Chapter Summaries

Shen Lang traveled to Floating Pagoda Mountain seeking the Blood Scripture to save MuLan and hoping to become Wu Tuzi’s disciple. Wu Tuzi instead strapped him down and injected a mysterious green substance into his heart, causing his blood to boil.

• Shen Lang failed to borrow the Blood Scripture from Princess Ning Han and concluded Horizon Sea Pavilion’s millennium-level problem was tied to its Ancient Ruins.
• Horizon Sea Pavilion’s Grand Secretaries reported that MuLan’s son lacked the Golden Bloodline, while Ning Han questioned why MuLan had fallen into a deep sleep and refused to kill Shen Lang.
• Shen Lang and Li Qianqiu crossed Yue, Qiang, and Chu amid preparations for war, then reached Floating Pagoda Mountain.
• Shen Lang presented a genuine Floating Pagoda Mountain token and claimed Wu Tuzi was his teacher, so the boatman ferried him to her island while Li Qianqiu remained behind.
• Shen Lang told Wu Tuzi he had crucial information about the Ancient Ruins, but she seized him for an experiment and injected green fluid into his heart.

Shen Lang became Wu Tuzi’s disciple after his blood destroyed her advanced Proto-Worms, and he learned that Marrow Cleansing Essence might revive Jin MuLan. He offered to solve the millennium-old problem that could open the Ancient Ruins, hoping to secure the essence before time ran out.

• Shen Lang’s blood killed Wu Tuzi’s advanced Proto-Worms, and she accepted him as her only disciple after examining his experiments.
• Wu Tuzi explained that Jin MuLan’s Purple Bloodline had left her marrow unable to produce bloodline energy, and that Marrow Cleansing Essence could potentially awaken her.
• Wu Tuzi revealed that Horizon Sea Pavilion and other factions had found Ancient Ruins in the Southern Sea Area but could not open them.
• Shen Lang learned that Floating Pagoda Mountain had already missed two Ancient Ruins and feared it would decline if it missed another.
• Shen Lang offered to solve Horizon Sea Pavilion’s millennium-old problem in exchange for the Marrow Cleansing Essence, and Wu Tuzi agreed to take him to the master of Floating Pagoda Mountain.

Shen Lang defended his claim to a real Floating Pagoda Mountain token by promising to solve the map riddle at the Southern Sea Ancient Ruins, and Wu Tuzi accompanied him there. He recognized the map as the Four Color Theorem while the gathered transcendent factions remained unable to solve it.

• Inspector Luo came to arrest Shen Lang for forging a token, but Wu Tuzi claimed him as her disciple and said his token was genuine.
• Wu Jue denied delivering Shen Lang’s token, and Wu Tuzi drove Inspector Luo away with her venomous butterflies.
• Three Floating Pagoda Mountain elders arrived to seize Shen Lang, but Wu Tuzi secured him half an hour to prove he could solve the Ancient Ruins’ entrance riddle.
• Wu Tuzi, Shen Lang, and Elder Kong traveled to the Southern Sea island, while Wu Jue followed and Li Qianqiu waited aboard the ship.
• Shen Lang reached the black island and recognized the map held by its stone giant as the Four Color Theorem, which the gathered factions had failed to solve for more than half a year.

Shen Lang used his Smart Brain to solve the Four Color Theorem and opened the Ancient Ruins, humiliating Ning Han and securing Floating Pagoda Mountain’s claim. Wu Tuzi found Marrow Cleansing Essence inside, and Shen Lang learned that MuLan could be saved.

• Wu Tuzi insisted that Shen Lang be allowed to color the planetary map directly, staking her position and his place in her sect on his success.
• Shen Lang used his Smart Brain to calculate the map’s solution, and Wu Tuzi rapidly colored the regions as the gathered factions watched.
• Shen Lang completed the map, triggering the stone giant’s descent and revealing the entrance to the Ancient Ruins; the master of Floating Pagoda Mountain claimed the ruins and recognized Shen Lang’s contribution.
• Floating Pagoda Mountain’s forces entered the ruins while Shen Lang remained outside, where he observed the South Sea Sword Sect fleet and considered how to destroy the Xue Family and its allies.
• Yan Nanfei met with Elder Kong, who refused to let him kill Shen Lang because Floating Pagoda Mountain might need his calculating ability.
• Wu Tuzi emerged from the ruins with Marrow Cleansing Essence and told Shen Lang that MuLan would awaken and become a second-generation bloodline mutant.

