Chapter Summaries

Xu Yang assembled a thousand soldiers from three legions to reinforce the Hundred Battles Battalion as it prepared to escort the Scout Battalion beyond the pass. Shen Ce ordered the newcomers to protect the scouts at any cost, while Zhang Yuanyu and Ju Xingyu were assigned to a squad whose leader immediately complained about Zhang Yuanyu.

• Xu Yang secured five hundred soldiers from the Far West Army's 66th Elite Legion, joining three hundred from the Fourth Legion and two hundred from the 1056th Legion in the Hundred Battles Battalion.
• Shen Ce told the assembled soldiers they would move out with the Scout Battalion in two days and must fight to the death to cover its retreat from any Outer Dao attack.
• Shen Ce ordered Deputy General He to settle the newcomers and arrange a feast before their deployment beyond the pass.
• A veteran assigned Zhang Yuanyu and Ju Xingyu to Old Zheng's squad, and Old Zheng grumbled that Zhang Yuanyu looked too small for the unit.

Zhang Yuanyu and Ju Xingyu joined the depleted Hundred Battles Battalion, where Squad Leader Old Zheng and the other veterans treated them with contempt because they came from the Far West Army. As the two young men settled in for the night, Ju Xingyu wondered how Zhang Yuanyu endured the bullying.

• Old Zheng brought Zhang Yuanyu and Ju Xingyu into the tent and left them to sleep and serve alongside four veterans of the understrength Hundred Battles Battalion.
• Old Zheng and the veterans shared the hot pork-and-cabbage stew among themselves, then tossed Zhang Yuanyu and Ju Xingyu cold Cooked Cakes.
• Zhang Yuanyu ate his cold Cooked Cake without complaint, while Ju Xingyu grew gloomy but ate his as well.
• Ju Xingyu asked Zhang Yuanyu how he could stand the veterans’ bullying, and Zhang Yuanyu said he had endured mockery before and intended to go farther.
• Ju Xingyu lay awake reflecting on Zhang Yuanyu’s hardships, while Zhang Yuanyu soon fell asleep beside him.

Zhang Yuanyu and the Hundred Battles Battalion rode out from Mountain Pass through heavy snow to support scouting squads. After finding a brutally mutilated soldier, they encountered an Outer Dao Puppet and watched it dissolve into mist after Old Zheng decapitated it.

• Shen Ce led the scouts and the Hundred Battles Battalion out of Mountain Pass while the injured commander remained behind.
• The scouts split into squads, and Zhang Yuanyu, Ju Xingyu, and Old Zheng headed northwest through worsening snowfall.
• The squad found a Golden-Leaf Lion Legion soldier whose chest had been torn open and left without organs.
• A veteran spotted a slender Outer Dao Puppet approaching the squad.
• Old Zheng decapitated the Puppet, which collapsed and dissolved into black mist.

Zhang Yuanyu and Ju Xingyu struggled through heavy snow with a military expedition beyond Mountain Pass, while tensions between the Far West and Far East soldiers grew. After being ordered to gather fodder for twenty-two horses, the two deliberately worked slowly as the storm began to ease.

• Old Zheng ordered Zhang Yuanyu and Ju Xingyu to keep up with the scouts as the snow made the route difficult to see.
• The scouts stopped on a hill because the heavy snow left them unable to find their bearings, and Old Zheng’s group took shelter beneath a rock face.
• Old Zheng sent Zhang Yuanyu and Ju Xingyu to gather firewood and dry grass, and Zhang Yuanyu warned Ju Xingyu that defying the veterans could turn deadly.
• Zhang Yuanyu and Ju Xingyu dug through the snow for fodder but dragged their heels because they could not gather enough to feed all twenty-two horses.
• The wind died down and the snowfall gradually lightened.

A scouting party pushed northwest through heavy snow to assess the Outer Dao threat near Mountain Pass. At the same time, Jiang Qingran spotted a possible Outer Dao tide on the horizon, and the scouts uncovered a Hundred Battles Battalion soldier whose body had been drained.

