Chapter Summaries

Shen Tang confronted Tan Ting's sister over her plan to kill the captive women and their children, arguing that the bloodline she viewed as a curse might also offer hope. Tan Ting's sister refused to abandon her principles, killed herself, and warned Shen Tang that the central region's powers were present; snow began to fall.

• Shen Tang challenged Tan Ting's sister for using Meng Yuan and herself as bait and argued that destroying her womb would not end others' greed or suffering.
• Tan Ting's sister revealed the captives were forced to bear children who became vessels for immortality, and said she had chosen to kill them all to end the bloodline's torment.
• Shen Tang argued that the young woman's rare martial gift made her a potential source of hope, but Tan Ting's sister maintained that escape was impossible and that she did not regret her actions.
• Tan Ting's sister tried to kill Madam Shen, but Shen Tang saved her; Tan Ting then pleaded with his sister to put down her dagger and live.
• Tan Ting's sister stabbed herself, warned Shen Tang that the central region's powers were present, and snow began to fall.

Shen Tang learned that the snow she saw after Tan Ting’s younger sister took her own life reflected her distress over the deaths of people carrying her Divine Blood, and Jimò Qiu urged her to reclaim that blood after unifying the realm. As Kang’s campaign against the Central Branch began, Tan Ting prepared to confront those responsible for her family’s blood debts.

• Shen Tang returned drunk to her bedchamber, where Jimò Qiu gave her hangover soup and explained that the snow appeared because she had witnessed the death of a person bearing Divine Blood.
• Jimò Qiu warned Shen Tang that the Divine Blood could bring karmic consequences and urged her to reclaim it after unifying the realm; he said its carriers would lose divine favor, not die.
• An official asked Shen Tang to grant Jimò Qiu the title of consort, prompting the court officials to rapidly settle disputes and support preparations for war.
• The Leopard Martial Artist told Shen Tang that the Central Branch had gathered the known bloodlines across much of the continent, while Madam Shen confirmed that the search remained incomplete in the southwest and northwest.
• Wu You spared the Leopard Martial Artist and asked Tan Ting to recover; Tan Ting vowed to wipe out the Central Branch in revenge for her family’s blood debts.

Tan Ting resolved to destroy the Tan Clan’s Central Branch after learning they would not join Lord Shen, while Shen Tang let Madam Shen go and told her where Gong Yun Chi was buried. Meanwhile, Bai Su arrived at the front to assess the enemy and prepare a test attack, with the enemy’s numbers and deployment still unknown.

• Tan Ting rejected the Leopard Martial Artist’s warning about the Tan Clan and planned a bloodbath against Central Branch members who could not be won over.
• Shen Tang let Madam Shen leave without punishment, and Madam Shen asked about Gong Yun Chi’s grave before saying she planned to settle in Tuocheng and adopt a child.
• Bai Su’s army arrived two days early, and Wu Xian reported that contradictory scout reports had left the enemy’s forces and deployment unknown.
• Bai Su planned to lead a feigned attack the next day to test the enemy, then asked whether Wu Xian had sent anyone to establish a formation.

Bai Su investigated the strange mountains after concluding that the enemy was hiding something, while Wu Xian’s troops encountered broken ropes and soldiers infected by Gu Worms. In the clouds, Bai Su found a winged attacker and began fighting him.

• Wu Xian explained that the mountains had shifted east and recounted strange stories and missing scouts, while Bai Su decided to investigate that night.
• Bai Su sent three units into the mountains with guide ropes and went above the clouds on her Martial Gall Totem to map the terrain by the stars.
• One rope snapped, and the returning troops reported contradictory sightings; another unit returned with thirteen men injured after soldiers went mad with apparent Gu Worm infections.
• Bai Su spotted an attacker in the clouds, was knocked off balance by his strike, and reclaimed her position on her Martial Gall Totem.
• The winged attacker urged Bai Su to defect, but she drew two swords and attacked, vowing to cut off his wings.

Bai Su defeated an enemy general in an aerial battle, but the corpse she brought down revealed that he had been dead for at least half a month. The chapter left Bai Su investigating a possible gu connection to the missing scouts and the mountain.