Shen Lang and Wu Tuzi raced home with Marrow Cleansing Essence to save Jin MuLan, overcoming the South Sea Sword Sect’s refusal to lend them a ship with help from Hanging Temple. Wu Tuzi injected the awakened essence into MuLan’s marrow, and MuLan opened her eyes.

• Wu Tuzi gave Shen Lang the Marrow Cleansing Essence and joined him on his journey home.
• The South Sea Sword Sect and Floating Pagoda Mountain refused to lend them a ship, so Shen Lang, Wu Tuzi, and Li Qianqiu set out in a small boat.
• Elder Jìmie took them aboard Hanging Temple’s ship and refused to hand Shen Lang over when the Heavenly Execution Pavilion and Horizon Sea Pavilion intercepted them.
• Shen Lang and his companions crossed Yue Kingdom at full speed and reached Xuanwu Marquis Manor, where Jin MuLan lay near death.
• Wu Tuzi drew the awakened Marrow Cleansing Essence from its pill and injected it into Jin MuLan’s marrow.
• Jin MuLan’s body glowed with strange patterns, and she opened her eyes.

MuLan completed a dramatic Ancient Marrow Cleansing Essence transformation that strengthened and reshaped her body, then awoke with a mysterious new ability. Meanwhile, Shen Lang warned Jin Zhuo that the Crown Prince’s southern campaign risked disaster if Yue Kingdom’s troops were lured into the forests, and urged him to oppose sending soldiers.

• MuLan underwent a crimson-lit Nirvana Transformation that made her taller, stronger, and strikingly beautiful, while Wu Tuzi identified Yaochi and Lei Zu as other women linked to Ancient Marrow Cleansing Essence.
• Wu Tuzi left after taking ten tubes of Shen Lang’s blood, and Shen Lang reunited with his children as MuLan slept to recover.
• Jin Zhuo received requests to send troops to the Tiannan City front, but Shen Lang advised him to ignore them and explained that Lord Jun’s forces could destroy Yue Kingdom’s army if it advanced into the forests.
• Shen Lang urged Jin Zhuo to submit a memorial warning the Monarch about the danger and said Prince Ning Zheng should speak in court as well.
• After two days of sleep, MuLan awakened, outran Shen Lang when he feared she had lost her memory, and told him she had awakened an unusual ability.

MuLan awakened with enhanced physical abilities and a power to sense changes in nature, while the war between Yue Kingdom and Great Nan Kingdom began at Nan'ou Capital City. Shen Lang then brought MuLan and Li Qianqiu to Nirvana Island, where the Second Nirvana Army demonstrated its battlefield readiness.

• MuLan emerged from her long sleep, amazed the Xuanwu Marquis Manor with her transformed appearance, and showed Shen Lang her increased speed, agility, and jumping ability.
• MuLan told Shen Lang she could sense natural changes, accurately predicted rain and a hurricane, and reunited with baby Shen Ye.
• Ning Zheng tightened wartime measures in the capital as Yue Kingdom waited for the conflict to begin.
• Lord Jun's hundred-thousand-strong army surrounded Nan'ou Capital City, and Zhu Lin watched as Lord Jun ordered the assault.
• After learning the war had started, Shen Lang left for Nirvana Island with MuLan and Li Qianqiu.
• Grandmaster Lan Dao showed Shen Lang that the Second Nirvana Army could scale a sheer cliff and fire volleys that stripped branches from a distant grove.

Queen Arunana faced worsening tensions with Yue Kingdom as Zhang Zixu’s border policies and Chu spies undermined trust, while Shen Lang equipped the Second Nirvana Army with new armor and bows and placed MuLan in command. The chapter ended with news that Lord Jun’s army had breached the western wall of Nan'ou Kingdom’s capital, shocking Zhu Rong.

