Recaps

Aaron led a night raid from Lishui County, defeating the Great Song camps and winning a decisive victory. As Great Song’s Daoist leaders foresaw the dynasty’s collapse, news of the victory reached the awakened Xiao Liang and the officials in Jiangzhou.

• After Song Gongbao died, Gao Qiu ordered his troops to hold their camps and sent his personal guards forward rather than waking the army at night.
• Aaron led about thirty thousand soldiers out of Lishui County and attacked the Southern Expedition General’s camp during the guard change.
• Aaron’s forces killed Wu Xing and broke through the Imperial Guards’ camp, exploiting the soldiers’ lack of will to fight.
• The Grandmaster and four True Persons saw Great Song’s true dragon near death, suffered the destruction of their sect’s treasures, and ordered the Dao seeds to flee overseas with a damaged pearl.
• Xiao Zi received word that the Chancellor had defeated the enemy, and Xiao Liang woke from his illness as the palace celebrated the victory.
• Poison Dragon predicted the victory from the officials’ rising fortunes, and an official dispatch confirmed the great victory to Cao Man and Fan Jin.

Wanyan Lie learned that the Song army had been crushed and ordered Gold’s forces south to conquer the Song capital. In Lishui County, Aaron expanded his army, announced new recruitment policies, and ordered an immediate march on Goldstone City.

• Wanyan Lie heard that the King of Liang’s chancellor had defeated 250,000 Song soldiers with 5,000 men, then ordered Gold’s warriors to invade the south again.
• Cao Man and Tang Xun arrived in Lishui County and found the former Imperial Guard camp flying Liang banners and filled with drilling soldiers.
• Aaron claimed that tens of thousands of Imperial Guards had joined him, while Tang Xun proposed that the five prefectures of the King of Wu could soon submit.
• Aaron announced that Great Liang would require officials to pass a civil service exam and said it might establish a military academy.
• Aaron ordered the corpses from the battle cremated and mausoleums built, then commanded his forces to march on Goldstone City despite Tang Xun’s concerns about the new recruits.

Aaron’s Great Liang army captured Quarry Rock, seized Purple Azure Mountain, and surrounded Goldstone City, where his threat of destruction and the city’s panic pushed the Marquis of Guangyang to surrender. The chapter ended with Lin Ping ordering Goldstone City’s surrender after the Liang army’s explosives were mistaken for heavenly thunder.

• The commander of Quarry Rock surrendered to Aaron as his army marched toward Goldstone City.
• Aaron sent the Six Jia Divine Soldiers up Purple Azure Mountain, and they broke through Great Song’s defenses.
• Aaron crushed a talisman found near Black Tortoise Lake and ordered Tang Xun to frighten Goldstone City with explosive-carrying lanterns, threatening a massacre if it resisted.
• Lin Le urged his father, Lin Ping, to surrender, citing Great Song’s defeats and the Jin invasion.
• Explosions spread panic through Goldstone City, and Lin Ping ordered the city to surrender.

After King of Liang took Goldstone City and consolidated the south, Aaron rejected calls to accommodate the scholars and preserve the old order. He prepared to march north into the Zhang Family’s stronghold of Xu Prefecture, leaving the chapter poised for a major war and harsh resistance.

• Lin Ping surrendered Goldstone City, and Aaron accepted its seal before ordering Tang Xun to pacify the south with fifty thousand men.
• Poison Dragon saw most of Black Tortoise Lake’s dragon qi stripped away before it reached King of Liang, while the northern King of Gold appeared close to becoming a true dragon.
• Sima Zhong advocated peace with the Hu to keep military commanders from gaining power, and Yu Zhan despaired at the court’s factional struggle.
• King of Liang issued sweeping reforms, and Haoran arrived in Goldstone to urge Aaron to restore the imperial examinations and reduce taxes.
• Aaron burned Haoran’s memorial, rejected his proposals, and announced plans to lead forty thousand infantry and ten thousand naval troops against Xu Prefecture after the New Year.

Zhang Haoran, Void Faith Master, and Plum Blossom Hermit joined forces to resist Great Liang’s advance through Xu Prefecture, hoping to wear down its army. Aaron led the assault on Harmony Gate County, where monk-soldiers rallied the defenders as Liang soldiers climbed the walls.

