Chapter Summaries

Nangong Ao and Sha Yan’s forces failed to take Xuanwu Marquis Manor after the Second Nirvana Army repelled their daytime and nighttime assaults with arrows and firework flares. At Yangge City, Su Nan began his long-prepared siege against Shen Lang, who faced the attack with ten thousand frenzied City Garrison soldiers.

• Nangong Ao and Sha Yan chose a night assault on Xuanwu Marquis Manor, but Shen Lang’s Kongming lanterns and illuminating fireworks let the Second Nirvana Army keep shooting accurately in the darkness.
• MuLan ordered the First Nirvana Army to use fire arrows against Sha Barbarian warriors climbing the walls, forcing the attackers to retreat after suffering heavy casualties.
• Sha Yan counted fewer than fifteen hundred Sha Barbarian warriors and fewer than ten thousand Nan'ou Kingdom troops remaining, then ordered his forces to continue the encirclement and report their defeat to Lord Jun.
• Kutou Huan and Shen Lang struggled to restrain ten thousand City Garrison soldiers whose Golden Dragon Blood had made them dangerously eager to fight.
• Su Nan met Shen Lang outside Yangge City, said he had come to capture the city rather than seek revenge, and offered him a chance to leave.
• Su Nan ordered the siege of Yangge City to begin with catapults and giant siege crossbows, officially starting the battle.

Third Prince Ning Qi devised a plan with Shu Tingyu to preserve Yue by trading territory, Raging Tide City, and political support, while the battle at Yangge City ended in Su Nan's crushing defeat against Shen Lang's City Garrison. The chapter left Ning Qi's sprawling political scheme still to be carried out and Yue's battlefield fortunes suddenly transformed.

• Ning Qi urged the Wu King to delay war until news arrived about Shen Lang, then proposed surrendering Yue territory and Raging Tide City in exchange for Wu's support.
• Ning Qi persuaded Shu Tingyu to seek support from the Hidden Origin Society, the Imperial Cabinet, Wu, and the Xue Family, while planning to curb Ning Yuanxian's power and make Ning Qi ruler.
• Su Nan bombarded Yangge City for an hour, then sent more than twenty thousand Sha Barbarian warriors to attack its walls.
• Shen Lang's armored City Garrison soldiers met the Sha Barbarian assault with boulders, boiling oil, and close combat after taking Golden Dragon Blood.
• The City Garrison soldiers slaughtered the Sha Barbarian attackers, and Su Nan's forces suffered a crushing defeat at Yangge City.

Shen Lang’s forces survived disastrous battles at Yangge City and Xuanwu Marquis Manor, prompting him and Jin MuLan to pursue separate plans to strike Lord Jun. The chapter ended with Lord Jun marching north with his elite troops as MuLan’s Second Nirvana Army landed in Nan'ou Kingdom to attack its capital.

• Su Nan’s Sha Barbarian army lost thirteen thousand men attacking Yangge City, then chose to surround the city rather than risk more troops.
• Shen Lang told Ning Zheng and Kutou Huan that he was leaving to confront Lord Jun, and slipped out of Yangge City with Sword King Li Qianqiu.
• Jin MuLan decided to lead three thousand Second Nirvana Army soldiers through the wilderness to attack Nan'ou Capital City, while Lin Shang disguised herself as MuLan.
• MuLan and the Second Nirvana Army left Xuanwu Marquis Manor by its Back Mountain and sailed south toward Nan'ou Kingdom.
• Lord Jun received reports of defeats at both Yangge City and Xuanwu Marquis Manor, then led eight thousand troops north with his elite Sha Barbarian archers.
• MuLan’s three thousand soldiers landed on Nan'ou Kingdom’s coast and began their march toward its heartland.

Zhu Hongzhu allied the Zhu Family with Zhong E’s faction by accepting marriage contracts that tied Zhu Ning to Ning Qi and Zhu Hongping to Zhong Shishi. Meanwhile, MuLan’s Second Nirvana Army reached Nan'ou Capital City and began devastating its defenders with a long-range assault, leaving Queen Sha Man facing the likely destruction of her forces.

