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

In my mind, the system's cold, mechanical notification sound rang out precisely on time, as always.

Gu Yannian closed his eyes slightly.

"Checking in".

[Ding! Today's attendance complete. Attribute point gained +1.]

That familiar, cool scent flooded my mind.

Gu Yannian, however, felt that the aura was icy cold and bone-chilling.

He slowly added that little bit of attribute to "Strength".

One thousand six hundred and three points of strength.

The terrifying data was enough for him to easily destroy this house and the entire Xuanwu neighborhood.

However, this powerful force was powerless to save the life of a mortal.

Gu Yannian slowly stood up.

He finally experienced the most real and piercing pain he had felt in the nineteen years since he transmigrated to this Ming Dynasty world.

It was a profound sense of powerlessness.

It is a kind of sorrow that is watching a loved one pass away while one can only be a sober bystander.

He walked into the yard, looking at the empty clothesline and the quiet well.

"Is this what immortality is?"

Gu Yannian asked himself in a low voice.

Immortality is never a noisy celebration, but a long farewell.

Shen Wan's departure was only the first time in this long period of time.

In the next few hundred years, or even a thousand years.

He will watch with lucidity as Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi passes away.

Watching the Xuande Emperor pass away.

Witnessing the devastation of the Tumu Crisis in the Ming Dynasty.

Looking at that tragic hanging rope on Coal Hill.

He will meet many people and build many bonds.

Then, helplessly, we watched them grow old, die, and turn to dust.

And he will stand alone, unchanging, in this cruel river of time.

Thousands of separations in life and death, thousands of times separated by the mortal realm.

This is the profound truth of history.

This is the heavy price he, as an immortal, must pay.

He possessed endless time, but forever lost the right to grow old together with an ordinary person.

"Excellent. I've learned my lesson."

Gu Yannian slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

His heart, which had been slightly stirred by Shen Wan's departure, quickly settled and froze completely at this moment.

He turned around calmly.

He went inside, took a clean white cloth, and carefully covered Shen Wan with it.

He didn't alert anyone.

They simply went to a coffin shop and ordered a fine golden nanmu coffin.

Using his terrifying strength, he easily carried the coffin out of the city gate of Shuntian Prefecture in the middle of the night.

It is located on a secluded, sunny hillside in the western part of the city.

Gu Yannian quickly dug away the soil and properly buried Shen Wan.

There were no elaborate religious ceremonies, and no noisy guests.

Only a clean, blank blue stone tablet stands quietly on the grave.

He calmly poured a glass of strong liquor in front of the grave.

"You like peace and quiet, this place is suitable," Gu Yannian said in a low voice.

A biting autumn wind swept up the yellow leaves on the ground, and a pale, faint light appeared on the distant horizon.

Gu Yannian resolutely turned around and walked towards Shuntian Prefecture.

His blue official robes fluttered in the wind.

He knew that from then on, he would completely close himself off from the world.

He will simply be a spectator of history, an immortal who exists only for the monotonous task of clocking in and out.

The grand drama of the Ming Dynasty continues to unfold in a spectacular fashion.

And he will sit indifferently in a secluded corner, watching on and on, until the distant past changes into the present.

……

In the fourth month of summer in the nineteenth year of the Yongle reign.

The weather in Shuntian Prefecture was unusually muggy for those few days.

Thick, dark clouds, like tattered cotton soaked in ink, hung heavily over the newly completed Forbidden City.

There wasn't a breath of wind in the air, and even the fish in the moat were struggling to stay afloat, gulping down the thin air.

This irritating dullness was finally shattered late at night on the eighth day of the lunar new year by a blinding flash of lightning that tore through the sky.

"Boom!"

That was no ordinary spring thunder, but rather a divine punishment unleashed in the rage of a god from the heavens.

Amidst the deafening roar of thunder.

A thick bolt of purplish-blue lightning mercilessly struck the most magnificent Fengtian Hall in the Forbidden City, its golden glazed tile ridge gleaming.

In an instant, heavenly fire descended upon the world.

Fengtian Hall, Huagai Hall, Jinshen Hall.

These three main halls are symbols of power, representing decades of painstaking effort, the utmost resources from across the empire, and the mobilization of millions of craftsmen to complete their construction.

Its interior is made entirely of thick, oily Phoebe zhennan wood.

Once the thunder and fire are ignited, it's like boiling oil in a raging fire; the flames spread rapidly, carried by the strong winds.

Flames shot into the sky, illuminating the entire night sky of Shuntian Prefecture as bright as day.

Inside the courtyard of Xuanwufang.

Gu Yannian sat cross-legged on the daybed in the main room, his eyes slightly closed.

When that terrifying thunderclap sounded, he could even clearly feel the subtle tremors coming from the ground.

He slowly opened his eyes and pushed open the carved wooden window.

The firelight cast flickering shadows on his face.

His eyes were deep, like an ancient well with no bottom.

There was not a trace of panic, nor a trace of regret.

Since Shen Wan's passing, the world's prosperity and destruction have become nothing more than a grand shadow play in his eyes.

He was keenly aware that this fire was destined to happen in history.

This was a subtle "response" from Heaven to Emperor Yongle (Zhu Di) for his years of wars, massive construction projects, and cruel methods.

"Burn it, burn this vain, eternal dream."

Gu Yannian muttered to himself in a flat tone.

He didn't go out to see what was going on.

Unlike ordinary officials, he did not panic and rush to the city walls to kneel and weep.

He simply walked quietly into the courtyard and stood under the old jujube tree.

Close your eyes and listen quietly to the distant sounds of fire-fighting drums and the screams of eunuchs and palace maids.

And the dull rumble of the magnificent wooden building collapsing in the flames.

The next morning.

Gu Yannian changed into the blue official robes of a fifth-rank official and stepped steadily into the library of the Bureau of Classics.

[Ding! Today's attendance complete. Attribute point gained +1.]

"Add to the spirit."

As a cool breeze wafted through his mind, Gu Yannian skillfully walked to the rosewood desk on the second floor.

Outside the window, thick smoke still billowed from the direction of the Forbidden City, and the air was filled with a pungent, acrid smell of burning.

The officials of the entire Eastern Palace, and indeed the entire capital, were all in a state of profound grief.

The destruction of the three main halls was a fatal blow to Emperor Yongle, Zhu Di.

This ambitious and proud emperor, who was known for his military prowess, believed that this was a severe punishment from heaven for his decision to move the capital.

Zhu Di was filled with fear and immediately issued an unusual "edict of self-reproach".

He then urgently ordered his ministers to submit memorials, frankly stating the merits and demerits of the government, without any concealment.

The atmosphere inside the library was also oppressive.

Old Master Wang walked very carefully, afraid of making the slightest noise.

Gu Yannian calmly brewed a pot of Junshan Silver Needle tea and casually pulled out a book from the previous dynasty, "A Study of Star Changes in History," from the bookshelf.

They began to read it with great interest.

In the afternoon, a series of chaotic and heavy footsteps broke the tranquility of the library.

With the help of several eunuchs, Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi laboriously climbed to the second floor.

Accompanying him was a spirited young man with striking features, wearing a bright red python robe and possessing sharp eyebrows and bright eyes.

Although the boy was young, his gaze exuded a sharp royal majesty.

It resembles a young tiger just coming of age.

It was none other than the eldest grandson of the emperor, Zhu Di's favored grandson, Zhu Zhanji.