Chapter Summaries

Chen Sanshi secretly placed his allies in command of key camps, seized Hongze Camp, and launched his rebellion after confronting officials and an immortal master who were beating farmers and destroying their crops. The chapter ended with Chen Sanshi ordering Liangzhou’s spirit grain burned and declaring that he would slay immortals, eliminate traitors, and raise an army to uphold righteousness.

• At a farewell banquet, Chu Shixiong and the Hongze Camp staff generals pledged their loyalty to Great Sheng and Chen Sanshi.
• Chen Sanshi assigned his allies to command several camps, and Xu Wencai revealed their plan to seize control of the Northern Liang Army.
• Chen Sanshi gave Yu Ji and Yu Lie a plaque honoring General Yu, then led Wang Zhi to take command of Hongze Camp and kill its resisting officers.
• Wu Youde, Pan Luo, and Qu Yuanxiang forced farmers to plant spirit grain, destroyed their crops, and beat those who resisted until Chen Sanshi arrived with Hongze Camp.
• Chen Sanshi arrested Wu Youde, burned spirit grain, and proclaimed that he would slay immortals, eliminate traitors, and raise an army to uphold righteousness.

Chen Sanshi rebelled in Liangzhou, seized the Northern Liang army, and surrounded Liangzhou City while political conspiracies and an assassination plunged the capital into turmoil. Prince Jin Cao Huan raised an army with Cao Zhi, and foreign states invaded Great Sheng as the realm descended into widespread war.

• Chen Sanshi killed Pan Luo and Qu Yuanxiang, won the Great Halberd Camp to his side, burned the spirit rice for beacon fires, and had Wu Youde beheaded as he raised his rebellion.
• Xu Wencai and Fan Hailing seized the remaining Northern Liang camps, while Sun Buqi persuaded their soldiers to pledge loyalty to Chen Sanshi; the six camps then surrounded Liangzhou City and cut its supply routes.
• Lu Ji ordered Nie Yuan to hold Liangzhou City, while Nie Yuan warned Cheng Wei and Meng Guangxin that their rebellion would lose its justification if the court removed the Yan officials or changed its policies.
• Fang Qingyun and Cao Zhi arranged an attack on Emperor Longqing during his journey to Kunlun; the assassination failed, but Prince Qi and Prince Qin helped the Yan Faction drive Prince Jin Cao Huan from the capital.
• Cao Huan and Cao Zhi raised an eighty-thousand-man army in the eastern provinces, and Cao Huan called on the White Robe of Liangzhou to help remove the Emperor's evil advisors.
• Eastern Qing, Southern Xu, and Western Qi invaded Great Sheng, and the realm fell into widespread chaos.

Chen Sanshi defeated Lu Ji and took control of Liangzhou, while Lu Ji’s secret cultivation of the Evil God Path continued to threaten his mind. With the realm in turmoil and cultivators joining the imperial side, Chen Sanshi rejected a cautious plan to consolidate power and vowed to reach Chang’an within two years.

• Prince Qin ordered General Lü to hold Liangzhou, but Chen Sanshi defeated Lu Ji in a duel and secured the city for the White Robes.
• Lu Ji admitted to Nie Yuan that he had committed himself to the Evil God Path, whose influence continued to torment him.
• Emperor Longqing received cultivators from Shengyun Sect and the Ling and Li families, who subdued King Zhennan Cao Rong and discovered that a scrambled cultivation method had blocked his future advancement.
• Chen Sanshi entered Liangzhou, reviewed the shifting balance of forces, and rejected Xu Wencai’s proposal to consolidate Northern Liang before expanding.
• Chen Sanshi ordered his generals to plan a march on Chang’an within two years and declared that he would kill Cao Kai.

Chen Sanshi prepared Northern Liang’s campaign to enter the Central Plains, seized Yanzhou, and left his forces ready to advance on Yunzhou while he traveled to Great Marsh Market to strengthen his cultivation and supplies. After breaking through to Qi Refining Mid Stage and meeting Bai Linxun, he returned with pills and a promise to aid the Bai family later.

