A Fantasy Epic of the Late Ming

[Japanese-style fantasy + Jin Guang-inspired style + infinite worlds + Shu Han in the late Ming]

In the second year of the Chongzhen reign, winter is closing in. Huang Taiji’s forces surround Beijing. As the siege drags on, Later Jin shamans form ritual arrays and cast spells across the sky, shrouding the fate of the Ming dynasty and dimming its Mandate of Heaven.

In an instant, the dragon veins across the Nine Provinces fracture. Demonic dragons appear everywhere, and baleful energy spreads like an epidemic, turning a thousand miles of fertile land into wasteland.

Yet this is only the second upheaval of the Nine Provinces’ dragon veins in three hundred years. As early as the Wanli era, the eastward spread of Western learning had begun to taint the dragon veins, transforming many Ming subjects into creatures from Western legend, such as elves, trolls, werewolves, and vampires.

The Six Paths:

In times of peace, when Heaven and Earth are bright and clear, the ruler of the Nine Provinces reigns over all, and only the [Human Path] is revered.

The Chongzhen Emperor is the last ruler of the [Human Path].

But when war rages, Heaven and Earth crumble, and calamities strike, the [other five paths] emerge in answer to the tribulation.

[Asura Path]: King Asura, Yun Zheng, a transmigrated protagonist, future ruler of the southwestern Tusi world, and the Golden Wheel Dharma King acclaimed by all.

[Hell Path]: World-ending Mara, Huang Taiji.

[Hungry Ghost Path]: Lord of the Naraka Prison, Li Zicheng.

[Deva Path]: Indra, Liu Xiang, chief executive of the commercial city-state confederacy of Southeast Asia.

[Animal Path]: Garuda, Alexei, born with innate knowledge and destined to become a great tsar a century ahead of his time.

Those who do evil openly may be punished by men; those who do evil in secret may be punished by ghosts. If neither men nor ghosts punish them, then King Asura will.