Chapter Summaries

Shen Tang and her companions debated why the Assembly of Gods’ attendants had silver bones, then encountered a supernatural disruption that drew them into the Assembly’s remote meeting. The chapter ended with Shen Tang dismissing the meeting’s dull reports and wondering how to obtain its communication system for her own court.

• Qi Shan shared three theories about the Assembly of Gods’ attendants, including that its Inner Assembly could turn Heaven and Earth Qi into a substance that replaced bones.
• Shen Tang suggested martial energy might make bones metal-like, and Xun Zhen explained how some Martial Gall Warriors stored energy in their bodies and tempered their bones.
• Shen Tang proposed using Mohist abilities as durable building materials to strengthen structures and reduce the need for timber.
• A sinister aura spread through the residence, and Luan Xin identified a disruption in the balance of Qi that he saw as corruption.
• Qi Shan instructed everyone to steady their minds, and twelve bell tolls transported Shen Tang and her companions into the Assembly of Gods’ meeting.
• Shen Tang observed the veiled figures, joined the attendees’ slogan, and listened to reports about membership and business before wondering how to acquire the Assembly’s remote-meeting system.

At the Assembly of Gods, Shen Tang and Qi Shan learned about rival powers while other members debated Kang Country and women’s ability to cultivate. The chapter ended with reports that women could cultivate in other countries too, leaving the Northwest no longer alone in facing the consequences.

• Gu Chi lamented the prospect of constant work as Luan Xin studied the Assembly of Gods’ gathering of people from across the continent.
• Qi Shan gathered intelligence from regional reports, while Shen Tang mocked Yu Hai’s name and suspected his masked guard might be Zhai Le.
• Members debated Shen Tang’s rise and women cultivating, and Qi Shan warned them not to interfere in Kang Country’s affairs.
• Yu Hai explained that the Qu Country had appointed a Crown Princess and discovered a female official who could cultivate.
• A Southwest Branch representative revealed that a Princess had seized the throne in the Southwest, and Qi Shan’s group welcomed the news that Kang Country was no longer the only example.

At the Assembly of Gods gathering, Qi Shan provoked a quarrel that distracted the branches from female cultivators while Shen Tang learned how the inner council profited from keeping the world divided. After the gathering ended, Guilong suspected that someone beside Qi Shan had eyes like Shen Youli, while Shen Tang demanded DingTalk for Kang State.

• Qi Shan traded insults with the Northeast Branch and drew other branches into a sprawling argument.
• Yu Hai warned Guilong not to look toward the crimson gauze, and Guilong wondered whether the inner council kept the branches divided to preserve its power.
• Gu Chi warned Shen Tang that some members planned to traffic talented girls, and she told him to record their identities.
• Qi Yuanliang won the Northwest Branch leadership election by a landslide as the gathering came to an end.
• Shen Tang and Guilong briefly met eyes before their phantoms vanished, leaving Guilong to wonder if the person beside Qi Shan was Shen Youli.
• Shen Tang demanded DingTalk so she could monitor Kang State workers and hold remote meetings.

At the Assembly of Gods’ annual meeting, Shen Tang became determined to create a DingTalk-like communication system for Kang Country and worked out how Non-Aggression might store the power it needed. After the feast, Qi Shan asserted his authority as branch head and ominously hinted that the former chief might suffer an accident.

• Shen Tang described DingTalk to Qin Li and Qi Shan, then had Qi Shan explain that the Assembly of Gods transported a strange ball in a lead box before its annual meetings.
• Luan Xin traced the dwindling pollution toward the guarded box, and Shen Tang theorized that the Assembly used the pollution to power its remote meeting and explored how communication Word Spirits could transmit images.
• After Xun Zhen noted the high cost of image transmission, Shen Tang proposed using Non-Aggression to store qi and began planning how Kang Country could develop its own communication Word Spirit.
• Shen Tang and her companions ate at the feast, where Qi Shan and Gu Chi rebuked a former branch head’s lackey for mocking Shen Tang’s appetite.
• Qi Shan threatened Wu Yuan over Northern Desert’s grain shipments, then kept the former chief drinking; after the chief slipped away to use the toilet, Qi Shan and Kang Shi hinted that something bad would happen to him.

