Emperor Zhou

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Childhood and succession

Emperor Zhou was born with a body the Retired Emperor considered neither fully male nor female. His father raised him as an ordinary boy to preserve the imperial line, began finding women for him at thirteen, and hoped he would produce a descendant he considered healthy. Emperor Zhou’s summoning of twenty-one generals was decisive in gaining his father’s acceptance; without it, his survival beyond early childhood was uncertain 15.

He studied at Jixia Academy, where his clothing, possessions, and provisions were inferior to those of other royal heirs. His parents’ strictness and lack of attentive affection left him to endure repeated humiliation among the students 36.

Wu Junji’s birth

To obtain an heir, Wu Bing was forced to take drugs that altered his sex characteristics. He withdrew to the summer palace from the third month of pregnancy, and a physician surgically removed Wu Junji at eight months. Three months of medicinal treatment restored his body, leaving an abdominal scar and a sense of humiliation he initially associated with the child 1 2.

The birth was concealed, and the attending midwives were killed. Wu Bing began strangling the newborn but stopped after recalling nightmares concerning the crown prince’s lonely death. He entrusted the infant to Qian Deli, and the empress ordered that the child be raised 1.

After Consort Dong also gave birth to a son, the Retired Emperor transferred the throne to Wu Bing. The new emperor changed the era name from Zhou Kang to Zhou Wu, while Wu Junji remained at the summer palace 2.

Wu Junji’s previous life

In Wu Junji’s previous life, Emperor Zhou abandoned him, leaving him to be raised by a human trafficker. Breaking Great Zhou’s established succession tradition helped create a prolonged struggle for the throne 1 5.

By Zhou Wu Year Sixteen, Emperor Zhou was a domineering ruler who treated the court, harem, and political factions as pieces in a game of checks and balances. He orchestrated fifteen years of competition among nine sons, allowing Great Zhou’s pythons to become flood dragons and prove themselves golden dragons 3 38.

He entrusted Wu Junji’s education to Ruan Yuan. After Wu Junji killed twenty-seven criminals involved in a usury scheme, Emperor Zhou deliberately married him to Ruan Zhizhi despite her publicly known attachment to someone else, producing a bitter marriage 41.

Appearance

• Build: Tall, imposing, and brawny; at twenty-one, he could wield a forty-jin halberd with considerable vigor 2 3 44.
• Face and bearing: Described by historians as handsome and elegant, with an exceptional natural frame and a resonant voice 5.
• Eyes: Cool willow-leaf eyes, with tenderness concealed beneath his defiant demeanor 18.
• Family resemblance: Wu Junji closely resembles him, although their differing temperaments obscured the resemblance in the previous life 5.
• Distinguishing mark: An abdominal scar from the operation that delivered Wu Junji 2.
• Styling: Wears a silvery-pink hair chain of the same style he gives Wu Junji 25.

Personality

Emperor Zhou is suspicious, vindictive, sharp-tongued, and intensely possessive of authority. In the previous timeline, he believed nobody could escape his control. Even early in his reign, he readily interprets disagreement as manipulation or betrayal, particularly when his parents or harem might be involved 3 7 10 11.

He seeks intense emotion rather than restrained affection. His parents’ indifference and his consorts’ meekness fail to satisfy him; arguments with ministers and Wu Junji provide the lively opposition he enjoys. He can prefer his son’s insults and resistance to overt sweetness, while privately taking great pleasure in being loved 7 13.

His concern often emerges as mockery or abuse. He enjoys Wu Junji greeting him after court but turns questions about the child’s health into insults. His early parenting includes treating the boy as a hand warmer, dismissing his needs, and striking him during a quarrel 6 9 10 11.

He nevertheless becomes capable of acknowledging his own failures. Qian Deli’s intervention forces him to recognize that Wu Junji has largely cared for himself, and father and son establish rules intended to curb their worst habits. His growing tenderness toward Wu Junji does not extend into general mercy: he remains willing to execute servants and slaughter large numbers of people 11 13 36 44.

Abilities & Skills

Martial prowess

• Can wield a forty-jin halberd with tigerish vigor at twenty-one 3.
• Personally leads military campaigns; Wu Junji identifies his monopoly over military achievement as one cause of the generals’ declining influence 21.
• Defeats the Retired Emperor in a physical brawl and forces him to surrender the secondary seal 38.