• Bai Su and her orca fought the bat-winged enemy general, whose poisonous swarm wounded the orca before it armored itself.
• Wu Xian ordered his deputy to draw thunderclouds toward the aerial battle, helping Bai Su trap the enemy general in a lightning cage.
• Bai Su rejected the general’s offer to trade information and killed him with a lightning-charged arrow.
• Bai Su forced black worms from a wound on her palm, while Wu Xian told her that a scout had recently gone berserk from suspected gu poisoning.
• The military physicians found that the enemy general’s corpse had been dead for at least half a month and appeared to belong to one of the missing scouts.

Bai Su and Wu Xian discovered that an enemy was using Gu Worms to turn corpses and infiltrated soldiers into monsters, then attack the army with a giant shadow of black moths. They fought back with Bai Su’s swords and Wu Xian’s orders to summon thunder, as the shadow targeted Bai Su.

• Bai Su told Wu Xian that a dead scout had attacked her under the control of an unseen enemy, and Wu Xian feared the enemy might be a Che Hou.
• Bai Su and Wu Xian realized the missing scouts could have been infiltrated after the military doctor found a nest of Gu Worms inside the scout’s corpse.
• The corpse revived and released insects, while a cloud of mountain mist advanced on the army; Bai Su urged Wu Xian to retreat.
• Bai Su discovered that messengers carrying false orders had become infected, and Wu Xian killed his deputy when he attacked her.
• Infected soldiers attacked their comrades and hatched into black moths that formed a towering shadow, which struck at Bai Su.
• Bai Su fought the shadow from the back of a monstrous fish and called for fire, while Wu Xian rallied the troops to summon heavenly thunder.

Bai Su and Wu Xian defeated a Gu-raising former Wu State general and uncovered his ties to the Assembly of Gods and the mountain’s deadly secrets. After Bai Su ordered an advance, Shen Tang received the report, and Jimò Qiu identified the strange stones as contaminated with nuclear waste.

• Bai Su destroyed the metallic monster fish and used the army’s formation to strike the shadowy figure with lightning, while Wu Xian helped subdue him.
• Bai Su and Wu Xian interrogated the captured general and learned that he had raised Gu Worms, eaten missing scouts, and worked with the Assembly of Gods.
• The general revealed that the mountain’s strange field caused people to lose their way, while Bai Su and Wu Xian decided to advance without waiting six days for orders.
• Bai Su killed the general, took responsibility for the decision, and sent evidence and warnings to Shen Tang and the other fronts.
• Jimò Qiu examined the evidence, identified the stones as likely contaminated with nuclear waste, and Shen Tang crushed them.

Shen Tang and her companions discussed ways to use radioactive stone powder against the enemy, while Jimò Qiu explained that Heaven punished him whenever he disrespected it. The group abandoned schemes involving Gu Worms and thunder, and Jimò Qiu proposed using the stone powder to strengthen military illusions.

• Shen Tang mistook Jimò Qiu’s suggestion about the stone for a plan to poison the enemy, but he clarified that he meant it could record and play images for entertainment.
• Gu Chi and Qi Shan arrived, learned about the spoils from Bai Su’s victory, and suggested putting the stone powder in the enemy’s water, but Jimò Qiu said it would take an impractical amount.
• Jimò Qiu refused to use Gu Worms on a large scale, warning that doing so would bring Heaven’s wrath and harm Shen Tang’s cause.
• A bolt of lightning struck the camp after Jimò Qiu silently grumbled about Heaven, and he admitted that Heaven had caused the thunder as a warning.
• Qi Shan considered provoking Heaven through Jimò Qiu to produce cost-free thunder attacks, but Jimò Qiu warned that further provocation could bring a fatal thunder tribulation.
• Jimò Qiu proposed using the stone powder to amplify illusions created by military formations and make them more convincing to enemy soldiers.

