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

Zhu Youzhen gasped for breath a few times and gripped the vermilion pen tightly again.

He raised his head, his cloudy eyes looking at the plaque inscribed with "Upright and Honorable" hanging above the main hall, his gaze revealing a deep longing and no regrets.

"I have ruled this Ming Dynasty for over fifty years. The map that the Grand Tutor drew for me back then, I risked my life to finally finish it."

Zhu Youzhen muttered to himself, a proud smile playing on his lips.

"Everyone in the world says that cultivating immortality is good. But I think that being the emperor of this great Ming Dynasty, leading millions of people to trample those high and mighty immortals underfoot, and letting the Ming Dynasty's sun, moon, and dragon flags fill every corner of this world, is what makes this life worthwhile."

Li Changqing, standing in the shadows outside the Qianqing Palace, listened quietly to these words.

His fingers, which were holding the folding fan, paused slightly.

Deep in his eyes, an indescribable warmth and respect welled up.

This is the greatness of ordinary people.

Knowing full well that their lives were short and that they would eventually turn to dust, they were still willing to burn for the sake of their convictions.

Go and create miracles that even immortals and Buddhas would take notice of.

Li Changqing took an object out of his sleeve.

It was a small wooden carving that had already been carved.

The carving depicts a majestic emperor wearing imperial robes, standing tall and proud.

The wood carving is made of the most common boxwood, without any added patterns, yet the carving is incredibly detailed, exuding an indomitable imperial spirit.

He walked to a red-lacquered pillar in the main hall of the Qianqing Palace.

The small wooden carving was placed neatly on the base stone under the pillar.

No note was left, and no sound was made.

He took a deep look at the aged figure bent over his desk, writing furiously, inside the main hall.

"With you in the Ming Dynasty, the world is blessed."

Li Changqing turned around, waved his sleeve, and threw all the sorrow of parting belonging to the immortal guest into the vast night wind.

Clad in a simple blue robe, he strode into the boundless night.

The next morning.

When the eunuch on duty pushed open the gate of the Qianqing Palace to clean the eaves, he discovered the small wooden carving standing on the foundation stone.

The eunuch dared not delay and quickly presented it to the emperor's desk.

Zhu Youzhen picked up the wooden carving, his cloudy eyes suddenly widened in shock, his fingertips tracing the familiar carving marks, and two lines of clear tears silently slid down his deeply lined cheeks.

He made no sound, but simply held the wooden sculpture tightly in his palm, gazing at the vast sky outside the hall.

A pure, childlike smile of relief bloomed on his lips.

He knew that the wise man who was both his teacher and friend had come to see him and acknowledged his achievements in life.

Meanwhile, outside the capital city.

Sunlight bathed the bustling main street of Fangchang.

A steamed bun shop on the street is steaming with hot air. The sounds of vendors calling out their wares, horses' hooves, and children playing blend together to create the most vivid and lively picture of life in the world.

Li Changqing stood with his hands behind his back, mingling in the bustling crowd.

He walked past the stall where they warmed soy milk with a griddle, and past the blacksmith's shop where he swung a sledgehammer using breathing techniques.

He looked at the masses of people, at this prosperous and flourishing world.

At the end of the long street, the golden morning sun cast a faint halo around his blue robe.

He didn't turn around, but simply tapped the mottled Xiangfei bamboo folding fan lightly in his palm.

As the flow of people in the mortal world continues unhurriedly, we move towards the next unknown chapter of time.

In this world, the play may have ended, but the footsteps of the spectators never cease.

……

In the early summer of the fiftieth year of peace, the celestial phenomena of the land of China underwent an unprecedented change.

At first, a fierce wind suddenly arose over the land of Qilu.

The wind carried no trace of summer heat, but rather a chilling coldness that seemed to emanate from the deepest abyss.

In just three days, this strange phenomenon swept across the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

Above the sky, the once cloudless clear sky was quietly shrouded by a layer of thick, leaden dark clouds.

