Chapter Summaries

Zhao Hongming caught and ate a second Silver Spirit Fish, which he recognized as a Dragon Vein and which greatly increased his strength. Meanwhile, envoys from the Five Nations arrived in Daliang for his ascension ceremony, while Lin Bo prepared to assassinate him with a sword secretly rigged by Zuo Jian; the chapter ended with Zhao Hongming receiving a coded letter from Ji Guofu.

• Zhao Hongming caught a second Silver Spirit Fish but failed to find the third in the ancient well.
• Zhao Hongming had an Imperial Chef cook the fish without removing its scales or innards, then drank the soup and felt the National Destiny suppressing him weaken.
• Zhao Hongming tested his newly increased strength and found that consuming the Dragon Vein had made him substantially stronger.
• Lin Bo left Han Country with its delegation to attend Zhao Hongming's ascension and received a powerful sword from Zuo Jian, who had secretly arranged for it to explode later.
• Envoys from the Five Nations entered Daliang, where the heavily guarded capital made them more determined to assassinate Zhao Hongming.
• Zhao Hongming received an unsigned, specially protected letter from Zhao Country and recognized it as intelligence from Ji Guofu.

Zhao Hongming prepared for an assassination attempt before his enthronement by inviting Wei Country’s Martial Arts Forces and arranging for the God-Demon Weapon to be completed. On the ceremony day, he moved the event into the Imperial Palace, leaving the envoys plotting against him alarmed and unsure how to proceed.

• After reading Ji Guofu’s intelligence about the envoys’ hostile intentions, Zhao Hongming ordered Wu Hanwen to invite every Martial Arts Force in Wei Country to the enthronement ceremony.
• Zhao Hongming asked Chen Mou to finish the God-Demon Weapon before the ceremony and showed him the high-grade demon core in the Silver Scale Spear, which could help reduce its side effects.
• Zhao Hongming ordered Gao Yanshi to strengthen security, and Martial Warriors from across Wei Country traveled to Great Liang City as news of the invitations spread.
• The envoys, including Lin Bo of the Heavenly People, prepared to assassinate Zhao Hongming, but discovered that the ceremony would be held in the Imperial Palace instead of outside the city.
• Zhao Hongming donned his Dragon Robe in the Hall of Supreme Harmony and explained to Gao Yanshi that he had moved the ceremony inside the Seven Stars Heaven Severing Grand Formation for protection.

Zhao Hongming held his coronation inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony, completed the rites, and took the throne as Wei’s Martial Emperor. As foreign envoys presented gifts, Lin Bo of Han Country revealed a hidden magical treasure and launched an attack on Zhao Hongming.

• Zhao Hongming moved the coronation ceremony into the Imperial Palace, where the Nation Protecting Array and Imperial Guards Army could protect him.
• Zhao Hongming offered sacrifice to Heaven, proclaimed the Jianwu era, and received the ministers’ salutations as the Martial Emperor of Wei.
• Envoys from Zhao, Yan, Qi, and Chu presented gifts, while the martial forces among the delegations hesitated to act.
• Lin Bo, the Heavenly People Sect Leader hidden in Han Country’s delegation, stepped forward to present a magical treasure and asked to approach Zhao Hongming.
• After Zhao Hongming ordered Lin Bo to remain at a distance and write down the treasure’s activation method, Lin Bo opened the Sword Box and sent a streak of silver light toward him.

During Zhao Hongming’s coronation, Lin Bo of Han Country tried to assassinate him, but Zhao Hongming survived, summoned Wei Country’s God-Demon Weapon, and killed Lin Bo and the Han delegation. He announced that Wei Country would destroy Han Country, crushed the remaining opposition, and secured support for the campaign.

• Lin Bo attacked Zhao Hongming with a magic treasure sword during the coronation, but Zhao Hongming caught it between his fingers and crushed it with the Seven Stars Heaven Severing Grand Formation.
• Zhao Hongming summoned Wei Country’s God-Demon Weapon and killed Lin Bo with a single slash, then used national destiny to slaughter Han Country’s delegation.
• The envoys of the other four nations denied involvement, and Zhao Hongming warned them that Wei Country would attack any nation that aided Han Country.
• Zhao Hongming sent the envoys away and declared to Wei Country’s officials and martial forces that he would make Han Country pay for the assassination attempt.
• When several martial forces objected to war, Zhao Hongming killed the objectors with his blade; Lan Tianjiao and General Cen Xiu then pledged Zhengyi Sect’s and the army’s support for the campaign.

