Shen Zhian immediately said, “Impossible.”
“Mother, you don’t know this, but General Zhang Shi is no ordinary man. He was once a great general under Ren Tianye, with countless military achievements to his name. Not to mention anything else—just his sweeping campaigns across the grasslands, his complete destruction of enemy strongholds—that alone is enough to make him a figure who will go down in history!”
“Looking across the entire realm, you can hardly find a second general like him. Now that he has come under the command of the Grand Commander, he will certainly be highly valued by Grand Commander Zhou Mengyan.”
“Investing in Zhang Shi will bring returns far beyond tenfold or a hundredfold in the future!”
Shen Zhian praised Zhang Shi from the bottom of her heart.
And to be fair, her assessment of Zhang Shi—and her prediction of the treatment he was about to receive—was remarkably accurate.
At that very moment, Zhang Shi was being warmly and ceremoniously welcomed by the entire naval camp along the Yangtze defense line.
The scene was nothing short of spectacular: red flags fluttered, gongs and drums thundered, and the soldiers and civilians from every section of the Yangtze defense line had gathered at the military camp. The soldiers stood in neat ranks, while Zhou Mengyan stood at the front, his face wreathed in smiles.
“General Zhang Shi, welcome to my Yangtze naval camp!”
“My brothers and I have been waiting for you with bated breath!”
The Grand Commander Zhou Mengyan clasped Zhang Shi’s hands tightly the moment he arrived, his excitement impossible to conceal.
“I have long awaited your arrival, my friend! I was practically going blind from waiting. I wish I could have gone personally to Ren Tianye’s camp to welcome you!”
His attitude left Zhang Shi completely bewildered.
According to his previous expectations, coming to Grand Commander Zhou Mengyan’s side carried considerable risk. After all, he had once been Ren Tianye’s most capable general. Zhou Mengyan might easily see through this little ruse of pretending to surrender.
But judging from Zhou Mengyan’s current expression, how could it seem as though he completely believed Zhang Shi’s surrender was sincere?
“If I’d known things would go this smoothly, I should have explained everything properly to the Duke. I wouldn’t have publicly revealed what happened before and made the brothers laugh at me. And besides…”
“This joke is going to follow me for the rest of my life!”
“Damn it!”
While thinking this, Zhang Shi stepped forward as well. He dropped to one knee and said excitedly, “I have drifted through half a lifetime, regretting only that I never encountered a worthy lord. If Your Excellency does not reject me, I am willing to serve you as my elder brother!”
Zhou Mengyan was overjoyed and hurriedly helped Zhang Shi to his feet.
Taking advantage of the momentum, Zhang Shi continued, “With my elder brother above me, I, your younger brother, will follow you from this day forward. I will brave boiling water and blazing fire for you without hesitation.”
“I will assist you in achieving your great ambitions.”
“As for Ren Tianye on the other side of the river, I regard him as nothing more than grass beneath my feet. I am willing to raise the might of a tiger and wolf for my elder brother, cut off his head, and hang it outside our camp!”
Upon hearing this, Zhou Mengyan’s eyes narrowed into delighted crescents.
“Brother, at last I have finally waited for you!”
Zhang Shi was equally moved. “Elder brother, at last I have finally found you! From now on, I will hold your whip and stirrup for you. Even if it costs me ten thousand deaths, I will never hesitate!”
“Come, come…”
Zhou Mengyan pulled Zhang Shi into the midst of the soldiers. Then he raised Zhang Shi’s arm and announced, “I believe everyone has heard of General Zhang Shi’s illustrious reputation!”
“Now that General Zhang Shi has abandoned darkness and embraced the light, coming to our Yangtze natural barrier at Yunjing, it is proof enough that Ren Tianye’s destiny has run its course. The Mandate belongs to our Yangtze stronghold! It belongs to Yunjing!”
“Yunjing will naturally not fail to reward a man of such extraordinary talent as General Zhang Shi. I have already submitted a memorial to Yunjing requesting an appointment. The decree should arrive soon, and General Zhang Shi will be appointed…”
Zhou Mengyan’s tiger-like gaze swept over the crowd. Only then did he slowly announce, “General Zhang Shi will be appointed Deputy Commander of the Navy!”
“His position will be second only to mine!”
“From this day forth, obey General Zhang Shi’s orders as you would obey mine!”
“Do you understand?”
