Chapter Summaries

Shen Lang tried to persuade the New Chu King to resist Ning Qi’s submission to the Great Yan Empire and proposed a post-battle alliance with Ning Zheng. After Ning Zheng chose to fight, Shen Lang’s army abandoned Chu King’s Capital’s outer walls, emptied the inner city, and prepared to face the Chu King’s vastly larger force as its assault began.

• Shen Lang warned the New Chu King that Ning Qi’s compromise could prompt the other kingdoms to submit, and urged him to support Ning Zheng instead.
• Shen Lang proposed a new ceasefire with Ning Zheng, offering Chu Kingdom goods and investment to rebuild the royal palace, but the New Chu King postponed any agreement until after the battle.
• The New Chu King marched two hundred thousand troops toward Chu King’s Capital, while Shen Lang recommended defending the inner city and expelling its residents; Ning Zheng ordered them to fight.
• Shen Lang’s troops killed two Dukes and three Marquises who resisted the evacuation, emptied the inner city, and withdrew behind its walls.
• The Chu King’s army surrounded the inner city and launched an assault with eighty thousand troops against Ning Zheng and Shen Lang’s nine thousand soldiers.

Ning Zheng and Shen Lang’s army repelled the Chu Kingdom’s attacks, then helped contain a devastating epidemic and saved the Chu King. The two kingdoms signed a new ceasefire agreement, and Ning Zheng and Shen Lang left the capital with a victory that strengthened Ning Zheng’s claim to the Yue throne.

• The Chu King led repeated assaults on the city, but Shen Lang’s archers and the First Nirvana Army inflicted heavy losses and drove the Chu forces back.
• After the Chu army suffered nearly thirty thousand casualties on the first day and nearly twenty thousand on the next, an epidemic forced the Chu King and Ning Zheng to agree to a temporary ceasefire.
• The Chu King became critically ill, and Shen Lang treated him, then supplied epidemic-prevention instructions, medicine, and military physicians to help control the outbreak.
• After twenty days, the Chu-Yue armies suppressed the epidemic, and the Chu King negotiated a ceasefire with Ning Zheng that included two million gold coins from the Heavenly Dao Society and permission for it to operate in Chu territory.
• The Chu Empress Dowager said she would become a nun, while the Chu King allowed Ning Zheng and Shen Lang’s army to leave the capital without obstruction.
• Ning Zheng and Shen Lang departed with their troops under the new ceasefire agreement, which required no territorial concessions or humiliating terms from Yue.

The court’s ministers pushed for Ning Qi to read the Heaven Worship Memorial and succeed Ning Zheng as the favored prince, while Ning Yuanxian waited for news from Ning Zheng. Lan Yi then revealed Ning Zheng’s new ceasefire agreement, exposing the territorial concession in Ning Qi’s pact and leaving Ning Yuanxian to punish a censor who accused Ning Zheng of treason.

• Ning Yuanxian delayed the ministers’ demands for Ning Qi to read the Heaven Worship Memorial, but eventually agreed that Ning Zheng would read it and Ning Qi would serve as his substitute.
• Ning Qi returned to the capital to a triumphant welcome, and Ning Yuanxian challenged him over his loyalty to the Emperor and his willingness to yield Yue Kingdom’s authority.
• At court, Royal Uncle Ning Qi supported having Ning Qi read the memorial, while Zhu Hongzhu proposed Ning Qi as Ning Zheng’s substitute because Ning Zheng was believed trapped in Chu Kingdom.
• Lan Yi arrived with news that Ning Zheng had repelled the Chu army and secured a new ceasefire agreement, then exposed that Ning Qi’s earlier agreement would make Yue Kingdom cede two hundred li of land.
• Lan Yi questioned Zhu Hongzhu, Ning Qi, and Zhong E about which agreement was better, and they admitted Ning Zheng’s terms were preferable.
• Ning Yuanxian ordered guards to beat a censor to death after the censor accused Ning Zheng of secretly conspiring with the Chu King.

