Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “Kane’s Arthas”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bai Xiaowen is informed that two Church knights, Job and Ferdinand, have arrived in Redleaf City under Crown Prince Nicholas’s orders to investigate the undead outbreak.
• Using a Communication Rune Stone, the knights contact Prince Nicholas, who questions Bai Xiaowen about how he conquered the Redleaf Fief and dealt with the Necrotic Plague.
• Bai Xiaowen carefully presents himself as a loyal imperial lord, claiming that he recruited former bandits and “purified” the fief. He confirms that Ian is dead but conceals Ian’s true identity and the full circumstances of his death.
• Bai Xiaowen receives praise for destroying a major plague stronghold and is officially appointed commander of the Seventeenth Infantry Formation at the Blackrock Line. His Main Quest to recruit an army is judged “Perfect.”
• A new S-Tier Main Quest begins: Bai Xiaowen must defend Blackrock Fortress for ten days until reinforcements arrive. He is given an additional fifteen days in the Kane Plane, allowing him and Li Shuyi a total of thirty days to exploit the world’s opportunities.
• Ferdinand uses a Holy Light Plague Detector and discovers that Bai Xiaowen and his guards are uninfected, but every other resident of Redleaf City carries the plague.
• Prince Nicholas orders the infected civilians to be killed before they transform into undead. Bai Xiaowen refuses, arguing that an army should protect civilians rather than massacre them.
• Job and Ferdinand defend the order, explaining that infected towns have previously become undead strongholds when decisive action was delayed.
• Bai Xiaowen proposes a different solution: isolate the infected, eliminate anyone who begins transforming, and allow his scholar to research a cure. He postpones his departure for the Blackrock Line to manage Redleaf City.

Character Developments

• Bai Xiaowen demonstrates political skill by presenting himself as a loyal, righteous lord while concealing key information about Ian and his own actions. He understands how to manipulate imperial expectations without openly challenging authority.
• He also reveals his willingness to resist morally unacceptable orders. His refusal to massacre Redleaf’s civilians strengthens his image as a compassionate leader and wins the residents’ trust.
• At the same time, his morality is partly strategic: Bai Xiaowen deliberately “puts on a show” of righteousness before presenting his alternative plan, using public sympathy and political legitimacy to gain freedom of action.
• Li Shuyi remains Bai Xiaowen’s trusted partner. They share quest information and immediately recognize the enormous value of the extended stay in the Kane Plane.
• Prince Nicholas is portrayed as powerful, charismatic, popular, and committed to harsh wartime decisions. His willingness to order the destruction of an infected town suggests a tragic, increasingly ruthless leadership path.
• Job and Ferdinand are loyal Church knights. They respect Bai Xiaowen’s achievements but feel grief and resentment over Ian’s death. They believe the massacre order is necessary, even though they recognize its cruelty.

Significant Themes

• Moral responsibility versus military necessity: The chapter questions whether mass killing can be justified to prevent a greater undead catastrophe.
• Leadership and political image: Bai Xiaowen balances genuine concern for civilians with calculated performance, showing that effective leadership in wartime requires both ethics and manipulation.
• The danger of plague and dehumanization: Once infected civilians are treated as inevitable future undead, the boundary between protecting humanity and destroying innocent people becomes blurred.
• Free will against predetermined history: Prince Nicholas’s situation parallels the familiar “Arthas” archetype—a noble prince pushed toward merciless decisions by plague and crisis. Bai Xiaowen’s intervention may alter that expected trajectory.
• Reward through influence: Bai Xiaowen’s unusually large army gives him an important military position and extends his time in the Kane Plane, demonstrating how profoundly his actions can reshape the Spirit Realm’s scenario.