• Zhang Haoran said Void Spirit Master planned to attack Xu Prefecture after spring, and he proposed using its cities to exhaust Great Liang’s forces.
• Void Faith Master and Plum Blossom Hermit agreed to support the resistance, with the three teachings aiming to break Liang’s dragon aura.
• Tang Xun reported that Harmony Gate County had closed its gates and that the Double Blossom Prefect had turned against surrender; Aaron ordered ten thousand Six Jia Divine Soldiers to attack.
• The county magistrate entrusted Harmony Gate County’s defense to the monk-soldiers, whose leader vowed to resist Aaron’s army.
• Aaron watched as Liang soldiers pressed forward under arrows, stones, and boiling liquid, while the monk-soldier leader ordered the Demon-Subduing Vajra Grand Formation.

After Harmony Gate County fell, Aaron ordered a purge of its elites and religious institutions instead of a city massacre, then spent the next year conquering Xu Prefecture at terrible cost. As the Liang army surrounded Great Melody Prefecture, Zhang Haoran lamented that the world had no wise lord.

• Tang Xun reported that the siege of Harmony Gate County had cost the Liang army over two thousand casualties, and Aaron proposed massacring cities to frighten the region into submission.
• After learning that the three southern prefectures had rebelled, Aaron canceled the city massacre and ordered the burial or execution of officials, wealthy households, landlords, and the families of temples and Daoist shrines that had aided the defense.
• The Six Jia Divine Soldiers carried out Aaron’s purge in strict order, while Tang Xun worried that the Three Teachings would retaliate and make future sieges harder.
• Over the following year, the Liang army captured Xu Prefecture’s cities through repeated costly sieges, while reinforcements grew its infantry from forty thousand to eighty thousand.
• As the Liang army surrounded Great Melody Prefecture, Zhang Haoran mourned the deaths of Xuxin and others and wondered why the world lacked a wise lord.

Zhang Haoran’s forces surrendered Great Melody Prefecture after Lu Xiaoyi led the city’s prominent families against him, allowing Aaron’s army to occupy Xu Prefecture and impose new decrees. News then arrived that King of Kang had been defeated and killed by King of Gold, leaving the struggle for the Divine Land between Gold and Liang.

• Zhang Haoran sent letters north and urged Zhang Jushi to survive by serving King of Liang and preserving Confucian orthodoxy.
• Lu Xiaoyi led the prominent families in attacking the Zhang residence, forced Zhang Haoran to drink poison, and signaled the Liang army to enter Great Melody Prefecture.
• Aaron entered the city, recruited Lu Xiaoyi into the Supreme Way Sect, ordered new taxes and land surveys, and gave the Zhang Family’s land deeds to its tenant farmers.
• Zhang Jushi gathered Zhang Haoran’s remains and defied Aaron, who spared him; Aaron also received news that Zhan Da had ended the southern rebellion and Black Two had died.
• King of Gold’s cavalry routed King of Kang’s army, and a Hu general captured and killed King of Kang.
• An old Daoist and a Daoist nun discussed the fall of Great Song, the defeat of King of Kang, and the contest between Gold and Liang for the Divine Land.

Former officials, clerks, landlords, and temple keepers plotted to destabilize Xu Prefecture by bribing its new officials into provoking a popular rebellion. Yan Er targeted Feng Erlang with an invitation to a celebratory banquet, and Feng accepted, seemingly walking into their trap.

• Imperial notices announced the destruction of licentious shrines, punishment of the East Gate Family for resisting a land survey, and confiscation of the Kong Family's property for tax evasion.
• Yan Er and other disgruntled former officials and local elites agreed to stir up rebellion by manipulating the new officials into driving the people to revolt.
• Feng Erlang reviewed rising commercial tax revenue and anticipated a promotion if he was selected to head north.
• Yan Er invited Feng Erlang to a banquet, intending to drug him and gradually ensnare him in corrupt dealings.
• Feng Erlang accepted the invitation, while Yan Er concluded that his plan had succeeded.

Yan Er and his allies engineered excessive summer grain levies and a peasant revolt to obstruct Aaron’s northern campaign. Aaron learned how corrupt officials and the death of Xu Changchun had fueled the unrest, then confronted the officials who had let Feng Erlang’s abuses go unchecked.

