Chapter Summaries

After Gao Country killed Kang Country’s envoy, Zhao Feng chose to prepare for war despite the danger of fighting on two fronts. As the conflict escalated, Wu Xian found himself under house arrest by his eldest son.

• Zhao Feng’s officers argued over whether Kang Country should retaliate after Gao Country returned its envoy’s severed head, and Zhao Feng ordered them to prepare to fight while informing Shen Tang.
• Zhao Feng arranged for Heyin’s old and weak residents to be moved as Gao Country’s soldiers repeatedly challenged and mocked Kang Country’s forces.
• When Gao Country’s soldiers continued their provocation on the fourth day, Yang shot and killed the soldier issuing the challenge from atop the city wall.
• Wu Xian confronted his eldest son, who had placed him under house arrest and stood before him holding a bloodstained sword.

The eldest son confronted Wu Xian and accused him of years of favoritism and neglect, then revealed that his mother had died after trying to kill him for his younger brother’s sake. After his younger brother took his own life, the eldest son went to face Wu Xian, leaving their confrontation unresolved.

• The eldest son demanded to know why Wu Xian had treated him as less than a son and condemned his favoritism toward his second brother.
• The eldest son revealed that the blood on his hand belonged to his mother, who had stabbed him; she then died when his second brother accidentally killed her while holding a sword.
• The eldest son threatened to imprison his second brother and his family, and his second brother took his own life before him.
• The eldest son’s strategist warned him that Wu Xian’s patrols posed a danger and urged him to flee, but the eldest son refused and told the strategist to escape alone.
• The eldest son entered Wu Xian’s side hall with his bloodied sword and confronted his father.

Wu Xian’s eldest son accused him of causing the family’s destruction, then died by suicide after Wu Xian struck him down. Wu Xian concealed the deaths of the queen and his two eldest sons before announcing them, while a border attack on Kang Country drove him to fury and Madam Mi’s son met with the strategist.

• Wu Xian’s eldest son blamed him for the queen’s and second son’s deaths, attacked him, and discovered that Wu Xian had not been sealed.
• Wu Xian’s eldest son accused him of favoring the second son and plotting against him, then cut his own throat; Wu Xian tried to save him but failed.
• Madam Mi learned that the queen and both eldest princes were dead, while Wu Xian kept their deaths secret and planned to purge suspected disloyal officials.
• Wu Xian entered the Mourning Hall in a rage, then ordered the funeral to proceed and the deaths to be announced throughout the country after Madam Mi’s son called out to him.
• Madam Mi’s son told her that a forged order had triggered a Gao Country attack on Kang Country’s Heyin and that the border was in chaos; afterward, he hurried to meet the strategist.

Wu Xian’s favored son explained how his ambitious maternal aunt helped him build a court faction, while she warned him to stay cautious amid the crisis between Kang and Gao. The chapter ended with the aunt departing and a wounded scholar fleeing through the forests near Tianhai and Heyi.

• Wu Xian’s son described how Madam Mi’s favor and his maternal aunt’s counsel had helped him gain influence and advance his claim to the throne.
• His aunt revealed that perfecting her Way of the Scholar required killing a petty thief and helping someone steal a small state, and that she had once hoped to work with him.
• After hearing of the battle at Heyi, the aunt advised him to lower his profile and warned that Wu Xian would not entrust the regency to any of his sons.
• The aunt reflected on her dealings with the Assembly of Gods, then disappeared after finishing her tea.
• Tianhai grew bleak as young men fled or joined the army, and a wounded scholar escaped through the mountain forests near Heyi.

A poisoned scholar was rescued by Lü Jue’s soldiers and identified himself as an old friend of Qin Li, then told Cui Xiao that the struggle in Gao Country involved the Southwest Branch of the Assembly of Gods. The chapter ended with Gao Country’s intelligence network identifying Lü Jue and ordering him captured or broken.

