Chapter Summaries

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao’s decrees announcing the conquest of the Tatars, a general amnesty, and sweeping examination reforms delighted the people of Yingtian. Meanwhile, Zhu Ying’s army approached the Tatars’ lands, where he prepared to defeat them and received a system reward confirming Tatar’s destruction.

• Officials proclaimed that Zhu Xiongying had defeated the Tatars, killed their Great Khan and Great General, and brought their territory under Ming rule; the decree also granted a general amnesty.
• The court announced annual imperial examinations beginning in the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu, adding military and miscellaneous-studies exams alongside civil examinations, and the people of Yingtian celebrated the new opportunities.
• Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao discussed the people’s response and anticipated how valuing practical skills and technology could strengthen the Ming Dynasty.
• Zhu Ying halted his army of more than fifty thousand north of Liaodong and studied a map of the approaching Tatar lands, while Lan Yu reported that the Tatars were still attacking Liaodong and Joseon forces were delaying them.
• Zhu Ying received a system notification awarding him two Tier 3 treasure chests for destroying Tatar, confirming that the frontier and commandery troops had secured its strongholds.

Guo Ying’s forces used Zhu Ying’s new explosive shells to break the Tatar assault on Kaiyuan City, sending the attackers into a rout. Zhu Ying then arrived with Ming cavalry and ordered an encirclement, while Guo Ying led the garrison out to pursue the fleeing Tatars.

• The Jianzhou and Haixi chieftains argued over whether to keep attacking Kaiyuan City or withdraw as winter approached.
• Guo Ying ordered five hundred new explosive shells fired at the Tatar troops, devastating their ranks and destroying their morale.
• The Jianzhou and Haixi forces broke into a panicked retreat, and the Haixi chieftain ordered his men to withdraw.
• Zhu Ying arrived with Ming cavalry, ordered twenty thousand soldiers to attack, and directed the rest to encircle the Tatars.
• Guo Ying opened Kaiyuan City’s gates and led Ming infantry out to pursue the fleeing Tatars.

Zhu Ying defeated the invading Tatars, captured two tribal chiefs, and imposed Ming control over their tribes. As he ordered Guo Ying to finish off the remaining Donghai Tatars, Zhu Yuanzhang celebrated the northern victories in Yingtian and waited for Zhu Ying to return.

• Zhang Wu brought in the captured Jianzhou and Haixi tribal chiefs, and Zhu Ying killed the Jianzhou chief after recalling that he had killed the chief’s father.
• Xiyangha, the Haixi chief, begged to submit, so Zhu Ying forced him to swallow a Heart-devouring Pill and ordered his commanders to take the same pill.
• Zhu Ying ordered the Tatars to shave their heads, declaring that they must keep their heads and lose their hair, and had Xiyangha’s hair shaved immediately.
• Zhu Ying ordered Guo Ying to lead the Liaodong soldiers against the remaining Donghai Tatars and promised rewards for the army’s service.
• Zhu Yuanzhang celebrated Great Ming’s expanded territory and population, then learned that Zhu Ying would return after settling matters in the Northern Frontier.

Zhu Yuanzhang reviewed the public response to Zhu Ying’s imperial examination reforms and the expansion of Great Ming’s banking network, while Zhu Ying organized military and administrative control of the newly conquered Northern Frontier. After winter supplies reached the realm, Zhu Ying returned to Ying Tian, where Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, and a cheering crowd waited to welcome him.

• Zhu Yuanzhang heard Liu Jing and Yu Xin report that people welcomed the examination reforms while many scholars worried about the changes, and he confirmed that Zhu Ying would set the questions himself.
• Zhao Mian reported that banks had opened in prefectural capitals and would spread across Great Ming by the next autumn harvest.
• Zhu Ying praised An Tong for building Beiping’s new imperial palace, then met the generals to assign defenses and administration across the Northern Frontier.
• Zhu Ying entrusted Fu Youde with military affairs in the new territories, directed Guo Ying to secure Liaodong, and ordered the Tatar people to pay eight taxes out of ten.
• Zhu Ying ordered military rewards and compensation for fallen and wounded soldiers to be finalized, then urged the generals to integrate the conquered lands into the Ming Dynasty.
• Zhu Ying returned to Ying Tian in winter, where Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, Zhu Wenxi, and crowds of commoners gathered to welcome him.