• Chen Sanshi ordered Xu Wencai to repair the Kirin Mountain plank road as a feint, prepare to cross Yinping Mountain with seven thousand men, and coordinate the campaigns to take Yanzhou and Yunzhou.
• Chen Sanshi captured Yanzhou, killed Yu Linxing, and secured Western Qi’s retreat into Mingzhou before his army prepared a surprise attack on Yunzhou.
• Chen Sanshi refined True Martial Pills and a Clear Spirit Pill, broke through to Qi Refining Layer 4, improved his Fire Spiritual Root, learned talisman-making, and opened the Lung God Scenery God.
• Chen Sanshi arranged for Ningxiang, Wei Xuan, and Song Guizhi to cover his absence, then flew with Little Fool to Great Marsh Market and sold magic tools, bought supplies, and acquired a Spirit Jade White Snake.
• Chen Sanshi met Bai Linxun, delivered ten True Martial Pills, declined the Bai family’s offer to serve as an offering, and accepted pills, formulas, and materials in exchange for promising to help the family later.

Chen Sanshi returned to Liang Province, accepted Cao Huan’s edict naming him King of Northern Liang, and launched his campaign south. After testing Chunqiu Prefecture’s defenses, he revealed that his main army was heading for Yunzhou while he planned to defend Hongdu Prefecture with a small force.

• Chen Sanshi settled with Bai Linxun for pill ingredients and Talisman General Iron Armor, then returned to Liang Province and found Xu Wencai preparing the army for its expedition.
• Xu Wencai advised Chen Sanshi to accept Cao Huan’s reward, and Eunuch Zhao proclaimed him King of Northern Liang and commander of the northern border troops.
• Chen Sanshi reviewed Northern Liang Formation Breaking Music and the army’s formations as the southern campaign began with 150,000 troops moving toward Kirin Mountain.
• Prince Qin and Mu Fengchun heard that Chen Sanshi was approaching Chunqiu Prefecture, while Cao Rong, Dao Xuan, Ling Yun, and Li He prepared to hold the fortified city.
• Chen Sanshi led a vanguard across Kirin Mountain and briefly fought the four defenders outside Chunqiu Prefecture before withdrawing after testing their strength and defenses.
• Chen Sanshi ordered the main army toward Yunzhou and chose to defend Hongdu Prefecture with only 7,000 troops, while Youzhou’s 130,000 soldiers changed course toward Yunzhou.

Chen Sanshi led seven thousand Hongze Camp soldiers through Yinping Mountain and captured Hongdu Prefecture, cutting off Chunqiu Prefecture’s grain route. As Cao Rong marched out with two hundred thousand troops to retake the city, Chen prepared to defend it and awakened another Mind Shrine with a Supreme Clarity Pill.

• Chen Sanshi used a Deception Formation to conceal his departure from Kirin Mountain, then led seven thousand soldiers through Yinping Mountain toward Hongdu Prefecture.
• Cao Rong’s forces discovered that the Northern Liang camp at Kirin Mountain was empty, while Mu Fengchun warned him to beware the grain route.
• Chen Sanshi’s soldiers emerged from Yinping Mountain, killed Hongdu Prefecture’s defenders, seized the city, and secured its weapons, armor, and horses.
• Chen Sanshi burned the spirit grain gathered from the fields and told Hongdu’s residents they could leave or take shelter in the city, but no food could remain for the enemy.
• Cao Rong learned that Chen Sanshi had taken Hongdu with roughly seven thousand men and ordered all two hundred thousand troops to march on the city.
• Chen Sanshi took a Supreme Clarity Pill, awakened the Mind Shrine Huan Yangchang, and rallied Hongze Camp as Cao Rong’s army approached with siege equipment.

Chen Sanshi held Hongdu Prefecture against the Central Plains army, enduring months of siege and hunger while his growing strength and loyalty kept his soldiers united. As the imperial court prepared to abandon its eastern and southern territories to concentrate against Northern Liang, Mu Fengchun revealed a bloody head that appeared to be Chen Sanshi’s.

• Chen Sanshi stopped the first assault, then killed enemy generals while defending Hongdu Prefecture with Zhao Wuji and the outnumbered garrison.
• After repeated failed sieges, the armies faced a food shortage; Chen Sanshi burned his Grain Abstinence Pills, and Hongze Camp rejected the enemy’s attempt to sow discord.
• Chen Sanshi continued cultivating as the enemy reduced its attacks, while Northern Liang won victories in Yunzhou and the imperial army’s food ran out.
• Cao Rong refused to retreat, and the court’s ministers decided to abandon the eastern and southern territories and concentrate their forces against Northern Liang.
• Mu Fengchun ordered Cao Rong to besiege Hongdu Prefecture without attacking and revealed a bloody head that Prince Qi recognized as Chen Sanshi’s.

