Recaps

Wu Xian and the other Dragon Slaying Bureau leaders learned that Qiu Cheng had raided Shen Tang’s grain stores and expected her to retaliate, while deciding not to get involved. Shen Tang secured ten thousand troops from Chu Jie, allowing her to march against Qiu Cheng with twenty thousand and leaving her enemies facing a much larger force than expected.

• Wu Xian learned that Qiu Cheng had seized Shen Tang’s grain and laughed at the trouble brewing, while Qin Li warned him not to let Qiu Wenyan draw him into the conflict.
• Gu Ren and Zhang He also expected Shen Tang to counterattack and prepared excuses to refuse Qiu Cheng’s likely request for reinforcements.
• Shen Tang met Chu Jie at Yonggu Pass and asked to borrow ten thousand troops so she could deploy twenty thousand against Qiu Cheng.
• Chu Jie agreed after Chu Yao negotiated a thirty-percent increase to the pass’s military budget for one year.
• Shen Tang and Chu Yao left with the ten thousand troops, giving her a twenty-thousand-strong force that would shock Qiu Cheng.

Shen Tang explained why Longwu Commandery needed to expand into Sibao Prefecture and committed to sending twenty thousand troops against Qiu Wenyan. Her officials agreed to strike together and began deciding who would join the expedition.

• Jiang Sheng urged Shen Tang to proceed cautiously, but she said Zheng Qiao’s crisis made it urgent to expand before Huang Lie and the other forces divided the spoils.
• Shen Tang explained that Longwu Commandery lacked enough farmland to settle refugees and support its growing population, so she needed neighboring land and believed Sibao’s people would be receptive to her.
• Jiang Sheng accepted Shen Tang’s decision and promised to do his utmost to support the campaign.
• Shen Tang and her officials confirmed expedition personnel, including young men Tu Rong, Lin Feng, and Lu Ji, to gain experience.
• Chu Yao and the others agreed to concentrate their forces, while Qi Shan proposed sending Kang Shi with a thousand troops to harass the enemy.

Shen Tang rallied her troops and prepared to invade Sibao Prefecture, framing the campaign as revenge for the enemy’s slaughter and destruction. She appointed herself commander-in-chief, set the first battle at Linshan County, and ordered the three armies to march.

• Qi Shan teased Kang Shi about his lack of military merit, and Shen Tang tried to defend him with an ill-fitting explanation of his Way of the Scholar.
• Shen Tang led a ceremony on the Command Platform, using the enemy’s heads as offerings and urging the troops to avenge the victims and capture Qiu Wenyan alive.
• The three armies answered Shen Tang’s calls with unified battle cries, and their morale surged.
• Shen Tang appointed herself commander-in-chief and left Gongshu Wu behind to guard their home against an enemy counterattack.
• Kang Jishou, Xianyu Jian, and a veteran general were assigned two thousand troops to harass and confuse the enemy, with Lin Feng securing their grain supply.
• Shen Tang ordered the main force toward Linshan County and commanded the three armies to march.

Yu Zi joined Kang Shi’s campaign into Sibao Prefecture, where the army discovered an enemy grain convoy bound for Linshan County. Kang Shi decided to attack it, and the chapter ended as the convoy came under a coordinated ambush.

• Yu Zi worried that she would not gain battlefield experience, and Kang Shi teased her while warning her that the battlefield was dangerous.
• Xianyu Jian reported that the army had found no enemies, but Yu Zi’s black owl returned with news of a suspicious grain convoy heading for Linshan County.
• Kang Shi learned that Lord Shen’s troops would reach Linshan County in a day and decided they could attack the convoy.
• At night, the grain haulers crossed a mountain path carrying sacks on their backs, and falling rocks struck their route.
• A convoy defender shattered one of the falling rocks, warned the others of an attack, and was targeted by a hidden arrow.

Kang Shi led an ambush to destroy the enemy’s supplies rather than seize them, while Old General Jiang engaged the enemy general in a fierce duel. As the porters shielded themselves from the boulders, the ground began to shake beneath them.

• Kang Shi explained to Lin Feng and Yu Zi that the ambush aimed to destroy the supplies, then ordered soldiers to roll boulders down the pass while Xianyu Jian prepared to attack.
• Old General Jiang eagerly took charge of drawing the enemy warriors’ attention and led the assault when the supply column entered range.
• Old General Jiang shot an enemy cook and then transformed his bow into a greatsword, summoning his twin tiger totems as he challenged the enemy general.
• Old General Jiang and the young enemy general exchanged more than a hundred blows while their beasts fought to a stalemate.
• The enemy porters braced against the boulders with large shields, but the ground began to shake violently beneath them.

