Da Ming: The system granted me immortality; I clock in every day.

"Alright, my dear minister, you may leave. I need to meditate and regulate my breathing in this warm pavilion to refine the medicinal power of this elixir. In the next few days, unless something truly terrible happens, do not let those civil officials bother me."

Zhu Jianji closed his eyes, formed a strange hand seal, and ignored Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan bowed silently and slowly withdrew from the warm pavilion.

As I stepped out of the West Garden, the sun was already setting in the west.

Those enormous alchemy furnaces were still spewing out bluish-gray smoke.

This once elegant royal garden has been transformed into a corner of hell.

Pei Yuan stood in front of the sedan chair, glanced back at the layers upon layers of palace walls, and let out a barely audible sigh.

"Immortality... Throughout history, countless emperors and generals have perished because of these two words."

He shook his head and bent down to sit in the sedan chair carried by eight men.

The sedan curtain was lowered, shutting out the summer heat and smoke from outside.

"Return to the Grand Tutor's Mansion."

At Lu Zheng's command, the sedan chair bearers began to walk steadily toward Chang'an Street.

Inside the sedan chair, Pei Yuan closed his eyes to rest.

As for matters of state, Song Yin and his pragmatic group were handling them.

After undergoing a major reshuffle years ago, the civil service has recovered some of its vitality.

However, under absolute financial and military control, they couldn't cause any major trouble.

The only person he cared about was the Crown Prince who lived in the Eastern Palace.

Eight years have passed, and that ten-year-old child has now grown into a tall and handsome eighteen-year-old young man.

Zhu Youzhen did not disappoint Pei Yuan's teachings.

He did not grow into the kind of benevolent master that Wang Hua had hoped for, who only knew how to recite poetry and compose couplets, nor did he become a tyrant who only knew how to kill.

Under Pei Yuan's tutelage, the crown prince learned how to read the most complex account books and how to identify the waterline of a seagoing vessel.

They could even accurately state the range and cost of every type of firearm used in the Ming Dynasty.

He is deep in thought and shrewd in his methods.

He treated his subordinates with a combination of kindness and severity, and was even more ruthless towards those civil officials who attempted to use Confucian principles to hijack imperial power.

This is practically a work of art that Pei Yuan customized according to his own skill and domineering nature.

"Judging by the days, the Crown Prince should be inspecting the granaries in Tongzhou today."

Pei Yuan murmured to himself inside the sedan chair.

The old emperor was obsessed with cultivating immortality, and sooner or later his body would be hollowed out by the poisonous pills.

The power of the Ming Dynasty will eventually be smoothly transferred to the hands of this young crown prince.

As for Pei Yuan, all he needs to do is stay firmly at the pinnacle of power for a few more years.

When the new emperor fully reigns over the world, the Ming Dynasty's warships will firmly lock up the wealth of the four seas.

Perhaps this immortal being should find an excuse to take off this purple python robe and experience a different kind of life.

After all, you get tired of a play if you play it for too long.

As dusk settled, lights began to twinkle along the long streets of the capital.

The Grand Tutor's sedan chair, carried by eight men, moved smoothly through the bustling city in the dim night.

The steady footsteps, like the turning of the wheels of history, mercilessly crushed the remnants of bygone dreams.

Sailing towards a new era woven from silver, cannons, and greed.

……

The winter of the seventeenth year of the Chenghua reign was bitterly cold.

The enormous alchemy furnaces in the Western Garden of the Forbidden City, which had been spewing out bluish-gray smoke all day long, finally went out completely in the twelfth month of that year.

Thick snow covered the cold top of the bronze furnace.

The pungent smell of sulfur, lead, and mercury from the past was gradually sealed away and frozen.

Inside the heated pavilion by the water, the floor heating was scalding hot.

Yet it still couldn't dispel the heavy aura of death emanating from the person on the bed.

Emperor Chenghua, Zhu Jianji, was the emperor who once filled the Ming Dynasty's treasury to the point that the treasury doors could not be closed, thanks to his massive naval fleet and spices from the South Seas.

At this moment, he lay emaciated on the bright yellow dragon bed.

His years of taking the Nine-Turn Dragon-Tiger Golden Elixir had long since eroded his internal organs, turning them into rotten wood.

