Recaps

Chen Qi’s film The Witch King Is Back premiered across Terra and presented a more human, thoughtful Witch King than Leithania’s official history allowed. As the film unsettled the Twin Empresses and viewers, Great Yan’s emperor and officials watched anxiously, awaiting Chen Qi’s next controversial work.

• Chen Qi finished filming The Witch King Is Back with Ebenholz embedded among the Witch King’s remnants, while the Twin Empresses gathered evidence against the collaborators and delayed arrests at Chen Qi’s request.
• The film premiered in Leithania and other countries, drawing crowds, while the emperor of Great Yan screened it for his officials and worried that Chen Qi’s planned production would portray him as a foolish ruler.
• The film opened with Ebenholz portraying the Witch King, whose voice and appearance astonished viewers familiar with the historical figure.
• The Witch King treated a child’s insult with patience and pride, leaving viewers confused by the contrast with Leithania’s propaganda about him.
• Older Leithanians recognized the film as a credible portrayal of the Witch King, and the Twin Empresses realized it could undermine their efforts to erase and vilify him.

The film showed the Witch King rebuilding his following by writing a book, training young supporters, and exploiting public discontent, while Wei Yenwu explained why people still supported him. The Twin Empresses began reconsidering how they would deal with the Witch King's former followers.

• After the Witch King’s puppy-killing scandal, he wrote a book and restored his public standing through publicity and animal-protection donations.
• Wei Yenwu told Chen Huijie that the Witch King had earned devoted followers by defeating Gaul and giving people confidence and benefits.
• The Witch King recruited young Leithanians and trained them into a fanatical force, alarming the Twin Empresses.
• Czerny’s television station lost its audience after the Witch King left, so Czerny decided to work with him again to save it.
• The Twin Empresses considered dividing the Witch King’s former followers into groups and judging them according to their individual circumstances.

The film revealed the Witch King's brutal persecution of non-Leithanians and showed that Bellini had knowingly become his ally. As Kreide confronted him at the tower, the Witch King argued that Leithanians had elected him and began explaining why people followed him.

• The Twin Empresses disagreed over whether exposing the Witch King's agents could secure Leithania's future, then continued watching the film.
• Młynar recognized the Witch King, accused him of killing the Silvermane Knights, and attacked him with his cane.
• The Witch King admitted he should have persecuted non-Leithanians more harshly, shocking Kreide and the audience with his candor.
• The Great Yan emperor reflected on the Witch King's political influence while Kreide realized the man was genuine and Bellini had already chosen to support him.
• Kreide confronted the Witch King, who insisted Leithanians had elected him and challenged Kreide to condemn them as well.
• At the edge of the tower set, the Witch King asked Kreide why people followed him and began answering.

After The Witch King Is Back ended, Wei Yenwu recognized its warning about the people and anticipated Chen Qi’s coming production would unsettle Great Yan’s court. He learned that Chen Qi had cast him as a fictional emperor named Jiajing, leaving him alarmed that the role might signal a threat to the throne.

• The Twin Empresses decided to release commoners arrested without conclusive evidence and summon the nobles among the Witch King's suspected remnants.
• Wei Yenwu praised Chen Qi’s film for showing why the Witch King emerged and argued that rulers had to address the people’s demands to prevent his return.
• Wei Yenwu predicted Chen Qi’s planned production in Great Yan’s capital would expose dangers in the court and provoke a major upheaval.
• Wei Yenwu asked Chen Huijie what role Chen Qi had assigned him, and she revealed that he would play an emperor named Jiajing.
• Wei Yenwu dropped his teacup and feared the role suggested he might take the throne from his younger brother, the current emperor.

Chen Qi secured the release of Schnitz and Yolanta Nearl as his reward for helping the Twin Empresses stabilize Leithania, reuniting them with Młynar. After the reunion, Chen Qi arranged for the Nearl parents to meet Margaret and Maria.

• The Twin Empresses released people without evidence against them and executed confirmed Witch King remnants involved in human experiments, restoring public confidence and encouraging citizens to report the remnants.
• Chen Qi asked the Twin Empresses to let Schnitz and Yolanta Nearl leave Leithania, and they agreed to send their guests home.
• Młynar reunited with Schnitz and Yolanta, voiced his anger over their years of silence, and received their gratitude and recognition as head of the Nearl Family.
• Schnitz thanked Chen Qi for protecting the Nearl Family, while Chen Qi arranged for Margaret and Maria to come to Rhodes Island and reunite with their parents.

