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

"And then?"

Li Changqing asked calmly.

The dark-faced man wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and continued, still shaken:

"Those land deities were furious, rebuking the Ming navy for disturbing their blessed land. Our navy is a battle-hardened force that has roamed the four seas; how could we tolerate such rudeness? We immediately unleashed a volley of ten thousand cannons!"

"But in the end... those gods simply waved their hands, and those iron projectiles that could have shattered city walls were all blocked in mid-air by an invisible wall of energy!"

"Immediately afterwards, the leading white-haired immortal pointed his fingers like a sword and slashed through the air. Three thousand-ton treasure ships—those were giant warships covered in iron plating!—were actually cleaved in two by a hundred-zhang-long sword aura!"

The lobby was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"The navy suffered a major defeat, with less than 30% of the tens of thousands of men escaping back. But that wasn't the end of it."

The dark-faced man slapped his thigh suddenly.

"When the cultivators learned that the world was now controlled by mortals, and that these mortals possessed firearms capable of threatening them, the white-haired old immortal declared, 'Mortals with mortal eyes and bodies, how dare they claim to be emperors and rule the four seas!'"

"They intend to conquer the Central Plains, slaughter the Zhu imperial family, and establish a lasting dynasty ruled by cultivators!"

The dark-faced man's hands trembled as he picked up the wine bowl, spilling wine that soaked his clothes.

"Shopkeeper, do you know how chaotic the world is these days? Those immortals don't travel by land at all; they ride the wind and cross thousands of miles in just half a month."

"The local garrisons and the musket formations of the Divine Machine Battalion along the way were like paper before them. Now, those people have already reached the capital and have completely surrounded the Forbidden City!"

"The Emperor is in imminent danger, and the hundreds of thousands of troops in the capital are helpless. The Ming Dynasty is likely doomed!"

Upon hearing this, the diners looked at each other in dismay, their faces filled with despair.

How can mortals fight against gods?

No matter how strong the city walls or how sharp the firearms, they are utterly powerless against those immortals who can fly on swords and move mountains and seas.

Li Changqing slowly stood up.

He calmly collected the money from the drinks on the table, turned around, and walked back to the backyard step by step.

There was not a trace of panic on that handsome yet weathered face.

"A descendant of the Qin Dynasty, a terrestrial immortal."

Li Changqing raised his head, looking at the cloudless blue sky beyond the pass, and a faint smile, which he hadn't seen in a long time, appeared on his lips, carrying a hint of arrogance and mockery.

He had been in this mortal world for too long, so long that even the emperors, generals, and schemes of power had become somewhat tasteless to him.

I thought that I would spend the rest of my life brewing wine and chopping wood in the desert winds and sands, watching the changing of the seasons in this mortal world.

Unexpectedly, there are still a group of frogs in a well in this world who hide on an island, take a few pills, and then try to run away and become kings and tyrants.

"A two-thousand-year-old turtle, after consuming a few mouthfuls of spiritual energy, actually thinks it's a celestial being or Buddha."

Do they want to destroy the Zhu family imperial family? Do they want to ruin the Ming Dynasty?

Li Changqing shook his head.

The person sitting in that Forbidden City was his disciple, whom he had personally trained and on whom he had placed high hopes.

The maritime borders and golden age of the Ming Dynasty were a game he had painstakingly developed over decades, risking eternal infamy.

He can simply walk away and not care about winning or losing the game.

but.

Others want to overturn his chessboard.

That would be absolutely unacceptable.

"Shopkeeper, what are you standing there for? Hurry up and pack your things, let's run west together!"

Seeing that Li Changqing was standing still, the portly merchant kindly greeted him.

Li Changqing turned around and smiled gently at the panicked merchants.

"Please, gentlemen, have a seat. This food and wine is on me. I just remembered that I have an old debt to settle in the capital, and I need to go and collect it."

After saying that, he turned and walked towards the backyard.

Pushing open the door of that simple mud house, Li Changqing didn't pack any valuables or take any food or water.

He simply pulled out a long, narrow wooden box covered in dust from a hidden compartment under the bed.

Open the wooden box, and inside lies a closed folding fan.

The fan ribs are made of extremely rare Xiangfei bamboo, and the fan surface is completely blank, with nothing painted on it.

This was the only old item he took with him when he left the capital as Grand Tutor Pei Yuan.

Li Changqing took the folding fan in his hand and gently stroked its warm bamboo frame.

"Old buddy, you've been resting for over a decade, it's time to come with me and see some blood."

He tucked the folding fan into his sleeve, turned around, and walked out of the Changmen Inn.

There was no earth-shattering momentum, nor any dazzling light as if riding the wind.

With his hands behind his back, dressed in his ordinary blue robe, Li Changqing slowly and deliberately set off on the ancient road heading east, braving the swirling sandstorm.

The merchants and travelers in the inn looked through the cracks in the window at that lonely figure walking eastward, and all shook their heads.

"This shopkeeper must have lost his mind. He dares to go to the capital to collect debts at a time like this. He's really risking his life for money."

Little did they know that with this seemingly ordinary step, the upright figure in the blue robe would gradually become blurred in the wind and sand.

Shrinking the earth to an inch, yet feeling as close as a foot away as the ends of the earth.

The fierce desert winds could not dispel the depth in his eyes, and the cold moon beyond the pass illuminated his path forward.

Those arrogant remnants who call themselves immortals are still dreaming of ruling the land.

Little did they know, the most terrifying immortal being in the mortal realm was already slowly approaching them, carrying the heavy weight of hundreds of years of history.