Chapter Summaries

Grain shops across Baihe City and other regions experienced a sudden surge in sales, while disguised agents scouted a mine in Baisha County and plotted to sabotage it. The chapter left the mine facing a threat from infiltrators who believed its defenses could be undermined from within.

• A customer bought six hundred jin of yellow rice from the Chang Family Grain Shop, and another later ordered eight hundred jin of fine rice and a hundred jin of flour.
• Grain shops across Baihe City, Anshen, and nearby counties and towns saw grain become a hot-selling commodity throughout the week.
• Middle-aged men disguised as herb farmers inspected a mine in Baisha County and studied its long moving conveyor belts and shackled foreign laborers.
• The agents discussed the mine’s military importance and its limited guard force, then the leader proposed exploiting an internal weakness to bring it to a standstill.

Fei Nian received Jinxia’s Golden Weekly and realized that its reports described real events, revealing the city’s naval victory and its increasingly unusual alliance with Yao. The latest issue left him wondering whether Jinxia still had any connection to Da Qi.

• Fei Nian established the Bureau of Military Affairs’ command headquarters in Huiyang City after the Affairs Bureaus took control of Shenzhou’s major cities.
• Fei Nian learned that Ning Wanjun had seized nearly all of Shenzhou and that reports credited a Dragon with helping capture Anshen and Baisha.
• Fei Nian received multiple copies of Jinxia’s Golden Weekly and recognized that its apparently fantastical account of a naval victory against the Natating Kingdom might be true.
• Fei Nian read that Jinxia had rescued Elves and cooperated with Dragon Yao, prompting him to worry about Xia Fan’s choices.
• Fei Nian read the second issue’s account of a concert and Ning Wanjun’s declaration that Jinxia would treat Yao equally, leaving him to see the city as an aberration in Da Qi.

Fei Nian assessed the threat Jinxia posed to the Tianshu Regime and urged covert efforts before war began. In Jinxia, Wei Wushuang discovered that grain prices were being manipulated and learned that rumors blamed the city for a spreading shortage.

• Fei Nian considered Xia Fan’s impact on Jinxia and concluded that the Bureau of Military Affairs faced a serious challenge.
• Wei Wushuang planned to coordinate grain reserves across Shenzhou and ensure people under the princess’s rule would not starve.
• Wei Yan warned Wei Wushuang that grain prices were rising and merchants across several regions were suspending sales.
• Wei Wushuang ordered investigations into the price increases and where the sold grain had gone, and he arranged to inform Xia Fan.
• The Baihe City Branch Office reported that grain prices had doubled, rumors blamed Jinxia for the shortage, and panic-buying had begun.

Hu Shinan and Pelican engineered a grain shortage in Shenzhou by raising prices and burning supplies, then used a staged riot to discredit the Jinxia City Affairs Bureau. The chapter left the crowd in panic and hostility as Pelican prepared to fan the unrest further.

• Hu Shinan watched residents crowd Shidan Grain Shop as grain prices rose, while Pelican praised his role in coordinating the price increases.
• Hu Shinan questioned the destruction of purchased grain, and Pelican explained that the Bureau of Military Affairs wanted to create a real supply gap by burning it.
• Jinxia City Affairs Bureau personnel reassured the crowd that the General Headquarters would prevent hunger, but Pelican sent a subordinate to spread rumors blaming refugees and overseas arrivals for shortages.
• Pelican's subordinates turned the crowd against the Affairs Branch personnel, and an attacker stabbed one of the women amid the commotion.
• The crowd scattered in panic as the Affairs Branch personnel carried the wounded woman away, and Pelican anticipated that the unrest would spread.

As grain prices rose across Shenzhou, Xia Fan’s officials debated whether the crisis was a genuine shortage or a deliberate attempt by the Bureau of Military Affairs to destabilize the region. After unrest broke out in Baihe City, Xia Fan refused to abandon the other towns and prepared to test Jinxia’s full capacity against the crisis.

• Hong Siqi urged the officials to calm the people and guard against profiteers, and Xia Fan assigned him to organize relief rather than arrests.
• Xia Fan warned that the Bureau of Military Affairs might be engineering a real famine across Shenzhou, leaving the hall to consider abandoning towns outside Jinxia.
• A clerk reported that rioters had robbed a grain shop in Baihe City and stabbed Wei Ruoyan, so Xia Fan ordered Olina to bring her to Jinxia for treatment.
• Xia Fan told the officials that Jinxia could not retreat and that its extraordinary reserves and policies might let it face the crisis head-on.

