Chapter Summaries

Shen Fei, Asuna, Kirito, and Diabel led the raid against Kobold Lord Ilfang, defeating its elite minions before fighting the boss. When Ilfang switched to an unexpected weapon and threatened Diabel, Shen Fei blocked the attack and then rushed to finish the weakened boss.

• Diabel split the raid party to isolate and defeat the three elite Ruin Kobolds, with Shen Fei and Asuna handling one of them.
• The players regrouped and attacked Kobold Lord Ilfang, rotating between defense and offense as their HP fell.
• When a switching mistake threatened the formation, Shen Fei blocked Ilfang’s attack and Asuna revealed herself by striking the boss before retreating.
• Ilfang switched to a long tachi instead of the expected curved blade and nearly struck Diabel, but Shen Fei blocked the blow and was knocked back with him.
• Shen Fei rushed back toward the low-HP boss and used Eight Directions Strike to finish it off.

Shen Fei cleared Aincrad’s early-floor bosses with his Shadow Clones while players struggled to organize raids. After Diabel died attempting to steal the fifth-floor boss’s final blow, Shen Fei ordered his Shadow Clones to kill Ya Wang without waiting any longer.

• Shen Fei defeated the first-floor boss, opened the path to Urbus, and parted ways with Diabel, Kirito, Klein, Agil, and Asuna.
• Shen Fei trained the Wind Release Rasenshuriken while players explored the second floor and Diabel’s party failed to defeat its boss.
• Shen Fei and his Shadow Clones killed the Bull General, then cleared the third- and fourth-floor bosses as Diabel’s raids struggled.
• Ya Wang spread rumors blaming Shen Fei for secretly clearing bosses, prompting Shen Fei to order his Shadow Clones to kill him.
• Diabel died during the fifth-floor boss raid after attempting to steal the final blow, and Ya Wang blamed Shen Fei for the disaster.
• Shen Fei ordered his Shadow Clones to kill Ya Wang, and one clone said he had just finished making a new potion.

After Ya Wang died during a failed attempt to clear the fifth-floor boss, Shen Fei recruited a high-level thief and joined forces with other players to defeat it. The raid revived the players’ hope and sped up progress through SAO, though the tenth floor briefly stalled the advance before Heathcliff’s Knights of the Blood Oath cleared it.

• Ya Wang led a raid against the fifth-floor boss, but its disorienting mechanisms caused heavy losses and killed him.
• Shen Fei and his three Shadow Clones tried the boss themselves, retreated, and decided they needed a high-level thief to dismantle its mechanisms.
• Shen Fei asked Argo to find a thief, and Asuna insisted on joining the next raid; Kirito, Klein, Agil, and others came along as well.
• Shen Fei led the group to the fifth-floor boss, and they defeated it without losing anyone.
• The raid’s success restored players’ hope, guilds formed, and major guilds quickly cleared floors six through nine.
• The Knights of the Blood Oath, led by Heathcliff, defeated the tenth-floor boss and renewed the clearing progress.

Shen Fei warned Kirito that the Black Cats of the Full Moon were too weak to safely enter labyrinth areas, then followed the progress of the frontline raid toward the twenty-second floor. Once there, he began searching for the cabin where he hoped to find Yui and confront Heathcliff.

• Shen Fei saw that Kirito had joined the Black Cats of the Full Moon and learned he had joined after saving them on the eleventh floor.
• Shen Fei cautioned Kirito that the Black Cats were in danger if they entered a labyrinth, and Kirito agreed to tell them the truth and guide them somewhere safer.
• Shen Fei spotted the Holy Dragon Alliance preparing to raid the twentieth-floor boss while the Knights of the Blood Oath planned to challenge it as well.
• After the twentieth- and twenty-first-floor bosses were defeated, Shen Fei reached the twenty-second floor and searched the forest for the little wooden cabin.

Shen Fei and Asuna celebrated the forest cabin with a bonfire gathering, where their friends discussed the growing danger posed by Laughing Coffin. After Asuna’s vacation ended, Shen Fei spent the day with her near the cabin and reflected on how soon Fairy Dance would be ready.

