Chapter Summaries

Shen Lang opened the island Secret Base’s ancient chamber and discovered the colossal Dragon’s Regret weapon, which he believed could be dangerously powerful. He also unlocked a second chamber filled with ancient armor, boots, bows, and Nightmare Stone devices, leaving him with a trove of mysterious equipment to take back to Raging Tide City.

• Shen Lang explored the island Secret Base and examined the human fossils and the sealed ancient chamber door.
• Shen Lang mixed his blood with powdered fossilized blood and wrote the character for regret, causing the chamber door to open.
• Shen Lang discovered the enormous Dragon’s Regret weapon and realized it was an ancient strategic weapon, but its magnetic force kept it fixed in place.
• Shen Lang found that the weapon’s power and activation method remained unknown, and he considered taking it to Raging Tide City for study.
• Shen Lang opened a second chamber with the same blood and found ancient armor, hundreds of boots and bows, and many unfamiliar Nightmare Stone devices.

Shen Lang discovered that his mixed blood with Ancient Humans could open the Secret Base’s Control Center, then shut down and removed its Energy Core, weapons, and other ancient technology. As the island’s volcano erupted behind his departing fleet, Zhu Hongxue returned to the Yue Kingdom with his victorious army to join the coming battle at Tianyue City.

• Shen Lang tested the Ancient Energy Boots and Ancient Bows, then learned their powers depended on an electromagnetic field emitted by the island’s Control Center.
• Shen Lang followed the signal to a disguised mountain summit, used his mixed blood with Ancient Humans to open the Control Center, and discovered its Energy Core was suppressing a volcano.
• Shen Lang shut down the Energy Core, disabling the ancient weapons, and had Amazon warriors move it and the Arrow of Destruction onto the fleet.
• Hella showed that her blood mixed with Ancient Human blood lacked Shen Lang’s sun-colored trait, confirming his bloodline had unusual authorization; Shen Lang ordered the Secret Base’s weapons and artifacts removed for Raging Tide City.
• The fleet sailed away as the island’s volcano erupted, and Hella and Sword King Li Qianqiu reflected on Shen Lang’s newfound path to strength.
• Zhu Hongxue defeated the million-strong allied army of the Western Regions nations and Great Tribulation Temple with fewer than twenty thousand Blood Soul Army soldiers, then returned to the Yue Kingdom for the battle at Tianyue City.

Shen Lang assessed Horizon Sea Pavilion’s devastating Blood Soul Army and prepared for the Tianyue City decisive battle, while Bitter Tribulation Monk gave him three thousand Heavenly Tribulation Army soldiers. After hundreds of failed experiments, Shen Lang successfully created a Nightmare Stone Magnetic Blast Bomb that temporarily disabled nearby ancient equipment, giving him a weapon against Zhu Hongxue’s forces.

• Bitter Tribulation Monk warned Shen Lang that Horizon Sea Pavilion’s Blood Soul Army had crushed the Western Regions armies and urged him to abandon the coming battle.
• Bitter Tribulation Monk entrusted Shen Lang with three thousand Heavenly Tribulation Army soldiers, and Shen Lang questioned him about the Blood Soul Army’s weapons and armor.
• Shen Lang tested the enemy’s armor and weapons, finding that thermite shells and Ancient Bows and Arrows could penetrate it but were scarce or limited.
• Shen Lang planned to disable the Blood Soul Army’s ancient weapons by targeting their Control Center with a Nightmare Stone Magnetic Blast Bomb.
• As Zhu Hongxue’s Blood Soul Army advanced toward Yue Kingdom, Shen Lang failed hundreds of experiments before successfully detonating a bomb that paralyzed nearby ancient equipment.

Shen Lang completed preparations for the Battle of Tianyue City, testing Hellfire Rockets and securing Raging Tide City before leading his army toward the Yue Kingdom capital. After citizens across the kingdom welcomed him as Emperor Shen Lang, his forces entered the Tianyue City battlefield.

