Chapter Summaries

Sun Yuantai publicly denounced Zhao Cheng and then explained to Cao Zheng why the Chain Mountains were a critical weakness in their defenses. He ordered Cao Zheng to take one hundred thousand men to guard the mountains outside Heaven's End Pass, preparing to protect the pass and flank Zhao Cheng if he attacked.

• Cao Zheng recognized that Sun Yuantai's denunciation was meant to bolster morale and provoke Zhao Cheng, and joined the army in shouting against him.
• Sun Yuantai's proclamation spread through the army and city, while scholars praised his writing and condemned Zhao Cheng.
• Sun Yuantai summoned Cao Zheng and ordered him to lead one hundred thousand men to camp beside the Chain Mountains outside Heaven's End Pass.
• Sun Yuantai explained that Zhao Cheng might use the seemingly impassable mountains to circle behind their forces and threaten Qing Province.
• Sun Yuantai called Cao Zheng to receive his military orders, and Cao Zheng knelt and answered.

Sun Yuantai recalled the ideals and compromises that shaped his life, then awoke uneasy from a dream of war and his own destruction. Meanwhile, Cao Zheng mobilized his troops and reached the destination to establish camp.

• Sun Yuantai gave Cao Zheng a golden command plaque and ordered him to act.
• Sun Yuantai dreamed of his younger self, regretted losing his resolve, and heard a warning to wake before it was too late.
• In the dream, flames and battle engulfed Heaven's End Pass, and a vast figure reached down to seize Sun Yuantai.
• Sun Yuantai woke and worried that his dream was a dire omen, though he believed he had made all the necessary arrangements.
• Cao Zheng quickly assembled the troops and arrived at the destination by afternoon to set up camp.

Cao Zheng organized his army into a wagon-fort camp and considered how its structure would support a prolonged war. From a watchtower, he reflected on how family connections and political instincts had raised him to power, while the rise of firearms and merchants signaled changes he struggled to understand.

• Cao Zheng arranged his hundred-thousand-man army into separated camps of roughly five thousand soldiers each, with plans to build a central command camp later.
• Cao Zheng considered surrendering if Zhao Cheng proved unstoppable, but planned to deny any collusion if the imperial army defeated him.
• Cao Zheng watched the campfires from the central watchtower and recalled how his family standing and connections had shaped his military career.
• Cao Zheng reflected on how he had cultivated the great clans, scholars, and literati of Qing Province to secure support and a reputation for seeking talent.
• Cao Zheng noticed that firearms were gaining influence and that merchants were acquiring legitimate power and higher status.

Cao Zheng dreamed of seizing the throne before Zhao Cheng launched a nighttime assault on his army. Zhao Cheng's forces devastated one camp, and Huang Qi tested the enemy defenses before retreating from their iron shields.

• Liu Guangzheng planned to use wealth and expansion to strengthen his side against Zhao Cheng, while Cao Zheng decided to back the stronger side.
• Cao Zheng dreamed that he deposed the emperor, took control of the realm, and ascended the throne, but a falling pearl startled him awake.
• Cao Zheng's soldiers woke him with warnings that Zhao Cheng's forces were attacking.
• Zhao Cheng's guns devastated the nearest camp, killing or disabling most of its five thousand soldiers before the others could respond.
• Huang Qi charged toward Cao's army, then retreated when he saw its soldiers advancing behind thick iron shields.

Cao Zheng used his Iron Shield Formation to block Zhao Cheng’s Peace Camp at the pass, turning the surprise attack into a potentially costly stalemate. As he weighed surrender against loyalty to Great Cang, he decided that the fate of the war—and the Heavenly Mandate—rested on his choice.

• Huang Qi’s powerful firearms proved difficult to use widely, and he had not anticipated Cao Zheng’s thick shields designed to stop bullets.
• Cao Zheng reasoned that his hundred-thousand-strong army and Iron Shield Formation could block Heaven’s End Pass and force Zhao Cheng’s Peace Camp to retreat, detour, or lose momentum.
• Cao Zheng recognized that the Peace Camp’s vulnerability could give Great Cang a chance to destroy Zhao Cheng’s elite force and pursue victory.
• Cao Zheng’s desire to surrender faded as he saw that terrain, timing, and military strength could overcome the Peace Camp’s reputation for invincibility.
• Cao Zheng concluded that surrendering or holding the pass would determine which side gained the Heavenly Mandate, and that defending Great Cang could earn him a kingship.

