The crooked tree that Zhu Youjian liked the most had originally stood at the highest point of Wansui Hill, growing there for years like a silent witness to everything that had passed beneath it.
Unfortunately for him, the newly built waterworks facility also required the highest possible ground, because only from such elevation could water be distributed efficiently to the areas below, and so that unfortunate crooked tree had been cut down without hesitation.
Zhu Youjian stood in front of the brand new facility, his mood sinking to an even darker place.
This was simply unreasonable.
He could not even hang himself on the tree he liked most.
The surroundings were completely quiet, with no workers in sight, as the facility was currently in a state of rest, leaving the entire mountaintop empty and still.
Wang Chengen hesitated before speaking, his voice cautious.
"Your Majesty, perhaps… we do not need to hang ourselves after all."
Zhu Youjian shook his head stubbornly and replied, "There must be another place suitable for hanging, there must be."
Wang Chengen tried again, his tone almost pleading, "There is no need to be so persistent about this kind of thing."
Zhu Youjian ignored him completely and swept his gaze across the area, and soon enough he noticed a thick water pipe suspended slightly above ground level not far away.
In his eyes, that pipe was no different from a crooked tree branch.
Without hesitation, he took out the white silk he had already prepared and threw it over the pipe.
At that exact moment, the door of the waterworks facility suddenly opened from the inside, and a mass-produced Dao Xuan Tianzun stepped out with a faint smile.
"Zhu Youjian, why are you in such a hurry to die?"
Zhu Youjian turned sharply, his eyes locking onto the man before him, and although he did not recognize Li Daoxuan, he could immediately tell that this person was anything but ordinary, because no normal man would dare to call out his name so casually while facing him with such calm composure.
"Who are you?"
Li Daoxuan casually flicked his robe and replied, "Just someone passing by to buy soy sauce."
Zhu Youjian did not believe a single word of that, because if he were truly just passing by, he would not dare to address the emperor in such a manner, so Zhu Youjian said coldly, "I intend to hang myself here, so if you have nothing important, do not interfere."
Li Daoxuan looked at him and said plainly, "You are a coward."
Zhu Youjian's anger erupted instantly as he shouted, "Impudent, how dare you call me a coward, I do not even fear death, how could I be described as such, at this moment there is nothing I fear."
Li Daoxuan shook his head slightly and said, "In truth, you are very afraid, because you are afraid of living on and facing the ridicule of others, afraid of a life you can no longer adapt to, afraid of the humiliation that comes after losing the throne, afraid of becoming an ordinary man, and it is precisely because you are so afraid that you want to die, because once you are dead, everything ends cleanly and easily."
Zhu Youjian fell silent.
He found himself unable to refute even a single word.
Li Daoxuan continued, "Your Empress Zhou, your Crown Prince, and your daughters have already been protected by my people, and they are all alive and unharmed at this moment, although their future lives will most likely no longer include luxury and privilege, and they will have to endure hardship, but that hardship is simply what ordinary people experience every day, and there is nothing extraordinary about it."
Zhu Youjian was shocked and immediately asked, "You protected them, then you must be the leader of the rebels."
Li Daoxuan smiled and shook his head.
"No, the rebels do not have a leader, at least not for now, although they act according to my instructions, I am not their leader, and in fact, I do not even belong to this world."
Zhu Youjian was stunned, and in his mind, those words immediately took on another meaning, because to not belong to this world was to stand beyond the three realms and outside the five elements, which could only describe one kind of existence.
A god.
Realization struck him all at once, and his face turned pale.
"So it is you."
Wang Chengen was so frightened that he dropped to his knees without hesitation.
Li Daoxuan spoke calmly, "Zhu Youjian, all these years, you have been diligent and hardworking in your attempt to become a good emperor, and that much I do acknowledge."
Zhu Youjian's body trembled slightly.
Li Daoxuan continued, "However, your diligence was misdirected, and because of your limitations in ability, the more you worked, the worse the situation of the realm became."
Zhu Youjian's voice turned hoarse as he retorted, "Is it not because you stirred chaos that the world has become like this, if not for you, I would have already pacified the Manchus, eliminated the bandits, and restored peace to the realm."
Li Daoxuan smiled faintly and shook his head.
"If I had not intervened, the Ming dynasty would already have been beyond saving, the rebel forces would have overthrown it, Chuang Wang Li Zicheng would have entered the capital, and then the Manchus would have moved in, defeated him, and become the new masters of the realm, and the Ming would have collapsed completely, turning into the Qing."
Zhu Youjian's eyes widened in shock.
Li Daoxuan raised his hand casually, and in the next instant, a tablet device descended from the sky, its screen lighting up as it began to play a television drama.
It was Playful Qianlong.
Li Daoxuan gestured toward it and said, "Take a look, this is what the world will become a hundred years from now."
Zhu Youjian stared at the screen, and as he watched the scenes unfold, his breathing grew heavier, because although he did not fully understand what he was seeing, he believed it completely.
Within the Immortal Mirror, the future was already laid bare before him.
"So the realm truly falls into the hands of the Manchus."
He did not even need an answer.
Li Daoxuan looked at him and said, "I came into this world to prevent it from becoming like that, and yet you claim that I am causing chaos, when in reality, it is you who has been interfering with my efforts all along, because I am trying to make the world better, while you have been pushing it in the opposite direction."
Zhu Youjian collapsed onto the ground.
Those words cut deeper than any blade.
All this time, he had believed himself to be a wise ruler, someone who had struggled to save a crumbling dynasty, and that only in the matter of Liaodong had he shown a bit of stubbornness that others exploited to label him incompetent and rise in rebellion.
But now he realized that from the very beginning, he had been wrong, and had stood on the opposite side of what was truly right.
There was nothing more painful than having one's entire life denied in a single moment.
Zhu Youjian had always been stubborn and unwilling to admit fault when facing those beneath him, but now, in front of a being who knew the past and the future and possessed unimaginable power, that stubbornness could no longer hold.
He let out a broken cry and clutched his head.
"This cannot be true, this cannot be true, I am not this incompetent, I am a wise ruler, I am a wise ruler."
Li Daoxuan said calmly, "Crying will not help, and dying will not help either, so stop trying to escape."
Zhu Youjian's voice trembled as he asked, "Then what should I do now?"
"Reform through labor," Li Daoxuan replied with a faint smile, "although your actions have caused harm to society, you did not act with malicious intent, and deep down you did wish to govern well, but due to your lack of ability and other factors, you must bear indirect responsibility for the suffering of the people, so I sentence you to ten years of reform through labor, during which you will learn how to live as an ordinary person, experience the reality of work, and understand the life that common people endure."
Zhu Youjian fell silent.
Li Daoxuan looked at him and said, "Living is far more difficult than dying, so if you are not a coward, then continue to live, and use your own experience to understand what this new world should be like."