• The disheveled scholar collapsed from poison after escaping his pursuers, but Lü Jue and his band of savages drove off the killer and carried him to camp for treatment.
• After an Xinglin Physician saved him, the scholar told Lü Jue and Cui Xiao that he was Qin Li’s old friend and described the deaths of Wu Xian’s two legitimate sons and the factional conflict in Gao Country.
• The scholar said the Southwest Branch of the Assembly of Gods was likely aiding one of Madam Mi’s sons, while Cui Xiao suspected they meant to delay Kang Country’s consolidation of the Northwest.
• The killer shared his memory of Lü Jue with his leader, who ordered him to identify the man and capture him if ordinary, or break him and bring him in otherwise.
• The killer reported that the man was Lü Jue, courtesy name Shou Sheng, a general under Shen Tang.

The leader learned that Lü Jue was alive and resolved to make him her prisoner, while Shen Tang and Qi Shan received warnings about the Southwest Branch’s actions. The chapter ended with Shen Tang planning to finish dealing with the Northern Desert before turning against Wu Zhaode.

• The leader recognized Lü Jue’s courtesy name, Shou Sheng, as belonging to the man she had once loved, and ordered a thorough investigation into his life.
• After learning that Lü Jue had no wife or concubines, the leader rejected the idea of persuading him to defect and vowed to take him as a prisoner.
• Cui Xiao delivered Qin Li’s intelligence to the disheveled scholar, who heard that Qin had passed the matter to Qi Shan because the Southwest Branch’s people were involved.
• Shen Tang read Qin Li’s warning that the Southwest Branch was encroaching on Qi Shan’s territory and learned that Wu Zhaode’s two sons had killed themselves.
• Shen Tang said she would send someone to observe the funerals and deal with Wu Zhaode after finishing the Northern Desert campaign.

Shen Tang sent Wu Xian a blunt letter through an envoy who paid respects at the royal funeral, prompting Wu Xian to accept her challenge to war rather than risk angering the Assembly of Gods. Afterward, Gu Chi reported that he had uncovered information about Gao Country.

• Qi Shan questioned Shen Tang about the wording of her letter to Wu Xian, but she ordered him to record her exact words.
• Madam Mi's younger sister explained that Wu Xian used lavish funerals to build public support by portraying Gao Country as a grieving nation attacked by an uncaring neighbor.
• Liao Jia and Gu Wangchao arrived in Gao Country to pay their respects, and Liao Jia delivered Shen Tang's letter to Wu Xian.
• Wu Xian threatened to kill the envoys, but Liao Jia revealed an Assembly of Gods token, and Wu Xian chose not to provoke the organization.
• Wu Xian told Liao Jia to inform Shen Tang that he would meet her in war, and Gu Chi later told Liao Jia that he had found useful information in Gao Country.

Gu Chi and Liao Jia uncovered that Mei Meng, a Southwest Branch informant in Wu Xian’s inner court, was likely Lü Shou Sheng’s former lover, Mei Jinghe. After leaving Gao Country amid anti-Kang agitation, Gu Chi began plotting a provocative story to strike back at Wu Xian.

• Gu Chi told Liao Jia that a woman from the Southwest Branch had entered Wu Xian’s inner court as Madam Mi’s supposed younger sister, Mei Jinghe.
• Gu Chi connected Mei Jinghe to Lü Shou Sheng’s former lover, Mei Meng, after learning that Lü’s Poisonous Spider had borne the same name and that the woman claimed ties to the Mei residence.
• Liao Jia proposed secretly removing Mei Meng before she could influence Lü Jue, but Gu Chi pointed out that reaching her in Wu Xian’s guarded palace would make assassinating Wu Xian just as feasible.
• Gu Chi and Liao Jia left Gao Country after the funeral as crowds blamed Shen Tang and targeted Kang Country’s people, while Gu Chi dismissed Wu Xian’s efforts to stir public opinion.
• Liao Jia asked how Gu Chi would retaliate, and Gu Chi proposed writing adult fiction with an artist who had once drawn Fire Avoidance Paintings.

Gu Chi and Liao Jia learned that rumors claimed Shen Tang had died after the Northern Desert breached Shexing Pass, and the news sent Gu Chi into a collapse. Zhao Feng revealed that Shen Tang had survived having her heart ripped out, while Kang Country concealed the truth to lure the Northern Desert into a trap.