• Shen Fei moved into the forest cabin on the twenty-second floor, and Asuna decorated it and accepted a key.
• Shen Fei and Asuna hosted a bonfire banquet attended by Kirito, Sachi, Klein, Agil, Argo the Rat, and Lisbeth.
• Agil warned the group about attacks by Laughing Coffin, and Shen Fei considered capturing its members and imprisoning them.
• Klein approached Lisbeth after his friends encouraged him, but he returned disappointed.
• Lisbeth left after teasing Shen Fei and Asuna, who then spent the night in separate beds.
• Shen Fei spent Asuna’s final vacation day with her near the cabin and noted that Fairy Dance was nearly complete.

Shen Fei worked on a difficult GGO launch and a hand-seal-based Naruto game while waiting for Yui to develop independent consciousness in SAO. After Kirito married Sachi, Shen Fei searched for wedding rings for Asuna and encountered Laughing Coffin on the nineteenth floor, where he began fighting them.

• Shen Fei decided not to launch GGO with real-cash currency exchanges and continued developing a Naruto game that required players to perform complete hand-seal sequences.
• As the SAO campaign neared the fiftieth floor, Shen Fei wondered why Yui had not appeared, while the Knights of the Blood Oath remained the top guild.
• Kirito married Sachi in Floria, and Klein teased Shen Fei and Asuna about getting married; Shen Fei asked Agil where he could find wedding rings.
• Agil directed Shen Fei to a possible source of wedding rings, and Shen Fei traveled to the nineteenth floor, where he spotted Laughing Coffin members attacking a woman.
• Shen Fei warned his Shadow Clones, attacked the three Laughing Coffin members, and cut apart one man's Teleport Crystal as his opponents used poison.

Shen Fei saved Grimseld from Laughing Coffin and helped expose her husband Grimlock’s betrayal, then bought her rare Agility ring for Asuna. He told Asuna about the incident and admitted he had another side, and she accepted his wedding ring while teasing that their feelings might change in reality.

• Shen Fei killed Johnny Black after destroying his Teleport Crystal, and the other Laughing Coffin members fled without using theirs.
• Shen Fei gave Grimseld an antidote and learned that she was the Golden Apple Guild’s leader and suspected someone had hired the attackers.
• Grimseld returned to her guild with Shen Fei, confronted Grimlock over his betrayal, divorced him, and expelled him from the guild.
• Grimseld gave Shen Fei her twenty-Agility ring, and he bought it from her with Col and equipment for Asuna.
• Shen Fei learned that Laughing Coffin’s remaining members had escaped his Shadow Clone and resolved to wait for data from Kayaba Akihiko.
• Shen Fei told Asuna about Grimseld and Grimlock and revealed he had another side; Asuna took a wedding ring and teased him about their future in reality.

After finding Yui in the forest, Shen Fei and Asuna took her in and searched for her family, while Heathcliff secretly observed Yui’s emergence as an independent lifeform. The chapter ended with Laughing Coffin cornering Shen Fei’s Shadow Clones, only to discover that Akatsuki had sealed them in to trap the guild instead.

• Shen Fei and Asuna found an unconscious girl in the forest, and she woke the next day identifying herself as Yui and calling them Daddy and Mommy.
• Shen Fei and Asuna took Yui to Teacher Sasha, but neither she nor the other children recognized Yui, so the three returned to the twenty-second floor.
• Heathcliff watched Shen Fei, Asuna, and Yui, knowing Yui had broken free of her system restrictions and choosing to observe her.
• Asuna searched for Yui’s family with help from Argo’s intelligence network, but found no clues, while Yui enjoyed spending time with Shen Fei and Asuna.
• PoH led Red-Eyed Xaxa and twenty other Laughing Coffin members to ambush Shen Fei’s Shadow Clones, but Nagato sealed the area with a Corridor Crystal to prevent Laughing Coffin from escaping.

Nagato and the other Shadow Clones wiped out Laughing Coffin’s officers, while Shen Fei prepared to confront Kayaba Akihiko. Shen Fei revealed Kayaba’s identity and brought him into the real world, where he explained that the future Kayaba expected had changed and that his original plan had failed.