After Zhao Hongming executed the Han Country delegation and declared his intent to destroy Han, the realm reacted with fear and upheaval. Following his ancestral sacrifice, the Clan Elder revealed the First Generation King's hidden tomb and the command carved on his coffin: “Unify the nations, National Destiny immortality.”

• Zhao Yongxu learned that Zhao Hongming had killed the Han Country envoy and Heavenly People's Sect Leader Lin, and realized the enthronement ceremony had been used to prepare for a war against Han Country.
• Martial Arts Forces and foreign envoys left Daliang in fear, and news of Zhao Hongming’s power spread across the nations; some smaller forces joined Wei Elite Soldiers.
• Xuanhui Emperor Han Wei summoned Wu Daitian and Min Zong after the failed assassination, and they urged him to stabilize the Heavenly People organization and promised to help defend Han Country.
• Zuo Jian learned that Lin Bo’s assassination had failed despite the quasi-magical treasure he provided and worried about Sword Casting Villa’s worsening situation.
• Zhao Hongming completed the ancestral rites and followed the Clan Elder through a hidden passage to the First Generation King’s tomb, where the coffin bore the words “Unify the nations, National Destiny immortality.”

After completing the ancestral rite, Zhao Hongming secretly reclaimed National Destiny that seemed to flow toward the First Wei King, then mobilized a 450,000-strong army to attack Han. Zhang Yi went to Chu and offered it Han territory in exchange for neutrality, but the chapter ended with him negotiating the terms before King Lie of Chu and Hai Chaosheng.

• Zhao Hongming performed the First Wei King's three bows and nine kowtows, sensed National Destiny gathering toward the corpse, and used the Martial Beginning Scripture to draw it back.
• Zhao Hongming ordered an army of 450,000, led by Wu Qi with Cen Xiu as deputy, to attack Han after the Beginning of Spring.
• Zhao Hongming sent Zhang Yi to Chu to keep it from supporting Han, and Zhang Yi offered Chu eight hundred li of land taken from Han.
• King Lie of Chu considered Zhang Yi's offer and summoned Hai Chaosheng, the Red River Palace Lord, to weigh in on an alliance with Wei.
• Zhang Yi assured Hai Chaosheng that Wei would cede the land if Chu stayed out of the war, and offered the same terms even if Chu refused to ally with Wei.

Zhao Hongming secured Chu Country’s neutrality and personally rode toward the front as Wei’s campaign against Han Country advanced. Outside Xinzheng, the first major battle ended with heavy losses on both sides, and the masked Sect Master Min Zong appeared before Jiang Yuguang’s war council.

• Hai Chaosheng approved Zhang Yi’s proposal, and King Lie of Chu severed relations with Han Country, appointed Zhang Yi prime minister, and agreed to claim eight hundred li of Han territory for Chu.
• Zhao Hongming received Wu Qi’s report about the campaign’s slow progress, learned Chu had refused to aid Han, and decided to personally lead an expedition.
• Zhao Hongming rode out with a hundred-man squad while Wu Qi’s forces approached Xinzheng.
• Jiang Yuguang’s Han army and Wu Qi’s Wei army fought outside Xinzheng; a Han ambush disrupted Wei’s formations, and Wu Qi eventually withdrew after both sides suffered heavy casualties.
• Jiang Yuguang’s officers discussed Xinzheng’s precarious defenses until the masked Sect Master Min Zong emerged from the room’s shadows.

Min Zong infiltrated the Wei camp to assassinate Wu Qi, but Zhao Hongming intercepted and killed him. Wu Qi arrived afterward, learned that the Emperor had slain the leader of the Heavenly People, and was relieved to have escaped the assassination.

• Min Zong urged Jiang Yuguang and the Han officers to prepare a diversion while he went to assassinate Wu Qi.
• Zhao Hongming arrived at the Wei camp, entered Wu Qi’s command tent, concealed his aura with an Array Flag, and cultivated while Wu Qi slept elsewhere.
• Min Zong infiltrated the camp and mistook Zhao Hongming for Wu Qi, but Zhao Hongming disarmed him and revealed his identity as Emperor Jianwu.
• Zhao Hongming restrained Min Zong with an array and killed him with his Dharma Form and National Destiny.
• Wu Qi came to the command tent, found Min Zong’s corpse, and learned that Zhao Hongming had killed the assassin who had targeted him.