Xianyu Jian, Kang Shi, and their allies ambushed a supply convoy, destroying most of its grain before retreating from Huang Lie’s heavily armored cooks. The enemy general was left with severe losses and no idea how to explain them.

• Xianyu Jian’s troops triggered a landslide and shot arrows into the convoy’s grain sacks while Old General Jiang fought the enemy general.
• Kang Shi realized the cooks were powerful Heavy Shield Warriors and ordered the scholars to amplify the arrow attack, then retreat at full speed.
• Old General Jiang broke off his duel after seeing the signal arrow and fled with the others as their Literary Qi-enhanced speed left the cooks behind.
• At dawn, Kang Shi estimated that the ambush had destroyed seventy to eighty percent of the convoy’s grain, and Old General Jiang celebrated their success.
• The enemy general surveyed the ruined supplies and struggled to understand how an ambush force with three scholars had appeared on the remote road.

Shen Tang’s vanguard encountered Qiu Cheng’s grain convoy while advancing toward Linshan County, but the convoy was guarded by a thousand Heavy Shield Warriors. Shen Tang recognized the threat and prepared to counter them as the battle began.

• Jiang Sheng gave Shen Tang an umbrella after noticing her poor luck, and bird droppings struck it repeatedly because of Kang Shi’s Way of the Scholar.
• Shen Tang’s army advanced rapidly toward Linshan County, and scouts reported an enemy supply convoy ahead.
• Shen Tang ordered the vanguard to attack the convoy and summoned the central army to support them.
• The enemy general realized Shen Tang’s troops had found him and prepared to defend the convoy after suffering a grain-loss ambush the previous night.
• Shen Tang charged the enemy general, then dodged his attack when a Heavy Shield Warrior hurled a giant shield at her.
• Shen Tang identified the convoy’s escort as more than a thousand Heavy Shield Warriors and began considering how to counter them.

Shen Tang fought an enemy general and his Heavy Shield Warriors while Jiang Sheng led the elite vanguard against their assault. The battle remained unresolved as Shen Tang confronted the general’s crocodile totem and Jiang Sheng launched a coordinated counterattack.

• Shen Tang killed a burly Heavy Shield Warrior, then saw the enemy general direct more than a thousand Heavy Shield Warriors against the advancing vanguard.
• The Heavy Shield Warriors formed a fearsome shield from their killing intent, but Shen Tang split it with her sword and Jiang Sheng protected the vanguard with a golden barrier.
• The enemy general attacked Shen Tang alongside his blue crocodile totem, and he realized that she cultivated both martial and literary paths.
• Shen Tang and the enemy general fought to a stalemate as she guarded the vanguard and he used his totem to intercept her attacks.
• Jiang Sheng used [Landslide and Collapse] to turn the ground beneath the Heavy Shield Warriors into a haunted swamp, then empowered the vanguard’s charge with Word Spirits.

Shen Tang and Jiang Sheng drove back Huang Lie’s Heavy Shield Warriors after a fierce battle, and Lü Jue arrived with the central army. The enemy general retreated, leaving Shen Tang to wonder whether Huang Lie had exchanged his troops for provisions from Qiu Cheng.

• Jiang Sheng used One Breath, One Go to strengthen the vanguard, and his phantoms helped push the Heavy Shield Warriors’ formation backward.
• Shen Tang evaded the enemy general’s attacks while he tried to exploit what he thought was Jiang Sheng’s mistimed Word Spirit.
• Lü Jue arrived, but Shen Tang ordered him to assist Xiandeng and faced the enemy general herself.
• The enemy general ordered the Heavy Shield Warriors to withdraw, and Jiang Sheng used Landslide and Collapse to hinder their retreat.
• The central army arrived after the Heavy Shield Warriors had left three to four hundred corpses, and Shen Tang discussed why Huang Lie’s army might have appeared there with Jiang Sheng.

After defeating Qiu Cheng’s Heavy Shield Warriors, Shen Tang discovered that the soldiers’ hidden Gu Worms consumed their bodies, while Xun Zhen learned that the escaped enemy general might be his rebellious son, Xun Ding. Xun Ding reached Linshan County, clashed with Qiu Cheng’s allies over the losses, and warned them that Shen Tang’s armies were approaching.