• Yan Er bribed Feng Erlang and planned to raise levies to nine-tenths of the harvest, provoke a rebellion, and secretly arm and support the rebels.
• Aaron received news that Great East Township had rebelled during his preparations for the northern campaign and suspected a plot by his enemies.
• Tai Chong reported that Feng Erlang’s tax abuses, Xu Changchun’s death, and the county soldiers’ bloody suppression had spread resentment across Xu Prefecture.
• Aaron accused Tai Chong and the other officials of ignoring Feng Erlang’s corruption, and they knelt in fear.

Aaron quelled the rebellion in Xu Prefecture and marched north with his army, while the King of Gold received aid from the Brahman Gate and the ghost deities to fight the King of Liang. The chapter left Wanyan Lie preparing for war, convinced that supernatural forces would help him defeat Aaron.

• Aaron ordered Feng Erlang and his associates detained, sent the Six Jia Divine Soldiers to suppress the unrest, and kept his march north on schedule.
• Yan Er and the other rebels decided to flee, but Zhang Jushi's forces surrounded their safehouse and killed the rebels, including the Dragon Son Temple priest.
• Aaron led an army of twenty to thirty thousand out of Xu Prefecture toward the north, and spies relayed the news to the King of Gold.
• Huide demonstrated the Brahman Gate's Ksitigarbha King's Dharma Domain before Wanyan Lie, who saw ghost deities swear to help defeat the King of Liang and identified the Tiger-Riding Daoist as an Extraterritorial Heavenly Demon.
• After Huide died, Wanyan Lie ordered preparations for war against the King of Liang, believing the ghosts and gods would help him win.

Jin and Liang faced each other on the Great Plains, where Wanyan Lie’s cavalry charged Aaron’s formations of Six Jia Divine Soldiers. As the heavy cavalry broke through the spearmen, Wanyan Kan found the enemy still fighting without retreating and ran into Liang’s armored infantry.

• Wanyan Lie learned that Void Spirit Master’s rumored sorcery might be real and ordered his cavalry prepared for battle.
• Aaron saw Jin’s military fortune take the form of a dragon and ordered his soldiers into formations designed to stop cavalry.
• Old monk Wisdom used the Three Lives Brahman Seal, saw that the King of Gold was in peril, and died after warning the monks.
• Wanyan Kan led ten thousand armored cavalry in a charge against Liang’s spearmen as archers fired into their ranks.
• The Six Jia Divine Soldiers held their formation despite heavy losses, and Wanyan Kan’s cavalry broke through to Liang’s heavy infantry.
• Liang’s armored infantrymen advanced and swung their blades at the cavalry horses’ legs.

Wanyan Lie completed a blood sacrifice and summoned a divine domain that let ghosts and gods possess his generals and soldiers. Aguda’s supernatural power turned the battle against the Liang Army, and he charged at Aaron as the chapter ended.

• Wanyan Kan was surrounded by Liang infantry, thrown from his horse, and beheaded after the archers’ volley.
• The Gold Army endured the Liang cavalry’s harassment until Wanyan Lie’s hand mark filled with blood and night fell.
• Wanyan Lie invoked the gods and ghosts, creating a divine domain that possessed his generals and soldiers.
• Aguda led the possessed Gold Army against the Liang Army, cutting through its heavily armored infantry and pushing it into retreat.
• Aaron used Beast Taming against the ghostly cavalry, but his guards were cut down as Aguda charged at him and swung his saber toward his head.

Aaron defeated Wanyan Lie and shattered the Jin domain, but killing the true dragon drew Heaven’s direct condemnation. As Aaron faced heavenly tribulation, King Liang became a true dragon, and Poison Dragon received its protective aura.

• Aaron used his flying swords to kill Aguda and numerous Jin generals, then revived fallen Liang soldiers as Six Jia Divine Soldiers with red beans.
• Aaron flew to Wanyan Lie’s camp, killed a scholar who challenged him, and beheaded the King of Gold, causing the domain to collapse and the Jin forces to retreat.
• Aaron realized that killing Wanyan Lie had made Heaven target him, and he concluded that King Liang had to unify the Nine Provinces and separate the Human Dao from the Heavenly Dao to resist.
• At Goldstone, Poison Dragon sensed a crisis and saw King Liang transform into a true dragon, which granted him protective dragon aura.

