Su Jin looked at Pei Jingzhi and asked, "Pei Jingzhi, are you willing?"
"I am willing!" Pei Jingzhi replied without hesitation.
In the past, he had cursed the Demon Suppression Division, believing it to be a corrupt agency that disrupted the law and brought chaos to the court. But now... from questioning, to understanding, he was more than willing to follow them for the rest of his life.
"That is good. Now..."
Su Jin's gaze shifted as she called out, "Chen Youli, Wu Mingyu, Yang Tao."
Three elite warriors stepped forward in unison.
"Pei Jingzhi has just arrived at the Demon Suppression Division and still needs to learn many rules, especially how to kill the demons of passion. The three of you will be responsible for supervising him."
The three of them were momentarily stunned.
They were elites, so it was normal for them to lead subordinates. However, they were known for their ruthless methods. Given Pei Jingzhi's age and former status, could he endure their training?
However, the three were also smart.
They quickly understood Su Jin's intention.
She wanted to thoroughly train Pei Jingzhi, to forge him into the sharpest blade of the Demon Suppression Division!
They immediately dropped to one knee and accepted the order in unison.
How could Pei Jingzhi not understand the underlying meaning?
But right now, he didn't have the slightest thought of refusing.
He was willing!
More than willing!
To start as a common foot soldier, a soldier who wielded a blade to kill!
Throughout his life, he had been loyal to the sovereign, the country, and the ancestral shrine.
But in the end, the sovereign was false, the country was in chaos, and his family was broken!
The Empress had usurped the throne and ruined the court, the Great Yu Dynasty was utterly corrupt, and even the person sharing his bed and the children at his knees had all been deceiving him!
In this world, there was no longer a sovereign to be loyal to, nor a country to protect!
Today, he would abandon that false imperial lineage and the rotten Great Yu, and serve under a wise lord!
For the Duke, for the Demon Suppression Division, he would hold the whip and stirrups, purge the wicked monsters, and restore order to the world!
Ren Tianye took in Pei Jingzhi's expressions and movements.
He was very satisfied in his heart.
It seemed that this Pei Jingzhi was not completely stubborn.
Or rather, his stubbornness had already been shattered.
This gave him something to work with!
He called out, "Su Jin."
"Your subordinate is here!"
"Take the people from the Demon Suppression Division and escort Lady Liu and her daughter away. Pei Jingzhi will stay; I have matters to ask him."
"Yes!"
Su Jin led her people away, and Ren Tianye looked at Pei Jingzhi.
Pei Jingzhi was truly beginning to adapt, treating Ren Tianye as a wise lord. He quickly jogged a few steps to stand before Ren Tianye.
"I have a matter that it seems only you know about."
"Please speak, Your Grace. I will tell you everything I know without reservation." Pei Jingzhi's posture was respectful, yet it still carried a sense of integrity. Such people were always the most appreciated by leaders.
They didn't want someone who only knew how to flatter, but someone with their own thoughts, ideas, and initiative, who would prioritize the greater good when a leader assigned a task.
Pei Jingzhi was clearly such a person.
Otherwise, under Xiao Mingzhao's rule, he would have either been assimilated or died a staunch and fiery death long ago.
"Do you know of the White-robed Chancellor?"
"The White-robed Chancellor?" Pei Jingzhi was taken aback. "I only know a little. It is said she was a close boudoir friend of the former Empress. However, I am not too clear on the details. After all, I have always been dispatched outside by the Empress and have not spent much time in the capital."
"It is said that only you know the current location of the White-robed Chancellor?"
"Me?"
Pei Jingzhi was stunned again. How would he know?
However, he quickly realized and said, "Your Grace, it seems I really do know."
"It's just that I never paid attention to it."
"Your Grace, may I be permitted to go to the study? There are blood edicts the Empress once gave me. One of them is addressed to the Eldest Princess, Xiao Ruyi, and it indeed mentioned this."
Ren Tianye nodded. Pei Jingzhi hurried to the study and quickly brought out three blood edicts.
