Recaps

Zhang Yang began turning Bald Head Ridge into a defensible fortress before the mission’s main storyline began, using magical force to carve into the rock. After earning a Random Soldier Talisman and spending much of his energy to produce magical force, he left the fortress project underway but worried he would run out.

• Zhang Yang learned that Bald Head Ridge was isolated between Great Wei and Mirage Demon territory and decided to rebuild its abandoned fortress before the storyline began.
• Zhang Yang ordered the old man to gather firewood and weapons, then had Qiao Shuzhi lead soldiers in collecting the battlefield’s spoils.
• Zhang Yang traded 320 captain-level demon souls through the Golden Scales and received a Random Soldier Talisman that could recruit ten captain-level soldiers.
• Zhang Yang sold ordinary and elite demon souls for energy points, then spent 200,000 energy points to extract ten units of magical force from demon blood.
• Zhang Yang used magical force to carve a three-meter pit in the rock and persuaded the old man that he was smelting steel.
• Zhang Yang and the old man began excavating Bald Head Ridge into a five-story fortress, but Zhang Yang worried that the project would exceed his magical force supply.

Zhang Yang recognized that the Mirage Demon Soldiers’ second assault was aimed at eliminating a suspected Hidden Dragon, and he prepared Bald Head Ridge Fortress for the attack. He defeated a powerful rival’s Great Fireball by triggering its premature detonation, but the blast knocked him unconscious.

• A guard sounded the alarm as the Mirage Demon Soldiers launched a second attack, and Zhang Yang realized they might have identified him as a Hidden Dragon.
• When the demon soldiers brought firewood to burn the mountain, Zhang Yang used mana to create a secure inner fortress and ordered the defenders to retreat inside.
• Zhang Yang spotted a rival using a Soul Force Field to build a Great Fireball from the bonfire and prepared an Armor-Piercing Cone.
• After the cone failed to pierce the rival’s protective field, Zhang Yang waited for the Great Fireball to launch and altered its mana structure.
• The Great Fireball detonated in midair, and the shock wave threw Zhang Yang through the air until someone caught him; he then lost consciousness.

After killing Sudara, Zhang Yang learned that he had become a target in the Hidden Dragon Hegemony and chose to fortify Bald Head Ridge rather than withdraw. He spent his resources reshaping the fortress and summoned elite soldiers, leaving its defenses partly completed and himself in need of rest.

• Zhang Yang discovered that he had killed Sudara, gained two units of King's Aura and a Golden Fragment of Hope, and exposed himself to the other Hidden Dragons.
• Zhang Yang decided to secure Bald Head Ridge, improve his strength, and develop his Fantasy World village instead of using the fragment to withdraw.
• Zhang Yang sold the demon souls for 1.4 million energy points and spent the resulting mana planning and building defenses at Bald Head Ridge Fortress.
• Zhang Yang and Qiao Shuzhi's people smelted burned weapons into railings and built breastworks, while Zhang Yang carved inner-fortress levels and a concealed plank road.
• Zhang Yang summoned ten Captain-Level Soldiers, and the old man recognized several as elite units from Great Wei and earlier dynasties.

After waking in Dong Cheng’s body, Zhang Yang learned that Liu Kai and his allied troops had arrived to protect him and explain the larger Village Building Order trials. The chapter left Zhang Yang aware that the National Team would choose one seeded candidate, while failure in the coming tasks could mean permanent death.

• Zhang Yang woke after sleeping through the night and morning, then learned that three thousand reinforcements had arrived from Black Rock Fortress.
• Zhang Yang found Duan Kuan imprisoned and followed a soldier to meet Liu Kai, who identified Zhang Yang and said they were allies among the thousand Hidden Dragons.
• Liu Kai explained the stages of the Village Building Orders, the threat posed by the cracking Earth Civilization Code, and his own experience failing a previous trial.
• Zhang Yang asked whether Hidden Dragon Hegemony had only one victor, and Liu Kai described how the state would select a seeded candidate for the others to support.
• Liu Kai warned Zhang Yang that failing the first-stage or Nation Building Task could leave him without protection from erasure.

Zhang Yang weighed his differences with the National Team and decided to prioritize his village’s long-term survival over preparation for the second stage. He arranged a marriage alliance with his father-in-law’s family and traded valuable village-building materials to secure grain from Liu Kai, leaving the delivery promised for the next day.

