Chapter Summaries

Wang Xuan met Dongfang Bubai on the battlefield, where she had come to challenge him, and used persuasion to make her reconsider her purpose. The chapter left Dongfang Bubai captivated by Wang Xuan as he explained what he believed lay behind her choices.

• Dongfang Bubai rushed toward Wang Xuan’s forces, but Yu Sheng rebuked her for demanding a duel with his lord and reminded her that the battlefield was no place for the Demon Cult.
• Wang Xuan stepped out to meet Dongfang Bubai and offered to pay double whatever the Jiangnan nobles had promised her.
• Wang Xuan told Dongfang Bubai to stop living by other people’s expectations and suggested she had come under pressure rather than from her own desire.
• Wang Xuan argued that Dongfang Bubai had grown tired of fighting and had spared the other martial sects because she no longer wanted conflict.
• Wang Xuan interpreted Dongfang Bubai’s treatment of Ren Woxing and Ren Yingying as an attempt to leave her old life behind, while Dongfang Bubai listened in a daze.

Wang Xuan persuaded Dongfang Bubai to abandon her leadership of Ming Cult, but she confessed that she wanted to follow him, leaving him flustered. As Fang Zheng, Chongxu, Linghu Chong, and the Five Great Sword Sects arrived, Wang Xuan cheerfully confronted them.

• Wang Xuan offered Dongfang Bubai wealth, territory, and a restored reputation for Ming Cult, but she said she wanted to follow him instead.
• Dongfang Bubai openly confessed her feelings to Wang Xuan and followed him into his formation after he changed the subject.
• Fang Zheng and Chongxu watched in disbelief, then argued over how Wang Xuan had changed Dongfang Bubai's attitude.
• Linghu Chong arrived loudly to join the campaign against Wang Xuan, and the other members of the Five Great Sword Sects gathered behind him.
• Wang Xuan approached Fang Zheng and Chongxu, jokingly asking to join their demon-slaying operation as someone declared that his time had come.

Wang Xuan confronted the martial artists who had arrived to oppose him, while Linghu Chong’s accusations left Master Fang Zheng and Daoist Chongxu scrambling to distance themselves. Dongfang Bubai arrived and claimed Fang Zheng as her target, and the two leaders backed down, leaving Zuo Lengchan conspicuously absent.

• Linghu Chong denounced Wang Xuan and announced that the righteous martial artists had come to kill him, then realized Zuo Lengchan was missing.
• Daoist Chongxu pulled Linghu Chong aside and denied that he had come to help execute Wang Xuan, explaining that he had followed an imperial summons and Fang Zheng’s invitation.
• Fang Zheng affirmed Chongxu’s explanation and claimed he had come to perform rites for the dead, not to oppose Wang Xuan.
• Dongfang Bubai arrived and asked Wang Xuan to let her settle things with Fang Zheng, prompting Fang Zheng to retreat and defer their dispute.
• Wang Xuan reminded the crowd that Zuo Lengchan had wanted to slay demons, but Zuo remained silent.

Wang Xuan confronted Zuo Lengchan over his crimes and demanded to know who had directed an assassination plot. Fang Zheng killed Zuo Lengchan before he could reveal more, and Wang Xuan left with Dongfang Bubai, warning that the matter was not over.

• Linghu Chong exposed Zuo Lengchan to Wang Xuan and urged him to take charge of punishing the alleged crimes.
• Fang Zheng and Chongxu denied responsibility, and Chongxu argued that the supposed medical experiments had been misunderstood.
• Wang Xuan admitted ordering the acts and demanded that Zuo Lengchan explain his crimes and name the people behind the plot.
• Fang Zheng killed Zuo Lengchan with the Trouble-Removing Finger before he could speak, then listed his crimes to Wang Xuan.
• Wang Xuan left with Dongfang Bubai after warning Fang Zheng that the matter was not over.

After Wang Xuan routed Yang He's three-hundred-thousand-strong army, Fang Congzhe, Gao Panlong, and the other ministers struggled to plan the capital’s defense and summoned foreign allies. Wang Xuan returned to his army while the capital descended into chaos and different groups weighed what his victory might mean for them.

• Fang Congzhe and Gao Panlong received successive reports that Wang Xuan had reached the capital and begun fighting Yang He.
• A messenger reported that Yang He's entire army had been routed, shocking the ministers and clerks in the Grand Secretariat.
• Gao Panlong proposed defending the capital, summoning the Jurchen people and Tatars, and having Dongfang Bubai assassinate Wang Xuan.
• The ministers learned that Dongfang Bubai had declared her love for Wang Xuan and that the Shaolin and Wudang people had returned empty-handed, causing Gao Panlong to collapse.
• The ministers ordered the capital garrison to take up positions on the walls and dispatched messengers to seek foreign assistance.
• Wang Xuan returned to his army with Dongfang Bubai as prisoners were gathered, while people across the capital reacted to his victory according to their interests.