Dragon fortune

• Manifests a pink flood dragon, later a pink true dragon 18 20 38.
• Intimidates supernatural creatures into kneeling and begging for mercy 20.
• Uses his dragon manifestation to destroy demons during his arrival at Jixia Academy 36.
• Places a protective Flood Dragon mark between Wu Junji’s brows before sending him to the academy 21 25.
• Limits: Fortune has no effect on ordinary people and is not a means of making everyday life more convenient. The imperial family’s direct applications principally involve crushing, imprisoning, and suppressing supernatural enemies 20 46.

Heavenly eye

• Can perceive supernatural beings normally invisible and imperceptible to ordinary people 20.
• Can seal Wu Junji’s heavenly eye with a touch to his forehead 20.
• Explains that members of the imperial family with flood dragon fortune can open their heavenly eyes 20.

General Summoning and fortune support

• His summoned general, Li Gong, possesses invisibility 20 44.
• Shares fortune with his summoned general, enabling the general’s supernatural ability; the bond links their fortune and misfortune 20.
• Treats a summoned general’s ability as a national strategic weapon and concealed his own partner’s power during academy competitions 21.
• Can distribute fortune through officials’ seals, acting as support for the entire battlefield during war in the Demon Domain 47.
• Proposes granting Li Jiu an official post so that an official seal can serve as a conduit for Wu Junji’s fortune 47.
• Limits: A summoned general’s death severely weakens the lord. Emperor Zhou does not know how to locate and reconnect an individual fate thread to create a replacement bond directly 21 47.

Jade Seal and fate perception

• Activates Great Zhou’s Jade Seal with fortune to reveal countless human fate threads 46.
• Identifies conditions through thread colors, including illness, approaching death, childhood, and rising or declining fortune 46.
• Teaches Wu Junji to find the branch connecting Chen Yu to his fate and sever their General Summoning bond 46.
• Uses a jade seal to pin the demons at Jixia Academy in place 36.
• Limits: Even his full fortune cannot move an ordinary fate thread. Demons’ fate threads do not appear within the seal, and severing a summoned general is an unprecedented act with uncertain consequences 46.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Jade Seal — Great Zhou’s imperial seal, inscribed with “Mandated by Heaven, may longevity and prosperity endure.” Its fate-revealing power distinguishes it from other nations’ seals 46.
• Secondary / Deputy Imperial Seal — Taken from the Retired Emperor and given to Wu Junji; it can issue commands with authority equivalent to the Jade Seal 38 42 45.
• Ink-jade and silver meteorite belt — Made from meteorite requested by Wu Junji. Emperor Zhou promises to wear it every day; Wu Junji’s intended purpose is to prevent him from fathering more sons, but its effectiveness is not established 15 16 25.
• Forty-jin halberd — A weapon he can wield vigorously at twenty-one 3.
• Red Cord — Explains its fortune-stealing and mind-linking functions to Chen Yu, while secretly ordering Chen Yu’s death if he uses it 24.

Relationships

• Wu Junji — His eldest son and crown prince, whom he personally carried and gave birth to. Their relationship develops from rejection and violence into fierce attachment; Emperor Zhou eventually gives him imperial authority and supports replacing an unwanted summoned general 1 13 25 44 45.
• Retired Emperor — His father and predecessor. Their relationship is shaped by rejection, competing succession plans, and unequal fortune. Emperor Zhou ultimately surrounds his palace, beats him, and seizes the secondary seal after discovering the National Pact 15 16 37 38.
• Empress Dowager — His mother. She helps secure the Retired Emperor’s approval of Wu Junji’s appointment, but Emperor Zhou also resents her emotional distance and rejection of the child 5 11 36.
• Wu Junzheng — His second son, born to Consort Dong. Emperor Zhou establishes that Wu Junji was born first; Wu Junzheng later tells him how the crown prince was mistreated at Jixia Academy 5 36.
• Qian Deli / Eunuch Qian — A childhood attendant who understands his emotional wounds and persuades him to reconsider Wu Junji’s need for a separate palace. Emperor Zhou later has him killed for informing against Wu Junji after being assigned to the prince 11 44.
• Li Gong — His invisible summoned general. Emperor Zhou ransoms him back after the Lord of Changbai Mountain traps him 20 44.
• Chen Yang — An ally commanding the Northern Army. His troops surround the imperial palace during Emperor Zhou’s confrontation with the Retired Emperor 37.
• Chen Yu — Initially supported as Wu Junji’s summoned general. Dreams of Chen Yu participating in the prince’s humiliation convince Emperor Zhou to support his replacement; he later permits Chen Yu to seek service as the prince’s eunuch without forcing Wu Junji to accept him 24 45 49.
• Madam Zhaohua — His junior fellow disciple and former love. She refused to become his consort; their old promise to marry their children resurfaces when she seeks protection for Ruan Zhizhi 41 42.
• Ruan Yuan — Wu Junji’s teacher in the previous life and a figure at Jixia Academy. Emperor Zhou attacks him during the academy’s destruction but refrains from killing him out of consideration for Zhaohua 36 41.
• Li Jiu — A Golden Eagle Guard provided as Wu Junji’s attendant and replacement General Summoning partner. Emperor Zhou devises an official-seal arrangement to channel fortune to him 44 47.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Bringing Wu Junji into the palace

