Hokage: Ryo’s Path - Chapter 452

Here martial arts are no longer intangible legends. They have been passed on from generation to generation and from century to century. After the confrontation with science and technology, they have completely integrated into modern society and all kinds of martial arts competitions are taking place across the country as superiority among scholars are hard to reach a consensus but not as difficult among martial artists!

In a world where power is marked by glowing runes and monsters bleed through the fabric of reality, **Ryu** is nothing—an orphan with no name, no status, and no hope. Beaten down by nobles who wield their divine-given strength like a whip, he survives on scraps and stubborn defiance.But when a black rift—an anomaly unlike any ever recorded—appears in the dead of night, Ryu faces a choice: die a beggar, or risk everything by stepping into the unknown.Inside, he finds a nightmare. Kolasis, a legendary predator, hunts him through a twisted forest. The rules here are simple: kill or be killed. To survive, Ryu must forge himself into something sharper than the claws of monsters and crueler than the nobles who cast him aside.Yet the rift has its own secrets. The same power that could make him a legend might also break him—if the monsters don’t tear him apart first.

The journey of a generation’s male empress started because of four words.

“Send a dowry escort.”

During the 19th year of Yuanqing, Qi Yunruo boarded a carriage and entered through a corner door of the second prince’s estate. Then, across the watery corridor, he gazed at the prince from afar.

Notes:

For aristocratic women in imperial China to marry into a family part of the upper nobility, they must be of the legitimate line and must also have an escort/dowry maid that married into that family. That escort would be a “ying” (媵) and could be considered a concubine.

- Description from Novelupdates

Mercy Morgan was just an ordinary young man trying to make sense of his life, but fate had other plans. One fateful night while on the verge of death, he crossed paths with Michelle Elderblood, an ancient vampire whose bite changed everything. Now transformed into Merciless Minerva Elderblood II, he finds himself thrust into a hidden world of powerful vampires and dark secrets.In this realm, where myth collides with reality, Merciless quickly realizes he is caught in a dangerous web of many powerful creatures. Meanwhile, the vampires operate under a singular, formidable king, and every encounter reveals the treacherous politics and hidden agendas that dictate their lives. Yet, amid the chaos, a singular purpose ignites within him: revenge.Merciless barely a day old must face a harrowing exam that plunges him into the depths of forbidden knowledge, forcing him to confront not only the secrets of his new existence but also the gods who have forsaken him. The pain of his past fuels his determination, and as he navigates this perilous path, he wrestles with the question of whether he is merely a pawn in someone else's game before becoming a vampire, or if he is destined for something far greater.Driven by a relentless thirst for vengeance, Merciless must gather strength and confront the darkest parts of his new identity. With every step he takes, the stakes rise, leading him closer to a confrontation that could alter the very fabric of his world.Join Merciless on a gripping journey of discovery, power, and the quest for retribution. In a dark world filled with myth, danger, and relentless ambition, can one man's desire for revenge reshape his destiny, or will it consume him entirely?