• Gu Chi and Liao Jia discussed Shen Tang's desire to illustrate Gu Chi's stories before learning that Wu Xian's men had arranged attacks along their route back from Gao Country.
• Zhao Wei's convoy killed several groups of wandering knights and assassins, then stopped at a teahouse where its proprietress resembled Shen Tang.
• Customers at the teahouse said Shen Tang had died in battle at Shexing Pass, and Gu Chi vomited blood before Zhao Wei rushed him back to Heyin Commandery.
• Zhao Feng told Zhao Wei and Liao Jia that the reports were partly true: Shen Tang had lost her heart but survived, and Qi Yuanliang was alive.
• Zhao Feng explained that Kang Country was concealing Shen Tang's survival and leaving the rumors unchallenged to lure the Northern Desert into a trap.

While Kang’s officers worried over Shen Tang’s rumored death and Shexing Pass’s fall, Gu Chi remained unconscious and experienced a vision of Shen Tang’s past on the Northern Desert front. The vision ended with the National Border Barrier at Shexing Pass shattering before the Northern Desert assault.

• Zhao Feng told Liao Jia and Zhao Wei that Shexing Pass had fallen and that Yun Yuanmou and Xianyu Jian were missing, while Liao Jia worried about the Northern Desert’s supply lines and their 20th Rank Che Hou.
• Liao Jia left for Fengluo, entrusting the unconscious Gu Chi to Zhao Feng as rumors of Shen Tang’s death spread.
• Gu Chi dreamed of Shen Tang discussing Lin Feng’s injuries after Bai Su and Su Shi Yilu helped her escape an ambush following her attack on the Northern Desert granaries.
• Shen Tang received reports of a Northern Desert force apparently heading for Zhu Yue Pass, then learned that its main force was attacking Shexing Pass and ordered reinforcements.
• Gu Chi watched Shen Tang’s army hurry toward Shexing Pass as siege stones and armored ice dragons struck the National Border Barrier and shattered it.

Gu Chi relived the battle at Shexing Pass in what he realized was likely Shen Tang’s dream, as Shen Tang and Gongxi Chou fought the 20th Rank Che Hou Yun Da. Just as Yun Da pierced Shen Tang’s chest and prepared to kill her, Jimò Qiu appeared, intending to take everyone and run.

• Gu Chi watched the National Border Barrier fall as Shen Tang hurried her army toward Shexing Pass, where the Northern Desert’s giant beast attacked the defenders.
• Shen Tang and Gongxi Chou fought Yun Da to draw him away from the pass, while Gu Chi recognized that he was experiencing a dream connected to Shen Tang.
• Yun Da revealed that he had come to retrieve something, then pierced Shen Tang through the chest and merged with his double.
• Yun Da threw a wooden dagger at Shen Tang, but Jimò Qiu appeared and stopped it.
• Jimò Qiu judged Yun Da too powerful to fight and decided to flee with the wounded Shen Tang and Gongxi Chou.

Gu Chi lost the dream of Shen Tang and found himself with a girl who looked like her as a child, learning that she was Shen Tang in another life and that humanity’s old civilization had fallen to war and a world-ending disaster. The girl revealed that she was trapped in a laboratory in the present, while Gu Chi remained in the dream trying to understand how to wake his master.

• Yun Da shot an ice arrow at Shen Tang, and Gu Chi’s dream abruptly gave way to darkness.
• Gu Chi wandered through a forest and fell into a pit, awakening in a strange room where he met a girl who looked like a young Shen Tang.
• The girl spoke with a device called Seventh Old, learned that her tribulation had an anomaly and that the person she sought would not be born for three or four thousand years, then recognized Gu Chi as her ghostly subordinate.
• The girl and Gu Chi witnessed the collapse of an ancient human civilization, including a toxic rain and a war, before figures bearing Word Spirit raised the submerged continent.
• The girl explained that she had entered the tribulation in a mortal body and said humanity had saved itself, then told Gu Chi that her true self was probably trapped in a laboratory for zombie research.

