Bathed in the magnificent golden light of the sun, Yunji City, half-encircled by three steep, towering peaks, looked like a masterpiece of art.
Standing halfway up the mountain, with its sturdy and thick arms, it protected the people of this region, becoming their safe harbor and faith under the iron hooves of the barbarians.
At the same time, this Yunji City was also Zhan Shubai's faith.
When he appeared at the foot of Yunji City in tattered clothes, all the fear and anxiety from his journey completely vanished.
Looking at Yunji City so close at hand, a gentle smile couldn't help but appear on Zhan Shubai's face.
This Yunji City, which he had nourished with his hard work and sweat for several years, had unknowingly become the greatest safe haven in his heart.
Now...
He had finally returned to this safe haven.
"Finally, finally... I'm here..."
Zhan Shubai wiped the muddy sweat from his face, a strong smile emerging on his handsome features.
However, the exhausting journey back had left him with almost no strength.
When he couldn't even lift his legs to walk, his expression turned from joy to anger, and he cursed viciously in his heart.
He freaking knew that Ren Tianye, that despicable villain, wanted to suppress him.
In order to snatch his position as His Majesty's third favorite, he actually sent assassins after him.
Damn it, fortunately his martial arts were extraordinary, allowing him to escape.
However, the fine steed he rode was whipped so hard to hurry along that it soon foamed at the mouth and broke down. This left him searching for a mount all along the way, but to no avail.
He had no choice but to use his own two feet to measure the land beneath him.
For several days and nights, traveling almost without sleep or rest, he finally returned to Yunji City.
"I am finally going to retrieve the Immortal Soul Epiphyllum that I will present to His Majesty. Once I offer this item, His Majesty will surely see my loyalty and understand my heart."
"Those rumors, and the nonsense from that villain Ren Tianye slandering me as a bean sprout, will naturally collapse on their own!"
Zhan Shubai's eyes were firm as he thought this.
He used his last ounce of strength to stride toward the foot of Yunji City. After finally getting close, he saw that the gates of Yunji City, which he had personally supervised the installation of, were tightly shut, giving off a stern and chilling atmosphere.
However, Zhan Shubai didn't mind.
Although he didn't build Yunji City, he had thickened and reinforced it brick by brick. His familiarity with the city gave him a strong sense of control.
He immediately shouted at the soldiers on the gate tower.
"Men, open the gates for this general!"
The shout wasn't loud, but it was enough to be heard clearly.
But his anticipated scene of the city gates opening wide to welcome him back did not happen. Instead...
The soldiers on the gate tower were all poised for action.
Some had even drawn the stiff bows from their backs.
Then...
They rebuked loudly.
"Yunji City is closed off. No one is allowed to enter or leave."
"You beggar, go beg somewhere else."
These words made Zhan Shubai furious.
What the hell?
A beggar? Are the soldiers of Yunji City blind? How dare they treat him as a beggar?
He was just exhausted from the journey back and a bit dirty, but could a beggar compare to his extraordinary and heroic posture?
"In a moment, I will definitely let these blind soldiers taste the power of my Supervisory Team."
Thinking this, Zhan Shubai's face was full of anger: "It's me, Zhan Shubai! Open the gate for this general!"
The city wall instantly descended into chaos.
"It's Zhan Shubai!"
"Whoa, it's Zhan Shubai!"
"Quick, quick, quick, don't let him get away."
"Go report to the lord, Zhan Shubai has returned."
...
This panicked scene made a somewhat smug look appear on Zhan Shubai's face.
As the king of this Yunji City, his soldiers should be terrified just hearing his name.
It was just...
He was slightly confused.
"Why did they say not to let me get away?"
Frowning, he looked up, only to suddenly realize that the soldiers standing guard with halberds on the wall looked very unfamiliar to him.
You must know, he had poured all his blood, sweat, and tears into Yunji City. For years, he worked day and night, personally visiting the construction sites and personally training the seven thousand soldiers of Yunji City. He might not be able to name all of them, but recognizing their faces was absolutely no problem.
But now, looking over them, he didn't recognize a single one.
They were so unfamiliar that it astonished him.
Until a sentence rang out.
"General Ren has already been notified. Make sure Zhan Shubai doesn't escape. If this guy brings troops to take our Yunji City, it will be trouble."
A bad premonition suddenly surged in Zhan Shubai's heart.
Their Yunji City?
When did this Yunji City become Ren Tianye's?
It was his, Zhan Shubai's!
It was given to him by His Majesty, entrusted to him to carefully nurture! Over the years, he had worked diligently and finally nurtured Yunji City into a magnificent fortress of the world, second not even to Shanhe City. Just as it was time to report back to His Majesty and exchange it for a return to His Majesty's side, how did it become Ren Tianye's?
What is the meaning of this?!
Zhan Shubai's heart grew increasingly panicked. He looked up abruptly, about to ask, but saw that the soldiers on the wall were all holding stiff bows.
The bows were drawn like full moons, sharp arrows resting on the bowstrings.
Like an inescapable net, they enveloped him.
Right now, he had no armor on his body and no weapon in his hand to block. Once these people fired their arrows, he would almost certainly die.
At this moment, Zhan Shubai finally understood.
Understood completely!
This Yunji City had already been taken over by Ren Tianye.
Overcome with rage, he couldn't help but curse loudly: "Ren Tianye, you shameless bastard! I worked so hard to build this Yunji City into an impenetrable fortress to present to His Majesty, and you... you..."
"Just to steal my position as His Majesty's third favorite, you actually took it by force! You, you are shameless!"
