Chapter Summaries

Wu Xian infiltrated an enemy camp with his men and set a plan in motion to sow chaos by starting a fire and triggering a rockslide. The plan worked, but battle cries outside the camp suggested the southwestern troops were fighting among themselves, leaving Wu Xian confused as the chapter ended.

• Wu Xian's squad ambushed enemy scouts with an electrified blade net, and Wu Xian reflected on how the Medical Office's methods could save lives or kill.
• Wu Xian's men followed another scout unit, killed its members, and disguised themselves to reach the enemy's main camp.
• Wu Xian chose to attack the outer camp and ordered some of his men to prepare explosives near the cliffs while he drew attention away from them.
• Wu Xian and a pretty-faced sworn brother staged a quarrel to distract the camp guards, then set fire to the rear supply area and shouted that the enemy had launched a night raid.
• The rockslide began, but battle cries sounded outside the camp, and Wu Xian wondered why the southwestern troops were fighting each other.

Lord Yang and Wu Xian raided the Southwest Alliance’s camp, fought their way through its defenses, and escaped after killing enemy officers. Meanwhile, the Saint Child traveled through Lu Country and saw starving tenant farmers praying for relief, leaving her furious at their suffering.

• The Southwest Alliance’s camp came under a night attack, first by falling projectiles and then by Lord Yang’s charging Shield Wall force.
• Lord Yang split the enemy’s formation and fought an allied officer, but Wu Xian secretly struck the officer from behind and claimed the kill.
• Wu Xian and Lord Yang joined forces to kill another officer, then retreated when their casualties rose and the enemy rallied.
• After escaping, the wounded Wu Xian thanked Lord Yang, who said Wu Xian’s daughter had brought him the warning that let him distinguish himself.
• In Lu Country, the Saint Child stopped her carriage after seeing tenant farmers crouch in the fields and ordered that a nearly naked woman be given clothing.
• The Saint Child watched the tenant farmers kneel and pray for blessings and a better next life, and she clenched her fists in anger.

Shen Tang explained how Qian Yong’s eight thousand troops could stop a forty-thousand-strong southwestern army by using a concealed reservoir and a carefully controlled surge of water. Qian Yong accepted the assignment, and the meeting ended with Kang’s plan in place.

• Shen Tang assigned Qian Yong and eight thousand troops to intercept forty thousand enemy soldiers, prompting him and Luan Xin to question the odds.
• Gu Chi revealed that Kang had secretly built a reservoir near a likely enemy route, and Qin Li warned that simply opening its floodgates could devastate downstream communities.
• Shen Tang explained that they would increase the water’s pressure and speed to strike the enemy with less water, while limiting harm to people downstream.
• Qian Yong pledged to return victorious, and Shen Tang told him not to jinx himself before ending the strategy meeting.

Shen Tang used a secret Court Session and a daring raid to make the Southwest allied forces believe Kang had destroyed one of their member states. The allies turned back, leaving Su Shi Yilu’s undermanned garrison safe for now, while the retreat revealed how Shen Tang’s strike had forced their hand.

• Shen Tang and Tan Ting discussed the security of her secret Court Session, and Shen Tang prepared to lead an attack on a Dragon Slaying Bureau member state.
• Disguised as Zhongli Fu, Shen Tang accompanied Qi Cang as they returned from fishing and learned that the Sovereign of Qi Country had urgently summoned him.
• The allied forces learned Kang had destroyed a member state, and its Crown Prince urged them to retreat before their own homelands were attacked.
• Luo Yuan and Cui Zhi argued against turning back, but the Sovereign of Qi Country ordered the allied forces to retreat.
• Su Shi Yilu learned that the Southwest allied forces had withdrawn from the pass and that Kang’s raid on their homeland had caused the reversal.

Shen Tang’s army prepared to face the southwestern allied forces after capturing a country, while Qian Yong’s planned flood attack was nearly sabotaged by a long-hidden mole. Kang Shi and Ning Yan urged Qian Yong to proceed with the dangerous plan that night.

