Chapter Summaries

Liu Guangzheng used a memorial accusing Pang Hu of corruption to rein in the powerful eunuch without killing him, while secretly turning him against the Imperial Uncle. After Pang Hu left with new loyalty and plans for revenge, Liu Guangzheng reflected on his ability to see people’s loyalty and wondered whether he could restore Great Cang.

• Liu Guangzheng set aside a memorial about the Imperial Uncle and considered how to use powerful clans and rising generals to strengthen his own position.
• He summoned Pang Hu over a memorial recommending Wu Qi for defeating the Yellow Heaven Army and named Wu Qi General Who Pacifies the South.
• Liu Guangzheng claimed the Imperial Uncle had shown him evidence of Pang Hu’s corruption, making Pang Hu fear that the Imperial Uncle intended to kill him.
• Pang Hu defended himself by saying the late Emperor had ordered the sale of offices, and Liu Guangzheng reassured him while using the accusation to deepen his hostility toward the Imperial Uncle.
• After Pang Hu left, Liu Guangzheng considered his ability to see loyalty as golden radiance and wondered whether he could restore Great Cang to prosperity.

After defeating Wu Yuan, Zhao Cheng assessed how his small force had survived its heavy losses and gathered his officers to discuss what came next. The chapter ended with Zhao Cheng watching Wang Shouzheng’s suppressed dragon aura, aware that he would need to break him three times to sever it.

• Zhao Cheng reflected that his soldiers had endured fifty percent casualties through their veteran experience, the dense forest, his destruction of their supplies, and Daoist magic that roused their fighting spirit.
• Zhao Cheng concluded that the method could not be repeated soon, but killing Wu Yuan had cleared the way ahead after this body's greatest tribulation.
• Zhao Cheng gathered his personal guards and captains to seek counsel, though he had already made up his mind.
• Wei Ye stood nearest Zhao Cheng, followed by Wang Shouzheng, whose dragon aura remained suppressed but intact.
• Zhao Cheng considered that he would need to break Wang Shouzheng three times to sever his dragon aura and remove his aid from Heaven and Earth.

After killing Wu Yuan, Zhao Cheng asked his followers what they should do next, while the backlash from devouring a dragon stirred ambition among those around him. Lin Yi urged Zhao Cheng to gather scattered soldiers and establish an independent base in the forest, leaving Zhao Cheng to weigh the dangers of responding to the proposal.

• Wei Ye recommended that Zhao Cheng's group return north to the main camp, and Wang Shouzheng agreed that the exhausted soldiers should leave the forest.
• Zhao Cheng asked whether anyone held a different opinion, and Lin Yi urged him to gather scattered soldiers and wait for the right moment to act.
• Zhao Cheng's killing intent frightened Lin Yi, who realized he had spoken impulsively and feared the consequences.
• Zhao Cheng sensed that heaven and earth's backlash was fueling ambition in himself and his followers, and considered how to handle Lin Yi without inviting suspicion from the Yellow Heaven Army's leaders.

Zhao Cheng punished Lin Yi lightly, then spent more than ten days gathering scattered Yellow Heaven Army survivors, strengthening and organizing his growing force. With nearly five hundred soldiers under his command, he turned them toward Sky Wolf Stronghold and prepared his generals for the campaign.

• Zhao Cheng stripped Lin Yi of his rank for treasonous words but let him redeem himself through service, while Wang Shouzheng grew bitter at Lin Yi's defection.
• Zhao Cheng led his men through the mountain forests, treating their wounds, predicting the weather, and strengthening them with medicinal concoctions.
• Zhao Cheng gathered scattered Yellow Heaven Army survivors, disciplined troublemakers, and expanded his force to nearly five hundred soldiers.
• Zhao Cheng divided the troops into three banners under himself, Wei Ye, and Lin Yi, keeping the elite soldiers in his own banner and using promotion to motivate the others.
• Zhao Cheng adopted the title Heaven-Answering General and turned his army toward Sky Wolf Stronghold, leaving Wei Ye struck by how much Zhao Cheng had changed.