• Zhong E persuaded Zhu Hongzhu to join forces with the Third Prince’s faction, and the two men signed marriage contracts for Zhu Ning and Ning Qi, and for Zhu Hongping and Zhong Shishi.
• Zhu Hongzhu told Zhu Ning that she would marry Ning Qi; she accepted and mourned the loss of her freedom while continuing to study the history of the Sha Barbarians.
• MuLan led three thousand Second Nirvana Army soldiers through the jungle to within forty li of Nan'ou Capital City, avoiding hazards and silently killing Sha Barbarian scouts.
• Queen Sha Man poisoned Princess Ning Luo after she warned Sha Man that Lord Jun would eventually betray her and might desire Ning Luo.
• MuLan led her army in a surprise attack on Nan'ou Capital City, and the Second Nirvana Army’s accurate volleys inflicted heavy casualties while its armor withstood most return fire.
• Queen Sha Man watched her defenders fall under the Second Nirvana Army’s sustained barrage and realized she could hold out for at most another hour.

Jin MuLan led the Second Nirvana Army into a trap at Nan'ou Capital City, but her Ancient Human bloodline drove off Lord Jun’s hyenas and let her escape. Lord Jun deduced that Shen Lang had bypassed the city and was marching on the Great Nan Capital, where Shen Lang arrived after a grueling journey with the First Nirvana Army.

• Ning Yi and Zhu Rong heard the battle outside their confinement, and Zhu Rong suspected Shen Lang was attacking Nan'ou Capital City.
• Lord Jun surrounded MuLan’s Second Nirvana Army with elephant cavalry, hyenas, and eight thousand troops, then offered MuLan a chance to surrender.
• MuLan refused to surrender and ordered her soldiers to charge south toward the hyenas.
• MuLan released an Ancient Human aura that panicked the hyenas, allowing her and the Second Nirvana Army to flee into the forest.
• Lord Jun realized Shen Lang was likely targeting the Great Nan Capital, while Shen Lang led the First Nirvana Army through Sha Barbarian territory and reached the city.

Shen Lang reached the Great Nan Capital, but State Preceptor Sha Yin forced him to withdraw by threatening to burn the city’s families rather than surrender. Realizing Lord Jun’s transformation might depend on Ancient Ruins beneath the Ten Thousand Snake Pit, Shen Lang descended into it with Li Qianqiu, where countless venomous snakes attacked them.

• Shen Lang’s Nirvana Army defeated the hyenas and elephant troops outside Great Nan City, while Sha Yin demonstrated his Venomous Snake Legion and Shen Lang countered it with butterflies from Wu Tuzi.
• Bitter Tribulation Monk and his Great Tribulation Temple warriors prepared to fight, but Sha Yin ordered them to lay down their weapons and allowed Shen Lang into the city.
• Sha Yin revealed that the city’s families would rather die than become hostages, and Shen Lang withdrew his army to spare them; the women then brought his soldiers provisions.
• Shen Lang concluded that Ancient Ruins near the Ten Thousand Snake Pit might be the key to Lord Jun’s power and set out with Li Qianqiu and Big Fool.
• Shen Lang and Li Qianqiu were lowered into the snake-filled pit, where thousands of venomous snakes surged toward them.

Shen Lang found the Ancient Ruins beneath the Ten Thousand Snake Pit, solved its entrance puzzle, and discovered Lord Jun’s letter admitting defeat. After Shen Lang sent the letter to Lord Jun, Lord Jun abandoned his plans to destroy the Yue Kingdom and prepared to negotiate.