• Shen Tang and Xun Zhen discussed why Huang Lie would not have let the secret of the Heavy Shield Warriors leak, then counted 467 enemy corpses.
• Shen Tang examined a Heavy Shield Warrior’s corpse and found that Gu Worms had hollowed out its body, leading her to order the bodies burned and buried.
• Shen Tang told Xun Zhen that the young martial artist who escaped her reminded her of his eldest son, and Xun Zhen said his son would have to accept the risks of battle.
• Xun Ding arrived at Linshan County after losing most of his supplies and more than 400 Heavy Shield Warriors, then argued with Qiu Cheng’s allies over the defeat.
• Xun Ding blamed their bad intelligence and mocked a general for his earlier failure against Gongxi Chou before warning that Shen Tang’s three armies were nearing Linshan County.

Qiu Cheng’s council learned that Shen Tang was leading the vanguard and had brought a force of about twenty thousand to Linshan County. Miao Shu and Qiu Cheng debated whether Longwu Commandery had been left vulnerable, while the chief clerk warned that Shen Tang might be baiting them into a trap.

• Xun Ding told Qiu Cheng’s council that Shen Tang was the vanguard’s Great General and explained that he had suffered heavy losses because he could not defeat her.
• A furious retainer urged the council not to fear Shen Tang, citing Gongxi Chou as Qiu Cheng’s trump card, though Xun Ding doubted Gongxi Chou would help before the enemy reached Xiaocheng.
• A messenger reported that Shen Tang’s twenty thousand troops were five miles from Linshan County, startling Qiu Cheng and the council.
• Miao Shu argued that Shen Tang had either inflated her troop numbers or left Longwu Commandery exposed, and Qiu Cheng considered both possibilities.
• Qiu Cheng’s chief clerk argued that Shen Tang had too much invested in Longwu Commandery to leave it undefended, suggesting the invasion might be a trap, and Miao Shu challenged how she could support twenty thousand troops if the commandery was guarded.

Qiu Cheng’s forces debated whether Shen Tang’s twenty thousand troops were genuine, while Shen Tang’s disciplined army rested and ate ten li from Linshan County. The chapter ended with Qiu Cheng declining to attack as Shen Tang finished her meal and prepared to advance.

• Miao Shu challenged the Registrar’s claim that Shen Tang’s forces were genuine, and the Registrar suggested she might have borrowed troops from allies.
• Xun Ding urged Qiu Cheng’s group to engage Shen Tang’s army and discover its strength directly.
• Qiu Cheng’s scouts reported that Shen Tang’s troops were orderly and disciplined, with no sign of fake soldiers.
• Shen Tang’s army ate and rested ten li from the city while Lü Jue waited impatiently to fight.
• After Qiu Cheng’s forces did not ambush them, Shen Tang finished eating and called him a coward.

Shen Tang’s forces advanced on Linshan County, where Qiu Cheng’s troops prepared to defend the walls. Shen Tang confronted them with a barrage of insults and demanded that they send out Qiu Wenyan.

• Shen Tang and her officials discussed siege tactics, and Gu Chi reassured her that her commanders knew how to attack a city.
• Qiu Cheng’s troops heard that Shen Tang’s army was moving and rushed to their posts on the walls.
• Qiu Cheng watched Shen Tang’s disciplined army approach and regretted underestimating her strength.
• A general on the walls demanded that Shen Tang’s troops withdraw, and Shen Tang answered with insults before challenging Qiu Cheng to send out Qiu Wenyan.
• Xun Zhen and Jiang Sheng wondered whether Shen Tang had been angered, while Gu Chi said she was merely showing her true nature.

Shen Tang’s forces faced Qiu Cheng’s army in a generals’ duel, and Lü Jue stepped in to fight the martial general Qiu Wenyan sent out. After their exchange of blows, the enemy revealed a hidden attack that threatened Lü Jue; the chapter ended before its result was shown.

• Qiu Wenyan asked Qiu Cheng for permission to fight Shen Tang’s insulting challenger, and Qiu Cheng agreed.
• Shen Tang mocked the martial general’s dramatic transformation, then let Lü Jue replace her in the duel despite Bai Su also wanting to fight.
• Lü Jue intercepted the general’s first attack and exchanged insults with him before the two began battling.
• After dozens of exchanges, the general unveiled a hidden attack from his axe, sending metal petals toward Lü Jue.

Lü Jue turned the tide against the enemy general, enduring a hidden-weapon attack and exploiting his opponent’s retreat to kill him. The enemy general’s head fell as Shen Tang watched from the city walls.

