Recaps

Zhao Fu explained to a group of aspiring officials why Great Qin used harsh methods to secure its rule and why poetic talent alone did not make someone fit for office. The young men reconsidered their ambitions, while Nalan Ruo suspected Zhao Fu held a high position and the group eagerly asked him about Great Qin's Majesty.

• The young man in green criticized Great Qin's punishments, treatment of conquered scholars, and destruction of books, and Zhao Fu told him he was better suited to poetry than officialdom.
• Zhao Fu explained that Great Qin used severe punishments and suppression to stabilize its rule quickly, and that officials had to consider the whole situation rather than act on compassion alone.
• The group realized that being a capable poet did not make someone a capable official, and some decided to pursue other paths while others remained determined to serve.
• Nalan Ruo admired Zhao Fu and guessed he was highly valued by Great Qin's Majesty, while Zhao Fu praised the ruler and the group asked him questions about him.

Zhao Fu saved Aru from a tiger at a remote temple and confronted the temple’s mature leader after she demanded he leave. He insisted on asking her questions, leaving her tense as she faced his threat.

• Zhao Fu left Nalan Ruo after declining to give his name or residence, and she regretted not befriending him.
• A tiger attacked the women planting cherry blossom trees near a remote temple, and Zhao Fu subdued it before it could kill Aru.
• The women thanked Zhao Fu, while Aru and the others spoke with him until their mature leader ordered them to be quiet.
• The mature woman thanked Zhao Fu for saving Aru but told him he was unwelcome and should leave.
• Zhao Fu challenged her demand by invoking Great Qin law and threatened to kill her unless she improved her attitude and answered his questions.

Zhao Fu questioned the women living in a remote cherry blossom forest and learned they had fled Great Qin after its conquest killed their families. He promised not to harm them if they submitted, while resolving to strengthen Great Qin’s control over the resentment he saw as a hidden danger.

• Zhao Fu asked the mature woman why she and her disciples lived in the mountains, and she explained they had come there six years earlier to escape war and avoid worldly affairs.
• The mature woman distrusted Zhao Fu’s assurances and refused to criticize Great Qin, so he seized her by the throat until her disciples begged him to let her go.
• The mature woman revealed that Great Qin had killed her father and taken her mother and beloved, and that her disciples had also lost their families during the conquest of their city.
• Zhao Fu considered the women and others who resented Great Qin hidden threats, and decided to strengthen surveillance and ideological control.
• Zhao Fu promised that he would not harm the women as long as they submitted to Great Qin.

Zhao Fu revealed himself as Great Qin’s ruler to the mature woman and offered her a chance to reunite with her mother and lover. After returning to Great Qin, he handled state affairs and considered how to support the families of fallen soldiers.

• Zhao Fu revealed that he was the Great Qin Imperial Prince, and the mature woman restrained her desire for revenge because her mother and lover were in his hands.
• Zhao Fu promised the mature woman a chance to see her mother and lover, and placed a restriction on the tiger so it could guard the temple.
• Zhao Fu visited several places, returned to Great Qin, and reviewed memorials about public opinion and rebuilding villages and cities.
• Zhao Fu summoned the mature woman’s mother and lover and told them she might return in a few days.
• Zhao Fu considered improving support for the families of fallen soldiers and allowing Great Qin’s dead soldiers to be buried in their hometowns if they chose.

Zhao Fu ordered Great Qin’s intelligence forces to watch for corruption and threats, then agreed to help the Second Wind God Empire resolve its natural disasters in exchange for four times the grain. The envoy accepted, and Great Qin’s Calamity Sealers were set to depart once the grain arrived.

