Chapter Summaries

After the Xue Family’s forces were defeated, Shen Lang discovered that Xue Che had escaped and used himself as bait to lure him out. Xue Che and five Grandmasters surrounded Shen Lang and Jin MuLan on an isolated cliff.

• MuLan found that the earthquake in Nanzhou City was connected to the Ancient Ruins beneath it and suspected Floating Pagoda Mountain had caused it.
• Shen Lang’s Nirvana Army stormed the Xue Family castle, where Jin MuLan killed Xue Min after he refused to surrender.
• Old Madam Xue poisoned Shen Lang with a Brain-Eating Larva, but his blood killed it; Shen Lang then exposed Xue Che’s plan to blow up the castle with fish oil.
• The castle exploded, killing the Xue Family members inside, while Shen Lang’s search failed to find Xue Che, Xue Ding, or Xue Xue.
• Shen Lang and Jin MuLan remained alone on a cliff as bait, and Xue Che arrived with five Grandmasters to surround them.

Shen Lang and Jin MuLan lured Xue Che and four Grandmasters onto a cliff, then escaped their attack with gliding suits and killed or incapacitated most of them with an explosive trap. After chasing the wounded Xue Che into a forest, MuLan defeated him, and Shen Lang finished him off.

• Xue Che dismissed Shen Lang’s traps and attacked him and Jin MuLan with four other Grandmasters.
• Shen Lang and MuLan glided off the cliff, then triggered a TNT blast that killed three Grandmasters and left Xue Che and one survivor wounded.
• Shen Lang and MuLan pursued Xue Che from the air and through the forest, where MuLan confronted him while carrying Shen Lang.
• Xue Che trapped MuLan with Gu insects, but she was immune and counterattacked with poisoned needles, severing his limbs and disabling him.
• Shen Lang castrated Xue Che, refused to let him lure him closer with a promised secret, and beheaded him.

After Shen Lang killed Xue Che, he tracked down the Xue Family’s final hideout and ended Xue Ding and Xue Xue, while Xue Xue poisoned Ning Qi. Shen Lang saved Ning Qi from the poison and left him with a warning to remember that Ning Yuanxian and Ning Zheng had not killed him.

• Shen Lang questioned the captured Hidden Origin Society grandmaster Li Qianmo, learned where the Xue Family had hidden, and followed him to their abandoned underground chamber.
• Shen Lang deduced that the locations of the Xue Family’s secret hideouts formed the character Ren, found their ninth cave beneath the sea, and forced Xue Ding, Xue Xue, Ning Qi, and Yan E to emerge.
• Ning Qi accused Floating Pagoda Mountain of abandoning the Xue Family, while Xue Xue revealed that she had poisoned him with parasitic venom and collapsed him with Bewitching Incense.
• Yan E subdued Xue Ding, and Ning Qi ordered him to take Xue Xue to Shen Lang; Shen Lang then killed Xue Ding and Xue Xue with a heavy crossbow.
• Shen Lang used his blood serum to cure Ning Qi’s parasitic poisoning, then told him to remember that Ning Yuanxian and Ning Zheng had not killed him.

Shen Lang returned to Xuanwu City with his family as an immense imperial army marched south and he urged Ning Yuanxian and Ning Zheng to sever ties with him and yield to the emperor. At his parents’ cottage, Shen Wan and his wife knelt before him and addressed him as His Majesty of the Great Qian Empire.

• A frail, unnamed man in an underground chamber asked to see the outside world and chose to keep living so he could find himself a name.
• Shen Lang told MuLan that their whole family would sail east overseas, while Ning Qi returned to the capital after spending seven days and nights reflecting on his life.
• Ning Qi returned to Ning Yuanxian and Consort Zhong, while Ning Zheng continued governing and the capital remained tense as a vast coalition army marched south.
• Shen Lang sent Ning Yuanxian a letter asking the Yue Kingdom to disown him, and sent Ning Zheng a ciphered message urging him to yield to the emperor and preserve the Ning Clan’s throne.
• Shen Lang and MuLan returned to Xuanwu Marquis Manor, where Shen Lang met Baby Shen Li and reunited with his family.
• Shen Lang visited Shen Wan and his wife at their old cottage, where they knelt and hailed him as His Majesty of the Great Qian Empire.

After learning that he was Emperor Jiang Li’s son, Shen Lang left with his parents for Xuanwu City as supporters across the world rallied to defend him. The Great Yan Empire and the Six Transcendent Forces mobilized to kill Shen Lang and his followers.