Zhao Cheng planned to strengthen his forces in Lianshan before capturing Wu City and withdrawing into the Southern Wasteland. Meanwhile, believing Wu Yuan was lost and his ambitions had collapsed, Wu Qi ordered the execution of more than twelve thousand Yellow Heaven prisoners.

• Zhao Cheng ordered his officers to take the hundred forts of Lianshan, build their strength, and wait for an opportunity to seize Wu City.
• Zhao Cheng calculated that ruling Lianshan would help him expand his army, establish military farms, and eventually occupy the Southern Wasteland.
• Wu Qi grew convinced that Wu Yuan had not returned because something had happened to him, and he worried that his family had no capable heir.
• Wu Qi learned that more than twelve thousand Yellow Heaven prisoners were held captive, then ordered them all killed.
• Wu Qi collapsed back into his chair and wept as he reflected on his lost ambitions and his son.

In Stone County, blacksmith Zhao Sheng and his daughter Zhao Xiang worried that Zhao Cheng might have died after the Daoist Army’s defeat in the Southern Wasteland. The chapter recounted how famine and upheaval shattered the family and led twelve-year-old Zhao Cheng to enlist in the Yellow Heaven Army, leaving his fate uncertain.

• Zhao Xiang told Zhao Sheng that the Daoist Army had suffered a crushing defeat and feared for Zhao Cheng, who had gone to war.
• Zhao Sheng tried to reassure Zhao Xiang that Yellow Heaven would protect her brother, though he doubted his own words.
• Zhao Sheng’s family lost his wife to starvation while fleeing famine, then joined the Yellow Heaven movement as it spread across the realm.
• As the Yellow Heaven Army weakened and food grew scarce, Zhao Sheng considered enlisting but could not leave his young children unattended.
• Twelve-year-old Zhao Cheng ran away and enlisted in the army to help his family survive.

Zhao Sheng and Zhao Xiang learned that the Wang Family wanted to dissolve Wang Mingwei’s engagement to Zhao Cheng, who was missing after the Yellow Heaven Army’s defeat. Yellow Heaven Daoist then ordered Big Ox to bring Zhao Sheng and Zhao Xiang to him for a “heavenly marriage.”

• Zhao Xiang feared that her dream of Zhao Cheng being killed might come true as rumors spread about the army’s defeat.
• Wang Jiran visited Zhao Sheng and demanded that the families dissolve Zhao Cheng and Wang Mingwei’s engagement, claiming his daughter was gravely ill.
• Zhao Sheng pleaded with Wang Jiran, but the merchant refused, leaving Zhao Sheng devastated.
• Wang Mingwei eagerly learned that her father had ended the engagement, while Wang Jiran planned to relocate his family before news of the Yellow Heaven Dao’s defeat spread.
• Yellow Heaven Daoist read a report about the broken engagement and ordered Big Ox to bring Zhao Sheng and Zhao Xiang to him with an elite cavalry unit.

The Zhao Family faced rumors that Zhao Cheng had died in battle and that the Wang Family had broken off his engagement, while neighbors used false sympathy to torment Zhao Xiang and Zhao Sheng. Zhao Sheng resisted reacting to the gossip, determined not to give their malice an excuse to harm his family further.

• Neighbors spread rumors that Zhao Cheng had died and the Wang Family had ended the engagement, though no one knew who had survived the defeat.
• Auntie Lin loudly pretended to condemn the Wang Family, and Zhao Xiang realized she was using false sympathy to hurt her.
• Zhao Xiang stayed inside and grew distressed as the neighbors' voices brought back her recent nightmare.
• Zhao Sheng smoked in silence and held back his anger, knowing the neighbors wanted him to lose control.
• Zhao Sheng remembered how vicious gossip had driven a kind widow to hang herself and resolved not to waver under the rumors.