• Zhang Yang reflected that he would cooperate with the National Team but rejected its focus on preparing for the second stage, choosing instead to help his village endure for centuries.
• Zhang Yang accepted his father-in-law’s proposal to hold a wedding the following month, binding the Qiao Family Disciples to his cause.
• Zhang Yang encouraged the humiliated Duan Kuan to learn from setbacks and remember his roots before taking him to Liu Kai’s camp.
• Zhang Yang offered Liu Kai a complete Game Village Building Order for grain, then added the Horned Lizard civilization blueprint and an incomplete Fantasy Village Building Order to negotiate a larger supply.
• Zhang Yang and Liu Kai agreed on one million jin of grain, which Liu Kai promised to deliver by noon the next day.

Zhang Yang’s father-in-law brought disabled veterans and their families to Bald Head Ridge and urged Zhang Yang to shelter them. Although supporting twenty thousand people would require enormous amounts of grain, Zhang Yang agreed to receive them and wondered whether his Fantasy World village could supply enough.

• After Zhang Yang announced plans to stockpile grain, his father-in-law brought fifteen carts of veterans’ families and several hundred crippled former soldiers to Bald Head Ridge.
• His father-in-law urged Zhang Yang to take in thousands more veterans, arguing they could defend and build the fortress.
• Zhang Yang balked when he learned that the veterans’ families would bring the total population to about twenty thousand.
• His father-in-law secured General Andong’s promise of supplies, weapons, and future grain, but estimated that feeding everyone would still take around eighty thousand jin each day.
• Zhang Yang considered the veterans’ military value and agreed to receive them, while questioning whether his Fantasy World village could provide enough grain.

Liu Kai gathered six allied leaders to map their territories and coordinate development before the plot resumed. Zhang Yang revealed his rapid rise to the Transcendent realm and his plans to support the alliance, but remained committed to his difficult starting position at Bald Head Ridge.

• Yuan Gang and the other leaders introduced themselves and marked their territories on a map of Wuwei Commandery.
• Liu Kai proposed pooling their forces and resources, with the alliance prepared to support or replace the National Team as needed.
• Liu Kai, Liu Yu, Duncan, Liao Zhongyuan, Cao Heng, and Yuan Gang each pledged supplies or equipment they would provide after the game began.
• Zhang Yang promised at least fifty thousand tons of grain but explained that he had to prepare for the twenty thousand burdens arriving at Bald Head Ridge.
• The leaders were astonished that Zhang Yang had reached the Transcendent realm in eight years and urged him to relocate, but he said he had already agreed to stay.
• Yuan Gang told Zhang Yang that the alliance's choices were voluntary and wished everyone luck pursuing their own development paths.

Zhang Yang learned what it meant to enter the transcendent stage and traded information with the other leaders before preparing Bald Head Ridge Fortress for the coming battle. When the Transcendence Trial ended at midnight, he and Duan Kuan returned to reality with one million jin of grain, leaving the world sealed until the future.

• Liu Yu explained that reaching A- in any one of four attributes, or having a four-star hero, counted as entering the transcendent stage, and shared his advice about demon souls and attribute growth for grain.
• Zhang Yang sold his attributes, talents, and spells to the others, then refused to reveal how he had defeated the Horned Lizard lord without five million jin of grain.
• The leaders agreed to benign competition against their common enemy, and Cao Heng arranged for eight hundred thousand jin of grain to reach Bald Head Ridge Fortress.
• The old man returned with veteran troops to secure the fortress, while Zhang Yang purified mana and strengthened hundreds of soldiers' weapons.
• At midnight, the Transcendence Trial ended, and Zhang Yang and Duan Kuan vanished with one million jin of grain.

After returning to the village, Zhang Yang inspected its residents and defenses, then decided to attack the Orc Tribe before winter and laid out an ambitious plan to secure the village’s future growth. He left Wu Yuan, Wang Shen, and the others to prepare for war, expand the walls and farmland, and solve the looming food shortage.

