Ning Wanqin felt her heart pounding wildly.
She had a powerful sense that some earth-shaking secret was about to come to light.
Driven by that feeling, she barely hesitated before opening the two letters. The contents immediately leaped into view.
“My dear Zhao, greetings in writing!”
“As the saying goes, one day apart feels like three autumns. Although you and I, Your Excellency, have never met, my longing for you is like a surging river, flowing endlessly…”
Boom!
The moment Ning Wanqin read that far, she felt a thunderbolt explode above her head, its roar shaking the heavens and earth.
“This is…”
“Letters exchanged between General Zhao, General Qian, and Ren Tianye!”
“So Zhao and Qian are traitors!”
“The two of them are actually traitors!”
The discovery left Ning Wanqin both nervous and exhilarated. A wild idea surged through her mind.
“Bringing Shen Moyan over to our side would certainly be a great achievement.”
“But eradicating the Grand Commander’s internal traitors might be an even greater one!”
“Besides…”
“Since ancient times, threats from enemies within have always been far greater than those from enemies outside.”
Ning Wanqin’s eyes shone brilliantly.
She no longer cared about getting Lu Chaosheng to agree to join them at the Yangtze defense line. She quickly put the letters away, hid them against her body, and hurriedly got dressed.
She gave Lu Chaosheng another look.
He was still lying there like a corpse, impossible to wake. That eased some of her tension, but she also knew she could not stay there any longer.
She immediately left the tent.
A personal guard came over at once.
“Miss Ning?”
“Why are you out so late at night?”
As he asked the question, there was something peculiar in his eyes. Ning Wanqin understood instantly. After all, she had been rather loud just moments ago.
Her face flushed slightly as she said, “Chaosheng has already fallen asleep. I came out for a walk to clear my head.”
“Ah? To clear your head?”
The guard clearly did not understand.
She was already stumbling as she walked, and she still called this clearing her head?
“What business is it of yours? You’re awfully nosy!” Ning Wanqin snapped in embarrassment. Then she asked, “Where’s Moyan? I need to speak with him.”
“Well…”
“What do you mean, ‘well’?” Ning Wanqin demanded, using the authority of her anger. “Go get Moyan.”
“Yes, yes…”
The guard had clearly been given instructions beforehand and did not dare disobey Ning Wanqin’s “order.” He soon brought Shen Moyan out from the tent beside them.
The moment Ning Wanqin saw Shen Moyan, she was overcome by the melancholy of a homesick traveler meeting someone from her hometown—as though both of them were on the verge of tears.
Lu Chaosheng had worked her over mercilessly in the tent, leaving her in a sorry state. Shen Moyan had fared no better. His eyes were bloodshot from exhaustion, his face worn and weary. Clearly, he had spent half the night without sleep, his mind tangled in anxiety and complicated emotions.
Ning Wanqin’s frustration rose, then quickly subsided.
Whatever the case, the purpose of this trip had been accomplished in another way. That was more important than anything else.
She waved for the guard to move aside and walked over to Shen Moyan. She was just about to speak when Shen Moyan seized her hand and said excitedly, “Wanqin, Wanqin! Just now… that bastard Lu Chaosheng—he didn’t do anything to you, did he?”
Ning Wanqin instinctively wanted to say, “What do you mean, didn’t do anything?” But her body, which felt as though it had been pulled apart, would not allow her to say it. Instead, she replied, “That’s not important anymore. What matters is that the mission succeeded!”
Hearing this, Shen Moyan instantly understood the meaning of “heaven and hell at once.”
The mission’s success was certainly worth celebrating, but seeing Ning Wanqin in this condition…
His heart felt as though it had been cut with a knife.
He had been plotting to take her first time himself!
And now… he had let Lu Chaosheng have her instead?
And for so long?
“All right, Moyan. There’s no time to waste. We have to leave quickly. If Lu Chaosheng wakes up, we won’t be able to get away.”