• Shen Tang argued with captured officials, dismissed their accusations, and ordered the prisoners taken away while explaining that Gu Chi had already extracted the intelligence they needed.
• Shen Tang told former officials she had discarded the National Seal, though she had secretly entrusted it to Cui Xiao, and Qin Li warned her that the allied armies were approaching early.
• Qin Li reported that Qian Yong had routed seventy percent of the enemy force, then explained that a mole had nearly turned Qian Yong’s planned reservoir flood against his own troops.
• Ning Yan’s incarnation exposed and captured the mole after detecting his controlled silence, and the suspect’s possible connection to Mei Jinghe raised questions about who knew of the reservoir.
• Kang Shi and Ning Yan agreed with Qian Yong that they should launch the flood plan that night before the enemy could share the leaked information.

Mei Meng secretly warned Qi Country’s defending general that Kang Country planned to flood the camp, but the flood struck before he could fully prepare. As Qian Yong’s forces attacked amid the chaos, Ning Yan confronted Mei Meng and raised a sword against her.

• Qian Yong agreed with Ning Yan to wager everything on their plan and promised to host a victory feast if they won.
• Mei Meng slipped out in disguise and warned Qi Country’s defending general that Kang Country would unleash a flood, but he doubted her identity and detained her.
• The flood surged into the camp before the defending general’s orders could reach everyone, sweeping away soldiers and supplies as the defenders tried to form barriers.
• Qian Yong led his troops downstream to attack the flooded camp, while hidden fighters struck at the defenders in the water.
• Qian Yong fought two coordinated Martial Gall Warriors and severed one brother’s arm.
• Ning Yan confronted Mei Meng away from the main fighting, and Mei Meng recognized her just as Ning Yan’s sword flashed toward her brow.

“Ning Yan” failed to kill Mei Meng, then turned the river battle in Kang’s favor with a Word Spirit that summoned ice horses and froze enemy soldiers. After the victory, Shen Tang prepared for the approaching Southwest Alliance forces by seeking shipbuilding blueprints or a shipbuilding family.

• Mei Meng escaped “Ning Yan” by using a Literary Qi Incarnation, and “Ning Yan” returned to the battlefield to attack the Southwest Alliance army.
• “Ning Yan” summoned ice horses that charged the enemy, while Kang Shi turned the downstream waters into a swamp and Kang troops trapped and killed many alliance soldiers.
• Qian Yong’s forces routed the enemy along the river, but the fighting left the river blocked with corpses and few prisoners to capture.
• Qian Yong worried that Shen Tang would blame him for the slaughter, and Luan Xin suggested reporting the facts while shifting some blame to Kang Jishou.
• Shen Tang learned that Qian Yong’s scouts had checked the riverbanks for damage and turned her attention to the approaching main forces and Kang’s lack of warships.
• Shen Tang planned to obtain shipbuilding blueprints or find a shipbuilding family so Kang could better face the coming water battles.

Shen Tang assigned Bei Jiu and the Mohist craftsmen to decipher Liao Jia's warship blueprints and prepare Kang's soldiers for naval warfare. As Bei Jiu and Yun Ce tested ship models and discussed their designs, they settled on producing an instruction manual for the crews.

• Shen Tang gave the warship blueprints to Bei Jiu and ordered the Mohists to analyze them, build models, and teach soldiers to operate the ships.
• Bei Jiu and Yun Ce worked together under a tight deadline, while Yun Ce recounted Xianyu Jian's plan to help raise their imagined child.
• Bei Jiu and Yun Ce tested a miniature crystal warship and identified the roles of troop carriers, ramming ships, and support vessels.
• Bei Jiu explained that Kang's disciplined soldiers and Qin Li's command could help overcome the challenges of naval coordination.
• Bei Jiu asked Yun Ce to copy an instruction manual as they began preparing the chosen ship designs for use.

Shen Tang discovered that Yun Ce and Bei Jiu had been secretly together for years and tried to encourage them to marry, but they refused to make their relationship public while serving in government. The chapter ended with Gongxi Chou teasing Jimò Qiu about his devotion to Shen Tang as preparations for the navy continued.