• Zhang Yang discovered that the Mountain God was secretly gathering vitality to help Zhang Sangang’s wife, and allowed it to continue.
• Zhang Yang told Qin Yidao he would have a chance to avenge his humiliation before winter and ordered Duan Kuan to prepare for the Transcendence Trial.
• Zhang Yang decided to attack the Orc Tribe around the start of winter, citing the season, the tribe’s ghost forces, and the Horned Lizard demon soul he could use to strengthen himself.
• Zhang Yang gathered Wu Yuan, Reyn, Wang Shen, and the others and ordered them to clear the surrounding forest, finish the city wall, expand farmland, and dig a canal.
• Zhang Yang proposed capturing ordinary orcs as laborers and explained that the plans were meant to end the village’s food shortage and remove obstacles to its future development.

Zhang Yang calculated that his village’s grain stores would not cover the coming months of labor and fighting, so he planned a large hunt before retreating to fuse with the Horned Lizard’s Lord-Grade Demon Soul. The fusion began with unbearable pain, and his Soul Resilience and Soul Wildness talents kept him from collapsing.

• Zhang Yang and his advisers calculated that the soldiers’ food needs would leave the village short on grain, so Zhang Yang assigned Wu Yuan, Wang Shen, and Qin Yidao to stay behind while he led Reyn, Duan Kuan, and others on a large hunt.
• Zhang Yang failed to nourish the Wood Demon Tower, ordered firewood prepared, and entered it to fuse with the Horned Lizard’s Demon Soul.
• Zhang Yang examined the Demon Soul’s uses and learned that it would raise his Soul by one point and grant a random talent, spell, or aura, while the Village Building Order guaranteed the fusion’s success.
• Zhang Yang began the fusion and was overwhelmed by searing pain as the Demon Soul invaded his Soul.
• Zhang Yang endured the torment through his Soul Resilience and Soul Wildness talents.

Zhang Yang fought the Horned Lizard and Zhao Xuanling’s consciousness inside his soul, learning and mastering the Undying Demonic Soul technique before absorbing both foes. He woke after a month in the Wood Demon Tower, only to hear his followers arguing over how to feed him.

• The Horned Lizard’s Undying Demonic Soul overwhelmed Zhang Yang and took a slight lead in their soul battle.
• Zhao Xuanling’s consciousness wounded the Horned Lizard, and Zhang Yang stayed defensive while deciding how to deal with the hidden presence.
• Zhang Yang used the Horned Lizard’s memories to create smaller Demonic Soul Crystals and build his strength faster than his opponent.
• Zhang Yang absorbed Zhao Xuanling’s consciousness, then defeated and fused with the Horned Lizard.
• The Horned Lizard warned that Zhang Yang’s body had been abandoned for a month, but Wu Yuan and the others had kept him alive with the Wood Demon Tower.
• Zhang Yang woke hungry and immobilized as Reyn, Wu Yuan, and Qin Yidao discussed feeding him rice porridge by force.

After recovering from his near-fatal fusion with the Horned Lizard, Zhang Yang led a hunting party north to secure food and seek an allied village. The party found a well-developed village, but the mysterious presence that had been spying on them vanished before Zhang Yang could identify it.

• Zhang Yang recovered for three days, then used Soul Tremor to silence objections and lead a seventy-three-member hunting party out of the village.
• The party traveled north through an area nearly empty of monsters, and Zhang Yang reflected on the need to balance village growth with environmental protection.
• On the fourth day, the party killed a level-six Wild Ox Demon, and Reyn prepared a feast while Zhang Yang sensed a greedy presence watching them.
• The spying continued as the party traveled, and Reyn suggested that a nearby village might be raising the little ghosts that were following them.
• At dusk, Zhang Yang's party spotted a prosperous village beyond a mountain, but the sensation of being watched disappeared when he turned around.

Zhang Yang learned that Orc River-Crossing Dragons had destroyed Wu Yu’s group and that his own village was under attack. As the Orc force launched a full assault, the defenders activated emergency plans and withdrew toward the castle.

• Zhang Yang’s party met a cautious village chief, who warned that Orc River-Crossing Dragons had wiped out Wu Yu and might be targeting Zhang Yang’s village.
• The village chief explained that reincarnated Orc River-Crossing Dragons were assigned main quests and urged Zhang Yang to flee, while Zhang Yang chose to return and defend his village.
• The village chief watched Zhang Yang hurry back and assumed the Orcs had prepared an ambush, planning to recover his people’s remains after the battle.
• Wu Yuan organized the village’s defense when Orc soldiers attacked from the west, while Sun Goudan, Liu Dali, and Qin Yidao countered an enemy sniping team and Wang Mumu shielded Qin Yidao from a mage’s attack.
• Qin Yidao called for Emergency Plan Three as hundreds of Orc soldiers appeared, and the village’s squads and villagers retreated toward the castle.

