Sky Curtain: A Review of Historical Foes and the Secrets of Ministers

"A list of the top ten emperors in history? That's too outdated. Modern netizens are sick of seeing Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han, and they don't even care about Emperor Taizong's Xuanwu Gate Incident anymore..."

In his cramped rented room, Wang Xi, a history editing blogger, took a big gulp of iced cola, stared at the dismal view count on his computer screen, and erupted in impotent rage.

As a full-time content creator, if he can't create a viral video, he'll have to sleep under a bridge next month.

"No, we need to come up with something. Nobody watches historical dramas, so let's do something abstract."

Wang Xi's fingers flew across the keyboard as he frantically dragged and dropped materials with the mouse.

He decided to take a different approach and give this audience, who were already fed up with official history, some different and better stuff.

Two hours later, the video rendering was complete.

The cover features a dark figure carrying a cement bag, with the majestic Qin cavalry in the background, and a line of bold characters above it.

The Strongest War God of Qin Dynasty is Actually a Construction Foreman?!

"Done! The weirder the title, the faster the clicks!"

Just as Wang Xi was about to click "Publish," a strange black and gold pop-up window suddenly appeared in the center of the screen:

[High-quality historical video clips have been detected. Should we simultaneously publish the video to the "Worldwide Sky Screen Platform"?]

[Note: Creators who publish on the WanJie platform can receive cross-dimensional rewards, including but not limited to: real money, antiques and paintings, and even unparalleled martial arts skills.]

"What the hell? These days, even malware is doing immersive cosplay?"

Wang Xi laughed. "A multi-dimensional platform? And antique rewards? Why don't you just say you'll reward me with the Imperial Seal of the State?"

He doesn't care about anything else; as long as he can get more data, he'd do it even if it meant sending it to aliens.

Click the mouse heavily.

"send!"

……

Meanwhile, in a parallel universe, the Qin Dynasty plane.

The atmosphere inside Xianyang Palace was cold and solemn.

There were no elaborate tables and chairs like in later times. Inside the hall, all the officials knelt, their backs ramrod straight, and they even kept their breathing to a minimum.

At the far end of the main hall, the man known as the Ancestral Dragon sat on a dark black dragon throne, reviewing a mountain of bamboo slips.

Ying Zheng did not speak, but his overwhelming aura of supreme authority was enough to suffocate the assembled officials.

"Tap tap tap—"

A flurry of hurried footsteps broke the silence.

Zhao Gao, the chief of the Imperial Carriage Office, stumbled and crawled into the main hall, crying, "Your Majesty...Your Majesty! It's cracked! The sky has cracked!"

Zhao Gao lay prostrate on the ground, his voice filled with fear.

Ying Zheng paused slightly as he reviewed the bamboo slips, without even lifting his eyelids.

"What's the panic?" Ying Zheng said in a deep voice. "Stand up straight and speak properly. Where is the Minister of Justice? According to Qin law, what is the punishment for disrespecting the emperor and disturbing his presence in the palace?"

Prime Minister Li Si immediately bowed and said, "Your Majesty, they should be pickled and minced, and their entire family should be exterminated."

Zhao Gao shivered violently, his back instantly soaked with cold sweat.

He gritted his teeth to stop trembling. "Your Majesty... Suddenly, a huge golden light split open in the sky above the palace, transforming into a luminous object that blotted out the sun. On it, there were words."

"Oh?"

Ying Zheng then put down the bamboo slips, stood up abruptly, waved his wide dragon robe, and strode out of the hall. "I want to see who this is, daring to play tricks on my Great Qin."

All the ministers rose and followed Ying Zheng out of the hall.

When they looked up at the sky, everyone gasped.

Above all, a colossal curtain of light, radiating boundless divine power, stretched across the heavens and earth.

On the light screen, a line of huge golden characters slowly emerged.

[The strongest war god of the Qin Dynasty is actually a construction foreman?!]

"A foreman? What is that?" Li Si frowned.

Among the military officers, the veteran general Wang Jian, who was standing at the front, straightened his back instinctively upon seeing these words and even slightly adjusted his court robes.