Zhu Ying returned to Yingtian in triumph after expanding Ming’s northern territories, then rewarded ministers and discussed the new lands, military affairs, and Martial Dao with Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao. The chapter ended with Zhu Biao warning that spreading powerful martial arts could make officials impossible to control.

• Zhu Ying entered Yingtian to cheers, greeted Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao, and thanked the commoners who welcomed him in the winter cold.
• At court, Zhu Ying praised several ministers for supporting the northern campaign and bestowed Peiyuan Pills on them.
• Zhu Ying told the court to manage the newly expanded territories while Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao handled difficult state affairs.
• Zhu Ying revealed that he had captured the Northern Yuan Emperor again, and Zhu Yuanzhang said the prisoner could be useful against the Oirats.
• Zhu Ying explained that the Northern Frontier held immense future value, then told Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao about his powerful internal force and the prospect of emperor-specific cultivation methods.
• Zhu Ying said martial arts should spread through the army, but Zhu Biao warned that powerful martial artists could become uncontrollable.

Zhu Ying persuaded Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao to establish a controlled body-cultivation program for the Ming army and revealed a Civilization Command meant to be activated after world unification. After returning to his family in Yingtian, he agreed to let Xu Miaoyun visit the imprisoned Prince of Yan, Zhu Di.

• Zhu Ying explained that Bone Tempering Powder could support body cultivation, and Zhu Yuanzhang approved promoting it in the army under strict control.
• Zhu Biao proposed creating the Medicine Refining Hall, placing Yunteng in charge and recruiting trusted imperial physicians and future medical graduates.
• Zhu Ying demonstrated body cultivation and internal cultivation to Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao, who decided that only body cultivation was suitable to introduce for now.
• Zhu Ying showed Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao the Civilization Command, which he said could be activated after the world was unified.
• Xu Miaoyun asked Xu Miaojin to help her see Zhu Di, and Xu Miaojin offered to raise the request when Zhu Ying returned.
• Zhu Ying reunited with his wives and children, then gently agreed to let Xu Miaoyun visit Zhu Di once.

Zhu Ying learned that the Three Jurchen Tribes had been subdued and issued orders to secure the territory, develop martial cultivation, and prepare for future expansion. At Zhu Yunteng’s wedding, Zhu Yuanzhang enfeoffed him as Prince of Liaodong, and the chapter ended with Zhu Yunteng and Yun Yu opening Zhu Ying’s wedding gift in shock.

• Xu Miaoyun visited Zhu Di in confinement and told him that the Ming Dynasty had grown far stronger, the Tatars had been defeated, and Zhu Ying’s Northern Expedition had greatly expanded its territory.
• Tang Duo reported that Guo Ying had swept away the Three Jurchen Tribes, and Zhu Ying ordered the Liaodong land secured and soldiers’ families compensated.
• Zhu Ying issued decrees establishing an Alchemy Hall, cultivating herbs for Bone Tempering Powder, and copying martial arts manuals for the Imperial Guard.
• Zhu Ying examined the Civilization Command but could not activate it, then considered lifting the maritime ban and preparing for future conquest.
• At Zhu Yunteng’s wedding, Zhu Yuanzhang enfeoffed him as Prince of Liaodong and conferred the title of Commandery Princess Consort on Yun Yu.
• Zhu Yunteng and Yun Yu opened the wedding gifts from Zhu Ying and were stunned by what they found.

Zhu Ying celebrated the new year with the Zhu family and promised to focus on governance before resuming conquest. At Hongwu Era 26’s first court assembly, officials reported 23 million taels in Royal Bank deposits, and Zhu Ying responded by announcing severe punishments for official embezzlement.

• Zhu Yunteng and Yun Yu discovered that Zhu Ying had given them two pills said to extend life by ten years.
• Zhu Ying told Zhu Yuanzhang he would avoid deploying troops for at least half a year and focus on implementing new policies.
• Zhao Mian reported that the Royal Banks held deposits totaling twenty-three million taels of silver, astonishing the assembled officials.
• Zhu Ying announced a law imposing escalating penalties on officials who embezzled, including punishments that barred their descendants from examinations, office, and military service.
• When the Duke Yansheng questioned whether the law was too harsh, Zhu Ying defended it by citing officials’ generous salaries and rewards for loyal service.