Cao Zheng chose to betray the court and ordered his army to lure Zhao Cheng's forces into a trap, hoping to secure a kingdom for himself. As Cao Zheng's troops advanced, Wang Shouzheng's incendiary rockets erupted among them, igniting a devastating rout.

• Cao Zheng decided he would rather become a ruler than remain a subject and ordered Cao Yi and Ye Zong to delay and press Zhao Cheng's forces.
• Zhao Cheng's reservists shouted that Cao Zheng should surrender, while Cao Zheng's men shouted back that he was loyal and urged one another to fight.
• Cao Zheng asked Cao Jin whether the court would honor its promise to make them kings, and Cao Jin said breaking the emperor's formal edict would invite rebellion.
• Cao Zheng's confidence collapsed when explosions turned the battlefield into a sea of fire and burning soldiers broke formation.
• Wang Shouzheng ordered a third volley, and three hundred incendiary rockets streaked into the sky.

Wang Shouzheng commanded Peace Camp’s rocket artillery as Zhao Cheng’s forces shattered Cao Zheng’s army and forced him to surrender. Cao Zheng knelt before Zhao Cheng and called him “My King,” while Zhao Cheng reflected on how completely his actions had changed the course of history.

• Wang Shouzheng’s rocket barrage routed Cao Zheng’s hundred-thousand-man army, and Peace Camp’s reservists called on the survivors to surrender.
• Cao Zheng ordered his men to regroup and announced that he was willing to surrender.
• Half an hour later, Cao Zheng and his subordinates knelt before Zhao Cheng and paid respects to their new lord.
• Zhao Cheng considered how his choices had altered history and rejected the idea of trusting a rival to rule in his place.
• Cao Zheng called Zhao Cheng “My King.”

Zhao Cheng armed the Peace Camp and entrusted Cao Zheng with rebuilding his routed forces under supervision, then marched toward the pass. Sun Yuantai mobilized a huge army to destroy Zhao Cheng, but false reports drew him away as Zhao Cheng's forces captured the Great Flame Ancient Road, leaving Sun Yuantai unconscious and his army in chaos.

• Zhao Cheng seized the Cao army's armor and firearms for the Peace Camp, returned twenty thousand captives to Cao Zheng, and assigned Li Weiyi to supervise him.
• Zhao Cheng promised Cao Zheng advancement for serving him, and Cao Zheng knelt and accepted the decree.
• Zhao Cheng led the rested Peace Camp toward the pass out of the Southern Wasteland.
• After spies reported Cao Zheng's surrender and the rocket bombardment, Sun Yuantai assembled three hundred thousand troops and marched toward Cao Zheng's position.
• Sun Yuantai's army turned back after seeing wolf smoke and hearing a false report that Zhao Cheng was retreating into the mountains.
• A messenger reported that Zhao Cheng had captured the Great Flame Ancient Road, and Sun Yuantai fell from his horse as his army descended into chaos.

Sun Yuantai fainted after realizing that losing the Great Flame Ancient Road would isolate his forces and leave the court’s poorly motivated army vulnerable. Zhao Cheng exploited the fortresses’ weak rear defenses, captured one-fifth of the pass, and guarded its entrance against a counterattack.

• Sun Yuantai fainted, leaving his deputy unable to take command without risking punishment for acting above his authority.
• Zhao Cheng attacked the Great Flame Ancient Road fortresses from behind, where their thin walls and wooden doors offered little protection.
• Zhao Cheng split off half his troops and stationed them at the entrance to prevent Sun Yuantai from sending reinforcements.
• By dawn, Zhao Cheng had advanced twenty li and captured one-fifth of the pass.

Sun Yuantai rallied his forces and attacked the Great Flame Ancient Road, where Huang Qi’s defenders repelled them at heavy cost. Zhao Cheng later joined forces with Lin Yi, and his million-strong army drove Sun Yuantai back toward Heaven's End Pass.

• After waking, Sun Yuantai ordered scouts to the Great Flame Ancient Road and returned his army to the city to regroup.
• Two days later, Sun Yuantai arrived at the pass with his army and found its cannons and defenses turned against Qing Province.
• Huang Qi taunted Sun Yuantai from the barricade, and Sun ordered cannon fire and a cannon-fodder assault with explosive packs.
• Sun Yuantai’s army attacked for ten days, losing one hundred and fifty thousand men while Peace Camp retreated twenty li with eight hundred casualties.
• Zhao Cheng and Lin Yi joined forces, and a million-strong army advanced from the Southern Wasteland, forcing Sun Yuantai to retreat to Heaven's End Pass.