• Nagato and two Shadow Clones killed PoH and Laughing Coffin’s officers, including Red-Eyed Xaxa and Kuradeel, despite the guild’s numerical advantage.
• Asuna returned to the raid party and told Shen Fei that Heathcliff wanted to see him; Heathcliff asked Shen Fei to join the Knights of the Blood Oath.
• Shen Fei asked Heathcliff whether he should call him Kayaba Akihiko, then revealed that he was a sorcerer from another world and proposed they meet in reality.
• Shen Fei logged out and met Kayaba Akihiko at his villa, where he helped Kayaba recover and assured him Koujiro Rinko was safe.
• Shen Fei told Kayaba that his original plan had failed: his identity was exposed on the seventy-fifth floor, where he and his opponent died together, and someone had broken through his system’s limits.

Shen Fei arranged for Kayaba Akihiko to end SAO, preserve Yui, and face the aftermath under a new identity, while Asuna and the other players returned to reality. After visiting Asuna and introducing her to Yui, Shen Fei left her with questions about his origins as the authorities began investigating the game's sudden end and Kayaba's technology.

• Shen Fei told Kayaba Akihiko that he could eventually make Aincrad real with the Infinity Stones, then persuaded him to shut down SAO and make amends under a new identity.
• Kayaba Akihiko announced that the game had been cleared, and Yui regained her memories, revealed that she was Prototype One, and warned Asuna to log out before Aincrad's data was deleted.
• Shen Fei saved Yui's data as Aincrad collapsed, logged out, and created a temporary pendant vessel so Yui could appear in the real world.
• Shen Fei visited Asuna in the hospital, used a restorative spell to improve her condition, and explained that he was a sorcerer from another world and that Kayaba Akihiko was still alive.
• Asuna agreed to keep Yui and Kayaba's identities secret, while Shen Fei left her to recover and the authorities began investigating SAO's sudden end.

Shen Fei answered the authorities’ questions about the mysterious SAO players Nagato, Itachi, and Sasuke, then helped Koujiro Rinko reunite with Kayaba Akihiko. As the Konno Yuuki sisters used Kayaba’s dive medical system, Shen Fei ordered an investigation into how they had contracted AIDS.

• Seijiro Kikuoka questioned Shen Fei about the identities of Nagato, Itachi, and Sasuke, but Shen Fei said he knew nothing about their real lives.
• Seijiro Kikuoka asked Kirito about Akatsuki, and Kirito praised its leader’s ability to save players while admitting he knew little about him.
• Shen Fei accompanied Asuna as she practiced flying in Fairy Dance, while Yui needed no practice because she had game-master authority.
• Shen Fei brought Koujiro Rinko to the research institute, where she recognized Kayaba Akihiko alive and reunited with him.
• Shen Fei learned that the Konno Yuuki sisters were using Kayaba Akihiko’s dive medical system and ordered the Red Queen to investigate whether their contaminated blood transfusion had been deliberate.

Shen Fei exposed the corrupt logistics supervisor, arranged treatment for Konno Yuuki, Konno Aiko, and the sick members of the Sleeping Knights, and learned that their experiments were connected to Project Alicization. As Fairy Dance prepared its next update and the group reunited after SAO, Shen Fei also heard about a rival GGO and helped Kayaba Akihiko develop a Naruto game framework.

• Shen Fei sent evidence of the logistics supervisor’s embezzlement to the authorities and online, then planned legal action against the relatives who had exposed the Konno sisters’ illness and wished them dead.
• After acquiring the medical research institute, Shen Fei met Konno Yuuki and Konno Aiko and promised to treat them, while asking them to stop using full-dive immersion.
• Asuna met the sisters and joined the Sleeping Knights in a boss battle, after which Shen Fei gathered their other seriously ill members at the institute.
• Kayaba Akihiko and Koujiro Rinko told Shen Fei that the sisters’ experiment was connected to Project Alicization, while the team completed Aincrad’s reconstruction and learned that a rival game offered real-money currency exchanges.
• Kayaba Akihiko and the artificial intelligence system completed the general framework for a Naruto game, and Shen Fei discussed James Halliday and the limits of the world of Ready Player One.
• Shen Fei, Asuna, Kirito, and their friends reunited at Agil’s café, where Klein tried to get Kirito to introduce him to Kirigaya Suguha and Kirito refused.

Shen Fei left the Sword Art Online world after preparing for Asuna’s safety and continued developing games and technology in other worlds. In the Qin Era World, Qin prepared to conquer Wei and Zhao simultaneously, while Wang Jian’s forces flooded Daliang City to avoid a costly assault.