Wang Jian squinted his old eyes and muttered to himself, "Who else could be the strongest war god of Qin mentioned on the sky besides myself?"

Does that butcher, Lord Wu'an, who only knows how to dig holes, deserve to be called a war god? But... what is the title of this contractor?

……

At the same time, in the Tang Dynasty world, at the Taiji Palace.

The Tang Dynasty's court was more magnificent and open than that of the Qin Dynasty.

The officials were sitting on folding stools when suddenly the sky outside the hall was illuminated by golden light, as bright as day.

Li Shimin led his ministers out of the Taiji Palace quickly.

When the Tang Dynasty officials saw the words on the sky, they were in an uproar.

"The Qin Dynasty? Didn't the Qin Dynasty perish over eight hundred years ago?" Changsun Wuji exclaimed in shock. "Could this be some kind of sorcery?"

Li Shimin stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the sky with a solemn expression mixed with three parts curiosity, three parts disdain, and four parts indifference.

"Whether it's sorcery or a miracle, we'll find out once we see it."

Li Shimin raised his head slightly and said calmly, "However, speaking of the strongest war god of Qin, is it Wang Jian? Or perhaps Bai Qi, who massacred 400,000 Zhao soldiers?"

At this point, Li Shimin sighed and casually remarked, "The title of God of War is probably somewhat exaggerated."

"Back then, I raised an army at the age of eighteen, leading three thousand Xuanjia soldiers, and accidentally captured the two false emperors, Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong, at Hulao Pass..."

"I wonder how this War God of Qin compares to me in my prime?"

The court officials of the Tang Dynasty: "..."

……

Outside the Fengtian Hall in the Ming Dynasty world.

The atmosphere was completely different from that of the previous dynasty; it was filled with a suffocating sense of pressure.

When the strange phenomenon appeared in the sky, all the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty were so frightened that they knelt down in unison.

Many people trembled with fear, muttering things like, "This strange phenomenon must be a sign of evil, and the Emperor should cultivate virtue and reflect on himself."

Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, merely squinted and stared coldly at the sky.

He was dressed in rough casual clothes, his hands clenched into fists behind his back.

"Playing tricks!" Zhu Yuanzhang spat, disdainfully saying, "We're peasants who crawled out of piles of corpses! This Ming Dynasty was carved out by us, sword by sword! If there really are ghosts and gods, we'll capture them, skin them alive, and stuff them into straw!"

It's important to know that a poem like "Having slaughtered a million soldiers in Jiangnan, the blood on the sword at my waist is still fresh" wasn't written by a delicate scholar.

The officials below trembled even more violently upon hearing the words "skinned and stuffed with straw."

But Zhu didn't even glance at these servants in his eyes; his mind was racing.

Da Qin?

That old bastard Ying Zheng has been dead for almost two thousand years. What kind of Great Qin War God could God possibly give him?

Since that's the case... Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes suddenly lit up. Doesn't that mean that one day in the future, an emperor of all ages will appear in the sky and talk about our achievements?

That's right! With our martial arts skills, we can drive out the Tartars and restore China. We will definitely be the Martial Emperor of all time.

Since I am the Martial Emperor, my title must be the Civil Emperor who will be remembered throughout history.

This combination of literary and martial arts skills is truly excellent, damn it!

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang's face, which had just been filled with murderous intent, turned into a smile like a chrysanthemum.

He turned around abruptly and shouted behind him, "Where is the Crown Prince? Come quickly!"

The gentle and refined Crown Prince Zhu Biao stepped forward helplessly. "Father, I am here. Please don't get agitated. Take your hand off the hilt of your sword. Several ministers are almost fainting from fright because of you."

As soon as Zhu Biao spoke, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had just seemed about to erupt and devour people, transformed into a kind old farmer.

"Oh dear, my good boy, we won't draw our swords, we won't draw our swords."

Zhu Yuanzhang grabbed Zhu Biao's hand, pointed to the sky, and said, "Look at this sky! In the future, when people talk about our Ming Dynasty, let these descendants see how our Biao ruled the world!"

At a time when emperors of different dynasties had different thoughts and their ministers were in turmoil.

The golden lettering on the sky slowly faded away.

The video has started.