Ning Qi and his allies planned to kill Ning Zheng before he could return to Yue, while Shen Lang split their forces and anticipated an ambush on the Great Snow Mountain. Ning Zheng’s group was surrounded by ten Grandmasters and five other fighters, but six Grandmasters arrived to support him as the battle began.

• Ning Yuanxian beat a censor to death in court, while Ning Qi and his allies learned that Ning Zheng had defeated the Chu army and would likely be named Crown Prince.
• Ning Qi ordered an ambush to kill Ning Zheng, and Xue Che identified routes where they could intercept him.
• Shen Lang split from Ning Zheng’s army, sending Ning Zheng, Li Qianqiu, Qiu Shi, Big Fool, Kutou Huan, and Tang Yan across the Great Snow Mountain while he led the army east.
• Ning Zheng’s group reached the summit, where Xue Che, Yan Nanfei, and thirteen other masked fighters surrounded them.
• Su Nan, State Preceptor Sha Yin, Ban Ruo, Wu Tuzi, Xueyin, and Zhong Chuke arrived as reinforcements, bringing Ning Zheng’s side to six Grandmasters.
• Xue Che ordered the battle to begin atop the snowy mountain.

Ning Zheng survived Xue Che’s assassination attempt after White Jade Capital intervened and Queen Arunana’s cavalry escorted him back to Tianyue City. He arrived in time for the Heaven Worship Ceremony, where Ning Yuanxian publicly welcomed him in triumph, while Shen Lang’s depleted army provocatively camped in Zhong Family territory.

• Xue Che’s forces resumed their attack after the avalanche, but Wu Tuzi unleashed deadly gu insects against two Floating Pagoda Mountain Grandmasters until White Jade Capital froze the insects and ordered both sides off the mountain.
• Xue Che withdrew, but Queen Arunana’s thirty thousand cavalrymen met Ning Zheng and his companions at the mountain’s western foot, preventing another assassination attempt.
• Wu Tuzi used ancient medicine in an attempt to save Qiu Shi’s severed hand, while Goddess Xueyin departed and urged Zhong Chuke to remain with Ning Zheng and guide Big Fool.
• Queen Arunana escorted Ning Zheng toward Tianyue City, while Shen Lang led his reduced army into Zhong Family territory and deliberately provoked Zhong Yao to attack.
• Before the Heaven Worship Ceremony, Ning Yuanxian led officials and guards to the Vermilion Bird Gate, where they waited for Ning Zheng’s returning cavalry.
• Queen Arunana and Ning Zheng arrived, and Ning Yuanxian raised his son’s arm and proclaimed his triumphant return as the crowd cheered for Yue Kingdom.

Ning Yuanxian prepared to force Ning Zheng’s investiture, made arrangements against a possible rebellion, and secured support from key officials while Ning Zheng urged him to prepare for civil war. At court, Ning Yuanxian stripped Ning Qi of his governorship and appointed Ning Zheng Duke of Yue, then demanded Zhu Hongzhu declare whether he approved.

• Ning Yuanxian arranged for Qiang cavalry to guard the capital and issued secret orders so loyal forces could take control of several provinces if the Zhong Family or Xue Family rebelled.
• Ning Qi and Ning Gang praised Ning Zheng, and Ning Yuanxian led him to the Heaven Worship Ceremony, where Ning Zheng recited the memorial without stammering.
• Ning Zheng told Ning Yuanxian that the kingdom should destroy the Zhong Family and Xue Family, imprison Ning Qi, and guard against an attempt to poison the Monarch.
• Ning Yuanxian questioned Yan E, Ning Jie, and Ning Han about his plan to appoint Ning Zheng Crown Prince; Ning Han warned that Ning Zheng and Shen Lang endangered the Ning Clan’s rule.
• Before court, Qiang cavalry and Yue troops surrounded Tianyue City and the palace, while Ning Yuanxian arrived wearing armor beneath his royal robes.
• Ning Yuanxian removed Ning Qi as Tianbei Province Grand Governor, appointed Zhang Chong acting governor, named Ning Zheng Duke of Yue, and asked Zhu Hongzhu whether he approved.