Qi Shan killed the former president and concealed the murder, then returned to camp with Shen Tang after becoming president of the Assembly of Gods. Shen Tang chose Yuan Huang as her Reign Title, and Chu Yao turned to the new year’s work, including a plan to hinder the Northern Desert.

• Qi Shan ambushed and killed the former president in the rockery after revealing that he knew Pei Cheng’s hidden identity and family ties.
• Shen Tang helped Qi Shan dump the body in the privy, and they returned to the banquet, where Qi Shan denied responsibility and the corpse was judged to have died by choking on filth.
• Qi Shan explained that his Way of the Scholar had concealed the wounds and fooled the investigators, while Shen Tang lost more money playing cards as the new year arrived.
• The Assembly of Gods’ envoy left with a lead-lined box, and Shen Tang and her companions returned to camp with Qi Shan holding the northwestern branches’ membership list.
• Chu Yao gave Shen Tang clothes he had sewn and asked her to choose a Reign Title; she chose Yuan Huang, and they discussed disrupting Wu Yuan’s grain-seed plan and the day’s duties.

Shen Tang learned that Elder Physician Dong had arrived for his military doctor rotation looking decades younger, though neither he nor his grandson knew why. Elder Physician Dong traced the change to years of recurring dreams in which he studied medical books and took difficult exams, leaving Shen Tang and Chu Yao to investigate the mystery.

• Shen Tang told Chu Yao to bring the incoming military doctors to meet her and offer them consideration for traveling over New Year.
• Elder Physician Dong arrived at camp with his grandson and three other young doctors, appearing young despite his old-fashioned manner and calling himself an old man.
• A soldier summoned the doctors to meet Shen Tang, who noticed Elder Physician Dong's white hair and recognized his resemblance to the veteran physician.
• Elder Physician Dong revealed his identity, astonishing Shen Tang and Chu Yao with his restored youth.
• Elder Physician Dong's grandson said the transformation had happened overnight, and Elder Physician Dong recalled years of dreams featuring medical study and exams that had recently become especially challenging.

Shen Tang explained that Elder Physician Dong had awakened the Medical School Sacred Hall after enduring years of dream examinations. The chapter left Elder Physician Dong accepted as a medical scholar, while his grandson wondered why he had not qualified.

• Elder Physician Dong told Shen Tang that he had faced dream examinations for five years, with only one different dream every ten days.
• Shen Tang explained that the Medical School Sacred Hall had tested Elder Physician Dong and that he had become a medical scholar, independent of literary and martial cultivation.
• Elder Physician Dong recalled learning medicine from his first master, treating patients for decades, and meeting a mysterious physician who set out the demanding requirements for inheriting a secret art.
• Elder Physician Dong described how the dream examinations tested medical knowledge and patient care, prompting him to study during the day and quiz the clinic's apprentices.
• Shen Tang explained that medical scholars had to meet strict experience requirements and pass examinations to cultivate, and Elder Physician Dong said the Medical School was not indiscriminate in admitting students.

Elder Physician Dong explained why Shen Tang deserved his bow, recounting how a high official had scorned him after he cured the official’s son. After opening the Medical School Sacred Hall, he showed Shen Tang its tokens and revealed that his abilities included more than stone probes and medical records.

• Elder Physician Dong bowed to Shen Tang and said her support had helped make his medical achievements possible.
• Elder Physician Dong recounted how he cured a high official’s son but was mocked as a low-grade physician when he sought a recommendation to join the Medical Office.
• Shen Tang rejected the idea that medical workers were mere technicians, and Elder Physician Dong bowed to her again.
• Elder Physician Dong manifested a stone needle and a blank book that could record medical cases and prescriptions, while Shen Tang questioned their value.
• Elder Physician Dong gathered his energy and transformed it into several long, jade-green needles.