• Zhao Fu summoned Ye Qiuye and ordered the White Sect to monitor major affairs involving court ministers and Great Qin’s policies.
• Zhao Fu ordered Eternal Night’s eleven leaders to investigate anyone who might harm Great Qin and erase them if necessary.
• Zhao Fu summoned Li Si to discuss policies for the ministers to consider at the next court assembly.
• A soldier reported that an envoy from the Second Wind God Empire had requested an audience, and Zhao Fu learned that the First Wind God Empire’s losses had weakened its ally.
• The Second Wind God Empire’s envoy asked Zhao Fu to resolve its natural disasters in exchange for grain, and Zhao Fu agreed to four times the amount requested.
• The envoy accepted Zhao Fu’s terms, and Zhao Fu said Great Qin’s Calamity Sealers would depart once the grain arrived.

The Gongsun sisters demonstrated a flying sword they had developed using Life Metal from the Alchemy World, impressing Zhao Fu with its speed and piercing power. Gongsun Zhu explained how the family created Heavenly Alchemy Metal and nurtured a sword by infusing it with a living creature’s soul and the maker’s blood.

• Great Qin received grain from the Wind God Empire and sent Calamity Sealers to address the disaster.
• Gongsun Zhu and Gongsun Lin arrived in Great Qin and showed Zhao Fu a flying sword they had developed.
• Gongsun Zhu controlled the sword with a sword gesture, making it fly, pierce a boulder, and return to her.
• Zhao Fu praised the invention and promised rewards for the Gongsun Family and the sisters.
• Gongsun Zhu explained that the sisters infused Life Metal with spiritual energy to create Heavenly Alchemy Metal, then nurtured a sword embryo with a creature’s soul and their own blood.

Zhao Fu learned that Gongsun Zhu’s flying swords could be mass-produced and ordered Great Qin to prepare materials and forge them. He tasked Ge Nie with building an army of sword cultivators, and aptitude testing began across Great Qin.

• Gongsun Zhu explained that flying swords could be mass-produced and described the materials and methods needed to forge them.
• Zhao Fu ordered the collection of Five Elements materials and decided Great Qin needed both many sword cultivators and powerful specialists to wield the swords.
• Zhao Fu summoned Ge Nie and showed him a flying sword, which Ge Nie recognized as a living, sword-shaped creature.
• Zhao Fu entrusted Ge Nie with training an army of sword cultivators and told him to coordinate his needs with Li Si.
• Ge Nie enlisted Sword Gate members to help and announced sword-cultivation aptitude tests throughout Great Qin.

Great Qin began nurturing flying swords by preparing enormous formations and planting Five Elements Sword Embryos filled with molten metal. Zhao Fu used captives’ souls to supply the swords’ spiritual essence, then left Great Qin while the swords continued to develop.

• Great Qin built vast spirit-gathering and soul-splitting formations, then forged and planted Five Elements Sword Embryos across the land.
• Teams poured molten metal into the embryos, and Zhao Fu activated the spirit-gathering formation to draw in spiritual energy and transform the metal into flying swords.
• Zhao Fu ordered several thousand captives brought to the soul-splitting formation and had soldiers execute them.
• The formation split the captives’ souls into fragments, and the sword embryos absorbed them, purifying their power and infusing it into the flying swords.
• Zhao Fu decided against adding soldiers’ blood to the swords and returned to Great Qin, leaving the flying swords to be nurtured.

Great Qin faced Alchemy World's third assault, led by Fire Ghost and Ice Cold with 1.2 billion soldiers and five thousand Holy Beasts of War. After the beasts shattered Great Qin's protective barrier, Alchemy troops advanced up metal stairs toward the city walls, leaving the battle underway.

• Zhao Fu learned that Alchemy World was attacking with twice as many soldiers as before and rushed to Great Qin's defenses.
• Ice Cold and Fire Ghost led the Alchemy army to Great Qin and offered Zhao Fu the chance to surrender, but he refused.
• Ice Cold ordered the Holy Beasts of War to fire, and their beams destroyed Great Qin's protective barrier.
• Alchemy soldiers hurled spears through formations while Great Qin's Shield Bearers blocked them with a shield wall.
• Alchemy Ladder Builders raised metal stairs toward the walls, and Alchemy soldiers charged up them to attack Great Qin.