• Big Fool trained with the Wind-Breaking Staff while Aruzhuang played naked in the snow, and Arunana worried over escalating border clashes between Qiang and Yue.
• Zhang Zixu explained that he had heightened tensions with Qiang to consolidate command of Yue’s troops, and Ning Yuanxian ordered a rebuke and the removal of Zhang’s family plaque.
• Two thousand Sha Barbarian warriors left Arunana’s service to join Lord Jun, and Ying Yang admitted he could not stop them.
• Shen Lang outfitted the Second Nirvana Army with new armor and compound bows, saw MuLan demonstrate extraordinary archery, and gave her command of the army.
• Rumors of defeat spread through Yue Kingdom as Zhu Rong received increasingly alarming reports from the battlefield.
• Yan Wuji put Zhu Rong to sleep, but Zhu Rong was awakened with news that Lord Jun’s army had stormed the western wall of Nan'ou Kingdom’s capital.

Zhu Lin, Ning Luo, and Nangong Ao defended Nan'ou Capital City against Lord Jun’s Sha Barbarian army, then Governor-General Zhu Rong and reinforcements helped force Lord Jun to retreat. After Yue Kingdom celebrated its victory, the court approved Crown Prince Ning Yi’s deployment to lead an encirclement campaign, while Shen Lang warned that the mission could bring him eternal ruin.

• Lord Jun’s Sha Barbarian army nearly broke through Nan'ou Capital City’s western wall before Ning Luo and Nangong Ao arrived with reinforcements and helped Zhu Lin drive the attackers back.
• Governor-General Zhu Rong sent troops south, and later defended Sha City with Nangong Ao’s cavalry until Lord Jun’s army retreated to Blackwater Stockade.
• Zhu Lin, Ning Luo, and Nangong Ao requested more reinforcements and urged the Monarch to send Crown Prince Ning Yi south to command the next campaign.
• A victory report reached the capital, where Ning Yuanxian announced the triumph and presented the generals’ request for Ning Yi to lead an encirclement of Lord Jun’s forces.
• Ning Yi agreed to go to Nan'ou Kingdom, while Shen Lang received the victory report and warned that the Crown Prince might face eternal damnation.

Ning Zheng and Shen Lang warned that Lord Jun was luring Yue Kingdom’s army into a trap, but the court and public condemned them as traitors while pushing for Crown Prince Ning Yi to lead the campaign. After Zhu Rong’s illness forced the issue, Ning Yuanxian sent Ning Yi south with five thousand cavalry, and Shen Lang awaited the disaster he expected.

• Shen Lang identified Yangge Prefecture City as a strategic stronghold and urged a prolonged fortress war against Lord Jun rather than a decisive invasion.
• Ning Zheng opposed Ning Yi’s march south in court, presenting Shen Lang’s letter and warning that Lord Jun’s retreat to Blackwater Stockade could be a trap.
• Public anger and political pressure mounted against Ning Zheng, Shen Lang, and Jin Zhuo, while Ning Zheng continued to resist calls for an immediate assault.
• When officials attacked Ning Zheng during court, Ning Yuanxian ordered palace guards to beat them and send them to prison, where they were celebrated as heroes.
• After Zhu Rong fell critically ill and commanders reported that Lord Jun’s forces were weakened by shortages and disease, Ning Yuanxian approved Ning Yi’s departure with five thousand cavalry.
• Ning Yi rode south amid public acclaim, while Shen Lang anticipated the annihilation of his army.

Crown Prince Ning Yi led Yue Kingdom's vast army in an assault on Blackwater Stockade, expecting to destroy Lord Jun's starving, plague-stricken force. The Yue army won the battle but failed to capture its commander, and Ning Yi discovered that the masked enemy leader was the supposedly dead Su Nan, leaving him terrified about Lord Jun's whereabouts.