After the Witch King's Spiral Horn absorbed the Voice of the Mundane from Ebenholz and Kreide, it resurrected the Witch King as a powerful soul. Chen Qi offered him temporary cooperation in exchange for teaching the film crew Originium Arts, but the Witch King tried to possess Chen Qi and was met by a golden lion emerging from his body.

• Chen Qi accepted the Witch King's Spiral Horn from Leithania, and its power absorbed the Voice of the Mundane from Ebenholz and Kreide.
• Koschei explained that the horn had absorbed the Witch King's resurrection relics, but the Witch King emerged from it in soul form.
• The Witch King attacked the Nearl Family, and Nian and Xi warned that they could trap him through the horn or in a painting.
• When Zuo Le arrived from Great Yan, the Witch King agreed to talk rather than fight the assembled group.
• Chen Qi offered the Witch King temporary freedom in exchange for teaching the film crew Originium Arts, but the Witch King lunged to possess him.
• A gigantic golden lion burst from Chen Qi and roared at the Witch King's soul, shaking it.

Chen Qi arrived in the Great Yan capital with Rhodes Island and began planning a court drama, “Great Yan Dynasty 1566.” He described Emperor Jiajing as a gifted master of political maneuvering, leaving Wei Yenwu alarmed and the court astonished.

• Huang and Kal'tsit discussed Rhodes Island's participation in Chen Qi's production as their ship approached the imperial capital.
• The Great Yan emperor welcomed Chen Qi and his companions, reunited Xi and Nian with Ling and Chongyue, and offered palace resources for filming.
• Chen Qi requested officials as actors and permission to film in the Western Garden and Jiangnan, then explained that his drama was titled “Great Yan Dynasty 1566.”
• Chen Qi said the fictional Emperor Jiajing was descended from Wei Yenwu and praised him as an exceptionally gifted ruler who controlled the court through political maneuvering.
• The Grand Tutor reflected on Great Yan's tangled court factions as Wei Yenwu privately wondered why Chen Qi's supposedly incompetent emperor sounded so formidable.

After the cast for Great Yan Dynasty 1566 was arranged, Chen Qi’s plans to film the drama alarmed Xi and Nian, who feared the emperor might kill him. Ling recognized the sisters’ feelings and dragged them away before they could draw dangerous attention, while Chen Qi offered roles to Ling and Chongyue.

• Chen Qi moved into the palace with his crew and handed over the scripts for the first two episodes, while Xi urged him to abandon the production because it could anger the emperor.
• Xi admitted she was afraid Chen Qi would die, confessed she could not bear to return to her lonely life on Huiji Mountain, and vowed not to leave him.
• Nian stayed silent as Ling overheard Xi’s confession and realized both sisters had feelings for Chen Qi.
• Ling seized Xi and Nian, angrily warning them not to expose Chen Qi’s identity or endanger the family while they were in the palace.
• Chen Qi told Ling that Chongyue could appear as the general Qi Jiguang and suggested Ling play the Purist Zhao Zhenji.

Chen Qi began filming Great Yan Dynasty 1566, and its opening scenes revealed the brutal court politics of Emperor Jiajing’s era. As the emperor questioned the power of the Directorate of Ceremonial, Chen Qi warned that Great Yan’s factional struggles were subtler than the obvious schemes shown so far, and the cabinet’s arrival set up the next confrontation.

• Ling kept Nian and Xi away from the production after drinking with them, then helped Chen Qi supervise filming while the two sisters recovered.
• The emperor cast Celestial Master Bai as Gao Gong and Madam Wen Yue as Zhang Juzheng, and Chen Qi started filming Great Yan Dynasty 1566.
• Aak played Feng Bao as he interrogated Zhou Yunyi, whose criticism of the court led to a fatal beating at Meridian Gate.
• Ling and the Imperial Astronomical Bureau summoned dark clouds and snow, allowing Feng Bao to report an auspicious omen while the emperor considered the danger of rewarding schemers.
• Chen Qi explained that the Directorate of Ceremonial’s power depended on the emperor, then warned Chen Huijie that Great Yan’s officials could use rules to destroy rivals.
• The five cabinet members arrived in the snow as representatives of the Yan Faction and Clear Stream Faction, preparing to discuss matters of state.

