Chapter Summaries

A mysterious sky-wide screen appeared across multiple historical timelines and showed that Aisin Gioro Puyi abdicated in 1912, ending the Qing Dynasty and China’s imperial system. The emperors and ministers reacted with shock, while Ying Zheng and Liu Che wondered whether Aisin Gioro came from the Xiongnu and what the revelation meant for their dynasties.

• Ying Zheng and Liu Bang asked their ministers about the strange light curtain, and several rulers across other timelines treated it as an auspicious sign.
• The screen showed that Puyi issued the abdication edict on February 12, 1912, and that Yuan Shikai became provisional president a month later.
• Kangxi and Qianlong were shocked to learn that the Qing Dynasty would fall, while Kangxi questioned whether there would be emperors in the future.
• Ying Zheng wondered how many generations Great Qin would last and speculated about Aisin Gioro’s origins; Zhao Gao urged him to find and eliminate the lineage’s ancestor.
• Liu Bang and Lü Zhi considered whether Aisin Gioro was a Xiongnu surname, while Liu Che ordered another northern expedition and an investigation into the name.
• Cao Cao and other strategists inferred that a president held supreme military and political authority, while Taizong of Tang, Taizu of Song, and other rulers felt relieved that the revelation did not condemn their accessions.

A video about Puyi and the fall of the Qing Dynasty prompted Ming rulers to vow to destroy the Jianzhou Jurchens, while Qing emperors reacted angrily to the comments. A second video revealed how Du Fengzhi’s diary exposed late Qing officials’ corrupt tax practices and how officials drove away a governor who tried to collect taxes fairly.

• After the first video ended, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered a campaign to wipe out every Jurchen tribe, and Lan Yu and other Ming generals volunteered to lead it.
• Zhu Di supported another northern campaign, Zhu Jianshen considered repeating his court-plowing campaign, and the Chongzhen Emperor feared that he would bring about the Great Ming’s fall.
• Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, and Jiaqing reacted angrily to the comments about Puyi and the Aisin Gioro clan.
• The second video identified Du Fengzhi as a late Qing official whose diary exposed how local officials overcharged people for grain taxes and pocketed the difference.
• The video explained that Jiang Yili tried to collect grain taxes at market prices, but the viceroys of Liangguang and Minzhe joined forces and drove him out.

The account of Du Fengzhi’s brutal tax collection provoked outrage across the dynasties, prompting rulers to condemn corruption and order investigations. The heavenly screen then showed Zuo Ruotong surviving the Threefold Reversal and taking physical form in the air, leaving viewers convinced they had witnessed an immortal.

• The heavenly screen described how Du Fengzhi’s agents extorted taxes through beatings, hostage-taking, and arson, while ordinary people were driven toward rebellion.
• Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di condemned Du Fengzhi, while officials from other dynasties reacted to the account and Zhang Jiao agreed that hardship could drive people to rebel.
• Ying Zheng ordered a tour of the country to inspect the commanderies and counties, and Li Shimin ordered Wei Zheng to investigate similar abuses in the Tang.
• The heavenly screen announced the completion of Zuo Ruotong’s Threefold Reversal and showed Wu Gensheng seemingly dispersing Zuo Ruotong’s body.
• Sichong stopped the Three-One disciples from approaching as Zuo Ruotong’s empty robes floated and Innate Qi gathered into his body.
• Zuo Ruotong appeared standing in the air, and viewers across the dynasties hailed him as an immortal and prayed for his blessing.

A heavenly-screen video showed Zuo Ruotong reaching the Three-One Sect’s third level, prompting awe and hopes of immortality across the dynasties. Wu Gensheng challenged the limits of Reverse Rebirth, leaving Zuo Ruotong to consider whether a path with only three levels could truly reach heaven.

• People across the dynasties revered Zuo Ruotong’s transformation into qi, while emperors and Daoists hoped to obtain his immortal art.
• Sichong and the Three-One Sect disciples wept and celebrated as they recognized Zuo Ruotong’s third-level Threefold Reversal.
• Li Muxuan knelt before Zuo Ruotong, mourning that he had never become his disciple.
• Sichong tried to drive Wu Gensheng away, but Zuo Ruotong separated him from the pair with a wave of qi and approached Wu Gensheng.
• Wu Gensheng praised Reverse Rebirth as unrivaled among extraordinary abilities but said it could not reach heaven.
• Wu Gensheng argued that a path limited to three levels could not be the road to heaven, asking what would happen after someone reached the third level.