• Shen Lang and Li Qianqiu survived the Snake King’s inspection, searched the cavern maze, and uncovered a moonlit puzzle that opened a hidden chamber.
• Shen Lang solved the prime-number puzzle with his Smart Brain and found a wooden sword and a letter from Sha Jin declaring that Lord Jun admitted defeat.
• Shen Lang returned to the surface and sent Big Fool to deliver the letter to State Preceptor Sha Yin, then led the Nirvana Army north toward the Qiang Kingdom.
• Zhu Rong offered Lord Jun all of Tiannan Province in exchange for peace, but Lord Jun rejected the offer and ordered Su Nan to attack Yangge City and march on Tianyue Capital.
• Lord Jun received the letter Shen Lang had found, recognized his defeat, and told Sha Man to prepare for withdrawal and negotiations with Shen Lang.

After Shen Lang’s success forced Lord Jun to halt the invasion, the Sha Barbarian armies withdrew from Yangge City just as Ning Zheng and its defenders faced defeat. Shen Lang arrived in Nan'ou Capital City and persuaded Lord Jun to order a ceasefire and withdraw his troops from Yue Kingdom.

• Lord Jun learned that Shen Lang had found the Ancient Ruins and ordered Su Nan and Nangong Ao to halt their attacks.
• Su Nan rejected offers to abandon Lord Jun and instead launched a renewed assault on Yangge City.
• Ning Zheng refused to flee, rallied the demoralized City Garrison, and fought alongside them as Su Nan’s troops climbed the walls.
• Lord Jun’s secret decree ordered Su Nan to suspend the siege, and the Sha Barbarians withdrew from Yangge City.
• Shen Lang arrived in Nan'ou Capital City, learned that Emperor Jiang Li had prepared the Ancient Ruins for later visitors, and asked Lord Jun to withdraw his forces and sign a ceasefire.
• Lord Jun agreed to order Su Nan’s and Nangong Ao’s armies out of Yue Kingdom and formally cease hostilities.

Shen Lang secured Lord Jun’s withdrawal from Yue Kingdom and recruited his divine archers for a surprise expedition against the Chu Kingdom capital, aiming to strengthen Ning Zheng’s claim against Ning Qi. In Tianyue Capital, Ning Yuanxian received word that Lord Jun’s forces had ceased fighting, confirming Shen Lang’s victory and bringing hope to the besieged kingdom.

• Shen Lang and Lord Jun signed a ceasefire agreement, and Shen Lang warned him that Zhu Ning might have exposed the location of his Ancient Ruins.
• Lord Jun revealed Ning Qi’s plans and alliances, including possible moves against Raging Tide City and the Chu King, while Shen Lang proposed attacking the Chu Kingdom capital to seize glory for Ning Zheng.
• Shen Lang offered Lord Jun money and an alliance in exchange for five thousand divine archers, and Lord Jun agreed to send Queen Sha Man with them.
• Lord Jun told Shen Lang that Jin MuLan had led the Second Nirvana Army west after attacking Nan'ou Capital City, and Shen Lang set out with Queen Sha Man and the divine archers.
• Ning Yuanxian prepared for Tianyue Capital’s possible fall until Eunuch Li En reported that Su Nan’s army had suddenly ceased fighting and that Shen Lang had defeated Lord Jun.

Ning Yuanxian learned how Ning Zheng had held Yangge City and believed he should inherit the throne, while Lord Jun’s withdrawal and Ning Qi’s diplomatic success brought competing victory reports to the Yue Kingdom. As Ning Qi prepared to defeat Chu and secure the succession, Shen Lang and Ning Zheng began a secret expedition through the Great Snow Mountain to attack the Chu Kingdom’s capital.

• Ning Yuanxian praised Ning Zheng for defending Yangge City and decided Yue Kingdom needed a Monarch with his iron will.
• Lord Jun pardoned Nangong Ao, ordered his armies to withdraw, and signed a ceasefire with Ning Zheng without taking any Yue Kingdom territory.
• An envoy delivered gold and contracts to Lord Jun, and the court learned that Ning Qi had persuaded the Wu King to halt his southern advance.
• The people and officials of Yue Kingdom debated whether Ning Qi or Ning Zheng should inherit the throne, while Ning Qi’s allies planned to defeat Chu and then attack Raging Tide City.
• MuLan Baby waited outside the Great Nan Capital, then reunited with Shen Lang after he arrived with five thousand Sha Barbarian divine archers.
• Shen Lang, Ning Zheng, Jin MuLan, Queen Sha Man, and their troops entered Qiang Kingdom and set out through the Great Snow Mountain to launch a surprise attack on the Chu Kingdom’s capital.

