhere in the city! Everything is in chaos!"
"What's going on? What about Lord Wei's patrol camp?" Xu Ruyi completely lost her smile.
The young eunuch glanced at Fang Zhiyi. "To reply to Your Majesty, the patrol camp hasn't made a move. Someone saw Prince Xiang hurrying to the patrol camp..."
Xu Ruyi abruptly looked at Fang Zhiyi.
Fang Zhiyi shrugged. "Don't look at me. I've been right here the whole time."
"What exactly did you do?"
"I didn't do anything," Fang Zhiyi smiled. "I just acted as a good elder brother."
"Impossible. They already lost trust in you!"
"The one they lost trust in was the Crown Prince, not their elder brother." Fang Zhiyi poured himself a cup of wine. "Before you started monitoring me, I had already told them... if there were any changes in the court, no matter what they were, it would definitely be the Crown Prince's consort causing trouble. When the time came, they should just take action, and I would bear all the blame."
"Oh, right, there's also a long list. You didn't think I couldn't deduce who would defect to you without the system, did you?"
"You..."
"How did I see through you, right? Xu Ruyi would never bow to me, but you, my dear friend, gave me quite a standard bow the very first time we met. A person's habits don't change. She hated me from the bottom of her heart." Fang Zhiyi said with a smile. "Not to mention, her look of disgust was actually quite appealing."
Xu Ruyi bit her lip. She hadn't expected Fang Zhiyi to conclude she wasn't the original owner based on just one action.
"Even so, you can't escape! Men!" She slammed the table. The imperial guards waiting outside grabbed the hilts of their swords and marched in, but before they could take more than a few steps, several sharp arrows shot out from behind, causing the four guards to instantly fall to the ground.
"How is this possible!" Seeing the swarming imperial guards, it was obvious these people weren't Xu Ruyi's men. "System, why didn't you warn me!"
Fang Zhiyi glanced at Xiaocui and the eunuch, who were already trembling with fear, and gave a crooked, arrogant smile. "You made two mistakes. First, you incorrectly underestimated my vigilance. Second... you looked down on it too much."
He pointed behind Xu Ruyi. When Xu Ruyi turned her head, the sight before her filled her face with terror.
That eerie black creature extended several tentacles, tightly entangling her system, while radiating a terrifying aura of pressure.
She watched helplessly as her system was torn to shreds, panic flooding her mind.
"Take down the Empress. Pass on the order: the Empress has plotted rebellion, the entire Xu family is to be executed, and the Empress is to be banished to the Cold Palace." Fang Zhiyi's words made Xu Ruyi's head buzz.
"It won't let you off! Don't think you've won; it's coming!" she screamed like a madwoman.
Fang Zhiyi didn't look back, but walked out with his hands behind his back.
"Wow, this dragon robe looks pretty sharp," Prince Xiang's voice rang out. Fang Zhiyi turned around, his face full of majesty.
Prince Xiang remembered his current status and was about to restrain himself a bit when Fang Zhiyi directly started taking off the robe. "Sharp, right? Come, come, come, you wear it."
"Second Brother, I told you Big Brother would definitely say that." Prince Wei also walked over.
"Fifth Brother, shut up. We all understood Big Brother's look back then. Only you stood there looking foolish."
Fang Zhiyi turned and saw Prince Qi looking sour, and his eyes immediately lit up. "Third Brother! Stop right there and don't move!"
"No, no, no, this is against protocol, Big Brother!"
The old emperor managed to keep his life but was still at death's door. Seeing Fang Zhiyi constantly trying to find someone else to be the emperor made him curse in anger. As a result, Fang Zhiyi simply pulled a disappearing act. The court couldn't be without a monarch. The second brother was unwilling to take the throne, so Prince Qi half-heartedly took the position, claiming that if Big Brother returned, he would immediately abdicate.
But Fang Zhiyi never came back.
He just occasionally appeared before his younger brothers, and whenever he appeared, it was to ask for money, leaving Prince Xiang and the others constantly on guard.
It was also because of Fang Zhiyi that these brothers, who by all rights should have been locked in a bitter struggle for power, maintained a wonderful relationship. When Prince Qi's son passed away prematurely, he did not hesitate to approach Prince Xiang, wanting Prince Xiang's son to be installed as the Crown Prince. After Prince Xiang refused, he immediately turned to the Prince of Chu. The son of the Prince of Chu simply could not fathom why his father would so utterly disdain the throne that everyone else desperately wanted.
Alas, you do not understand... But the younger generation will find their own blessings. Off you go now, and do not disturb my travels.
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!
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 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.
shall grant"] ["Inscribing the glory of our race upon tombstones"] ["All that is threatened, I shall protect"] How his younger sister sees her brother: A brother who only makes eye contact once a day, mostly fading into the background as he tinkers with who-knows-what in his room all day. Their life paths should have remained largely separate. Until one day. Su Qi created an equipment card for his never-met "online girlfriend." His sister fell into silent contemplation upon receiving the "white stockings." [Card can be upgraded] [Upgrade by fulfilling any of the following conditions] [Condition ①: Consume one hundred higher-tier cards] [Condition ②: Complete one 'Heart-Pounding Adventure'] What constitutes a Heart-Pounding Adventure? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Beginner Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to admire it.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Easy Level): Equip the card, invite 'Su Qi' to touch it, and analyze the equipment's texture.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Entry Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to...] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Challenge Level): Freely combine the words 'Brother' 'Out' 'Brother' 'Me' 'Please' into a complete sentence...] "Please help me analyze both teams' mistakes in this match, brother..." His sister exhaled in relief—surely... surely there couldn't be anything more difficult? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Suicide Mission Level): Sneak a peek at the names of the galgames in 'Su Qi's' hidden E-drive folder]