Zhou Mengyan’s voice boomed like thunder, leaving the soldiers’ ears ringing. Zhang Shi was first startled, then overcome with delight.
Wait…
This was far easier than he had ever imagined!
How could it have gone this smoothly?
He was still unable to make sense of it when he noticed a woman standing beside Zhou Mengyan. She was beautiful and slender, and she was smiling warmly at him.
In an instant, he understood.
This was Ruan Fei!
The Ruan Fei mentioned by Ning Wanqin!
The person Zhou Mengyan trusted most!
So that was it…
Zhang Shi could not help glancing at Ruan Fei. She immediately returned his gaze with an affirmative smile, and everything suddenly became clear to him.
So this was where the root of the matter lay!
With Ruan Fei whispering into Zhou Mengyan’s ear, his path into the military camp had naturally been smooth from beginning to end!
“As expected, Yunjing’s strategy is always driven by romance-brained thinking!”
“It’s always romance-brained thinking!”
As he thought this, all the generals and soldiers before him fell to their knees.
They began saluting him in unison.
“Congratulations to General Zhang Shi on his promotion to Deputy Commander!”
“General Zhang Shi, from now on, we will carry out your orders even at the cost of our lives!”
“We pay our respects to Deputy Commander Zhang Shi!”
…
Countless people knelt before him, making the entire scene even more grand and imposing.
Zhou Mengyan nodded with satisfaction.
Zhang Shi nodded with equal satisfaction.
But when their gazes met, they suddenly noticed a figure standing apart from the crowd in the distance, utterly conspicuous. His eyes seemed to be spitting fire.
Zhou Mengyan froze. Zhang Shi froze as well.
“You there! Come here!”
With a thunderous shout, Zhou Mengyan summoned the man over. Only then did he realize that the man was one of his personal guards.
He barked, “Why aren’t you kneeling?”
“General Zhang Shi is now the Deputy Commander of our camp. Do you have an objection?”
Zhang Shi also stared coldly at the man.
Very well. He had come to join Zhou Mengyan, and none of the dangers he had anticipated had appeared. Instead, trouble had arisen from a mere personal guard.
It was enough to make his anger burn.
“I’m not satisfied!” To Zhang Shi’s surprise, the guard was remarkably bold. He answered directly, “Zhang Shi was a general under Ren Tianye, yet he has the shamelessness to come crawling over here and surrender. I am ashamed to stand alongside such a man. Why should I kneel to him?”
Zhou Mengyan’s good mood vanished in an instant.
Everything had been carefully arranged, yet the whole plan had nearly been ruined by a mere personal guard. His voice turned cold.
“Shitou, don’t blame me for failing to show consideration for our old friendship and refusing to give you a chance!”
“Right now—immediately—kneel on the ground and welcome General Zhang Shi as our Deputy Commander of the Navy. If you do that, this Grand Commander will show you mercy. I will only punish you with a beating from the military cudgel, and I will spare your head!”
“Otherwise, don’t blame my blade for showing no mercy!”
After issuing the command, he leaned toward Zhang Shi and quietly explained, “Please don’t take offense, General Zhang Shi. This man is one of my personal guards. As for his temperament… well, he’s like a stone.”
“A stone from a latrine!”
“Stinking and hard as iron!”
“That’s why everyone calls him Shitou!”
“He must have gotten one of his wires crossed today and is being stubborn again. General Zhang Shi, you are a magnanimous man. Please don’t stoop to arguing with him!”
Zhang Shi remained impassive.
Clearly, he had no intention of accepting Zhou Mengyan’s request. Instead, he wanted to see how this Shitou would respond.
What a joke. He had only just arrived at the naval camp on the Yangtze defense line, and he had no idea how many people were dissatisfied with him. With his reputation for sweeping across the northern frontier, destroying enemy strongholds, and using a fierce and ruthless style of warfare, he had come here to establish his authority!
Only then would he be able to carry out his plans in the future!
And now, he was being challenged by a mere personal guard?
What would he do in the days to come if he let this pass?
Therefore, today Shitou would either give him a satisfactory explanation—or Zhang Shi would show no mercy, even if it meant drawing his blade against someone on his very first day here.
Unexpectedly, Shitou did not care in the slightest.
Pointing at Zhang Shi, he shouted, “Someone as disgusting as him, and you expect me to accept him as Deputy Commander…”
“He! Is! Even! Worthy!”
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
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."
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