• Shen Fei discussed the returned Aincrad, the ninja game, the Red Queen’s upgrade, and Project Alicization with Kirito and the others.
• Shen Fei and Asuna revisited their forest cabin, agreed to wait before making further decisions about their relationship, and said goodbye at a banquet before Shen Fei left a Shadow Clone behind.
• Shen Fei took the Naruto stealth game to Nagato’s group and introduced a Naruto-themed card game, where Shikamaru beat Kiba with a lucky Sage of Six Paths card.
• Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha quickly crushed Gengo’s rebellion in the Land of Silence, preserving the peace under the Land of Akatsuki’s rule.
• Shen Fei went to the Qin Era World, recovered his Shadow Clone’s knowledge of Alkahestry, and learned that Qin planned simultaneous campaigns against Wei and Zhao.
• Wang Jian and his son chose to flood Daliang City instead of storming its defenses, while Yan, Qi, and Chu withheld aid.

Shen Fei observed Qin’s campaigns against Wei and Zhao while reflecting on the advantages of Ying Zheng’s rapid unification plan and Qin’s preparations. After watching Wang Jian’s forces besiege Daliang, Shen Fei exposed the maid serving him as the Black Kirin, who calmly asked how he had been discovered.

• Shen Fei reconsidered his preference for gradual conquest after recognizing that rapid unification could prevent the six kingdoms from forming an alliance against Qin.
• Qin’s intelligence network bought off ministers in Yan, Qi, and Chu to delay aid to Wei and Zhao, while Li Mu was kept from commanding Zhao’s army.
• Shen Fei watched Wang Jian’s army assemble against Wei and learned that the siege of Daliang was a feint as Wang Jian prepared to flood the city.
• Wang Jian explained that Qin’s mechanical forces and improved logistics strengthened the army, while Shen Fei insisted he would not interfere in military operations.
• Shen Fei confronted the maid serving him in a town behind the camp and identified her as the Black Kirin.
• Black Kirin remained calm after being exposed and asked Shen Fei how he had discovered the disguise.

Shen Fei exposed Black Kirin’s attempt to infiltrate his residence, then watched Qin’s campaign destroy Wei and Zhao. After killing Dian Qing to break Wei’s defense, Qin captured Daliang, and the chapter ended with Zhao falling after the King of Zhao killed Li Mu.

• Shen Fei detected Black Kirin disguised as a maid and used World loses color to learn that the real maid was safe, then let Black Kirin go.
• Wei Zhuang learned Black Kirin had failed and redirected Quicksand toward Yan Kingdom as Qin’s forces flooded Daliang.
• After the floodwaters receded, Dian Qing held Wei’s city gates against Qin’s army until Shen Fei killed him with a thrown halberd.
• Qin’s forces entered Daliang while Xing Hun and the Young Commander pursued the fleeing King of Wei.
• Zhao Kingdom fell after its gates were opened from within, and the King of Zhao’s killing of Li Mu kept the Hu Blade Knights from defending Handan.

As Qin Kingdom moved against Yan Kingdom and Chu Kingdom, Shen Fei exposed Lord Changping’s ambitions and Yan Dan’s role in Six-Fingered Black Hero’s death, stirring turmoil in both states. Yan Dan’s reputation collapsed just as he prepared to pursue an assassination plan against Ying Zheng.

• Ying Zheng learned that Lord Changping had fled Qin Kingdom and considered the threat posed by his ambitions in Chu Kingdom.
• Shen Fei left Wang Jian’s forces and traveled toward Yan Kingdom as Qin Kingdom occupied Daliang and provided relief and work to its residents.
• Shen Fei ordered Meng Tian to publicize Yan Dan’s plan to surrender and the truth about his role in Six-Fingered Black Hero’s assassination.
• Shen Fei’s announcements exposed Lord Changping’s plot against the King of Chu, forcing Lord Changping to flee Shouchun and plunging Chu Kingdom into turmoil.
• Wei Zhuang criticized Yan Dan and the King of Yan for relying on an assassination plan, then Dao Zhi delivered a leaflet depicting Yan Dan’s role in Six-Fingered Black Hero’s murder.
• Yan Dan’s allies read the leaflet’s detailed accusations, leaving the Mohist leaders silent as Yan Dan spat blood.

Shen Fei’s propaganda campaign exposed Yan Dan’s past, weakening the Mohists as Qin prepared to conquer Yan. After Shen Fei uncovered Jing Ke’s assassination plan and captured him, Qin crossed the Yi River, beginning the war with Yan.

