Chapter Summaries

Shen Tang’s army reached the front as Lin Feng and Su Shi Yilu prepared to infiltrate Northern Desert territory and intercept its grain supply. The chapter ended with the disguised raiders departing Zhu Yue Pass, while Shen Tang planned to take the initiative against the Northern Desert.

• Yun Da warned the Northern Desert leaders that their strength fell far short of Wu State’s, and Tudege urged them to assemble their troops and consider having their Great King lead the expedition.
• Chu Yao arrived with Kang State’s main force, and Shen Tang learned that Lin Feng had taken the Wuzhou Army to Zhu Yue Pass to raid the Northern Desert’s grain route.
• Shen Tang and Chu Yao discussed Lin Feng’s risky plan, and Chu Yao recalled his own reckless youth before trusting his student to return safely.
• After resting her troops, Shen Tang called a meeting to plan an attack while the Northern Desert was still gathering its forces.
• Lin Feng and Su Shi Yilu left Zhu Yue Pass disguised as people of the Northern Desert, with Lin Feng using a Gu Worm to alter Su Shi Yilu’s appearance.

Lin Feng used a merchant’s smuggling network and bribed Northern Desert officials to escort supplies to a granary without exposing her group’s identities. She reached the grain supervisor with gifts and won his cooperation, leaving the mission moving smoothly through the Northern Desert.

• Su Shi Yilu challenged Lin Feng about how she had arranged support, and Lin Feng explained that a merchant had established the connections before they arrived.
• Lin Feng’s group met Northern Desert soldiers, and she posed as a representative of Patriarch Chen, bribing the officer and passing inspection with legitimate goods in their carts.
• Lin Feng explained to Su Shi Yilu how the merchant’s smuggling operation supplied underpaid soldiers, making them and their superiors protect her in exchange for food and money.
• Lin Feng led the disguised group past further inspections by pretending that Su Shi Yilu and the others were deaf and mute, while she handled negotiations in fluent Northern Desert language.
• Lin Feng delivered gifts to a Northern Desert granary supervisor, who accepted them, hosted the group, and praised her resemblance to Patriarch Chen.

Lin Feng infiltrated a Northern Desert granary by posing as a wealthy merchant’s envoy, bribing and charming the grain-supervising officer while secretly uncovering military supply smuggling. After spending three nights gaining access, she began her plan to destroy the granary as Su Shi Yilu and the others prepared to distract the guards.

• Lin Feng won the grain-supervising officer’s trust with gifts, wine, and a share of the consolation supplies, then entered the granary with her companions.
• Lin Feng played the part of a flirtatious man to secure the camp’s confidence, while Su Shi Yilu and the others remained disguised as deaf-mutes.
• Lin Feng returned with contracts showing that Shen Youli and Northern Desert officials were secretly buying and reselling military supplies, including swapping inferior grain for new grain.
• Lin Feng told Su Shi Yilu that she planned to burn the granary, while he would create a disturbance to occupy the troops; he agreed to delay them but refused to risk his people once reinforcements arrived.
• On the third night, Lin Feng attended a lavish banquet as thin black vines crept into the granary, while the drowsy guards fell asleep without noticing them.

Lin Feng and Su Shi Yilu launched an attack on the Northern Desert granary, using a fire-spreading plant and Word Spirits to overwhelm its defenses. As enemy generals arrived and a barrier threatened to contain the blaze, Lin Feng unleashed more fire and revealed her true appearance.

• Lin Feng lured a soldier back to her tent and killed him with a dagger before joining Su Shi Yilu, whose troops had begun their attack.
• Lin Feng ignited plant fibers strung through the camp, spreading fire across the granary while Su Shi Yilu’s forces fought their way toward her.
• A barrier rose to limit the fire, so Su Shi Yilu stayed to fight the arriving generals while Lin Feng summoned fire dragons to spread the blaze beyond it.
• Lin Feng strengthened Su Shi Yilu with Word Spirits as Northern Desert scholars raised water to suppress the fire.
• Lin Feng cast “Sink into Fire,” summoned a dragon of gray wind and snow, and removed her disguise to reveal her true face.