Zhu Ying proposed sweeping reforms to Great Ming, including lifting the maritime ban, loosening travel restrictions, abolishing hereditary artisan status and the Eight-Legged Essay, and promoting commerce. Zhu Yuanzhang approved the policies despite officials’ protests, and Yu Xin’s report of eighty million taels in commercial tax revenue stunned the court.

• Lan Yu and many officials backed Zhu Ying’s anti-corruption decree, which Zhu Yuanzhang ordered to be proclaimed throughout the realm.
• Zhu Ying proposed lifting the maritime ban, adding an identity system, abolishing hereditary artisanship and the Eight-Legged Essay, and encouraging trade.
• Zhu Biao supported Zhu Ying, and Zhu Yuanzhang approved the reforms despite warning of their risks.
• Dozens of officials protested, warning that the reforms would cause disorder and undermine Great Ming’s moral order.
• Zhu Ying asked Yu Xin to report that commercial taxes had reached eighty million taels in the twenty-fifth year of the Hongwu Era, surpassing grain taxes.
• Yu Xin’s figures silenced the protesting officials, and Zhu Ying argued that industry, workshops, and commerce would strengthen Great Ming.

Zhu Ying defended his reforms by citing the Ming Dynasty’s growing treasury, then used martial arts to lift the court officials and secure their submission. He revealed his ambition to conquer the world and eventually explore All Worlds and Myriad Realms, leaving the ministers convinced that the Ming Dynasty was their descendants’ path to immortality.

• Zhu Ying cited the commercial and labor tax revenues and the treasury’s growth to challenge the ministers to find fault with his reforms.
• Zhu Ying declared that he governed by the Hegemonic Way and used Shifting Stars to lift the court officials into the air, stunning them into kneeling and pledging loyalty.
• Zhu Ying told the assembled court that the Ming Dynasty would conquer every land on earth and eventually venture into the universe and All Worlds and Myriad Realms.
• Song Ne asked whether other worlds, the underworld, and reincarnation existed, and Zhu Ying confirmed their existence without explaining further.
• Lan Yu asked whether mortals could become immortals, and Zhu Ying said the Ming Dynasty lacked Spiritual Energy but could give future generations a chance through its expansion.
• The ministers swore to serve the Ming Dynasty unto death, and Zhu Ying was satisfied that his display had achieved its intended effect.

Zhu Ying won court approval for sweeping policies covering overseas trade, migration, commerce, population growth, education, and a new navy. When the edicts were proclaimed in Ying Tian City, the crowd was stunned and the city erupted in excitement.

• Zhu Ying proposed lifting the Maritime Ban, establishing a navy and identity system, encouraging northern migration and childbirth, and expanding commerce and public education; Zhu Yuanzhang and the ministers approved his policies.
• Zhu Ying urged the ministers to follow him on the Immortal Path and make world unification its starting point.
• Zhu Ying gave Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao boxes of cultivation pills and urged them to keep strengthening their bodies.
• The six ministries prepared the edicts, and officials dispatched them from Ying Tian City to the prefectures of Great Ming.
• A vice minister of the Ministry of Rites publicly read the new policies in Ying Tian City, and the gathered commoners erupted after hearing them.

After enacting sweeping national policies and receiving news that the three Tatar tribes had been brought under Ming control, Zhu Ying opened three treasure chests and obtained a portal to another world. He summoned a thousand royal guards and prepared to enter the newly identified Prehistoric World with them.

• Liu Lei told Zhu Ying that Ying Tian City was celebrating his national policies, and Zhu Ying began planning their implementation.
• Xiao Han reported that the three Tatar tribes had submitted, and Zhu Ying ordered military settlements and state control of their pastures and farmland.
• Zhu Ying opened three treasure chests and received a Lifespan Fruit Tree, the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, and a small-world coordinate portal.
• Zhu Ying blood-refined the Lifespan Fruit Tree and ordered Liu Lei to assemble one thousand royal guards.
• Zhu Ying activated the portal, which fixed its destination as the Prehistoric World, and prepared to enter with the royal guards.