Zuo Ruotong tested Threefold Reversal with Wu Gensheng, lost his cultivation, and became an old man, while emperors watching the heavenly screen considered the promise of longevity. A new video began examining what determines a dynasty’s lifespan, starting with the Xia Dynasty and its early conditions.

• Zuo Ruotong thanked Wu Gensheng for telling him the truth and chose to complete the test despite his heartache.
• Wu Gensheng activated Divine Spirit and clasped Zuo Ruotong’s hand, dispersing his cultivation and breaking the qi barrier.
• Zuo Ruotong staggered to his chair as an old man and told Wu Gensheng and the others to leave.
• Emperors watching the heavenly screen inferred that Threefold Reversal could grant longevity and reacted with anger to later generations’ irreverence toward imperial authority.
• A video asked what determines a dynasty’s lifespan, and Ying Zheng and Yang Jian wondered how long their dynasties would last.
• The video explained that early Xia-era systems were undeveloped, the population was small, and rebellion was unlikely unless a monarch oppressed the people, citing Jie of Xia.

A heavenly screen traced the rise and fall of Chinese dynasties, prompting rulers across different eras to react to their own kingdoms’ predicted fates. It left the emperors debating the causes of dynastic collapse, with the people’s support and the end of feudal rule raised as concluding points.

• The heavenly screen explained that the Shang Dynasty fell amid internal conflict and the Zhou Dynasty rose through conquest and enfeoffment.
• Ying Zheng learned that Hu Hai would succeed him and Great Qin would fall in its second generation, so he angrily demanded answers and ordered Liu Bang found.
• Yang Jian praised his own measures for winning popular support, then grew furious when the screen said Great Sui would also fall in its second generation and demanded that the crown prince be brought to him.
• Liu Bang welcomed the prediction that Great Han would last more than four hundred years, while Lü Zhi wondered whether Emperor Wu of Han was Ying'er's descendant.
• Li Shimin recognized that powerful regional military governors would weaken Great Tang and said the future could be changed; Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Gou also reacted to the screen’s account of Song’s military weakness.
• The screen summarized the later dynasties’ falls and argued that governance, popular support, and changing historical conditions shaped dynastic survival, while feudal dynasties were ultimately destined to disappear.

A later-generation account challenged the view that the Qin Dynasty fell because Ying Zheng was tyrannical, citing Qin laws and reassessing the charges of burning books and burying Confucian scholars. Ying Zheng heard praise for his unification and lasting legacy, but the chapter ended with a question about whether modern divisions into more than 200 countries betrayed him.

• Liu Bang, Mencius, Zhu Yuanzhang, and Zhu Di reflected on whether winning popular support and ruling with virtue determined who held the realm.
• Ying Zheng wondered how later generations would judge him as a ruler after Great Qin fell in its second generation.
• A later-generation account cited Shuihudi bamboo slips describing Qin laws and argued that the account of harsh punishments for delayed troops was false, angering Chen Sheng and Wu Guang.
• The account said Ying Zheng's lasting infamy came from banning private schools and burning histories and texts, while the buried victims were fraudulent alchemists rather than Confucian scholars.
• Ying Zheng accepted praise for unifying the realm, establishing commanderies and counties, and shaping China's boundaries, while Li Si defended his actions.
• The account linked Qin's dependence on Ying Zheng to the chaos after his death and ended by asking whether a world divided into more than 200 countries betrayed him.

A heavenly screen showed later-age portrayals and debates about Ying Zheng, prompting people across different dynasties to react to his reputation and appearance. The chapter ended with viewers recognizing that the speech about the Son of Heaven’s sword came from Zhuangzi and doubting that the historical First Emperor had said it.

• Liu Che questioned Sima Qian about the account in Records of the Grand Historian, and Sima Qian said he had relied on earlier records and his own investigations.
• Zhu Yuanzhang envied Ying Zheng’s later reputation, but Zhu Biao reassured him that future generations would remember his achievements.
• The heavenly screen presented scenes and quotations portraying Ying Zheng as a unifier, lawgiver, and formidable ruler, while viewers debated his character and legacy.
• A little princess and her mother admired Ying Zheng’s handsome appearance in The Forgotten River, and viewers discussed the later dramas and anime featuring him and Han Fei.
• Viewers identified the sword of the Son of Heaven passage as a version of Zhuangzi’s Discourse on Swords and concluded that the historical Ying Zheng had not said those words.