Jinxia City’s forces set out to secure routes and deliver relief to Baihe City as Wei Ruoyan lay gravely wounded. Li and Luo Qingqing arrived as the promised reinforcements, and Kong Liang was surprised to learn that they were the support sent by Jinxia.

• Xu Sanchong reminded Shi Zhong to cooperate with the local Affairs Bureau and avoid turning guns on the people before Shi led the relief convoy toward Baihe City.
• Xu Sanchong watched the first of six military columns depart to control major routes and prevent silver and grain from moving between Shenzhou and other provinces.
• Wei Ruoyan, badly wounded in Baihe City, lost hope of surviving before rescuers arrived and was carried outside when help reached her.
• Li used the Yuquan Technique to stop Wei Ruoyan’s bleeding temporarily, and Li then put her to sleep so she could be carried safely to Jinxia.
• Kong Liang learned that Li and Luo Qingqing were the reinforcements sent by Jinxia City to stabilize the situation.

Li and Luo Qingqing investigated the attack on the Affairs Branch and suspected that a group had been directing the unrest from within the city. Li planned to use Gungun and Baihe City’s wild cats to track the culprits, while the branch resumed its public relief message amid renewed grain panic; Pelican learned of their return.

• Kong Liang told Li and Luo Qingqing how opponents had turned the crowd against the branch team at Shidan Grain Shop, and Luo suspected the team had been watched.
• Li warned Kong Liang that an insider could be involved and told the branch members to stay put while she and Luo investigated.
• Li explained that Gungun would recruit Baihe City’s wild cats to help track the culprits, and Gungun ran out to gather them.
• At dawn, the Affairs Branch returned to the streets and announced that Jinxia City’s relief team was expected the following afternoon, while frightened residents crowded the grain shops.
• Pelican heard that the Affairs Branch had resumed operations.

Pelican arranged for refugees to incite violence against the Affairs Branch and blame Jinxia City, while the branch’s promises of imminent relief began to calm the crowd. Pelican spotted Wild Cats and pedestrians closing in on his teahouse and realized he was being pursued.

• Pelican ordered his subordinate to direct the refugees’ anger toward Jinxia City and left the cottage with Hu Kun to watch the planned disturbance from a teahouse.
• Kong Liang told Baihe City’s crowd that Jinxia’s relief team would arrive soon and explained that the overseas refugees were Elves who did not depend on grain.
• After a tabby cat signaled the Affairs Branch team, its members withdrew, leaving the crowd to reconsider whether to wait for relief instead of seizing grain.
• The Bureau of Military Affairs’ leader found the planned confrontation stalled and returned to the base without noticing Wild Cats watching from the rooftops.
• Pelican saw Wild Cats and pedestrians moving toward the teahouse and realized someone was closing in on him.

Pelican discovered that Wild Cats were tracking everyone connected to the grain shop, then escaped the Jinxia pursuers by disguising himself as a waiter. The Jinxia General Affairs Bureau reported mass arrests and confirmed a widespread grain shortage, but Pelican remained at large.

• Pelican watched Wild Cats track passersby and realized they had marked people who visited the grain shop.
• Two conical-hatted pursuers wiped out or captured Pelican's six subordinates, then spotted him at the teahouse.
• Pelican recognized Hu Kun's fragrance pouch as a tracking clue, killed him to prevent his capture, and washed himself before changing into a waiter's clothes.
• Pelican slipped past the pursuers as they entered the teahouse and vanished into the crowd.
• The Jinxia General Affairs Bureau reported that the Baihe City Branch Office had arrested sixty-five suspects and seized silver and grain after interrogations revealed more hideouts.
• The Bureau confirmed that the Bureau of Military Affairs and grain merchants had orchestrated the price gouging, while the ringleader remained at large and a Shenzhou-wide grain shortage was established.

Xia Fan enlisted the Elves to produce aged Golden Silk Vine for trawl nets, aiming to greatly increase Jinxia’s seafood supply as Shenzhou faced a grain shortage. He then recruited Fang Jiuzhang and Fang Yu to establish a Logistics Department and expand food production and cold-chain transport.

• Xia Fan asked Sainiya and Zhuofulan to help secure food for Shenzhou and proposed using aged Golden Silk Vine to make trawl nets.
• Sainiya and Zhuofulan agreed to support the plan, and Xia Fan offered to buy the Elves’ seafood catches in bulk at market-floor prices.
• Xia Fan told Fang Jiuzhang and Fang Yu that the Affairs Bureau’s hiring drive was part of a push to maximize production against the food shortage.
• Xia Fan invited Fang Jiuzhang and Fang Yu to become department heads and make the Logistics Department a reality, using Living Dead-powered cold storage to support large-scale food transport.