• Shen Lang successfully tested a Nightmare Stone Magnetic Blast Bomb and developed Hellfire Rockets using Hellfire Insect remains, powerful blood, and Ancient Human blood fossils.
• Shen Lang completed his secret weapons, left the Ancient Energy Control Center to defend Raging Tide City, and entrusted the city and Jinshan Island to his allies.
• Shen Lang spent his final evening with his family and staff, promised Ning Yan he would rescue their allies, and reassured Zhang Chunhua that he remembered his promise to marry her.
• Shen Lang led twenty thousand troops from Raging Tide City toward the Yue Kingdom, where citizens of Xuanwu City and other towns gathered to welcome him and shout their support.
• Shen Lang's army reached the Tianyue City battlefield more than half a month after beginning its march.

The Wu and Chu kings watched Shen Lang’s advance on Tianyue City as a desperate chance to resist the Great Yan Empire, while Zhu Hongzhu and Zhu Hongxue prepared for the coming battle. At Tianyue Hunting Ground, Zhong Yao’s family unexpectedly surrendered just as Shen Lang’s troops were about to attack, giving him a bloodless first victory.

• Wu You delivered intelligence that the Inner Cabinet was using a land dispute to target Grand Councilor Wu Zhi and seize Wu Kingdom’s military power, and the Wu King vowed to support Shen Lang if he won.
• The New Chu King considered sending troops to help Shen Lang, but Li Xuanqi persuaded him to prepare for a possible counterattack instead; the king fasted and prayed for Shen Lang’s victory.
• Zhu Hongzhu urged Zhu Hongxue to let other forces exhaust Shen Lang’s weapons before the Blood Soul Army attacked, while Zhu Hongxue agreed to wait.
• Shen Lang’s army reached Tianyue Hunting Ground, where Zhong Yao refused to surrender or withdraw and insisted that his troops would fight with all their strength.
• Shen Lang ordered Princess Dora to lead an attack on Tianyue Hunting Ground, but Zhong Yao and his family came out and surrendered before the assault began.

Shen Lang discovered that Ning Shao had deliberately infected Zhong Yao’s eighty thousand soldiers with Malaria, then entered the camp and took charge of treating and containing the outbreak. After saving Zhong Shishi from a hidden parasitic insect, Shen Lang staged an apparent retreat, and Ning Shao finally marched south to attack Tianyue Hunting Ground.

• Zhong Yao surrendered after revealing that a plague had spread through his army, and Shen Lang recognized Ning Shao’s scheme to infect both his troops and Yue Kingdom’s civilians.
• Shen Lang entered Tianyue Hunting Ground, identified the disease as Malaria, calmed the soldiers, and organized quarantine and treatment.
• Zhong Shishi fell gravely ill when the epidemic activated a parasitic insect inside her, and Shen Lang’s blood killed it but caused her to recognize him as the White Impermanence who had defiled her innocence.
• As the outbreak appeared to devastate the camp, Ning Shao’s spies reported heavy losses, while Shen Lang kept his army’s true condition hidden.
• Shen Lang staged preparations to withdraw, prompting Ning Shao to order hundreds of thousands of troops to attack Tianyue Hunting Ground.

Ning Shao’s massive army surrounded Shen Lang at Tianyue Hunting Ground, where Shen Lang used a devastating barrage of grapeshot and arrows to halt its assault. As the ordinary troops neared collapse, Zhu Rong sent the Hidden Origin Society’s Iron Blood Army and Reaching Heaven Temple’s legion into battle.

• Zhu Hongzhu dismissed reports that Shen Lang had fallen for a plague trap, while Zhu Rong watched the huge army march south.
• Ning Shao’s forces surrounded Tianyue Hunting Ground, and Shen Lang left West Camp undefended while preparing East Camp with only ten thousand troops.
• Ning Luo and Wu Zhaozhong led the first assault, followed by Ning Qi and Ning Yi’s forces, as Shen Lang waited until the attackers were close before ordering his cannons to fire grapeshot.
• Shen Lang’s cannons and archers inflicted heavy casualties and stopped the charge, prompting Zhu Rong to send Zhang Zhao’s hundred thousand troops forward.
• Zhu Rong sent Shu Tingyu’s Iron Blood Army and Kong Zheng’s Reaching Heaven Temple legion into battle against Shen Lang.

