Chapter Summaries

Princess reflected on her risky alliance with Shen Tang and recalled how she had received and concealed a map of the Ten Crows. As Shen Tang waited through another sleepless night for an attack, Gu Chi sensed that an enemy was finally approaching.

• Princess worried that Shen Tang might betray her or discover that the map she had given her was false.
• Princess recalled meeting a mysterious scholar at a temple, where he gave her a bundle containing a map of the Ten Crows and warned her not to act hastily.
• Princess memorized the map, destroyed the original, and secretly copied it onto handkerchiefs that revealed their markings when heated.
• Princess had hoped to approach the general at Yonggu Pass but, after he turned her away, she sought cooperation from Shen Tang instead.
• Shen Tang stayed awake with Jiang Sheng and Gu Chi as they played a game and waited for a would-be attacker.
• Gu Chi announced that the wolf was coming, and an unnatural light flared outside Shen Tang's tent.

Shen Tang eagerly charged into the Ten Crows attackers’ night raid while Gu Chi and Jiang Sheng watched the battle and considered how it could benefit them. The fighting spread to their camp, where Jiang Sheng recognized something familiar in the attackers’ martial aura as they shattered his defenses.

• Shen Tang conjured the Kind Mother Sword and rushed toward the battle, while Gu Chi and Jiang Sheng followed her outside.
• Gu Chi explained that rival Ten Crows princes had arranged the ambush to kill the Princess and Su Shi Yilu and undermine the Queen Mother’s faction.
• Gu Chi and Jiang Sheng watched the attackers overwhelm the delegation’s defenses and debated whether Su Shi Yilu would survive.
• Dozens of attackers charged into Shen Tang’s camp, and Jiang Sheng raised literary-energy walls to stop them.
• One attacker broke through Jiang Sheng’s walls with martial-energy blades, and Jiang Sheng recognized the attackers’ aura as familiar.

Gu Chi and Xu Quan helped repel the night raid while Xu Quan searched for Bai Su. The Princess fled through the burning camp, but the chapter ended as an enemy rider swung his saber at her.

• Gu Chi empowered Xu Quan with [Five Virtues of the General] and [Be Prepared for Danger in Times of Peace], allowing him to dispatch enemies with ease.
• Gu Chi and Jiang Sheng oversaw the soldiers as they fought off raiders in groups of three.
• Xianyu Jian asked Xu Quan where Bai Shaoxuan had gone, and Xu Quan withdrew to help steady the women's camp.
• The Princess fled her burning tent with her attendants, smearing mud and blood on her face to disguise herself.
• After her guards fell and she lost her shoes, an enemy rider charged at the Princess and swung his saber toward her face.

The Princess was saved from the pursuing soldiers by Bai Su, who carried her to Shen Tang’s camp and arranged for her to escape in a guarded carriage. After leaving to rejoin the battle, Bai Su returned to find fireballs raining down on her own camp.

• A headless attacker fell as reinforcements engaged the soldiers pursuing the Princess, and the Princess struggled to her feet despite her exhaustion and pregnancy.
• Bai Su rescued the Princess and revealed that she served Lord Shen, easing the Princess’s fears.
• Bai Su took the Princess to Shen Tang’s camp and placed her in a guarded carriage bound for safety.
• The Princess wished Bai Su success in battle, and Bai Su left to check on her soldiers.
• Bai Su returned to camp and saw fireballs strike her tents, recognizing them as her lord’s Word Spirit.

Shen Tang’s forces used a staged battle and a fire to evacuate the camp and spirit Princess away, then prepared to leave the Ten Crows’ wedding procession and launch a raid. Shen Tang and Jiang Sheng stayed behind to put on a final show as Su Shi Yilu fought alone against three enemies.

• Shen Tang deliberately burned the emptied tents with her Word Spirit, covering the retreat and leaving no bodies behind to reveal the missing troops.
• Bai Su reported that Princess had been escorted to the agreed location, while Shen Tang refused to interfere in the clash between Su Shi Yilu and his attackers.
• Jiang Sheng and Gu Chi confirmed that the troops and women’s camp had withdrawn, and Shen Tang ordered Jiang Sheng to stay with her while Bai Su escorted Gu Chi to the main force.
• Shen Tang and Jiang Sheng disguised themselves as battered survivors and went to reinforce the battlefield, where Su Shi Yilu was nearing exhaustion after killing one enemy.
• Su Shi Yilu demanded to know whose prince the three remaining enemies served.