Great Yan’s emperor and the others watched the drama expose how Yan Shifan and the Yan Faction defended suspicious spending, while the Clear Stream officials challenged them. The scene ended with Emperor Jiajing appearing in a Daoist robe, leaving the viewers to judge the ruler who kept powerful factions under control.

• Yan Song attributed Great Yan’s deficit to disasters and campaigns, then credited Jiajing’s prayers for the snowfall while shifting blame away from the emperor.
• Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng challenged Yan Shifan over fourteen million taels in overspending, and Yan Shifan defended the missing warships and inflated palace-repair costs with plausible explanations.
• Ling recognized that Yan Shifan’s account of lost ships and difficult construction could conceal embezzlement, while Great Yan’s emperor concluded that the Yan Faction served Jiajing’s private interests.
• Zhang Juzheng warned that repeated deficits would force the court to tax the people further, but Yan Shifan accused Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng of being treacherous ministers and of backing Zhou Yunyi.
• Jiajing entered after the officials greeted him, reciting poetry in a plain Daoist robe rather than a dragon robe.

The first episode of "Great Yan Dynasty 1566" portrayed Emperor Jiajing as a commanding ruler who used his ministers’ rivalry and a silk-production plan to strengthen Great Yan, leaving Chen Huijie and Kal'tsit questioning whether he was truly incompetent. A month later, the emperor of Great Yan screened the episode for his officials, who confessed their failings and received temporary demotions as he prepared to show them the next episode.

• Wei Yenwu questioned Yan Song about Zhou Yunyi’s source of information, and Yan Song defended the Grand Secretariat by explaining that the court’s disaster-relief spending was publicly recorded.
• Wei Yenwu ended the ministers’ factional dispute by declaring that he wanted loyal, capable ministers, then considered a proposal to expand Jiangnan’s silk production and trade.
• Yan Song proposed converting half of Zhe City’s farmland into mulberry fields, and Wei Yenwu approved the plan while ordering that the converted land keep its farmland tax rate.
• Chen Huijie and Kal'tsit wondered whether Emperor Jiajing was really incompetent, while the emperor of Great Yan asked Chen Qi to let officials watch the finished drama before the public.
• A month later, the emperor of Great Yan screened the first episode for his officials, who recognized the court’s corruption and factionalism and admitted their guilt.
• The emperor of Great Yan demoted the officials by one rank for a year while allowing them to keep their duties, then asked Lee to play the second episode.

The second episode of Great Yan Dynasty 1566 taught Great Yan’s officials about court survival before exposing how Zhe City’s authorities used a national policy to seize farmland and suppress the people. The chapter ended as Chongyue’s Qi Jiguang confronted a troop leader after stopping Ma Ningyuan’s arrests.

• Emperor Jiajing learned that Prince Yu had a son and signaled his intention to make him heir, while Great Yan’s officials felt reassured by comparison with their own emperor.
• Lü Fang rescued Feng Bao from the snow, reprimanded him for his rash actions, and taught him how officials should respond to danger and prepare for shifts in power.
• Prince Yu’s allies discussed the risks of converting rice fields to mulberry fields and sent Tan Lun to consult Hu Zongxian in Zhe City.
• The drama showed soldiers and Celestial Masters forcibly burying rice seedlings, prompting Great Yan’s officials to condemn the abuse and demand Ma Ningyuan’s punishment.
• Ma Ningyuan branded the protesting farmer Qi Dazhu a Deep Sea Cultist and ordered the protesters arrested, but Chongyue’s Qi Jiguang arrived and halted the arrests.
• Chongyue ignored Ma Ningyuan and confronted a troop leader with visible anger.

Hu Zongxian tried to prevent famine and revolt by delaying the conversion of rice fields to mulberry plantations, but the Yan Faction chose to force the policy through, even at the cost of destroying dikes and flooding fields. After the episode ended, the emperor asked his officials to study better solutions, while Chen Qi prepared to film the next, more brutal stage of the story.

• Chongyue punished the Celestial Masters who had buried seedlings, took his soldiers away from Ma Ningyuan, and left Ma Ningyuan facing the angry commoners alone.
• The emperor of Great Yan and the Grand Tutor welcomed Hu Zongxian as a capable official, while the emperor worried about Emperor Jiajing's role in Great Yan's corruption.
• Hu Zongxian ordered grain merchants to lend grain and recommended postponing the conversion of rice fields to mulberry plantations until Zhe City was prepared.
• Yan Shifan and her subordinates insisted the commoners must sell their fields, while Yan Song acknowledged Hu Zongxian's concerns about provoking an uprising.
• The emperor asked his officials to devise solutions to Hu Zongxian's crisis, and Chen Qi asked Xi to paint dikes for the next episode.
• Lin Yuxia objected to playing a character who destroyed dikes and flooded fields, but Chen Qi defended filming the oppression so it could be exposed.