Shen Lang’s artillery shattered the Zhu Clan’s advance and devastated the Hidden Origin Society and Reaching Heaven Temple legions, proving their elite troops could not withstand repeated explosive barrages. The surviving Reaching Heaven Temple soldiers retreated, the Iron Blood Army was nearly wiped out, and Shen Lang destroyed the enemy command platform with a final volley.

• Shen Lang’s cannon fire routed Ning Qi’s hundred-thousand-strong army, while Ning Qi fled to gather his scattered soldiers.
• The Hidden Origin Society Iron Blood Army advanced through Zhang Zhao’s troops, and Shen Lang’s first howitzer barrage tore apart their formations and killed thousands.
• Shen Lang’s repeated artillery barrages broke Zhang Zhao’s army and battered the Iron Blood Army and Reaching Heaven Temple monk soldiers as they charged toward his camp.
• Master Kong Zheng braved the explosions to lead the surviving monk soldiers in retreat, while Shu Tingyu could not save the Iron Blood Army from being devastated.
• Shen Lang ordered fifty howitzers to strike the enemy command platform, killing Zhu Rong, Shu Tingyu, Ning Yi, Ning Yu, and many others in the explosions.

Shen Lang’s artillery devastated Zhu Rong’s vast army before it could reach his forces, and the capital learned that he had won the first stage of the Great Decisive Battle of Tianyue City. The story left the decisive confrontation between Shen Lang and Zhu Hongxue’s Blood Soul Army still ahead.

• Shen Lang’s final barrage destroyed the central command platform and inflicted massive casualties on Zhu Rong’s troops, while Zhu Rong and the other commanders survived.
• Zhu Rong ordered his forces to retreat, and Shen Lang’s artillery prevented Shu Tingyu from recovering the wounded Iron Blood Army soldiers.
• Shen Lang ordered the Amazon Warriors to collect survivors, intending to subdue the Hidden Origin Society’s Iron Blood Army, and Zhong Yao declared the battle only partly complete.
• At a victory banquet, Princess Dora asked Shen Lang to let the Amazon Legion face real battles, and Shen Lang said the next fight against the Blood Soul Army would be their true test.
• The capital’s residents rejoiced when Zhu Rong returned with a defeated army, while Yue King Ning Shao learned that the Blood Soul Army would determine the outcome of the war.
• Great Master Kong Zheng warned Ning Shao that the Blood Soul Army could defeat Shen Lang unless he had other secret weapons.

Zhu Hongxue demonstrated that the Blood Soul Army could withstand Shen Lang’s artillery and wield powerful ancient weapons, then marched south to face Shen Lang’s forces. As both armies opened fire, Shen Lang’s magnetic blast bombs disabled the Blood Soul Army’s energy control centers, sending its ancient arrows plunging from the sky.

• Ning Qi returned to camp after the battle and warned his soldiers to stay in their barracks, while he told Consort Zhong that Zhu Rong and the others had surrendered to Shen Lang.
• Ning Shao told Ning Yuanxian that Shen Lang had won, but Ning Yuanxian continued counting and eating insects as though he were mad.
• Zhu Hongxue detonated thirteen artillery shells beside a thousand Blood Soul Army soldiers and showed that their armor and formation remained unharmed; he also demonstrated their accurate ancient bows and arrows.
• Zhu Hongxue marched twenty thousand Blood Soul Army soldiers to meet Shen Lang’s army, and both sides formed up for an open battle.
• The Blood Soul Army and Shen Lang’s artillery fired simultaneously, but Shen Lang’s three magnetic blast bombs disabled the enemy’s energy control centers and caused its ancient arrows to fall from the sky.

Shen Lang’s forces crippled the Blood Soul Army’s Ancient Control Core and destroyed its twenty-thousand soldiers with thermite, Hellfire Rockets, and close combat. Chou Yao’er defeated Zhu Hongxue in their duel, and Zhu Hongxue admitted defeat and asked to be killed.

