Recaps

Shen Tang brought the Southwest under Kang’s control while Miao Ne and Xiang Zhao began their posts in Yuanfu. Lin Feng traveled to Qu to grow grain for its people, where Zhai Le’s hidden strength and the conflict over her authority came to the fore.

• Miao Ne assassinated the Qi Sovereign, escaped with a Word Spirit, and Cui Xiong later admitted to Cui Zhi that he had killed the Sovereign.
• Cui Xiong and Cui Mi uncovered family scandals as Cui Xiao urged Cui Long to abandon dangerous businesses and defect to Kang.
• Shen Tang investigated popular grievances, punished corrupt officials, and used the Cui family’s troubles to build support while Kang took control of the Southwest.
• Gongyang Yongye joined Shen Tang, adopted Xiang Zhao as his granddaughter, and helped arrange for Luan Xin to guide her unusual ability to seize and control Literary Scholars’ Ways.
• Miao Ne accepted a post in Yuanfu with Xiang Zhao, while Cui Xiong brought the dead Qi Sovereign and National Seal to Shen Tang and learned that she knew Miao Ne’s disguise.
• Shen Tang centralized control over Southwest taxes, aided displaced Cui women, and used evidence against the Cui clan to pursue local gambling and lending interests.
• Shen Tang approved grain aid for Qu and sent Lin Feng with an escort to grow crops there, while Zhai Le arranged land, seeds, and Imperial Guards for the project.
• Lin Feng began cultivation in Qu and asserted her authority over the Imperial Guards, and Yu Hai stopped her soldiers’ executions and brought Zhai Le seeds, prompting him to ask whether Yu Hai had intercepted a letter.

Shen Tang’s forces used a grain shipment as bait to draw Luo San into a decisive battle and capture him. After taking Shanyong Commandery, Shen Tang began rebuilding the city and settling Luo San’s former troops, while Lin Feng’s mission in Qu exposed a palace conspiracy and ended with the capital purged.

• Zhai Le tasked Lin Feng with improving Qu’s grain harvest, and Lin Feng’s work at Ji Tian drew the Crown Princess into conversations about governance, service, and her father.
• Shen Tang and Xiahou Yu arranged a covert attack on Shanyong Commandery, and Shen Tang’s forces destroyed its granaries and damaged its defenses before withdrawing.
• Lin Feng exposed a threat around the Crown Princess, then left Qu with Wei Cheng after warning Zhai Le that the capital was changing hands.
• Zhai Le purged his court after the Crown Princess killed the false female official, while Gongxi Chou and Lin Feng joined forces to attack Shanyong Commandery and were driven back by Luo San.
• Shen Tang surrounded Shanyong Commandery and lured Luo San’s forces to a fake grain store, where Shen Tang, Lin Feng, Wei Cheng, He Shu, Luo Sha, and Gongxi Chou fought and captured him.
• Luo San accepted Shen Tang’s terms, and she offered his former soldiers paths into the army or paid labor while the Xinglin Physicians began treating him.
• Shen Tang’s forces entered Shanyong Commandery, began relief and reconstruction work, and recruited powerful warriors to help repair its defenses.
• Luo San learned that his former subordinates felt mistreated in their new work and called them fools for tolerating it.

Shen Tang’s forces seized Qi’s capital and won over many of its commanders, while Luo San investigated Yuanfu Prefecture and confronted a Time Arrow archer. Back in Kang, Luo San accepted Shen Tang as his sovereign, but questions about missing allies and the truth behind Qiu Cheng’s death left Luan Xin’s loyalty uncertain.

• Luo San reconsidered joining Shen Tang after she promised to honor his men’s martial fortune, while Shanyong Commandery recovered with her aid.
• Shen Tang condemned Qi in Duke Ye’s name, and after Qi’s forces attacked refugees, she rescued a wounded maid and ordered the captured envoy executed.
• Gongxi Chou seized Qi’s capital and captured its Sovereign, while Shen Tang defeated and recruited generals marching to relieve the city.
• The Qi State Sovereign died after Xiahou Yu arranged for him to be shot while displayed on the Great Banner, and Shen Tang consolidated her hold over Qi’s forces.
• Luo San investigated Yuanfu Prefecture, freed Miao Ne and the other prisoners, then was struck by a Time Arrow that reduced his cultivation.
• Shen Tang agreed to ransom the prisoners and confronted Luo San’s plan to oppose her, while he ultimately accepted her as Kang’s Sovereign.
• Shen Tang sent Luan Xin to negotiate in Yuanfu with Luo San as his escort, while Qi Shan reported that the Central Branch had isolated other branches and was considering action against Kang.
• Gu Chi learned that Luan Xin might discover Shen Tang’s role in Qiu Cheng’s death, and Jimò Qiu approached Madam Miao to seek her help in reconciling them.

Luan Xin uncovered the Central Branch’s Soul Possession schemes and reconciled with Shen Tang, while Shen Tang prepared Kang for war and rescued Tan Ting from a compound holding captive women. The mountain collapsed with the women still inside, and Shen Tang realized the rescue had been lured away from them.

• Luan Xin learned that Xiang Zhao’s body had been taken over by an Assembly of Gods elder, resisted a possession attempt himself, and returned to Kang after negotiating the prisoners’ ransom.
• Luan Xin confronted Shen Tang over Qiu Wenyan’s death, accepted her apology, and promised to stay, and Shen Tang then tasked Wei Lou with investigating the Central Branch’s pursuit of eternal life.
• Xun Ding’s ransom exchange ended in an enemy attack that killed 516 prisoners, and Shen Tang secured Cui Zhi’s cooperation to stabilize the Southwest before returning to the capital.
• Shen Tang appointed Ning Yan regent and charged her with expanding the academy and promoting commoner students, while Li Wan settled a family dispute and returned to public service.
• Shen Tang traced Tan Ting to a guarded mountain compound, rescued him from captivity, and learned that the Central Branch had imprisoned women and targeted bloodlines for a breeding scheme.
• Tan Ting told Shen Tang he wanted to save the other captives, but the Leopard Martial Artist drew them away as explosions tore through the mountain.
• The Leopard Martial Artist revealed that Tan Ting’s sister had urged the captive women to destroy their wombs, and Shen Tang saw a water-shaped figure escape as the mountain collapsed.