Great Qin repelled Alchemy World's assault with Chaos formations, a hidden spiked trench, and arrow fire, then Zhao Fu ordered Dragon-Shooting Ballistae to attack the War Holy Beasts. Their Calamity Pearls pierced the beasts' defenses, and one arrow turned a War Holy Beast, its riders, and the surrounding ground to sand.

• Great Qin activated the Chaos World Formation, destroying the metal stairways and leaving Alchemy soldiers exposed to a deadly arrow barrage.
• The Alchemy leaders ordered the War Holy Beasts to fire, and their beams pierced Great Qin's holy barriers and killed soldiers and Holy Light Envoys.
• Great Qin's Chaos formations suppressed Alchemy formations, while a concealed spiked trench stopped the charging Alchemy soldiers before they filled it and advanced again.
• Zhao Fu ordered more than twelve hundred Dragon-Shooting Ballistae to fire rune-covered arrows at the War Holy Beasts.
• The arrows pierced the beasts' defensive barriers, and a Calamity Pearl turned one War Holy Beast, its riders, and nearby ground to sand.

Zhao Fu used Calamity Pearls to destroy about two thousand Alchemy Clan War Holy Beasts, but agile mechanical beasts and alchemy soldiers soon threatened Great Qin’s walls. As the siege intensified, Yu Ling teleported Fire Ghost’s explosive metal sphere above the alchemy army just before it detonated.

• Zhao Fu’s arrows unleashed fire, wind, and lightning that destroyed about two thousand War Holy Beasts and killed their riders.
• Agile dog-shaped War Holy Beasts attacked Great Qin’s walls, killing soldiers and cracking the walls as alchemy troops advanced.
• Zhao Fu sent about ten thousand Icefire Flying Dragons to fight the mechanical beasts, while Holy Light Envoys shielded the walls from cannon fire.
• Alchemy soldiers reached the walls and began climbing as both sides exchanged arrows, projectiles, and powerful beams.
• Fire Ghost threw a metal sphere toward Great Qin’s walls, and Zhao Fu called on Yu Ling to teleport it above the alchemy army before it exploded.

Zhao Fu’s forces fought the alchemy army while Ice Cold unleashed a giant mechanical eye that froze Great Qin’s city wall and soldiers. Zhao Fu used Yu Ling’s spatial ability to kill Ice Cold, but the pair returned to the wall with Yu Ling badly injured after evading the Holy Beasts’ cannon fire.

• A metal sphere transferred toward the alchemy army exploded, and the two billion Great Qin defenders began fighting the alchemy soldiers on the walls.
• Ice Cold used his blood and alchemy power to enlarge a mechanical eyeball, whose freezing gaze encased sections of Great Qin’s wall and its soldiers in ice.
• Zhao Fu ordered Di Moji to stop the eyeball, but the Holy Beasts struck her with cannon fire and sent her crashing into the ground.
• Zhao Fu and Yu Ling teleported beside Ice Cold, and Zhao Fu cut him in two with the Imperial Killing Sword, causing the eyeball to shatter.
• Two Holy Beasts targeted Zhao Fu and Yu Ling with cannon fire, but Yu Ling teleported them back to the wall and spat out a large mouthful of blood.

After Great Qin repelled another Alchemy World offensive, Zhao Fu found that research into the alchemy soldiers’ weaknesses and the search for items containing time power had made little progress. He then rushed to the Underworld Soldier transformation site, where the cultivation of over one hundred million ghost beasts had triggered a vast eruption of yin energy.

• Yu Ling recovered enough for Zhao Fu to send him aside, while Great Qin pressed its attack and the Alchemy World ordered a full retreat.
• Fire Ghost threatened Zhao Fu, who warned him to protect his own life before trying to attack Great Qin again.
• Zhao Fu ordered the battlefield cleared and the defenses reinforced, then learned from Bai Shan and Li Si that research and searches for useful resources had yielded little.
• A pillar of yin energy erupted near the Underworld Soldier transformation site, and Zhao Fu flew there to investigate.
• Zhao Fu discovered that over one hundred million ghost beasts had finished cultivating and were filling the sky with their ghostly power.

