The Die-Well System

[Completed, thank you for your support! This work has been revised, so it may differ from versions found elsewhere.

The next novel is Encountering My Wife, a spacetime researcher x a figure mentioned only in passing in old records. See the blurb below.]

The System says: Everyone must die. Some deaths are heavier than Mount Tai, while others are lighter than a feather. Host, for the prosperity of the Heavenly Way, and for love and peace, you must go to your death with steadfast joy.

Cheng Zhi: I refuse to be the protagonist of a thousand different ways to die.

Thus, she crosses the death tribulation, breaks through dangerous situations, lays hidden plans and pieces in place, and turns the tables from a desperate position.

The System says: The path to death lies in being reborn through death. Life and death alternate, and reincarnation begins. Host, to achieve the Great Dao and transcend life and death, you must sever all worldly ties and let your heart remain free of attachments.

Cheng Zhi: I do not like making choices. I only like discussing them.

Thus, she enters the Path of Love, becomes love's fool, uses herself as the game board, and activates the formula of life and death.

“Even if I leave the stage, my legend will still be everywhere in the martial world. Centuries and millennia later, I will appear in the annals of emperors, in the biographies of generals, and even as a permanent fixture among the most important examination topics and essay questions. That is enough to comfort me for the rest of my life.”

Note: This work occasionally indulges in learned quotations, including references, quotations, and adapted passages from classical texts. As far as I remember, they have all been marked with quotation marks or author notes, but given the length of the work, a few scattered omissions may have slipped through. I am adding this disclaimer just in case. If any kind readers spot an omission and can remind me, I would be most grateful!

The next novel is Encountering My Wife

In the seventeenth year of Emperor Liang Ping's reign, rebel forces advanced straight toward the capital, and the besieged dynasty suffered a fatal blow.

At this moment, when the situation was as precarious as a pile of eggs, Prince Cheng Xiao Ming, the sixth son of Emperor Ping, who had always been obscure, stepped forward to protect the state and end the military crisis, turning the tide. Afterward, he rose to prominence, pacified both the inner court and the realm, and succeeded to the throne, shining brilliantly.

Yet later generations judged that if Xiao Ming had died then, it would have been perfect.

The promise of a golden age was no more than a fleeting meteor. Prince Cheng Xiao Ming did not bring lasting stability. From his reign onward, the realm fell into even greater turmoil.

It was as though he had shed the face of a wise ruler overnight. Once he held supreme power, he indulged in extravagance and excess, became benighted and reckless, discarded his loyal servants once they were no longer useful, persecuted the worthy, slaughtered the Yue family, and even killed the wife who had aided him and stood beside him through life-and-death ordeals.

How strange.

His sudden change of temperament and radically different conduct were the first oddity. The second was that he had no posthumous imperial title, and history closed the book on him only as Prince Cheng of Liang. Later, the ruler who truly ended the chaos and ushered in a golden age neither objectively assessed his merits and faults nor subjectively added praise or blame, but inexplicably erased these years of imperial history altogether.

Now, when the spacetime researcher Gu Xu transmigrates to this era, she must clear away layer upon layer of suspicion and uncover the truth behind the few strokes preserved in the historical records.

P.S. The pairing has already appeared in the blurb. Both are experiencing their first love.

Theme: The benevolent have no worries, the wise have no confusion, and the brave have no fear.