Shen Tang approved mining radioactive ore after Jimò Qiu reassured her, while Qi Shan and Gu Chi reacted jealously to his growing closeness with her. The chapter then shifted to the campaign, where Kang’s commanders discovered the enemy had reshaped the Yudi Mountains to threaten their water supply and funnel their army into a trap.

• Shen Tang decided to send elite soldiers to mine the ore after Jimò Qiu explained that its radiation posed little danger by modern standards.
• Gu Chi and Qi Shan bristled at Jimò Qiu, and Shen Tang told him their reaction came from insecurity about her favoring him.
• Shen Tang joked about Qi Shan’s jealousy, and Qi Shan overheard her explanation after returning unnoticed.
• Shen Tang and her commanders compared the scouts’ new map with the old one and found that the enemy had altered the Yudi Mountains and destroyed the main roads.
• Qin Li warned that the changed terrain, scarce water, and lack of clouds could leave Kang’s army trapped and dehydrated in the mountains.
• Qin Li pointed out a bridge and its watchtower as a position Kang’s army would need to seize or destroy.

Shen Tang’s army planned how to overcome the enemy’s fortified bridge and water source, and she reassigned Su Shi Yilu and Chu Jie to lead separate assaults. The council ended with Chu Jie taking Kang Shi as his partner and Shen Tang preparing to force a way across the ravine if the battle dragged on.

• Shen Tang dismissed suggestions that the army could fly over the enemy and praised a young Wuzhou general for proposing a weighty Word Spirit defense against an aerial attack.
• After learning the young general had played twenty-seven rounds of the Sandbox Battlefield, Shen Tang assigned Su Shi Yilu half the Wuzhou Army to contest the water source with Chu Jie and sent the other half to help seize the bridge.
• Su Shi Yilu objected to fighting alongside Chu Jie, but accepted after Chu Jie and the veteran generals challenged his resolve.
• Chu Jie requested Kang Shi as his partner rather than Chu Yao, and Kang Shi eagerly agreed.
• Shen Tang told Chu Jie to seize or destroy the water source, explaining that Qin Li could intercept the resulting clouds, and warned him that she might level the ravine if the battle stalled.

Chu Jie’s force marched through the Yudi Mountains to seize the water source, but Kang Shi uncovered a vast Mirage that had trapped them in a Sandbox Battlefield. As enemy generals surrounded the troops, their leader tried to turn Su Shi Yilu against them by invoking his dead nephew, and Su Shi Yilu ordered Chu Jie to kill him.

• Kang Shi, Su Shi Yilu, and Chu Jie led their troops through the mountains at a punishing pace, then rested and kept watch for a possible attack.
• Chu Jie and Su Shi Yilu discussed Su Shi Yilu’s pregnant younger sister and Chu Jie’s lingering hopes for Chu Yao to have a child.
• The troops resumed their march, crossed difficult terrain using martial-energy chains, and approached the waterway despite signs of an enemy garrison.
• Kang Shi tested the waterskins, recognized that the sky was a Mirage, and exposed the illusion by shooting a flaming arrow through it.
• Chu Jie, Su Shi Yilu, and Kang Shi found themselves surrounded in a simulated battlefield, where enemy generals explained that neither side could attack before both were ready.
• The enemy leader urged Su Shi Yilu to betray his allies by bringing up his dead nephew, but Su Shi Yilu clarified the dead boy was his nephew and ordered Chu Jie to kill the leader.

Chu Jie and Su Shi Yilu rejected the enemy general’s offer to betray Kang, and the Sandbox Battlefield match began. Kang’s forces formed the Xuanwu Formation while Chu Jie fought three enemy generals, leaving the battle underway.

• Chu Jie accepted Su Shi Yilu’s request to kill the enemy generals, while Su Shi Yilu refused their offer of a title and a National Seal for the Ten Crows.
• The enemy general attacked as the battlefield countdown began, and Chu Jie charged him while Su Shi Yilu hurled his armor-piercing spear.
• Kang Shi’s soldiers formed the Xuanwu Formation and fired a coordinated volley, surprising the enemy scholar with their readiness.
• The enemy scholar used puppet strings to direct the Central Allied Army, while Kang Shi identified their value and considered capturing him alive.
• The enemy scholar sent a tiger-headed guillotine and cavalry against the Xuanwu Formation, whose blade-pillars defended its flanks.
• Chu Jie fought three enemy generals in the air and kept them from reaching Su Shi Yilu, though one blow sent him flying across the battlefield.