Su Shi Yilu was nearly killed by three unknown Martial Gall Warriors before a surge of literary energy saved him. Shen Tang arrived after defeating one attacker and told Su Shi Yilu that her camp had been destroyed, leaving them to seek the Princess and the surviving troops.

• Three unfamiliar Martial Gall Warriors attacked Su Shi Yilu, who realized they might have been secretly recruited for a succession struggle among the Great King's sons.
• Su Shi Yilu was badly wounded and nearly overwhelmed, but a stream of literary energy shielded him from the attackers' killing blow.
• Two Martial Gall Warriors went after the unseen Literary Scholar, while Su Shi Yilu overwhelmed the one left behind.
• Shen Tang stabbed the remaining attacker from behind and asked Su Shi Yilu whether the Princess was safe.
• Shen Tang told Su Shi Yilu that heavenly fire and an enemy raid had devastated her camp, and that only a few dozen soldiers had escaped.
• Su Shi Yilu said he had sent people to escort the Princess and urged Shen Tang to help him reunite with her and the survivors.

Shen Tang and Jiang Sheng staged Shen Tang’s death while helping Su Shi Yilu escape the ambush, then reunited with their retreating allies. As dawn neared, they discussed exploiting the Ten Crows’ succession struggle by attacking rival tribes and stirring suspicion.

• Shen Tang volunteered to hold off the attackers while Su Shi Yilu fled, and Su Shi Yilu accepted the chance to escape.
• Shen Tang kept the two wounded Martial Gall Warriors occupied until Jiang Sheng revealed himself and empowered her to defeat them.
• Shen Tang and Jiang Sheng destroyed the battlefield to conceal their involvement, then rode the Motorcycle to catch up with the retreat.
• Jiang Sheng spotted Gu Chi’s marker, and he advised Shen Tang to target tribes backing rival princes and frame them to fuel conflict.

Shen Tang rejoined the army and discussed why her martial energy always summoned Motorcycle instead of a warhorse. Princess learned that her unborn child could survive the ordeal and chose to keep it, just as the army announced Shen Tang had returned.

• Shen Tang caught up with the main force on Motorcycle and told Jiang Sheng that her martial energy could only summon the mule, possibly because she cultivated both literary and martial paths.
• Shen Tang and the army reached the escort force as dawn broke, and Princess learned that no enemy troops were nearby.
• Bai Su brought an army physician to examine Princess, who asked whether the child in her womb could be saved.
• The physician said Princess and the child should be fine with medicine and rest, and Princess decided to keep the baby.
• Someone announced that Shen Tang had returned.

Shen Tang reunited with her forces after escaping Su Shi Yilu, and the Princess handed over the complete Ten Crows Defense Map. With the map assembled, Shen Tang and Jiang Sheng began planning their next move, choosing a nearby tribe of more than four thousand people as their first target.

• Bai Su learned Shen Tang had returned safely and hurried to meet her, while Gu Chi reached her first and found her riding with Jiang Sheng.
• Shen Tang told Gu Chi that she had tricked Su Shi Yilu with a staged heroic sacrifice, and her commanders gathered to welcome her back.
• After eating and allowing the exhausted soldiers to rest, Shen Tang waited while the Princess recovered from the night’s ordeal.
• The Princess sent Bai Su the silk handkerchiefs concealing the Ten Crows Defense Map, and Shen Tang’s group pieced them together and confirmed their accuracy.
• Jiang Sheng recommended attacking a nearby tribe of more than four thousand people because its strength and isolation made it less likely to draw in neighboring tribes.

Shen Tang decided to attack a Ten Crows tribe of more than four thousand people, accepting that the raid might require killing every survivor to protect her forces. While she rested, Su Shi Yilu returned to his burned camp, found clues pointing to a rival faction, and learned that the Princess of Geng Country could not be identified among the dead.

• Xu Quan and Xianyu Jian warned Shen Tang that the tribe's forces were stronger than its population suggested, but Jiang Sheng and Gu Chi supported attacking it.
• Shen Tang approved the attack and told Jiang Sheng and Gu Chi that she intended to kill the captives; they clarified that leaving survivors could expose her forces.
• Jiang Sheng called Shen Tang soft-hearted, while Gu Chi argued that her compassion and decisiveness made her suited to their age.
• Su Shi Yilu recovered, gathered troops from a loyal tribe, and returned to find his camp burned and no survivors.
• Su Shi Yilu's men found corpses bearing faction tattoos, and Su Shi Yilu recognized them as belonging to his enemies.
• Su Shi Yilu learned that several disfigured female corpses might be the Princess of Geng Country, but none could be identified.

