Chapter Summaries

Shen Le restored a self-standing cloak and its horse-bone ritual staff, whose spiritual resonance summoned a vision of an ancient rite. The presence returned and addressed the people below as the storm gathered over the Studio.

• Shen Le placed the wig and crown on the restored cloak, which stood and moved on its own.
• Shen Le and the professors identified the staff’s remains as horse bone, then he spent three days restoring the bone staff and reattaching its ornaments.
• The cloak and staff joined in a spiritual circuit, and the cloak lifted the staff as if an unseen figure held it.
• A vision of an ancient ritual stirred the wind and clouds, and Shen Le brought out the Bronze Tripod to steady the situation.
• Light surged from the golden eagle on the staff, and a vast presence descended and said, “My-people-”

Shen Le summoned Eternal Heaven, who questioned why the grasslands north of Huaxia’s border were impoverished while those to the south prospered. After learning that Huaxia could not govern another country but could help by pushing back the Heaven-Earth Barrier, Eternal Heaven agreed to support the effort, leaving Shen Le ready to seek the remaining deities’ ritual implements.

• Shen Le sensed Eternal Heaven descend and witness a thousand years of life, hardship, and change on the grasslands.
• Eternal Heaven saw the stark contrast between the thriving pastures south of the border and the degraded land north of it, and questioned why their people had different fates.
• Lord Pengze arrived and explained the Heaven-Earth Barrier and Shen Le’s plan to awaken Eternal Heaven; Shen Le clarified that Huaxia could not interfere in another country’s affairs.
• The Dragon Lord proposed that pushing back the barrier would bring Qi to the grasslands, and the Bronze Tripod showed Eternal Heaven the wishes of Huaxia’s people.
• Eternal Heaven agreed to help, empowered his ritual implements, and placed a bird-shaped mark on the Bronze Tripod to connect with the other deities’ marks.
• Shen Le told the arriving Special Affairs Bureau official that Eternal Heaven was settled and said he hoped to find the remaining ritual implements so they could push back the Heaven-Earth Barrier.

Shen Le followed the Dragon Lord to a foreign excavation site, where workers had uncovered spiritually powerful ancient fragments. He drove off the workers and seized the artifacts and the surrounding buried earth, then headed home to repair them.

• Officials in the United States and Huaxia discussed the spreading supernatural anomalies and their countries’ responses.
• The Dragon Lord brought Shen Le to a construction site abroad, where excavators had exposed pale-gold Qi and ancient artifacts.
• A black-robed elder tried to approach the exposed Qi but was blasted backward, and workers began burying the excavation.
• Shen Le summoned lightning to disable the machinery and frighten the elder, his attendants, and the workers into fleeing.
• Shen Le collected the fragments, lifted a large block of earth containing more buried objects, recorded the site’s location, and sank into the ground to return home.

Shen Le documented and excavated the ancient settlement preserved in Huang Yutong’s enormous block of earth, then moved the intact archaeological site into a prepared pit. He began restoring its unusually arsenic-rich bronze drum fragments and ordered arsenic trioxide, prompting Gu Yulin to call and warn him not to poison anyone.

• Shen Le followed an archaeology professor’s instructions to document the soil layers and settlement remains before removing the artifacts.
• Shen Le used his spells to transfer the intact test pit into a prepared foundation pit, while the professor gathered students to study it.
• Shen Le returned to the Studio, identified the spiritually powerful fragments as parts of a bronze drum, and asked experts for reference materials.
• Shen Le fitted fragments into a many-rayed star motif, which released a bright beam that temporarily blinded him.
• Shen Le tested the bronze and found arsenic levels ranging from 4.7 to 28 percent, then ordered arsenic trioxide to reproduce the original alloy.
• Gu Yulin called Shen Le after seeing the order and urged him to resolve any grudges through official channels rather than poison people.