• Yun Ce flirted with Bei Jiu while they copied a military manual, and Shen Tang overheard them with Qin Li and Jimò Qiu.
• Shen Tang explained the idea of a “Love Brain,” and Jimò Qiu admitted he was one because he loved Shen Tang.
• Shen Tang asked Yun Ce and Bei Jiu how long they had been together, and Yun Ce confessed that he had pursued her since they were young.
• Shen Tang clarified that she would not forbid their relationship and asked whether they planned to marry, but Bei Jiu said they would wait until Shen Tang achieved her great cause.
• Qin Li pointed out that Bei Jiu and Yun Ce could not make their relationship official while serving in government, then suggested Shen Tang lead by example and marry.
• Gongxi Chou teased Jimò Qiu for acting like an extra in Shen Tang’s life, while Jimò Qiu insisted that men affected her and argued he did not count as one.

Shen Tang taught the martial generals naval warfare and led them through a discussion of unconventional ways to trap enemy ships. The chapter ended with her proposing that their fleet hide on the riverbed and attack the enemy from below.

• Shen Tang explained why Gongxi Chou's reckless fighting could sink their own ships and told him to direct the fleet instead of seeking one-on-one duels.
• The generals studied naval manuals before Shen Tang called on them to discuss naval formations and Word Spirits.
• Gongxi Chou suggested using a Word Spirit to block the enemy's retreat, and the generals debated trapping ships by enclosing them and draining the water.
• Lin Feng proposed freezing or dividing the river and using hidden reefs, while the group also considered disrupting enemy communications.
• Shen Tang suggested rapidly lowering the water inside a barrier so that breaking it would unleash a flood on the enemy fleet.
• Shen Tang asked whether Zhou Kou had supplied submarines and proposed taking their ships to the riverbed to attack the enemy from below.

Shen Tang’s officers considered using a submarine against the Southwest Continent, while Wei Shou later warned Gu Chi that the Central Region was trying to sway him and Lin Feng through family ties. Shen Tang trusted Lin Feng to remain loyal and planned to stall the Central Region, though she worried about protecting Lin Feng’s reputation.

• Shen Tang proposed building a submarine, and Lin Feng persuaded Wei Shou that it could hide on a riverbed and ambush enemy ships.
• After the planning meeting, Wei Shou gave Gu Chi a painful massage and privately revealed that the Central Region had approached him through a close relative.
• Wei Shou told Gu Chi that Lin Feng was also being targeted through a troublesome blood relative living in the Central Region.
• Gu Chi secretly informed Shen Tang, who trusted Lin Feng to weigh her loyalties and remain faithful to Kang.
• Shen Tang decided to keep Lin Feng’s reputation clear and find a way to distract the Central Region.

Shen Tang reassured Gu Chi that she would not retire before uniting the world and raising an heir, while Gu Chi and Bai Su discussed potential rivals for her affection. As the Southwest Coalition surrounded Shen Tang’s army and took heart from its supposedly poor naval drills, Shen Tang’s alliance with Qu Country threatened to distract the Central Region, and Zhai Le caught her sitting on his throne.

• Gu Chi confronted Shen Tang about grooming Lin Feng as a future successor, and Shen Tang explained that she would not retire until the world was united and she had raised an heir.
• Gu Chi asked Bai Su who might pursue Shen Tang, and Bai Su warned him to watch Jimò Qiu because of his wealth and devotion to their lord.
• Scouts reported that the Southwest Coalition had encircled Shen Tang’s army, found no disruption to local livelihoods or supply routes, and believed Kang’s naval drills showed weakness.
• Cui Zhi told the Southwest Coalition that Central Region countries were preparing to intervene against Kang, lifting the coalition’s spirits.
• Shen Tang’s plan to ally with Qu Country aimed to keep the Central Region occupied, while Zhai Le caught her sitting on his throne and called for help.

Shen Tang urged Zhai Le to ally with Kang and divide the Central Continent, warning him about the approaching destruction of the world and the need to unite the continent. Zhai Le agreed to investigate her claims and said he would either oppose her as a rival or sever their friendship and join her enemies.