After Min Zong’s death, Wu Qi lured Jiang Yuguang’s Han army into a trap and led the Wei forces in an ambush. Zhao Hongming joined the battle, and Wu Qi killed Jiang Yuguang as the Han troops were slaughtered.

• Wu Qi proposed setting a false scene of chaos in the Wei camp to lure the Han army into an ambush, and Zhao Hongming approved.
• Wu Qi’s soldiers staged a burning, disorderly camp while the rest of the Wei army secretly surrounded it.
• Jiang Yuguang led thirty thousand Han soldiers into the camp, discovered Min Zong’s corpse, and realized they had fallen into a trap.
• Wei troops attacked from all sides, and Jiang Yuguang broke out with several generals before encountering Wu Qi, Zhao Hongming, and the Wei Elite Soldiers.
• The Wei Elite Soldiers wore Jiang Yuguang down with coordinated formations, and Wu Qi killed him with his saber.
• Zhao Hongming ordered the Wei army to leave no Han troops alive, and the Han soldiers were slaughtered.

Wu Qi’s Wei Army annihilated the Han forces at Xinzheng County, captured the city, and began its advance toward Yangdi. After Zhao Hongming promised the surviving residents protection, Han Emperor Han Wei received the news and ordered his armies to stop resisting and seek peace.

• Wu Qi’s Wei Elite Soldiers helped destroy Jiang Yuguang’s thirty-thousand-man night-raiding force, and Zhao Hongming announced he would stay with the army as it advanced into Han Country.
• Wu Qi’s troops attacked Xinzheng County, while Hu Yanbang led Han soldiers and residents toward the west gate and into Ma Chuanping and Le Yang’s ambush.
• Ma Chuanping and Le Yang’s troops slaughtered the fleeing forces and killed Hu Yanbang after a prolonged fight, leaving no Han army in Xinzheng County.
• Zhao Hongming entered the nearly empty city and told its surviving residents and officials that Wei had come to punish Han’s royal family, not to plunder or slaughter them.
• Days later, Han Emperor Han Wei learned of Min Zong’s death and Zhao Hongming’s campaign, then ordered Han’s regional armies to cease resistance and seek peace.

Shen Wenyuan persuaded Han Country to offer Shangdang's seventeen cities to Zhao Country, and Zhao's court accepted the cession despite Li Mu's warning that it would draw Zhao into war with Wei. Meanwhile, Zhao Hongming broke through to Martial Courage Seventh Grade.

• Shen Wenyuan advised Xuanhui Emperor Han Wei to cede Shangdang's seventeen cities to Zhao Country, and Han Wei dispatched an envoy to Handan.
• Pang She urged Chengxiang Emperor to delay accepting the offer while the Black-Clad Society investigated Han Country's intentions.
• Ji Guofu persuaded Li Mu to return to court and warn Chengxiang Emperor that Han Country wanted to draw Zhao into its war with Wei.
• Li Mu and Pang She argued over the cession, but Chengxiang Emperor decided to accept Shangdang and ordered Li Mu to take over its seventeen cities.
• After three months of cultivation, Zhao Hongming broke through from Martial Courage Sixth Grade to Martial Courage Seventh Grade and flattened a distant hill with a punch.

After reaching Martial Courage Seventh Grade, Zhao Hongming learned that Han Country had ceded Shangdang to Zhao Country and resolved to take the strategic county despite the risks. Zhang Yi provoked conflict between Chu Country and Zhao Country to ease Wei’s pressure, and Zhao Hongming ordered the Wei Army to attack Shangdang at dawn.

• Zhao Hongming broke through to Martial Courage Seventh Grade and sensed that Han Country’s falling cities were increasing the National Destiny upon him.
• After learning Han Country had ceded Shangdang to Zhao Country, Zhao Hongming consulted Wu Qi and Cen Xiu and decided Wei Country must still take the county.
• Zhao Hongming sent an Imperial Edict to Zhang Yi, who manipulated the Chu Country envoys into reporting that Wei could no longer grant Chu the promised land.
• The Chu King sent envoys to Zhao Country and stationed three hundred thousand troops at the border, prompting Zhao Country’s court to sever diplomatic relations with Chu Country and divert troops from Shangdang.
• After receiving Zhang Yi’s report and learning Shangdang’s defenders had fallen from three hundred thousand to two hundred thousand, Zhao Hongming ordered the Wei Army to attack all seventeen cities at dawn.