In the sixteenth year of Opening Peace, Yang Fei traveled to Goldstone by steamship to sit for the civil service examination and saw how Liang’s prosperity had changed the realm. Children’s talk about Void Spirit Master and the court’s Hall of Merits left him fearing that the famed former chancellor was being pushed aside.

• Liang expanded its territory, Xiao Liang took the throne and later began ruling personally, while Void Spirit Master became Imperial Preceptor and president of the Supreme Way Academy.
• By the sixteenth year of Opening Peace, Yang Fei traveled toward Goldstone on a steamship to take the civil service examination and discussed the ship and commerce with Zhen Bao.
• Yang Fei reflected on his teacher Master Junshan’s decline from Great Song scholar to rural science teacher and resolved to serve an enlightened ruler and reform the realm.
• Children aboard the ship argued over illustrated stories about the former era, including whether Tiger Strength Great Immortal’s feats were real.
• Yang Fei feared that the court was marginalizing Void Spirit Master despite his past victories and service.

Tai Chong, Tai He, and Tai Yin visited their ailing teacher, Aaron, at Nourishing Heart Temple and reported the court’s growing hostility toward his former allies. Aaron sent them away without intervening, leaving Tai Chong worried that his power had weakened and that his enemies were testing him.

• Tai Chong met Tai He at Supreme Way Academy, where Tai He described the academy’s new weapons and their role in Great Liang’s suppression of the Three Teachings.
• Tai Chong, Tai He, and Tai Yin traveled to Purple Azure Mountain and entered Nourishing Heart Temple, where Xiao Zi received them.
• The three disciples told Aaron that Zhang Jushi had entered the Grand Secretariat, Lu Xiaoyi had suffered a political and literary defeat, and Zhan Da had died in battle.
• Tai Chong reported that Tang Xun, Si Yunming, and Zheng Fang had grown powerful in the military, while the Emperor’s Meritorious Officials Pavilion had excluded Aaron.
• Aaron dismissed his disciples after assuring them he was still alive, and Tai Chong left worrying that his teacher’s strength had faded.

Zhang Jushi urged Xiao Liang to challenge the Supreme Way Academy and the military factions while claiming stolen blessings kept dragons rising, but Xiao Liang hesitated over breaking with Void Spirit Master. Xiao Liang secretly consulted an altar’s spirits, then sent a message to Poison Dragon, who rejected involvement and prepared to withdraw into the mountains.

• Zhang Jushi met Xiao Liang after Si Yunming left and presented evidence that the Supreme Way Academy was researching dragon qi, destiny, and captured dragon seeds.
• Zhang Jushi told Xiao Liang that his blessings had been stolen and urged him to rely on the orthodox officials and the navy against Si Yunming and Zheng Fang, but Xiao Liang remained conflicted.
• Xiao Liang entered an underground palace and offered incense at a hidden Altar of Heaven, where spirits urged him to worship Heaven openly, reclaim the title Son of Heaven, and kill Void Spirit Master.
• Xiao Liang ordered a palace maid who had seen his movements beaten to death, then sent a brocade pouch and a message to Poison Dragon.
• Poison Dragon refused Xiao Liang’s implied request for help, ordered the pouch burned, and told his Daoist boy to close the temple while he went into the mountains.

Yang Fei witnessed a Supreme Way disciple kill a scholar and later heard that the disciple had been released, while students prepared to protest the Daoists’ influence. Meanwhile, Si Yunming and his allies discussed their covert preparations to eliminate the Daoist Lord and the risks of relying on the Divine Fire Army.

• Yang Fei saw Zhang Han kill a drunken scholar during a brawl at the Xie Family Old Shop, and constables took Zhang Han away.
• Three days later, Yang Fei learned from Bai Xin and Ouyang Zhi that Zhang Han had been released and that the victim’s family had been ignored by the yamen.
• Ouyang Zhi set out to gather students and petition the Human Emperor against the Daoists, but Yang Fei declined to join him.
• Si Yunming, Zheng Fang, Tai Chong, and Tai He met in a secret chamber and discussed how difficult it would be to eliminate the Daoist Lord.
• Tai He warned that the reorganized Divine Fire Army could not be trusted, while the group discussed their naval marines and a smokescreen stirred up by impoverished Confucian scholars.