Zheng Dahu and the Yellow Heaven Cavalry arrived to protect Zhao Sheng and Zhao Xiang, punishing the neighbors who had spread malicious rumors before escorting the pair to the city. Wang Jiran realized the Zhao Family had gained the Great Worthy Teacher’s favor and regretted breaking the engagement, then struck Wang Mingwei when she asked what had happened.

• Zhao Sheng worried that the neighbors’ rumors would harm Zhao Xiang and remembered his dying wife’s plea to care for their children.
• More than twenty Yellow Heaven Cavalrymen arrived at the Zhao Family’s shop, seized the women spreading rumors, and beat them.
• Zheng Dahu introduced himself as the Great Worthy Teacher’s personal guard and told Zhao Sheng he had come to escort him and Zhao Xiang into the city for an excellent marriage match.
• Zheng Dahu ordered the nearby residents to kneel and punish themselves for spreading rumors, killing those who resisted, until the county carriage arrived.
• Wang Jiran learned that the Yellow Heaven Cavalry had taken Zhao Sheng and Zhao Xiang to the city and suspected Zhao Cheng had survived and earned great merit.
• Wang Mingwei asked Wang Jiran about the deaths near the Zhao Family, and he slapped her across the face.

Wang Jiran fled Stone County after breaking off his daughter’s engagement, then began considering raising an army and seizing power as the realm descended into chaos. Liu Guangzheng recalled Wang Jiran as a future rival who had sided with Cao Zheng and caused him many losses.

• Wang Jiran sold off family assets and fled Stone County with his guards and daughter, Wang Mingwei, fearing that someone in the Yellow Heaven Army would use him to claim merit.
• Wang Jiran reflected on how his thirty-seven trained guards could help him recruit nearly two hundred soldiers and begin building power.
• A wisp of dragon aura awakened in Wang Jiran as he imagined rising from merchant to warlord amid the coming conflict.
• Wang Mingwei noticed that her father had regained a vitality she had not seen in years.
• Liu Guangzheng thought about Wang Jiran and recalled that he had sided with Cao Zheng in his previous life and inflicted many losses on him.

Liu Guangzheng reflected on Wang Jiran’s rise and how hardship had transformed him, while the convoy carrying Zhao Sheng and Zhao Xiang reached Bright City. The chapter ended with the two finally meeting Yellow Heaven Daoist after nightfall.

• Liu Guangzheng recalled how Wang Jiran escaped the Yellow Heaven Dao’s collapse, raised an army, and eventually served Cao Zheng.
• Liu Guangzheng reflected that Wang Jiran’s later greatness had depended on the suffering and hardships that shaped him.
• Liu Guangzheng considered how his own experience had taught him that no single person could secure the realm while power remained dispersed.
• Zhao Sheng and Zhao Xiang arrived in Bright City after more than ten days of travel and finally met Yellow Heaven Daoist that night.

Zhao Cheng built his force in the Chain Mountains and spent eleven days using Daoist arts to influence Cloud-Link Stronghold through dreams of ancestral guidance. The dreams stirred debate among the mountain folk, but no new messages appeared for two days.

• Zhao Cheng gathered Yellow Heaven remnants until his force exceeded two thousand men.
• Zhao Cheng spent eleven days taking Cloud-Link Stronghold, a key hub among the mountain strongholds.
• Zhao Cheng used Daoist arts to send the stronghold’s children and elderly people dreams in which their ancestors described the mountain folk’s past and warned of their uncertain future.
• The ancestors’ dream messages urged the mountain folk to follow a nearby force bearing the Heavenly Mandate if they wanted wealth and glory.
• The dreams spread through Cloud-Link Stronghold, dividing people between doubt and belief, but no further messages came for two days.

