[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-i-m-not-crazy-this-is-the-emperor-s-banner":3,"chapter-i-m-not-crazy-this-is-the-emperor-s-banner-i-m-not-crazy-this-is-the-emperor-s-banner-chapter-74":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","I'm Not Crazy—This Is the Emperor's Banner",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2291414,4480,"Chapter 74: Never Again","i-m-not-crazy-this-is-the-emperor-s-banner-chapter-74",74,"\u003Cp>Lu Guanchang saw Zhao Hongxia stop and listen, so he sat back down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“After I found you, I realized those things no longer mattered—just seeing you again, talking with you, chatting with you, and saying sorry to you was enough to satisfy me…” Lu Guanchang said softly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sun Mahayana knew Zhao Hongxia couldn’t bring herself to let go, so he stepped forward and pulled her back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed, Zhao Hongxia made no resistance and sat back in her original seat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s been so many years—what good does saying sorry do?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She looked at Lu Guanchang with a complex expression.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Guanchang said, “I know it’s useless—it’s just that I can’t make peace with myself. Life is a one-way road; once it’s passed, it’s passed. No matter what you say, it’s too late. I’m not saying sorry to you—I’m saying it to my conscience, to ease it a little…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’ve always thought only of yourself—then, and now too,” Zhao Hongxia couldn’t help snapping.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, Lu Guanchang wasn’t angry. He looked at Zhao Hongxia before him, and for a moment, he seemed to see the shadow of her childhood self—every time she got angry, he always spent a long time soothing her…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back then, he loved her so much—why had he suddenly hardened his heart and abandoned her and her mother?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, looking back, even he couldn’t understand it. In the end, he reached only one answer: he was not a good man, not a good father.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as his daughter had said—he always thought only of himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet at this moment, he felt no regret. It was all his own choice—he had let go of everything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So he looked at Zhao Hongxia calmly and said, “I’m leaving.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Hongxia’s lips trembled, wanting to say something more, but nothing came out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A pale blue glow flickered over Lu Guanchang’s chest, and his body began collapsing outward from that glow…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Dad… Dad… goodbye…” Zhao Hongxia’s eyes reddened, her voice choked with tears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Guanchang raised his nearly vanished arm, smiled, and waved goodbye to Zhao Hongxia.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Faintly, he seemed to return to that morning—his mother holding a bag, pulling her along, saying she’d take her to visit her grandmother.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She turned back and saw her father standing not far behind, watching them with an unreadable expression.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She waved her small hand and smiled: “Bye-bye, Dad~”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And from then on, she never saw him again. After that, she had no father.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her memory ended there—she didn’t remember what expression he had worn, whether he had responded. Blank…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now, this forgotten memory resurfaced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her father smiled and waved goodbye to her, just as he did now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After fulfilling his wish and letting go of everything, Lu Guanchang’s heart held no more anger or bitterness. Perhaps he felt this was his just retribution.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for his assets—whether Zhao Hongxia chose to claim them was her own business. Whatever she did was fine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shen Siyuan had not bound Lu Guanchang’s soul, so after he fulfilled his wish and released all attachment to this world, his soul should have dissolved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the pale blue glow within his body absorbed the dissolving soul, then surged upward as a pale blue light and vanished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, a pale blue light fell from the sky onto Shen Siyuan, who was returning to the company after lunch—too fast for anyone to notice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Shen Siyuan felt a pure soul force flowing back into the [Ten Thousand Souls Banner].\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This soul force was utterly pure, with not a trace of desire or impurity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So there was no need for Shen Siyuan to refine it—he didn’t have to worry about desire or impurity polluting his spirit. He could use it directly to repair the [Ten Thousand Souls Banner].\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Indeed, no merit.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Guanchang confirmed his inner suspicion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet gaining such pure soul force was an unexpected blessing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What are you thinking about? Let’s go?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ding Youguang slapped Shen Siyuan’s shoulder, jolting him from his daze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Nothing. Let’s go—we’re almost at work time,” Shen Siyuan replied offhandedly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ding Youguang had invited lunch today mainly to ask Zhou Zhengdao about the project’s progress and whether there were any difficulties they could solve together.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But right now, there were no major problems—just a need for some equipment support.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because although all set-top boxes use Android, each manufacturer’s version differs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So they needed to buy every model of set-top box and test the game’s compatibility with each.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This process was troublesome and required a significant investment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as the project’s driving force, Ding Youguang said he’d handle this issue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, not by spending money—he wasn’t unwilling to pay, but there were too many set-top box models; even if he bought, he couldn’t possibly get them all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He contacted a friend who worked in the mobile department and asked him to help get some set-top boxes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the afternoon, Shen Siyuan revised and adjusted the fishing game’s planning proposal based on the questions Zhou Zhengdao had raised at lunch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he chatted for a while with Jiang Wenxin on Enterprise WeChat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She mainly wanted to know how his blind date had gone yesterday.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shen Siyuan didn’t hide anything—he told her the truth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t know that Jiang Wenxin had already learned about it through Ruan Hongzhuang’s Moments.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, she had to admit that Ruan Hongzhuang was indeed a woman who was both capable and beautiful—a woman who could make any man fall for her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing that Shen Siyuan had made his decision and intended to try dating her, she could only sigh inwardly, lamenting fate’s cruelty—her own cousin had no such fortune.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, the day passed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yin Xingyue and Dou Dou had vanished somewhere and hadn’t been seen all afternoon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shen Siyuan returned home, cooked himself a large pot of egg noodles, ate until full, put down his chopsticks, and began tonight’s plan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He did not intend to use the newly acquired soul merit to repair the [Ten Thousand Souls Banner], but to cultivate the [Eighteen Forms of Great Arhat].\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The [Ten Thousand Souls Banner] was an external tool—true strength came from within.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The last two soul merits had pushed the [Eighteen Forms of Great Arhat] straight to the second form, second level—now, with this one, how far would he advance?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the soul merit flowed through him as a cool stream, Shen Siyuan immediately assumed the posture of the second form, third level.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then searing pain spread through his entire body—especially around his mouth and teeth, radiating up to his scalp, his temples throbbing violently, his head feeling as if it would split open—yet during this process, his awareness seemed amplified manyfold, becoming sharper than ever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Immediately, his teeth began loosening and falling out, mixed with blood, which he spat out one by one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During this time, his muscles constantly tore and healed, his skin rapidly cracked, dried, and peeled off in large patches—every moment of the process left Shen Siyuan in unbearable agony…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Shen Siyuan’s phone rang, but he had no spare energy to answer…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>PS: Please support with monthly votes and serial reads~ Whether we get recommendations next week depends entirely on today’s serial read count. Thank you all.\u003C\u002Fp>",1197,"2026-06-20T03:53:08.657Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","4e233709f4fe6770a70604173d552936da8ebf9148564cf101ca333fb2a3e14b","i-m-not-crazy-this-is-the-emperor-s-banner-chapter-75","i-m-not-crazy-this-is-the-emperor-s-banner-chapter-73",623,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-m-not-crazy-this-is-the-emperor-s-banner-cover.jpg"]