• Ning Yi gathered noble warriors and popular support on his march south, then met Zhu Rong, who urged him to trust the veteran generals and avoid pursuing Lord Jun into the mountains.
• Ning Yi arrived at the battlefield and accepted the generals' claims that Lord Jun's Sha Barbarian army was starving and afflicted by plague, while Lord Jun's staged signs of cannibalism and disease reinforced those beliefs.
• Ning Yi ordered the assault on Blackwater Stockade on the ninth day of the twelfth month, and Yue Kingdom's much larger army fought the Sha Barbarians in a brutal battle.
• Zhu Lin, Nangong Ao, and Zhang Zhao each committed their forces to stop Yue Kingdom's battle lines from collapsing, while the Sha Barbarians inflicted far heavier casualties than expected.
• The Sha Barbarian army broke through the encirclement and escaped into the mountains, and Ning Yi accepted the outcome as a victory until their silver-masked commander revealed himself as the supposedly dead Su Nan.
• Su Nan taunted Ning Yi, who realized the enemy commander was not Lord Jun and feared that Lord Jun was still elsewhere.

Shen Lang’s revelation that Su Nan had survived and taken refuge with Lord Jun explained how the Sha Barbarian army’s commander had deceived Yue Kingdom. While Crown Prince Ning Yi and his generals fabricated a sweeping victory and prepared to attack Shen Lang and Ning Zheng politically, they learned that Lord Jun had captured Nan'ou Capital City and Princess Ning Luo, leaving Ning Yi in despair.

• Shen Lang recalled that Three-Eyed Fiend, a bloodline bearer and Su Nan’s stand-in, had died in Su Nan’s place while the Su Clan sacrificed itself to protect the real Su Nan.
• Su Nan confronted Crown Prince Ning Yi’s army, taunted them, and withdrew with the Sha Barbarian warriors without being pursued.
• Ning Yi, Zhu Lin, and Nangong Ao agreed to exaggerate their losses and victories, claim they had defeated Lord Jun, and accuse Shen Lang and Ning Zheng of colluding with him.
• The Yue Kingdom generals prepared to report that Lord Jun’s throne was unstable, while Ning Yi adopted the fortress strategy Shen Lang and Ning Zheng had previously proposed.
• Yu Zhu reported that Lord Jun had captured Nan'ou Capital City with hidden forces, destroyed the Yue Kingdom defenders, and taken Princess Ning Luo after luring her into an ambush.
• Ning Yi learned that Lord Jun had gathered ten thousand troops in the capital and vomited in despair.

After Lord Jun seized Nan'ou Capital City and Sha City, Crown Prince Ning Yi repeatedly struggled to choose how Yue Kingdom’s army should respond. Ning Yi led his exhausted forces back to attack the capital, only to find Lord Jun waiting there as Su Nan’s army approached, and he vomited blood and collapsed.

• Zhu Lin outlined three choices, and Ning Yi ordered half the army toward Sha City while the other half withdrew to Tiannan City.
• Zhang Zhao urged Ning Yi to attack Nan'ou Capital City, but Ning Yi rejected his advice and ordered the army to detour toward Sha City.
• Ning Yi learned that Lord Jun had taken Sha City with a small force, leaving Yue Kingdom’s army trapped between the captured cities and its long route east.
• After consulting Zhang Zhao, Ning Yi ordered a forced march south to retake Nan'ou Capital City.
• Lord Jun appeared on the capital’s walls, revealing that he had returned after predicting Ning Yi’s decision, while Su Nan’s army closed in from the west.
• Ning Yi vomited blood, fell from his horse, and lost consciousness.

Crown Prince Ning Yi fled with ten thousand cavalrymen toward Fallen Leaf City, but Lord Jun’s blockades and attacks caused the force to collapse. Ning Yi escaped by sea only to be trapped by Lord Jun’s ships and captured.

