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.
for mindless slaughter, this isn't for you.] My name is Ye Shu, and I'm a transmigrator. It seems I'm supposed to be the protagonist, but that feels pretty unlikely. This world has been invaded by a system. The antagonists on the other side have suddenly become pure, flawless saints. The female leads have been force-fed the so-called "original plot," making them think they've been reborn. Now, everyone thinks I'm scum. Including the old lady in my ring. And here I am, in the Monster Beast Mountain Range, braising pork. To put my situation in perspective— It's as if, the moment Xiao Yan stepped into the Monster Beast Mountain Range, the Soul Emperor already knew he would become the Flame Emperor, and Yao Lao had been turned to the enemy's side. I have nothing right now. Oh wait, that's not true. I do have a white-haired loli child-bride who's the Heavenly Dao, and her only skill is acting cute. So, tell me guys... what are my chances of making it to the end?
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.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