After Wang Xuan’s victory over Yang He, influential figures rushed to Li Shantang, while Qi Shijiao’s faction confronted the danger facing the Capital City. Qi Shijiao left the city at night to meet Wang Xuan and ingratiated himself by kneeling before him.

• Li Shantang received a flood of visitors hoping to gain favor with Wang Xuan after his victory.
• Qi Shijiao’s son warned him that the Capital City’s defenses were weak and urged him to flee, but Qi Shijiao said their faction had no countermeasures and told him to wait until nightfall.
• Qi Shijiao led a group out through the city gate after dark, despite the orders forbidding anyone from entering or leaving.
• Wang Xuan learned that Qi Shijiao had arrived to see him and invited him into the camp.
• Qi Shijiao knelt and saluted Wang Xuan, then slapped his son when he tried to pull him up and ordered him to kneel too.

Qi Shijiao, the Duke of Dingguo, and a stream of powerful court figures visited Wang Xuan’s camp to pledge their support and ask when he would enter the Capital City. Wang Xuan announced that his army would enter at noon the next day, leaving the city’s preparations to them.

• Qi Shijiao knelt before Wang Xuan, introduced his son to several slaps, and asked when Wang Xuan planned to enter the city.
• Qi Shijiao claimed he opposed the Four Factions’ plan to enlist the Tatars and Jurchen, while Wang Xuan listened without believing his speeches.
• The Duke of Dingguo arrived and also claimed he wanted to help Wang Xuan enter the city and remove traitors from the court.
• Twelve more officials and commanders came to pledge support, filling Wang Xuan’s tent with powerful nobles.
• Wang Xuan told everyone that his army would enter the city at noon the next day and assigned them the preparations.
• The city gates remained open as the visitors returned, prompting the defending general to complain that twenty spies had surrendered.

Wang Xuan entered the Capital City at the head of fifty thousand disciplined troops, while the Special Operations Team thwarted attempts to disrupt the procession. At the drill grounds, he disarmed and discharged the two hundred thousand Capital Garrison soldiers, paying each fifty taels of silver and leaving the Grand Secretariat stunned by the expense.

• Wang Xuan explained to Sun Chuanting that Qi Shijiao had knelt to show sincerity and that bringing his son was meant to reassure him.
• Wang Xuan led fifty thousand troops into the Capital City in a grand procession, while the Special Operations Team stopped people from sabotaging the ceremony.
• Wang Xuan's army surrounded the Capital Garrison at the drill grounds, where its two hundred thousand soldiers had already been disarmed and assembled.
• Wang Xuan had more than seven million silver coins unloaded and announced fifty taels in severance pay for every discharged soldier.
• A messenger told Fang Congzhe and the other Grand Secretariat officials that Wang Xuan was discharging the entire Capital Garrison and distributing more than ten million taels of silver.

Wang Xuan spent half a month consolidating power and directing martial artists to attack the Jurchen before abruptly entering the grand court assembly. He left the court facing He Zongyan’s accusation that his armed, unannounced arrival was treasonous.

• Gao Panlong and Guan Yingzhen struggled to understand why Qi Shijiao had surrendered and why Wang Xuan had disbanded the Beijing Army instead of seizing the emperor.
• Wang Xuan stayed out of court for half a month while recruiting soldiers and issuing the Kill the Barbarians Order, which paid for Jurchen heads and required martial sects to meet kill quotas.
• Wang Xuan planned to scatter martial artists throughout Liaodong to disrupt the Jurchen and build his own foundation outside Ming.
• Fang Congzhe and the other officials remained anxious, hoping Wang Xuan would need their help to control Jiangnan and govern the realm.
• Wang Xuan entered the grand court assembly armed and without an announcement, prompting He Zongyan to accuse him of plotting treason.

Wang Xuan killed He Zongyan and two other officials who challenged him in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, then rebuked the Tianqi Emperor and declared he had no interest in the throne. He summoned Fang Congzhe to face him, leaving the court anxious about how he would reshape its power.

• He Zongyan accused Wang Xuan of treason, and Wang Xuan asked whether any other officials shared his opinion.
• Wang Xuan used the Dragon Claw Hand to pull He Zongyan toward him and beheaded him with a blade strike.
• Wang Xuan questioned two officials about why they had berated him, then killed them when they admitted they sought reputations for fearless remonstration.
• Wang Xuan told Zhu Youxiao to watch and learn, saying he had no interest in taking the Zhu family's throne.
• Wang Xuan called out Fang Congzhe, who stepped forward with his former authority visibly diminished.

Wang Xuan condemned and punished the officials who had colluded with foreign tribes, then refused court titles and declared himself the emperor’s adviser. He left the court with orders to separate civil and military responsibilities and begin a nationwide census and farmland remeasurement.

