Chapter Summaries

Su Shi Yilu tried to reassure the Queen Mother about her dream of the Twelfth Prince, then learned that the prince had been killed and his body found at the A Ye Qi Qi Tribe’s encampment. The Great King heard of his legitimate son’s death and reacted with indifference, leaving Su Shi Yilu to face the news and its consequences.

• The Queen Mother told Su Shi Yilu about her nightmare, and he comforted her while secretly fearing for the Twelfth Prince.
• Su Shi Yilu proposed sending all eleven princes to the battlefield, and the Great King approved the plan despite the court’s uproar.
• Deathsworn men returned with a coffin, and Su Shi Yilu found the Twelfth Prince’s mutilated, headless body inside.
• A wounded deathsworn man reported that they had found the coffin at the A Ye Qi Qi Tribe’s troop encampment and gave Su Shi Yilu evidence implicating Eldest and Second.
• The Great King learned that the Twelfth Prince was dead and dismissed the news before returning to his new beauty.

The Great King and Su Shi Yilu prepared to march on Yonggu Pass after the Twelfth Prince’s death, while Shen Tang worried the weakened National Border Barrier would leave the pass vulnerable. Shen Tang ordered preparations to strike the Ten Crows’ homeland, and Lingde returned as a woman and child fled through Ganzhou toward an old friend.

• The Great King suspected the First and Second Princes had been framed for the Twelfth Prince’s death and judged them too careless to be useful.
• The Great Queen Mother learned of her son’s death, fainted, and begged Su Shi Yilu to avenge him; he vowed to kill the murderer.
• Su Shi Yilu sacrificed captives and led the Ten Crows’ army toward Yonggu Pass with the Great King’s blessing.
• Shen Tang worried that the weakened National Border Barrier and Yonggu Pass’s depleted garrison could not withstand the Ten Crows, but Gu Chi refused to send her National Seal.
• Jiang Sheng suggested Yan Xingning’s long-running scheme might account for the crisis, and Shen Tang ordered her forces to prepare to burn the Ten Crows’ homeland and attack the other tribes.
• Xu Quan told Shen Tang that Lingde had returned, while a disguised youth drove a woman and child through Ganzhou toward an old friend of the woman’s husband.

A young man escorted Yan An’s wife and daughter away from Ganzhou, reflecting on why Yan An had trusted him with their safety. Meanwhile, Zheng Qiao woke alone in a strange palace hall and confronted a youthful-looking Yan An.

• The young man followed Yan An’s map with the woman and her daughter, wondering why he had been chosen to protect them.
• The woman explained that Yan An may have trusted the young man’s conscience and hoped he could escape Zheng Qiao’s influence and find his own future.
• The little girl comforted her mother when she cried over Yan An’s uncertain fate.
• The young man resumed the journey with the mother and daughter before nightfall.
• Zheng Qiao woke from a drunken sleep to find the palace hall empty and sensed that someone had tampered with the space.
• A youthful, black-haired Yan An appeared before Zheng Qiao, looking unlike the aged and ill man Zheng Qiao had last seen.

Yan An confronted Zheng Qiao in a sealed space where neither could use their Literary Heart or National Seal, then overwhelmed him in a sword fight. As Zheng Qiao pleaded with his Senior Brother, Yan An began to age and bear wounds matching Zheng Qiao’s.

• Yan An told Zheng Qiao he had come to kill him and drew the sword he had inherited from his late father.
• Zheng Qiao discovered that the strange space had silenced his Literary Heart and hidden his National Seal, then fought Yan An with swords.
• Yan An wounded Zheng Qiao repeatedly, while Zheng Qiao caught a blade with his bare hand and lost half a sleeve as they fought.
• Yan An knocked Zheng Qiao down the palace steps, and the injured Zheng Qiao tried to escape as the space grew hazy.
• Yan An pursued Zheng Qiao, appearing aged and bearing bloodstreaks that matched Zheng Qiao’s wounds, while Zheng Qiao asked why the brothers had come to this.

Yan An confronted Zheng Qiao and killed him in an illusion, believing he had stopped a catastrophe, but Zheng Qiao survived and emerged furious. Zheng Qiao ordered Yan An’s body destroyed and his family captured, then learned that Yan An’s wife and daughter had escaped with help from his own trusted self.

• Zheng Qiao accused Yan An and his father of ruining his life and argued that his thirst for power came from enduring humiliation.
• Yan An admitted he had failed to guide Zheng Qiao, then stabbed him through the chest to prevent further slaughter.
• After Yan An died, the illusion collapsed, and Zheng Qiao used his Literary Heart and the National Seal to conceal that he had survived the wound.
• Zheng Qiao ordered Yan An’s corpse chopped up and fed to dogs, and ordered his wife, daughter, and family captured.
• Zheng Qiao learned that Yan An’s wife and daughter had escaped openly with his token, escorted by the self he trusted, and he vomited blood in rage.