The sky screen explained how Qing emperors seized control of Confucian interpretation from scholar-officials, freeing imperial power from its last major restraint. Qing rulers celebrated their dynasty’s achievement, while Confucian scholars and rulers of other dynasties reacted with anger and envy.

• The sky screen said that scholar-officials had traditionally interpreted Confucianism and used its moral authority to constrain emperors.
• It described how Kangxi denounced prominent Neo-Confucian scholars and asserted the emperor’s authority to determine correct Confucian interpretation.
• Comments condemned Qing Confucianism as servility and argued that the Eight Banners’ military power helped Qing emperors suppress scholar-officials.
• Emperors of other dynasties envied the Qing’s control of Confucian interpretation but realized they could not readily imitate it.
• Cixi praised Great Qing, while other Qing emperors wondered who Sun Dianying was and why the comments called him a national hero.

The sky screen compared Emperor Wu of Han’s costly conquest and settlement of Xiongnu territory with Emperor Taizong of Tang’s cheaper policy of retaining Göktürk leaders and herders, which it said left a dangerous legacy. Liu Che rejected Taizong’s approach, while Li Shimin was embarrassed by the account of a Göktürk attack, and Song Dynasty viewers blamed the Tang for their own lost territories.

• The sky screen said Wei Qing and Huo Qubing’s campaigns killed more than 70,000 Xiongnu and helped turn the Hexi Corridor into a major Han settlement, though the conquest cost many lives.
• The sky screen contrasted Emperor Wu of Han’s seizure of land with Emperor Taizong of Tang’s decision to settle Göktürks in northern Hebei while allowing them to preserve their culture.
• The sky screen recounted how Jiesheshuai and more than forty Göktürks attacked Jiucheng Palace during the thirteenth year of the Zhenguan era, frightening Li Shimin.
• The sky screen blamed the failure to assimilate northern peoples for later unrest, and Emperor Wu of Han dismissed Taizong’s approach as a costly hidden danger.
• Wei Zheng warned Li Shimin that he would ignore his future advice, while Zhangsun Wuji comforted him and Yuchi Gong and other officers volunteered to kill Jiesheshuai.
• Song Dynasty emperors and officials seized on the sky screen’s claim that Tang expansion was temporary and blamed the Great Tang for their failure to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun.

A heavenly video condemned the Sima Household for five historical sins, from Sima Yi's betrayal of Cao Shuang to the devastation caused by the Jin dynasty's civil wars and the Five Barbarians. The emperors and common people watching reacted with anger and fear, while ordinary people lamented the suffering of life in an age of chaos.

• The video accused Sima Yi of breaking his oath to Cao Shuang, exterminating Cao Shuang's and He Yan's clans, and destroying trust in the Sima Household; Liu Xiu condemned the betrayal, and Cao Cao's men reacted with alarm.
• The video condemned Sima Zhao for killing Emperor Cao Mao in the street without granting him a posthumous title, prompting emperors across the ages to denounce or debate the act.
• The video accused the Sima Clan of putting family interests first, indulging in wealth, and promoting enfeoffment, which it said helped bring misery and the dynasty's downfall.
• The video blamed the War of the Eight Princes for renewed chaos, mass suffering, and the collapse of Western Jin's military strength.
• The video linked the Sima Household to the Yongjia Disaster, the flight of nobles south, the devastation of the Han people in the north, and centuries of division.
• Common people said they wanted peace and feared the violence and abuses that came with an age of chaos.

The later generations debated why Sima Zhao spared the court historians and why Zhong Hui rebelled, while Sima Zhao and emperors of other dynasties watched the discussions and fabricated accounts circulate. The chapter ended with Zhao Kuangyin objecting to being used as a comparison for a successful Zhong Hui.

• Later readers argued that Sima Zhao did not kill the court historians because unofficial histories would spread even wilder stories about him.
• Fabricated accounts claiming Sima Zhao sexually assaulted and killed the emperor enraged Sima Zhao, while later emperors called for unofficial histories to be suppressed.
• Later readers debated Zhong Hui's rebellion, arguing that his military power, status, and achievements left him fearing death if he returned to court.
• The discussion compared a victorious Zhong Hui to Zhao Kuangyin, who objected to being dragged into the debate.

Gao Shengyang, a reincarnated young man in a modern parallel world, gained a Video Playback System that let him broadcast videos to historical worlds and trade Emotion Points for powers. He learned the Threefold Reversal and watched a video about Zhong Hui’s rebellion, while the historical viewers discussed Zhong Hui’s ambitions and his father Zhong Yao.