Zhang Yang raced to destroy the Orc Tribe rather than return to defend his village, which was devastated in the attack but survived after its defenders killed the Orc chiefs and drove the enemy away. At dawn, Zhang Yang’s forces stormed and plundered the Orc town, leaving him victorious but grieving heavy losses while the Orc Lord remained alive.

• Zhang Yang learned that the Orc Tribe was attacking his village and used a Fragment of Hope to guide his night march toward the Orc settlement.
• Messages showed the enemy destroying the village’s buildings and walls, while Wang Mumu rose to three-star hero, Qin Yidao killed an Orc Village Chief, and the attackers eventually retreated.
• At dawn, Zhang Yang reached the Orc town and ordered his exhausted troops to kill everyone; he and Reyn led the assault through the walls.
• Zhang Yang activated plunder mode as his soldiers wiped out the Orc defenders and seized the town’s accumulated resources.
• The Village Building Order confirmed the Level 2 Orc town had been destroyed, but the surviving Orc Lord had transferred its order and escaped without yielding spoils.
• Zhang Yang mourned the deaths of 140 soldiers, more than a hundred villagers, and four heroes, then ordered his forces to rest.

After returning from battle, Zhang Yang revived the soldiers he could, mourned the irreplaceable losses, and used the spoils to rebuild the village and stabilize its people and army. A month and a half later, the village’s defenses and buildings had been restored, new farmland had been reclaimed, and winter arrived.

• Zhang Yang returned to the village, revived ninety-seven soldiers and Wang Shen and Liu Dali, but could not save Sun Goudan, Qin Yidao, or many fallen soldiers.
• Zhang Yang brought back the orc town’s supplies and ordered compensation for damaged farmland, repairs to the village, burials for the dead, and reconstruction of the Mountain God Temple.
• Zhang Yang stabilized the army by granting soldiers farmland and taking three young widows as wives; Wu Yuan and other soldiers followed his example.
• Zhang Yang worked alongside the villagers as they rebuilt the walls and buildings, reclaimed fields, and dug a canal.
• A month and a half later, the village’s new walls and major buildings were completed, 154 women were pregnant, and winter arrived.

Zhang Yang identified the attacker who injured a soldier as an Ice Ghost Assassin and suspected the Orc Lord had released its Ghosts, including a Ghost Lady that was causing the sudden winter weather. He prepared to draw the Ghost Lady out by dueling with it at the Training Ground, but began by testing a tiny Phantom Crystal.

• Zhang Yang rejected Wang Shen’s proposal to shelter vulnerable villagers underground and urged him to face danger rather than flee.
• A soldier reported an Ice Ghost attack in North District Section One, and Zhang Yang healed the survivor and identified the attacker as an Ice Ghost Assassin.
• Zhang Yang concluded that the Orc Lord had likely released Ghost Assassins and a Ghost Lady, which was gathering yin energy and intensifying the winter weather.
• Zhang Yang agreed with Xiao Yang that they had to find the Ghost Lady before it became a Ghost Queen and ordered Wu Yuan to stack a hundred piles of firewood at the Training Ground.
• Zhang Yang sent everyone away, then produced a grain-sized Phantom Crystal to test his plan before confronting the Ghost Lady.

Zhang Yang tested how Phantom Crystals affected people, discovering that Wang Mumu and Song Dachui could survive being frozen by them. After breaking free from the ice, the two men reported that the crystals tasted sweet and seemed to have given them a strange power.

• Zhang Yang swallowed a Phantom Crystal, froze himself, and used White Fragments of Hope to recover before deciding to test the crystals on someone tougher.
• Wu Yuan fled Zhang Yang’s proposed experiment, so Zhang Yang called Wang Mumu and exposed him to a Phantom Crystal; Wang Mumu emerged unharmed and said it tasted sweet.
• Zhang Yang had Wang Mumu swallow a larger Phantom Crystal, freezing him solid; Song Dachui rushed to help and was frozen too.
• Zhang Yang monitored the two men instead of rescuing them, and by evening Wang Mumu burst out of the ice and punched Song Dachui awake.
• Wang Mumu and Song Dachui both appeared alive but hungry, and they told Zhang Yang that being frozen by the Phantom Crystal had felt sweet.

