In his early years, Zhou Zhi passed the imperial examination in Yunjing and entered the civil service. He was assigned to the official bookstore in Huai'an City as a clerk.
However, unlike the clerks in the Great Yu imperial bookstore who compiled and edited the classics, histories, philosophers, and literature, the Huai'an City bookstore only did one thing.
They compiled, printed, and revised storybooks featuring domineering princes, fated tragic romances, and forceful love in wealthy families.
Zhou Zhi worked meticulously. His transcriptions were neat, his proofreading rigorous, and he formatted every romance novel according to the stylistic rules of official historical records.
He even specifically added annotations: "This is adapted from true events of past lives and can serve as a model for marriage in the world."
Because of this, he was promoted and put in charge of the library, establishing his foundation.
The library was originally an ordinary pavilion used to store scattered romance novels, so Zhou Zhi submitted a proposal to his superiors.
He suggested expanding the pavilion in the style of Yunjing and upgrading it to the official Huai'an City Library. The local government petitioned Yunjing to officially declare that all the foundational texts in the library were true stories, listing them as required reading for all ladies and noble families in the city.
He named it the Red Luan Literary Pavilion.
He even wrote countless letters to Yunjing, eventually moving both Yunjing and the Alliance of One Heart. Consequently, Yunjing and the Alliance of One Heart jointly endorsed it.
Afterward, he personally supervised the expansion project.
He formalized and institutionalized the spirit of "love above all."
Because his achievements were so outstanding, he received an exceptional promotion.
He was directly elevated to Education Commissioner, taking charge of the city's moral and cultural instruction.
After his promotion, he mandated that women of all households must study the romantic texts of the Red Luan Literary Pavilion, and their values regarding marriage must conform to the fated romances depicted in the books.
He also ordered the banning of any miscellaneous books in the markets that questioned the supremacy of love, only permitting the printing of sweet romance storybooks about domineering princes.
He frequently hosted conventions on the "Way of Love," citing classics and quoting authoritative texts.
Due to his success in education and his deep cultivation of the Red Luan Literary Pavilion's reputation, he was ultimately promoted to the top judicial official in Huai'an, overseeing all case judgments, sentencing, and legal rulings in the city.
He judged cases fairly and absolutely never mixed in any personal favors.
It was just that... the penal codes he relied on were entirely the laws of Yunjing and Huai'an City!
Ren Tianye read through it quickly, then read it carefully a second time, and his heart instantly surged with an incredibly absurd feeling.
And this feeling was stronger than ever before!
Damn it... this is too outrageous!
Judging from various records, this Zhou Zhi was neither a corrupt official nor a cruel tyrant. He had no sinister or cunning intentions. He handled matters reliably, disciplined himself strictly, and in Huai'an City, he was truly a rare and dutiful man.
He was even a rare good official.
But damn it...
This guy actually took Yunjing's twisted heresy of "love-brained supremacy" and treated it as eternal etiquette and the rules of the sages to be defended to the death!
"What kind of sins has Liu Ruyan committed!"
"What has she turned this world into!"
Ren Tianye complained inwardly. At this moment, his killing intent toward Liu Ruyan rose by another three levels.
"Lord Duke..." Seeing Ren Tianye put down the book, Pei Jingzhi sighed and said, "This Zhou Zhi makes me see my former self."
"Fortunately, I was not poisoned as deeply as he is. Even when I was most loyal to the Female Emperor, I never committed any evil against the common people."
"But this person treats Yunjing as divine, obeys without a doubt, uses official power to prop up the Red Luan Literary Pavilion, establishes twisted heresies as orthodox rules, and distorts the atmosphere of an entire city from the top down."
"He abolishes proper education and ruins the people's livelihoods, family businesses, city defenses, and duties."
"He also indulges paranoid and obsessive entanglements, causing countless people to ruin their lives."
"The most hateful thing is that he favors these 'love above all' people, squeezing out the path of survival for ordinary people. Those who just want to live peacefully have actually become unforgivable sinners in this Huai'an City. It is truly laughable, so laughable!"
Ren Tianye also sighed.
Some people take the wrong path, but their mistakes are not deep and they do not harm the innocent, so they can still be given a chance to turn over a new leaf.
But some people mistake the wrong path for the right one, walking it into darkness, still fearing they haven't done enough.
Then no matter what his original intentions were, he must face the consequences he deserves!
Ren Tianye's eyes turned sharp, and he picked up a brush to cross out the name Zhou Zhi.
He immediately called out, "Summon Su Jin."
A moment later, a personal guard came to report, "Lord Duke, Lord Su Jin was called to the Huai'an City prison by General Wang Ming."
"What did he go to the prison for?"
Xie Changfeng, the Vice Envoy of the Demon Suppression Division who had tagged along, immediately recounted Xu Qin's outrageous behavior in detail, explaining how Zhou Zhi was obstructing Zhang Shi and Wang Ming.
Hearing this, Ren Tianye actually laughed.
"Good, very good!"
"Zhou Zhi is upholding Yunjing's laws to sentence my court's officials."
"What?"
"Trying to use the sword of the previous dynasty to execute an official of the current dynasty?"
He paused, then stood up and said, "Xie Changfeng."
"Subordinate is here!"
"To the prison."
"Yes!"
Joy surged on Xie Changfeng's face. He had wanted to intervene in this matter for a long time. So what if it was a mind-bewitching demonic creature? In their Demon Suppression Division, there was nothing that couldn't be corrected.
Whoever used the Demon Suppression Division's methods knew how good they were!
The group marched over in a grand procession.
Xie Changfeng was also very thoughtful; he had someone go and call Su Jin back.
With the Lord Duke personally taking action, Su Jin shouldn't handle it first, lest he ruin the Lord Duke's grand plan.
As a result, the most powerful and influential figures of the Great Yu court were now gathered within this Huai'an City prison.
Ren Tianye, Pei Jingzhi, Su Jin, Xie Changfeng, Zhang Shi, Wang Ming...
With so many people, Zhang Shi and Wang Ming in the light, and Ren Tianye and the others in the dark, they all listened to the twisted heresy spouted by Zhou Zhi and Xu Qin!
"Being influenced by books, that is the way of the sages. If it is because of this, then the crime can be reduced by a degree!"
"I almost wronged a good person!"
"For the sake of love, you don't need to pay too much compensation!"
"As an official, like the clear blue sky above, I will definitely uphold justice for you!"
"I will not let a single bad person go, nor will I wrong a single good person!"
"Zhang Shi, do you plead guilty?"
"Even if the Lord Duke breaks the law, I will arrest him just the same!"
...
Ren Tianye's head ached from listening.
This Zhou Zhi and Xu Qin were truly... extraordinary!
From this, it was evident that the entirety of Huai'an City was already in deep water and scorching fire. Without putting in some serious effort, it would be impossible to destroy the old and establish the new!
Ren Tianye took large strides out.
The crowd behind him also followed.
Zhang Shi, who had been standing there in a daze, was about to draw his sword as he recovered his wits, but suddenly saw Ren Tianye and hurriedly dropped to one knee.
Wang Ming and the others also dropped to one knee.
Everyone in the prison dropped to one knee in unison.
Only Zhou Zhi stood tall and unmoving.
With a calm expression, he said, "Lord Duke, you have come at the perfect time. However, no matter who comes today, I will absolutely punish General Zhang Shi for his crimes!"
"No one can stop me!"
...
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
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!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
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.