Chen Sanshi’s starving force received food from Hongdu Prefecture’s people, then pursued the retreating court army to save the Northern Liang troops trapped at Qiantang Prefecture. As the enemy’s Eight Gates Golden Lock Immortal Trapping Formation rose around them, Chen Sanshi broke into it and urged his men to kill and devour the enemy.

• The court’s forces isolated Hongdu Prefecture and Qiantang Prefecture, while Xu Wencai’s army diverted toward Qiantang and could not send Chen Sanshi reinforcements.
• Wang Jun brought a fabricated head bearing Chen Sanshi’s face to Qiantang Prefecture, convincing the defenders that he had died, but Xu Wencai urged them to hold out rather than surrender.
• The Azure Bird returned to Hongdu Prefecture wounded, and Chen Sanshi learned that his reinforcements would not arrive; he decided to break through to Qiantang Prefecture.
• Hongdu Prefecture’s starving people brought food to Chen Sanshi’s soldiers, and he promised to exempt the prefecture from taxes for three years.
• When the court army withdrew, Chen Sanshi rallied his more than six thousand men to pursue it, declaring that 150,000 Northern Liang soldiers awaited rescue at Qiantang Prefecture.
• At Sparrow Mouse Valley, Chen Sanshi entered the enemy’s Eight Gates Golden Lock Immortal Trapping Formation, burned a general and his horse, ate the horse’s flesh, and called his troops to attack.

Chen Sanshi routed the Central Plains army, then raced to Qiantang Prefecture as its defenders faced defeat. He broke through the Eight Gates Golden Lock Immortal Trapping Formation and revealed himself to the Northern Liang Army, promising to take them home.

• Chen Sanshi's attack caused the starving Central Plains army to collapse, and he captured or killed most of its troops in Sparrow Mouse Valley.
• Prince Jin Cao Huan and Cao Zhi planned to claim the throne if Chen Sanshi had died, while Qiantang Prefecture's defenders struggled under siege and rumors of his death.
• King Zhennan Cao Rong and the other cultivators arrived at Qiantang Prefecture, where they wounded Wei Xuan and the city's Martial Saints; Wang Jun spotted Chen Sanshi but injured himself to avoid warning them.
• Wang Zhi rallied the Northern Liang soldiers to keep fighting, and Chen Sanshi reached the battlefield as the court army began its final assault.
• Chen Sanshi charged into the Eight Gates Golden Lock Immortal Trapping Formation, fought through the court army, and reached Qiantang Prefecture's gates.
• Chen Sanshi removed his mask before the Northern Liang Army and told them he had come to take them home.

Chen Sanshi broke the imperial army’s formation at Qiantang, killed its four leading commanders, and led the Northern Liang Army into the Central Plains. As the court reeled and Emperor Longqing prepared to return to the capital for Foundation Establishment, Chen Sanshi planned the next campaign and considered an alliance with Prince Jin.

• Chen Sanshi revealed he was alive, rallied the Northern Liang Army, and fought Cao Rong, Ling Yun, Li He, and Dao Xuan while the Eight Gates Golden Lock Immortal Trapping Formation suppressed him.
• Chen Sanshi used the Northern Liang Formation Breaking Song to summon Ancient Era power, destroy the formation, and kill Li He, Cao Rong, Ling Yun, and Dao Xuan.
• The Northern Liang Army routed the court’s three hundred thousand troops at Qiantang, entered the Central Plains, and captured or scattered the surviving enemy forces.
• Prince Qin and Prince Qi learned that Chen Sanshi had destroyed five hundred thousand troops across the battles at Sparrow Mouse Valley and Qiantang, while Mu Fengchun resigned as Minister of War.
• Emperor Longqing learned of the defeats, ordered the Immortal Masters and the Ling family’s ancestor to stop Chen Sanshi, and left the Kunlun Mountains for the capital to prepare for Foundation Establishment.
• Chen Sanshi ordered the Northern Liang generals to advance along eight routes, then considered Xu Wencai’s proposal to temporarily ally with Prince Jin, who planned to proclaim himself emperor.