Zhang Yang’s experiment with Wang Mumu and the Phantom Crystal triggered a bloodline evolution that drew in a vast cloud of yin energy and plunged the village into deadly cold. As the Ghost Queen’s attack began, Zhang Yang and Wu Yuan rallied the village to defend the Residential House area and keep feeding flames into the battle.

• Zhang Yang tested Wang Mumu and Song Dachui with repeated meals and Phantom Crystal, then ordered Song Dachui, Duan Kuan, and Zhou Datou to reenact their charge.
• Wang Mumu’s bloodline evolution reached 100% as the other three men froze, and Zhang Yang feared the process might endanger his subordinates.
• A growing Yin Energy Cloud gathered over the Training Ground, drawing in yin energy and causing snow and extreme cold.
• Zhang Yang built a wall of fire around the Training Ground, while Wu Yuan and the villagers gathered firewood and intensified their defenses.
• Zhang Yang recognized the Ghost Queen’s interference, and the village raised Level Three Alert as ghosts drove the Yin Energy Cloud forward.
• Wu Yuan ordered the defenders to abandon the castle and center their line on the Residential House, while villagers lit covered trench fires to supply Zhang Yang with flames.

Zhang Yang used the Mountain God and a massive fireball to break the Yin Energy Clouds surrounding the village, defeat the ghost forces, and collect thousands of Phantom Crystals. After resurrecting three failed candidates, he discovered their new frost talents and saw that Wang Mumu had advanced into a powerful four-star hero.

• Zhang Yang ordered the Mountain God to summon wind, restoring the village’s air supply and helping its fires drive back the cold.
• Zhang Yang gathered the village’s flames into a giant fireball and blasted apart the Yin Energy Clouds, killing several ghost soldiers while the Ghost Lady escaped.
• Zhang Yang spent an hour scattering the remaining clouds, collected 2,300 Phantom Crystals, and learned that Wang Mumu had advanced while Song Dachui, Duan Kuan, and Zhou Datou had frozen to death.
• Zhang Yang used Phantom Crystals to obtain an Ice Marrow Pill and four Resurrection Potions, then revived the three dead men.
• Zhang Yang discovered that the resurrected men had gained the Breath of Frost talent and that Wang Mumu had become a four-star hero with two Transcendent-level attributes.

After a Village Special Event improved villagers’ attributes and population grades, Zhang Yang developed Li Yan as a future general and promoted Zhang Wenyuan to Noble Population. He adopted Zhang Wenyuan and confirmed him as the village heir, then began planning a hierarchy of noble families.

• The Village Special Event activated the Fearless attribute, improved the status of several children, and gave Zhang Wenyuan enough free attribute points to qualify for promotion to Noble Population.
• Zhang Yang spent Gray Fragments of Hope to raise Li Yan, Zhang Xue, and Huang Yong’s attributes, then selected talents for Li Yan and Zhang Xue.
• Zhang Yang decided Li Yan would become Wu Yuan’s successor as a spearman general and considered Zhang Xue as Li Yan’s future wife.
• Zhang Yang accepted Zhang Wenyuan as his adopted son, promoting him to Noble Population and increasing his free attribute points to 21.
• Zhang Yang confirmed Zhang Wenyuan as the village heir and planned to elevate Wang Yunruo and other villagers to build a hierarchy of noble families.

After absorbing most of the Ice Marrow Pill’s power, Zhang Yang recovered much of his strength and discovered that the escaped Ghost Lady was gathering Yin Energy to become a Ghost Queen. Unable to defeat her directly, he organized the village to gather fuel and build an improved heating system to protect everyone until winter ended, then set out to visit the mountain god.

• Zhang Yang spent three days nourishing his body with the Ice Marrow Pill’s remaining spiritual efficacy, growing taller and improving his physical abilities.
• After Zhang Yang emerged from seclusion, Wu Yuan and the others showed him the strange clear sky above the village and the vast Yin Energy Cloud gathering in the distance.
• Wang Shen warned that the Ghost Lady was likely preparing to advance into a Ghost Queen and that the village would face a decisive battle before winter ended.
• Zhang Yang ordered Wu Yuan to gather trees, sent Wang Mumu, Reyn, Duan Kuan, Song Dachui, and Zhou Datou to seek coal, and instructed Wang Shen to mobilize smiths and craftsmen to improve housing and make charcoal.
• Zhang Yang drew heating-system blueprints with the Fragment of Hope, assigned Zhao Tiezhu and Mabun to forge iron plates, and went to seek the mountain god’s help.