A'Lu's Mother looked forward to her son's wedding while worrying that his wild ways would put him in danger. After lending her late husband's armor and bow to his brother for a spring hunt, she waited for A'Lu to come home, and he returned to find the tribe ablaze with strange lights.

• A'Lu's Mother told the other women that her son's bride would arrive in thirty-one days, though she worried about A'Lu's childish behavior.
• A'Lu's Mother's late husband's brother asked to borrow the family's armor and bow for the tribe's upcoming spring hunt, and she agreed.
• The man put on the armor and left with the borrowed gear while A'Lu's Mother prepared dinner and waited for her son.
• A'Lu returned late at night and saw strange lights spreading into a blaze among the tribe's tents.

A'Lu witnessed the Ten Crows tribe's massacre and was captured by Lin Feng, who suspected he might be the heir her teacher sought. Gu Chi identified him as the wrong person, while the attackers buried the dead and prepared to continue their search.

• A'Lu ran toward the burning tribe, saw its people—including Zayebor—being slaughtered, and vowed revenge as he crawled away.
• Lin Feng's soldiers captured A'Lu, and Lin Feng judged that he might fit the clues about the person they sought.
• Lin Feng ordered that anyone who met the conditions be killed, while her guards finished the raid and collected right ears as proof of kills.
• Shen Tang arranged for the battlefield dead to be buried in a mass grave and offered them incense and wine.
• Gu Chi examined A'Lu and concluded he was not the Ten Crows heir because his hands lacked the calluses of someone trained in writing.

A Ten Crows garrison investigated the destruction of a neighboring tribe and suspected the attackers were an elite force with powerful backing. Shen Tang, the noble they feared might be involved, counted the gold and silver taken from the tribe.

• A garrison commander learned that a neighboring tribe had been wiped out and led soldiers to investigate.
• The commander found hundreds of dead, adult men missing their right ears, and only a little grain stolen from the tribe.
• After finding no clear tracks, the commander deduced that a small, highly skilled force had carried out the attack and sent his report to his superiors.
• The commander worried that a royal court noble might have ordered the massacre to seize the tribe's resources.
• Shen Tang sneezed and gleefully counted the gold and silver.

Shen Tang’s forces looted a Ten Crow tribe and fled before the garrisons could find them, while Su Shiyilu linked the massacre to the attack on the diplomatic marriage party. As his aide urged him to eliminate the princes threatening the twelfth prince, Su Shiyilu hesitated because they were members of the royal family.

• Jiang Sheng warned Shen Tang that boasting about killing and looting made them sound like bandits, and she agreed to be more careful about their reputation.
• The soldiers sorted and melted down the tribe’s gold and silver for military pay while preserving culturally valuable items.
• Xianyu Jian reported that the Ten Crows had discovered the destroyed tribe, so Shen Tang ordered the army to rest briefly and move out after dusk.
• Su Shiyilu learned that the massacre happened near the diplomatic marriage ambush and suspected a connection between the attacks.
• Su Shiyilu’s aide identified the fifth and seventh princes as possible culprits, though Su Shiyilu suspected they might have been framed.
• Su Shiyilu’s aide urged him to remove the princes who threatened the twelfth prince, but Su Shiyilu objected that they were princes.

Su Shi Yilu considered his aide’s warning that the Great King might be behind the princes’ schemes, while the aide credited a rescued man of letters for the advice. The man of letters then wrote a eulogy for his deceased friend An Wen, declaring his debt for saving his life repaid.

• Su Shi Yilu recognized that the princes’ hostility had left him in danger, and his trusted aide asked how he would handle the marriage alliance.
• The trusted aide urged Su Shi Yilu to show weakness and suggested the Great King might be directing the princes; Su Shi Yilu dismissed him but privately began to doubt the ruler.
• The trusted aide left Su Shi Yilu’s tent shaken and told the man of letters that the General had nearly killed him.
• The man of letters argued that Su Shi Yilu’s restraint showed his loyalty had changed, and the trusted aide rewarded him with more than a hundred taels of gold.
• The man of letters decided that his debt for being rescued was repaid, then wrote an essay titled “In Memory of My Dear Friend An Wen.”