Chen Qi used the drama to show Great Yan’s officials how factional struggles and corrupt policies could devastate ordinary people, while Chen Huijie reaffirmed her resolve to uphold justice. The group entered Xi’s painted world to film the planned destruction of Zhe City’s dikes, with the flood about to begin.

• Hu Zongxian explained that Tan Lun’s arrival had turned a manageable land-reform dispute into a factional struggle that left him unable to protect the people of Zhe City.
• Chen Huijie told Wei Yenwu that witnessing the officials’ greed had strengthened her judgment and her resolve to act on her conscience.
• Yang Jinshui, Liang Xun, Ning Ciqiu, and The Emperor persuaded Ma Ningyuan to take responsibility for the dike destruction and flooding in order to shield Hu Zongxian.
• Ling condemned the officials for disguising selfish crimes as loyalty and righteousness, and Chen Qi said the filmed disaster would warn Great Yan’s officials.
• Xi led Chen Qi and the others into her painted world, where she had recreated Zhe City’s dikes, villages, and towns as storm winds and rain gathered.

Chen Qi filmed the flood disaster in Xi’s painting, forcing Zuo Xuanliao and the others to witness how Great Yan’s corrupt officials sacrificed civilians and soldiers for private interests. The experience left Zuo Xuanliao convinced that Great Yan’s greatest enemies were within its own ranks, and he promised to defend the drama’s release.

• Xi destroyed nine dikes in the painting, unleashing a flood that devastated the surrounding counties and horrified the viewers.
• Li Xuan confronted Yang Jinshui about the sabotage, but Yang warned him to stay ignorant of the conspiracy.
• Hu Zongxian and Tan Lun struggled to contain the flood, and Hu Zongxian chose to divert it after soldiers and Celestial Masters failed to stop it.
• Qi Dazhu and the villagers volunteered to have the flood diverted into their county, helping Hu Zongxian limit the disaster to one and a half counties.
• Zuo Xuanliao lamented that Great Yan was doomed by its own officials, then learned that the apparent deaths had been staged within Xi’s painting.
• Zuo Xuanliao thanked Chen Qi and pledged to protect the drama’s release, while Ling and Nian noticed Xi’s affection for Chen Qi.

Chen Qi returned to the palace and told the emperor that Jiajing would fail to become a Feranmut and Prince Yu would briefly revive Great Yan. As they watched the fourth episode, Hu Zongxian condemned Ma Ningyuan for the flood disaster and exposed the self-serving officials Ma Ningyuan was trying to protect.

• The emperor asked Chen Qi whether the corrupt Great Yan portrayed in the drama still had a future, and Chen Qi said Jiajing failed to become a Feranmut and Prince Yu ushered in a period of recovery.
• Chen Qi invited the emperor to watch the fourth episode, where Hu Zongxian questioned Ma Ningyuan about what it meant to do what could not be done.
• Hu Zongxian rebuked Ma Ningyuan for flooding nine counties, and Ma Ningyuan panicked and begged him to protect his family.
• Ma Ningyuan insisted the disaster would help the court's policy of converting rice paddies to mulberry groves and accepted responsibility for it.
• Hu Zongxian explained that Ma Ningyuan was shielding officials who traded people's livelihoods for money, then ordered him to listen to what those men truly thought.

The Yan Faction’s officials tried to shift responsibility for the sabotaged dikes onto Ma Ningyuan, but Hu Zongxian forced them to seek a delay in the mulberry policy and arrange relief. Back in the capital, Yan Shifan admitted to Yan Song that she ordered the flooding, while Yang Jinshui’s meeting with Lü Fang ended with the Great Yan emperor furiously cleaving the screen in two.

• He Maocai revealed that Yan Shifan had ordered the dikes destroyed, and Hu Zongxian used the admission to prevent the Yan Faction from placing all the blame on Ma Ningyuan.
• Hu Zongxian ordered the officials to deliver relief grain, seek a three-year postponement of converting rice fields to mulberry plantations, and include Yang Jinshui’s approval in their memorial.
• Yan Song learned from Hu Zongxian’s memorial that the dikes had been sabotaged, while Yan Shifan admitted she had ordered the flooding to force the land conversion policy forward.
• Luo Wenlong defended Yan Shifan and claimed the common people should accommodate the court’s difficulties, angering Wei Yenwu and Chen Huijie.
• Yang Jinshui offered tea to Lü Fang, who told him the emperor knew about the flooding and valued his loyalty; the Great Yan emperor then cleaved the screen in two.