Zhu Ying entered a portal to a prehistoric world with Liu Lei and a thousand royal guards, where he discovered dinosaurs and killed one with a single sword strike. He considered capturing and taming dinosaurs to strengthen Great Ming’s army, while the group remained in the new world.

• Zhu Ying refused to let anyone else enter first, stepped through the portal, and was followed by Liu Lei and a thousand royal guards.
• Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao learned that Zhu Ying had sealed off his training grounds and would be away for several days, and they told Zhu Yunteng not to disturb him.
• Zhu Ying emerged into a dense prehistoric forest, confirmed that the world had no Spiritual Energy, and explained to Liu Lei that they were in another world.
• Zhu Ying spotted a huge dinosaur charging through the trees and killed it with a sword aura, gaining five points in all attributes.
• Zhu Ying decided that dinosaurs might be tamed as mounts and used to conquer territory for Great Ming, and Liu Lei asked whether such enormous beasts could truly be tamed.

Zhu Ying returned from a dinosaur-filled world through the Spatial Portal and revealed its resources and captured dinosaurs to Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao. He ordered the beasts housed at the Imperial Guard Camp and had dinosaur meat and blood prepared for use.

• Zhu Ying ordered the Wang Guards to scout the new world and build a stronghold near the portal before planning further exploration.
• After five days, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao visited the Grandson's Mansion and learned from Xiao Han that Zhu Ying had entered another world through the Spatial Portal.
• Zhu Ying returned through the portal and told Zhu Yuanzhang that the other world was a primitive land of colossal beasts, not the immortal realm.
• The Wang Guards brought out cages containing captured dinosaurs, and Zhu Ying explained that he hoped to tame them for the Ming army and that their meat could aid martial cultivation.
• Zhu Biao proposed housing the dinosaurs at the Imperial Guard Camp, and Zhu Ying ordered Guo Zhen to arrange a concrete enclosure there.
• Zhu Ying summoned the carcasses of several dinosaurs and instructed Xiao Han to collect their blood and divide their meat for medicinal use and rewards for meritorious officials.

Zhu Ying surveyed the Prehistoric World with Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao, then organized a major expedition to claim its resources and capture dinosaurs. The chapter ended with Liu Lei and eighty thousand troops crossing the Spatial Portal as Zhu Ying began planning the next stages of expansion.

• Zhu Ying took Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao through the Spatial Portal and showed them the vast forests and signs of dinosaurs in the Prehistoric World.
• Zhu Ying arranged defenses and expansion plans, then ordered dinosaur meat distributed to officials and the Imperial Guard.
• Over the next month, Zhu Ying refined the national policies and assembled an expedition of troops, logistics workers, physicians, and support personnel.
• Zhu Ying gave the assembled soldiers the choice to withdraw, but they all pledged to serve and accepted their assignments under Liu Lei.
• Zhu Ying summoned the Spatial Portal at the Imperial Guard Camp, and Liu Lei led the troops through to begin the Ming Dynasty's campaign in the Prehistoric World.

Over half a year, Zhu Ying’s policies transformed education, trade, agriculture, and the military, while he prepared to select talent through a new imperial examination. After the Heart-Eating Gu advanced and offered a way to communicate with dinosaurs, Zhu Ying learned that the steam engine had succeeded.

• The Ming Dynasty built schools across the realm, opened them to girls and boys, expanded overseas trade, and developed medicinal herb cultivation with fertilizer.
• Zhu Ying inspected the herb fields, learned that all examination candidates had reached Yingtian, and headed to the palace.
• Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao praised the results of Zhu Ying’s policies and discussed the next day’s examinations and the Ming Dynasty’s growing foothold in the Prehistoric World.
• The Heart-Eating Gu advanced to Tier 1, giving Zhu Ying a way to communicate with dinosaurs through the Gu worms it produced.
• Zhu Ying left the examination in Zhu Yuanzhang’s hands to pursue dinosaur taming, but Xiao Han arrived with news that the steam engine had succeeded.