Ning Yuanxian collapsed just as he was about to name Ning Zheng Crown Prince, and a secret decree naming Ning Qi was exposed as a forgery before Ning Gang destroyed it. Shen Lang rushed to the capital to investigate the Monarch’s condition and found a suspicious gemstone in his clothing that emitted fatal energy radiation, leaving him in immediate danger.

• Ning Yuanxian stripped Ning Yi of the Crown Prince title and began choosing between Ning Zheng and Ning Qi, but collapsed while preparing to appoint Ning Zheng and pointed at Ning Gang and Ning Qi.
• Ning Gang sealed the palace and opened Ning Yuanxian’s secret decree, which unexpectedly named Ning Qi; he tore it up and swallowed the silk before Ning Zheng stopped the court from descending into civil war.
• Ning Zheng ordered the ministers to leave and summoned Shen Lang, while the capital went under curfew and its forces prepared for conflict.
• Ning Zheng’s advisers urged him to secure the throne if Ning Yuanxian could not be saved, but he chose to wait for Shen Lang and asked Li Qianqiu and Zhong Chuke to bring him back.
• Shen Lang left Jin MuLan to prepare for a possible attack by the Zhong Family army and raced to the capital, where he found no ordinary medical cause for Ning Yuanxian’s collapse.
• Shen Lang discovered a scorching mark over Ning Yuanxian’s heart and a strange gemstone in his clothing; as he tried to open it, his Smart Brain warned him of fatal energy radiation.

Shen Lang investigated the Ancient Ruins gemstone that had left Ning Yuanxian motionless and raced to the Great Nan Kingdom to search ancient texts for a way to save him. As officials began an election assembly to choose who would govern the Yue Kingdom, Shen Lang finally found the information he needed to save the Monarch.

• Shen Lang's experiments showed that the gemstone's attack had paralyzed Ning Yuanxian's nerves, and he left for the Great Nan Kingdom with Li Qianqiu to seek a cure.
• Lord Jun provided Shen Lang with nineteen hundred ancient texts, which Shen Lang scanned continuously while the crisis in the Yue Kingdom worsened.
• The Queen Mother died, and the Great Yan Empire's Lian Prince arrived and freed Queen Zhu from house arrest.
• At the royal selection assembly, Ning Qi and Ning Zheng agreed to an anonymous vote to choose a prince to oversee state affairs, with the winner set to become Crown Prince if Ning Yuanxian did not wake within a month.
• The first fifteen ballots favored Ning Zheng by ten votes to five, surprising Ning Qi, Zhu Hongzhu, and their allies.
• After seven days and seven nights of scanning ancient texts, Shen Lang found a record that could save Ning Yuanxian.

Shen Lang modified the Nightmare Stone and used it to awaken Sha Dun, then returned to Yue Kingdom and used it to revive Ning Yuanxian. Ning Yuanxian woke amid the disputed King-Selection Assembly and immediately appointed Ning Zheng as Crown Prince.

• Shen Lang deciphered how the Nightmare Stone could be modified to treat vegetative patients and opened it at the Ancient Ruins using a sweet potato battery.
• Shen Lang modified the Nightmare Stone and successfully awakened Sha Dun, a giant warrior and Special Bloodline Bearer.
• Shen Lang traveled back toward Yue Kingdom while sleeping, as Sha Barbarian brutes relayed his carriage through Great Nan Kingdom and Qiang Kingdom.
• The Imperial Lian Prince voided the first King-Selection Assembly after Ning Zheng led the vote, then forced officials to cast named ballots for Ning Qi three days later.
• Shen Lang returned to the capital, used the modified Nightmare Stone on Ning Yuanxian, and awakened the Monarch.
• Ning Yuanxian opened his eyes and immediately declared Ning Zheng Crown Prince.

Ning Yuanxian awakened after twenty-seven days unconscious and learned that Ning Qi had been selected as Young Lord in a coerced King-Selection Assembly. As Ning Qi moved to seize power and arrest Ning Gang, Ning Yuanxian entered the court and appointed Ning Zheng Crown Prince.