Zhao Cheng’s staged omens persuaded a remote mountain village that the Yellow Heaven Sect was fulfilling their ancestors’ prophecy, leaving the villagers eager to join its army. Lin Yi recruited fifty-three youths, opening the way for Zhao Cheng to extend control over the Hundred Villages of Linked Mountains through local recruits.

• The village leaders formed a force to kill the Daoist they suspected of causing the dreams, but a storm collapsed the ancestral shrine and uncovered a statue inscribed “Yellow Heaven Answers the Mandate.”
• Villagers connected the statue, strange mountain noises, and a supernatural storm to their ancestors’ dream, and rumors spread that Yellow Heaven Sect generals would arrive.
• A hunter found yellow silk bearing the words “Yellow Heaven Answers the Mandate; all under Heaven belongs to Zhao” inside a wolf, and more than thirty soldiers led by Lin Yi arrived seeking supplies for General Yingtian.
• The village youths asked Lin Yi whether his general’s surname was Zhao, welcomed his group, and later sought to enlist after he conducted trade without mentioning recruitment.
• Lin Yi returned several days later and recruited fifty-three villagers, advancing Zhao Cheng’s plan to govern the mountain villages through local forces.

Li Xian and Li Neng brought skilled members of their clan, including Li Shan and his son Li Mu, to join the Heaven-Answering Army’s call for craftsmen. Li Shan remained wary as the group traveled toward the army, intending to judge for himself whether it was as trustworthy as the mountain folk believed.

• The Heaven-Answering Army called for craftsmen and literate recruits, offering double military pay and merit for successful recommendations.
• Li Xian and Li Neng realized their clan had carpenters and a mason, then used their leave to recruit them.
• The brothers persuaded Li Shan, Li Mu, Li Shi, and Li Li to travel with them to the army.
• Li Shan weighed the risks, recalling his failed attempt to live outside the mountains, and decided that serving as a carpenter was worth a cautious gamble.
• Li Shan followed the group along the newly cut trail, prepared to leave if the Heaven-Answering Army proved unworthy of its reputation.

Li Shan’s group entered the Heaven-Answering Army’s mountain camp and saw its defenses, construction, and vast stores of dried meat, which convinced them the army was well organized and provisioned. Meanwhile, Zhao Cheng began burning the wilderness to prepare for farming, aware that hunting could not sustain his troops indefinitely.

• Li Shan assessed the camp’s strict entry procedures and defenses, concluding that the Heaven-Answering General knew how to command an army.
• Li Shan’s group saw workers building temporary structures and soldiers guarding extensive racks of drying beast meat.
• The Li family’s doubts about the Heaven-Answering Army’s provisions and rumors of its plundering collapsed when they saw the stores of meat.
• Zhao Cheng watched a nearby mountain burn and explained that he was clearing wilderness because hunting with animal-luring drugs would eventually deplete the local wildlife.
• Zhao Cheng planned to reclaim land for farming and use Daoist arts to produce fertilizer, while awaiting the return of people sent to find suitable ores.

Zhao Cheng established the beginnings of a government and a practical doctrine for the Yellow Heaven movement, aiming to make the army more capable of governing and sustaining itself. Xu Huo reported that several men had learned the Way of Yellow Heaven well enough to begin teaching it to others.

• Zhao Cheng promoted the literate, wounded former captain Xu Huo to oversee functions corresponding to the Ministry of Rites.
• Zhao Cheng designed a streamlined government based on the Six Ministries, retaining control of appointments, punishments, and the army while planning other institutions for later.
• Zhao Cheng defined the Way of Yellow Heaven as a simple promise that Yellow Heaven would replace the Blue Heaven and bring people land, food, and security.
• Zhao Cheng planned to train selected teachers, require officers to learn the doctrine, and assign Dao officials to military units.
• Xu Huo told Zhao Cheng that Wu Yu, Sun Yi, and the others had memorized the doctrine and could begin teaching it to others.