• Shen Lang’s thermite shells burned through the Blood Soul Army’s armor after its Ancient Control Core failed, killing and wounding hundreds as Zhu Hongxue ordered his soldiers to charge.
• General Lan Feng’s cannons and the armies’ Hellfire Rocket volleys killed thousands of Blood Soul Army soldiers, but the Blood Soul Army maintained formation and pressed forward.
• Shen Lang’s troops used grenades and a final cannon barrage against the approaching Blood Soul Army before Zhu Hongxue led the remaining soldiers into their ranks.
• Big Fool fought Zhu Hongxue repeatedly but was thrown aside, so Chou Yao’er challenged Zhu Hongxue to a duel while the armies fought around them.
• Chou Yao’er and Zhu Hongxue fought far from the battlefield and eventually returned after the Blood Soul Army had been wiped out.
• Zhu Hongxue admitted defeat, dropped his shattered sword, and asked Chou Yao’er to kill him.

After the Blood Soul Army was annihilated, Shen Lang uncovered its connection to Emperor Jiang Li’s bloodline research and ordered its armor and corpses collected for study. Zhong Yao carried Shen Lang’s surrender decree to the capital, where Zhu Hongzhu learned of the defeat and collapsed after spitting blood.

• Chou Yao'er defeated Zhu Hongxue, questioned him about his origins and honor, and let him leave; Zhu Hongxue cut his vein, then flew south with a rider on a giant eagle.
• Shen Lang, Xueyin, and Zhu Yao examined a Blood Soul Army corpse and discussed Emperor Jiang Li’s bloodline-modification plans and the secrets linking the Transcendent Forces to the Emperor of Great Yan.
• Shen Lang learned that Zhu Hongxue, like Chou Yao'er, had been cultivated by Jiang Li, and he ordered his soldiers to collect the Blood Soul Army’s armor and corpses.
• Shen Lang spared Xue Li from the order to exterminate the Xue Family and sent Zhong Yao to demand the Zhu Clan’s unconditional surrender and the release of Shen Lang’s allies.
• Zhu Hongzhu and Zhu Rong wrongly believed the Blood Soul Army had won, while Ning Shao and the Transcendent Forces concluded Shen Lang had been defeated after the cannon fire stopped and their scouts failed to return.
• Zhong Yao arrived with the Blood Soul Army’s banner and Zhu Hongxue’s sword hilt, announced Shen Lang’s victory and surrender demand, and Zhu Hongzhu spat blood and collapsed.

Zhu Rong and Zhu Hongzhu learned that Shen Lang had destroyed the Blood Soul Army, then agreed to help him deceive Ning Shao and protect the prisoners. As Ning Shao gathered Yue Kingdom’s officials to celebrate Shen Lang’s supposed death, the disguised Blood Soul Army entered the palace led by Zhu Hongzhu and Zhu Rong.

• Zhu Rong inspected the battlefield and found the Blood Soul Army dead, then met Shen Lang, who revealed that Zhu Hongxue had returned to Horizon Sea Pavilion and demanded the Zhu Family’s cooperation.
• Zhu Rong returned to Zhu Hongzhu, who agreed with Zhong Yao to help Shen Lang free Ning Yuanxian, Ning Zheng, and the other prisoners while capturing Ning Shao and his allies.
• Ning Shao visited Zhu Hongzhu and was told that three thousand Blood Soul Army soldiers would enter the capital to present Shen Lang’s head, so he ordered a Grand Assembly.
• Ning Luo escorted imprisoned supporters of Shen Lang toward the palace, while Ning Yi taunted the shackled Ning Zheng and Ning Shao tormented Ning Yuanxian before the assembly.
• Ning Shao and thousands of officials gathered in the palace to await the Blood Soul Army, which entered led by Zhu Hongzhu and Zhu Rong.

Shen Lang revealed that he had defeated the Blood Soul Army and infiltrated the palace, rescuing Ning Yuanxian and overturning Ning Shao’s court assembly. He reunited with Ning Yuanxian and freed Ning Zheng, who welcomed him as emperor.