Zhao Fu tested the hundred million ghost beasts raised by Great Qin and discovered that they could fuse with underworld soldiers to increase their strength. He planned to keep raising the beasts and seek more King Seals while continuing to search for a way to control underworld soldiers without the Nine Nether King Seal.

• Zhao Fu inspected the ghost beasts, found one had reached the third stage of the first order, and used the Soul Beast Heart to subdue their attack.
• Zhao Fu formed a soul contract between an elderly ghost beast and an underworld soldier, then ordered them to fuse.
• The fusion raised the underworld soldier to the second order, and Zhao Fu realized the beasts could rapidly strengthen Great Qin's soldiers.
• Zhao Fu considered the Nine Nether King Seal's limits on the number of underworld soldiers and chose to keep seizing other nations' King Seals while seeking an alternative method of control.
• Zhao Fu decided to continue raising ghost beasts, which could grow stronger over time and eventually help Great Qin field higher-order soldiers.

Zhao Fu turned one hundred million yin soldiers into second-order Ghost soul beasts and visited Yellow Springs Kingdom, where Yellow Springs Spirit gave him two divine sparks. He summoned the Ghost God and Evil Ghost God as Great Qin’s gods, leaving only three more gods needed to open the gate to the Divine World.

• Zhao Fu decided to create Ghost soul beasts gradually because Great Qin lacked suitable people to use as materials and could not begin a large-scale war in the Netherworld.
• Zhao Fu contracted one hundred million yin soldiers with Ghost soul beasts, making them second-order soldiers to help Great Qin withstand the Alchemy World.
• Yellow Springs Spirit gave Zhao Fu the Ghost God and Evil Ghost God divine sparks recovered from ruins in captured regions.
• Zhao Fu fused the divine sparks into yin jade statues, and the Ghost God agreed to serve Great Qin.
• Zhao Fu subdued the attacking Evil Ghost God and made her a god of Great Qin.

Zhao Fu learned that the Alchemy Giant was an advanced alchemy creature formed through Philosopher's Stone resonance, and that Great Qin's researchers were investigating whether they could reproduce the process. He then visited the War Holy Beast research site, where Mu Minxian reported that they had made no progress.

• Zhao Fu visited the laboratory holding the Alchemy Giant, which attacked him but was subdued by darts coated in paralytic poison.
• A researcher explained that Alchemy Giants formed when powerful Philosopher's Stones resonated with others, and that Great Qin was trying to discover how to trigger this resonance.
• Zhao Fu ordered the researchers to continue investigating how to create Alchemy Giants and report any discoveries.
• Zhao Fu went to the research site holding the sealed War Holy Beast and asked Mu Minxian whether Great Qin could manufacture such beasts.
• Mu Minxian told Zhao Fu that research into the War Holy Beasts had made no progress because their creation involved core secrets of the Alchemy World.

Zhao Fu learned why the Alchemy Clan’s War Holy Beasts could not be replicated in Great Qin and heard how the Alchemy World cultivated them. Mu Minxian also recounted the Alchemy World’s devastating war and its mysterious origin, leaving Zhao Fu aware that the world was still weakened from its past.

• Zhao Fu asked Mu Minxian why Great Qin had made no progress cultivating War Holy Beasts, and she explained that Alchemy World nests required inherited alchemy power that Great Qin lacked.
• Mu Minxian described how the Alchemy Clans slowly grew and modified their Holy Beasts with alchemy formations, Philosopher's Stones, and mechanical weapons.
• Mu Minxian recounted how the War Holy Beasts once rebelled, causing a catastrophic war that devastated the Alchemy World before the Alchemy races defeated them and removed their self-awareness.
• Zhao Fu learned that the Alchemy World remained weakened and heard how an enormous metallic meteorite had struck its World Heart, transforming the world and filling it with alchemy power.