• Wang Xuan accused Fang Congzhe and other officials of betraying the country by helping foreign tribes enter the Central Plains, and threatened them with execution and lasting public disgrace.
• Fang Congzhe and the other prisoners protested and pleaded, but Wang Xuan ordered soldiers to drag them away.
• Wang Xuan told the court he would accept no official title, leave the throne and Ming name with the Zhu family, and serve only as the emperor’s adviser.
• Wang Xuan announced that the court would abolish individual reign titles and count years from Zhu Yuanzhang’s accession.
• Wang Xuan ordered the separation of civil and military systems and a nationwide census and farmland remeasurement, threatening execution for anyone who obstructed them.

Wang Xuan launched a coordinated crackdown, surrounding the Imperial Palace and eighteen residences belonging to powerful officials. After the arrests and confiscations, the court realized he had spent his half-month in the Capital City preparing a decisive strike, and his next destination remained uncertain.

• Wang Xuan's soldiers sealed off the Imperial Palace and surrounded the residences of core faction leaders, including Fang Congzhe, Gao Panlong, and Guan Yingzhen.
• A crimson firework signal rose above the palace, and soldiers battered down the gate of the Fang Family residence.
• Elder Jin tried to escort several Fang Family descendants out, but Yue Buqun's Special Operations Team shot him with Iron-belly bows and captured the household.
• Wang Xuan's forces confiscated eighteen residences and arrested their occupants, leaving the named officials and their families ruined.
• After the palace lockdown ended, the court officials realized Wang Xuan had planned the operation in advance and had offered his enemies no chance to regroup.

Wang Xuan’s crackdown and recruitment drive strengthened his control, while his bounty and weapons sales caused mounting casualties among the Jurchen people. In Liaodong, Nurhaci and his sons struggled to find a solution, and Hong Taiji concluded that the Jurchen people faced ruin.

• Wang Xuan’s purge kept Capital City’s powerful families and young masters in fear, while his division of government duties improved the departments’ efficiency.
• Wang Xuan began recruiting two hundred thousand soldiers across four regions after discovering that fewer than twenty thousand men remained in the capital camps following screening.
• Nurhaci demanded answers about more than three thousand Jurchen deaths, and Hong Taiji explained that Wang Xuan had offered bounties to martial artists and armed them with crossbows, armor-piercing arrows, and anesthetic.
• Nurhaci’s court heard that Jurchen families remained vulnerable to coordinated attacks, while the strange discovery at Kulecha’s home briefly relieved the gathering’s grim mood.
• Manggultai proposed killing all Han people, but Hong Taiji rejected the idea and warned that the Jurchen people could not survive without them.
• Hong Taiji told Nurhaci that the Central Plains’ greater wealth, population, and resources left the Jurchen people with no lasting solution, and the court feared their people were finished.

Wang Xuan funded a campaign that drove the Jurchen people into a desperate retreat, while martial artists became increasingly skilled at hunting them. In the capital, Wang Xuan joined Zhu Youxiao for breakfast, condemned the food, and took the emperor to inspect the imperial kitchen, with Wei Zhongxian following.

• Wang Xuan provided martial artists with money, service stations, and a booklet on infiltration and assassination, and more than ten thousand entered Liaodong.
• After over a month of attacks, the Jurchen population fell below eighty thousand and gathered in a city, while Nurhaci and Hong Taiji tried and failed to stop the raids.
• Wang Xuan crossed the Jurchen people off his list and continued promoting martial arts, unconcerned about the skills the campaign might leave behind in the Ming Dynasty.
• Wang Xuan sat down to breakfast with Zhu Youxiao and spat out the food, telling the emperor it was unfit to eat.
• Wang Xuan took Zhu Youxiao to the imperial kitchen to prove his complaint and called Wei Zhongxian over to inspect him.

Wang Xuan took Zhu Youxiao to the Imperial Kitchen, where the emperor discovered how poorly he had been fed and heard Wang Xuan explain that rulers were isolated from the truth of their country. After revealing that Zui Hongchen had been assigned to protect Zhu Youxiao, Wang Xuan left him stunned by proposing that he bring her into his harem.

• Wang Xuan told Wei Zhongxian to learn to read and write, then took Zhu Youxiao to the Imperial Kitchen despite the guards' unease.
• Wang Xuan ordered the imperial chefs to prepare their best dishes, and Zhu Youxiao realized they tasted far better than his usual meals.
• Wang Xuan told Zhu Youxiao that emperors were kept ignorant and urged him to reform the palace by reducing its eunuchs and maids.
• Wang Xuan revealed that he had arranged for Zui Hongchen to look after Zhu Youxiao and sent the other listeners away.
• Wang Xuan suggested that Zhu Youxiao bring Zui Hongchen into his harem, startling him into knocking the dishes to the floor.

