After Five Rebirths Failed to Save the Protagonist, the Antagonist Became a Sky Screen

Dugu Wangshu was entrusted by the late emperor to go to the capital and serve as regent.

A month after arriving, he saw that the court could function perfectly well without him and decided that resigning might not be such a bad idea.

Who could have expected the sky screen to suddenly appear, listing countless possible futures and declaring that the realm truly could not manage without him?

In the future where he refused to become regent, the young emperor died eight months after ascending the throne, and the dynasty fell within three years.

In the future where he was assassinated halfway through his term as regent, the many talented people who had found harmony thanks to him immediately fell apart, attacking one another.

And in the darkest future, where he was explicitly sent off to die, the world became a living hell, the sky and earth a furnace, and all living things suffered in torment.

But in the future where he served as regent from beginning to end, the emperor became a wise ruler for the ages, and the dynasty entered a golden age of revival.

The general's descendant, wrongly accused of a crime, cleared his name and restored the glory of a divine commander. A once-brilliant talent who had lost his ambition regained his confidence and became a renowned chancellor.

Whether they were willful young masters from noble families or struggling nobodies from the bottom of society, all could be recognized for their talents and find their place.

Everyone praised him for his good name as regent and thanked him for helping them fulfill their dreams. But Dugu Wangshu, who had been born into this dynasty after transmigrating, was destined never to fulfill his dream of returning to his original world.

He had never told anyone about this. Only on his deathbed did he tell Yin Jianchen, his former childhood friend, now his sworn enemy, that he missed home.

He had thought Yin Jianchen would send him back to his homeland in this world.

He never expected Yin Jianchen to have known all along that he had transmigrated, or to know which home he meant.

Even less did he expect that, in order to help him fulfill this wish, Yin Jianchen had used an artifact capable of traveling through time and space to be reborn a full five times.

The artifact needed three years of the Yingchu era to charge the dragon veins, and the traveler needed to be strong and healthy. But after serving as regent this time around, Dugu Wangshu was utterly exhausted.

So, in his first rebirth, Yin Jianchen went straight to persuading Wangshu not to become regent.

Without Wangshu's protection, the emperor died eight months later, the dynasty collapsed, and the people were left in misery. Dugu Wangshu died in battle defending the realm, before even the second year of Yingchu had ended.

In his third life, Yin Jianchen decided to use force to spur the emperor into taking power quickly, so that Wangshu's regency could end sooner.

But the emperor turned cruel, both fearing and hating Wangshu, and plotted to have him assassinated.

The new talents at court had all been promoted by Wangshu. When they learned he had been murdered, they turned on one another, the dynasty fell apart, and the realm descended into chaos.

In his fourth life, Yin Jianchen was consumed with rage and killed the emperor right from the start.

As a result, Wangshu opposed him for the sake of the people. Yin Jianchen didn't mind being killed by Wangshu, but he never imagined that the people would force Wangshu to take his own life first, to appease the wrath of heaven.

In his fury, Yin Jianchen turned the world into a living hell, where no one could pass on.

In his fifth life, Yin Jianchen decided to leave the emperor alone and simply strip him of power. But this time, the emperor and his ministers joined forces against the two of them.

In his sixth life, Yin Jianchen lost all hope and gave in to his resistance, spending his days in a state of madness.

He thought he could go mad without affecting Wangshu.

But Wangshu, too worried about his mental state, still met an untimely death.

Could I really not save you? Does being near you only take you farther from the way home?

Yin Jianchen held Wangshu's body in the snow for six days, reliving one lifetime each day. At dawn on the seventh day, he finally understood, and entered the cycle of rebirth once more.

Everything returned to the beginning. Yin Jianchen stopped trying to involve himself in the affairs of the court or seek Wangshu out. Instead, he turned the transmigration artifact into a sky screen, saved the countless past cycles, and started over, helping Wangshu clear every obstacle from behind the scenes with his cheat-like powers.

The sky screen was like a portable thunderbolt, an intelligent book of life and death, and an electronic record of every official's deeds, always ready to expose everyone's past and present lives.

For anyone who actively helped Wangshu, the sky screen would reveal the regrets and unfinished business from their past lives, giving them a chance to make things right ahead of time.

For anyone who opposed Dugu Wangshu, there were five lifetimes of sins to choose from. No, six. Which one would you like made public?

At last, with the sky screen's help (and threats), everyone reflected on their actions and behaved themselves, striving to become good helpers to the regent and the revival of the realm, and to achieve the goals of "a golden age restored" and "a wealth of talented people" as quickly as possible.

At last, the sky screen made everything possible above, the dragon veins revived below, and Wangshu was full of energy. With the right time, place, and people all aligned, the red moon that heralded the artifact's successful activation appeared as he had hoped.

Theme: Work hard, be content, and find joy