Character Interactions

• Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi privately assess Prince Nicholas’s appearance and popularity, maintaining their casual rapport despite the political tension.
• Bai Xiaowen and Prince Nicholas engage in a formal but cautious exchange: Nicholas tests Bai Xiaowen’s loyalty, while Bai Xiaowen gives carefully controlled answers.
• Job and Ferdinand challenge Bai Xiaowen over Ian’s death but ultimately focus on the plague crisis.
• Ferdinand’s inspection exposes the infection of Redleaf’s population, creating the central conflict between the prince’s order and Bai Xiaowen’s principles.
• Job attempts to persuade Bai Xiaowen that exterminating the infected is compassionate and strategically necessary, while Ferdinand offers to carry out the order himself.
• Bai Xiaowen counters both knights by proposing quarantine and a cure, placing himself in opposition to Nicholas’s policy while still promising to prevent an undead outbreak.

Prince Nicholas gave Bai Xiaowen temporary authority over Redleaf City and tasked him with developing a cure for the Necrotic Plague, while warning him of the consequences of failure. Bai Xiaowen began investigating the plague’s hidden strongholds, and the chapter ended as he drew an enhancement for his level 4 Summon Angerclaw skill.

• Prince Nicholas postponed Bai Xiaowen’s assignment to the Blackrock Line and granted him temporary authority over Redleaf City, with the condition that he develop a cure and prevent the city from falling to the undead.
• Bai Xiaowen received a Communication Rune Stone and began the S-Tier Anti-Plague quest; Job and Ferdinand gave him a map of hidden plague strongholds after he returned Ian’s and Jericho’s logs.
• Bai Xiaowen’s actions improved the residents’ attitude toward him and his guards, helping him establish an isolation zone for heavily infected residents.
• Bai Xiaowen, Li Shuyi, and Bonita raided the strongholds on Job’s map, sending their seized items and documents to the Zombie Doctor’s Underground Research Lab.
• Bai Xiaowen’s Summon Angerclaw and Intimidation reached level 3, and his title boosted them to level 4; he drew the Outstanding enhancement for Summon Angerclaw.

Bai Xiaowen drew enhancements for Blood Frenzy and Intimidation before Anton reported unexplained deaths in White Stone Town, prompting Bai Xiaowen to plan a return and relocate its residents. A crisis erupted at the Underground Research Lab when pale, unfamiliar zombies emerged, and Bai Xiaowen discovered they were byproducts of Zombie Doctor’s antidote research.

• Bai Xiaowen drew Blood Frenzy for Pack Leader Angerclaw, granting it Critical Hit chance as it lost Life Value, then gained Overwhelming Crush for Intimidation, which stunned enemies with sufficiently low Spirit.
• Bai Xiaowen noted that his Black Soul Stone was close to Level 4 and that Li Shuyi could not yet draw Lv. 4 skill enhancements.
• Anton arrived in Redleaf City and warned Bai Xiaowen that people in White Stone Town had been dying with their corpses left incomplete.
• Bai Xiaowen decided to return to White Stone Town and relocate its residents to Redleaf City, since the town lacked defenses and Redleaf Fief was not yet legally part of his territory.
• Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi rushed to the Underground Research Lab after Zombie Doctor called for help, and found pale humanoid creatures forcing their way out.
• Zombie Doctor said the creatures were byproducts of his antidote research, and Bai Xiaowen identified them as Level 3 zombies.

Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi captured the zombies created by Zombie Doctor’s failed experiment, then learned he had used a substance extracted from himself as a medicine primer. Bai Xiaowen ordered him to seek antibodies from undead plague victims and forbid further experiments until Bai Xiaowen returned, then left with Li Shuyi for White Stone Town.

• Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi fought the zombies, discovered that destroying their heads killed them permanently, and captured five for the laboratory.
• Zombie Doctor explained that he had added a substance extracted from himself to his experimental cure, accidentally turning the test subjects into a different kind of undead.
• Zombie Doctor proposed extracting antibodies from undead creatures transformed by Necrotic Plague to make a cure, and Bai Xiaowen approved the plan while banning further experiments until his return.
• Bai Xiaowen briefed Kitz and the other bandit captains on precautions for Redleaf City, then rode with Li Shuyi toward White Stone Town.

Bai Xiaowen investigated the murders in White Stone Town, tracked the killers to a Troll scout squad, and led Li Shuyi and his summons in defeating them. The battle earned them merit and raised the Black Soul Stone to Level 4, while revealing that the Sinlands Coalition had begun infiltrating the Northern Frontier.