Shen Lang led his army across the Great Snow Mountain and the rugged highlands, losing more than a thousand men before reaching the Chu Kingdom heartland. After scouts exposed their approach, his 9,500 troops marched day and night to arrive beneath the Chu King's Capital, while the capital's officials scrambled to organize its defense.

• Queen Arunana attacked Pingnan Pass with 50,000 troops, forcing Chu Kingdom to send reinforcements as her army and Sha Barbarian mercenaries assaulted the pass.
• Chu King planned to attack Zhenxi City in three days and destroy Zhong Yao's army before marching toward Yue Kingdom's capital.
• Shen Lang's army endured blizzards, altitude sickness, and deadly cold while crossing the Great Snow Mountain, and 1,200 of the original 10,700 troops died along the way.
• After crossing more mountains, Shen Lang led the remaining 9,500 soldiers toward the Chu King's Capital, passing through a heartland strained by taxes and forced labor for the war.
• Chu Kingdom scouts discovered Shen Lang's army, and the capital's officials ordered nearby cities to assemble troops and defend the capital.
• Shen Lang's army marched more than 200 li in a day and a night and arrived beneath the Chu King's Capital.

Shen Lang and Ning Zheng captured the Chu King's Capital with their outnumbered army by using superior archery, explosives, and Big Fool's strength to breach the city. After Ning Zheng ordered the royal palace burned to spare his elite troops from costly fighting inside, the defenders surrendered and the capital fell.

• The Queen of Chu ordered the capital's defenders reinforced and recruited thousands of armed retainers, gang members, and martial artists as Shen Lang's army rested outside the walls.
• At dawn, Shen Lang's archers pinned down the defenders and MuLan destroyed the city's catapults with explosive arrows.
• Big Fool used thermite to burn through the city gate and broke it open, allowing the First Nirvana Army and allied archers to enter and defeat the Chu forces on Xuanwu Grand Avenue.
• Lian Jing retreated with the surviving defenders into the inner city and then the royal palace as Shen Lang's army captured both positions.
• Shen Lang refused to risk heavy casualties inside the palace and ordered it burned after Ning Zheng's surrender ultimatum went unanswered.
• The palace fire forced its occupants to flee and surrender, while Chu militia who attacked Shen Lang's army were routed; the Chu King's Capital fell.

Shen Lang captured the Chu Queen and other royals from a palace chamber after the Chu King's Palace burned, then paraded them through the capital to humiliate Chu Kingdom. When a large Chu relief army attacked the city, his defenders routed it, leaving the Chu King to respond to the disastrous news.

• Shen Lang failed to find the Chu Queen among the palace servants and ordered the remaining Chu warriors in the capital executed while his forces took control of the walls.
• Chen Shen arrived with twenty thousand troops, found the capital occupied, and surrounded part of the city while sending riders to report to the Chu King.
• After the palace burned for two days, Shen Lang used X-Ray Eyes to locate an underground chamber and forced the Chu Queen, princes, consorts, and their guardian eunuch to emerge.
• Shen Lang subdued the old eunuch, injected the Chu Queen with a disease, and paraded her and the other royals through the capital in shackles.
• Shen Lang displayed the suffering Chu Queen on the walls before inviting Chu Kingdom's reinforcements to attack, and his archers routed their sixty-to-seventy-thousand troops with more than twenty thousand killed or wounded.

Ning Qi prepared to kill the Chu King in a staged battlefield spectacle, but Shen Lang captured the Chu King's capital and discovered Floating Pagoda Mountain's plot. After learning how Consort Yan could activate the gu worm inside the Chu King, Shen Lang killed her and set out to turn Ning Qi's plan against him.