Jinxia City launched its first Flat Ice Boat to deliver frozen fish and relief supplies, leading Ning Wanjun to realize that Jinxia could move aid and troops at a scale other cities could not match. Jinxia’s relief force reached famine-stricken Baihe ahead of schedule, disrupting Pelican’s plans to provoke unrest and prompting him to consider destroying the city’s grain shops.

• Mo Yun watched the first Flat Ice Boat depart for Baihe and explained to Ning Wanjun how quickly it had been built.
• Ning Wanjun realized that Jinxia’s boats could rapidly carry aid and Mechanical Beasts across Shenzhou, making Jinxia an entirely new kind of city.
• Jinxia’s first ground relief force reached Baihe ahead of schedule and began distributing porridge outside the East City Gate.
• Pelican observed the relief camp and concluded that Jinxia’s arrival had dampened the famine-driven unrest he hoped to foment.
• Pelican decided that the grain shops might have to be destroyed to keep the unrest alive.

Pelican gathered his surviving subordinates and planned attacks on Baihe City's grain shops and a relief ship from Jinxia, hoping to keep famine unrest alive. When the ship arrived, its strange construction and cargo of fresh fish left him realizing that his opponents exceeded ordinary understanding.

• Pelican met with five surviving subordinates and rejected their suspicion that a traitor had exposed them, suggesting instead that their enemies used Kan Technique.
• Pelican proposed using Zhentian Thunder to destroy grain shops and revealed that he would target Jinxia's incoming cargo ship himself.
• A subordinate reported that Jinxia planned to send at least one grain ship daily until the famine ended, but Pelican chose to proceed with the attacks.
• Pelican went to the Inland River Wharf and watched the Jinxia ship arrive, marveling at its sail-less design and black two-legged beasts aboard.
• Pelican saw that the Ice Boat carried piles of fresh sea fish, while citizens gathered in shock and discussion.

Pelican’s attempt to destroy Jinxia’s seafood relief shipment failed, and he was captured before a Sorcery Art killed him during interrogation. Li recovered intelligence revealing an imminent attack on grain shops, the Secret Agents’ communication code, and their leader’s identity.

• Pelican tried to throw a Zhentian Thunder at the Ice Boat, but Luo Qingqing exposed him and Qian Zhi froze the river, allowing a girl to knock him unconscious.
• Luo Qingqing told Kong Liang that Pelican had been captured and explained that his concealed object had stood out to her qi perception.
• Li reported that a Sorcery Art designed to counter the Kan Technique had killed Pelican during interrogation.
• Li revealed that the Secret Agents planned to burn grain shops that night and communicated with their superiors through messengers using a code she had learned.
• Li disclosed that many Secret Agents had infiltrated Shenzhou and that their leader in Liuzhou was Fei Nian.

Li and Luo Qingqing weighed a risky plan to attack Fei Nian while directing Baihe City's branch bureau to protect grain shops only if merchants restored fair prices. At the Baisha County mine, Huo Ying spoke with Zheng Ming about joining the Affairs Bureau before Uncle Deng returned with a group of unexpected visitors.

• Li and Luo Qingqing considered attacking Fei Nian in Huiyang City, and Luo said she would not spare him if he opposed them.
• Kong Liang asked whether to request troops to guard the grain shops, but Li and Luo told him to offer protection only to merchants who restored prices and sold grain to the public.
• Huo Ying reflected on his assignment to the Baisha County mine and taught Zheng Ming to read after learning that he wanted to join the Affairs Bureau.
• Huo Ying explained that Affairs Bureau officials had to accept assignments wherever they were sent, then encouraged Zheng Ming to keep studying.
• Uncle Deng returned to the mine with more than a dozen people, and Huo Ying went to see who had arrived.

Huo Ying was pressured by Uncle Deng and Lord Chai to help Imperial Court agents sabotage Baisha Mine in exchange for an official post. After realizing their plan would displace thousands, he turned against them and slipped into the storeroom alone.

• Lord Chai’s men killed Zheng Ming after he questioned their permits, and Uncle Deng told Huo Ying that the group served the Imperial Court.
• Uncle Deng promised Huo Ying a post in the Capital Region if he helped stop Baisha Mine’s production, and Lord Chai showed him a sealed appointment letter.
• Huo Ying realized the group intended to use gunpowder to collapse the mine tunnels and considered the fate of Baisha County’s thousands of residents.
• At the storeroom, Huo Ying opened the iron door, shoved Uncle Deng into Lord Chai, and reset the final bolt to trap the others outside.
• Huo Ying squeezed through the narrow gap into the storeroom as Lord Chai thrust his sword at him.