The eunuchs secretly burned Yan An's remains rather than feed them to animals, while news of his death spread and terrified Zheng Qiao's subjects. Yan An's wife, daughter, and a boy traveling in disguise learned the news on the road and fled, but hoofbeats approached as the chapter ended.

• The eunuchs agreed to burn Yan An's corpse and conceal their disobedience from Zheng Qiao.
• News of Yan An's death spread through the court and reached the road near Ganzhou, where a disguised family stopped at a teahouse.
• The boy overheard constables discussing Yan An's brutal death and the danger facing his wife and daughter.
• Yan An's wife silently mourned, and the group continued traveling in a battered donkey cart to evade searches.
• The boy asked where they should go next, then heard approaching hoofbeats and feared their pursuers had caught up.

Yan An’s wife and a youth changed course for Heyin after discussing how Yan An’s death could destabilize Zheng Qiao’s rule. At the front, a military dispatch ordered the commander to win over Gongxi Chou, though the generals doubted he was worth recruiting.

• A troop of riders passed the donkey cart, and Yan An’s wife identified them as carrying an emergency dispatch from the front.
• Yan An’s wife explained that his death could rally scholars against Zheng Qiao and predicted Zheng Qiao would recall troops to protect his rule.
• Yan An’s wife decided to change course for Heyin, and the youth agreed despite wondering what the dispatch contained.
• The commander received the military orders and told his generals that the Sovereign had sent them a chance to gain military merit.
• The generals learned they were ordered to win over Gongxi Chou, but they questioned the value of recruiting a skilled fighter with little command authority.

In Geng Country, Gongxi Chou ignored his officer’s pleas to seek a campaign and instead sheltered an injured woman whose father he had defeated. A coded letter then informed him of Zheng Qiao’s actions and the uprising against him, but it omitted Shen Tang and Longwu Commandery; an arrow-delivered message left Gongxi Chou visibly angered.

• Gongxi Chou dismissed his officer’s hopes of returning to the front and spent the afternoon playing marbles with him.
• Gongxi Chou agreed to let the lady of his household care for an injured woman whose father he had defeated in battle.
• Gongxi Chou received a coded letter reporting Yan An’s murder by Zheng Qiao and the factions rallying against the Tyrannical Lord, but it did not mention Shen Tang or Longwu Commandery.
• Gongxi Chou intercepted an arrow carrying another letter, read it, and visibly darkened.

A gravely ill woman reunited with the dancer she had once helped, who offered her shelter in Gongxi Chou’s household. Gongxi Chou prepared to send the dancer away before his dangerous private undertaking, and gave her the name Come as he spoke of his doomed ties to his homeland.

• The patient woke and learned that her former acquaintance had reported her background to the household Patriarch and arranged for her to recover there.
• The two women recalled their hardships in Xiaocheng, where the patient had once protected the dancer from a hostile woman.
• Gongxi Chou asked the dancer to pack and leave for a safe place because his coming actions could endanger her.
• Gongxi Chou told the dancer that he could not return to his homeland and that his death would free his soul to return there.
• The dancer asked Gongxi Chou to grant her a name, and he named her Come.

Gongxi Chou adopted Gongxi Lai as his younger sister and told her about the Gongxi Clan’s history, its lost Sacred Object, and the clan’s mysterious benefactor. Their conversation ended with Gongxi Lai noticing the clan’s unusual ties to the Jimò family in its genealogy.

• Gongxi Lai chose the Gongxi surname, and Gongxi Chou added her name to the Clan Genealogy as his adopted younger sister.
• Gongxi Chou told Gongxi Lai about the clan’s benefactor, the Sacred Object, and the hidden Secret Stratagems she should seek at the Clan Land.
• Gongxi Chou admitted that the Sacred Object was lost and that he had prioritized avenging his clan over recovering it.
• Gongxi Lai questioned Gongxi Chou about why he had not taken wives and children to continue the family, and he explained his Chastity Cultivation Technique and his uncle’s teachings.
• Gongxi Lai examined the Clan Genealogy and noticed that many partners’ names were blank, while the recorded surnames were Gongxi or Jimò.

Gongxi Chou explained the Jimò High Priest lineage, its role in the Gongxi Clan, and how the absence of a capable High Priest had worsened the clan’s destruction. He planned to send Gongxi Lai to the Clan Land the next day, hoping the clan’s enemy would soon be executed.