• Lü Jue dodged the enemy general’s metal-petal hidden weapon and kept taunting him as their fight intensified.
• Lü Jue wounded the enemy general and used his warhorse to drive him backward, while Shen Tang judged that Lü Jue’s momentum gave him a strong chance of victory.
• The enemy general tried to use the hidden weapon again, but Lü Jue caught it and rammed its exploding petals into his face, destroying his right eye.
• The wounded enemy general attempted to flee, but Lü Jue struck him from behind and beheaded him.

Qiu Cheng sent a formidable general to avenge his fallen comrade, but Shen Tang stepped in to face him herself. She recognized him as the brother of the Ninth-Rank Wudafu she had killed, and the chapter ended with the middle-aged general realizing she might have slain his younger brother.

• Qiu Cheng beat the war drums to rally his troops after Lü Jue beheaded their general, then chose a middle-aged general to challenge Lü Jue.
• The middle-aged general leaped from the wall and intimidated Lü Jue, but Shen Tang intervened and told Lü Jue to stand down.
• Shen Tang positioned herself between Lü Jue and the challenger, while Xun Ding and Gu Chi anticipated that the middle-aged general was in danger.
• The middle-aged general mocked Shen Tang’s appearance and asked whether she had killed a Ninth-Rank Wudafu in red robes and silver armor.
• Shen Tang taunted him about his brother’s attack on Beishang County’s granary, and the middle-aged general wondered whether she had killed his younger brother.

Shen Tang taunted and fought a middle-aged general who sought revenge for a relative she had killed, holding him at bay while a hidden Martial Gall Totem appeared behind her. The battle remained unresolved as Shen Tang dismissed the shadowy creature.

• Shen Tang revealed that she had killed the middle-aged general’s relative and challenged him to try to kill her.
• The enraged general attacked through a storm of yellow sand, but Shen Tang calmly intercepted his strikes without moving from her starting spot.
• Qiu Cheng’s men watched from the city wall, while Xun Ding recognized how thoroughly Shen Tang controlled the fight.
• Gu Chi sensed a Martial Gall Totem, and a huge shadowy, scale-covered worm appeared behind Shen Tang.
• Shen Tang called the creature all flash and no substance.

Shen Tang defeated and killed Qiu Cheng’s powerful warrior and his Martial Gall Totem with ease, leaving Qiu Cheng’s forces afraid to challenge her. Qiu Cheng then looked toward Xun Ding, apparently suspecting he might be Gongxi Chou.

• The middle-aged warrior summoned a smoke-like Martial Gall Totem resembling a giant lizard and attacked Shen Tang alongside it.
• Shen Tang explained that the totem was only martial energy and cut off its foreleg while countering the warrior’s attack.
• Shen Tang killed the warrior and beheaded the giant lizard, shocking both armies.
• Qiu Cheng called for someone to challenge Shen Tang, but no one volunteered.
• After someone suggested the warrior might have been Gongxi Chou, Qiu Cheng turned his gaze toward Xun Ding.

Xun Ding refused to risk his life beyond the terms of his contract, while Shen Tang taunted Qiu Cheng and offered lenient terms to the city’s residents. Qiu Cheng’s anger drove him to shoot at Shen Tang, prompting her to order the assault on the city.

• Xun Ding told Qiu Cheng that his contract did not require him to fight a martial general he could not defeat, and he rejected appeals to repay Qiu Cheng’s regard with greater loyalty.
• Shen Tang called for Qiu Cheng to name a fighter for the third bout, then urged him to surrender and promised to spare civilians and retain capable people in their positions.
• Qiu Cheng, enraged by Shen Tang’s taunts, took a bow and shot an arrow charged with literary qi at her.
• Shen Tang cut the arrow in two, declared that Qiu Cheng would meet his end, and ordered the three armies to attack the city.

Shen Tang’s army attacked Linshan County, overcoming the defenders’ preparations with unusual siege tactics and quickly breaking through the city gate. As her soldiers poured into the city, Shen Tang spotted Xun Ding and charged at him with her sword.

• Shen Tang handed battlefield command to the experienced old general and went out with Xun Zhen, while Gu Chi and Jiang Sheng supported the army with their Word Spirits.
• Bai Su and Lü Jue targeted the drawbridge chains as the army advanced under cover of siege weapons, and the defenders raised a martial-energy wall.
• When the old general realized no trench bridges had been formed, Jiang Sheng and Gu Chi said they would use literary energy to fill the moat beneath the walls.
• Shen Tang’s forces broke through the defenders’ line and smashed the city gate before Qiu Cheng’s soldiers could block the tunnel behind it.
• Xun Ding saw Shen Tang charging toward him with her sword as soldiers poured into the city.