His eyes were sunken, the whites of his eyes tinged with a cloudy yellow, and his breathing was rapid and broken.

Inside the warm chamber, sandalwood incense attempted to mask the decaying aura of a dying man.

Crown Prince Zhu Youzhen knelt before the bed, his eyes bloodshot, tightly gripping his father's withered, claw-like hand.

After years of experience as crown prince, his once youthful face has become angular, exuding an aura of imperial authority.

But faced with the pain of separation and death, they still could not hide their grief.

Pei Yuan stood beside the Crown Prince.

He was still wearing that purple python robe that represented his status as a high-ranking official, his posture was upright, and his face was handsome.

Time seemed to have stood still on this Grand Tutor, leaving not a single wrinkle on his body.

He lowered his eyes and quietly looked at the king on the couch, who was barely breathing.

Deep within his eyes lay a still pool, seemingly having seen through the myriad aspects of the mortal world.

"Grand...Grand Tutor..."

Zhu Jianji turned his head with difficulty, his cloudy eyes weakly searching in mid-air.

Only when he saw Pei Yuan's face clearly did a glimmer of light flash in his ashen eyes.

"Your humble servant is here."

Pei Yuan stepped forward, bowed slightly, and spoke in a gentle tone.

"I...I have lived this life..."

Zhu Jianji was panting heavily, each word seeming to drain all his strength.

"For the first ten years, I was driven crazy by those pedantic scholars... For the next ten years, I was fortunate to have... fortunate to have the Grand Tutor's assistance."

"This vast territory of the Ming Dynasty...this wealth of the four seas...I have not been emperor in vain..."

Pei Yuan lowered his head and followed his words:

"His Majesty has ushered in an unprecedented golden age for the maritime nation, surpassing even the Han and Tang dynasties in both civil administration and military achievements. His Majesty's contributions will undoubtedly be recorded in the annals of the Ming Dynasty."

Upon hearing these words, Zhu Jianji managed to force a smile that was more like a grimace.

"The path of immortality... is ultimately an illusion..."

A single, cloudy tear slid down his cloudy eyes as he gripped the crown prince's hand tightly.

His voice suddenly rose a few decibels, carrying a stern tone that seemed to come before his death.

"Zhen'er! You must remember! The rules of this Ming Dynasty are set by silver and cannons! Don't... don't listen to the pedantic words of those civil officials anymore!"

"The trading bureau must not be abolished... the navy must not be withdrawn..."

Zhu Youzhen kowtowed heavily, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Your Majesty's teachings will be remembered! I will certainly preserve the legacy you have left behind!"

Zhu Jianji was panting heavily, his gaze shifting back and forth between the Crown Prince and Pei Yuan.

Even on his deathbed, this emperor...

That inherent imperial mindset has not been extinguished.

"Grand Tutor."

Zhu Jianji stared intently at Pei Yuan, his voice hoarse.

"I entrust the Crown Prince... and this empire to you. You... you must assist him..."

Pei Yuan lifted his python robe, but still did not perform the grand ceremony; he merely bowed.

"Your humble servant obeys the decree. I will certainly do my utmost to protect the Ming Dynasty for thousands of generations to come."

Having received Pei Yuan's promise, Zhu Jianji's anger seemed to finally dissipate.

His cloudy eyes slowly gazed at the carved dome of the warm pavilion.

It was as if I could see that enormous fleet, laden with gold and spices, breaking through the towering waves and sailing into the port of the Bohai Bay.

"The Great Ming... My Great Ming..."

With a long, soft sigh, Emperor Chenghua, Zhu Jianji, let his withered hand fall limply from the edge of the bed.

"The Emperor has passed away!"

The mournful cry of the eunuch from the Directorate of Ceremonial instantly pierced the somber winter night of the Forbidden City.

The long, mournful tolling of the funeral bells echoed throughout every corner of the capital, carrying the desolate weight of this dynastic change.

Pei Yuan stood up and looked at the new emperor Zhu Youzhen, who was kneeling in front of the bed and weeping bitterly.

He straightened the sleeves of his purple robe, stepped aside, and quietly disappeared into the shadows of the warm pavilion.

An era has come to an end.

When Emperor Chenghua died, Crown Prince Zhu Youzhen succeeded to the throne and changed the era name to "Chengping" the following year.