Liu Guangzheng recognized that the ministers’ impeachment of Sun Yuantai was really an attempt to curb his growing imperial authority, and he answered their maneuver with executions. He left the court demanding that any minister who called Sun useless name a commander capable of defeating Zhao Cheng and pacifying the Southern Wasteland.

• Liu Guangzheng watched the ministers call for Sun Yuantai’s impeachment while Heaven’s End Pass faced an urgent rebel assault.
• Liu Guangzheng realized the ministers were using Sun Yuantai’s record to restrain imperial power, not to replace him during the battle.
• Liu Guangzheng had several ministers he judged disloyal dragged out and beheaded.
• Liu Guangzheng challenged the court to name a worthy capable of killing Zhao Cheng and pacifying the Southern Wasteland.

Liu Guangzheng faced ministers who tested his authority by proposing elderly candidates to command the war against the bandits, then protected the defeated Sun Yuantai with rewards and an imperial title. With the court unable to offer a solution, he turned his hopes to Daoists obtaining weapon blueprints from the higher realm.

• Ministers proposed retired generals and the centenarian Xu Qinglin to lead the campaign, provoking Liu Guangzheng's anger at their evasive recommendations.
• Liu Guangzheng rejected further blame of Sun Yuantai and declared that the defeat had resulted from the enemy's superior weapons.
• Liu Guangzheng rewarded Sun Yuantai's wife with an imperial title and granted silver and precious gifts to keep the general loyal.
• Liu Guangzheng concluded that the court could not help and considered asking Daoists to obtain powerful weapon blueprints from the higher realm.

Liu Guangzheng set aside the court’s internal problems to focus on the Zhao bandits and visited Heaven-Prayer Palace, where Daoists and inventors conducted their work. He reached the great altar at the palace’s center, built to aid communication with the void.

• Liu Guangzheng considered how a blueprint might let his Daoists build machinery and eventually make a nuclear bomb, but the distance and time differences made communication with the void unreliable.
• He dismissed court without investigating its problems further, prioritizing stability against the Zhao bandits in Qing Province.
• Liu Guangzheng traveled to the desolate palace complex that had been restored and renamed Heaven-Prayer Palace.
• He entered through the Qian gate and followed winding passages past rooms where Daoists and inventors worked.
• Liu Guangzheng reached the center of Heaven-Prayer Palace, where a former palace had been replaced by a massive altar.

Liu Guangzheng watched a sacrificial rite at the altar, hoping the Void’s powerful beings would provide help against the Heavenly Demon. The rite delivered a startling result: design blueprints for a budget Dongfeng missile.

• Liu Guangzheng arrived at the altar and watched Fan Qingmeng and the Daoists conduct a scripture-reciting sacrifice.
• Liu Guangzheng considered using the altar to receive help from powerful beings in the Void against the Heavenly Demon.
• Fan Qingmeng and several Human Immortals received information on jade tablets and carved copies of it.
• Liu Guangzheng asked Yuanhe to translate the first line of a tablet.
• Yuanhe read that it contained budget-edition Dongfeng missile design blueprints, shocking Liu Guangzheng.

Sun Yuantai received the emperor’s decree and resolved to spend his remaining life holding Zhao Cheng at Heaven’s End Pass so Great Cang could prepare. He then began forcibly conscripting the people of the city to defend its walls, suppressing their outrage with his army.

• Sun Yuantai received the imperial decree and was deeply moved by the emperor’s praise and warning to preserve his life.
• Sun Yuantai judged that Zhao Cheng would consolidate Qing Province rather than expand recklessly, giving Great Cang time to rebuild its strength.
• Sun Yuantai decided to sacrifice his remaining vitality by delaying Zhao Cheng at Heaven’s End Pass.
• Sun Yuantai abandoned his ban on harming commoners and conscripted one man from every household to defend the city walls.
• Sun Yuantai used his army to suppress the public resentment that followed the forced conscription.

As Sun Yuantai used untrained civilians to defend Heaven's End Pass, Zhao Cheng's account of Southern Wasteland's industrial strength and popular resolve showed why the war could not be won by waiting for his supplies to run out. After more than a month of fighting, Zhao Cheng declared that he would lead the final assault the next day.