• Flyers and loudspeaker announcements about Yan Dan’s role in the Six-Fingered Black Hero’s death spread through Ji City, provoking anger and unrest among the Mohists.
• Xue Nu and Gao Jianli left the Mohists after learning Yan Dan had used Dongjun Yanfei and blamed her for the Black Hero’s death.
• Dao Zhi and the Mohist leaders discovered that Xue Nu and Gao Jianli had departed, while Duanmu Rong and Nian Duan had gone to Xianyang to develop the Medical School under Qin’s support.
• Shen Fei recognized Jing Ke and Qin Wuyang as assassins when Jing Ke arrived with Yan Dan’s head and a map of Yan; he seized Jing Ke’s sword and restrained both men.
• Meng Wu ordered the army to cross the Yi River after Yan’s assassination attempt, and the war between Qin and Yan began as Meng Tian’s vanguard faced two thousand Yan soldiers.

As Qin's army fought Yan, Shen Fei and Meng Tian exploited Yan Yi's betrayal to pressure Big Iron Hammer's troops, while Shen Fei killed A Gang and froze Big Iron Hammer. After Jing Ke and Qin Wuyang were rescued by Flowing Sand, the Qin offensive advanced to Yan's capital, Ji City, with the Mohists absent from the battlefield.

• Meng Tian learned from A Gang that Yan Yi had betrayed Yan and persuaded Big Iron Hammer's forces to consider surrendering.
• A Gang revealed that Yan Yi had killed the Yan soldiers who escaped the Qin encirclement, then tried to attack Meng Tian and was killed by Qin soldiers after Shen Fei stopped him.
• Big Iron Hammer charged Shen Fei to avenge A Gang, but Shen Fei froze him and decided to hand him over to Gongshu Chou for use as a mechanical soldier.
• The remaining Yan soldiers charged the Qin army, and Meng Tian ordered his troops to counterattack with crossbow bolts.
• Flowing Sand rescued Jing Ke and Qin Wuyang, after which Meng Wu and Meng Tian intensified their offensive and advanced to Ji City while the Mohists stayed away from the battlefield.

Qin Kingdom captured Ji City after Yan Yi opened its gates, and Yan Dan killed Yan Yi before fleeing as Shen Fei froze the burning manor. After Qin Kingdom occupied most of Yan Kingdom, The Xiongnu and other foreign tribes invaded the border, prompting Shen Fei to respond.

• Yan Yi opened Ji City's gates to the Qin Army, and most of the city's defenders surrendered as the King of Yan became a prisoner.
• Yan Dan and Dao Zhi confronted Yan Yi at his residence; Yan Dan grievously wounded him and set the manor ablaze before escaping on a Mechanical Vermillion Bird.
• Shen Fei froze the burning manor, while Donghuang Taiyi and Dongjun Yanfei watched from a nearby pavilion.
• The Xiongnu and other foreign tribes invaded Yan Kingdom's undefended northern border, and Meng Tian led one hundred thousand Golden Fire Cavalry to confront them.
• Shen Fei grew enraged at the foreign invasion and used Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation.

Shen Fei crushed the Xiongnu and Donghu forces threatening Yan Kingdom, rescued tens of thousands of captives, and left Meng Tian to secure the pass. He then went to Xinzheng, where unrest backed by Lord Changping and the Iron and Blood Alliance threatened Qin Kingdom’s supply lines.

• Shen Fei used ninjutsu and Shadow Clones to eliminate foreign troops inside the pass, then advanced alone and slaughtered the Xiongnu forces there.
• Shen Fei attacked the Xiongnu and Donghu camps on the Yinshan Grasslands, causing both armies devastating losses and freeing tens of thousands of captives.
• Shen Fei summoned Meng Tian to take charge of the rescued people and the border before leaving for Xinzheng.
• Shen Fei learned that Lord Changping had revealed himself as the leader of the Iron and Blood Alliance and had become King of Chu.
• Shen Fei arrived in Xinzheng, where Mo Ya and his allies were confronting Wei Zhuang’s Quicksand, members of the Hundred Schools of Thought, and the Iron and Blood Alliance.
• Shen Fei noted that Chu Nan Gong had helped Lord Changping take the Chu throne and wondered whether he had sensed a problem.