Sky Curtain: The opening scene explains the four major cases of the Ming Dynasty plus the early Ming

The atmosphere in the studio plummeted to freezing point. When Zhu Dijun uttered the phrase "harboring ulterior motives," the live stream chat fell into a brief, silent silence.

Immediately, it boiled over completely.

"Holy crap, that's like killing someone by attacking their spirit!"

"Isn't this just like watching your boss get angry, your colleagues dig a hole for you, and then you're the one adding insult to injury in the workplace?"

"Xu Jie went so far as to label Yan Song's senility as treason and place him under house arrest. He was too ruthless!"

"This is what you call poison? You underestimate the methods of the Second Grand Secretary of the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Dijun casually tossed the mock case file onto the table and picked up a red pen to write the word "Engineering" heavily on the whiteboard.

"Breaking the enemy's trust is only half the battle. To rise to power, you must prove yourself more useful than the enemy. When Jiajing had nowhere to live, Xu Jie volunteered to take on the massive project of rebuilding Yongshou Palace!"

On the holographic screen, countless craftsmen worked day and night on the ruins, and timber and bricks were transported into Xiyuan like a flowing river.

"According to the rules of the Yan Party, building such a large royal palace would require embezzling at least half of the funds, and the construction period would be delayed for several years. How did Xu Jie manage to do it?" Zhu Dijun held up three fingers and broke them off one by one.

"He personally supervised the construction! He didn't take a single penny in kickbacks! He cut the original budget submitted by the Ministry of Revenue in half! In less than a few months, a brand new Yongshou Palace rose from the ground and was handed over to us immediately!"

He clapped his hands on the podium.

"Gentlemen, what does this mean to Jiajing?" Zhu Dijun spread his hands.

"Yan Song couldn't even find a place to stay, yet he wanted to imprison me. Xu Jie was not only efficient and economical, but also honest and loyal to me. With this addition and subtraction, the scales in Jiajing's heart completely tipped."

"The official records downplay this incident as 'the emperor was deeply impressed' and 'Song lost the emperor's favor.' But what was the reality? This was a carefully designed trap by Xu Jie, planting a nuclear bomb in Jiajing's mind that 'Yan's faction is useless and harbors treacherous intentions!'"

The parallel Zhengde era of the Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Wuzong of Ming, Zhu Houzhao, leaned against the soft couch in the Leopard Chamber, his previously playful expression gradually fading. His hand, holding a glass wine cup, froze in mid-air.

"That old dog Xu Jie, he's playing a clever game of open conspiracy," Zhu Houzhao sneered. Although he was absurd, he was by no means a fool. Especially after experiencing the brutal beating of the coup in the fifth year of Zhengde's reign, he was no longer so naive in his views.

"Praise to death, then deliver the final blow, and finally seize the emperor's favor with concrete political achievements. This kind of assassination without a knife is even more dangerous than a massive charge of thousands of troops." Zhu Houzhao downed his cup of wine in one gulp.

"My cousin spends all his time holed up in the palace refining elixirs, thinking he can control the whole situation and treat the ministers like dogs. Little does he know that he himself is also a pawn in Xu Jie's grand game."

On the celestial screen, Zhu Dijun's autopsy was not yet over.

He walked to the whiteboard, erased the word "Engineering" with the blackboard eraser, and replaced it with four large, highly mystical characters: "Taoist Spirit Writing".

"The atmosphere of political execution has been built up. The next step is to take action. But Xu Jie is very clever. He knows that Jiajing is extremely concerned about his image. Yan Song was promoted by the emperor himself. If Xu Jie takes the lead in impeaching him, Jiajing will protect Yan Song in order to maintain the absolute correctness of imperial power."

Zhu Dijun pulled a tortoise shell prop from under the podium and tossed it in his hand.

"Therefore, Xu Jie found Yan Song a funeral procession that no ordinary person could refute—Heaven itself!"

The background of the holographic screen transformed into a smoke-filled imperial Taoist temple. A Taoist priest dressed in a Bagua robe and holding a peach wood sword chanted incantations before the altar. Beside him, the Jiajing Emperor sat upright, his face full of piety.

"Lan Daoxing was the most favored Taoist priest during the late Jiajing period. He was proficient in the art of spirit writing, which is commonly known as asking a deity to possess one's body and write words."

Judy Jun tossed the tortoise shell onto the table.