• Ning Shao celebrated the supposed victory over Shen Lang and ordered Ning Zheng, Bian Xiao, and Zhang Chong punished; Ning Zheng and Bian Xiao refused to denounce Shen Lang, while Ning Qi refused to execute Ning Zheng and was imprisoned.
• Ning Shao presented a box he claimed held Shen Lang’s head, but it contained Eunuch Nian’s head; Shen Lang revealed himself, and the supposed Blood Soul Army soldiers removed their helmets to show they were Amazon Warriors.
• Shen Lang exposed the slaughtered Blood Soul Army’s heads and forced Zhu Hongzhu and Zhu Rong to kneel and applaud; Ning Yuanxian revealed that he had been pretending to be mad and embraced Shen Lang.
• Shen Lang took Ning Yuanxian to rest, where they shared jelly and Yaoyao’s painting; Consort Su saw that Ning Yuanxian was lucid, and Ning Yuanxian asked Shen Lang to return to his subjects.
• Shen Lang returned to the hall, unlocked Ning Zheng’s shackles, and received Ning Zheng’s formal greeting as emperor.

Shen Lang took control of the Yue court, restored Ning Zheng to the throne, and ordered the arrest and public humiliation of officials who remained loyal to Great Yan. The chapter ended with Shen Lang sentencing Ning Shao to death by a thousand cuts.

• Shen Lang accepted the allegiance of Ning Zheng, Ning Qi, and hundreds of other officials, while Ning Yi was sentenced to exile and Ning Luo was taken away under arrest.
• Shen Lang crowned Ning Zheng King of Yue, and Ning Zheng declared the kingdom’s allegiance to the Great Qian Dynasty and appointed new ministers and military officials.
• Thousands of officials who continued to support Great Yan resigned and were arrested; Shen Lang shackled Zhu Hongzhu and other senior nobles and ordered them paraded through the streets before imprisonment.
• Ning Shao tried to leave for Reaching Heaven Temple, but Shen Lang ordered the guards to seize him and execute him by a thousand cuts.

Shen Lang destroyed the Reaching Heaven Temple forces in the palace after Master Kong Zheng tried to take Ning Shao away, then executed Ning Shao and secured Yue Kingdom’s break from the Great Yan Empire. The capital learned of Shen Lang’s victory, while Princess Ning Luo and Zhu Minmin faced the personal consequences of the regime’s collapse; news of the battle spread across the world.

• Shen Lang rejected Master Kong Zheng’s demand to take Ning Shao, and sealed the palace gates when the Reaching Heaven Temple monk soldiers confronted his army.
• Shen Lang’s Amazon Legion used Ancient Bow and Arrow weapons to annihilate the three thousand monk soldiers, while his Grandmasters defeated Master Kong Zheng and Shen Lang killed him.
• Shen Lang blinded Ning Shao and ordered his execution by a thousand cuts, while Ning Zheng’s edict declared Yue Kingdom’s allegiance to the Great Qian Dynasty.
• The capital’s citizens celebrated Shen Lang’s victory and pelted the shackled Zhu Hongzhu, Zhu Rong, Ning Yu, Ning Yi, Ning Luo, and Zhu Clan officials with rotten food.
• Shen Lang gave Princess Ning Luo poison, and she took it and died; Zhu Minmin returned to her family and mourned her life and her feelings for Ning Yuanxian.
• News of Shen Lang’s victory at the Great Decisive Battle of Tianyue City spread across the world.

After Shen Lang’s victory at Tianyue City, he punished former enemies and told Yue Kingdom to focus on the New Policy and rebuilding rather than preparing for immediate war. He and Zhang Chong expected the world to remain briefly calm while the Chu King and Wu King chose whether to resist the Great Yan Empire, leaving Shen Lang ready to protect all three kingdoms if they pledged allegiance to Great Qian.

• Yue Kingdom’s people celebrated Shen Lang’s victory and placed their hopes in Ning Zheng’s plans to implement the New Policy and curb land annexation.
• Shen Lang marked every Wu Family member on a roster for execution, while telling Tang Yun that the Yue King would judge his remaining crimes and that Tang Yan had become a Grandmaster.
• Zhu Hongzhu told Zhu Hongping to wait for the Chu King and Wu King’s response, predicting that their resistance could prompt the Great Yan Empire to destroy Wu, Chu, and Yue; he also ordered Zhu Ning to commit real suicide rather than marry Jin MuCong.
• Shen Lang told Ning Zheng that Yue Kingdom would face no immediate war and should rebuild its national strength instead of raising a conventional army.
• Zhang Chong explained that the Great Yan Emperor was waiting for the Chu King and Wu King to choose whether to resist, and Shen Lang said he would protect their kingdoms if they pledged allegiance to Great Qian.