• The scout captain led the party toward village ruins while explaining that they needed to scout within four hundred li of Mountain Pass.
• Jiang Qingran recalled that Mo Ze had jumped from the city wall and believed he had survived.
• Jiang Qingran saw a dark streak rising on the horizon and wondered if it was an Outer Dao tide.
• As the scouts rode northwest through worsening weather, Zhang Yuanyu heard a horse strike metal beneath the snow and stopped to dig.
• Old Zheng helped Zhang Yuanyu uncover a Hundred Battles Battalion soldier's corpse, whose torso had been drained.

Shen Ce rescued Zhang Yuanyu, Ju Xingyu, and the scouts from an Outer Dao attack during a blizzard, and the group continued northwest through the night. The chapter then shifted to the Far Western Lands, where Zhong Yumo traveled with Su'er, the child she had rescued nearly a year earlier.

• Old Zheng ordered everyone to dig and they uncovered several bodies, realizing Outer Dao had attacked during the blizzard.
• Hundreds of Outer Dao Puppets emerged through the snow and surrounded Zhang Yuanyu, Ju Xingyu, and the others.
• Shen Ce arrived with Hundred Battles Battalion elites, diverted the Outer Dao Puppets with fleeing horses, and led the group to safety.
• Shen Ce learned the scouts were headed to a ruined village northwest and ordered everyone to shed unnecessary armor and equipment before traveling through the night.
• Zhong Yumo rode through Galloping Sky with Su'er, who had grown during the nearly a year since Zhong Yumo rescued her.

Zhong Yumo rode east through the Galloping Sky Nation with Su'er, reflecting on the girl’s need for an education and her own painful memories of being abandoned by her master. They reached Pinsu City, the Han Dynasty’s prosperous capital, while Zhong Yumo still held on to hope for the future.

• Zhong Yumo told Su'er that the world stretched more than seven hundred million li from west to east, though Su'er struggled to understand the numbers.
• Zhong Yumo recalled deciding to take Su'er to Myriad Immortal City to learn, but she could not bring herself to abandon the girl.
• Zhong Yumo remembered how her master had abandoned her, and the thought still caused her pain.
• Su'er spotted a vast city ahead, and Zhong Yumo rode toward its gate.
• Zhong Yumo read the plaque identifying the city as Pinsu City, the Galloping Sky Nation’s capital.

Zhong Yumo reached Pinsu City with Su'er and was visited by her Fourth Senior Sister, Xi Xuanzi, who delivered Chen Yan’s Handwritten Instructions. Meanwhile, Zhang Yuanyu and the Hundred Battles Battalion sought shelter from the freezing night in an abandoned village, where Shen Ce challenged Old Zheng’s order.

• Zhong Yumo settled into an inn in Pinsu City while Su'er fell asleep and she kept watch through the night.
• Zhong Yumo opened her door and found Xi Xuanzi waiting outside.
• Xi Xuanzi explained that Second Senior Brother had sent her with Chen Yan’s Handwritten Instructions and gave Zhong Yumo a Jade Tube.
• Zhang Yuanyu, Ju Xingyu, and the Hundred Battles Battalion reached an abandoned village in the snow to escape the cold.
• Old Zheng ordered Zhang Yuanyu to clear snow and gather firewood, but Shen Ce rebuked him for sending only one soldier.

Shen Ce balanced tensions between the Far East and Far West soldiers while ordering a scouting and firewood-gathering party through the ruins. Zhang Yuanyu found a mysterious Cloud-Wave Ninefold Scripture, then rushed to help when he discovered Old Zheng fighting an Outer Dao puppet.