Chu Jie and Su Shi Yilu fought off enemy generals while Kang Shi found a way to disrupt the enemy’s battlefield command network. Chu Jie killed three generals before Kang Shi rescued him, leaving Su Shi Yilu still fighting and the battle unresolved.

• Su Shi Yilu fought two enemy generals with his armor-piercing spear while Chu Jie battled three others, and Kang Shi transferred Su Shi Yilu out of the blade pillars’ path.
• Kang Shi used his literary art to interfere with the enemy’s command medium and waited for an opening as Chu Jie’s fight reached its climax.
• Chu Jie unleashed three increasingly powerful saber strikes, killing the enemy general, his nephew, and his brother or uncle.
• An enemy general rushed to kill the exhausted Chu Jie, but Su Shi Yilu intercepted him and Kang Shi rescued Chu Jie.
• Su Shi Yilu was struck by the remaining enemy general while fighting barehanded, then realized Kang Shi had saved Chu Jie.

Chu Jie survived his duel with emergency treatment, while Su Shi Yilu resumed fighting and Kang Shi disrupted the enemy’s command. The allied army launched a counterattack, and Chu Jie joined the charge despite his injuries.

• Su Shi Yilu struggled against two enemy generals as Chu Jie’s victory and survival unnerved them.
• Kang Shi exchanged a prisoner to save Chu Jie, and the medical team treated his wounds and discussed replacing his damaged eyes.
• Chu Jie rejected transplanted eyeballs and explained why the sovereign had refused the medical team’s proposal to use prisoners for transplants.
• Su Shi Yilu blinded an enemy general with poisoned needles, while Kang Shi used a golden plaque and false commands to interfere with the enemy’s forces.
• Su Shi Yilu led Wuzhou soldiers through the Xuanwu Formation’s opening, and Chu Jie rallied his troops to join the attack.
• Kang Shi summoned a defensive golden plaque as the opposing armies clashed in a full-scale charge.

Kang Shi’s army drove the enemy to retreat from the water source, but he feared they would make a desperate counterattack and ordered a pursuit. Elsewhere, Shen Tang endured a string of absurd accidents during the fighting around Long Bridge’s Stone Fort.

• Chu Jie and Su Shi Yilu fought fiercely as the enemy Literary Scholar concluded their chances of victory were slim and proposed destroying the water source instead.
• The enemy general hesitated to retreat, but the enemy eventually sounded the retreat, ending the Sandbox Battlefield and leaving Kang Shi’s army on the bloodied field.
• Chu Jie brought Su Shi Yilu the three enemy heads he had requested, while Kang Shi’s scouts failed to find the river and he grew suspicious of the enemy’s surrender.
• Kang Shi decided the army should pursue before the enemy could regroup, and Su Shi Yilu offered to lead while Kang Shi restored their strength.
• Shen Tang was struck by a series of mishaps near Long Bridge’s Stone Fort, twisting both ankles and grabbing a warhorse’s backside as it bolted.

Shen Tang was badly injured when a panicked warhorse kicked her, and Chu Yao knocked her unconscious to stop her fury from worsening her condition. Kang Country retreated from the bridge while the Central Allied Army debated its strength and the Assembly of Gods’ reasons for targeting it.

• A warhorse kicked Shen Tang across the camp, breaking several ribs, and she angrily ordered the military administrator summoned after it defecated on her.
• Chu Yao struck Shen Tang unconscious, easing the shared injuries affecting Qi Shan as well.
• Fang Yan treated Shen Tang and found that her anger had damaged her meridians; he also discovered Qi Shan had the same injuries.
• Kang Country withdrew from the bridge, while the Central Allied Army suspected the retreat was a trap and argued over Kang Country’s threat.
• A warrior from the Central Allied Army vowed to take Shen Tang’s head, as the others discussed the Assembly of Gods’ plan to eliminate Kang Country.

