Recaps

Qin Yan built the Red Shadow Army, crushed Taiping forces, and eliminated the assassins sent against him. After training his troops and warhorses, he led the army to seize Chiyu County and reopen the campaign against the rebels.

• Qin Yan recruited Martial Hall students, defeated challengers at Duke Yingguo’s Mansion, and accepted the old Pillar of the Nation’s task of leading a new army.
• After the Hongjia Emperor appointed Qin Yan commander of the Red Shadow Army, Qin Yan gathered his followers and selected fifteen hundred cavalry at Hongshan Garrison.
• Qin Yan routed the Taiping Army besieging a military camp, healed wounded soldiers, and then used an ambush and fire attack to destroy Xiao Mu’s larger force.
• Qin Yan enforced strict discipline in Chaowen City and confronted the evil creatures and assassins at Wild Boar Forest, killing Immortal Master Minghe and two Grandmasters.
• Qin Yan returned to Red Ridge Town, trained the Red Shadow Army and its horses to absorb Qi, and welcomed Qin Xiaoyi and nearly a thousand recruits.
• Qin Yan led three thousand cavalry to Chiyu County, breached its defenses, and defeated the Taiping Army there, returning the county to Great Li rule.

Qin Yan helped defeat the Taiping Army, killed Hong Sheng, and secured Ba Wei’s loyalty before the court made him a marquis and sent him away from the Capital. Back in Youshan Prefecture, he strengthened his base, bound the three Shanxiao to him, and began developing his powers and the Lunar Yin Corpse Puppet.

• Qin Yan captured Changxin and Xifeng, destroyed a huge Taiping Army grain store, and captured more than twelve thousand retreating soldiers.
• When the Taiping Army attacked Changxin, Qin Yan killed Mu Old Ghost and wounded Hong Sheng with a distant arrow, helping Great Li win the battle despite heavy losses.
• Qin Yan raided Taiping Army treasure stores, killed Hong Sheng, and persuaded Ba Wei to join him as Shadow after revealing his identity and ambitions.
• Qin Yan arranged to move twenty thousand Taiping Army prisoners to Youshan Prefecture, while Great Li’s forces retook Lin Yang and Yuli and pacified Pengzhou.
• The Hongjia Emperor made Qin Yan the hereditary Youshan Marquis, then stripped him of his military posts and sent him back to Youshan Prefecture after accusations of greed and murder.
• Qin Yan returned to Qinghe Town, rejected reconciliation with Qin Zhao’s family, and promised to fund new houses for the village.
• Qin Yan subdued the three Shanxiao with Spiritual Suppression and Soul Restrictions, then developed Beast-Rearing Pills and a magnetic-field barrier to improve his base.
• Qin Yan imprinted Restrictions on Hong Sheng’s Lunar Yin Corpse Puppet, which sensed a source of Yin Qi and led Qin Yan to consider confronting the ancient corpses in the Cypress Water River.

Qin Yan built his forces, industries, and support among the people while the Great Li Dynasty collapsed into civil war. The Yuanqing Emperor died as the Hongjia Emperor returned as a Ghost Cultivator, and ancient sects began to emerge.

• Qin Yan found Azure Sun Abbey destroyed, then transformed Chen Min into the Qinghe Land God and helped him gain strength through worshippers.
• Qin Yan investigated disappearances in Qingquan Town, seized the Yin-Yang Palanquin Crown, and killed the Fourth Realm Evil Spirit in the Underworld.
• Qin Yan developed electromagnetic techniques and weapons production, partnered with the Jiang Family, and prepared his growing power for the turmoil ahead.
• After the crown prince seized the throne, Qin Yan took charge of Youshan Prefecture’s defense, crushed Prince Fu’s army, and captured Prince Fu for ransom.
• Qin Yan accepted former Taiping Army mine slaves into his forces, promised them freedom and dignity, and built an army of nearly ten thousand.
• Qin Yan strengthened his army and industries, completed his training, and refused to promise the Yuanqing Emperor military aid in exchange for a title and marriage alliance.
• As the capital fell, the Hongjia Emperor revealed that he had become a Ghost Cultivator, while ancient sects began sending their young heirs into the upheaval.

Qin Yan expanded his control across Yunzhou, using firearms, reforms, and strict public order to defeat rival powers while strengthening his own forces. As the Heaven-Soaring Army rose and the Flesh and Blood Dao infiltrated his territory, Qin Yan began a sweeping arrest operation and kept Qiu Wei undercover as a source of intelligence.

• Xia Tiancheng crushed the rebellion in the capital, but Prince Xiang’s formation and the black-robed expert killed him as the rebel forces took the palace and divided Great Li.
• Qin Yan stayed apart from the dynastic collapse, welcomed Qi Zhen and Qi Hao into his service, and confronted Daoist Mi, who led him to the Ghost Market and its evil-path contacts.
• Qin Yan seized control of the Ghost Market, bound its leaders and informants to him, and ordered his troops to destroy the Gongshu Family before freeing its servants and distributing land.
• Qin Yan sent the Divine Machine Battalion into Jiu'an Prefecture, where riflemen, explosives, grenades, and heavy weapons defeated the defenders and helped him seize the prefecture and break the power of noble families.
• Heavenly Star Lord visited Youshan Prefecture to recruit Qin Yan, but Qin Yan rejected him and fought him to a standstill, leaving both men unsure they could safely defeat the other.
• Qin Yan accepted Lin Xuansong’s submission, took Tongzhou Prefecture, retrained its soldiers, and sent Bai Yi to suppress bandits and corrupt officials as public support for his rule grew.
• Qin Yan forged Spirit Crystals from primordial Qi, gave one to Qin Xiaoyi to aid his cultivation, and brought all of Yunzhou under his control.
• Huang Chao’s Heaven-Soaring Army seized three Cangzhou prefectures as Qin Yan learned that the Flesh and Blood Dao was stealing his technology and ordered the arrest of its spies across Youshan Prefecture.