• Shen Ce ordered Old Zheng and his men to gather firewood and scout the ruins, while keeping the Far East and Far West soldiers from mistreating one another.
• Old Zheng led a six-man party, including Zhang Yuanyu and Ju Xingyu, to search the snowy village ruins for firewood.
• Zhang Yuanyu found a book titled Cloud-Wave Ninefold Scripture beside a dry well and hid it when he heard a shout.
• Zhang Yuanyu ran toward the commotion and found Old Zheng fighting an Outer Dao puppet, stabbing it repeatedly as black sludge splashed from its wounds.

Zhang Yuanyu watched Ju Xingyu let Old Zheng die before Ju Xingyu killed the Outer Dao Puppet and claimed they had arrived too late. Later, Zhang Yuanyu read a mysterious book and fell asleep as an uncanny sensation entered his body, while in Pinsu City Han Yuan prepared to leave for a rain-prayer altar amid a prolonged drought.

• Zhang Yuanyu hesitated to help Old Zheng when he saw Ju Xingyu standing by, and the Outer Dao Puppet crushed Old Zheng's neck and drained his corpse.
• Ju Xingyu killed the Outer Dao Puppet by cutting off its arms and head, then told arriving veterans that he and Zhang Yuanyu had arrived too late.
• After Old Zheng's men were reassigned, Zhang Yuanyu read the book he had found beside a dry well and fell asleep as a strange sensation seeped into his bones.
• In Pinsu City, crowds gathered as Han Yuan prepared to travel to an altar and pray for rain for the drought-stricken northwestern provinces.

Han Yuan survived an assassination attempt at a sacrificial camp, but the incident raised suspicions about the Crown Prince and the commander of the personal guard. The chapter ended with Han Yuan recalling a rumor that the commander had secretly met the Crown Prince.

• Han Yuan traveled south to perform sacrificial rites and spent the evening reviewing state documents in his tent.
• An assassin burst into Han Yuan’s tent and attacked him, but guards drove the intruder off before he escaped.
• The personal guard commander told Han Yuan that the assassin had been captured and was being interrogated by the Crown Prince.
• The commander admitted that the two guards assigned to Han Yuan’s tent had been asleep and said he had ordered them beheaded.
• Han Yuan questioned the commander’s actions and recalled a rumor that he had secretly met with the Crown Prince.

Han Yuan faced a coup led by his son Han Tao, who tried to kill him during a fire and staged attack in the camp. Just as Han Tao confronted him, Zhong Yumo shot Han Tao dead from a distant tent.

• Han Yuan suspected his personal guard commander had sided with the Crown Prince but concealed his anger and waited for a chance to act.
• The Crown Prince kept a captured assassin in his custody and planned to kill Han Yuan before they returned to the palace.
• A fire and staged attack erupted in the camp, and the guard commander led Han Yuan and his pregnant consort out of the tent.
• Three hundred armored soldiers surrounded Han Yuan after killing his personal guards, and Han Tao appeared to confront his father.
• Zhong Yumo shot Han Tao through the forehead before he could finish speaking.

Zhong Yumo killed the Crown Prince, the commander of the personal guard, and the three hundred soldiers who threatened Han Yuan and his pregnant consort. At Mountain Pass, Shen Ce led the surviving scouts west toward an abandoned border pass, while Zhang Yuanyu noticed his body and axe had inexplicably changed.

• After the Crown Prince died, the commander of the personal guard drew his saber to attack the emperor, but a bloody hole appeared in his forehead and he fell dead.
• Zhong Yumo sent Ice Spikes through the three hundred armored soldiers, killing them all, and Han Yuan bowed toward the empty air to thank the Immortal Master.
• The next morning, Zhang Yuanyu woke with deep aches, found his axe unusually light, and packed the book he had found before joining the departing soldiers.
• Shen Ce led the survivors west toward a mountain overlooking an abandoned border pass planned as an outpost for warning Mountain Pass of Outer Dao Tides.
• The chapter explained that Ferry Ships could carry intelligence from an outpost, but Dao-Suppressing Pass restricted their flights to prevent them from being corrupted and captured by the Outer Dao.