Shadow Slave | Sleepless Dreamer - Chapter 4: First Nightmare (3)

He was once the most feared villain in the empire, a master of manipulation who wove chaos from the shadows. Ruthless, untouchable—until the day he was betrayed and executed by the very man he sought to control.But death is not the end.He awakens in the body of Lady Elara Valcrest, a fragile noble girl doomed to be a pawn in political games. Stripped of her former power, she is forced into an arranged marriage with none other than Cairon Everhart—the man who once killed her. He does not recognize her, but she knows him. And she will never forget.To survive, Elara must play a new game. One where deception is her only weapon, and trust is a dangerous illusion. She must outmaneuver her enemies, uncover the truth behind her execution, and reclaim the power she lost. But as she navigates the treacherous world of court intrigue, one question lingers—Was Cairon truly her greatest enemy? Or had she been blind to an even greater threat?Time is running out. The villain has been given one last chance. And this time, she refuses to lose.

Ren Zhouyuan, who loves to study Chinese culture since childhood, has never imagined that his own life would one day be subverted by a foreigner.

Not only do these foreign devils not love the Chinese, but they also scoff at him, looking at his eyes like watching a fool.

After getting drunk, Ren Zhouyuan is for no reason pregnant with a ball, and actually gave birth to a child as a man. This kid is blonde; almost do not have to verify who he is from the “handwriting.”

Ren Zhouyuan does not want to make that arrogant foreigner part of his life, but after fate tied them tightly together again, he found that there was a big difference between this man and the arrogant fighting nationality he imagined.

Leonid: Honey, what does ” Jijiwai Wai*” mean?
Ren Zhouyuan: Refers to people like you
Leonid: But I’m not chirping ah …

- Description from Novelupdates

He had four disobedient disciples, who now achieved success, won recognition and established their own sects.

The embarrassing thing is that it was him who drove those four out of his sect to make them independent.

But one day he had an incident and lost his cultivation. His life was hanging by a thread. Wandering around, he walked into his third disciple’s territory.

What should I do?

Mountains and seas can be tamed, days and nights can disappear.

Only you, the exceptional you, refuse to give up.

——

A man blessed with fortune, the best in his generation, had an accident and started anew; broken in body but firm in spirit, he now uses his wisdom to guide his evil disciples back to the right path.

Notes :
The title 参商 (Shēnshāng) has two meanings:
1) Constellations Shen (ch. “Three Stars mansion”, eu. Orion) and Shang (ch. “Heart mansion”, eu. Antares), which never appear at the same time.
2) Two friends/relatives who are separated/estranged and irreconcilable.

- Description from Novelupdates

Liora was a pampered royal princess, with loving parents at the forefront and eleven royal brothers at her back. Always adorned with the finest silk and served with exquisite dishes while lounging in her palace.Her biggest concerns? Which dress to wear for a banquet and how many more hours she could nap before her royal duties caught up to her.But fate (or some seriously bad karma) had other plans. One moment, she was sipping fine wine and but the next moment-boom!—she wakes up in a world where people are eating each other, the sky is covered with ominous veils that look like it wants to swallow the world, and worse, her royal status means absolutely nothing.What she can tell more about her poor condition is that she has no servants, no food, and no idea how to fight off the disgusting zombies, who are trying to take a bite out of her.Just when she’s ready to scream at the heavens for an explanation, a cold mechanical voice rings in her head:[Welcome, Host. You have activated the Overlord System.]Overlord? That sounds powerful, right? Wrong. Turns out, she starts at the bottom of the food chain with no powers, no weapons, and zombies that see her as their next snack.While others awaken abilities like fire manipulation or super strength, she gets... a system that gives missions with questionable rewards and always tries to drown her in a huge debt.Fight a Level 2 Zombie with her bare hands? Sure, why not? Survive hordes of zombies while the system nags her? Classic. But as she battles to level up and gathers allies (some willing, some just too scared to say no). She realizes—maybe she isn’t as weak as she thought.Because when the world falls into chaos, only the strongest can rule. And if the system insists on calling her an Overlord, well… she might as well live up to the name.Power, danger, and a system that may or may not be trying to get her killed—welcome to the apocalypse.