Lin Feng unleashed gray snow that drove the grain-store guards into madness, while the fire and strange growths threatened the stores and everyone nearby. As Su Shi Yilu fought to protect her, an enemy’s spear was split by a giant ax, and he shouted Lin Ling De’s name.

• The grain supervisor discovered that the grain stores were engulfed in a deliberate enemy attack and learned from a dying soldier that the cooks were spies.
• The grain supervisor charged into the fire and attacked Su Shi Yilu, who sent him flying into the flames with one strike.
• A gray dragon shadow dissolved into snowflakes that spread over the camp, causing soldiers who touched them to relive painful memories and attack one another.
• The Northern Desert scholars summoned wind to drive off the snow, but Lin Feng awakened something that sent blood-fed vines bursting from corpses and caused the grain to catch fire.
• An enemy martial artist thrust a spear at Lin Feng, but a giant ax split it before it reached her, prompting Su Shi Yilu to shout Lin Ling De’s name.

Lin Feng and Su Shi Yilu escaped the burning Northern Desert granary camp, and Lin Feng revealed how she had used specially prepared grain to ignite the fires. Though Su Shi Yilu wanted to return home, Lin Feng insisted on pursuing another granary, while Shen Tang sneezed back at their camp and guessed who was speaking ill of her.

• Lin Feng ordered Su Shi Yilu to get her out as the barrier broke and flames engulfed the granary camp, and he carried her through the fire to rejoin the retreating troops.
• Su Shi Yilu urged the army onward while Lin Feng warned him that his troops would be stranded without her knowledge of supplies; his officers helped her recover as they escaped.
• After the fire burned through the night, Lin Feng treated her blistered arms herself, and Su Shi Yilu asked how she had made the flames spread so quickly.
• Lin Feng explained that special grass seeds mixed into the grain produced heat and oil when activated by literary energy, and she admitted she had pursued the operation for military merit.
• Lin Feng refused Su Shi Yilu's request to head home and said she still intended to target another granary or intercept its supply transports.
• Shen Tang sneezed repeatedly and guessed that Su Shi Yilu was talking about her.

Shen Tang learned that Jimò Qiu had left for the Gongxi Clan’s old land after giving Gongxi Chou a Gu Worm to strengthen him, and she discovered that the clan’s hidden ancestral estate might be enormous. She arrived at the war room with Gongxi Chou and turned the discussion to reports on the Northern Desert as Kang prepared to attack.

• Gongxi Chou told Shen Tang that Jimò Qiu had gone to the clan’s old land, leaving him to protect her with a Gu Worm that carried part of a 20th Rank Che Hou’s legacy.
• Shen Tang and Gongxi Chou visited the seized Northern Desert pleasure palace, where Gongxi Chou offered her access to the Gongxi Clan’s ancestral wealth.
• Gongxi Chou explained that the clan had once owned farmland stretching for hours in every direction, though he could barely remember the name or location of its old land.
• Shen Tang and Gongxi Chou reached the temporary war room, where the officers glared at Gongxi Chou after overhearing his talk about burying Shen Tang.
• Shen Tang asked whether Banbu had sent word and whether they had determined the Northern Desert’s troop strength.

Shen Tang’s court received Gongshu Wu’s blood-written report after Lu Ji killed a captured Northern Desert general, then planned a campaign against the Northern Desert. At the army’s departure ceremony, Shen Tang questioned captive nobles for intelligence, but one spat at her messenger and proclaimed the North would prevail.

• Officials gathered around Shen Tang and heard that Gongshu Wu’s troops had defeated a Northern Desert force and captured over a thousand soldiers.
• Gongshu Wu asked Lu Ji for ink, and Lu Ji killed the captured Northern Desert general so Gongshu Wu could write his report in the man’s blood.
• Shen Tang dismissed objections to the killing, sent elite troops to reinforce Gongshu Wu, and ordered a feint while the main army advanced toward the Northern Desert camp.
• Shen Tang approved the northwestern custom of offering sacrifices before the campaign and led a nighttime departure ceremony at Tuocheng.
• Nearly a hundred imprisoned Northern Desert nobles were brought forward as sacrifices, and Shen Tang asked them to share what they knew about the Northern Desert.
• One captive spat on Shen Tang’s messenger and shouted that Heaven’s mandate lay with the North and that his people would prevail.