Prince Jin Cao Huan established a New Dynasty with Chen Sanshi as its immensely powerful regent and prepared a Southern Campaign, while the Great Sheng court planned a Northern Expedition to crush the rebels. The chapter ended as disgraced former officials returned to serve, and Prince Qin ordered them to join Zhou Rong in a decisive battle.

• Chen Sanshi joined forces with Prince Jin Cao Huan, who ascended the throne as emperor and founded the Zhengtong era.
• Cao Huan granted Chen Sanshi extraordinary authority and honors, declared the Cao and Chen families sworn brothers, and authorized Chen to act like Gan Yu and Huo Kuo if a future emperor proved unfit.
• Xu Wencai and Fang Qingyun discussed Cao Huan's attempt to bind Chen Sanshi to the throne, while Ling Kui sent Ling Ling to avenge her brother in the war at Mount Mang Ancestral Vein.
• Zhou Rong urged Prince Qin's court to launch a Northern Expedition, and Shan Liangcheng supported his plan to attack Shouyang while a second army confronted Chen Sanshi in the west.
• Former disgraced officials, including Yan Hongyuan, Zeng Ren, and Zhang Jingwu, asked to join the war, and Prince Qin restored them to their posts and ordered them to march with Zhou Rong.

Zhou Rong's open strategy forced Chen Sanshi to leave the western front while the Sheng court's army besieged Shouyang, then flooded the city and destroyed Sima Yao's defenses. With Shouyang in ruins, Zhou Rong sent his four hundred thousand troops north by ship to face Chen Sanshi at Red Cliffs.

• Zhou Rong led four hundred thousand troops toward Shouyang while Shan Liangcheng's western army advanced on Maozhou, prompting the New Dynasty's court to argue over how to defend both routes.
• The court sent Sima Yao to defend Shouyang and moved Northern Liang's troops to Maozhou; Chen Sanshi trained his cultivation skills, learned of Zhou Rong's deployment, and ordered his army to deal with the western route first.
• Zhou Rong stalled outside Shouyang while Chen Sanshi fought in Maozhou, and Chen Sanshi realized that Zhou Rong planned to divert the Luoxiao River's floodwaters into the city.
• Prince Qi and the generals tried to strip Zhou Rong of command, but Zhou Rong revealed that he had concealed his plan to flood Shouyang and had repelled cultivators sent to destroy the dam.
• The Luoxiao River's dam collapsed, flooding Shouyang and killing countless soldiers; Sima Yao and several cultivators escaped as the city was reduced to ruins.
• Zhou Rong ordered his four hundred thousand troops aboard ships to sail north and confront Chen Sanshi at Red Cliffs.

The Northern Liang Army and the Sheng court navy clashed at Chibi, where Zhou Rong’s preparations blunted Chen Sanshi’s planned fire attack. Chen Sanshi remained locked in battle with Ling Ling’s water formation as his forces withdrew after their initial assault failed.

• Chen Sanshi led the Northern Liang Army toward Chibi and was appointed Inspector-General against Zhou Rong’s court forces.
• Chen Sanshi and Zhou Rong exchanged accusations across the Luoxiao River before both armies prepared for battle.
• Zhou Rong’s commanders planned to restrain Chen Sanshi with Ling Ling’s Gui Water Demon Slaying Array and protect their large ships with Water Control Grand Arrays.
• Chen Sanshi and Xu Wencai chose a fire attack, and Chen ordered Wei Xuan and Wang Zhi to capture an enemy ship before the assault.
• Chen Sanshi confronted Ling Ling and six Ling family cultivators in the river while the armies fought around them.
• The court’s Water Control Grand Arrays extinguished the Northern Liang fireboats, and Wang Zhi fought Nie Yuan before withdrawing with his forces.

Chen Sanshi tested the Water Control Grand Array and devised a plan to exploit the imperial navy’s iron-chain formation, but the fleet’s advance forced the rebels to retreat from Red Cliff. After Chen rejected Sima Yao’s proposal to raid Fuyu Prefecture and Ziwu Valley, Sima secretly led troops out and was intercepted by Zhao Kang.