During the siege of Linshan County, Shen Tang faced Xun Ding, who had been hired to defend the city, and Xun Zhen realized that the young warrior was his long-lost son. Qiu Cheng retreated as Shen Tang’s forces breached the defenses, leaving Xun Zhen to confront Xun Ding.

• Xun Zhen failed to recognize Xun Ding at first, and Shen Tang struck Xun Ding back onto the battlements.
• Xun Ding revealed his identity to Xun Zhen, while Shen Tang fought through the enemy ranks to reach him.
• Shen Tang heard someone call out to their lord and hurled her sword toward Qiu Cheng, who then retreated under guard.
• Shen Tang ordered Xun Ding to move aside, but he refused because he had accepted payment to defend the city.
• Xun Zhen stepped in to fight Xun Ding and said someone else would cover the cost of teaching his son a lesson.

Xun Zhen used [One Leaf Obscures the Eye] against Xun Ding, then Shen Tang’s forces captured Linshan County before dawn. As the city woke, soldiers bought flatbreads from an old couple and began clearing the damaged streets.

• Xun Zhen trapped Xun Ding in an illusion and scolded him for failing to act against the enemy strategist.
• Xun Ding escaped the illusion, refused to return home, and prepared to fight his father.
• After Qiu Cheng withdrew, Shen Tang’s forces swept through Linshan County and raised the [Shen] flag over the city.
• The old couple found the streets damaged but went ahead with their plan to sell flatbreads.
• A group of soldiers bought the old couple’s food and helped sweep the streets and fill potholes.

Xun Zhen captured his son Xun Ding after their battle and brought him to Shen Tang to work off the money he had spent fighting him. Shen Tang accepted the arrangement, while Xun Ding protested that he served under Gongxi Chou, whom Shen Tang believed would lend him out.

• Soldiers gossiped about Xun Ding being captured by the Literary Scholar Xun Zhen, while an old couple brought water to the workers repairing the ruins and road.
• Xun Ding recalled how Xun Zhen defeated him and demanded that he pay for the money spent on the Word Spirit.
• When Xun Ding admitted he had no money, Xun Zhen tied him up and brought him to Shen Tang as payment for the debt.
• Xun Ding objected to being made to work for Shen Tang, then revealed that he served under Gongxi Chou.
• Shen Tang said Gongxi Chou would probably agree to lend Xun Ding to her.

After Shen Tang took Linshan County, she reassured its residents by keeping her troops from looting and continued pursuing Qiu Wenyan's army. The story left Shen Tang expecting a decisive battle at Xiaocheng because Gongxi Chou was there.

• Xun Ding refused to work for Shen Tang, and Xun Zhen threatened to discipline him until Shen Tang intervened.
• Xun Ding watched Linshan County's residents flee in fear, but the guards let them leave and Shen Tang's troops did not plunder the city.
• Shen Tang arranged for Linshan County to be governed and then pursued Qiu Wenyan's retreating army into another county, which surrendered with little resistance.
• Lord Yang concluded that Qiu Wenyan had withdrawn his scattered forces to lure Shen Tang into a head-on battle.
• Xun Ding said the decisive battle would take place at Xiaocheng because Gongxi Chou was there, and Shen Tang reacted with interest.

After Shen Tang defeated Qiu Cheng at Linshan County, Qiu Cheng regrouped and withdrew to Xiaocheng, where Gongxi Chou waited to fight her. The chapter ended with Qiu Cheng’s army returning to the city as the familiar battlefield’s sides were reversed.

• Shen Tang learned that Gongxi Chou was guarding Xiaocheng for Qiu Wenyan and welcomed the prospect of facing him again.
• After losing Linshan County and much of his army, Qiu Cheng’s officers urged him to regroup for a final showdown against Shen Tang.
• Miao Shu persuaded Qiu Cheng to ask their Dragon Slaying Bureau allies to probe Shen Tang’s defenses in Longwu Commandery.
• Gongxi Chou heard that Qiu Cheng had been routed and that Xun Ding had been captured, then looked forward to fighting Shen Tang.
• Qiu Cheng led his forces back into Xiaocheng, where the attackers and defenders had switched sides.