Gu Chi entered Shen Tang’s deep dream and witnessed her memories of the laboratory, where people had tried to use her to create a zombie-virus cure or immune humanity. Jimò Qiu helped them escape the dream, and Shen Tang woke in camp before proposing a plan to cripple the Northern Desert’s supply lines around Shexing Pass.

• The girl explained that researchers had studied Shen Tang and attempted to clone her or use her genes to create people immune to the zombie virus.
• Gu Chi found Shen Tang in a laboratory tank and saw embryos implanted with fragments of her genes; Shen Tang then appeared and led him away from the collapsing scene.
• Shen Tang and Gu Chi realized they were trapped on the eighteenth level of her dream, and Jimò Qiu arrived to bring them back to wakefulness.
• Shen Tang woke in camp, learned that Qi Shan had impersonated her to keep the army steady, and told the others not to reveal what had happened in her dream.
• Shen Tang proposed blowing up the area around Shexing Pass to block the Northern Desert’s grain and fodder deliveries.

Shen Tang planned to isolate Shexing Pass by having her forces dig a dry moat and disrupt the Northern Desert’s supply route. After learning that Yun Ce and Xianyu Jian were rumored to have surrendered, she ordered the rumors suppressed and approved a prisoner exchange, then gave the wounded Bei Jiu five days to carry out the plan.

• Shen Tang proposed blowing up the area around Shexing Pass and digging a dry moat to cut off the Northern Desert’s land supplies.
• Chu Yao told Shen Tang that Yun Ce and Xianyu Jian had reportedly surrendered and that the Northern Desert refused to exchange them.
• Shen Tang rejected the surrender report as an unproven rumor, ordered soldiers to stop spreading it, and agreed to exchange ordinary prisoners at a two-for-one ratio.
• Shen Tang explained that the Northern Desert’s returned prisoners would be sent back in the condition they had been captured, and that exchanging them quickly would prevent them from becoming food.
• After the meeting, Shen Tang told Chu Yao and Qi Shan that she was troubled by a nightmare and fragments of her dream.
• Bei Jiu volunteered to lead the work around Shexing Pass, and Shen Tang granted her five days to complete it after the prisoner exchange.

Yun Ce rejected Liu Guan’s attempts to turn him against Shen Youli and refused Yun Da’s offer to rule the Northern Desert. Yun Da revealed Yun Ce’s ancestry, then crippled him and took away his cultivation while sparing his life.

• Liu Guan tried to persuade Yun Ce to join the Northern Desert, claiming Shen Youli had blamed him and his sworn brother for the fall of Shexing Pass, but Yun Ce refused to believe her.
• Yun Da met Yun Ce and urged him to lead the Northern Desert, but Yun Ce rejected the offer and reaffirmed his refusal to surrender.
• Yun Da revealed that Yun Ce descended from his first wife, A Muqing, and that he had killed Yun Ce’s true great-great-grandfather.
• Yun Da crippled Yun Ce’s dantian and severed his meridians, but spared his life because he was A Muqing’s only descendant.

Yun Da freed Yun Ce from the Northern Desert dungeon, while Liu Guan tried to learn whether Shen Youli had survived and later attempted to turn Yun Ce and Xianyu Jian against their ruler. The brothers remained prisoners as Yun Ce’s condition worsened, until explosions shook the Northern Desert outpost and the divine-machine cannons arrived.

• Yun Da freed the badly injured Yun Ce, refused to give Liu Guan a definite answer about Shen Youli’s survival, and vanished with his disciple.
• Yun Ce woke beside Xianyu Jian and learned that Yun Da had destroyed his cultivation before releasing them from the dungeon.
• Liu Guan told the brothers that Kang Country had agreed to exchange prisoners but excluded them, then urged Xianyu Jian to reconsider his loyalty.
• Xianyu Jian confirmed the prisoner exchange was real, and he and Yun Ce feared that Shen Youli’s absence had left Kang Country’s leaders vulnerable to Liu Guan’s divisive scheme.
• Yun Ce developed a dangerous fever, and Xianyu Jian carried him outside when the ground began to tremble.
• Liu Guan discovered that the shaking came from explosions rather than an earthquake, and the divine-machine cannons arrived.