The more he cursed, the angrier he got, and the greater the panic in his heart grew. He lunged forward fiercely, shouting, "Open the gate for me!" and crashed into the city gates.
He slammed against it a few times, but the gate didn't budge an inch.
He also knew just how sturdy this gate, which he had personally supervised the construction of, was. He knew that relying on himself alone was completely hopeless.
He backed away to the foot of the wall and shouted frantically at the guards on top: "Open the gate for me! Open the gate for me..."
"I'm going to find Ren Tianye and demand justice!"
"He must return Yunji City to me."
"Yunji City is mine! It's what I am going to present to His Majesty! He, he cannot steal it!"
However, no matter how hysterically Zhan Shubai shouted, the soldiers on the wall did not respond in the slightest. They still kept their bowstrings drawn tight; at the first sign of trouble, arrows would rain down.
This silent response drove Zhan Shubai even more insane.
"Open the gate! Open the gate..."
"Open the gate for me..."
Catching a glimpse out of the corner of his eye, he spotted an acquaintance not far away on the wall. He immediately shouted at him: "You, this general remembers you. You are a member of this general's Supervisory Team."
"Go notify this general's Supervisory Team to come and open the gate for me, and follow me to find Ren Tianye."
That man was startled and immediately replied: "The Supervisory Team abused the soldiers, committed insubordination, and gathered crowds to cause trouble. They were wiped out by General Ren long ago. Where is there a Supervisory Team anymore?"
"Now, I am one of the city defense soldiers under General Ren."
"Stop your nonsense, or do not blame my arrows for showing no mercy."
Zhan Shubai's face turned pale.
What?
The Inspectorate... wiped out by Ren Tianye!
"Ahhh... Ren Tianye, you truly will stop at nothing to steal my place in His Majesty's heart! You even wiped out my Inspectorate!"
As he screamed, he spotted a man in the distance. As if grasping at a lifeline, he yelled, "Yang Huibing, you are my squad leader! Open the city gates for me! This Yunji City belongs to me, and no one can take it away!"
Yang Huibing immediately retorted, "Nonsense! I am a guard under General Ren. How would I know a beggar like you? Do not try to claim false ties!"
"Otherwise, the arrows in my hands are not to be trifled with."
Zhan Shubai nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.
An intense wave of despair surged into his heart at this moment. He finally understood—Ren Tianye had stolen his Yunji City, stolen the very gift he meant to present to His Majesty.
This was what he had painstakingly built over years of bitter suffering!
It was almost the only gift that could allow him to hold his head high before His Majesty.
Was it completely no longer his?
He instantly went nearly mad: "Ren Tianye, you shameless bastard! You beguiled His Majesty with sweet words, you stole my Yunji City, you stole my life's blood..."
"Why the hell don't you prepare your own gift? What kind of man steals mine?"
As he shouted, tears began to stream down his face.
His expression was filled with extreme grievance.
"Ren Tianye, you're shameless, you're so fucking shameless..."
Just then, the city gates creaked open. A cavalry unit of over a hundred men filed out. The man leading them was none other than Ren Tianye's guerrilla general, Sun Xiang.
Sun Xiang's eyes lit up the moment he saw Zhan Shubai.
"Throwing yourself into the net?"
"Good, good, good! Last time you injured my brothers. Today, I want to see just how much strength you have left!"
With a wave of his hand, the soldiers behind him immediately closed in, swarming toward Zhan Shubai with the eager intent to capture him alive.
Blades and spears had no eyes; the murderous intent was palpable.
Zhan Shubai's eyes were full of aggrieved tears, and his body was utterly exhausted from days of rushing about, yet his martial skills remained formidable.
Facing over a hundred men alone, he surprisingly did not fall at a disadvantage.
He even managed to snatch a soldier's weapon and fight back. With a few thrusts of the spear, he severely injured several cavalrymen.
He continued to brandish the long spear in his hands, fending off the endless stream of soldiers sent by Sun Xiang, but his mind was entirely focused on Yunji City.
He fought while cursing, and cursed while crying.
"Give me back my Yunji City!"
"Give me back my Yunji City!"
"Give me back my Yunji City! Ren Tianye, you dog, give me back my Yunji City..."
...
He fought until his strength was entirely spent and was finally subdued by the combined efforts of the soldiers.
Sun Xiang could not help but wipe the cold sweat from his face. This Zhan Shubai's martial arts were truly extraordinary! To be exhausted to such a degree and still possess such combat power!
He had managed to injure several of his soldiers in a row!
It was fucking absurd!
Judging by this level of strength, even looking across the entire border army, as far as he knew, only the Great General—born with divine strength and exceptional martial skills—could firmly suppress him.
"Damn it."
Feeling a lingering fear, Sun Xiang viciously kicked Zhan Shubai. "He sure can fucking fight!"
Yet, after taking the kick, Zhan Shubai seemed to feel nothing. His face was just covered in tear streaks, looking more devastated than if his own mother had died, as he kept muttering, "Give me back my Yunji City!"
"I beg you, give me back my Yunji City!"
"I cannot live without Yunji City!"
...
tions: attribute allocation, analysis, proficiency, and simulation. Specializing in mechanical alchemy, from crafting sorcerous battle armor to handcrafting mechanical maidens, his mechanical legion conquers endless realms... Relying on his wits, he begins with a student-teacher romance, wins over a female director, enslaves a female assassin and a underworld queen, becoming the husband of a Grand Duchess... He enslaves the Goddess of Magic from the divine realm, developing his power simultaneously in both the Wizard World and the Realm of Gods...
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?!
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...
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!