• Ning Qi and a Floating Pagoda Mountain envoy planned for Consort Yan to activate the gu worm inside the Chu King as Ning Qi staged a long-range arrow attack.
• The Chu King received reports that Ning Zheng and Shen Lang had crossed the Great Snow Mountain, captured the capital, and burned the royal palace, then fainted from the news.
• Shen Lang confronted Consort Yan, forced her to reveal how to activate the gu worm, and recovered the hidden bottle from the palace ruins.
• Consort Yan released poisonous gu worms from the bottle, but they died on Shen Lang's face, and Shen Lang identified the worm and its activating liquid.
• Shen Lang realized Floating Pagoda Mountain and Ning Qi intended to stage the Chu King's death, then threw Consort Yan from the palace building.

Shen Lang sent Chu Ren to deliver one of two secret letters to the Chu King, depending on whether the battle had begun. As Chu Ren arrived during Ning Qi’s attack on the Chu camp, the letter exposed Yan Liang, but the Chu King died from the hidden poison before Ning Qi could fire his arrow.

• Shen Lang treated Queen of Chu, learned that her perfume and stationery carried the scent linked to the Chu King’s parasitic insect, and dictated two secret letters for her to write.
• Shen Lang poisoned Chu Ren and ordered him to deliver the letter accusing the Crown Prince and Consort Yan if the Chu King had not yet gone to war, or the letter implicating Ning Qi if the battle had begun.
• The Chu King woke, ordered a full assault on Zhenxi City, and threatened his generals with execution if they failed to take it.
• Chu Kingdom’s army attacked Zhenxi City in a desperate frenzy, while Ning Qi led his ten thousand cavalry against the Chu King’s central army.
• Ning Qi fought through the Chu forces and prepared to shoot the Chu King, while Yan Liang readied Floating Pagoda Mountain’s poison bomb to trigger the King’s parasitic insect.
• Chu Ren delivered Queen of Chu’s letter accusing Ning Qi and Yan Liang, and the Chu King died from the poison before Ning Qi fired his arrow.

Ning Qi fought to keep the Battle of Zhenxi City from turning into a rout after the Chu King died, eventually capturing the Chu Crown Prince and forcing the Chu army to withdraw. The battle ended with Zhenxi City and the Zhong Family intact, while Ning Qi faced a coming political reckoning.

• Ning Qi accidentally fired an arrow after the Chu King had already fallen, and the Chu Crown Prince rallied the Chu army by blaming Yue and charging Ning Qi.
• Ning Qi and Lan Bao fought the Chu Crown Prince’s cavalry, while Zhang Zhao led Yue cavalry into battle and Xue Che arrived to face Li Xuanqi.
• Ning Qi led the South Sea Sword Sect’s fighters in a renewed assault and defeated the Chu Crown Prince, who wounded himself to avoid being taken prisoner.
• Ning Qi threatened the Chu army with the Crown Prince’s life, and Li Xuanqi ordered the Chu forces to retreat so the Crown Prince could be saved.
• Xue Che treated the Chu Crown Prince, and Ning Qi returned with his surviving troops to Zhenxi City as the battle ended.

After the Chu King died, Ning Qi and the Chu Crown Prince agreed to a ceasefire, and the Crown Prince ascended the throne as the New Chu King. Shen Lang spread rumors implicating himself and the New Chu King to complicate Ning Qi’s attempt to await the Emperor’s judgment, while the realm watched for the Emperor’s response; two groups of imperial envoys finally arrived with Secret Decrees for Shen Lang and Ning Qi.

• The Chu Crown Prince questioned Ning Qi about the Chu King’s murder and their nations’ futures, then agreed to a ceasefire and allowed Ning Qi to enter the Chu camp for an investigation.
• The Chu Crown Prince accepted the throne and became the New Chu King, while Ning Qi publicly submitted to investigation rather than defending himself.
• Shen Lang told Kutou Huan and Ning Zheng that Ning Qi was waiting for the Emperor’s judgment, then ordered rumors spread that Shen Lang and the New Chu King had murdered the Chu King.
• Rumors blaming Shen Lang and the New Chu King spread, leaving Ning Qi unable to correct them without appearing to resist bearing blame for the Emperor.
• Ning Yuanxian declared that Ning Qi and Shen Lang had nothing to do with the murder and ordered Ning Qi home, intensifying pressure on Great Yan Empire.
• Two days later, imperial envoys arrived with Secret Decrees for Shen Lang and Ning Qi.