• Gongxi Lai asked why the Gongxi Clan genealogy included the Jimò surname, and Gongxi Chou explained that each generation chose a High Priest successor who took the name Jimò.
• Gongxi Chou described the High Priest’s role in conveying Divine Oracles and protecting the clan, then recounted the gaps and mysterious losses among past High Priest candidates.
• Gongxi Lai asked whether the High Priest was Gongxi Chou’s Biological Father, and Gongxi Chou explained the clan’s customs around marriage and having children.
• Gongxi Chou recalled that the old High Priest’s age and a traitor had contributed to the Gongxi Clan’s destruction during an enemy ambush.
• Gongxi Chou hoped Gongxi Lai’s future child might become a High Priest and told her to pack so one of his trusted men could escort her to the Clan Land the next day.

Gongxi Lai recovered enough to travel, and Gongxi Chou sent her away with his fortune and loyal retainers so she could rebuild the Clan Land. After she left, Gongxi Chou confronted his estranged elder brother about his plans to avenge the Gongxi Clan, and learned that Yonggu Pass had fallen.

• Yang Ying awoke feeling better, and Gongxi Lai invited her to travel with her as she recovered.
• Gongxi Chou gave Gongxi Lai twenty carriages of supplies and wealth, assigned her loyal retainers, and arranged for her to leave for the Clan Land under cover of darkness.
• Gongxi Chou escorted Gongxi Lai's caravan out of the city and returned to his residence, where he polished an ornate dagger.
• A scholar emerged from the darkness and challenged Gongxi Chou's decision to give the Clan Land to Gongxi Lai and his plan to act before the time was right.
• Gongxi Chou insisted he would avenge the Gongxi Clan himself, and the scholar told him that Yonggu Pass had fallen.

Gongxi Chou learned that Ten Crows had breached Yonggu Pass but that the National Border Barrier had risen again, leaving Longwu Commandery under threat but still holding. Three days later, he went with King Zhi to Chengkang Temple, where he began a plan to use his disguised sworn elder brother to get close to King Zhi’s corrupt gathering.

• Gongxi Chou learned from the scholar that Ten Crows had shattered the National Border Barrier at Yonggu Pass, but it had risen again and Longwu Commandery had used a scorched-earth strategy to limit its losses.
• The scholar told Gongxi Chou to meet him at Chengkang Temple in three days, where Geng Country’s Queen Dowager was being humiliated and exploited by King Zhi.
• King Zhi arrived at Chengkang Temple in disguise with his Royal Uncle and a small party, including Gongxi Chou, to indulge in secret pleasures.
• Gongxi Chou approached his sworn elder brother, Gongxi Feng En, and persuaded him to take him along to meet his old flame.

Gongxi Chou killed his adopted brother when the man attacked a woman at Chengkang Temple, then took over guard duty as the other conspirators behind the Gongxi Clan’s annihilation gathered there. He dropped his feigned weakness and launched an attack, with fighting breaking out both inside and outside the temple.

• Gongxi Chou’s adopted brother tried to force the former imperial-clan woman into sharing his bed, and Gongxi Chou killed him by snapping his neck.
• Gongxi Chou told the woman to act as though nothing had happened, then left and claimed to a guard that his adopted brother had gone to discuss scriptures.
• Gongxi Chou volunteered to take over the guard’s shift watching King Zhi and the two Royal Uncles, while recalling that the people behind the Gongxi Clan’s destruction were gathered at Chengkang Temple.
• When the guard refused to leave, Gongxi Chou attacked him with his snake halberd, unleashed his full strength, and shattered the palace halls as weapons clashed outside the temple.

Gongxi Chou attacked King Zhi and the two Royal Uncles at Chengkang Temple to repay the debt of his clan’s annihilation. He destroyed them in a devastating blast, then greeted his foster father Tang Guo, who arrived too late to stop the fight.

• King Zhi recognized Gongxi Chou and realized he remembered the Gongxi Clan’s annihilation.
• King Zhi and two Royal Uncles surrounded Gongxi Chou and attacked him.
• Gongxi Chou split King Zhi in two, wounded one Royal Uncle, and fought off the others’ beasts and arrows.
• Gongxi Chou unleashed a barrage of martial-energy arrows and detonated his giant serpent, killing the two Royal Uncles and devastating Chengkang Temple.
• Tang Guo arrived and told Gongxi Chou to stop, but Gongxi Chou greeted him with a smile.

Gongxi Chou confronted Tang Guo, who revealed that he had been killed and treated as a tool before. The revelation triggered Gongxi Chou’s memories of the Gongxi Clan’s massacre, and he awoke to a vision of his younger half-brother wearing the High Priest’s robes.