Elder Physician Dong gained medical qi, and Chu Yao warned him that physicians would be targeted and exploited because of their new abilities. As Shen Tang prepared to establish Kang’s government, Wu Yuan’s Northern Desert delegation arrived to negotiate an alliance and trade.

• Elder Physician Dong formed a qi needle, and Shen Tang confirmed that it could both heal and kill before arranging for him to treat soldiers and share his examination questions with other physicians.
• Chu Yao warned Elder Physician Dong that greed and political schemes could lead to a hunt for physicians, and urged him to summon and carefully vet his colleagues.
• Shen Tang listened to Chu Yao’s warning and continued preparing Kang’s government and its new Reign Title for announcement before the seventh day of the first month.
• Wu Yuan’s party requested an alliance on the morning of the fourth day, and Wu Yuan discussed the negotiations with Gong Cheng while waiting to meet Shen Tang.
• Wu Yuan and the Northern Desert emissaries entered Shen Tang’s simply furnished tent, where they prepared to discuss an alliance and the reopening of trade.

Wu Yuan sought cooperation with Shen Tang on behalf of the Northern Desert, but she refused to trust its promises without clear benefits. After the envoys withdrew, Shen Tang and her advisers discussed Gong Cheng and the possibility of breaking a Martial Gall Warrior’s conviction; the Northern Desert delegation remained in camp for the time being.

• Wu Yuan and Gong Cheng paid their respects to Shen Tang, and Wu Yuan proposed lasting friendly relations between Kang and the Northern Desert.
• Shen Tang challenged the Northern Desert’s history of broken oaths and asked Gong Cheng whether its new rulers could be trusted.
• Gong Cheng confirmed that the current rulers had supported closer ties, though he withheld his doubts about their motives.
• Shen Tang rejected cooperation as a risk that would benefit the Northern Desert more than Kang, but offered to host the envoys before they left.
• After Wu Yuan withdrew, Shen Tang rejected having Banbu approach Gong Cheng, while Jiang Sheng asked what happened when a Martial Gall Warrior’s conviction shattered.

Gongshu Wu learned that Gong Cheng was alive and serving the Northern Desert, while Shen Tang accepted hostages from the great clans. Kang Nian brought his daughter to meet Qi Shan, whose startled reaction left him trying to give her a Literary Heart Sigil.

• Gu Chi refused to say what Shen Tang thought about scheming against Gong Cheng, and Qi Shan advised Xun Zhen to warn Gongshu Wu about him.
• Gongshu Wu received a secret letter revealing Gong Cheng's identity and choice to serve the Northern Desert, then burned the letter and intensified his military training.
• Kang Nian delivered the clans' hostages to Shen Tang, who accepted them but refused to pay for their upkeep.
• Kang Nian asked Shen Tang's permission to meet Qi Shan and brought his daughter to the military camp, hoping Qi Shan would help secure her future.
• Qi Shan was stunned by Kang Nian's daughter, then fumbled for a gift and tried to give her his Literary Heart Sigil.

Qi Shan agreed to adopt Kang Miao after discovering that they shared a birthday and that she resembled the deceased Qi Yuanliang. Kang Shi revealed Qi Shan’s secret, but Kang Nian still supported the adoption and proposed a way for Kang Miao’s future children to continue both family lines.

• Kang Nian brought Kang Miao to visit Qi Shan and explained that he wanted her protected from a life confined to a noble household.
• Kang Nian raised Qi Shan’s reluctance to marry, and Qi Shan said he wanted to adopt a child from the Kang Clan instead.
• After learning Kang Miao was eleven and shared his birthday, Qi Shan agreed she was a fitting choice for adoption.
• Kang Shi rushed in to oppose the plan, then revealed that the real Yuan Liang had died and that Qi Shan had taken his place to repay a life debt.
• Kang Nian defended the adoption and suggested Kang Miao’s first child could inherit the Qi surname and her second child her original family surname.