• Shen Wan and his wife told Shen Lang how Duke Lin had entrusted him to them as a baby, and Shen Lang urged them to prepare for a journey.
• Jin Shiying and more than two thousand Jin Family warriors pledged themselves to Shen Lang, while Liu Wuyan and his soldiers bowed to him on the road to Xuanwu City.
• Kutou Huan, Lan Bao, and Grandmaster Ban Ruo led supporters toward Xuanwu City to defend Emperor Jiang’s heir.
• Lord Jun and Qiang Queen Arunana set out with their troops for Xuanwu City, each driven by personal loyalty and family ties.
• Little Princess Ji Ning tried to kill Princess Ji Xuan and denounced the Great Yan Empire’s fear of Shen Lang, but Ji Xuan put her to sleep.
• Princess Ji Xuan received an order to kill Shen Lang and his followers, and the Six Transcendent Forces sent their elite legions toward Xuanwu City.

Ying WuMing brought the Emperor’s edict to Yue Kingdom, but Ning Yuanxian and Ning Zheng defied it and declared Shen Lang their lord; after Ning Qi abdicated rather than kill them, Ning Shao took the throne and pledged Yue Kingdom’s forces to the imperial campaign. As people from across the realm rallied to defend Shen Lang, he resolved not to let them die for him and promised to protect them all.

• Ying WuMing led the Imperial allied forces into Tianyue City and demanded that Ning Yuanxian obey the Emperor’s edict condemning Shen Lang.
• Ning Yuanxian abdicated in favor of Ning Zheng, then declared that he recognized Shen Lang as his lord; Ning Zheng likewise defied the edict and named Ning Qi king.
• Ning Qi initially obeyed the edict but refused to execute Ning Yuanxian and Ning Zheng, abdicated, and yielded the throne to Ning Shao, who ordered Yue Kingdom to support the attack on Xuanwu City.
• People across the realm, including Lord Jun’s forces and groups of warriors, traveled to Xuanwu City to defend Shen Lang, while lone thug Li Qing set out after the other volunteers failed to appear.
• Shen Lang refused to address the arriving defenders and vowed to take responsibility for them, promising Lord Jun that he would protect every one of them.

As the imperial coalition closed in on Xuanwu City, Xueyin and the other elders secretly launched a plan to fake Shen Lang’s death and sacrifice their forces so he could survive. Shen Lang woke before the plan’s decisive confrontation and rushed to stop it as the fleets moved in to attack.

• Lin Shang challenged Ban Ruo for leadership of Demon Rock Dao Palace and lost, preserving her nickname as Old Demon Xue Who Had Never Won.
• Xueyin, Jin Zhuo, Li Qianqiu, and Zhong Chuke knocked Shen Lang unconscious, and Xueyin hid him while preparing Mirror to impersonate him.
• Xueyin revealed to Jin MuLan that Shen Lang and Ji Ning were twins and explained the plan to fake Shen Lang’s death through the deaths of their allies and family; MuLan reluctantly agreed to play her part.
• Mirror appeared as Shen Lang, and MuLan and their family joined his procession toward the sea while a hundred thousand allies escorted them and the imperial armies advanced.
• The imperial coalition ordered a massacre at Xuanwu City, while Ji Xuan ordered the surrounding fleets to attack Shen Lang’s ship.
• Shen Lang woke in the underground chamber before the attack began, escaped, and set out to confront Ji Xuan and Ning Han.

Shen Lang arrived at sea to confront Princess Ji Xuan and stop the imperial army from slaughtering his supporters and the Jin Family. He threatened the empire with a deadly virus that had already wiped out two isolated cities, and Ji Xuan ordered the imperial army to halt and retreat ten li.

• Shen Lang woke himself with the Nightmare Stone, escaped the underground chamber, and left his mother behind as he rushed to the sea.
• Princess Ji Xuan led more than a thousand martial artists to surround the Jin Family's treasure ship, while Xueyin and the others prepared to defend Mirror, who was disguised as Shen Lang.
• Shen Lang appeared on a separate ship and used graphite powder to disable the attackers' Buoyancy Boots, knocking many of them into the sea.
• Shen Lang demanded that Ji Xuan spare the Jin Family and the hundred thousand people defending him, and threatened to kill millions if the empire refused.
• A message confirmed that the Black Death had wiped out the Hidden Origin Society's City of Repentance and the Heavenly Execution Pavilion's City of No Return.
• With Shen Lang threatening further outbreaks if the army attacked, Ji Xuan ordered the imperial forces to halt and retreat ten li.

