The Splendor of the Great Ming: I Am Yongle’s Fourth Son

The immortal emperor returns to the mortal world, enraged for the woman he loves. Invincible in every way, he protects the dynasty and his family. He is an immortal cultivator who transmigrated through time and once stood at the pinnacle of the myriad realms. Now he has become Zhu Gaoxi, fourth son of the Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty. In this age of declining spiritual energy, when immortals have vanished from the mortal world, he has once more embarked on the path to immortality and become the only legend left in the world. To him, imperial power and wealth are fleeting clouds. He thought all he wanted in this life was the Dao and freedom, until the Jingnan Campaign erupted and his childhood sweetheart, Su Lianxue, was abducted by the Jianwen Emperor. Her fate was unknown. In his fury, he wanted to bathe the land in blood. But to make way for his father Zhu Di’s rise to the throne, he forced down his burning rage and left alone. For more than a decade, he traveled across the realm, hunting down the remnants of the old regime. To their former loyalists, he was the “White-Robed Asura,” a name that struck terror into their hearts. He was ruthless because of a single promise: “The lives of the Jianwen Emperor’s remaining followers are mine.” Beneath the prosperity of the Yongle era, dark currents churn. The crown prince is weak, the Prince of Han arrogant, and the Prince of Zhao sinister. The struggle over the succession grows ever more heated. His nephew Zhu Zhanji, once a boy who needed his protection, has grown into a valiant crown prince. Yet he has fallen deeply in love with a woman descended from the Jianwen Emperor’s surviving family, stepping ever deeper into a dangerous game. When Zhu Gaoxi senses something amiss and returns to Beijing, he finds not only his aging father, whose thoughts are difficult to read, and brothers each pursuing their own ambitions, but also a vast whirlpool that could determine the empire’s fate. When he discovers that the loved ones he has devoted himself to protecting are entangled with the very enemies he swore to destroy, how will an immortal’s sword fall? He is the Ming dynasty’s only immortal, and the sharpest sword in the Zhu family. This time, in the mortal world, he will find his beloved again, settle the old scores, and, with his invincible might, safeguard the ones he both…