"The Veritable Records of Emperor Shizong of Ming Dynasty are extremely secretive about this period, daring not to elaborate at all. However, historical materials from the Wanli reign and other contemporary notes have thoroughly investigated and revealed it!"

"Xu Jie spent a large sum of money to secretly bribe Lan Daoxing."

Zhu Dijun walked to the screen and pointed at the Taoist priest who was pretending to be a ghost.

One day, Emperor Jiajing asked Lan Daoxing to consult the heavens through spirit writing. Lan Daoxing frantically drew on the sand table with his pen and wrote down a sentence: "Today, a treacherous minister will present his report."

"The dramatic twist of the story is here. Just as the deity issued a decree saying a treacherous minister was coming, the eunuch outside immediately rushed in to report—Grand Secretary Yan Song requests an audience and has a memorial to present!"

The live stream chat exploded with a deluge of "Holy crap!" and "Even a script wouldn't dare write something like this!" messages.

Zhu Dijun slapped his thigh and laughed arrogantly.

"This is the highest level of special effects ever seen in the Ming Dynasty! Emperor Jiajing's face changed drastically on the spot. The emperor asked the immortals, 'Who among the civil and military officials is a virtuous minister, and who is a treacherous minister?' Lan Daoxing wrote down a divine decree: 'The virtuous and capable are Xu Jie and Yang Bo; the unworthy are Yan Song and his son.'"

"Everyone, what is a 'dimensional reduction attack'? This is it! No need for laws, no need for evidence, just use the Jade Emperor's mouth to convict you! No matter how powerful you are, Yan Song, can you fight against the Heavenly Court? Can you fight against the metaphysics that Jiajing Emperor believed in most in his life?"

Zhu Dijun placed his hands on the table, his eyes filled with extreme mockery.

"This isn't fate; it's a political witchcraft orchestrated by the Qingliu clique! Emperor Jiajing was a lifelong superstitious man, believing he could communicate with the gods. But what he was communicating with was a script written in advance by Xu Jie!"

Parallel universe. The Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Inside the West Garden, in the refined residence.

The wisps of smoke rising from the bronze crane incense burner twisted and turned eerily in the air.

Emperor Jiajing, Zhu Houcong, sat on a prayer mat. He neither raged nor roared. He simply stared intently at the sky, his breathing becoming extremely heavy, his chest heaving.

Cold sweat slid down his pale cheeks and splattered onto his Taoist robe.

"Lan Daoxing... Xu Jie..."

Jiajing's voice was dry and hoarse, like the sound of a skeleton rubbing together.

Throughout his life, he considered himself exceptionally intelligent. He ascended the throne as a prince in his teens and single-handedly defeated the entire civil service of the Ming Dynasty in the Great Rites Controversy. He treated his ministers like dregs in an alchemical furnace, adding fuel when needed and sweeping them away as ashes when not.

He believed that the spirit writing session was a blessing from heaven, and that it was Laozi issuing a decree to cleanse his family of evil spirits.

It turned out that the clown was himself.

He, the mighty Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was tricked and made a fool of by a deputy minister and a conman, and was treated like a complete idiot.

"Great...great!"

Jiajing suddenly burst into laughter, a sharp, piercing laugh that echoed throughout the hall. He stood up and kicked over the Bagua alchemy furnace in front of him. Dark red embers scattered across the floor, scorching the luxurious carpet.

"Lü Fang!"

Jiajing roared fiercely.

The Grand Eunuch Lü Fang of the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs scrambled in, kneeling on the ground and kowtowing repeatedly.

"Yes, sir!"

"Summon the Embroidered Uniform Guard."

A ferocious glint flashed in Jiajing's eyes.

"Skin Lan Daoxing alive! Surround Xu Jie's entire family! I want to see if Xu Jie's supposed divine intervention can save his official hat!"

That's a story for later. In the studio on the screen, Zhu Dijun's deduction had reached its final stage.

"Heaven has decreed that Jiajing has sentenced Yan Song to death in his heart. But that's not enough; legal procedures are still needed. A real knife is needed to cut off the heads of Yan's faction."

Zhu Dijun typed on the keyboard, and a memorial that shook the Ming Dynasty court was displayed on the holographic screen.

"In May of the forty-first year of the Jiajing reign, Censor Zou Yinglong submitted a memorial."

He pointed his pointer at Zou Yinglong's name.

"This man was a protégé of Xu Jie. This impeachment memorial was personally polished, revised, and finalized by Xu Jie himself. This is also the most textbook-level political assassination in the history of the Ming Dynasty's civil service!"