• Gongxi Chou told Tang Guo he was taking revenge, then attacked him as reinforcements approached Chengkang Temple.
• Tang Guo caught Gongxi Chou’s halberd, overpowered him, and said he would kill him again because an uncontrollable tool was a broken blade.
• Gongxi Chou heard Tang Guo’s words and relived the night the Gongxi Clan was destroyed, when his uncle carried the mortally wounded boy toward the altar.
• Gongxi Chou remembered that 265 members of the Gongxi Clan had died, then sank into darkness before an uncanny force pulled him back toward the light.
• Gongxi Chou opened his eyes and saw his younger half-brother wearing the High Priest’s ceremonial robes, with an unusual wooden staff across his knees.

Gongxi Chou recovered his memories of the Clan Annihilation and unleashed a life-burning secret art against Tang Guo, but an arrow interrupted him. His elder brother revealed that he was actually his father, Jimò Can, who summoned the clan’s wronged dead to fight for Gongxi Chou, and the chapter ended with him explaining that their lingering wish was for Gongxi Chou to live.

• Gongxi Chou relived the massacre of his clan and broke free of his restraints as his hatred erupted.
• Tang Guo recognized Gongxi Chou’s life-burning secret art and ordered his forces to retreat, but a wooden arrow struck Gongxi Chou and stopped the art.
• Jimò Can appeared, interrupted Gongxi Chou’s demand to fight alongside him, and revealed that he was Gongxi Chou’s father.
• Tang Guo broke through Jimò Can’s trapping formation and advanced with his martial armor and axe.
• Jimò Can summoned the clan’s dead to attack Tang Guo, and Gongxi Chou recognized his uncle among them.
• Jimò Can told Gongxi Chou that the dead were fighting for him because their lingering wish was for him to live.

Gongxi Chou learned that Jimò Can had secretly watched over him and helped him avenge the Gongxi Clan, then joined the battle against Tang Guo. Jimò Can’s Gu Worms crippled Tang Guo, leaving Gongxi Chou’s future and the truth about his family still unresolved.

• Gongxi Chou confronted Jimò Can about hiding their relationship, and Jimò Can promised to tell him the truth if he brought back Tang Guo’s head.
• Gongxi Chou charged Tang Guo, while a Heroic Spirit revealed himself as Gongxi Chou’s uncle and protected him in battle.
• Gongxi Chou and the Heroic Spirits overwhelmed Tang Guo as Jimò Can secretly restored the Heroic Spirits and their formation.
• Tang Guo tried to escape after feinting with a barrage of arrows, but Gongxi Chou wounded him and Jimò Can’s Gu Worms left his martial energy sluggish.
• Jimò Can revealed that the Gu Worms had entered Tang Guo through wounds inflicted by the clansmen, not Gongxi Chou’s halberd.

Gongxi Chou learned the truth about Jimò Can, his own death and resurrection, and his missing elder brother before watching his father pass on. He set out for the Clan Land with Jimò Can’s ashes, then overheard a merchant begin describing a crisis in the Ten Crows capital.

• Gongxi Chou celebrated killing Tang Guo, and his uncle and the other Heroic Spirits faded away after telling him they were proud of him.
• Jimò Can brought Gongxi Chou to a cottage, explained why he had left the Gongxi Clan, and revealed that he had traded his life for Gongxi Chou’s resurrection.
• Jimò Can told Gongxi Chou that his elder brother might still be alive, since the brother’s Life Lamp continued to burn.
• Jimò Can embraced Gongxi Chou and died, and Gongxi Chou gathered his ashes and sat with the urn through the night.
• Gongxi Chou decided to take Jimò Can’s ashes back to the Clan Land and began traveling at dawn.
• At a teahouse, Gongxi Chou heard a merchant say that the Ten Crows Great King had gone to the front lines while trouble broke out in his capital.

Gongxi Chou listened to a merchant recount how Shen Tang’s warning reached Yonggu Pass and how Chu Jie and Chu Yao prepared for an imminent Ten Crows invasion. Zhao Feng arrived with reinforcements, while Kang Shi proposed an all-or-nothing gamble to overcome their poor odds.

• Gongxi Chou joined the merchant’s listeners and urged him to tell the story of Longwu Commandery’s earlier disaster.
• Night patrol soldiers captured a man they suspected was a Ten Crows scout, but they found Shen Tang’s genuine Literary Heart Sigil and brought him before Chu Jie.
• The messenger warned Chu Jie that the Ten Crows planned a major invasion, and Chu Yao confirmed the National Border Barrier had grown dangerously weak.
• Chu Jie rejected seeking help from Zheng Qiao’s court, while Chu Yao sent a bluebird message to Longwu Commandery.
• Zhao Feng arrived with reinforcements and joined Chu Jie in pledging to defend Yonggu Pass.
• Chu Yao estimated their chance of victory at twenty percent, but Kang Shi claimed he could guarantee victory with an all-or-nothing gamble.