Zhang Yang asked the Mountain God to divine a way to help with the coming battle against the Ghost Mother, and received a talisman that opened an unknown Mountain God Trial. Meanwhile, an exploration team searching for coal reached the Orc Tribe’s ruined town and discovered signs that the Orc Lord and humans had recently been there.

• Zhang Yang questioned the Mountain God about its power and ordered it to find a way to help prepare for the likely battle against the Ghost Mother before winter ended.
• The Mountain God spent one point of divinity to divine a Mountain God Trial Talisman, which the Village Building Order warned could lead to a place outside its control.
• Zhang Yang took the talisman and returned to the castle to prioritize making seamless iron pipes for a heating system.
• Wang Mumu, Reyn, Duan Kuan, Song Dachui, Zhou Datou, and their troops found an exhausted coal mine at the Jackalmen ruins and continued toward the Orc Tribe.
• At the Orc Tribe’s ruins, Wang Mumu revealed footprints in the frost, including tracks from the Orc Lord, its warriors, and humans, and Reyn ordered the team to follow the human tracks.

Reyn’s exploration team discovered that fire could destroy the Sons of the Ghost Mother and prepared to investigate their source. After defeating several hundred of them, they heard Village Chief Wang Shun call out from the mountain ridge.

• Reyn’s team encountered four unkillable figures, and Reyn burned them to ashes after Wang Mumu identified them as Sons of the Ghost Mother.
• Reyn ordered the team to investigate the mountain, where Wang Mumu found a cluster of buildings and several hundred Sons of the Ghost Mother.
• A Ghost Priest summoned the Sons of the Ghost Mother, so Reyn organized the team to fight with their backs to a fire.
• Wang Mumu froze and smashed the attackers into the flames while Reyn and the others kept the fire burning, wiping out several hundred Sons of the Ghost Mother.
• Village Chief Wang Shun called to Reyn’s team from the mountain ridge and claimed he was their ally and a friend of Wu Yu.

Reyn's party returned with Wang Shun, a displaced village chief whose settlement had been destroyed by a Ghost Lady, and Zhang Yang rejected his demand for help rebuilding. Zhang Yang imprisoned Wang Shun but planned to use him to develop the distant coal and iron reserves after winter.

• Reyn recognized Wang Shun as the rude soldier who had delivered a message months earlier, and Wang Shun revealed that a Ghost Lady had destroyed his village.
• Wang Shun offered to cooperate with Zhang Yang in exchange for food and help rebuilding, arguing that his death would let foreign races gain his share of the Earth Civilization Code.
• Zhang Yang accused Wang Shun of hypocrisy over his failure to help Wu Yu and threatened to imprison him until he was erased for failing his village-building mission.
• Wang Shun tried to bargain by claiming he could solve the village's bloodline crisis, but Wang Mumu and Reyn hauled him away to be imprisoned.
• Zhang Yang told Wu Yuan to keep Wang Shun alive and said he intended to support him near the distant coal and iron reserves after winter.

Zhang Yang completed the village’s heating system and prepared for his dangerous Mountain God Trial, making arrangements for the village in case he did not return. Wu Yuan consumed the Ice Marrow Pill and became a powerful Transcendent hero, but he and the others still urged Zhang Yang not to go as he left without changing his mind.

• Zhang Yang finished installing a coal-fired heating system for the residents and soldiers, then halted coal mining and tree cutting once the village had enough fuel.
• Zhang Yang named Zhang Wenyuan as his successor and instructed Wu Yuan and the others to protect the village if he failed to return from the Mountain God Trial.
• Zhang Yang gave Wu Yuan an Ice Marrow Pill, and Wu Yuan absorbed its power before advancing to Transcendent with three Transcendent attributes.
• Wu Yuan demonstrated his strength by estimating that he could defeat Wang Mumu within three spears and kill the Orc Lord in three.
• Wu Yuan and the others pleaded with Zhang Yang to abandon the trial, but Zhang Yang left, convinced that a draw against a Ghost Queen would only postpone disaster.