After the emperor of Great Yan stormed out over the drama’s criticism of his reign, Wei Yenwu assured Chen Qi that filming could continue. The crew completed episode four, ending with Lin Yuxia’s fierce portrayal of Yan Shifan, while Chen Qi’s companions prepared to protect him from possible repercussions.

• The emperor of Great Yan left the lounge in anger after watching the drama, and Zuo Xuanliao, Liang Xun, Ning Ciqiu, and Wenyue went to speak with him.
• Chen Qi was surprised that the emperor had taken offense after only four episodes, but Wei Yenwu explained his younger brother’s reaction and backed the decision to keep filming.
• Chen Qi filmed Hu Zongxian’s visit to the Yan Residence, where Lin Yuxia’s Yan Shifan refused to let him see Yan Song and cursed at a servant who questioned her.
• At the Shrine of Worthies, Lin Yuxia’s Yan Shifan accused Zuo Xuanliao’s Hu Zongxian of betraying the Yan Faction, then slapped herself twice and demanded to know whether he would enforce the policy in Zhe City.
• After filming ended, Chen Qi’s companions surrounded his room with guards, but he turned them away and said that he and Talulah could protect themselves.

Chen Qi and Talulah spent the night together while Xi arranged for foreign powers to seek access to his Great Yan political drama. The Great Yan emperor faced a gathering of state guests asking to study the production, leaving him unable to easily protect Great Yan’s reputation or refuse Chen Qi’s visitors.

• Vina and Saria tried to arrange guards for Chen Qi, but he sent them away by making them listen to his private time with Talulah.
• Talulah admitted defeat and suggested Chen Qi visit FrostNova, but he stayed beside the sleeping Talulah instead.
• Xi told Nian she had left paintings in countries the crew had visited and planned to use them to draw foreign interest in Chen Qi’s work.
• The Great Yan emperor received a succession of diplomatic delegations, including representatives from Kazdel, Victoria, Columbia, Syracuse, Laterano, and Ursus.
• The Great Yan emperor summoned Chen Qi and the state guests, who explained that they wanted to watch his drama to help guide their countries’ reconstruction.
• The Great Yan emperor realized the visitors wanted to see Great Yan Dynasty 1566, while Xi and Nian watched him struggle to respond.

Chen Qi secured the Great Yan emperor’s approval to continue filming “Great Yan Dynasty 1566,” while Xi saw the state guests’ visit as an opportunity to win Chen Qi’s support against Ling. At the state banquet, Wei Yenwu warned Theresis against threatening Great Yan, and the emperor prepared to use Talulah’s new title and Chen Qi’s arrival to signal his ties to the imperial family.

• The Great Yan emperor agreed to let the state guests watch the first four episodes and asked Chen Qi to include a positively portrayed official; Chen Qi introduced Hai Rui as the second protagonist.
• Xi resolved to use the distraction of the state banquet to get Chen Qi to clarify his position, while Nian noticed Xi’s excitement.
• Wei Yenwu praised Chen Huijie’s performance as Hai Rui and told Chen Qi he hoped the young characters could change Great Yan; Chen Qi said a few people alone could neither save nor destroy a country.
• Theresis and Talulah found Chen Qi, and Wei Yenwu warned Theresis that Great Yan would support Kazdel only if its ambitions did not threaten Great Yan.
• At the state banquet, the Great Yan emperor gave Talulah the title of Lady to emphasize her connection to Great Yan’s imperial family, then summoned Chen Qi and Wei Yenwu before the wary foreign guests.

At the state banquet, the Emperor of Great Yan forced Wei Yenwu to sit beside him, signaling that the brothers jointly ruled, while Chen Qi screened episode five of "Great Yan Dynasty 1566" for the foreign leaders. The episode exposed Jiajing’s dangerous suspicions of Prince Yu and Hu Zongxian, and ended with Hu presenting evidence about the deliberately destroyed dikes.

