No matter how astute Chen Liang was, he could never have imagined this.
They had guarded against every possible threat, yet they had failed to guard against a nearly fifty-year-old crone?
He just could not understand it!
How could a domineering high official in charge of the inner treasury and the armory fall in love with an old cleaning woman? Her menstruation must have stopped ages ago, for crying out loud!
Wei Chengye, no longer bothering to give Chen Liang a pleasant look, grabbed Cai Genhua and turned to stride away. He wanted to leave this place that neither understood, respected, nor blessed them, and go to a world meant only for the two of them, where they could be deeply in love.
The steward, having followed them to the door, witnessed this scene and turned back to report to Pei Jingzhi. Master, Lord Wei has left with his new bride. Do you think we should send someone to see them off?
The steward had clearly seen how much respect Pei Jingzhi had shown Wei Chengye recently; after all, Wei Chengye had been staying at the Pei residence. He figured the two men merely had a minor falling out, and knowing his master's temperament, this knot could probably still be untied.
But Pei Jingzhi simply roared, Let him get the hell out!
Tell him to get out immediately!
And... burn down the room he has been staying in these past few days, and throw all of his belongings out!
Throw them at him!
Do not leave a single thing behind!
The steward was taken aback. After a moment of hesitation, he ventured, Master, wouldn't that be a bit too hurtful to him?
Pei Jingzhi jumped up instantly, picked up the inkstone, and hurled it at the steward, cursing, Hurtful my ass!
The inkstone flew through the air, but the steward dodged it with a nimble sidestep. A cold sweat broke out on his forehead, realizing that his master was truly enraged this time.
Even with his master's usually broad-minded nature, he was thoroughly furious.
At that moment, not daring to delay any further, he immediately called for a few servants and rushed straight to the room where Wei Chengye had stayed. In no time at all, they had packed up all of Wei Chengye's belongings.
Swarming out of the manor's gates, they spotted Wei Chengye, who had not gone far.
Hold on, Lord Wei. These are the things my master ordered us to bring out to you. They are all items you have used, and our master finds them filthy. Please take good care of them yourself.
Wei Chengye was already quite unhappy, and now seeing that Pei Jingzhi actually disrespected him so blatantly, his anger could no longer be suppressed. He was on the verge of losing his mind.
He decided not to leave just yet. Turning to face the Pei residence, he began to hurl insults.
Pei Jingzhi, you are nothing but an old stubborn fool!
You cling to outdated traditions all day long, your brain is rusted shut! You have no idea how to understand others, and you know absolutely nothing about love!
Truly, one cannot speak of ice to a summer insect, nor of the ocean to a frog in a well!
Do you not know that for the love of someone, one can even give up an empire? Her Majesty was willing to forsake the empire for Tuoba Xiangtai, and even the late Emperor enfeoffed the late Empress's lover in Yunjing, granting him land and the title of Prince.
I merely fell in love with a woman older than myself. How can you humiliate me like this?
Wei Chengye shouted his curses one by one, his voice rolling into the Pei residence. The steward's face changed drastically upon hearing this. He hurriedly returned to report, only to see his master with old tears streaming down his face, nearly crying his eyes out in front of Chen Liang.
At this moment, it was not his place as a steward to say much, especially since his usually lenient master had just thrown an inkstone at him. However, he dared not keep silent.
After all, the implications of Wei Chengye's words were truly shocking to the world.
Granting him land, making him a Prince...
So, this was how the Prince of Yunjing obtained his power?
Gathering his courage, he fell to his knees.
Master, Wei Chengye is cursing in the street. He says, he says... the Prince of Yunjing was the late Empress's lover, and the late Emperor deliberately enfeoffed him there to compensate the late Empress...
Boom!
It sounded like another clap of thunder.
Pei Jingzhi stopped crying.
Chen Liang also ceased his words of comfort.
The two men turned their heads almost simultaneously to look at the steward, their eyes filled with utter disbelief.
The Prince of Yunjing?
That was how he came to be?
No, no...
Their minds felt a bit chaotic.
Wasn't the Prince of Yunjing the late Emperor's sworn brother?
How... how did he become the late Empress's lover?
What the hell was going on here?
This was too messy!
Their brains were about to explode!
It took a long while before Pei Jingzhi and Chen Liang finally sorted it out.
That Prince of Yunjing had originally emerged from who knows where, yet the late Emperor, under the guise of pitying his talent, took him as a sworn brother, entered him into the imperial registry, and sent him to his fief in Yunjing.
This matter had initially met with opposition from countless ministers.
But the late Emperor's actions had, after all, followed formal procedures, and at the time, Pei Jingzhi was serving as an official outside the capital and was completely unaware of the inside story.
Now...
He finally understood!
The late Emperor, in order to compensate the late Empress, took her lover as a sworn brother and even enfeoffed him with Yunjing, one of the two capitals of the Great Yu dynasty!
And that was how the current Prince of Yunjing came to be!
What was even more terrifying...
The Prince of Yunjing held actual power!
A true vassal king!
Because the late Emperor had handed over all military, civil, financial, and political affairs within the borders of Yunjing City to the Prince of Yunjing!
He even allowed the Prince of Yunjing to appoint his own subordinate officials, command his own guard troops, and keep all the tax revenues of his fiefdom for the princely estate, without having to remit them to the capital. His ceremonial status was even on par with that of an imperial prince of the first rank.
Furthermore, without an imperial edict, he was not required to come to court.
Pei Jingzhi had agonized over this matter for a long time. After all, having powerful princes within the Great Yu dynasty was extremely detrimental to the imperial court. To this end, he had repeatedly offered strategies to the Empress, trying every possible means to abolish Yunjing and a few other princes.
Yet he never expected that the initiator of all this was actually the late Emperor.
No wonder the memorials he had poured his heart and soul into writing were all ignored by the Empress. So... so this was why!
Pei Jingzhi's tears began to pour out uncontrollably once again.
But this time, it was not out of sorrow or pain, but rather a kind of detachment following extreme despair. It was as if everything between heaven and earth had become empty. This Great Yu dynasty... might as well just explode!
How could he, a mere mortal, defy the heavens and change the fate of the Great Yu dynasty?
He could only go down with the Great Yu dynasty!
Chen Liang harbored similar thoughts.
From this moment on, he suddenly felt that Ren Tianye, that powerful minister, might not be so bad after all.
He somewhat... understood Ren Tianye now.
The Demon Suppression Division appeared domineering, a hundred times more vicious than the court's lackeys. But with the world filled with such deranged monsters obsessed with love, it truly required the iron-fisted methods of the Demon Suppression Division to intimidate them.
Perhaps I should consider defecting to Ren Tianye?
Chen Liang already had an idea in his heart, but he did not make an immediate decision.
Firstly, he and Pei Jingzhi were on the same front. Lord Pei Jingzhi was still fighting desperately against Ren Tianye, so how could he betray Lord Pei?
Secondly, he did not completely trust Ren Tianye yet. He needed to observe for a while longer, especially to see the actions of the Demon Suppression Division.
Thirdly, and most importantly.
He was currently nothing more than a commander of the Cavalry Division. Even if he defected to Ren Tianye, he might not be highly regarded. If he joined the Demon Suppression Division, his position would probably be even lower than Xie Changfeng's.
One must know that Xie Changfeng used to rank lower than him!
He had to find a way to make Ren Tianye view him in a better light.
...
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.
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
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."
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.”