• Ning Yi and his commanders chose to send Nangong Ao and ten thousand cavalrymen ahead to secure Fallen Leaf City while Zhu Lin led the main army and Zhang Zhao guarded the rear.
• Lord Jun’s forces repeatedly obstructed the cavalry’s route, ambushed them, and set fires in the surrounding forests, prompting Ning Yi to flee south with two hundred Horizon Sea Pavilion warriors.
• Ning Yi’s departure caused most of the cavalry to scatter, while Nangong Ao gathered fewer than three thousand men and continued toward Fallen Leaf City.
• Ning Yi reached the coast and boarded a Zhu Family ship, but Lord Jun’s White Phosphorus set it ablaze and forced Ning Yi and his protectors into the sea.
• Lord Jun’s ships surrounded Ning Yi’s group, and Ning Yi surrendered before Lord Jun captured him.

Lord Jun captured Fallen Leaf City through Crown Prince Ning Yi, then trapped Nangong Ao’s cavalry and secured their surrender. After Zhu Lin led the remaining Yue army to the city and died in a final charge, the fifty thousand survivors surrendered, ending the Nan'ou Kingdom War with Yue Kingdom's 250,000-man army annihilated.

• Lord Jun captured Ning Yi, disguised his troops as Yue soldiers, and used the Crown Prince to open Fallen Leaf City's gates before taking the city.
• Nangong Ao rode into Fallen Leaf City, where Lord Jun's forces trapped his cavalry; Nangong Ao surrendered, killed Zhu Tang, and cut off Ning Yi's left arm as his pledge of allegiance.
• Su Nan's Sha Barbarian troops routed Zhang Zhao's rear guard and pursued Zhu Lin's army, which lost tens of thousands of men on the march toward Fallen Leaf City.
• Zhu Lin sent Zhang Zhao north with young members of the Zhu Family and the army's promising soldiers, then continued east with his depleted force.
• Zhu Lin charged Fallen Leaf City alone after his troops refused to follow; Lord Jun killed him, and the remaining fifty thousand Yue soldiers surrendered.

False reports of a sweeping Yue victory fueled the Crown Prince’s rise and a political purge of Ning Zheng and Shen Lang, while Zhu Hongzhu used the crisis to isolate Ning Yuanxian. The chapter ended when Zhang Zhao reported that Yue’s army had been crushed and Nan'ou Kingdom had fallen, causing Zhu Hongzhu to collapse.

• Victory messengers spread exaggerated reports of the Crown Prince’s triumph, and Yue Kingdom’s cities and capital celebrated while officials praised Ning Yi.
• Ning Yuanxian accepted the victory report but refused to immediately enfeoff Ning Yi as Duke of Yue, and he suspended Ning Zheng from his post as Tianyue City Governor.
• Crown Prince faction officials demanded punishment for Ning Zheng, Shen Lang, and Jin Zhuo, but Ning Yuanxian rebuked the ministers when they called for Shen Lang’s arrest over Su Nan’s survival.
• Zhu Hongzhu ordered officials to keep impeaching Shen Lang, intensifying the conflict between Ning Yuanxian and his ministers until the Monarch suspended morning court.
• Zhang Zhao arrived at Zhu Hongzhu’s residence and reported that Yue’s army had suffered a crushing defeat, Nan'ou Kingdom had fallen, and Zhu Lin was likely dead; Zhu Hongzhu collapsed.

After Yue Kingdom’s army was destroyed in Nan'ou Kingdom and Lord Jun demanded five prefectures for a ceasefire, Ning Yuanxian’s court agreed to negotiate. Shen Lang returned with Ning Zheng and rejected the cession, promising to defeat Lord Jun’s army and preserve Yue Kingdom’s territory.

• Zhang Zhao reported the defeat to Zhu Hongzhu, explaining that the Crown Prince had fled by sea and that the army had been routed by Lord Jun.
• Zhu Hongzhu and Zhang Zhao told Ning Yuanxian that Yue Kingdom’s army had been wiped out, and Ning Yuanxian condemned Zhu Hongzhu for sending the Crown Prince south for political gain.
• Ning Yuanxian’s court learned that Ning Yi had surrendered and that Lord Jun’s forces were marching north, leaving Yue Kingdom’s southern defenses exposed.
• Lord Jun’s envoy demanded five Tiannan prefectures in exchange for a ceasefire, and Ning Yuanxian’s ministers agreed to negotiate the cession.
• Ning Zheng objected as Zhu Hongzhu prepared to negotiate, and Shen Lang returned to court and vowed that he and Ning Zheng would defeat Lord Jun’s army without surrendering any land.