• Ning Yuanxian awoke, learned of Ning Han's betrayal and the King-Selection Assembly, and gave Shen Lang the healing Nightmare Stone.
• Ning Yuanxian and Shen Lang agreed that the coming civil war should be fought outside the capital while the First and Second Nirvana Armies remained in Tianxi Province under MuLan.
• The court's vote count gave Ning Qi 485 ballots and Ning Zheng 52, and Queen Zhu announced Ning Qi as Young Lord.
• Ning Qi began stripping Ning Zheng of his military posts, ordered Yan E to arrest Ning Gang, and threatened to kill anyone who resisted.
• Yan E found Ning Yuanxian awake in the palace and knelt as Shen Lang pushed the Monarch toward the court.
• Ning Yuanxian entered the court, had Ning Zheng carry him to the throne, and issued a decree appointing Ning Zheng Crown Prince.

Ning Yuanxian reclaimed power, appointed Ning Zheng regent, and Ning Jie died by suicide after confessing that she had helped keep him asleep. The Zhong Family rebelled after rejecting the court’s orders, and Zhong E’s forty-thousand-strong army moved to attack Jin MuLan’s isolated force at Gulan City.

• Ning Yuanxian named Ning Zheng Crown Prince and regent, dismissed Zhu Hongzhu as Prime Minister, and appointed Ning Gang and Wang Chengchou to senior posts.
• Ning Jie confessed that she had helped put Ning Yuanxian to sleep for half a year, then killed herself while urging him to make Ning Qi Crown Prince.
• Zhu Hongzhu directed the Zhu, Xue, and Zhong factions to withdraw from the capital and ordered Xue Che and Yan Nanfei to seize Raging Tide City and destroy the Jin Family.
• Ning Zheng allowed the factions to leave the capital, while Shen Lang’s Black Mirror Agency took control of the Blackwater Directorate.
• Ning Zheng’s court moved against the Zhong Family, which rejected the orders, proclaimed that it was rescuing Ning Yuanxian, and occupied northern Tianxi Province.
• Zhong E led forty thousand soldiers, accompanied by Zhong Shishi, to attack Jin MuLan’s more than four thousand defenders at Gulan City.

Lian Prince of the Empire ordered Zhong Yao to annihilate the First and Second Nirvana Armies in exchange for making the Zhong Family rulers of an independent Tianxi Duchy. After Gulan City’s defenders inflicted staggering losses, Zhong Yao accepted Floating Pagoda Mountain’s Nirvana Agent and sent fifteen thousand enhanced soldiers to attack, unaware that Shen Lang had prepared to turn them into frenzied killers who would attack their own forces.

• Lian Prince of the Empire told Zhong Yao to destroy the Nirvana Armies and Jiang Li’s remaining Special Bloodline Bearers, promising the Zhong Family an independent state if it succeeded.
• Zhong E’s forces repeatedly failed to take Gulan City, losing more than thirty-three thousand troops to the defenders’ arrows, siege defenses, and MuLan’s Rocket Arrow, which ignited the army’s Fish Oil stores.
• Lian Prince left, and Floating Pagoda Mountain’s envoy delivered fifteen thousand doses of Nirvana Agent; a recruit demonstrated its effects by killing a tiger before dying from his wounds.
• Zhong Yao sent fifteen thousand soldiers under the drug’s influence to join the fifty-two thousand troops surrounding Gulan City, while MuLan anticipated Shen Lang’s plan to make the enhanced soldiers attack their own side.

Shen Lang’s drug-triggered plan caused the Zhong Family’s modified Berserk Army to lose control and slaughter most of its own forces. Jin MuLan then led the surviving Nirvana Army to attack Zhenxi City, where Big Fool approached the reinforced gates with explosives.

• Zhong E sent fifteen thousand Berserk Army soldiers to storm Gulan City, but MuLan’s Nirvana Army fired arrows carrying Shen Lang’s drug and triggered their madness.
• The Berserk Army attacked Zhong Ji’s overseer cavalry, pursued the fleeing Zhong Family troops, and slaughtered tens of thousands before turning on one another.
• Zhong E and Zhong Yao learned that the Zhong Family army had been devastated, while the surviving Berserk Army rushed toward Zhenxi City.
• After the surviving Berserk Army returned to Zhenxi City, Zhong Yao ordered them attacked when they refused to disarm, and the resulting battle killed them and thousands of defenders.
• Jin MuLan led more than four thousand Nirvana Army soldiers to Zhenxi City, and Big Fool charged toward its reinforced gates carrying thermite and explosives.