Shen Tang executed the Northern Desert prisoners and rallied her soldiers to march toward the far north, while Gongshu Wu prepared to ambush an enemy supply convoy despite a growing premonition of danger. Gongshu Wu warned Lu Ji to be ready to withdraw, but she ordered the army to remain on guard as they neared the enemy.

• Shen Tang executed the captured Northern Desert soldiers and declared that the region would become Kang Country’s Northern Province.
• Shen Tang raised her army’s morale, called for a campaign to the far north, and led the march on Motorcycle.
• Gongshu Wu reviewed the intelligence about an approaching supply convoy and set out with Lu Ji to intercept it.
• Gongshu Wu felt an ominous premonition and warned Lu Ji to withdraw if anything seemed wrong.
• Lu Ji acknowledged they could not change plans without cause and ordered the entire army to stay on guard.

Gongshu Wu and his army destroyed a Northern Desert grain convoy, but Gong Cheng confronted them after killing three scouts. Gongshu Wu challenged his nephew and began revealing a one-use Will of the Martial Artist as Lu Ji led the others to withdraw.

• Lu Ji and Gongshu Wu's troops ambushed the Northern Desert grain convoy and poisoned its supplies before retreating toward their camp.
• Gongshu Wu sensed danger and stopped the army, just as three dead Ten Crows scouts fell from the sky.
• Gong Cheng emerged and questioned what had happened to the grain, while Yu Zi grieved for her slain personal guard.
• Gongshu Wu challenged Gong Cheng and ordered Lu Ji to withdraw with the army.
• Gongshu Wu raised his strength to the peak of the Fifteenth Rank Shao Shang Zao and announced that he would show Gong Cheng a Will of the Martial Artist he could use only once in his life.

Lu Ji and Yu Zi turned back to attack the pursuing Northern Desert army, while Gongshu Wu confronted Gong Cheng alone. The battle left Lu Ji and Yu Zi gaining ground, and Gongshu Wu transformed into a flaming skeleton that began summoning skeletal warriors.

• Lu Ji rejected Yu Zi’s plea to retreat and ordered the Kang army to split into two groups and attack the Northern Desert pursuers from both flanks.
• Lu Ji struck the Northern Desert general with her chained hammers, and Yu Zi helped land a blow that broke his ribs and sent him flying.
• Yu Zi used Evil Purple Seizes Vermilion to seize Qi Yun and unleash powerful Word Spirits that boosted the Kang soldiers and swung the battle in their favor.
• The Northern Desert general waited impatiently for Gong Cheng, who had become tied up fighting Gongshu Wu.
• Gongshu Wu’s body burned away into blue-violet flames, leaving a skeleton that challenged Gong Cheng and summoned skeletal warriors from the earth.

Gong Cheng discovered that Gongshu Wu was his second uncle, Gong Yili, who had become a dead, forbidden existence and summoned fallen Gong ancestors to fight him. As Shen Tang learned Gongshu Wu’s disguise had failed and rushed toward the Northern Desert battlefield, Gongxi Chou sensed that something special was coming into the world.

• Gong Cheng recognized the armor of a dead Gong Clan elder among Gongshu Wu’s warriors and realized the warriors were fallen ancestors.
• Gongshu Wu revealed that he was Gong Cheng’s second uncle, Gong Yili, and explained why he had left Gong Cheng behind years earlier.
• Gong Cheng hesitated to fight his uncle, so Gongshu Wu attacked him alongside the summoned Gong ancestors and demanded that he choose to fight or die.
• Gong Cheng recognized that Gongshu Wu was no longer alive and resolved to face him as an enemy general.
• Shen Tang learned from Qi Shan that Gongshu Wu’s disguise had failed, ordered the army to advance at full speed, and prepared to retaliate against the Northern Desert if he had died.
• Gongxi Chou remembered that a special being caught between life and death was coming into the world and said they should capture one if they had the chance.

Gong Cheng fought his undead ancestors and his second uncle, Gongshu Wu, until he finally struck Gongshu Wu with a devastating pure-yang attack. Gongshu Wu survived after a mysterious, beastlike white-haired figure pulled him from the blast, leaving both him and Gong Cheng unsure who the stranger was.