Ji Zhengwo described Wu City’s history and the Wu Family’s decline after Wu Yuan’s death, while Fan Qingmeng explained why Wu Qi executed the surrendered Yellow Heaven soldiers. The chapter left the Wu Family’s future uncertain as Fan Qingmeng and Mu Xuan watched events unfold in Wu City.

• Zhao Cheng ordered Xu Huo to proceed as the sun rose over the mountains.
• Ji Zhengwo explained how Wu City’s trade wealth and natural defenses had supported generations of rulers, but had also bred complacency.
• Ji Zhengwo recounted the Wu Family’s rise and described how Wu Qi’s sons failed to provide a suitable successor after Wu Yuan died.
• Ji Zhengwo revealed that he had spent decades planning around the Wu Family and had suspected that Wu Yuan was Wu Qi’s son.
• Fan Qingmeng said Wu Qi executed twelve thousand surrendered Yellow Heaven soldiers chiefly to prevent them from joining a possible uprising in the forest.

Fan Qingmeng and Ji Zhengwo discussed Zhao Cheng’s rise in the Linked Mountains and the danger facing the Yellow Heaven rebels. In the Heaven-Answering Army camp, a soldier briefly remembered a future betrayal before a mysterious force erased his memories.

• Fan Qingmeng told Ji Zhengwo about omens in the Linked Mountains that foretold Zhao Cheng’s arrival and legitimacy.
• Ji Zhengwo judged that Zhao Cheng would recruit mountain villagers and build power, but questioned the value of ruling the sparsely populated mountains.
• Ji Zhengwo said the imperial uncle had summoned heroes to attack the Yellow Heaven rebels, leaving them threatened from both sides.
• Ji Zhengwo watched the Wu family’s second young master behave disgracefully and reflected that his pretense of foolishness had become real.
• A sleeping soldier in the Heaven-Answering Army remembered serving Zhao Cheng in the future and witnessing trusted subordinates betray him.
• The soldier tried to report his foreknowledge, but a mysterious force erased the memories and left him believing he had suffered a nightmare.

Zhao Cheng advanced plans to equip his army with mass-produced repeating crossbows and refined gunpowder for an assault on Wu City next spring. As carpenter Li Shan raised concerns about the crossbow’s durability, he became convinced that Zhao Cheng might be destined to rule and hoped to secure a future for his son.

• Zhao Cheng explained that he wanted inaccurate repeating crossbows produced in large numbers because his men could not be trained as archers in time to seize Wu City next spring.
• Zhao Cheng planned to refine gunpowder into explosive packs to breach Wu City's walls, while postponing firearm production until he had captured the city and gained more resources.
• Zhao Cheng reflected that building his army required his personal attention across weapons, supplies, recruitment, and strongholds.
• Li Shan warned Zhao Cheng that wooden crossbow parts would wear out quickly and that iron parts would be brittle and difficult to smelt.
• Li Shan recalled the tale of the Grand Ancestor of Great Cang and began to believe Zhao Cheng might have heaven-bestowed destiny, hoping to pave a path for his young son.

Zhao Cheng strengthened his authority in the Heaven-Answering Army by directing its craftsmen and spreading rumors that portrayed him as Yellow Heaven descended. A disturbance in space-time then revealed a projection of the world where he had lived his first life, leaving him wondering whether it was connected to the immortal Dao Fruit or had been destroyed by the apocalypse.

• Zhao Cheng explained how his medicinal powder could prepare fresh-cut wood, and the craftsmen accepted his guidance.
• Zhao Cheng’s staged dream rumors about two snakes transforming into dragons spread through the camp and strengthened the recruits’ faith in him.
• Zhao Cheng recognized that the Demon Fetus had drawn a soul from the future into the present, only for the world’s Heavenly Wills to erase it.
• Zhao Cheng saw that the disturbance had drawn in a dimensional projection of his first-life world and wondered whether it was connected to the Dao Fruit or destroyed by the apocalypse.