Liu Guan realized Kang was digging a vast encircling trench around Shexing Pass, while Shen Tang’s forces used Mohist machinery and experimental firearms to speed the work. The project neared completion as Shen Tang prepared to turn Shexing Pass into a battlefield trap.

• Bai Su shot down Northern Desert scouts and caught a burrowing scout, but Liu Guan’s forces still learned Kang was excavating a huge trench.
• Liu Guan warned Tudege that Kang could be trying to isolate Shexing Pass by cutting off its supplies, and estimated the project would be ready in one to two weeks.
• Bei Jiu developed experimental firearms from Tian Gong Kai Wu, then adapted their materials to use Heaven and Earth Qi after Shen Tang advised her.
• Kang’s Mohist machinery and Martial Gall Warriors accelerated the excavation, and Shen Tang ordered the trenches expanded for future use.
• Bai Su told Shen Tang it was time for her medicine and confirmed the troops had returned, while Shen Tang urged Yuanmou and Zigu to hold on until Shexing Pass became a living hell.

Yun Ce recalled how the Directorate of Imperial Manufactures’ inventions could help Kang dig traps around Shexing Pass, and Shen Tang’s forces rapidly began surrounding the pass. The Northern Desert struggled to respond as Kang’s troops repeatedly escaped pursuit and burned a supply convoy, while Yun Da urged patience and warned that the enemy would get only one chance.

• Yun Ce told Xianyu Jian that Kang might have a chance to surround Shexing Pass, drawing on his knowledge of the Directorate of Imperial Manufactures’ machines and firearms.
• Shen Tang, Jimò Qiu, Gongxi Chou, and the Mohists used giant excavators and earth-shaping abilities to dig traps, then fled when Liu Guan led troops out of the pass.
• Liu Guan found the work crews gone and the traps too wide to fill easily, while Shen Tang’s forces repeatedly returned to dig more trenches whenever the Northern Desert troops went back inside.
• Shen Tang’s forces attacked a Northern Desert supply convoy, burned its vehicles and grain, and left a pile of heads beneath a flag declaring, “We’ll gladly take it!”
• Yun Da dismissed the Northern Desert’s alarm and urged Tudege and the others to let Kang grow overconfident, saying the enemy would get only one chance.

Shen Tang’s forces destroyed most of the Northern Desert supply convoy with underground explosives, worsening the siege at Shexing Pass. As food ran short, Yun Ce confronted Yun Da after finding human flesh in the soldiers’ provisions.

• Shen Tang learned Kang Shi was among the reinforcements, then welcomed his concern for her safety when he arrived at Shexing Pass.
• Shen Tang’s forces completed the traps around Shexing Pass, making it harder for the Northern Desert to bring in supplies.
• Shen Tang proposed planting explosives underground along the enemy’s supply routes, and Kang Shi helped carry out the plan.
• The Northern Desert convoy lost eighty percent of its provisions in a series of underground explosions, leaving Tudege only five days to solve the supply crisis.
• Xianyu Jian found a toe bone in Yun Ce’s food, and Yun Ce asked Yun Da whether the Northern Desert deserved to exist if it fed its troops human flesh.

Yun Da revealed why he opposed Shen Youli, claiming she was the Mother Goddess and arguing that humanity should be annihilated rather than saved. Yun Ce remained devastated by his master's beliefs, while Shen Tang considered how to respond to Yun Da's challenge and decided Gongxi Chou would go in her place.

• Yun Ce condemned Yun Da for serving human flesh and urged him to abandon his plans, but Yun Da said Yun Ce knew too little to understand.
• Yun Da told Yun Ce that Shen Youli was the Mother Goddess worshipped by the Assembly of Gods' inner society and that he believed humanity was beyond saving.
• Yun Ce argued that life also contained joy, but Yun Da did not change his view that humanity should be completely cleansed.
• Xianyu Jian brought Yun Ce food and urged him to stop dwelling on Yun Da's choices, while Yun Da told Xianyu Jian to care for his senior brother.
• Shen Tang discussed Yun Da's battle invitation with Kang Shi, Bai Su, and Gongxi Chou, then agreed that Gongxi Chou would go investigate in her place.