Seeing the situation, Ruan Fei immediately burst into tears, her face as pitiful as a pear blossom in the rain.
“Brother Mengyan, I—I only accidentally bumped into Madam, but she wants me dead. She even accused me of disrupting military morale and speaking recklessly about military affairs…”
“Little Fei may not understand military matters, but I’m only doing this for your sake, Brother Mengyan.”
“Little Fei knows Madam doesn’t like me, but as long as you and Madam can be happy together, Brother Mengyan, I’m willing to suffer anything.”
Her tearful, pitiful appearance tugged painfully at Grand Commander Zhou Mengyan’s heart. He turned toward his wife and barked, “Madam, that’s enough.”
“How did you become like this?”
“You’re being unreasonable and deliberately picking a fight!”
“You… You disappoint me more and more!”
Those words were like knives stabbing straight into Madam’s heart. Her body swayed, and she nearly fell. In that instant, she even felt the urge to turn around, return to Yunjing, and end the marriage she had maintained with Zhou Mengyan for several decades.
Let the naval camp fall into chaos between the two of them!
But…
The thought flashed by in an instant. After decades as husband and wife, she ultimately could not bring herself to make such a decision. Gritting her teeth, she said coldly, “Fine, Zhou Mengyan. You’ve learned how to turn the blame on me now.”
“Very well, very well. You already know that this Ruan Fei understands nothing, yet you still listen to her at every turn. I’m telling you, if the army falls into disorder in the future, it will be because of Ruan Fei!”
“Sooner or later, Ruan Fei will become Ren Tianye’s great benefactor!”
“A great benefactor indeed!”
Those words were even harsher. Zhou Mengyan’s temper flared as well. However, unwilling to let Ruan Fei suffer any more undeserved abuse, he ordered his personal guards to escort her away first. Only then did he turn back to face his wife and say coldly, “Madam, Little Fei is only a young woman. You should show some restraint.”
“This camp is under my command, Zhou Mengyan’s.”
“You don’t need to decide right and wrong on my behalf. As for Ren Tianye, you don’t need to concern yourself with him either.”
“Since I am the Grand Admiral of the Navy, I can naturally keep Ren Tianye at bay!”
“Keep him at bay?” Madam seemed to have heard something absurd and laughed several times. “If those two bastards, Zhao and Qian, hadn’t been killed by you, you might still have had a chance!”
“But now that you’ve killed them, what are you going to use to stop Ren Tianye?”
“That pitiful level of ability you possess?”
“Can you withstand even a single assault from Lu Chaosheng, one of Ren Tianye’s subordinates?”
Her words were filled with scorn and sarcasm. “You took a perfectly good Grand Admiral of the Navy and turned yourself into this! You listened to rumors, indulged treacherous sycophants, and even fell for the enemy’s scheme to sow discord!”
“Zhou Mengyan, where is your brain?”
“Did a dog eat it?”
Boom!
It was as if a bolt of thunder had exploded across the heavens.
Zhou Mengyan had been furious and was about to shout back, but his body suddenly staggered. The things that had felt wrong to him these past two days suddenly became crystal clear.
A scheme to sow discord!
It had been a scheme to sow discord!
Those two letters had been deliberately stolen by Shen Moyan at Ren Tianye’s behest. Their purpose was to provide undeniable proof that Generals Zhao and Qian were colluding with the enemy!
Ren Tianye had used Zhou Mengyan’s own hand to sever his left and right arms!
“Such a simple scheme… I should have seen through it at a glance. But—but…”
“I actually fell for it!”
Zhou Mengyan swayed unsteadily, looking as though he might collapse at any moment.
Madam and Zhou Mengyan had been husband and wife for decades, and she saw through his condition at once. With a sigh, she said, “Mengyan, everyone makes mistakes from time to time. Don’t let this weigh too heavily on you.”
“What matters most now is selecting a naval commander from within the army who can match Lu Chaosheng. I’ve prepared a list for you. Take a good look at it.”
“I’ll help with the selection over the next few days as well. We absolutely cannot let Ren Tianye take advantage of this upheaval.”
After saying that, Madam left. Time was of the essence. The naval camp could not afford to be without a leading naval commander, and she needed to immediately make arrangements for Zhou Mengyan. Not a moment could be wasted.
As for Zhou Mengyan…
He was left in a daze.
He did not even know when he had returned to the central command tent. Even after sitting down in the commander's chair, his thoughts continued racing without pause.
“Madam will certainly handle the matter of selecting a naval commander.”
“But I absolutely cannot admit that killing Generals Zhao and Qian was a mistake. Otherwise, my already shaky authority will collapse completely.”
“And that bastard Shen Moyan…”
“I have to kill him!”
A cold glint flashed through Grand Commander Zhou Mengyan’s eyes. He immediately issued an order.
“Someone!”
“Here!”
“Bring Shen Moyan to me… invite him here!”
When he said the word “invite,” Zhou Mengyan clenched his teeth so hard that the word came out laden with murderous intent.
The personal guard accepted the order and immediately went to find Shen Moyan.
Before long, he arrived at Shen Moyan’s tent. At that moment, Shen Moyan was chatting merrily with Ning Wanqin. When he suddenly heard that the Grand Commander had summoned him, he became excited at once.
“Wanqin, could it be that Ruan Fei’s pillow talk has finally worked? The Grand Commander wants to promote me?”
Ning Wanqin was beaming as well. “Of course! You’ve rendered the Grand Commander an unparalleled service. He already favors you, and with Little Fei speaking on your behalf, he must be preparing to reward you!”
“It’s probably going to be a major promotion!”
Shen Moyan grinned so broadly that the corners of his mouth nearly reached the back of his head. “It must be! It must be!”
“Just wait a moment. I’ll… tidy myself up first, then I’ll go immediately!”
With Ning Wanqin’s help, Shen Moyan quickly straightened himself up. He even changed into light armor. Shen Moyan already possessed a handsome appearance, and the light armor made him look even more spirited, adding another three parts of dashing charm to his bearing.
He truly looked like a young commander with a jade-like face and a tall, imposing figure. Ning Wanqin was dazzled for a moment and leaned closer.
“Moyan, you look like this…”
“When the Grand Commander sees you, he’ll surely be delighted!”
Shen Moyan admired himself in the mirror and nodded with satisfaction. “That’s exactly what I think.”
He hurried out and made his way toward the central command tent.
After announcing himself at the entrance, he strode inside and dropped to one knee.
“This subordinate Shen Moyan pays his respects to the Grand Commander!”
His voice rang out clearly, his presence soaring to the heavens.
Yet no response came for a long while.
Just as Shen Moyan was beginning to feel confused, Zhou Mengyan’s voice finally sounded. It was calm and emotionless, as still as an ancient well, yet beneath that calmness lay a chilling intent to kill.
“Shen Moyan, who told you to enter the military camp with your left foot first?”
“Guards! Drag him out and execute him!”
…
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
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.
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."
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?”