Big Fool and MuLan helped the Nirvana Army breach Zhenxi City and defeat the Zhong Family forces. After Zhong Yao was surrounded while fleeing, he surrendered, and Jin MuLan accepted the Zhong Family’s submission.

• Big Fool defeated Lan Bao, then used Thermite, gunpowder, and his Black Iron Staff to break through Zhenxi City’s layered gates while MuLan fought off the defenders.
• MuLan kicked Zhong Shishi unconscious, and the Nirvana Army escorted explosives to the gate before detonating them and opening a breach.
• Jin MuLan led the Nirvana Armies into Zhenxi City, where they defeated the Zhong Family’s defenders and captured hundreds of Zhong Family members.
• Zhong Yao and his followers fled toward Baiye Pass, found it held by Zhang Chong and the Sha Barbarians, then encountered enemy forces surrounding them in every direction.
• Zhong Yao ordered his followers to surrender, and Big Fool summoned Jin MuLan, who formally accepted the Zhong Family’s submission.
• The next day, Zhang Chong took control of Zhenxi City, while Jin MuLan escorted Zhong Yao and nearly a thousand Zhong Family captives to Tianyue City.

After Jin MuLan defeated the Zhong Family, Ning Yuanxian spared Zhong Yao’s family, and Princess Ning Yan gave birth to Shen Li. Ning Qi left the capital to confront the Xue Family, but vanished after entering its territory; the Yue Kingdom declared war, and Shen Lang sailed south to destroy the Xue Family.

• Jin MuLan brought Zhong Yao and the captured Zhong Family to the capital, where Ning Yuanxian spared them and renamed Zhong Yao Marquis Anning.
• Princess Ning Yan gave birth to a frail son, and Ning Yuanxian named him Shen Li.
• Ning Yuanxian urged Ning Qi to leave room for his enemies, and Ning Zheng allowed Ning Qi to travel south to demand that Xue Che obey the New Policy.
• Ning Qi disappeared after entering Xue territory, and Ning Yuanxian declared the Xue Family rebellious and called the Yue Kingdom to war.
• Shen Lang and Jin MuLan assembled the Jin Family fleet and sailed toward the Nanzhou Islands to destroy the Xue Family.

Xue Che secured the Empire’s support to destroy the Jin Family and seize Raging Tide City, then sent Yan Nanfei and Xue Pan with a vast fleet. Shen Lang’s smaller fleet lured the Xue Family fleet across the sea, where MuLan sensed a catastrophic oceanic eruption approaching.

• Lian Prince promised Xue Che control of the Leizhou Islands and Raging Tide City if he destroyed the Jin Family fleet and helped blockade the Eastern Sea Area, warning that heaven and earth would soon collapse.
• Xue Che ordered Yan Nanfei to exterminate the Jin Family and sent Xue Pan with the allied fleet toward Raging Tide City.
• Yan Nanfei and Xue Pan encountered Shen Lang’s forty-ship fleet, and the two fleets exchanged long-range attacks before Shen Lang’s faster ships fled.
• For two days and two nights, Shen Lang’s fleet drew the Xue Family fleet into pursuit while Yan Nanfei believed the waters were familiar and safe.
• MuLan sensed that the ocean was gathering immense power and warned Shen Lang that its eruption could destroy both fleets.

Shen Lang lured Yan Nanfei’s Xue Family Fleet through Fang Sea and then drew its surviving ships toward Bliss Island as a massive undersea earthquake approached. A towering tsunami struck the fleet, wiping out all one hundred and seventy ships and thirty thousand soldiers.