• Sun Yuantai sent untrained civilians onto Heaven's End Pass's exposed walls to conserve his own troops and exhaust Zhao Cheng's ammunition.
• Southern Wasteland's workers increased production and gave up comforts to support the front, driven by hatred of Great Cang and hopes for a new world.
• Zhao Cheng watched the devastated pass and reflected that he had kept his troops fighting to train his soldiers and generals.
• Zhao Cheng judged that the training was complete and ordered the entire army to launch its final assault the next day.
• Zhao Cheng's generals accepted the order, and the army became convinced that Heaven's End Pass would fall.

Sun Yuantai confronted Great Cang’s dwindling support and the damage Cao Zheng’s rebellion had done to supplies and conscription at Heaven's End Pass. After surviving an assassin’s bombing, he learned the killer’s sons had been seized and killed through corrupt conscription, but feared that punishing the officers responsible could trigger a military rebellion.

• Sun Yuantai reflected on how powerful clans across the realm withheld support after Great Cang’s defeat and feared history was repeating itself.
• He recognized that Cao Zheng’s rebellion had disrupted provisions, prompted Qing Province clans to flee or defect, and fueled unrest over forced conscription.
• A tofu seller charged at Sun Yuantai shouting, “Die, old thief!” and detonated explosives after guards shot him, killing several armored soldiers.
• Sun Yuantai ordered an investigation and learned the assassin was a local tofu seller whose two sons had been seized and killed during conscription.
• Sun Yuantai realized wealthy households had likely bribed officers to seize men unlawfully, but feared a purge could make his troops rebel.

Zhao Cheng led the Heaven-Answering Army in a surprise assault on Heaven's End Pass, where Sun Yuantai's defenders relied on waves of conscripts and close combat to blunt the attackers' weapons. Zhao Cheng charged up the siege ladder and revealed that bullets vanished before they could reach him, leaving the defending general Qiao Jiang stunned.

• Sun Yuantai spent the night pondering his future while the Heaven-Answering Army hid its preparations and quietly assembled for a nighttime attack.
• The Heaven-Answering Army reached Heaven's End Pass before its defenders could react, then used cannons and rockets to suppress the walls as siege ladders advanced.
• Sun Yuantai's troops rotated fresh groups of defenders through the gatehouses, forcing frightened conscripts onto the battlements with threats against their families.
• Zhao Cheng charged up a siege ladder at the front of his army, and bullets melted into air within thirty meters of him.
• Qiao Jiang recognized Zhao Cheng and watched in horror as his extraordinary power defied what he knew about Daoists and immortals.

Qiao Jiang confronted Zhao Cheng amid a storm of gunfire, relying on his extraordinary speed and a pair of specially made pistols. He unleashed his self-developed technique, Piercing Sun, in an attempt to strike Zhao Cheng directly.

• Qiao Jiang recognized that firearms had made even Human Immortals vulnerable, though Zhao Cheng remained untouched within a strange three-zhang boundary.
• The chapter recounted how Qiao Jiang’s archery talent and Liu Guangzheng’s patronage raised him from a low-ranking officer to commander of the new army.
• Qiao Jiang drew two custom pistols forged from rare Daoist metal and fired twenty rounds in a tightly aligned stream at Zhao Cheng.
• Qiao Jiang named his rapid, concentrated attack Piercing Sun and sent it toward Zhao Cheng.

Qiao Jiang’s three-zhang Sword Aura pulverized a bullet and astonished both the battlefield and the Seize the Dragon Game’s players, who realized the world’s extraordinary powers had far surpassed their expectations. Meanwhile, Zhao Cheng’s true body had reversed the cause and effect of his manifested body, sending it into the past as Daoist Zhao Cheng and setting up a way to accumulate the processes of countless altered histories.

• Qiao Jiang’s Sword Aura turned a bullet to powder before it could reach him, and Huang Qi marveled at its unprecedented power.
• Players flooded the forums with reactions, calling Zhao Cheng invincible and arguing that the game’s history and original premise had gone off the rails.
• Gao Shou privately discussed Zhao Cheng’s strength with Lu Xun, who had focused on martial arts after finding little talent for Dao cultivation.
• Zhao Cheng’s true body grasped a mystery of reversing effect into cause while contemplating the Dao Venerable’s Change, overturning the karma of his manifested body.
• Zhao Cheng’s manifested body traveled back to an earlier time and became Daoist Zhao Cheng, while his true body saw the resulting altered histories as a way to accumulate toward the Great Dao.