Zhao Fu learned about the Alchemy World's unified identity, its origins, and the Sage whose creations shaped the world and its war machines. He was left worried about the Sage's unknown fate and the danger the Alchemy World posed to the Apocalypse World.

• Zhao Fu compared the Alchemy World's single-clan identity with the Apocalypse World's divided races and imagined uniting all eight major races.
• Zhao Fu wondered how the Apocalypse World and Chaos World had formed and feared that Great Qin could be swallowed by a larger world in the endless void.
• Zhao Fu learned that the Sage had created alchemy arts, including the Holy Beasts, and was revered as the origin of the Alchemy World’s power.
• Zhao Fu heard that the Sage had left a thread of his soul origin in the Heaven-Refining Pillar and had entered the endless void long ago.
• Zhao Fu felt shocked by the Sage’s power and more pressured by the war between the Apocalypse World and the Alchemy World.

An eight-billion-strong army of Tier 2 soldiers advanced on Great Qin, forcing Zhao Fu to mobilize defenses while neighboring powers prepared for the possible fallout. The armies met at Great Qin’s western border, where Zhao Fu recognized Su Yan among the enemy leaders.

• A Great Qin Soldier reported the approaching army, and Li Si told Zhao Fu it numbered eight billion Tier 2 soldiers whose identity was unknown.
• Zhao Fu ordered troops recalled from the Netherworld and Chaos World and placed the Alchemy World on alert.
• Yao Ming prepared to attack Great Qin during the battle, Fengshen Sha mobilized forces to prepare for a crisis, and the alliance gathered armies while debating how to respond.
• Half a day later, the fiery-red-armored army reached Great Qin’s western defenses as Great Qin assembled about twenty billion troops.
• Zhao Fu saw three enemy leaders and recognized Su Yan, an old enemy of Great Qin.

After fleeing the Human World, Su Yan and Li Baiqing resolved to join forces against Great Qin, while Zhang Heng chose to leave their struggle behind. At dawn, they parted ways, with Su Yan and Li Baiqing traveling together and Zhang Heng riding his little donkey in the opposite direction.

• Li Baiqing recalled his hatred of Zhao Fu and Great Qin, while Su Yan remained determined to destroy Great Qin after his repeated defeats.
• Zhang Heng urged Su Yan to abandon his obsession and build a new life, but Su Yan refused and gave him their branch’s inheritance text to pass on.
• Su Yan approached Li Baiqing and pledged to help him destroy Great Qin, and Li Baiqing agreed that they would rise again together.
• Su Yan and Li Baiqing discussed their plans to oppose Great Qin, while Zhang Heng decided not to join them.
• At dawn, Su Yan and Li Baiqing departed together, and Zhang Heng rode his little donkey in the opposite direction.

Su Yan and Li Baiqing settled in the Flame Kingdom and used the missing princess as an opportunity to gain influence. Years after Li Baiqing married Flame Princess and rose to power, the Flame Kingdom agreed to send an army against Great Qin under a general’s command.

• Su Yan and Li Baiqing traveled to the Flame Kingdom, where the king offered a reward for the missing Flame Princess.
• After finding Flame Princess, Su Yan planned for Li Baiqing to win her affection and use their marriage to gain power in the kingdom.
• At the Spark Festival, Li Baiqing met Flame Princess and later saved her from thugs, beginning their relationship.
• Flame Princess fell in love with Li Baiqing, revealed her identity, and married him after he told the Flame King about his origins.
• Li Baiqing gained authority in the Flame Kingdom and requested troops to destroy Great Qin, promising the land to the kingdom.
• The Flame Kingdom approved the campaign but appointed a great general to command the army instead of giving Li Baiqing full military authority.

Li Baiqing returned with the Huo Yan army to destroy Great Qin and attacked its city walls with fire magic. Great Qin’s defenses crumbled under the assault, and enormous dragon-like creatures appeared as the battle intensified.