• Shen Lang’s fleet harassed the Xue Family Fleet for days, then attacked in thick fog and destroyed or disabled many ships with arrows and MuLan’s explosive shots.
• Yan Nanfei used thirty ships, including his flagship, as bait to lure Shen Lang into Fang Sea, where hidden reefs sank most of the pursuing ships.
• Shen Lang’s surviving eighteen ships escaped Fang Sea and led the Xue Family Fleet toward Bliss Island as MuLan sensed that a great undersea earthquake would erupt before nightfall.
• Shen Lang brought his fleet’s people ashore on Bliss Island and watched as Yan Nanfei’s ships pursued them toward the island.
• A massive undersea earthquake triggered a tsunami that swept away the Xue Family Fleet’s one hundred and seventy ships and thirty thousand soldiers.

Shen Lang’s trap and a tsunami annihilated the Xue Allied Forces fleet, but Xue Pan survived and was captured after his own sailors betrayed him. Shen Lang sent Xue Pan’s head to Xue Che, who learned that his plans to destroy the Jin Family had been shattered.

• Shen Lang and MuLan watched the tsunami destroy the Xue Allied Forces fleet, then searched Bliss Island for survivors before evacuating their people by ship.
• Xue Pan survived on a distant island, but sailors poisoned him and delivered him to Shen Lang, who tortured and killed him.
• Shen Lang sent Xue Pan’s head toward Xue Che and sank more than a hundred Xue Family warships and merchant vessels around the Southern Sea Area.
• Xue Che told Yan E that Yan Nanfei would attack Raging Tide City with massacres, fire, and poison, intending to destroy the Jin Family.
• Xue Che received Shen Lang’s box and found Xue Pan’s head inside, marked with the message that the thirty-thousand-strong navy had been annihilated.

After Xue Che confirmed the destruction of the Xue Family Fleet, he prepared Gu worm weapons to annihilate Shen Lang’s army and named Xue Ding the family heir. Shen Lang identified the Gu worms and immunized his troops before landing at Nanzhou City, where Xue Ding’s forces waited to attack with the same weapons.

• Xue Che learned that Xue Pan, the allied army, and much of the Xue Family’s fleet and shipping had been destroyed, then named Xue Ding the new heir and ordered the family to prepare for battle.
• Xue Che demonstrated that his Gu worm arrows could kill people without a direct hit and ordered the South Sea Sword Sect to destroy Shen Lang’s army instantly.
• Shen Lang examined the Second-Level Corpse-Rot Gu Worms and tested a defensive medicine that killed them after they entered the bloodstream.
• Shen Lang injected the Nirvana Army and sailors with the immunity agent; nine people died and six lost their sight and hearing, but the surviving troops became immune.
• Shen Lang landed at Nanzhou Island and marched to Nanzhou City without resistance.
• Xue Ding assembled five thousand South Sea Sword Sect disciples and nearly ten thousand Xue Family soldiers atop the walls, preparing to fire Gu worm arrows as Shen Lang’s army approached.

Shen Lang’s Nirvana Army survived the Xue Family’s Gu-worm ambush and wiped out the South Sea Sword Sect, then turned the Xue Family’s own weapons against its defenders. An abrupt earthquake shattered Nanzhou City’s walls and devastated the city, leaving the Xue Family’s stronghold fallen.

• Xue Ding’s South Sea Sword Sect warriors fired Gu-worm arrows at Shen Lang’s Nirvana Army, which appeared to die from the poison.
• The Nirvana Army sprang up from its staged deaths, killed nearly all five thousand South Sea Sword Sect warriors with flaming arrows and Mo Blades, and revealed its Defense Potion had neutralized the Gu worms.
• Xue Che ordered poison gas crates brought onto the walls, but Shen Lang’s army fired Gu-worm arrows into the Xue Family Private Army and released the poison gas against the defenders.
• MuLan climbed a Mast and used explosive arrows to burst the poison gas crates, spreading the gas across the city wall.
• MuLan sensed an imminent earthquake and pulled Shen Lang to safety as the quake split the ground, destroyed the city walls, and killed most of Nanzhou City’s defenders.
• After the earthquake stopped, a massive breach remained in the walls, and Nanzhou City and the Xue Family’s ancestral stronghold had fallen.