• Zhong Yao told Cao Cao that he knew of no Zhong Hui in the Yingchuan Zhong Clan and suggested the man might belong to a collateral branch or had not yet been born.
• Gao Shengyang received the Video Playback System and learned that his videos had earned him 138.69 million Emotion Points from historical worlds.
• Gao Shengyang spent 1.1 million Emotion Points to acquire the Threefold Reversal and cultivate it to its third stage.
• Gao Shengyang used the Threefold Reversal to transform his body into Innate Primordial Qi and felt frighteningly strong.
• The system resumed broadcasting a video portraying Zhong Hui’s ambitions, conquest of Shu, and failed bid to claim the realm for the Zhong name.
• Viewers across the historical worlds discussed Zhong Hui’s rebellion, his loyalty to Jiang Wei, and how Zhong Yao might have been honored if Zhong Hui had succeeded.

The heavenly screen revealed that Zhong Hui’s rebellion failed because he could not win the armies’ loyalty, while Zhong Hui in another plane realized Jiang Wei had meant to exploit his revolt. It then showed the legend that Zhao Tuo searched for the elixir of immortality, founded the Kingdom of Nanyue, and was buried in a tomb discovered in Guangzhou, leaving the emperors wondering whether the tomb held the elixir.

• Cao Cao teased Zhong Yao about nearly becoming a Taizu, and Zhong Yao said there would be no Zhong Hui in his clan.
• Zhong Hui saw that his rebellion had failed because morale collapsed and the Wei and Shu armies did not support him, then inferred that Jiang Wei had wanted to take advantage of his revolt.
• The heavenly screen described how an ancient tomb found on Xianggang Mountain in Guangzhou might belong to Zhao Tuo, who had supposedly searched for the elixir for the First Emperor of Qin.
• The First Emperor of Qin was surprised to hear Zhao Tuo had been his secret envoy, while later emperors wondered whether Zhao Tuo’s reported lifespan of 103 meant he had found the elixir.
• The heavenly screen said Zhao Tuo had founded the Kingdom of Nanyue and that the Xianggang Mountain tomb’s Han-style structure suggested it belonged to Nanyue’s ruler.

The heavenly screen traced the clues in a Guangzhou tomb to Zhao Tuo, then revealed a jade seal bearing the unexplained name Zhao Mo and left the excavation’s mystery unresolved. Commenters invented theories that Zhao Tuo had taken an elixir of eternal youth and repeatedly assumed the identities of his descendants.

• The heavenly screen identified Zhao Tuo as the likely occupant of a grand tomb, while Zhao Tuo worried that its claims about his army and longevity would bring trouble.
• The screen described a Changle Palace jar, Qin-style weapons, and a Dew-Receiving Cup, but the expected elixir remained unconfirmed.
• Researchers found a Persian-style silver medicine box and a jade seal inscribed with the name Zhao Mo, raising questions about the tomb’s occupant.
• Commenters made up an unofficial history in which the elixir left the First Emperor of Qin and went to Zhao Tuo, prompting Ying Zheng to object to its ending.
• Commenters proposed that Zhao Mo was one of Zhao Tuo’s stand-ins and that Zhao Tuo could hide his longevity by taking the identities of his descendants.

A sky screen presented later generations’ sympathetic view of Zhang Jiao and the Yellow Turban Uprising, prompting ordinary people to rally behind him and emperors to fear the threat to imperial authority. It then began a discussion of why Daoism could not compete with Buddhism, blaming emperors’ fear of another Zhang Jiao.

• The sky screen described Zhang Jiao as a healer who rose up for the oppressed and asked whether he had acted for the people or for his own ambitions.
• Comments called the Yellow Turban movement an uprising and criticized the Han court, Cao Cao, and other rulers for allowing disasters and massacres to devastate the population.
• Liu Bang, Liu Heng, Liu Xun, Liu Xiu, and other emperors were shocked by the slogans calling for the Han to fall and by the reported population decline.
• People vowed to follow Zhang Jiao, declaring that they would fight rulers who did not treat them as people, while emperors feared the sky screen would undermine their authority.
• The sky screen began discussing Daoism’s rivalry with Buddhism and said emperors suppressed Daoism because Zhang Jiao’s uprising had shown its potential threat.