• Li Baiqing confronted Zhao Fu, declared his intent to destroy Great Qin, and learned that his mother, grandmother, and Yang Yuyan were in Zhao Fu’s harem.
• Li Baiqing ordered the Huo Yan army to attack, and its soldiers bombarded Great Qin’s defensive barrier with Fireballs until it shattered.
• Zhao Fu ordered Great Qin’s archers to fire rune arrows and crossbow bolts, inflicting casualties on the Huo Yan soldiers.
• The Huo Yan army renewed its Fireball assault, breaking through Great Qin’s shield wall in places and causing casualties among its defenders.
• Huo Yan spellcasters summoned a fiery magic formation that rained flames onto Great Qin’s walls, while the army charged under its cover.
• Dragon roars shook the battlefield as enormous insect-like and dragon-like creatures appeared.

Great Qin and the Flame army unleashed powerful weapons and magic in a fierce battle. Zhao Fu’s forces shattered the Flame army’s formations, but Li Baiqing sent Flame Giants onto the walls to fight Great Qin’s Corpse Soul Guards.

• Zhao Fu deployed Flying Insect Nest Dragons, whose beams blasted through the Flame army and killed many soldiers.
• Li Baiqing ordered General Yan to launch a full-scale assault, and Fire Mages summoned twelve formations that sent swarms of firebirds against Great Qin’s walls.
• Zhao Fu brought out ultimate Dragon-Shooting Ballistas, whose bolts shattered the twelve fiery formations and badly injured or killed many Fire Mages.
• The Flying Insect Nest Dragons pierced the Flame army’s mist shield and continued tearing through its ranks.
• Li Baiqing sent Flame Giants to attack Great Qin’s soldiers on the walls, where they clashed with the Corpse Soul Guards.

Flame Giants and the Flame army breached Great Qin City’s defenses as Fire Beasts joined the assault, while the Demon Horn Empire opened a second front against Great Qin. Great Qin’s beasts held their own in the north, but its defensive barrier was shattered and Demon Horn soldiers reached the city walls.

• Fire Beasts attacked Great Qin City with enormous fireballs, and the Flying Insect Nest Dragon charged at them.
• The Flame army climbed Great Qin’s walls, where second-tier Flame soldiers and Great Qin’s remaining second-tier troops fought in close combat.
• Yao Ming sent thirty billion troops and demonic beasts to attack Great Qin from the north, and the beasts on both sides began a fierce battle.
• Great Qin’s ferocious beasts slightly outmatched the Demon Horn Empire’s demonic beasts, but the Demon Horn army pressed its assault on Great Qin City.
• The Demon Horn army’s purple-aura beasts repeatedly struck the defensive barrier until they shattered it, and Demon Horn soldiers reached the walls as Great Qin prepared flaming oil.

Great Qin repelled Yao Ming’s advance with a cursed ground that killed the Demon Horn army and its flying troops, despite losing its first defensive wall. On the western battlefield, the Blood God Fiends and Great Qin’s other forces inflicted heavy losses, and Li Baiqing agreed to withdraw as the battle turned against him.

• Yao Ming’s Demon Horn army and flying troops overwhelmed Great Qin’s first wall, forcing Great Qin’s soldiers and beasts to retreat.
• Yao Ming ordered his army to invade Great Qin, but a second wall and cursed ground stopped the advance and killed many soldiers, flyers, and demon beasts.
• Yao Ming’s prepared curse-breakers could not clear the powerful curse, and he killed one of them in anger.
• Wild God and twelve divine envoys used blood spheres to drain soldiers and empower the Blood God Fiends on the western battlefield.
• The corpse soul guards and Flying Insect Nest Dragons attacked the enemy forces while both armies suffered heavy losses atop the walls.
• Flame General and Su Yan urged Li Baiqing to retreat, and Li Baiqing agreed.