Kang Miao agreed to be adopted by Qi Shan and become Qi Miao, while Kang Shi worried about what the change would mean for her. Qi Shan held an adoption ceremony with Shen Tang and his companions in attendance, where Qi Miao became his daughter and Cui Xiao reacted with suspicion.

• Kang Shi accepted that Kang Miao would be adopted and worried that she would lose her place in the Kang family, but Kang Miao explained that she had agreed willingly.
• Kang Shi advised Kang Miao to be herself around Qi Shan, and she said that her face might make him see her as a replacement for the real Qi Shan.
• Qi Shan told Shen Tang that he had adopted a daughter, and Shen Tang agreed to attend the ceremony and help honor Qi Miao's new place in the Qi family.
• Qi Shan invited Shen Tang's subordinates to the ceremony, where Jiang Sheng and Xun Zhen teased him and Qin Li offered Qi Miao advice and a gift.
• Kang Miao served tea to Qi Shan and became Qi Miao, while Shen Tang stopped Qi Shan from giving her the courtesy name Yuan Qiao.
• Cui Xiao regarded Qi Miao with suspicion after the adoption ceremony.

Qi Miao met the guests at her adoption ceremony and received gifts from Qi Shan’s associates. After telling Qi Shan why she wanted to study medicine, she earned his support to pursue medical training while continuing her civil studies.

• Qi Shan introduced Qi Miao to Jiang Sheng, Xun Zhen, Luan Xin, Ning Yan, and Cui Xiao, who each gave her a gift and offered advice.
• Cui Xiao noticed that Qi Miao resembled a young man surnamed Qu who had nearly become his son-in-law, but Kang Nian confirmed that the Kang family had no relatives by that name.
• After the guests left, Qi Shan asked Qi Miao what she wanted to study, and she said she hoped to learn medicine and treat women.
• Qi Miao explained that her friend had died in childbirth because a male physician could not examine her, and she also wondered whether her birth mother’s health problems could have been treated.
• Qi Shan promised to take Qi Miao to a famous physician to seek an apprenticeship and advised her to continue her civil studies alongside medicine.

Qi Miao became Elder Physician Dong’s apprentice, determined to study medicine despite the long training and social stigma. Shen Tang then gathered her officials to engineer one-time-use grain seeds for the Northern Desert, planning to make them dependent on annual purchases while degrading their land.

• Qi Shan brought Qi Miao to Elder Physician Dong, who agreed to take her as an apprentice after she accepted that training could delay marriage for fifteen years.
• Qi Miao began an intense schedule studying Literary Scholar basics with Qi Shan and medicine with Elder Physician Dong, while Qi Shan planned to pay patients to help her gain experience in gynecology.
• Shen Tang learned of Qi Miao’s apprenticeship and discussed the risks and costs with Qi Shan before summoning Lin Feng, Luan Xin, Cui Xiao, and Shen Zhi.
• Shen Tang showed her officials the Northern Desert’s lucrative offer for grain seeds and proposed making the seeds grow only one generation while draining the soil.
• Cui Xiao suggested adding frost resistance, and Lin Feng said the Department of Agriculture could develop the requested traits within seven days.

Shen Tang learned that Gong Cheng had inherited a mission to kill the Gongxi Clan and promised to pass his challenge on to Gongxi Chou. She then negotiated with Wu Yuan over Kang’s high-yield seeds, offering to sell the seeds but not the stock needed to grow more.

• Wu Yuan apologized to Gu Chi with lavish gifts and asked him to advocate for renewed trade between Kang and the Northern Desert; Gu Chi agreed to speak on his behalf and divided the gifts with Shen Tang.
• Shen Tang encountered Gong Cheng, who revealed that his benefactor had ordered him to annihilate the Gongxi Clan and that Gongxi Chou was among its survivors.
• Gong Cheng explained that the old High Priest, Jimò Xing, had once been Gongxi Xing and that the clan was blamed for his suffering; he challenged Gongxi Chou to meet him in the Northern Desert and promised to spare Gongxi Lai.
• Shen Tang agreed to relay Gong Cheng’s message, then let him leave with a jar of wine after he refused to get involved with Wu Yuan.
• Shen Tang told Wu Yuan she would sell the high-yield seeds but not the breeding stock, and she proposed that buying the stock would require it to be a capon.