Lord Jun rejected Zhu Rong’s offer to trade the Crown Prince’s release for territory and an imperial investiture, while explaining why Great Nan should not annex all of Tiannan Province. Shen Lang urged Yue Kingdom to reject Lord Jun’s ceasefire and fight with a small force, and Ning Yuanxian accepted the gamble; Ning Zheng and Shen Lang then led troops south.

• Zhu Rong secretly offered Lord Jun the southern part of Tiannan Province and an investiture from Great Yan in exchange for releasing Crown Prince Ning Yi, but Lord Jun said he had already proposed taking only the southern five commanderies.
• Lord Jun told Su Nan that Great Nan could not safely absorb Tiannan Province and ordered preparations to attack its provincial capital.
• Shen Lang told the Yue court he would lead ten thousand City Garrison and Jin Family troops against Lord Jun without bringing the First Nirvana Army, prompting officials to urge Ning Yuanxian to accept Lord Jun’s terms.
• Ning Yuanxian chose to reject the ceasefire, declaring that Shen Lang should fight in Yue Kingdom’s name, and appointed Ning Zheng Great General Who Pacifies the South and Jin Zhuo Commissioner of Tiannan Province.
• Lord Jun’s envoy left Tianyue City after negotiations failed, and Ning Zheng and Shen Lang led ten thousand City Garrison soldiers south the next day.

Ning Zheng and Shen Lang marched south as Lord Jun’s forces swept through Tiannan Province, while Chu and Wu threatened Yue Kingdom from other borders. With sixty thousand Sha Barbarian troops surrounding Yangge City and the ten thousand defenders near collapse, Shen Lang distributed diluted Golden Dragon Blood as a last resort.

• Ning Zheng and Shen Lang led ten thousand City Garrison soldiers south, where refugees begged Shen Lang to accept Lord Jun’s terms, and Shen Lang forced them away so the army could continue.
• Presented Scholar Xu blamed Shen Lang for the war and left the capital to seek refuge with Lord Jun.
• Lord Jun’s hundred thousand troops conquered Tiannan Province, while Chu’s army seized Yue Kingdom’s western frontier and Wu began mobilizing its forces.
• Ning Zheng and Shen Lang established the Pacifying South General’s Manor in Yangge City as Lord Jun’s armies gathered to attack it and the Xuanwu Marquis Manor.
• Nangong Ao led more than fifty thousand troops against the Xuanwu Marquis Manor, while Su Nan encircled Yangge City with sixty thousand troops.
• Shen Lang gave the ten thousand demoralized City Garrison soldiers diluted Golden Dragon Blood, claiming it would transform their bloodlines and make them invincible.

Shen Lang transformed the City Garrison with diluted Golden Dragon Blood, while Third Prince Ning Qi left to negotiate with the Wu King and entrusted Tianbei Province to Zhang Chong. At Xuanwu Marquis Manor, Jin MuLan’s Second Nirvana Army repelled Nangong Ao’s assault with devastating long-range archery, forcing his troops to withdraw after suffering heavy casualties.

• Shen Lang and Kutou Huan tested Golden Dragon Blood on deserters, then adjusted the mixture until the City Garrison became eager to fight and trained through the night.
• Ning Qi gave Zhang Chong command of his thirty thousand troops and entered Wu Kingdom alone to seek an audience with the Wu King.
• Nangong Ao urged Jin Zhuo to surrender or evacuate Xuanwu Marquis Manor, but Jin Zhuo refused to abandon his ancestral duty.
• Jin MuLan led the Second Nirvana Army in firing powerful bows at Nangong Ao’s advancing troops, inflicting a one-sided slaughter as they tried to reach the walls.
• After more than ten thousand attackers were killed in barely over an hour, Nangong Ao ordered his forces to retreat from Xuanwu Marquis Manor.