Li Mu prepared to defend Luzhou City against Wei’s invasion, while Zhou Dingyi joined him to confront Zhao Hongming. Zhao Hongming revealed his rapid cultivation breakthrough during their duel and struck Zhou Dingyi with a pillar of lightning, leaving the battle’s outcome unresolved.

• Jiang Qing reported that four hundred thousand Wei troops, led by Zhao Hongming, were advancing on Shangdang, and Li Mu ordered the Zhao army to prepare for battle.
• Zhou Dingyi arrived and promised that three thousand Vast Righteous Sect Martial Warriors would reinforce Li Mu before sunset.
• Zhao Hongming and Wu Qi led two hundred thousand Wei troops to Luzhou City and launched a siege, but Li Mu’s forces initially held the walls.
• Ma Chuanping and Le Yang led Wei Elite Soldiers onto the city wall, where Zhou Dingyi revealed himself and fought them off.
• Zhao Hongming confronted Zhou Dingyi, and the two exchanged powerful attacks before Zhao revealed he had reached Martial Courage Seventh Grade.
• Zhao Hongming activated the Thunder Annihilation Dharma Body and called down a blue pillar of lightning that struck Zhou Dingyi.

Zhao Hongming killed Zhou Dingyi and led the Wei Army to capture Luzhou, while Li Mu withdrew with the surviving Zhao troops to Anze City. The news alarmed Han Country’s court, which ordered the nation to prepare for war.

• Zhao Hongming used heavenly lightning to kill Zhou Dingyi and break Luzhou’s defenses, and the Dragon Steed smashed through the city gate.
• Wu Qi led the Wei Army’s assault into Luzhou, while Li Mu ordered a retreat toward Anze City and escaped with his generals under cover of the remaining Zhao troops.
• The Wei Army took Luzhou, and Zhao Hongming ordered rewards for military merit, protection for civilians, and the execution of the captured Zhao soldiers.
• Han Country’s ministers panicked after learning Luzhou had fallen and Zhou Dingyi was dead, so Xuanhui Emperor Han Wei ordered a nationwide war alert.
• Li Mu and the Zhao Army reached Anze City, where Zhao troops had prepared the defenses for a prolonged siege.

After Zhao Country refused Li Mu’s request for reinforcements, he prepared Anze City’s restored defensive array to hold back the Wei Army. Zhao Hongming used National Destiny to open a breach, but Li Mu’s troops defended it fiercely, leaving the Battle of Anze unresolved.

• Pang She persuaded Chengxiang Emperor to refuse Li Mu’s request for reinforcements, and the messenger returned to Shangdang empty-handed.
• Li Mu ordered Anze City’s defenses strengthened with a restored ancient array and directed troops from untenable cities to retreat there.
• After capturing six more cities, the Wei Army advanced on Anze City with four hundred thousand troops, while Li Mu commanded its one hundred thousand defenders.
• Li Mu activated the defensive array, whose golden barrier stopped the Wei Army’s initial attacks.
• Zhao Hongming used the Array Dao Scripture to breach the array briefly, but it began repairing itself before the Wei Army could charge through.
• Zhao Hongming combined National Destiny with the Array Dao Scripture to hold open a wider breach, but Li Mu’s troops guarded it and inflicted heavy casualties on the Wei Army.

Zhao Hongming broke through Anze City's damaged array but was trapped by Li Mu's prepared countermeasure, so he withdrew and adopted a scheme to spread rumors that Li Mu was colluding with Wei. The rumors weakened Zhao Army morale, and Ji Guofu ended the chapter by urging the other generals to attack the Wei Army at dawn without Li Mu's consent.

• Zhao Hongming shattered Anze City's City Defense Array, escaped Li Mu's trap, and ordered Wu Qi to withdraw the Wei Army.
• Cen Xiu proposed spreading rumors that Li Mu was colluding with Wei, and Zhao Hongming approved the scheme.
• Zhang Yi and Guo Kai arranged for the rumors to reach the Chengxiang Emperor, who ordered Guo Kai to demand that Li Mu attack.
• Li Mu refused the order, arguing that a reckless attack would bring devastating losses, while rumors spread through the Zhao Army and damaged morale.
• Li Mu's generals pressed him to attack, but he told them to wait; after they left, Ji Guofu urged them to attack the Wei Army at dawn to prove their loyalty.

