A Handbook for Raising a Tyrant

The overworked Tan Ning never imagined she'd get hooked on a single-player mobile game called The Handbook for Raising a Wise Ruler.

Every day, she grinded and spent money, determined to raise the pitifully born, gloomy and brutal young tyrant Xie Xingye into the greatest ruler of all time.

At eight, the young tyrant Xie Xingye killed his father. At ten, he couldn't speak and could see fierce ghosts.

He wasn't afraid of ghosts, just a little annoyed. One kept appearing every few days, hovering around him all day, worrying that someone might harm him and trying to raise him into a wise ruler. It was ridiculous.

When it came to ministers with ulterior motives, Tang Ning leaped into action and spent money in the game to take them out. "He's a bad guy. He's going to hurt you."

When the young emperor came down with a high fever, the Empress Dowager left him alone in a freezing palace. Tang Ning diligently played through the night, afraid all her progress would go to waste.

Watching the young emperor wake with calm eyes, she cried with joy. "You absolutely mustn't die."

When she had nothing else to do, she also liked to remind the vicious young tyrant of his humanity. "A benevolent person cares for others, understand? When I'm gone, you have to miss me."

Under Tang Ning's earnest guidance, the young tyrant gradually began walking the path of a wise ruler. There was just one problem: he refused to take a wife.

Without an heir, she couldn't clear the game. Zhou was nearly bald from worrying for weeks, and every day she recommended daughters from various noble families to the young tyrant, but Xie Xingye ignored her.

He even had several palace maids who tried to seduce him tortured to death, losing him a heap of Wise Ruler points!

Tang Ning finally flew into a rage. She used her spending power to force a queen on him and make them consummate the marriage.

...But the more she thought about it, the more guilty she felt. She secretly logged in in the middle of the night and was horrified to find that her young tyrant's health had dropped to 0.1.

To resist the power of her in-game purchases, Xie Xingye clutched his sword in the bridal chamber and, blow by blow... hacked himself until he was covered in blood.

Tang Ning would never forget the savage fury in Xie Xingye's eyes as he looked at her then, and the utter despair and pain in them.

Nor would she forget his nearly pleading voice. "Ningning, come here... For the last cut, I want you to do it yourself."

Tang Ning was horrified to realize at last:

Under her earnest guidance, it seemed Xie Xingye hadn't become a wise ruler. He'd become a sickly, obsessive tyrant instead. Help!

In the fifteenth year of Yongle, Tang Ning had been gone for three whole years. Emperor Xie Xingye, known as the Bright Emperor, was misled by a wicked Daoist into seeking immortality and enlightenment, not to live forever, but to find a way to borrow a corpse and return to life.

The court officials were horrified. Their protest memorials piled up like a small mountain, only for Xie Xingye to burn them all in one go.

At court, Xie Xingye addressed the officials with casual indifference. "If anyone objects again, next time I'll burn all of you, my dear ministers."

After transmigrating into this world, Tang Ning fell into thought. She wondered how many Wise Ruler points her young tyrant had left.

Theme: None.