Huo Ying tried to alert the authorities after Chai Rong’s men attacked the warehouse, but found the alarm bell had been disabled and was mortally wounded. Before Chai Rong could kill him, Huo Ying ignited the gunpowder, setting off a blast that drew the attention of the Jinxia Garrison and Mine Security Corps.

• Huo Ying ran to the second floor to ring the alarm bell, but discovered its rope had been cut and the bell was gone.
• Chai Rong and Uncle Deng followed Huo Ying’s blood trail and found him gravely wounded.
• Huo Ying explained that Lord Xia included himself among the people he served, unlike Zhou Sheng and Chai Rong, and said he understood the truth in books.
• Chai Rong noticed the gunpowder line behind Huo Ying and lunged to stop him from igniting it.
• Huo Ying set off the gunpowder, and the explosion tore through the warehouse and lit up the night sky for the Jinxia Garrison and Mine Security Corps.

After Huo Ying died stopping a Bureau of Military Affairs attack on Baisha Mine, Xia Fan and Ning Wanjun prepared to use the incident to rally Jinxia against Qi State. At sea, Mo Yun and Aili began a large-scale trawling operation using the Tree Boats’ new mechanism.

• Xia Fan read a report confirming that Secret Agents had infiltrated Baisha Mine to blow up its tunnels, and that Huo Ying had died detonating a warehouse to stop them.
• Xia Fan told Ning Wanjun to make Huo Ying’s sacrifice the centerpiece of Golden Weekly and use the attack to justify resistance against Qi State.
• Ning Wanjun agreed to present herself as a defender of Shenzhou and ordered the captured Secret Agents to honor the fallen.
• Xia Fan explained that Huo Ying had been a promising probationary official sent for grassroots fieldwork, and said Shenzhou would remember him.
• Mo Yun ordered the crews of Noah and Silver Star to lower the new trawling nets, while Aili coordinated the winch teams.

Aili and Mo Yun’s trawl fishing method hauled an enormous catch aboard Noah Tree Boat, decisively surpassing Thorn Algae fishing. The islanders realized that net fishing could transform how they gathered food.

• Islanders gathered to watch the fishing contest as Sainiya backed Jinxia and Pang Ting backed Noah.
• Aili reported that the cable was mostly released, and Mo Yun ordered the net boards deployed before leaving to rest.
• After an hour and a half, the Heavenly Motion Instruments hauled the net aboard with more than ten thousand fish and many other sea creatures.
• The crew emptied the net into a massive heap, and the islanders saw that trawl fishing vastly outperformed Thorn Algae harvesting.

Fei Nian received bloodstained intelligence from Baihe City revealing Jinxia’s rapid communications, its use of cats as spies, and the collapse of the Bureau of Military Affairs’ local spy network. The chapter ended as he read Jinxia’s declaration of war against Ning Qianshi and the Capital Bureau of Military Affairs.

• Fei Nian learned that Jinxia’s road inspections had disrupted the Bureau of Military Affairs’ supply convoys and intelligence reports.
• Fei Nian received two delayed, bloodstained reports from Baihe City and read Pelican’s warning that Jinxia could transmit messages across a thousand miles.
• Pelican reported that stray cats were spying for Jinxia, grain prices in Baihe City had stopped rising, and relief teams vowed to feed Baisha City’s residents.
• Fei Nian learned that Baihe City’s spy codes had been cracked, its agents had suffered heavy losses, and its intelligence relay point had been exposed.
• Fei Nian ordered a courier to deliver Pelican’s letter to the Second Prince immediately, then opened the latest Golden Weekly.
• Fei Nian read Jinxia’s declaration of war against Ning Qianshi and the Capital Bureau of Military Affairs.

Fei Nian read the Zhou Weekly and realized Jinxia was publicly defying the Qi State court while hiding formidable military and logistical capabilities. Before he could act on that intelligence, a sudden attack leveled the Prefectural Governor's Office.

• Fei Nian was enraged by the Zhou Weekly's portrayal of the Bureau of Military Affairs as a threat to the people and its praise of Ning Wanjun and Huo Ying.
• Fei Nian read that Jinxia was supplying up to two hundred thousand jin of seafood a day and inferred that Fang family ice arts and magical constructs could explain its distribution network.
• Fei Nian concluded that Jinxia might have gained Qi Sense Users through its connection to the Yao and could pose a major military threat.
• Two Fei Clan practitioners rushed toward Fei Nian with Talismans as a colossal object crashed through the county yamen's main hall roof.
• A torrent of water smashed through the hall and the Prefectural Governor's Office collapsed, killing Record Department personnel and burying the building in rubble.