Shen Lang negotiated for his family and the hundred thousand loyalists to be spared, then watched his family enter the Devil’s Triangle while the imperial fleet held back. After revealing that his threat to destroy Yan Capital had been a bluff, he told Ji Xuan and Ning Han that he had infected them with the Black Death.

• Shen Lang persuaded Ji Xuan to order the imperial army to withdraw, and Jin Shiying delivered Jiang Li’s orders for Lord Jun, Arunana, and the hundred thousand loyalists to retreat south and preserve their lives.
• Shen Lang demanded that the Jin Clan Fleet and his family be allowed to enter the Devil’s Triangle, then sent staged fireworks north to make Ji Xuan believe his agents would destroy Yan Capital unless he was protected.
• As the fleets approached the Devil’s Triangle, Ji Xuan halted the imperial fleet, and Shen Lang’s family sailed into the dark region while he remained behind.
• After MuLan and the children disappeared into the Devil’s Triangle, Shen Lang revealed that he had never planned to release the Black Death in Yan Capital and that his fireworks had been a ruse.
• Shen Lang told Ji Xuan and Ning Han that he had infected them with the Black Death by exposing them to himself, and taunted them as they faced the illness.

Shen Lang escaped Princess Ji Xuan and Princess Ning Han by using a hot-air balloon after the two women injected themselves with the antidote he had planted. As he drifted toward the Devil's Triangle, a giant tornado formed and threatened to swallow his balloon.

• Ning Han and Ji Xuan grew gravely ill from the Black Death, and Shen Lang led them to a ship carrying the antidote before pretending to die.
• The women found additional penicillin beneath the deck and began treating themselves, then realized Shen Lang might still be alive and trying to escape.
• Shen Lang launched a hot-air balloon from his burning ship, evaded the transcendent powers' weapons, and vowed to return and take revenge on Ji Xuan and Ning Han.
• Ji Xuan and Ning Han decided to organize an expedition into the Devil's Triangle to find and kill Shen Lang's family.
• As Shen Lang's balloon neared the Devil's Triangle, a giant tornado formed over the sea and moved toward him.

A tornado carried Shen Lang far beyond the Devil's Triangle, leaving him stranded on a barren island rich in saltpeter. After two months alone, he was rescued by pirates and taken to a prosperous foreign city, whose identity remained unknown.

• A tornado swept Shen Lang's hot-air balloon northeast, and he awoke four days later adrift on the open sea.
• Shen Lang survived by using gu-insect toxin to catch fish, collecting rainwater, and drifting until he reached a deserted island.
• Shen Lang discovered abundant high-grade saltpeter on the island, named it MuLan Island, and fashioned shelter and supplies from his balloon.
• Shen Lang waited two months for a ship, then signaled a passing vessel with smoke and was taken aboard by its pirates.
• The pirates fed Shen Lang, gave him fine clothes and jewelry, and sailed for several days before bringing him to a vast, wealthy city.

Shen Lang was brought to Azure Gold City and lavishly confined by Duchess Deborah Russo, whose family had pledged allegiance to the mysterious Witch Empire. After Deborah returned from a long absence, a eunuch finally summoned Shen Lang to meet her, leaving him uncertain what she wanted from him.

• Shen Lang arrived in Azure Gold City, where he saw Black men branded and traded as slaves, and the pirate chief sold him to the castle for three thousand gold coins.
• Castle servants bathed and pampered Shen Lang, then kept him under guard in a luxurious suite while he studied the Russo Family’s history and learned that Duchess Deborah ruled Bibo Province and had pledged loyalty to the Witch Empire.
• Shen Lang discovered that the Russo Family’s records had deliberately obscured information about the Witch Empire, which the family appeared to resent despite its allegiance.
• During Shen Lang’s confinement, slave ships brought thousands of Black men into the city, and he suspected Deborah was building a large army.
• Twenty-three days after Shen Lang arrived, Duchess Deborah returned to Azure Gold City with a formidable fleet and army, but she did not acknowledge him.
• That night, the eunuch summoned Shen Lang and led him toward a meeting with Duchess Deborah.