• Gong Cheng struggled against Gongshu Wu and the clan’s ancestral spirits, whose bodies could recover from severe injuries.
• Gong Cheng recognized his grandfather among the spirits and argued with him about their family’s past while they fought.
• Gong Cheng identified the flames beneath Gongshu Wu’s mask as a weakness, but Gongshu Wu urged him to stop hesitating and fight decisively.
• As rain and black-purple lightning swept over the battlefield, Gong Cheng unleashed a vast pure-yang attack that appeared to engulf Gongshu Wu.
• A white-haired figure with beastlike claws emerged from the blast and struck Gong Cheng, then revealed Gongshu Wu beside him after apparently pulling him from the sphere of light.

Shao Chong and Gongshu Wu fought alongside one another against Gong Cheng, while Fang Yan helped defend the medics and later joined the battle. After the fighting ended, Yu Zi’s army found Gongshu Wu seated in the scorched battlefield, alive but revealed as a skeleton.

• Shao Chong attacked Gong Cheng with Gongshu Wu, gripping his weapon with his iron claws while Gongshu Wu struck at him with a conjured saber.
• Fang Yan directed the medics, healed wounded soldiers, and sent Shao Chong to help Gongshu Wu after giving him permission to seek military merit.
• Shao Chong fought near Gongshu Wu while Fang Yan later joined the front lines, where Chao Lian killed the wounded officer Lu Ji had been pursuing.
• As dawn came, Yu Zi and the army hurried to the battlefield, fearing Gongshu Wu had died, and found him seated beside another figure in the scorched wilderness.
• Gongshu Wu turned his skull toward the mourners and asked whether they had come to mourn him.

Gongshu Wu returned as a skeleton after his fight with Gong Cheng, leaving his army to mourn him too soon. At dawn, Yu Zi collapsed from exhaustion, and Gongshu Wu called for a physician as news arrived that the Northern Desert camp was under urgent attack.

• Gongshu Wu revealed himself to his shocked subordinates, thanked Shao Chong for his help, and reunited with his bickering father and ancestors.
• After the ancestors departed, Shao Chong explained that he had taken Gong Cheng’s loin armor as proof of victory, and Gongshu Wu warned that it would vanish when Gong Cheng recalled his armor.
• Gongshu Wu offered Shao Chong old Gong Clan diapers as consolation for missing out on spoils, while Shao Chong worried about dividing his rescue merit between Sixth Brother and Twelfth Brother.
• Yu Zi arrived with the rest of the troops, and Gongshu Wu’s army resumed mourning before realizing he was still alive; when dawn came, Yu Zi collapsed.
• Gongshu Wu checked Yu Zi’s faint pulse and called for an Xinglin Physician as they learned that the Northern Desert camp was under urgent attack.

Yu Zi woke after overusing the Way of the Scholar and learned that her recovery would sideline her for months, while Gongshu Wu adapted to his skeletal body and rejoined the campaign. Kang learned that Shen Tang’s forces had burned the Northern Desert camp and a granary, and Shen Tang worried about Lin Feng’s isolated unit as the team battle approached.

• Yu Zi woke, confirmed that her Dantian and Literary Heart were intact, and learned that she would need months to recover her Word Spirit and Literary Palace.
• Fang Yan told Gongshu Wu’s officers that he could not restore Gongshu Wu’s flesh, while Gongshu Wu accepted his skeletal condition and recovered by absorbing Death Qi.
• Gongshu Wu learned that Shen Tang’s army had burned the Northern Desert camp while Gongxi Chou held Yun Da back, and he ordered his troops to join Shen Tang.
• A report revealed that someone had burned a Northern Desert granary, and Shen Tang suspected that Lin Feng had set the fire.
• Shen Tang told Qi Shan to contact and reinforce Lin Feng, then asked Gongxi Chou when his older brother would return.

Jimò Qiu finally reached the Gongxi Clan’s sealed ancestral land, where a mysterious voice revealed that the surrounding mountains were gravestones and the supposed divine mist held no secret pattern. After finding recent footprints, he was ambushed by a black-clad man and then confronted by another attacker wielding a water dragon.