Yue Kingdom celebrated Ning Zheng’s capture of the Chu capital and Ning Qi’s role in saving Zhenxi City, while Ning Yuanxian struggled to decide which son should inherit the throne. After an imperial envoy accused Shen Lang of murdering the Chu King and demanded his cooperation, Shen Lang offered to treat a gravely ill imperial favorite, and they hurried north together.

• Yue Kingdom celebrated Ning Zheng’s victory, and Ning Yuanxian recognized how greatly it had strengthened Ning Zheng’s claim to the throne.
• Ning Yuanxian ordered Ning Qi to return from the Chu camp, but Ning Qi chose to remain and sent his father a heartfelt memorial explaining his decision.
• An imperial envoy investigated the Chu King’s murder, then accused Shen Lang of causing it and demanded information about Lord Jun’s Ancient Ruins or a mission to Chou Yao’er’s overseas nation.
• Shen Lang told the envoy he could cure the Emperor’s beloved favorite, whose symptoms indicated diabetes, and insisted the patient travel south immediately for treatment.
• The envoy agreed to the plan, and Shen Lang and the envoy left the Chu capital to meet the patient on the road.

Lian Prince sentenced Ning Qi to die for the Late Chu King's murder, then revealed that the Emperor had tested him and supported his rise to Yue's crown prince. Shen Lang reached the imperial camp and treated the unconscious Princess Ji Ning with insulin; she awoke and called him “Big Brother!”

• Lian Prince interrogated Ning Qi, declared him the chief culprit in the Late Chu King's murder, and offered him poison as an alternative to public execution.
• Ning Qi drank the poison and appeared to die, but Lian Prince revived him and told him he had passed the Emperor's test and earned imperial support for becoming Yue's Crown Prince.
• Lian Prince tested the New Chu King's obedience, while his conduct signaled the Empire's shift toward dominating the vassal kingdoms.
• Shen Lang traveled to a heavily guarded temporary palace near Great Yan's border, where Princess Ji Xuan asked him to treat Princess Ji Ning.
• Shen Lang found that Ji Ning had numerous illnesses and Blank Zero Bloodline, then injected her with porcine insulin after the imperial powers examined it.
• Ji Ning awoke after receiving insulin and ancient medicine, looked at Shen Lang, and called him “Big Brother!”

Little Princess thanked Shen Lang for curing her and urged him to travel overseas and write books for her, while the Empire’s investigation blamed Consort Yan, Chu Ren, and Floating Pagoda Mountain for the Late Chu King’s murder. The New Chu King accepted the Empire’s verdict, secretly killed Chu Ren, and marched toward Chu King’s Capital; as his army neared the city, Shen Lang met him secretly at Gratitude Pavilion.

• Little Princess spoke with Shen Lang, thanked him for saving her, and asked him to travel to distant lands and write books for her to read.
• The Empire declared that Consort Yan, Yan Liang, and Chu Ren had murdered the Late Chu King, and the New Chu King signed the investigation report.
• The New Chu King told Chu Ren that the Emperor had truly ordered the Late Chu King’s death, then poisoned Chu Ren and announced that he had committed suicide.
• Chu Kingdom and Yue Kingdom signed a ceasefire that restored their border to a demarcation from twenty-five years earlier, costing Yue Kingdom nearly ten thousand square kilometers.
• The New Chu King led two hundred thousand mourning troops toward Chu King’s Capital while Ning Zheng remained there with his army; Shen Lang returned under Jin MuLan’s protection.
• The New Chu King left his troops at night to meet Shen Lang at Gratitude Pavilion, where Sword King Li Qianqiu waited outside.