Shen Lang was chosen by Duke Deborah to be her partner after an assessment, then unexpectedly married her in a formal Fire God ceremony. The wedding was recorded as part of the Russo Family’s history, while Shen Lang remained uncertain about Deborah’s motives and the war she appeared to be preparing for.

• Shen Lang found Duke Deborah wrestling a giant lion barehanded in the Colosseum and discovered that she was a stunning red-haired beauty.
• Duke Deborah told Shen Lang, Kun Yan, and Qin Gu that one would become her partner and the other two would be made eunuchs, then tested them with questions about flame, companionship, and gods.
• Duke Deborah chose Shen Lang, exposed his false name, and announced that they would marry in two days.
• Shen Lang spent two days in Deborah’s lavish castle, where he remained unable to learn about the Witch Empire as ships continued bringing in troops, weapons, armor, and slaves.
• Duke Deborah and Shen Lang held a grand nighttime wedding presided over by a Fire God High Priestess, and the Russo Family chronicler recorded Shen Lang as Deborah’s husband.

After a hundred days of isolation in Azure Gold City, Shen Lang learned that Grand Duchess Deborah had married him to sacrifice him before her campaign against the Witch Empire. As Deborah’s army gathered to invade, Shen Lang was carried to a stake and offered to the Fire God.

• After their wedding, Deborah performed mysterious rituals on Shen Lang and then kept him at a distance while the people of Azure Gold City avoided him.
• Shen Lang searched the city’s library for information about the Witch Empire, but its records had been destroyed, and he suspected the empire was connected to Chou Yao'er.
• Deborah told Shen Lang that the Witch Empire could never become his homeland and revealed that she had hanged her brother for submitting Azure Gold City to it.
• Shen Lang realized that Deborah was raising a vast army to destroy the Witch Empire and decided he needed to escape Azure Gold City, though no ship would take him.
• After a hundred days, Deborah assembled her troops and warships, declared an expedition against the Witch Empire, and offered Shen Lang as a sacrifice to the Fire God.
• The crowd shouted for Shen Lang to be burned as he was carried onto a special stake.

Shen Lang survived Duchess Deborah’s burning sacrifice by using fireproof clothing and escaped aboard Hill’s ship, where he became her lover. As the Xilun Third Empire’s war against the Witch Empire advanced, Shen Lang learned that its queen was called Medusa and left Hill to seek her at the capital.

• Duchess Deborah burned Shen Lang as a sacrifice, then sent her army and fleet to campaign against the Witch Empire.
• Shen Lang survived the flames with asbestos clothing and fireproof gel, escaped into the sea, and secretly boarded Hill’s ship.
• Hill sheltered Shen Lang, and the two became lovers while her grain ship sailed with the Xilun forces.
• Shen Lang and Hill witnessed widespread naval battles as the Xilun Third Empire seized ground from the loosely organized Witch Empire.
• Hill’s ship was ordered to unload supplies at occupied Shiva City before returning to Azure Gold City.
• After learning the Witch Empire’s queen was named Medusa, Shen Lang refused Hill’s offer of a life together and set out for the royal capital.

Shen Lang and Hill traveled through the Xilun Empire’s occupied lands toward Queen City, where he hoped to meet the Medusa Queen and learn whether she was Chou Yao’er. After Hill said goodbye and Shen Lang was taken into the royal palace, he discovered that the court official was his long-missing acquaintance Zhang Chunhua.

• Hill explained the divisions between the Eastern, Central, and Western Worlds and the history of the Xilun Dynasty, the Witch Empire, and the Medusa Queen.
• Hill chose to accompany Shen Lang to Queen City, and they rode through Shiva City disguised as Xilun Empire scouts.
• Hill told Shen Lang that Duke Russell’s coalition army had captured Shiva City and much of the Witch Empire, while Duke Deborah’s forces remained elsewhere.
• Shen Lang and Hill reached Queen City, admired its red walls and white palace, and were stopped by the queen’s female cavalry near the city.
• When the cavalry commander refused Shen Lang entry, he claimed he might be the queen’s man, prompting the knights to capture him while Hill rode away after saying goodbye.
• The cavalry brought Shen Lang to the palace, where the court official recognized him as Zhang Chunhua, daughter of Zhang Chong.

Shen Lang reunited with Zhang Chunhua, learned that Chou Yao'er had become the Medusa Queen and built a loose Witch Empire through her unmatched strength, and met his frail daughter Yaoyao. With Queen City facing an imminent invasion and the Queen in seclusion, Shen Lang set out to reach her in the Underground Mausoleum.