• Shen Tang and Zhai Le traded barbs over her sitting on Qu's throne before she asked him to help divide the Central Continent with Kang.
• Zhai Le rejected her request as a matter of statecraft, but Shen Tang argued that Qu should grow stronger and revealed that Kang was under pressure while she fought in the southwest.
• Shen Tang told Zhai Le that a tightening curse tied to Yun Da threatened the world, and said she would rather face the end alongside him than yield her ambitions.
• Zhai Le said he would consult someone else and verify Shen Tang's claims before deciding whether to ally with her or compete to unify the world.
• After Shen Tang left, Yu Hai warned that Qu would become passive if Kang succeeded; Zhai Le declared he would either become Shen Tang's opponent or join the powers devouring Kang, depending on whether her warning was true.

Yu Hai’s investigation convinced Zhai Le that Shen Tang’s warnings about the world’s destruction had merit, and Zhai Le met her to negotiate an alliance against the Central States. Their discussion ended in a dispute over how to divide the territory they planned to seize.

• Yu Hai reported his findings to Zhai Le, who decided to discreetly contact supportive generals and meet Shen Tang.
• Zhai Le and Yu Hai arrived at Shen Tang’s guesthouse, surprising her while she was drying her wigs, and Zhai Le invited her to discuss their plans over wine.
• Zhai Le’s friend realized that Shen Tang was the lord Xiahou Yu served, while Zhai Le and Shen Tang went aside to negotiate.
• Shen Tang demanded half the spoils, and Zhai Le countered with progressively larger shares for Qu Country before showing her the seven regions he wanted.
• Shen Tang scowled at Zhai Le’s proposed territorial division and accused him of treating her as if he could put a knife under her pillow.

Shen Tang and Zhai Le negotiated an alliance to divide the Central Continent and sealed it with an Oath of Luoshui, while both understood that either might eventually break their word. Shen Tang then checked on the southwest front and ended with news from her original self, though the chapter left the good news undisclosed.

• Shen Tang told Xiahou Yu that Zhai Le had rejected her initial terms, and Xiahou Yu warned that Qu Country might break any informal alliance if doing so served its interests.
• Shen Tang and Zhai Le resumed negotiations, made progress toward dividing the Central Continent, and agreed to swear their pact by Luoshui.
• Shen Tang and Zhai Le exchanged pointed remarks about Sima Yi and Cao Zhaobo, then sealed the alliance while each left open the possibility of future betrayal.
• Shen Tang told Xiahou Yu that the southwest coalition had been probing her forces and disrupting the navy, and she hoped its harassment would buy time for a prepared surprise.
• Shen Tang's original self communicated with her incarnations, admired her reflection, and told Qin Li that there was good news.

Shen Tang learned that Cui Xiao had rallied more than three hundred thousand Eternal Life Cult believers in Lu Country, and argued that their uprising stemmed from the southwestern rulers’ oppression. As the allied army debated the news, Gongyang Yongye exposed how landlessness had pushed commoners toward rebellion, while the Saint Child worried that the uprising could cost many lives.

• Shen Tang told Qin Li that her incarnation Wu You had heard that Cui Xiao, the Eternal Life Cult’s Saint Child, had gathered more than three hundred thousand believers in Lu Country.
• Shen Tang argued that the southwestern authorities, not desperate commoners or Wei Cheng and Wei Lou alone, were responsible for the conditions behind the cult’s growth.
• Qin Li worried that the allied countries could suppress the believers, while Shen Tang explained that the uprising would disrupt their harvests and already strained supply lines.
• Lu Country’s leaders suspected Kang Country had spread the news, but Gongyang Yongye challenged them to consider whether the fields and harvests belonged to the commoners at all.
• Gongyang Yongye described how local clans had taken reclaimed land from tenant farmers, leaving many people with little to lose by rebelling.
• Qi Cang suspected Kang Country had encouraged the uprising, while Cui Xiao told the worried Saint Child to trust the True God and promised that sweet rain would come.

The Saint Child used a fabricated divine oracle to turn the Eternal Life Cult’s believers against their oppressors, and they seized a county town amid the southwest’s turmoil. Cui Xiao revealed that his Word Spirit’s effects were still lingering as the group prepared to withdraw and let the unrest spread.

