Everyone’s Tribulation Begins in Nan Jing

The Star Lords of the heavens descend to the mortal world to undergo their tribulation. Emperor Ziwei, Chongyuan, makes a wager with the Heavenly Dao, staking his throne and the fate of Huaxia, then leads the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper and the Seven Lodges of the Vermilion Bird into mortal lives. He is reborn as an ordinary man, serves as a soldier all his life, and lives to the age of 108 without his Imperial Star ever shining. Then the Homecoming Project is launched: his consciousness is placed in a bionic body and projected across time into an age consumed by war. A deviation leaves him in a pine forest position, where the retreating soldiers take him for a straggler. In the trenches, he meets a group of men destined not to survive the winter. Together, they hold their position, fight with bayonets, and share their last cigarette. When asked, “Can we hold the city?” he answers with a kind lie: “We can.” He is also bound to a System only he can see: Xia Jiu, the spirit of the Myriad Stars Return to the Void Seal. Gathering remains, recovering personal effects, and saving people all earn points. Once he has enough, he can restore his imperial form and bring home, one by one, the Star Lords who died in the mortal world. The Haotian Mirror in the Hall of Lingxiao has been watching all along. The Jade Emperor gazes at the bloodstained old soldier in the mirror, falls silent for a long time, then says: “Ziwei has awakened.”