The Battle of the Forbidden City: The Seal-Stamp Dragon and the Imperial Souls' Allied Forces

The Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City glowed a blue-gray beneath the torrential rain. Xiao Feng's leather shoes splashed through puddles, their nano-sensors reporting an abnormal magnetic field underground. He looked up at the plaque above the gate, and the system prompt sounded right on cue:

Ding! Host has arrived at the Earth historical coordinate "Beijing Forbidden City." Special sign-in event triggered. Obtained "Imperial Jade Seal Fragment ×1."

"Just a fragment?" Xiao Yan shook the rain from his umbrella. The Flame Lotus pattern on its surface drew a flurry of photos from the tourists. "The Forbidden City is so huge. Where are the rest of the fragments?"

Xiao Feng activated Soul Movement Three Thousand, his soul power spreading along the dragon-carved pillars. But when it touched the Hall of Supreme Harmony, a wave of imperial aura knocked it back. He noticed a "No Entry" sign in the corner. Reflected in its glossy surface was Hun Dan's cold sneer—it was a quantum projection!

"Xiao Clan, welcome to the 'Nest of Capital.'" Hun Dan's voice came from every direction. The roof of the Hall of Supreme Harmony suddenly split open, and countless lines of code poured down like a waterfall, congealing into a mechanical giant dragon studded all over with the words "subscriptions," "tipping," and "monthly votes." Its head was shaped like the official seal of Qidian's editorial department. "This is the 'Capital Guardian Beast,' forged from readers' spending power. No matter how popular your 'fanfiction' gets, you'll never beat the official plot outline!"

Xiao Yan raised a hand and fired a Brainstorm Missile, only for the dragon to open its jaws and spew a golden web woven from "contract clauses" and "update agreements." The net dismantled the missile into data fragments. "Damn! This dragon attacks with legalese!"

Xiao Feng gripped the Imperial Jade Seal fragment. It suddenly grew hot, and its markings aligned with the dragon patterns on the Hall of Supreme Harmony's floor tiles. The ground shook. The dragon carvings on the Nine-Dragon Wall came alive, coiling around the mechanical dragon's neck with a deep rumble—a true dragon-vein's power!

"System alert: Ming and Qing imperial souls have been detected slumbering here." The mechanical voice rang out in his mind. "Awaken them with the spirit of 'the Son of Heaven defends the nation's borders.'"

Xiao Zhan suddenly pointed at the crowd of tourists in the distance. "Look! Those readers are holding signs saying 'Give Us Back Xiao Zhan'!" Dozens of fans dressed in Xiao Clan garb rushed into the square, their support sticks—modified Dou Qi lamps—joining together into a glowing formation that spelled out "The Xiao Clan Will Win!"

"Ride the momentum!" Xiao Feng shouted, hurling the fragment toward the formation. The Imperial Jade Seal fragment absorbed the fans' faith and became a complete Imperial Jade Seal, floating in midair. The eight characters "By Heaven's Mandate, May It Endure and Prosper" gleamed across its face, suppressing the mechanical dragon's "subscription aura."

The doors of the Hall of Supreme Harmony boomed open. The mist parted, and the phantom of Zhu Di, the Yongle Emperor, strode out, a sword at his waist wrapped in quantum data streams. "I am the Great Yongle Emperor. Are you the 'plane guardians' Xiao Xuan spoke of?"

Xiao Yan hurriedly bowed. His Flame Lotus formed an umbrella in the rain, shielding the phantom. "We are! Senior, would you lend us your aid?"

Behind Zhu Di, Kangxi, Qianlong, and the other imperial souls appeared one after another, wielding weapons made from the Yongle Encyclopedia and the Siku Quanshu. Qianlong flicked out a string of data prayer beads, which sent the mechanical dragon's "update reminder beam" bouncing back at it. "My 'Ten Great Campaigns' data edition will show me what this code dragon can do!"

In quantum space, Hun Dan hammered at his keyboard in a frenzy. "Impossible! How can these historical figures have digitized combat forms?" He pulled up the backend data, only to see subscriptions for "historical figure cameos" soaring. The comments were full of messages like "The emperors' showdown is so epic!" and "Please update Zhu Di's campaign chronicle!"

Seizing his chance, Xiao Feng summoned Earth's "infrastructure maniacs"—a construction crew carrying Dou Qi hammers the size of tunnel-boring machines. Empowered by the dragon-vein's strength, they gouged a hole in the mechanical dragon's "copyright moat." Meanwhile, Xiao Yan led the fans in singing the Xiao Clan War Song. Their glowing formation solidified into a shield, blocking the dragon's "review-section attacks."

"System, exchange for the 'Humanity Amplifier'!" Xiao Feng ordered. When the device unfolded, everyone present's faith surged into a golden torrent and poured into the Imperial Jade Seal. It erupted in a blaze of light, projecting the four characters "Readers Come First" into the sky and piercing straight through the mechanical dragon's "capital core." The seal-shaped head cracked open, revealing Hun Dan's true body inside.

"No! I'm the author!" Hun Dan shrieked as he fell from the code, still clutching half a fragment of the "Plot Outline Lock." "Without me, this world has no main plot!"

Xiao Zhan crushed the seal-stamp beneath his foot, then picked up the fragment and sneered. "A main plot shouldn't be shackles that oppress its characters. Feng'er, Xiao Yanzi, you've already proven that a true story is written by the living."

Zhu Di's phantom nodded and handed his data-edition Yongle Encyclopedia to Xiao Feng. "This is my 'plane governance experience pack.' Put the people first, and don't follow that Qianlong brat's example and monopolize the data."

Qianlong rolled his eyes. "My Siku Quanshu had its data deduplicated. It's far more efficient than your collection."

By the time the rain stopped, the mechanical dragon had turned into code scattered across the ground. Hun Dan's consciousness cowered in the Imperial Jade Seal's shadow like a stray dog. Xiao Feng took out an "Author Reformer" exchanged from the system space and bathed him in green light. "Don't worry, I won't delete you. I'm just sending you to Earth to write real 'people's literature' and experience what 'down-to-earth wish fulfillment' is like."

Xiao Yan picked up the "subscription coins" dropped by the dragon, then suddenly pointed at a distant corner tower. "Third Brother, there's an 'unopened area' over there. The system says it contains Xiao Xuan's final message."

In a secret chamber, Xiao Xuan's holographic projection began to play. "By the time you see this recording, I will have traveled through a quantum tunnel to a higher dimension. Remember, the 'Heavenly Dao' of Douqi Continent is actually an AI made by some Earth programmer, and the true universe..." The projection suddenly broke into static. "Beware the administrators of the 'Qidian Universe.' They're the ones who..."

The image cut off. In the corner, a portal to a higher dimension stood open. Xiao Feng gripped Xiao Yan's hand. The Imperial Jade Seal and the Flame Emperor Mark glowed together, illuminating the couplet on the door: "First line: Across planes, who rules the rise and fall? Second line: Plot twists and thrills are guided by the heart. Horizontal inscription: The system is dead."

Xiao Zhan looked at his sons, then suddenly pulled out a high-speed rail ticket he'd bought on Earth. "Since we can travel freely, why not take your father to see those 'multiple-unit trains' you told me about? It's time to put the Xiao Clan's 'Dou Qi High-Speed Rail Project' on the agenda."