• Shen Tang rejected Gongxi Chou’s suggestion to gather her generals against Yun Da because she needed to protect Kang Country’s borders.
• Jimò Qiu got lost on the way to the old Clan Land, then opened its gate by verifying his identity with divine power.
• A mysterious voice guided Jimò Qiu through the Clan Land and said its mountains were gravestones raised by their occupants, while the god had already been killed.
• Jimò Qiu found fresh footprints and realized someone else had entered the sealed Clan Land.
• A black-clad man attacked Jimò Qiu, and a second assailant sent a water dragon at him as he prepared to fight back.

Jimò Qiu met Zhai Le and Yu Hai in the former Gongxi Clan Land, where they discovered it connected to the Mountain Sea Sacred Land. Wuming explained that the land was a refuge for humanity’s survivors after an apocalypse, and that the Gongxi Clan were the last remnants to leave it.

• Jimò Qiu challenged the two masked strangers, and Yu Hai introduced himself while Zhai Le asked about Gongxi Chou.
• Jimò Qiu revealed that Gongxi Chou was his younger brother, then mistakenly assumed Zhai Le was one of his brother’s defeated rivals.
• Jimò Qiu, Zhai Le, and Yu Hai compared what they knew and realized the men had entered the former Gongxi Clan Land from the Mountain Sea Sacred Land.
• Wuming explained that Zhai Le and Yu Hai had repeatedly exploited the passage between the two lands, causing them to be misidentified and brought there.
• Wuming revealed that an apocalypse had sunk the old world, that survivors had taken refuge in Peach Blossom Spring, and that the Gongxi Clan were the last remnants to leave.

Zhai Le and Yu Hai learned more about humanity’s origins from Jimò Qiu, who explained the Gongxi Clan’s strange god and its demanding faith before escorting them out of the Mountain Sea Sacred Land. Meanwhile, Gong Cheng reported the Northern Desert’s losses, and Shen Tang welcomed Gongshu Wu back in the form of a pink crystal skeleton, then ordered officials to protect his reputation and honor his service.

• Jimò Qiu told Zhai Le and Yu Hai that humans were ordinary among the things under Heaven, and he recalled how Zhai Le had driven the Eternal Life Cult from Qu by sending its attendants back to their god in pieces.
• Jimò Qiu explained that his god cared little for incense offerings and favored distinctive believers, then invited Zhai Le to join the cult before escorting him and Yu Hai out of the Mountain Sea Sacred Land.
• Jimò Qiu concluded that Zhai Le and Yu Hai would return to the old Clan Land and asked the woman’s voice how to stop them, admitting he could not defeat them.
• Gong Cheng told Yun Da that his second uncle had destroyed the Northern Desert’s main camp, and Yun Da predicted that Kang would lose regardless of the Northern Desert’s fate.
• Shen Tang discovered that Gongshu Wu had become a pink crystal skeleton, welcomed him back, and ordered her officials to treat him as usual while she arranged rewards for his troops and a public narrative about his heroism.
• Gongshu Wu objected to Shen Tang raising his public esteem, but she explained that protecting his reputation would help stabilize the country and guard against people exploiting his unusual condition.

Shen Tang joked with Gongxi Chou while Qi Shan grew jealous and protective, then learned that Gao Country was descending into turmoil and had attacked Heyin. The chapter left Zhao Feng facing an unmistakable declaration of war after Gao Country returned his envoy’s severed head.

• Shen Tang and Gongxi Chou teased and kicked each other, while Qi Shan scolded Gongxi Chou for acting too familiarly with the Sovereign.
• Gongxi Chou suggested Qi Shan was jealous and joked about finding Shen Tang a partner, further enraging him.
• Shen Tang showed Qi Shan a secret report revealing that Qin Li had stirred internal turmoil in Gao Country as its officials considered attacking her forces.
• Shen Tang and Qi Shan learned that Gao Country's factions were fighting and that Wu Xian had stopped attending court.
• Gao Country's troops attacked the strategic pass at Heyin but withdrew without taking it.
• Zhao Feng demanded an explanation, but Gao Country sent back his envoy's severed head, signaling that negotiations were over.