Zhu Ning drank a potion that made her appear terminally ill to prevent a marriage proposal, but Shen Lang exposed the deception and saved her while warning the Zhu Clan that it had ruined its chance to reconcile with him. In the Wu Kingdom, the Wu King waited for news from Tianyue City as the court moved against Wu Zhi; after learning Shen Lang had won, he ordered the Imperial Guard to prepare to crush the rebellion.

• Zhu Ning rejected marriage to Jin MuCong, but Zhu Hongping urged her to drink a potion that would make her appear to have consumption and deter Shen Lang.
• Shen Lang visited the Zhu residence, identified Zhu Ning's illness as a bacterial infection, and gave her penicillin while declaring that he would never again propose a match between her and Jin MuCong.
• Shen Lang accused the Zhu Clan of deceiving him and warned that its members would one day regret closing the door to his goodwill.
• Zhang Danfeng presented Wang Qingan's confessions and forged-looking land records implicating Wu Zhi, while the Wu King refused to abandon his uncle and waited for the battle's outcome.
• The Lian Prince arrived from Yan Capital and moved to arrest Wu Zhi as the cabinet convicted him in the land-grabbing murder case.
• Wu You reported that Shen Lang had annihilated Zhu Hongxue's Blood Soul Army, and the Wu King ordered the Imperial Guard to prepare for battle and declared he would crush the rebellion.

The Wu King crushed the Great Yan Empire’s control over Wu, executed the Inner Cabinet leaders, and declared that Wu would pledge allegiance to Shen Lang’s Great Qian Dynasty. In Chu, the Empress Dowager died rather than accuse her son, and the Chu King purged the rebels and also broke with the Great Yan Dynasty to recognize Great Qian.

• Lian Prince led three thousand Great Yan Empire martial artists into the Wu Palace, but the Wu King’s Imperial Guards surrounded them and forced them to surrender.
• The Wu King marched on Deer Garden with tens of thousands of troops, defeated the Inner Cabinet, and ordered its officials and Zhang Danfeng’s clan executed after officials exposed the fabricated case against Wu Zhi.
• The Wu King declared that Wu would no longer obey the Great Yan Dynasty and sent Princess Anyou to ask Shen Lang whether he would accept Wu’s allegiance.
• The Chu Empress Dowager refused to accuse the Chu King and died in a fiery burst as he swore revenge on the Great Yan Empire and its allies.
• The Chu King killed the rebels within the palace, cut down the Great Yan Dynasty’s banner, and declared that Chu would recognize the Great Qian Dynasty as its eastern orthodox ruler.

The Chu King and Wu King prepared to die defending their kingdoms, sending their sons to Shen Lang as a hope for the future. Shen Lang promised to protect them, founded Great Qian Dynasty with Yue, Wu, and Chu as its first vassal kingdoms, and married Zhang Chunhua before Princess Ning Han appeared in Raging Tide City.

• The Chu King and Wu King accepted that their armies would be defeated by Great Yan and sent their Crown Princes to Shen Lang, while the Wu King charged Wu Huai'en with protecting his son.
• Ning Yuanxian left Yue Kingdom for Raging Tide City with his household, and Shen Lang returned to find the city transformed into a vast industrial and military base.
• Shen Lang welcomed Wu You and her son Leopard, decreed that Jin Shiying would marry Wu You, and received the Crown Princes of Wu and Chu.
• Shen Lang promised to protect the Wu King, the Chu King, and their kingdoms despite the coming invasion.
• Shen Lang formally established Great Qian Dynasty, with Yue, Wu, and Chu as its first vassal kingdoms and Raging Tide City as its secondary capital.
• Shen Lang married Zhang Chunhua using the name Jiang Lang, and Princess Ning Han arrived in Raging Tide City.