Zhao Hongming lured the Zhao Army into an ambush outside Anze City, then exploited its losses to break the city’s defenses. Anze City fell to the Wei Army, while Li Mu fled.

• Ji Guofu led three thousand Zhao Army soldiers in a staged attack, drawing tens of thousands more out of Anze City to pursue the supposedly defeated Wei Army.
• Zhao Hongming’s forces trapped the pursuing Zhao Army in the Wei camp, killed its highest-ranking general, and slaughtered the encircled troops.
• Wu Qi urged Zhao Hongming to attack Anze City before Li Mu could reorganize, and Zhao Hongming ordered an immediate assault.
• Li Mu learned that the Zhao Army had been wiped out and ordered his remaining soldiers to defend Anze City as the Wei Army attacked.
• Zhao Hongming shattered the city’s damaged formation, and the Wei Army broke through the defenses and gates.
• Li Mu fled as Zhao Hongming and Wu Qi led the Wei Army into Anze City, which fell into Zhao Hongming’s possession.

Li Mu killed himself after losing Anze City, while Zhao Hongming’s Wei Army conquered Shangdang and advanced to Han Country’s capital. Han Country surrendered, and its newly enthroned king handed Zhao Hongming the Imperial Jade Seal.

• After Anze City fell, Li Mu declared that he could not face Zhao Country and cut his own throat, asking his men to take his head to Handan as proof of his loyalty.
• Li Mu’s confidant presented his head to Chengxiang Emperor, who ordered him given a proper burial, while Pang She celebrated Li Mu’s death and resolved to turn against Wei Country.
• Zhao Hongming’s army captured Shangdang’s remaining cities, killing their Zhao defenders, then marched to Yangdi and surrounded Han Country’s capital.
• Xuanhui Emperor Han Wei accepted Shen Wenyuan’s advice to surrender, passed the throne to Crown Prince An, and sent an envoy to offer terms to Zhao Hongming.
• At the surrender ceremony, Han King An presented Han Country’s Imperial Jade Seal to Zhao Hongming, and the Wei Army cheered as Han Country submitted to Wei rule.

Zhao Hongming took control of Yangdi and ordered Han Country’s Royal Family and ministers to relocate to Great Liang City. After absorbing Han Country’s Imperial Jade Seal and gaining command of its palace formation, he killed the Clan Elder who challenged his authority.

• Zhao Hongming entered Yangdi with the Wei Army, which took control of the city’s defenses, while Han King An and the ministers escorted him to the Imperial Palace.
• Zhao Hongming allowed Shen Wenyuan to leave and then ordered Han Country’s Royal Family and ministers to move to Great Liang City under Wei’s supervision.
• Han King An gave Zhao Hongming the jade slip containing the method for refining Han Country’s Imperial Jade Seal.
• Zhao Hongming absorbed Han Country’s jade seal into the ancient seal within his chest, merging the two nations’ National Destiny and gaining control of Han Country’s Cloud Heaven Blazing Sun Formation.
• After the Clan Elder claimed only Han royal blood could command Han Country’s National Destiny, Zhao Hongming activated the formation and burned him to ash.

After conquering Han Country, Zhao Hongming seized its Royal Armory and treasury, captured a mysterious blacksmith with the Ruan Family Inheritance, and returned to Daliang with Han Country’s princes and nobles under house arrest. The chapter ends as Zhao Hongming prepares to meet an envoy from Chu Country.

• Zhao Hongming took control of Yangdi and Han Country’s Royal Armory, where a chained giant claiming to be a god revealed his fear of National Destiny and surrendered a Divine Sense Technique from the Ruan Family Inheritance.
• Zhao Hongming crippled the giant and ordered him taken to Daliang, then seized the Royal Armory and killed Martial Fanatics who tried to stop his men from moving it.
• Zhao Hongming distributed rewards from Han Country’s treasury, packed up the remaining wealth, and returned toward Daliang with Han Country’s princes and nobles.
• Zhao Hongming placed Han King An and the nobles under house arrest at a temporary palace near Daliang, then entered the city to a public welcome and attended a victory banquet.
• The next morning, Zhao Hongming learned that an envoy from Chu Country had requested an audience and ordered Zhang Langzhong to attend.