• Chen Sanshi used a captured Five-Fang Warship to test its Water Control Grand Array, then proved his strange flame could destroy it when ignited from within.
• Chen Sanshi led five hundred Sea Falcon ships into the imperial fleet, where the Dragon King Sacrifice array raised waves and inflicted heavy losses before Zhou Rong ordered a withdrawal.
• Nie Yuan proposed linking the imperial ships with iron chains, and Zhou Rong eventually ordered the whole fleet connected after an initial test reduced the rebels’ impact.
• The linked imperial fleet advanced through the fog and overwhelmed the rebels, forcing Chen Sanshi to withdraw from Red Cliff to the Ten Thousand Streams region.
• Sima Yao proposed taking thirty thousand troops to seize Fuyu Prefecture and raid Ziwu Valley, but Chen Sanshi rejected the plan and ordered the matter closed.
• Sima Yao secretly led more than twenty thousand troops away from the docks, and Zhao Kang intercepted him for disobeying military orders.

Sima Yao’s apparent defection was exposed as a fire-ship attack, but Zhou Rong had prepared for the possibility and led the Jiangnan Navy to victory at Red Cliffs. The rebels escaped after abandoning their camps, and Zhou Rong asked where Chen Sanshi had gone.

• Chen Sanshi spared Sima Yao’s life but had black iron chains pierce his shoulders and hung him on display for three days after he defied military orders.
• The Legitimate Emperor ordered a retreat, but Chen Sanshi refused and commanded the army to prepare for a decisive battle.
• Zhou Rong suspected Sima Yao’s offer to defect was a trap and told him to turn his ships around as proof of his sincerity.
• Sima Yao instead ordered his fleet’s ships set ablaze and rammed them toward the Jiangnan Navy, revealing the feigned surrender.
• Zhou Rong’s Water Control Grand Array stopped the fire ships, and the Imperial Court’s navy advanced while Sima Yao’s forces fled and abandoned their warships.
• After the Imperial Court won at Red Cliffs and pursued the rebels for a day and night, Zhou Rong asked where Chen Sanshi had been during the battle.

Zhou Rong’s forces trapped the Northern Liang navy at East Han Lake while Chen Sanshi led a surprise raid through Ziwu Valley and burned the court’s provisions at Fuyu Prefecture. Chen withdrew before reaching Chang’an, and Dan Qunyu’s supply fleet approached Red Cliff under secret instructions from Zhang Laizi.

• Zhou Rong ordered a search of the fleet, then sent Qiu Xin and Yan Hongyuan to block the rebels’ escape routes and drive them toward East Han Lake.
• Chen Sanshi’s capture of three county towns alerted both Chang’an and the Red Cliff command that he had left the river with three thousand cavalry to target Fuyu Prefecture and possibly reach the capital through Ziwu Valley.
• The court evacuated Youlan Capital as officials feared Chen Sanshi’s advance, while Zhou Rong trusted Shan Liangcheng and Ling Kui to defend Chang’an and kept pursuing the trapped rebels.
• Chen Sanshi seized Fuyu Prefecture, burned its granaries, and continued toward Chang’an; after capturing Zui Xian Mansion, he ordered his troops to withdraw and said the four hundred thousand Jiangnan troops had already perished beneath the Luoxiao River.
• Zhou Rong’s army learned that the rebels were trapped in East Han Lake and prepared to attack after supplies arrived from Mangshan Prefecture.
• Dan Qunyu, Meng Quji, and Zhang Shun approached Red Cliff with the supply fleet, and Meng Quji confirmed that their mission followed Zhang Laizi’s instructions.

Cao Huan’s flight and the New Dynasty navy’s retreat both ended in traps as Zhou Rong’s fleet advanced to destroy them at East Han Lake. Chen Sanshi returned during the climactic battle, turned the lake’s winds against the Jiangnan Navy, and grew stronger while fighting the Ling family; the chapter ended as an unknown man’s torch ignited a silver needle aboard Zhou Rong’s command ship.

