Immortal in the Ming Dynasty: I Outlived Sixteen Ming Emperors

After transmigrating to the early Ming dynasty, Su Changqing came upon a Daoist method for attaining immortality. All he wanted was to live a carefree life as a recluse. In the fifteenth year of the Hongwu era, Empress Ma fell gravely ill. Su entered the palace to save her, and from that moment on, he was swept into the currents of Ming history. Across the long years, he weathered Hongwu’s rivers of blood and fire, then trudged through the brutal flames of the Jingnan Campaign. He witnessed foreign nations paying tribute in Yongle’s reign and saw all the splendor of the prosperous Renzong and Xuanzong eras. He saw Hongzhi’s revival, and lamented Chongzhen’s doomed final days. He once wore the embroidered uniform and saber of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and later entered the cabinet as a chancellor. Beyond the frontier, he drove back the Oirats and Tatars; along the coast, he crushed the Japanese pirates; in Liaodong, he fought the Manchus. He discussed the Way with Yao Guangxiao, the Black-Robed Chancellor, and became a close friend of Wang Yangming, the sage of the School of Mind. He roamed mountains and rivers with Tang Bohu and joined Emperor Jiajing in firing up the furnace to make elixirs. The world changed beyond recognition. One day, he looked back and realized... Without even noticing, he had quietly outlived all sixteen Ming emperors. Sitting alone at the end of time, he smiled as he watched the three-hundred-year empire rise and fall!