Zhu Ying’s craftsmen completed working steam engines, and he demonstrated how they could power carts, weaving machines, and furnaces. Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao recognized their potential, rewarded the craftsmen, and committed the Ming Dynasty to mass production and railway construction.

• Zhu Ying hurried to the testing grounds after learning that Luo Rui’s team had successfully developed the steam engine.
• Luo Rui reported that the largest engine could pull ten thousand shi and that the steam cart, weaving machine, and blower furnace all worked.
• The craftsmen demonstrated the steam cart, and Zhu Yuanzhang watched it move faster than a horse-drawn carriage without being pulled.
• Zhu Ying explained how steam engines could transform manufacturing, iron smelting, transportation, mining, irrigation, and naval warfare.
• Zhu Ying granted Luo Rui a Hereditary Count title, awarded other overseers Hereditary Viscount titles, and rewarded the craftsmen while ordering them to protect the technology.
• Zhu Ying called for mass production and railway construction, and Zhu Yuanzhang pledged thirty percent of the treasury plus another fifty percent to advance the steam engine.

Zhu Ying tested whether a Heart-Eating Gu could let him communicate with and tame a dinosaur, successfully subduing a Pterosaur. He rode it into the sky above Ying Tian City, beginning the creation of the Ming Dynasty’s dinosaur army and air force.

• Zhu Yuanzhang ordered sixty percent of the treasury’s silver reserves used to build workshops, while the Ming army expanded its fortified base in the Prehistoric World and captured more than five hundred dinosaurs.
• Zhu Ying entered a Pterosaur’s cage and used internal force to pin it down before implanting a Heart-Eating Gu that let them exchange thoughts.
• When the Pterosaur refused to obey, Zhu Ying made the Gu torment its heart until it submitted and accepted his commands.
• Zhu Ying warned the Pterosaur that the Gu would kill it if it turned against him, then ordered it to lower itself and let him climb onto its back.
• Zhu Ying cut through the Pterosaur’s overhead chains with his Frosty Sword and commanded it to fly, riding it high above Ying Tian City.

Zhu Ying established a Pterosaur Army and Velociraptor cavalry, then planned to test their strength against the Oirats while responding to pirate attacks along the southern coast. As the Oirats grew alarmed by Ming’s hold over Tatar territory, Choros ordered the tribes to unite and attack Ming.

• Zhu Ying’s successful Pterosaur experiment led him to order more Pterosaurs captured and form an aerial army.
• The expanded imperial examination concluded, and the top candidates in literary, martial, medical, and artisan fields were summoned to meet Zhu Yuanzhang.
• After two months of preparation, a thousand Wang Wei soldiers flew on Pterosaurs while several hundred Velociraptor cavalrymen demonstrated their strength to Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao.
• Zhu Ying announced plans to head north in two months to test the dinosaur army against the Oirats, while ordering coastal patrols and more warship construction in response to pirate raids.
• Choros and Mahammu urged the Oirat leaders to strike before Ming secured Tatar loyalty, and Choros ordered every tribe to gather for an attack on Ming.

Zhu Ying established Ming rule across Northern State and arrived at its stronghold with a newly tamed Pterosaur Army. He then revealed a five-thousand-strong Velociraptor Army, leaving Fu Youde, Bu Wan, and the garrison stunned by his otherworldly forces.

• Magistrate Chen inspected a tribe in Northern State, where former Tatar herders praised their improved lives under Ming rule and said they no longer longed for the Northern Yuan or Tatars.
• Fu Youde and Bu Wan waited at Northern State’s main stronghold for Zhu Ying, while Zhang Wu spotted thousands of huge flying beasts approaching.
• Fu Youde ordered the garrison to prepare defenses, but Bu Wan recognized Zhu Ying’s Wang Wei Army among the riders, and Zhu Ying landed with three thousand tamed pterosaurs.
• Zhu Ying introduced the Pterosaur Army and explained that he had captured its pterosaurs through a gateway to another world.
• Zhu Ying ordered the gates opened as Guo Zhen led five thousand Velociraptor Army soldiers into the stronghold, astonishing Fu Youde and the other generals.