Wang Xuan pushed Zhu Youxiao to pursue Zui Hongchen and began reshaping the Imperial Palace to cut costs and strengthen the emperor. Zhu Youxiao embraced Wang Xuan’s plan to marry off palace maids in exchange for imperial poems, becoming the so-called “Word-Processing Emperor.”

• Wang Xuan persuaded Zhu Youxiao that he could marry Zui Hongchen despite her being his father’s consort, and promised to deal with anyone who objected.
• Wang Xuan ordered Wei Zhongxian to draft a plan to reduce the Imperial Palace’s staff and assigned two eunuchs to teach Zhu Youxiao cultivation.
• Wang Xuan argued that political power came from military strength and said palace reforms could save more than a million taels of silver each year.
• Wang Xuan proposed marrying off palace maids and accepting betrothal gifts, then suggested giving each couple an imperial poem instead of a costly dowry.
• Zhu Youxiao later married off more than two hundred thousand palace maids, wrote over four million words, and amassed more than 230 million taels of silver.

Wang Xuan supervised Zhu Youxiao’s training through intimidation and used the same forceful approach to silence court officials who proposed educating the Jurchen. After Later Jin submitted to the Ming, Wang Xuan left the ministers terrified and Zhu Youxiao impressed by his command of the court.

• The palace announced that maids over twenty-two could marry with imperial assistance, prompting praise for Zhu Youxiao despite the policy’s financial motives.
• Wang Xuan punished Zhu Youxiao for resisting martial arts training, then made him practice daily while correcting him with flicked fruit pits.
• Later Jin sent envoys to submit allegiance after Wang Xuan’s strategy trapped its people inside a city and wore down their supplies.
• At court, Wang Xuan ordered officials who advocated civilizing the Jurchen to go there with their families and students, frightening several into fainting.
• Wang Xuan warned the ministers to offer practical proposals and submit clear memorials, while Zhu Youxiao admired his handling of them.

Duke Xu Xigao sent his three sons to study under Wang Xuan, hoping to secure the Xu Family’s future and discipline Xu Yunwen. Wang Xuan immediately tormented the brothers alongside Zhu Youxiao, leaving Duke Xu Xigao fainting and fleeing as their screams continued.

• Xu Xigao beat Xu Yunwen for speaking carelessly about Wang Xuan and decided to send all three of his sons to study under him.
• Xu Xigao brought Xu Yunzhen, Xu Yunwen, and their other brother to Wang Xuan, who punished them and Zhu Youxiao for supposedly arriving late or moving improperly.
• Wang Xuan promised Xu Xigao that he would teach the brothers through hardship, and Xu Xigao left after warning him not to hold back.
• Wang Xuan repeatedly accused the Xu brothers of disobedience and used his finger force to make them writhe and scream.
• Xu Xigao fainted after hearing his sons’ cries, accepted a eunuch’s reassurance that they would be fine, and hurried away while Wang Xuan continued punishing them.

Wang Xuan accepted the sons of powerful families as pupils and subjected them to brutal military training, demanding lessons, and painful experiments. As Xu Yunwen and the others struggled to endure his instruction, a small group began planning how to escape his control.

• The Duke of Dingguo sent his three sons to study under Wang Xuan, prompting other powerful families to send their sons as well.
• Wang Xuan gathered more than three hundred young men and put them through demanding military drills, punishing even minor mistakes.
• Wang Xuan assigned the pupils textbooks in subjects ranging from mathematics and history to science, and threatened them with extra practice and harsher punishment if they failed to study.
• Xu Yunwen studied anxiously, fearing Wang Xuan would catch anyone sleeping or losing focus, while the pupils endured lessons and experiments that included painful punishments.
• A small group of pupils believed they could find a way to escape Wang Xuan's grasp.

Wang Xuan responded to Li Kaixian’s skipped class by sending Five Thousand Army to surround the Marquis Fengcheng’s residence and punish him in front of the gathered students and powerful families. Li Kaixian was left bound and hanging, while Wang Xuan wondered where Zhu Youxiao and the Xu Family brothers had learned their elaborate rope-tying.

• Wang Xuan ordered Five Thousand Army to surround the Marquis Fengcheng’s residence after Li Kaixian failed to appear for class.
• The army broke into the residence, found Li Kaixian hiding there, and brought him before Wang Xuan and his father, Li Chengzuo.
• Li Chengzuo slapped Li Kaixian and pretended to offer his son’s life, but Wang Xuan gave him a saber and then warned him not to stage another such display.
• Wang Xuan cut Li Kaixian’s bonds with a blade and ordered him punished for skipping class.
• Zhu Youxiao and the three Xu Family brothers tied Li Kaixian up and hoisted him into the air, leaving Wang Xuan to wonder if Japanese rope-binding specialists were in the palace.