• Shen Lang reunited with Zhang Chunhua, learned her father Zhang Chong had become Tianbei Province Grand Governor, and heard how Horizon Sea Pavilion's fleet had attacked Chou Yao'er before she destroyed it alone.
• Zhang Chunhua explained that Chou Yao'er had become the Medusa Queen after reaching the sunken Ancient Ruins, and that the Witch Empire was a loose alliance rather than a centrally governed state.
• Shen Lang met his daughter Yaoyao, named her Shen Yiyi, and learned she had been extremely frail since birth and could scarcely leave her protected chamber.
• Zhang Chunhua told Shen Lang that Queen City had only thirty thousand defenders, including ten thousand true elites, and would fall if the Medusa Queen did not emerge from seclusion.
• Shen Lang learned that four great masters guarded the Medusa Queen's Underground Mausoleum, then insisted that Zhang Chunhua lead him there.

Shen Lang entered Medusa Queen’s mausoleum and found her transformed beyond recognition, then reunited with the sleeping little Yaoyao and learned how fragile her waking life was. As Duke Russell’s army encircled Queen City and began its assault, Medusa Queen still had not awakened.

• Shen Lang passed the mausoleum’s four guardians and found Medusa Queen asleep, transformed into a fantastically beautiful being with few traces of Chou Yao'er remaining.
• Shen Lang waited two days for Medusa Queen to awaken, then left and reunited with little Yaoyao, who awoke to him, ate, and astonishingly drew his portrait.
• Zhang Chunhua told Shen Lang that Yaoyao could usually stay awake for only a quarter of an hour each day, and Shen Lang saw Duke Russell’s forces gathering around Queen City.
• Shen Lang attended the Witch Empire’s council and found its leaders focused on welcoming Medusa Queen’s awakening rather than planning for the approaching war.
• Zhang Chunhua urged Shen Lang to forget his past with Chou Yao'er, while insisting that Medusa Queen would awaken in time to save the Witch Empire.
• Duke Russell’s 250,000 troops completed their encirclement of Queen City and attacked, but Medusa Queen remained asleep.

Queen Medusa emerged at the decisive moment and defeated Duke Russell, saving Queen City and forcing the Xilun Third Empire's army to withdraw. After the battle, she approached Shen Lang and called him the father of her child.

• Duke Russell's army stormed Queen City's walls, but Duke Hall, the Roland Knights, the Eastern forces, the Black Pearl Pirates, and the militia fought fiercely for Queen Medusa and their freedom.
• Duke Russell joined the battle, defeated the city's leading warriors, and broke through its defenses while Shen Lang and Zhang Chunhua discussed their plans and the city's forces.
• Duke Russell prepared to execute Duke Hall as Queen City's defenses collapsed, but the Medusa Queen burst from the ground and confronted the invading army.
• The Medusa Queen defeated Duke Russell in three strikes, shattered his Great Sword, and led a counterattack that routed the Xilun Third Empire's troops.
• Duke Russell acknowledged his defeat and ordered his army to withdraw, ending the Battle of Queen City.
• The Medusa Queen approached Shen Lang at the royal palace and called him the father of her child.

Shen Lang learned that Chou Yao'er had been waiting for him and received a sealed chest left by Emperor Jiang Li as he planned how to build an army and return east. Medusa Queen revealed that Yaoyao’s life was failing because her body could not sustain her soul, then collapsed after warning that she was also close to death.

• Medusa Queen confirmed that she carried ten percent of Chou Yao'er’s spirit and body, and that Chou Yao'er had awaited Jiang Li’s son; Shen Lang revealed his identity to Zhang Chunhua.
• Medusa Queen took Shen Lang to an underground mausoleum and gave him a sealed chest left by Emperor Jiang Li, who had visited the Western World more than forty years earlier.
• Shen Lang mapped out plans to obtain Saltpeter Island, take Azure Gold City, and secure the Amazon Queen’s army and the Skull Gang’s fleet for his campaign against the Great Yan Empire.
• Medusa Queen explained that Yaoyao’s soul was consuming her vitality and that she needed a transformed body capable of sustaining her.
• Shen Lang asked Medusa Queen to bring her armies to support him, but she said she was struggling to stay alive and then collapsed after coughing up blood.