MTL - The Dead Cycle - Chapter 30 People are not dismantled

Shen Yuqing and the Emperor had a secret arrangement––

She was his pampered consort, and she would hit wherever the Emperor directed her to strike;

The Emperor “loved and favored her forever”, and she could do whatever she wanted.

Later, she set her eyes on the Empress who had the same type of marriage only in name…

- Description from Novelupdates

“You dragged me into this world. Now you kneel in it.” — Tim SlokovBy day, Tim Slokov was a quiet office drone. By night, a ruthless online critic of fantasy novels. But when a mysterious force transmigrates him into the dying body of an elven outcast—doomed and powerless—Tim realizes he’s become the tragic background character of someone else’s story.Only he refuses to die quietly.Denied justice, Tim is granted a single gift: the Shattered Necromancy System, a broken power fueled by death itself.[Seek Me, O Death — Passive]: Every kill becomes a servant. Every soul feeds his army.[Death Embrace — Active]: He becomes what he commands—gaining the power of his dead.[Arise — Active]: The battlefield becomes his stage, where his fallen rise again.Armed with cursed power, Tim must evolve himself—and his ever-growing legion of the dead—to claw his way up a world that wants him erased. But vengeance is only the beginning. As his strength grows, so does the truth behind his forced arrival... and the god-like force that wants him broken.Tim isn’t here to play the hero.He’s here to rewrite fate—one death at a time.

Anton is a great-grandfather. He is living quite a happy life, despite his advanced age and declining health… until a group of cultivator bandits moves into the area. The nearby guardians of the area, the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars, are unable to track them down as they continue to ravage nearby towns. During one desperate winter Anton is out on a hunt when his family- his entire village- is killed or taken as slaves by the bandits. He lacks the strength to fight them, and he wasn’t even present for their arrival to die with his loved ones. At the pit of his despair, he wonders if he ever had any chance to change things. What could he even do? He cannot even pull his best bow, and his eyesight is failing. If he had been a cultivator… perhaps there might have been a chance, but he was decades- perhaps even most of his life- too late.Participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge (2022)Notes on cultivation levels:There are five general stages of cultivation, though the fifth is extremely rare. Each cultivation style might have their own name for the stages.1. Body Tempering2. Spirit Building/ occasionally System Creation (Ninety-Nine Stars)3. Constellation Formation (Ninety-Nine Stars)4. Life Transformation/Galaxy Construction (Ninety-Nine Stars)5. Ascension

Auren was the star of his generation. Graduated the combat school at the age of 12, mental fortitude was beyond his peers, and he was considered the talent of the Western State of Lysendral.It was for this reason that his awakening was greatly anticipated. Everyone was sure the star would receive a Divine Blessing from the Archon.And like others before him, be set on a definite journey to becoming the strongest Blessed in the history of the world.However, expectations were shattered when Auren awakened a Divine… Curse.“Such a phenomenon has never been heard of!”“How can a human awaken a curse! This is an abomination! Kill him! Sacrifice him to the archons!”In such a slight moment of appointment, Auren's entire life came crashing down.And he became a national criminal. Locked up and sentenced to death for having receiving a curse instead of a blessing.A 16 year old boy was ruthlessly killed by a guillotine and offered as a sacrifice to prevent doom… and the people relished in it.However, this was not the end for Auren.[Congratulations, you have died by execution],[Conditions have been met][You have challenged your first fester.][A requiem beckons onto you..][...Your resurrection awaits.]Having broken the shackles of death, Auren rises again to seek vengeance and destroy not just the nation that had killed him but tear down the very existence of the archons themselves.But is everything really as it seems?