Shen Tang recovered from her injuries and learned that Ji Shou had won despite a formidable ambush, while the unusual mineral beneath the ravine made the long bridge difficult to attack. She considered a plan to cross the bridge using flexibility and fire, but the chapter ended with her leg cramping again.

• Chu Yao told the gathered officials that Shen Tang was recovering, then went to check on Chu Jie and Ji Shou’s front.
• Gu Chi stayed with Shen Tang, who worried about Ji Shou and asked Gongyang Yongye to be sent out, but accepted Gu Chi’s advice to wait for reports.
• Chu Yao brought Shen Tang Ji Shou’s battle report, and she learned that the enemy’s strength made the waterway impossible to hold for long.
• Jiang Sheng and Luo San found that a deep vein of unusual magnetic mineral beneath the ravine attracted martial energy and affected attacks across the bridge.
• Shen Tang considered using softness to overcome the mineral’s effects and asked Chu Yao about preparations for fire oil and iron chains.
• Shen Tang’s leg cramped as she began discussing the planned crossing.

Shen Tang used a makeshift sacrifice to bargain with Heaven for temporary relief from Kang Shi’s bad-luck countermeasures, then prepared to attack Stone Fort once the east wind raised a thick fog. As the Mohist craftsmen began securing the iron chains, an enemy rushed across the bridge toward her.

• Venomous ants left Shen Tang’s hands swollen, but Jimò Qiu treated them and explained that Kang Shi’s countermeasures were worsening her luck.
• Jimò Qiu arranged a ritual so Shen Tang could ask Heaven to delay her misfortune, and she angrily negotiated seven days of relief at a steep interest rate.
• Shen Tang asked Qi Shan to record that fox pelts should be sent as tribute, while Jimò Qiu discovered he could no longer speak after discussing merit.
• After Shen Tang rested, Qin Li’s preparations and the arriving east wind created thick fog around the bridge to Stone Fort.
• Shen Tang ordered the Mohist craftsmen to secure the iron chains, challenged the enemy across the ravine, and saw grappling claws shoot through the fog.

Shen Tang fought two opponents on the fog-shrouded bridge, including a Martial Gall Totem, while learning to manage the bridge’s draining effects. She gained the upper hand but was tiring, and the chapter left her battle ongoing as her allies listened from the sidelines.

• Shen Tang confronted a sinister enemy on the bridge, endured his insults, and discovered that the strange terrain hindered her movement and martial energy.
• Shen Tang realized she was fighting two opponents and identified the female attacker as a Martial Gall Totem.
• Shen Tang adapted to the bridge’s shifting chains, broke the totem’s leg, and drove it back into the fog.
• Shen Tang mocked the male opponent after striking his unprotected lower body, then continued fighting both attackers with rapidly changing weapons.
• Gu Chi considered firing a Word Spirit arrow, but Gongyang Yongye said Shen Tang was handling the fight well and that the totem did not violate the rules of combat.

Shen Tang defeated the male shadow on the Iron Chain Bridge, then faced a newcomer who asked to fight Gongyang Yongye instead. Gongyang engaged his old friend, whose sudden strength and unusual attacks turned their reunion into a fierce battle, while Shen Tang returned to her ranks and checked on Zhoukou.

• Shen Tang killed the male shadow with the spear and challenged the enemy generals at Stone Fort to come forward.
• The newcomer emerged from the fog and asked Shen Tang to let him settle an old debt with Gongyang Yongye.
• Gongyang Yongye appeared on the bridge, recognized his old friend, and questioned how he had advanced to the peak of the Seventeenth Rank Chariot Officer.
• Gongyang Yongye accepted the challenge with black knuckle dusters, but his old friend grew to enormous size and knocked him into the cliff.
• Gongyang Yongye drew his old friend away from the Iron Chain Bridge, and the two traded attacks as his friend taunted him.
• Shen Tang returned to her ranks, had her martial energy and strength restored by Word Spirits, and asked Wangchao how things were going at Zhoukou.