As the civil service examination began under storm clouds, Aaron’s allies and enemies moved against one another after the secret of his life-prolonging imperial mandate was exposed. Si Yunming’s attempt to march on Nourishing Heart Temple collapsed when grassroots officers turned against him, while Tang Xun rode to the Nine City Military Command after receiving a report.

• Daoist Tai Yin warned Aaron that Xiao Liang planned to offer sacrifices to Heaven, which would sever the imperial mandate prolonging his life, and revealed that his senior brothers had known.
• A palace messenger informed Xiao Liang and Zhang Jushi that the secret had been exposed, and Xiao Liang ordered Grand Secretaries Ming and Fang to act.
• Si Yunming ordered his naval forces to surround Nourishing Heart Temple, but Zhang Sangou and other grassroots officers revolted and executed the commanders on the Dao Lord’s orders.
• Tang Xun received a report at the Ding Kingdom Duke’s Estate and set out for the Nine City Military Command.

Aaron stopped Xiao Liang from restoring the Son of Heaven’s title, killed Tai Chong and Daoist Tai He, and left Xiao Liang’s fate to a public vote. Three days later, Goldstone’s residents were ordered to decide whether the emperor would live or die by keeping or casting away a silver bean.

• Tang Xun was arrested by Six Jia Divine Soldiers after arriving at the Nine Cities Military Command Office to seek Commander Zhang.
• Xiao Liang hurriedly restored his title as Son of Heaven with a sacrifice at the Altar of Heaven, while Yang Fei and the examinees watched.
• Aaron arrived at the altar alone, killed officials and guards who tried to stop him, and survived gunshots with his Indestructible Vajra Body.
• Aaron killed Tai Chong and Daoist Tai He, then ordered that Xiao Liang’s fate be decided by Everyone Under Heaven.
• Aaron visited Zhang Jushi and Xiao Zi in prison and explained that Xiao Liang could have lived if he had not rebelled.
• Three days later, Yang Fei saw a proclamation calling for Jinshi’s residents to vote on the emperor’s life or death by keeping or returning a silver bean.

Yang Fei witnessed the referendum’s near-total rejection of Xiao Liang, while Aaron and Poison Dragon discussed the consequences of executing the founding Emperor. Three days later, Aaron began the executions and ordered Xiao Liang brought forward, leaving his fate imminent.

• Yang Fei kept the silver bean he received for voting and decided to preserve it as a family heirloom after seeing how few beans were in the vat.
• Poison Dragon told Aaron that the referendum had doomed Xiao Liang, and Aaron confirmed that the Emperor would be executed in three days.
• Poison Dragon warned Aaron that killing Xiao Liang would bring Heaven’s backlash and draw Daoist True Persons and Brahman Arhats to Goldstone City, but Aaron welcomed their arrival.
• Three days later, Aaron supervised the executions of Xiao Liang’s supporters, including Zhang Jushi, before ordering Xiao Liang brought forth at noon.

Aaron executed Xiao Liang publicly, stripping away the aura of divine sanctity surrounding the Son of Heaven, then opened a passage between the mortal realm and the Underworld. The Red Moon appeared in the Underworld as the backlash devastated the Brahman Gate, the Daoist sect, and the ghost gods, while Yang Fei watched the sunlight return with a faint scarlet tint.

• Aaron ordered the Six Jia Divine Soldiers to behead Xiao Liang before the gathered crowd, and the execution made the emperor seem mortal to the commoners.
• Brahman Gate’s monks entered nirvana and the Daoist True Persons formed an array, each staking their sect’s destiny to aid Aaron.
• After Xiao Liang died, the destinies of Brahman Gate, the Daoist sect, and the ghosts and gods formed a black true dragon that struck Aaron with Heaven’s condemnation.
• Aaron endured the resentment and invoked the system’s final power to open a passage between the two realms.
• A scarlet moon appeared over the Underworld, driving the River Earl and other ghost gods into madness and chaos.
• The Daoist sect’s fortunes were cut in half, and Yang Fei watched the clouds clear while sensing scarlet threads in the sunlight.