Lin Feng helped Shen Tang’s army secure food by using Word Spirit to harvest wheat, then taught soldiers to read during their spare time. The soldiers grew eager to learn after Lin Feng showed them how to write Shen Tang’s name and encouraged them to hope their children might one day have the talent to produce grain through Word Spirit.

• Jiang Sheng praised the Word Spirit harvest as Lin Feng’s soldiers gathered wheat, while he and the other veterans helped manage the army’s food supply.
• Lin Feng declined Jiang Sheng’s offer to rest because she had promised soldiers she would teach them characters.
• Shen Tang explained that literacy would give soldiers useful skills after the fighting ended and help protect them from being cheated, and she organized literacy squads with rewards and extra training.
• Lin Feng taught her students to write Shen Tang’s name and You Li, and the soldiers practiced the characters eagerly.
• When a soldier asked to learn Lin Feng’s grain-producing ability, Lin Feng said it was unlikely for adults but that their children might have the talent, renewing the soldiers’ enthusiasm for studying.

Shen Tang encouraged her soldiers to build strength through study or martial arts while her forces continued raiding Ten Crows tribes. In the royal court, Su Shi Yilu discovered that accusations had weakened his position and learned that two more tribes under Fourth Brother had been wiped out.

• Shen Tang told Lin Feng that soldiers who struggled with study could pursue martial arts, and promised that one day they could openly celebrate Shou Sheng and Shao Xuan.
• Shen Tang's forces destroyed another tribe on the second night and raided a third on the seventh day of their march.
• Su Shi Yilu arrived at the royal city and found that he was barred from seeing the Great King.
• The Queen Mother told Su Shi Yilu that ministers had accused him of taking bribes and monopolizing military power, prompting the Great King to order an investigation.
• Su Shi Yilu reassured the Queen Mother that her child would inherit the throne, and she told him that two tribes under Fourth Brother had been wiped out.

Su Shi Yilu and his allies speculated about who was behind the attacks on the tribes, while Shen Tang visited her wounded soldiers and discovered that gold had mysteriously fallen into their shelter. The chapter left Shen Tang wondering whether the gold had truly come from the sky.

• Su Shi Yilu warned the Queen Mother to stay cautious and keep a low profile while their rivals fought among themselves.
• The scholar told Su Shi Yilu's trusted aide that the Great King could be behind the attacks and advised him to alert the general.
• Shen Tang visited the wounded with Gu Chi and Jiang Sheng, where the soldiers told her gold had fallen from the shelter's roof.
• A wounded female soldier explained that she had caught two identical triangular pieces of gold while resting.
• Jiang Sheng connected the strange gold to the scholar's remark that spent gold would return, leaving Shen Tang puzzled.

Shen Tang learned from Jiang Sheng that his friend’s unusual scholarly abilities let him wield immense power by spending gold, and that Qi Yuanliang had made the man an enemy. Jiang Sheng worried that the gold-spending scholar might now be among the Ten Crows.

• Shen Tang asked Jiang Sheng how gold could fall from the sky, and he explained that a friend’s abilities depended on gold and silver, which could later scatter into the world.
• Jiang Sheng said the friend could become extraordinarily powerful with enough wealth, but would need a treasury large enough to rule the Northwest Continent to reach his full strength.
• Jiang Sheng revealed that Shen Tang had fought the man before, when he had aided the refugee army at Luxia Prefecture.
• Jiang Sheng said the man held a grudge against Qi Yuanliang, possibly because Qi had done something to his only son, and Shen Tang worried about encountering him.
• Jiang Sheng wondered whether the gold-spending scholar had joined one of the Ten Crows’ nobles.

Shen Tang reassured Jiang Sheng about the possible defector, cared for her wounded soldiers, and discussed their health with the chief physician. As she ate with Xianyu Jian and Xu Quan, a scout reported about a group of roughly a thousand Ten Crows people hiding in a valley ahead.

• Jiang Sheng warned Shen Tang that a wealthy friend might have joined the Ten Crows and could trace their actions back to them, but Shen Tang said they would handle him if they encountered him.
• Shen Tang returned the wounded soldier’s gold fragments, brought the injured chicken soup, and promised them food, medicine, and care.
• Shen Tang privately instructed the chief physician to address the female soldiers’ health problems, including ailments caused by years of malnutrition.
• The wounded soldiers were moved by Shen Tang’s visit and care, and Gu Chi heard their growing loyalty to her.
• Shen Tang invited Xianyu Jian and Xu Quan to eat with her, then learned that about a thousand people were hiding in a valley ahead.