Otherwise, how could Pei Jingzhi have become a pillar of the Great Yu Dynasty? His political acumen was absolutely not low.
Among these three blood edicts, two were more or less targeting Ren Tianye. Yet at this moment, Pei Jingzhi had no intention of hiding them, boldly letting Ren Tianye read them.
He was betting that Ren Tianye would not blame him for past matters.
Sure enough, Ren Tianye didn't mind at all.
Ren Tianye directly threw away the blood letter Xiao Mingzhao gave to Pei Jingzhi. Of the remaining two, he first opened the one Xiao Mingzhao addressed to him. Upon reading it, he almost laughed out loud.
This could be considered a love letter, right?
He didn't expect that Old Ren would also get to enjoy such fine things, actually reaping the benefits of this absurd female-oriented novel world. To think there was a woman who held such great expectations for him—it was truly ridiculous!
He casually tossed it aside.
Looking at the edict Xiao Mingzhao gave to the Eldest Princess, Xiao Ruyi, he found the relevant passage. It clearly stated: If Xiao Ruyi encountered an indecisive matter, she could visit Chongning Nunnery.
It further wrote: If she could not find the person at Chongning Nunnery, she could go search in Wuyin Valley outside the city.
Wuyin Valley?
Ren Tianye's spirits lifted. "Wang Ming, Wei Shuo."
"Your subordinates are here!"
"Lead the army out of the city. The target is Wuyin Valley."
"Yes!"
The two responded in unison.
Wei Shuo took the lead.
There was no helping it. For outsiders like Wang Ming and Ren Tianye, they had no idea where Wuyin Valley was located. In fact, let alone Ren Tianye and Wang Ming, even Pei Jingzhi didn't know.
Only Wei Shuo knew the approximate direction.
To be safe, before leading the men out, Wei Shuo sent someone to notify Su Pengcheng, the head of the Su family in the capital.
Su Pengcheng was much more familiar with the terrain inside and outside the capital than Wei Shuo. With Su Pengcheng there, they would definitely be able to find the specific hiding place of the White-robed Chancellor.
Wei Shuo's prediction was not wrong.
He and Wang Ming led the army to the western outskirts of the capital but could not find the specific location of the White-robed Chancellor. After all, Wuyin Valley was situated at a bend of the Hanyan River, a tributary of the Wei River. It was surrounded by mountains on three sides and faced the water on one. The mouth of the valley was narrow but widened inwards, and its internal area was unknown.
Furthermore, Wuyin Valley was shrouded in mist all year round, making it difficult to distinguish figures beyond five steps. With towering ancient trees and intertwining vines, anyone not extremely familiar with the area could easily get lost.
As a result, even though Wei Shuo and Wang Ming brought a large army with numerous men, they could not discern the direction for a time and failed to find the true residence of the White-robed Chancellor.
Fortunately, Su Pengcheng arrived.
"Your Grace, Generals, there is a small cottage within Wuyin Valley that is quite extraordinary. I have always known about it, but I was unaware that it was related to the White-robed Chancellor. Please forgive my ignorance."
Su Pengcheng personally led the way, and the group followed him through the winding paths. They found that the valley was quite dilapidated, with seven or eight ruined thatched huts scattered about. Their walls were collapsed, windows shattered, and overgrown with weeds, looking as if they had been uninhabited for a long time.
Only one small hut remained relatively intact.
"It should be here."
Su Pengcheng said, "I have been here before. This... this small hut couldn't possibly hide the White-robed Chancellor, right?"
Wei Shuo's thoughts were completely different from Su Pengcheng's. Just because Su Pengcheng had been here didn't mean he had seen the true face of the White-robed Chancellor. Moreover, this small hut might not necessarily be unable to hide someone.
He led his men to search inch by inch and quickly discovered a clue.
"Your Grace, there is a secret passage here!"
Everyone was momentarily stunned and gathered to look. They saw a trapdoor on the floor inside the hut. After opening it, a winding path leading underground was revealed, which was actually quite spacious.
...
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
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.”
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?