Centuries after Aaron established the Supreme Way's rule over Great Liang, high schooler Xiao Lin met a Daoist who claimed he was descended from the Liang imperial family and destined to become emperor. Aaron arrested the Daoist at Xiao Lin's home, then wondered how the imprint he had cultivated was affecting his main body.

• Xiao Lin skipped school to meet Jin Bao, Chen Lulu, and Pan Miao, who discussed their plans to join the Supreme Way or pursue stable careers after graduation.
• After Pan Miao left, Xiao Lin met Daoist Mystic Heart, who identified him as a descendant of the Great Liang Emperor and urged him to become emperor.
• Xiao Lin fled from Daoist Mystic Heart and later learned from his father that the Xiao family might once have been connected to Liang's imperial family.
• Xiao Lin asked his parents about interning at a Taoist temple, but they shut down the idea and ordered him to study.
• Daoist Mystic Heart climbed into Xiao Lin's home at night, but Aaron stunned and arrested him, revealing that he had used Xiao Lin to draw the Daoist out.
• Aaron reflected that centuries of influence had strengthened an imprint and wondered how his main body was doing.

Aaron completed the Imprint ritual and foresaw the Fate Controllers awakening, threatening to unleash a disaster from the Spirit Realm into the Mortal World. He gathered the Invisible Cult and warned them that a tremendous change was coming.

• Aaron confirmed that his Imprint ritual was complete and decided to wait until he became a Secrecy existence before pursuing the final battle.
• Aaron divined that the Spirit Realm was collapsing as the Fate Controllers awakened and began driving other powerful beings into flight.
• Aaron realized the Fate Controllers would soon attack him or force him to Ascend, putting the Mortal World and its Secrecy realm in danger.
• Aaron summoned Motula, Mother Nature, and the Invisible Cult to a dreamlike meeting hall.
• Aaron told the gathered members that a tremendous change would spread from the Spirit Realm into the Mortal World.

Aaron summoned Raven to learn that the Fate Controllers planned to drain spirituality from the Mortal World, leaving it without supernatural power. Aaron prepared his followers for the disaster and assured them that he could protect them even if their powers failed.

• Lilliat asked Mother Nature and Motula about the coming disaster, but they were bewildered, so Aaron summoned Raven for answers.
• Raven revealed that the Fate Controllers would awaken together because the Mother Tree of Flesh had truly fallen, and Aaron named the great sources of spirituality and the Spirit of Void.
• Raven explained that the Fate Controllers planned to drain all spirituality from the Mortal World, causing rituals, extraordinary abilities, and possibly longevity to fail.
• Aaron told Lilliat and Ye Funai to prepare for the disaster, and Lilliat realized she could stockpile firearms and train an army.
• Aaron assured his followers that they could pray to the Spirit of Void if their powers vanished, since he could preserve his own spirituality and shelter the Invisible Cult's believers.

The five Fate Controllers awakened and drained spirituality from the mortal world, leaving occult practices and extraordinary beings in crisis. Aaron protected Lilliat, imposed secrecy on knowledge of the Spirit of Void, and prepared to exile himself from the world and sleep while his ritual ran its course.

• Lin Olivia and Motula sensed the Keeper of Secrets being reclaimed as the Fate Controller of Secrecy awakened and multiple histories collapsed.
• Raven dissolved into knowledge as the Fate Controllers of Tower, Underworld, Twisted Bubble, and Cocoon awakened, and spirituality began vanishing from the mortal world.
• A Crimson criminal's abilities failed during a burglary, while a secret-organization mentor discovered that his prayer ritual no longer worked and his spirituality was draining away.
• Lilliat prayed to the Spirit of Void and regained spirituality, then ordered a review of her troops; Aaron answered her prayer and maintained his power through the Secret Source.
• Aaron forbade William from proclaiming the name of Void and erased the Spirit of Void's honorific name from records and memories, leaving only a few believers able to remember it.
• Aaron concluded that he needed to exile himself and sleep until his secret ritual was complete, while the Fate Controllers sank back into dormancy.