Emperor Zhou visits the seven-month-old Wu Junji after repeated disturbing dreams. Although he again nearly strangles the child, affection interrupts the act. Discovering negligent care, he replaces the wet nurses and decides to bring his son into the palace and raise him personally 2 3.

He confirms that Wu Junji predates Wu Junzheng, names him, and secures the Retired Emperor’s approval after Abbot Tianxuan declares the infant has an emperor’s destiny. At the investiture, he privately threatens to depose Wu Junji if he shows no promise by three 5 6.

The palace dispute

Wu Junji’s request for his own palace provokes a violent quarrel and a slap. Qian Deli then explains that sharing Taiji Palace with the emperor’s consorts threatens the prince’s dignity, forcing Emperor Zhou to confront his own neglect 10 11.

After Wu Junji runs away to the Chen residence, Emperor Zhou fetches him personally. Their reconciliation produces three rules for each of them, including promises to communicate, respect the emperor’s public standing, and improve Emperor Zhou’s temper and reasonableness 13.

General Summoning and political leverage

Emperor Zhou hopes Wu Junji’s General Summoning will secure the child’s succession and free him from dependence on the Retired Emperor. He insists that the crown prince be allowed to perform the ritual despite the preference shown to Wu Junzheng 16 17.

Wu Junji’s manifestation of Human Emperor fortune reverses the court’s expectations. Officials begin shifting their allegiance toward Emperor Zhou and his crown prince, raising the emperor’s political standing 18 19.

Jixia Academy crisis

Great Zhou can cancel debts equivalent to thirty-three gold mines by sending Wu Junji to Jixia Academy. Emperor Zhou agrees to the arrangement but regrets the separation and secretly supplies the academy with wealth, provisions, and luxuries for his son 21 25 36.

When Wu Junji makes a Heavenly Oath, Emperor Zhou mobilizes the Northern Army and rushes to the academy. Finding his son bloodied, cold, hungry, and abused, he orders the demons killed, burns the academy, and kills its two thousand eight hundred scholars 34 36.

The National Pact trading Human Emperor fortune for five years of peace is revealed to have been secretly signed by the Retired Emperor. Newly strengthened into a true dragon, Emperor Zhou confronts his father and takes the secondary seal, then reassures Wu Junji that he will handle the consequences of the disaster 36 38.

Accepting the crown prince in his dreams

Recurring dreams show a young Wu Junji grieving over a coffin, being humiliated over silver beans, and starving in prison. Emperor Zhou repeatedly denies that this suffering youth could be his cherished son 7 8 43.

In the prison dream, the youth’s eyes finally force him to recognize the connection. He wakes crying and embraces the child beside him. Seeing Chen Yu among the prince’s tormentors also changes his judgment of the General Summoning bond 43 45.

Giving Wu Junji greater autonomy

Emperor Zhou replaces Qian Deli, provides loyal Golden Eagle Guards, and teaches Wu Junji the imperial secrets needed to sever Chen Yu’s bond. He respects the prince’s choice of Li Jiu despite warning that a personally selected general may not complement him as perfectly as Heaven’s choice 44 45 46.

He subsequently arranges Li Jiu’s service, worries over Wu Junji’s painful martial training, and authorizes his attendance at Minglu Academy. He warns that an academy which bars the prince’s way will become a second Jixia Academy 47.

Notable Quotes

“I am your dignity. With me here, who would dare say you’re wrong?” 7

“From this day forward, I’ll treat you as you treat me.” 13

“Father, I have become a dragon. There will be no need for you to take the field in the battle against the Demon Domain five years from now.” 38

Trivia

• He considers pink the noblest and most beautiful color because his fortune manifests as a Pink Dragon 44.
• He coordinates Wu Junji’s clothes and accessories for the following day every night before bed 44.
• Before raising Wu Junji, he strongly disliked noisy children; Madam Zhaohua is astonished by his affectionate behavior toward the crown prince 41.
• He wants Wu Junji to visit the places he visited and undergo the experiences he underwent, partly to discover whether repeating his upbringing could produce a child identical to himself 40.