• Cao Huan’s escort fled to Peizhou Prefecture as pursuers closed in, while Xu Wencai ordered the trapped New Dynasty navy at East Han Lake to prepare for a final battle.
• Dan Qunyu delivered provisions and nearly twenty thousand Liangshan Marsh men to Prince Qi, allowing Zhou Rong’s Jiangnan Navy to prepare for its decisive advance.
• Zhou Rong ordered his four hundred thousand naval troops to East Han Lake after Chen Sanshi vanished from Zui Xian Mansion, and his fleet trapped the New Dynasty navy against the blocked lake exit.
• As the fleets clashed, Chen Sanshi returned, revealed that the Northern Liang Army had prepared the Eight Gates Xun Wind Bone Array, and used its fierce east wind to impede the Jiangnan Navy.
• Chen Sanshi fought off Ling Ling and the other Ling family martial cultivators, opened his Right Kidney God during the battle, and warned that Donghan Lake would disappear from the map.
• Zhou Rong feared an imminent fire attack, but an unfamiliar man tossed a torch onto the command ship, where its flame turned crimson after touching a silver needle.

Chen Sanshi’s Liangshan allies ignited the Jiangnan Navy with strange fire at Chibi, destroying the fleet and drying up Eastern Han Lake. As the court reeled from the defeat, Chen Sanshi’s forces advanced, and the Great Sheng Dynasty faced a final stand at the capital.

• Zhang Shun revealed his allegiance to Chen Sanshi and set the Jiangnan Navy’s linked warships ablaze, while the Water Control Grand Array failed to extinguish the strange fire.
• The east wind spread the flames across Eastern Han Lake, and Chen Sanshi defeated the Ling family as the lake boiled dry and the Jiangnan Navy was destroyed.
• Prince Qi and Nie Yuan fled with the remnants of their forces; Chen Sanshi’s pursuit killed Zhou Rong after Zhou learned that Nie Yuan had been another traitor.
• In Pei Prefecture, Fan Shikui’s faction attempted to seize the emperor, but Cui Zichen and Cao Zhi stopped the mutiny and reported that Chen Sanshi had won at Chibi.
• Prince Qi and Nie Yuan returned to the capital and reported the destruction of the fleet, the deaths of the Ling family, and Zhou Rong’s likely death.
• The court learned that Chen Sanshi’s army would soon threaten the capital and summoned Shan Liangcheng to prepare for the final battle.

Shan Liangcheng persuaded Prince Qin to use Great Sheng’s million-man army for a decisive assault on Kunyang, while the rebel court debated whether to halt its campaign. The Guiyuan Sect’s second-rank Formation Master arrived in a battered donkey cart, and Chen Sanshi could not discern his cultivation.

• Shan Liangcheng told Prince Qin and the court that the Battle of Chibi had bought time to assemble a million troops, and urged them to keep fighting.
• Prince Qin ordered all million soldiers to march toward Kunyang and compelled Chang'an’s senior officials to accompany the army to the front.
• Shan Liangcheng learned that Guiyuan Sect might be sending a major figure.
• Cao Huan proposed halting the war, but Cao Zhi announced that a Guiyuan Sect second-rank Formation Master was arriving to support the campaign.
• The Guiyuan Sect Formation Master arrived in a ramshackle donkey cart, and Chen Sanshi’s Qi Observation Technique could not see through his cultivation.

Huang Lao Jiu arrived as Guiyuan Sect’s unexpected representative and backed Chen Sanshi’s plan to march on the capital. As the armies prepared for a decisive battle at the Fei River, Xu Wencai read a looming dynastic change in the stars but remained unsure whether Great Sheng would truly fall.

• Huang Lao Jiu introduced himself as a Spirit Farmer of Jinyu Peak and agreed with Chen Sanshi that the court should press its victory.
• Xu Wencai proposed gathering the armies at Kunyang for a fight to the death, and Cao Huan ordered two hundred thousand troops to march toward the Fei River under Chen Sanshi’s command.
• Huang Lao Jiu told Cui Zichen that they should let Chen Sanshi fight and flee if the situation became too dangerous.
• The Northern Liang Army prepared seventy-five thousand soldiers for the campaign while Cao Huan toured the realm and took credit for deeds that angered Wang Zhi.
• Xu Wencai read the dim Seat of the Five Emperors and an approaching Comet Star as signs of a coming dynastic change, but wondered whether Great Sheng might yet survive.
• Chen Sanshi approached Xu Wencai and asked whether an extraterrestrial meteor would soon descend upon the Eastern Continent.