The sky screen discussed Daoism’s relationship with imperial power and Zhang Jiao before showing dances by later-age girl groups and male idols. The ancient viewers reacted with fascination and outrage, while Gao Shengyang gained emotion points from the videos.

• The sky screen explained how emperors’ religious beliefs strengthened either Buddhism or Daoism, and viewers debated Zhang Jiao’s relationship to Daoism.
• Ancient viewers argued that Daoism had once enjoyed imperial favor and noted that several emperors had tried to suppress Buddhism.
• The playback system showed a girl group dancing, leaving people across the dynasties amazed and causing many men’s noses to bleed.
• Gao Shengyang gained more emotion points as further dance videos drew bachelors to watch and helped brothels attract more customers.
• The system played a 2024 DJ version of “Ask” featuring male idols, prompting women to marvel and the old Confucian scholar and butcher to condemn the performers as unmanly.

A sky-screen discussion imagined how history’s founding emperors would confront rulers who lost their dynasties, prompting several emperors to react to revelations about their descendants. Zhu Yuanzhang began criticizing the Chongzhen Emperor, and the chapter ended before his imagined confrontation was finished.

• The First Emperor of Qin realized that Hu Hai had killed the old ministers and his brothers, while Hu Hai blamed the sky screen for causing trouble.
• Liu Bang’s imagined words comforted Emperor Xian of Han, who wept upon hearing Gaozu’s name.
• Yang Jian learned that Yang Guang, not Yang Yong, had become Emperor Yang of Sui, and Li Shimin remarked that he might better deliver Li Yuan’s imagined words himself.
• Zhao Kuangyin’s imagined rebuke of Emperor Huizong of Song upset the Song emperors, especially those of the Southern Song.
• Kublai’s imagined reassurance led Emperor Shun of Yuan to wonder whether returning to the grasslands would be pleasant.
• Zhu Yuanzhang began rebuking the Chongzhen Emperor for failing to save the Great Ming after its founding hardships.

The heavenly screen’s comments about Zhu Qizhen, Cixi, and past rulers unsettled emperors across the dynasties, while Zhu Yuanzhang inferred how the Ming throne might pass after his death. The chapter ended with a new discussion of how good looks could shape men’s prospects, citing Gao Huan, Gao Changgong, Zhang Juzheng, and Zhong Kui.

• Chongzhen agreed with the heavenly screen that a ruler could remove troublesome ministers, while Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, Li Shanchang, Lan Yu, and Hu Weiyong reacted to its predictions about their fates.
• Zhu Yuanzhang recited the generation names for Zhu Biao’s descendants, realized Zhu Qizhen was not among them, and grew angry when he reached the names for Zhu Di’s line.
• Comments about Cixi described her as a ruler who lost Qing territory and squandered its wealth, prompting her to curse later generations and some Confucian scholars to criticize women in power.
• Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di reacted to comments about Zhu Qizhen and the succession, while Zhu Yuanzhang inferred that Zhu Yunwen would lose the throne to Zhu Di after Zhu Biao’s death.
• The heavenly screen discussed the advantages of handsome men, saying Gao Huan’s looks helped him marry Lou Zhaojun, Zhang Juzheng’s appearance drew the empress dowager’s attention, and Zhong Kui lost his examination status because he was ugly.

The heavenly screen discussed the Gao family’s appearance and reputation before questioning whether Zhu Di and Zhu Biao had been on good terms. Its account of Yongle-era histories portraying Zhu Biao as inept and treacherous enraged Zhu Yuanzhang, while Zhu Biao denied the accusations.

• The heavenly screen praised Gao Changgong’s beauty and described the Gao family’s reputation for madness, prompting reactions from Li Shimin, Gao Huan, and Yuwen Tai.
• The heavenly screen asked whether Zhu Di and Zhu Biao had been on good terms, and Zhu Biao and Zhu Yuanzhang believed Zhu Biao had treated his younger brother well.
• The heavenly screen cited the Veritable Records of Emperor Taizong of Ming, which depicted Zhu Biao as indecisive and claimed Zhu Yuanzhang had considered deposing him.
• Zhu Yuanzhang angrily rejected the claims and accused Zhu Di of falsifying history to slander his older brother.
• The heavenly screen cited Record of the Jingnan Campaign in Heaven's Name, which accused Zhu Biao of plotting patricide with 3,000 suicide squads.
• Zhu Biao knelt and denied ever plotting against Zhu Yuanzhang, who reassured him and condemned the account.