Those dark clouds were no ordinary rain clouds; deep within them, faint purple-gold lightning darted about like dragons, each flash accompanied by a deep, muffled roar that seemed to strike the hearts of all living beings.

A vast, majestic, and destructive aura poured down from the heavens, locking this mortal world in place.

The millions of ordinary people and soldiers who had practiced the "Tai Xu Dao Yin Technique" were all shocked to discover this.

The blood and spiritual energy that were originally circulating freely in the body were now sluggish, as if filled with lead.

Those students of the Imperial Academy and master craftsmen of the Imperial Observatory with slightly higher cultivation levels felt their minds tremble, and even standing was difficult.

The might of Heaven is overwhelming, and all living beings tremble in fear.

All the energy flows are directed toward the most revered of the Five Sacred Mountains.

Mount Tai.

Mount Tai, Jade Emperor Peak.

At the summit of the solitary peak, the fierce wind howled, like being cut by a knife.

Li Changqing, dressed in a long blue cloth robe, stood with his hands behind his back on the edge of the cliff, gently waving a mottled Xiangfei bamboo folding fan in his hand.

He raised his head, his deep, unfathomable eyes gazing silently at the terrifying tribulation clouds overhead, which rolled and pressed lower and lower.

The purple-gold lightning brewed in the clouds, emanating a destructive power powerful enough to instantly level the mountains within a hundred miles.

"A wanderer of the mortal world for a hundred years, I finally knock on the door today. In the end, the laws of this world still cannot contain my cultivation."

Li Changqing chuckled softly.

Throughout these long years, he lived a secluded life in the city, doing as he pleased.

Unbeknownst to him, his cultivation level had already reached the pinnacle that this mortal world could contain.

Now, that invisible constraint has finally been broken, and the Heavenly Dao has sent down a tribulation of lightning, which is both destruction and a ladder to a higher realm.

The tribulation of ascension is unavoidable.

Meanwhile, in the Forbidden City, at the Qianqing Palace.

Emperor Chengping, Zhu Youzhen, who was originally bedridden, pushed away the eunuchs who were helping him and stood up straight.

His bloodshot eyes stared intently through the wide-open palace doors at the apocalyptic celestial phenomena in the east.

"Such overwhelming pressure... such an aura that points directly to the very essence of heaven and earth..."

Zhu Youzhen's hand trembled slightly. He turned around and grabbed the boxwood carving on the imperial desk.

"It's the Grand Tutor. The Grand Tutor is leaving."

The iron-fisted emperor of the Ming Dynasty had an indescribable complex expression on his aged face.

There was reluctance, there was awe, but above all, there was a resolute determination that swept across the land.

"Guards! Proclaim my decree!"

Although Zhu Youzhen's voice was hoarse, it exuded an unparalleled majesty that commanded the world, resounding throughout the hall.

"Immediately summon all officials of the Cabinet, the Ministry of War, and the Imperial Observatory! Order the current Minister of War, Shen You, to personally lead the most elite troops of the Divine Machine Battalion, all the master craftsmen of the Imperial Academy, and the most powerful runic artifacts of the Ming Dynasty to accompany me to Mount Tai immediately!"

The old eunuch Liu Jin was so frightened that he knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly.

"Your Majesty! Your health is poor, and the celestial phenomena at Mount Tai are extremely ominous; there is a risk of disaster! How can you lightly venture into such a dangerous place!"

"Shut up!"

Zhu Youzhen roared angrily, his imperial majesty so overwhelming that Liu Jin dared not utter another word.

"Grand Tutor has protected the Ming Dynasty for a century, expanding its territory and spreading its military might throughout the world! Now that the Grand Tutor has encountered such a catastrophe, how can the Ming Dynasty stand idly by?"

"Issue an imperial decree throughout the land: the entire Ming Dynasty shall mobilize the resources of the nation to protect the Grand Tutor! Anyone who disobeys will be executed!"

When the emperor was enraged, the enormous war machine of the Ming Dynasty instantly began to operate at its most ferocious pace.