A heretical cultivator in Bureau 749, I'm the fiercest at pulling out tendons and skinning peop

Zhu Cheng was as if he had been electrocuted, and he sprang out of the revolving lantern in an instant.

The feeling is like having a nightmare where you dream of falling off a cliff and then suddenly waking up with a start.

My whole body was trembling as if I were having a seizure, a chill ran down my spine, and I was covered in cold sweat.

Okay, never mind where the sweat came from—

He's soaking in a sea of ​​blood now; his sweat and blood are mixed together, indistinguishable from one another.

But my mind is definitely clear now.

Supervise?

How could he be the supervisor?

Zhu Cheng's mind started racing, like a clockwork mechanism, as he desperately tried to untangle the complexities of the situation.

He had a clear understanding of the people in the Ming Dynasty's secret realm.

Those strange occurrences were all replicated by him based on real events from the Ming Dynasty, using the rules of the secret realm.

But there are a few dead bars here.

The first rule is that only people from the Yongle reign onwards can be recruited.

Why does it have to be after the Yongle reign? He figured it was probably related to that mess from the Hongwu reign.

During the Hongwu reign, Liu Bowen slew the dragon, shattering all the dragon veins in the land and causing the fortunes of heaven and earth to plummet.

After that, for a long time, many things went wrong, and many rules stopped working.

Therefore, he could not persuade the people from before the Yongle reign to come.

The second rule is that you can only recruit those who have already passed away.

You can't attract a living person who's still breathing.

For example, that Chief Minister Zhang.

This guy is still living a comfortable life. He's the top boss of the 749 Bureau, holding a high position and great power. He's one of the most influential figures in the cultivation world of the Great Han Dynasty.

If he could get this gentleman out, would he still need to waste time dealing with that grandson Ji Zuodao?

Just have Chief Minister Zhang show his face and slap Ji Zuodao into a meat pie, and that's it!

Unfortunately, we couldn't persuade them.

Therefore, since the Supervisor has appeared in the Ming Dynasty's secret realm, it can only mean one thing—

The supervisor has already passed away.

But the question is, who was that old man in the gray robe he saw in his family's living room when he was a child?

That person looks exactly like the supervisor!

Could it be that the person isn't the supervisor?

Just because they look alike?

wrong.

Zhu Cheng examined the face in the revolving lantern several times.

Those eyebrows, those eyes, that nose, that mouth, that expression, that spirit—

It is clearly the original self of the supervisor.

Can't go wrong.

He mistook anyone for the wrong person, but he couldn't mistake the supervisor.

But if that person really is the supervisor, then that would be a huge problem—

Why did the supervisor come to his childhood home?

Back then, the Great Ming Secret Realm didn't exist yet.

But Jianzheng, when he was four or five years old, was already standing in his family's living room.

What does this tell us?

The supervisor was not one of the strange beings in the Ming Dynasty's secret realm.

Upon further reflection, why should I have an unknown Director of the Astronomical Bureau assist me in this secret realm?

There were many famous and influential figures in the Ming Dynasty.

Also, why didn't I remember that the old man was the supervisor when I was a child? I only remembered it now.

Isn't the dragon energy supposed to protect him from mental spells?

As Zhu Cheng thought of this, a chill suddenly ran through his heart.

With a try-it-and-see attitude, he used his authority as the master of the secret realm to summon the supervisor.

As a result, he was completely stunned.

No such person found.

That's right, it's not that we can't get them to come, it's that we can't find them.

That's not right.

This isn't right.

Even if the person in the revolving lantern wasn't the Director of the Imperial Observatory, the Director of the Imperial Observatory was a real historical figure.

As if he wanted to verify something, Zhu Cheng summoned the heads of the Imperial Observatory of each dynasty in the Ming Dynasty one by one.

The reigns of the Yongle, Xuande, Zhengtong, Jingtai, Tianshun, Chenghua, Hongzhi, Zhengde, Jiajing, Longqing, Wanli, Taichang, Tianqi, and Chongzhen emperors—

They tried it all, without missing a single one.

In the end, they were all the same.

No such person found.

Zhu Cheng felt as if his heart had been squeezed tightly.

The Director of the Imperial Observatory doesn't even exist in the Great Ming Secret Realm?

You should know that although his Great Ming Secret Realm is just a replica, the people inside are all based on real history.

Their identities, their official positions, and the things they did in their lives were all genuine.

But now, he can't call out a single one of the Directors of the Imperial Observatory.

The more Zhu Cheng thought about it, the more bizarre it seemed.

He recalled his experiences over the years, and those things that seemed like coincidences but were actually full of strangeness.

He recalled how, whenever he encountered difficulties, the supervisor would always appear at just the right moment and offer perfectly timed guidance.

He remembered how, every time he wanted to give up, the supervisor would look at him with that "you are the hope of the Ming Dynasty" gaze, which would rouse him back to his senses.

Was it really just a coincidence?

Or is all of this meticulously orchestrated?

Zhu Cheng felt that his mind was like a pot of porridge being simmered over a high fire, with all sorts of thoughts churning and colliding inside, turning into a complete mess.

He realized that he seemed to have fallen into a giant chessboard.

But he was never a chess player.

He is just a single point.

A piece of jade that has been carefully selected, meticulously polished, and placed securely.

From the day he was chosen, his fate was sealed.

Everything he did and suffered in his life is in the hands of others.

He believed he was risking his life for the revival of the Ming Dynasty.

In reality, he was just following someone else's instructions, moving forward step by step.

He thought he was making a choice.

In reality, he never truly made a decision.

All his choices were made for him by others.

He was simply following orders step by step.

As Zhu Cheng thought of this, a strange and indescribable feeling suddenly welled up in his heart.

That feeling was a mix of anger, hatred, heartache, and a deep sense of helplessness.

He thought about his entire life.

From a young age, he was forced to be a "qualified descendant of the Ming Dynasty royal family".

He was forced to study those dry classics, forced to practice those things he didn't like at all, and forced to carry burdens he didn't want to carry at all.

He never asked himself what he really wanted.

Because he understood that whatever he wanted was useless.

The important thing is to know what his family needs him to do, what the Ming Dynasty needs him to do, and what the clan elders need him to do.

He has never truly belonged to himself.

He's just a jerk.

A thing that exists to enable the achievement of some grand goal.

Zhu Cheng knew that he was a good-for-nothing.

The reason he was chosen to be the person in charge of reviving the Ming Dynasty was simply because he was the one with the strongest dragon energy in his lineage.

That's all there is to it.

Any member of the Zhu family, as long as they have enough dragon energy, could replace him.

He is not indispensable.

He never was.

He will never become a chess player.

Perhaps, being a pawn to be manipulated by others is his destiny.

but!

That's a useless idea.

Yes, he's not cut out to be a chess player.

But don't expect him to be a docile, obedient child.