Shen Moyan was completely confused. “Wanqin, what do you mean? Lu Chaosheng isn’t coming with us?”
“If he came with us, how could we call the mission complete?”
Ning Wanqin smiled, joy shining in her eyes. “Although Lu Chaosheng isn’t coming with us, I obtained letters exchanged between Generals Zhao and Qian and Ren Tianye. We…”
“We can use them to eliminate those villains for the Grand Commander!”
Shen Moyan’s eyes lit up at once as well.
Zhao and Qian… secretly corresponding with Ren Tianye?
Hiss!
Those two had some nerve!
Obtaining evidence of their crimes was already a great achievement—no, an extraordinary one!
He hurriedly said, “Then we have to leave. We need to move even faster.”
He grabbed Ning Wanqin and started running.
They had only taken two steps when Ning Wanqin let out a groan.
“What’s wrong, Wanqin?”
“It’s nothing!”
“If it’s nothing, then let’s hurry!”
“Ah—hiss!” Ning Wanqin cried out again.
“Wanqin, are you really all right?”
“N-No, I’m fine!”
“No, you’re not!” Shen Moyan finally realized what was going on. His eyes instantly reddened, and he felt utterly miserable. Although he had inserted himself into the relationship between Lu Chaosheng and Ning Wanqin as the other man, he had long coveted Ning Wanqin, an innocent young woman.
He had pursued her for so long, only to gain nothing, while Lu Chaosheng had swallowed her up in one bite—and apparently had not treated her gently, either.
His heart was bleeding.
“All right!” Ning Wanqin said impatiently. “Moyan, stop fussing. If Lu Chaosheng wakes up and discovers that I stole the letters, he’ll fly into a rage. By then, unless we’ve grown wings, there’s no way we’ll escape this inescapable net surrounding the Jiangbei fortress complex!”
“Let’s go!”
Gritting her teeth, Ning Wanqin cursed Lu Chaosheng inwardly as she hurried toward the edge of the military camp. Fortunately, everything went smoothly along the way. Although there were plenty of soldiers on guard, their eyesight was not particularly sharp. She and Shen Moyan slipped through the camp without being noticed.
The two of them made it out safely.
But by then, the people in the camp had discovered that something was wrong, and shouts immediately rang out one after another.
“Where are they? It looks like they’ve escaped!”
“General Lu said we must bring them back! If we can’t find them, every one of us will be executed!”
“Hurry up and search! We must find Ning Wanqin and Shen Moyan and bring them back for General Lu to deal with!”
“Remember—bring them back alive, or bring back their corpses!”
…
The sudden uproar gave Ning Wanqin and Shen Moyan a terrible fright. The two of them immediately broke into a run toward the banks of the Yangtze.
They stumbled along the way, but moved incredibly fast.
The pursuers could not even catch sight of their shadows.
At last, they reached the riverbank. Looking into the distance, they saw the vast surface of the Yangtze hidden in the darkness. The thick night concealed a danger that seemed like a beast ready to devour everything, cutting off their path to safety.
Just as the two of them were growing frantic, they suddenly saw scattered points of light nearby. A boat was casting off from the shore!
“Hahaha! Heaven hasn’t forsaken me, Shen Moyan!”
Shen Moyan was overjoyed.
Ning Wanqin was equally delighted. “Of course heaven favors women who believe in true love!”
The two of them hurried toward the boat.
…
and couldn't return to the real world. Finally, I gave up and decided to go with the flow, only to discover that writing a diary could make me stronger. Since no one could read it, Su Luo wrote freely, daring to pen anything and everything. Female Lead #1: "Not bad. This diary helped me steal all the protagonist's opportunities. I just want to get stronger." Female Lead #2: "I don’t care about reaching the peak of the cultivation world. Right now, I just want to enjoy the chaos." Female Lead #3: "What? Everyone around me is a spy? I’m the Joker Demon Lord?" ... It’s so strange. Why is the plot completely off track, yet the ending remains the same? Are you all just messing with me?!
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 vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
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."