• Bai Xiaowen examined the mutilated victims and concluded that tall outsiders had killed them for food, then ordered White Stone Town's residents to prepare to relocate to Redleaf City.
• Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi followed Rageclaw's trail north and found three Trolls roasting human flesh in a secluded valley.
• Bai Xiaowen's summons and Li Shuyi fought the Trolls, with Rageclaw killing one and Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi finishing the others.
• The Spirit Realm credited Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi with merit for eliminating a Troll scout squad and changed their standing with the Human Allied Army and Sinlands Coalition.
• Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi planned to hunt more scout squads for merit, and the Black Soul Stone reached Level 4 after absorbing the Trolls' souls.

Bai Xiaowen upgraded the Black Soul Stone to Level 4 and gained the ability to summon selected creatures at chosen locations. He examined the new enhancement options and decided to add a Stitched Monster first, leaving other upgrades for later.

• Bai Xiaowen upgraded the Black Soul Stone to Level 4, unlocking Targeted Airdrop and the fourth layer of its Enhancement Blueprint.
• Bai Xiaowen explained to Li Shuyi that Targeted Airdrop could place a summoned creature in the path of an enemy attack to block a crucial skill.
• Bai Xiaowen reviewed five enhancement options and considered the benefits and costs of adding new summons or strengthening existing ones.
• Bai Xiaowen chose the Stitched Monster as his first enhancement and planned to boost his Skeleton Mages' attributes after gathering more Soul Essence.
• Bai Xiaowen noted that reaching Black Soul Stone Level 5 required 1,000 growth, likely demanding around twenty boss kills and risking serious retaliation.

Bai Xiaowen settled White Stone Town’s residents in Redleaf City and oversaw the Zombie Doctor’s first trial of Plague Bane. The pills helped the mildly and moderately infected, but the severely infected turned into Plague Undead, leaving the antidote’s effectiveness limited.

• Bai Xiaowen summoned a Stitched Monster, named it Fatty, and learned its abilities after upgrading the Black Soul Stone.
• Bai Xiaowen led most of White Stone Town’s residents toward Redleaf City, while dozens of households refused to leave and Sinlands Coalition infiltrators watched the group along the way.
• Bai Xiaowen settled the residents in vacant houses near the Lord’s Manor and instructed them on precautions against the Necrotic Plague.
• The Zombie Doctor introduced three kinds of Plague Bane and began testing them on nine infected people grouped by the severity of their illness.
• The mildly and moderately infected subjects improved, but the severely infected subjects did not; one transformed into a Zombie and seized the Zombie Doctor.
• Bai Xiaowen shot the transformed infected subject in the forehead.

After a trial of Super Plague Bane killed the severely infected test subjects, Bai Xiaowen judged the antidote usable for most residents and organized a citywide treatment and sales plan. He left Redleaf City preparing for seven days of production while accepting that the most severely infected would largely be abandoned.

• The three severely infected test subjects died and became Plague Undead, but Zombie Doctor argued that Plague Bane would cure mild and moderate cases if taken as prescribed.
• Bai Xiaowen concluded that Prince Nicholas would judge the antidote by how many Redleaf City residents survived and considered eliminating all plague-made undead across the Northern Frontier nearly impossible.
• Bai Xiaowen assigned Zombie Doctor to expand production and distribute Lesser and Greater Plague Bane, while reserving the scarce Super Plague Bane for only a few severely infected patients.
• Bai Xiaowen gave medicine courses to the volunteers and their families, then set high prices for Plague Bane to ration the supply and prevent disorder.
• Bai Xiaowen ordered bandit guards to protect the production site as residents sold possessions to buy medicine, while he secretly bought cheap goods and stockpiled supplies.

Bai Xiaowen arrived at Blackrock City, met Prince Nicholas, and received a Broken Oath that activated the quest [Black Edge's Oath]. He took command of the Seventeenth Infantry Formation on the third defensive line as the Sinlands Coalition prepared to attack.

• Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi eliminated a half-orc scout squad and finished surveying the Northern Frontier.
• Bai Xiaowen brought the White Stone Army and supplies to Blackrock City, where he met Prince Nicholas.
• Bai Xiaowen refused to submit the [Anti-Plague] quest early, then received three thousand Merit Points and a Broken Oath that activated [Black Edge's Oath].
• Prince Nicholas appointed Bai Xiaowen commander of the Seventeenth Infantry Formation and forward commander of the third defensive line.
• Li Shuyi questioned the placement of their troops, and Bai Xiaowen explained that they could still kill enemies from the safer line.

Bai Xiaowen took command of the third defensive line and clashed with Cecilia, the White Rose, over her refusal to obey him. As Prince Nicholas ordered repeated assaults that the Remnants repelled, two Gorseflower Empire cavalry forces appeared on the battlefield’s flanks.

• Bai Xiaowen met Julien and Cecilia, who openly challenged his authority and said she would not follow his orders if she judged them improper.
• Bai Xiaowen reorganized the Seventeenth Infantry Formation into thirteen squads and drilled them using Mind Link.
• Prince Nicholas ordered all nine infantry formations to attack the unfinished Remnant camp, where Half-Orc Spearmen and Orc wolf cavalry routed much of the first defensive line.
• Cecilia ordered her archers to fire volleys at the wolf cavalry, slowing its charge while arrows also struck Human Allied Army soldiers.
• Prince Nicholas ordered all troops to charge again, but the Remnants’ Half-Orc Spearmen and Troll Headhunters drove the Human Allied Army back.
• Two Gorseflower Empire cavalry forces arrived from opposite flanks, led on one side by an azure-armored knight wielding a lightning-crackling warhammer.

Prince Nicholas led a surprise attack on the Remnant camp, but Kelman Bromfield revealed the hidden elite forces and drove Nicholas's cavalry back. Bai Xiaowen ordered the infantry formations on the third defensive line to regroup under his banner and advanced with the Seventeenth Formation.

• Prince Nicholas struck the unfinished Remnant camp with Heaven's Hammer and charged in with his cavalry.
• Bai Xiaowen realized the Remnant troops were fighting without panic because elite forces had been concealed inside the camp.
• Kelman Bromfield emerged on a stone-armored giant lizard and led the Remnant's elite forces in a countercharge against Nicholas.
• Bai Xiaowen ordered the three infantry formations on the third defensive line to march under his banner.
• Bai Xiaowen advanced with the Seventeenth Infantry Formation, while Kitz carried a signal flag to notify friendly forces.

Bai Xiaowen rejected Cecilia’s demand to follow Prince Nicholas’s charge and led his troops toward Blackiron Gorge, betting that the Remnant Vanguard Army would be defeated and retreat north. A red-robed cleric’s holy light turned the battle around, and the Remnants fled as Bai Xiaowen’s ambush waited ahead.

• Bai Xiaowen explained his plan to ambush the retreating Remnants, but Cecilia refused to disobey Prince Nicholas’s orders.
• Lord Julien gave Bai Xiaowen twenty elite cavalrymen, and Bai Xiaowen led his force toward Blackiron Gorge.
• Cecilia’s charge was stopped by Kelman’s Stone-armored Basilisk Riders, and the Human Allied Army struggled to advance.
• A red-robed old man invoked holy light that wounded the Remnants, healed the Human Allied Army, and forced Kelman to order a retreat.
• Prince Nicholas led the pursuit, while Cecilia and Lord Julien recognized that Bai Xiaowen had predicted the enemy’s retreat and wondered whether he could stop them.

Bai Xiaowen prepared an ambush at Blackiron Gorge for the routed Remnant Allied Army, whose elite soldiers had been weakened in battle. Kelman recognized the trap and led his surviving followers toward the southern exit as the gorge erupted in flames and chaos.