Shen Tang negotiated a seed sale and trade agreement with Wu Yuan while imposing conditions that guarded the Kang Kingdom’s interests. The Northern Desert agreed to buy the seeds, but Wu Yuan left the talks facing a long list of trade restrictions, including a ban on tea.

• Shen Tang told Wu Yuan that the high-yield seeds could be planted only once, citing soil depletion and a secret process, and Wu Yuan consulted his advisors about the purchase.
• Wu Yuan’s advisors debated the risks, then backed the purchase after Wu Yuan invoked the Northern Desert’s prophecy and plans to invade south.
• Wu Yuan returned to Shen Tang and agreed to a seed deal requiring a deposit, staged delivery, and payment upon exchange of goods.
• Shen Tang assigned Gu Chi, Luan Xin, and Lin Feng to negotiate the price and presented Wu Yuan with restrictions on traded goods.
• Wu Yuan questioned the ban on tea, and Shen Tang explained that war-related shortages and high prices made tea exports risky.

Shen Tang negotiated with Wu Yuan over tea and salt, refusing private trade while offering to control tea imports and sales through Kang. After Wu Yuan left to consult his aides, Lin Feng explained how the improved grain seeds would gradually lose their traits outside Kang.

• Shen Tang justified restricting tea sales by citing flood-damaged harvests and the growing demand from Kang's tea-drink businesses.
• Wu Yuan proposed letting foreign merchants bring tea to the market, but Shen Tang insisted Kang would import and resell it itself, leaving quantities and delivery times unsettled.
• Shen Tang explained that salt had long been a government-controlled business and barred private merchants from selling it.
• Wu Yuan took the signed contract to consult his aides, while Gong Cheng warned against relying on the Assembly of Gods.
• Lin Feng showed Shen Tang the Northern Desert's improved grain seeds and explained that foul energy would contaminate them and cause their traits to degrade over generations.

Shen Tang’s side negotiated trade terms with Wu Yuan’s Northern Desert delegation, then gathered to choose an official system. The chapter leaves the officials reviewing a conventional system, while the author’s note announces a time-skip to Yuan Huang Year Five.

• Luan Xin’s slow-paced haggling frustrated the Northern Desert negotiators until an argument became a physical fight, and the sides eventually agreed on prices for tea, salt, horses, and farming tools.
• Wu Yuan and his party left Linxiang Prefecture, allowing Shen Tang to relax after keeping watch over the Northern Desert delegation.
• Shen Tang convened her officials to vote on a new official system and presented several options, including an elaborate system they rejected.
• The officials reviewed a more conventional system, and the author’s note announced a time-skip to Yuan Huang Year Five.

Shen Tang organized Kang’s government, arguing over staffing limits while trying to keep costs low. She left the departments with reduced staffs and appointed Bei Jiu and Gu Chi to key posts, with Gu Chi named Censor-in-Chief.

• Shen Tang and Qi Shan negotiated staffing for the Secretariat and Chancellery, settling on thirty-five positions for the former and one hundred and seventy for the latter.
• Shen Tang approved a larger staff for the Department of State Affairs after realizing its Six Ministries and Twenty-Four Bureaus needed at least a hundred positions.
• Shen Tang cut positions across the Nine Courts and Five Directorates, but appointed Zhou Kou as Master Craftsman and set the post at Subordinate Third Rank after colleagues explained the Directorate of Imperial Manufactures’ duties.
• Shen Tang proposed abolishing inner-court departments, but Qin Li persuaded her to retain them with eighty percent fewer positions for the sake of royal dignity and employment.
• Shen Tang appointed Bei Jiu to lead the Directorate of Imperial Manufactures and named Gu Chi Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate at Principal Third Rank.