• The Saint Child told Cui Xiao that she planned to deliver a divine oracle to the Eternal Life Cult’s believers, while Cui Xiao insisted his lord’s preparations for disaster relief proved his divinity.
• The Saint Child gathered thousands of believers and claimed the Mother Goddess had forgiven humanity, while evil spirits had deceived and tormented them.
• The believers erupted into angry chants and shared accounts of their suffering, then beat spies who tried to leave and report the gathering.
• Protected by a divine miracle, the believers stormed a nearby county town, killed its corrupt official, and seized the city walls.
• The Saint Child noticed Cui Xiao’s lingering invisibility effects and learned he expected to recover soon as the group prepared to withdraw.

The Saint Child refused to abandon the Eternal Life Cult believers and agreed to stay despite the risk to her life, while Cui Xiao used her resolve to prolong the rebellion. Elsewhere, Jiang Sheng read the fortunes of Kang’s leaders, and Lin Feng reunited with her long-lost elder brother, whose humble life and domestic skills suggested years of hardship.

• The Saint Child argued that withdrawing would leave ordinary believers to be deceived or slaughtered, and Cui Xiao agreed she could stay if she accepted the danger of dying.
• Cui Xiao told the middle-aged scholar that the Saint Child’s choice could extend the rebellion, while the scholar worried she would be made to bear the blame.
• Su Shi Yilu complained to Jiang Sheng that he wanted to earn military merit directly, and Jiang Sheng showed him a scroll ranking leaders by fortune.
• Jiang Sheng said Lin Feng faced a blood calamity involving siblings and that Cui Xiao’s Red Phoenix Star was about to fall, though Su Shi Yilu dismissed the warnings.
• Lin Feng returned to her residence, where her elder brother had prepared food and sewn a dress for her.
• Lin Feng recalled their childhood and realized from her brother’s plain clothes and skill at sewing that he had suffered hardship over the years.

Lin Feng’s brother told her how the Lin family had been driven into poverty and humiliation after fleeing south, and why they could not return home. When he tried to leave her courtyard, Lin Feng confronted him, revealed she knew he had used his Way of the Scholar to enter people’s dreams, and challenged him to explain its nature.

• Lin Feng’s brother described the family’s escape from Lingzhou, the deaths of their womenfolk, and the hardship and hostility they faced in their new home.
• Lin Feng asked why he had not returned when Great-grandfather contacted him, and he explained that returning in defeat would dishonor the family’s losses and suffering.
• Lin Feng’s brother revealed that he had turned to Daoist practice and evening lessons after being unable to continue his studies by ordinary means.
• After Lin Feng studied her map, her brother tried to slip out of the courtyard at night, but Lin Feng intercepted him with her sword.
• Lin Feng’s brother admitted he had come intending to turn her against her side, then said he would leave; Lin Feng detained him and revealed that she suspected he had entered dreams using his Way of the Scholar.
• Lin Feng’s brother recognized that she had uncovered his ability, and Lin Feng began describing the transformation between Zhuang Zhou and a butterfly.

Lin Feng was trapped in a lifelike dream that made her experience her second brother Lin Su’s past, from his years of hardship to his journey toward the Northwest. She finally encountered her own past self and realized Lin Su might be reliving her life as well, leaving the siblings poised to fight.

• Lin Feng recognized the young man’s dream as a trap, rejected his appeal to their family bond, and tried to attack him with the [Corpse Man Vine].
• Lin Feng woke in Lin Su’s body and endured his mountain-school routine, then killed three classmates who had come to harass him.
• Lin Feng learned from her older brother how harsh Lin Su’s school life had been, returned to their impoverished home, and decided to leave for the Northwest in search of a worthy lord.
• Lin Feng traveled with her classmate, pursued her lord through Heyin Commandery and Longwu Commandery, and found her own past self beside Xun Zhen on a rocky ledge.
• Lin Feng realized Lin Su might be experiencing her past in return and threatened to kill him, while he challenged her to try.