• Prince Nicholas learned that Baron Dio had taken the elite cavalry to set an ambush, then decided to pursue the enemy all the way to support Bai Xiaowen.
• At Blackiron Gorge, Bai Xiaowen’s soldiers dug pits, stacked barricades, and prepared greased wood and dry grass before taking positions on the cliffs.
• Bai Xiaowen discovered that the wounded Remnant elite soldiers had all their attributes halved, while Kelman remained largely unharmed.
• Kelman spotted the damaged ground and smelled grease, but the ambush began before the disorganized vanguard could spread the warning.
• Bai Xiaowen’s soldiers hurled rocks and torches and fired flaming arrows, setting the gorge ablaze and driving the Remnants into panic.
• Kelman ordered his followers to gather whoever they could and charged toward the southern entrance of the gorge.

After escaping the burning valley, Orc Warlord Kelman led his exhausted survivors into an ambush commanded by Bai Xiaowen. Bai Xiaowen separated Kelman from his mount and pinned the lizard while his forces cut down the Remnants, leaving Kelman to face them on foot.

• Fewer than a hundred Remnant warriors regrouped under Kelman, but only a little over sixty escaped through the southern entrance and met Bai Xiaowen and two hundred White Stone Army veterans.
• Kelman refused Bai Xiaowen’s demand to surrender and charged, while Bai Xiaowen’s Intimidation stunned the weakened Remnant elites and let the veterans attack them.
• Kelman recovered and used Earth-Shattering Strike to devastate the White Stone Army, so Bai Xiaowen lured him away by appearing to cast a powerful fire spell.
• Fatty pulled Bai Xiaowen out of the giant lizard’s path, and Bai Xiaowen used a Binding Talisman to imprison the mount before summoning an Elite Terror Knight.
• Bai Xiaowen, Li Shuyi, and their allies killed many Remnants while Kitz led veterans to surround the imprisoned lizard; Kelman dismounted and charged into the fighting with his Bone Maul.

Bai Xiaowen and his allies fought Orc Warlord Kelman after defeating his Remnant soldiers, using summons and coordinated attacks to withstand Kelman’s Blood Rage. Kelman killed Rageclaw, and the battle continued as Fatty obstructed Kelman from reclaiming his bone maul.

• Bai Xiaowen used Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldiers to delay Kelman while his allies killed the remaining Remnant soldiers.
• Bai Xiaowen sent the White Stone Army to clear the battlefield and led Li Shuyi, Rageclaw, Fatty the Stitched Monster, the Elite Terror Knight, and his other summons against Kelman.
• Kelman activated Blood Rage and swept his bone maul at Bai Xiaowen, but Bai Xiaowen predicted the attack and dodged it.
• Kelman used Blood Rage to strengthen Earth-Shattering Strike, but Bai Xiaowen avoided its shockwave and helped Rageclaw attempt to suppress Kelman.
• Kelman resisted Rageclaw’s suppression, snapped its leg, and killed it with a critical throw.
• Bai Xiaowen ordered Fatty to obstruct Kelman’s bone maul, preventing Kelman from lifting it as the fighting continued.

Bai Xiaowen and his allies defeated Kelman and the Stone-Armored Monitor Lizard, then reunited with Prince Nicholas’s army and received recognition for their victory. The force prepared to return to Blackrock Fortress, where Bai Xiaowen had gained a place in high-level military meetings.

• Fatty, the Elite Terror Knight, the Shadow Assassin, and the Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier helped Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi survive Kelman’s attacks while they drove his Life Value down.
• Li Shuyi’s [Demonfire Jade Pendant] Burst left Kelman unable to fight, and Bai Xiaowen shot him dead, earning a Golden Treasure Chest and Revered status with the Human Allied Army.
• Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi defeated the Stone-Armored Monitor Lizard after more than twenty minutes of attacks, and it dropped another Golden Treasure Chest.
• Bai Xiaowen rewarded Kitz and the White Stone Army, whose soldiers collected proof of their victory, while he and Li Shuyi gathered two Golden and five Silver Treasure Chests.
• Prince Nicholas arrived, praised Bai Xiaowen for defeating Kelman and the Remnant Vanguard Army, awarded his team 3,000 merit points, and granted Bai Xiaowen access to high-level military meetings.
• Bai Xiaowen returned Lord Julien’s cavalrymen, increasing Julien’s Affection Level to Friend, while Lady Cecilia rode off after refusing to apologize and her Affection Level rose to Acquainted.

After reaching Level 4, Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi returned to the front lines and drew class skill enhancements. Bai Xiaowen gained Life Sharing for Mind Link and decided Rageclaw would benefit most from it.

• Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi leveled up to Level 4 and postponed their class skill enhancement draws until they were alone.
• Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi returned to the defensive line instead of staying with the nobles at Blackrock Fortress.
• Bai Xiaowen's combat record generated an enhancement wheel weighted toward higher-quality results, and he drew an outstanding-grade effect.
• The Spirit Realm Rules enhanced Bai Xiaowen's Mind Link with Life Sharing, allowing him to share Life Value with one deployed summoned creature.
• Bai Xiaowen chose Rageclaw as the best potential Life Sharing target because the effect could protect Rageclaw while supporting its Blood Frenzy damage.

Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi improved their abilities and opened the treasure chests from the battles at Blackiron Gorge, gaining new equipment and other rewards. After Bai Xiaowen strengthened the White Stone Army with a knighting ceremony, Cecilia invited him to attend a ball at Blackrock Fortress and asked whether he had a dance partner.

• Li Shuyi gained a Thunderwind Combo enhancement that built attack speed, Critical Hit rate, and Thunder Marks with repeated melee hits.
• Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi opened the Stone-Armored Monitor Lizard's chest; Li Shuyi took its Constitution-boosting belt, while Bai Xiaowen equipped its Stone Armor ring.
• Bai Xiaowen drew Earth-Shattering Strike, which he could not learn, and Li Shuyi drew a tradeable Berserker's Heart; Bai Xiaowen's final draw yielded the Ring of Torment, which he equipped.
• The pair opened the remaining Silver Treasure Chests, accumulated more than eighty thousand Psionic Points, and reviewed their level 4 summons' improved attributes.
• Bai Xiaowen promoted several veteran soldiers to knights and granted them fiefs, boosting the White Stone Army's morale.
• Cecilia told Bai Xiaowen that Prince was holding a ball at Blackrock Fortress to discuss the Remnants' main force, then asked whether he had a dance partner.

Bai Xiaowen attended the ball at Blackrock Fortress with Cecilia, while Li Shuyi made clear that she expected to remain the most important person in his heart. When the nobles discussed the coming battle, Bai Xiaowen warned them that the Remnant Allied Army’s main force was far more dangerous than its vanguard, leaving the gathering divided over the war’s prospects.

• Cecilia invited Bai Xiaowen to the ball, and Li Shuyi encouraged him to accept while explaining her expectations for their relationship.
• Bai Xiaowen arrived at the ball with Cecilia and received attention from nobles impressed by his victory over the Remnant Vanguard Army.
• Bai Xiaowen danced with Cecilia, then joined the nobles as they discussed how to face the approaching Remnant Allied Army.
• Bai Xiaowen challenged the nobles’ confidence, warning that the enemy’s main force was powerful and that their chances would worsen if they ignored the danger.

At a victory ball, Bai Xiaowen challenged the nobles’ complacency about the Orc threat, drawing Prince Nicholas’s rebuke and Cecilia’s admiration. As Cecilia’s affection for him rose to Attraction, Bai Xiaowen was invited to a high-level military conference, with Cecilia invited to accompany him.

• Bai Xiaowen warned Count Danton and the other nobles that refusing to face the enemy’s strength would leave them unprepared, and Prince Nicholas stopped the argument.
• Bai Xiaowen withdrew to a corner of the ballroom, where Cecilia sat beside him and kissed his cheek in support.
• The Spirit Realm Rules revealed that Cecilia’s Affection Level had reached Friend and her Infatuation Level toward Bai Xiaowen was Attraction.
• A servant invited Bai Xiaowen to Prince Nicholas’s high-level military conference and said Cecilia could attend as his female companion.