• The Emperor of Great Yan seated Wei Yenwu beside him and told him he could take the throne if he acknowledged his identity as the emperor’s elder brother.
• Chen Qi and Talulah screened episode five of "Great Yan Dynasty 1566" while Chen stood ready to explain its political subtext to the state guests.
• In the episode, Jiajing questioned Hu Zongxian about executing officials without permission and warned Prince Yu over Tan Lun’s interference with the rice-to-mulberry policy.
• Chen Qi explained that Jiajing suspected Prince Yu of opposing his policy and possibly plotting rebellion, alarming the Duke of Windermere and the other leaders.
• Hu Zongxian offered to resign and accepted sole responsibility for the flood, then presented confessions from Ma Ningyuan and the other officials about the dike destruction.

Jiajing and Yan Song maneuvered Hu Zongxian into continuing the conversion of rice fields to mulberry groves while keeping the Yan Faction in power, and the rulers watching debated the drama’s lessons. As Jiajing took an elixir, Lü Fang explained that Hu Zongxian remained trapped between opposing sides.

• Jiajing revealed that Hu Zongxian’s confession described neglected river dikes, and Hu asked to be removed from office.
• Jiajing refused to let Hu Zongxian step aside and kept him in charge of Zhe City and Southern Zhili.
• Yan Song proposed stripping Hu Zongxian of his administrative post while requiring him to safeguard Zhe City’s trade routes and the silk deal, leaving him responsible for the mulberry policy.
• Talulah criticized Jiajing for claiming hardship, and the emperor of Great Yan declared that future rulers should be better than him.
• Jiajing took an elixir, and Lü Fang told him that Hu Zongxian was caught between the Yan Faction and its opponents.

Jiajing tried to balance the Yan Faction and the Purists while protecting Hu Zongxian, but the Purists proposed sacrificing Zhe City to bring down their rivals. After the foreign rulers requested recordings of the drama to study its statecraft, Chen Qi agreed to send them, and he explained that the emperor of Ursus wanted to keep the recordings secret from his aristocrats.

• Jiajing ordered that Tan Lun be protected, that Prince Yu and several officials receive approval to send people to Zhe City, and that the palace stop obstructing Hu Zongxian.
• Zhang Juzheng explained that the Purists planned to let Zhe City descend into chaos so the Yan Faction would lose its usefulness to Jiajing, while Prince Yu's Consort condemned sacrificing the people.
• Yan Shifan sent Gao Hanwen to oversee the rice-to-mulberry conversion, intending to use him as a shield if the policy caused a popular uprising.
• The emperor of Ursus, Theresis, and other rulers asked Chen Qi for recordings of each new episode, and Chen Qi agreed to send them after broadcast in Great Yan.
• Chen Qi told Chen Huijie and Talulah that the emperor of Ursus wanted the recordings delivered privately so his aristocrats could not study the drama, and said the emperor's time to regain power was limited.

Chen Qi oversaw a scene in which Hu Zongxian warned Gao Hanwen about the dangers in his relief plan, then fell into Xi’s painting and reassured her that she belonged with the crew regardless of her powers or family ties. Xi’s attempt to confess her feelings was interrupted when Nian kissed Chen Qi, and Ling arrived to discover the confrontation.

• Chen Qi watched Zuo Xuanliao teach Zuo Le, through their roles as Hu Zongxian and Gao Hanwen, how Gao’s relief plan could spark unrest and how he should leave difficult decisions to the court.
• Chen Qi returned to his room, fell asleep over Xi’s painting, and woke inside its world beside Xi.
• Xi asked Chen Qi whether he had welcomed her to the crew for her authority or because she was Nian’s younger sister, and Chen Qi assured her he valued her as a person.
• Xi began to tell Chen Qi about a decision she had made, but Nian used Reforging to separate Xi from the painting and then pinned Chen Qi down and kissed him.
• Xi returned to the painting and confronted Nian, while Ling appeared and angrily rebuked her; Nian kissed Chen Qi again, leaving Xi to collapse and Ling to curse her.

Chen Qi continued filming Great Yan Dynasty 1566 as the drama’s local officials plotted to force Hai Rui into helping them exploit disaster victims, while Emperor Jiajing pursued immortality through elixir pills. The chapter ended with Jiajing’s cultivation scene underway and the consequences of his pill-popping still to come.

• Ling spared Nian a beating after Chen Qi intervened, then warned him to restrain Nian and Xi and keep their affairs hidden from Talulah.
• Nian told Xi that she had deliberately provoked Ling to take the blame and protect Xi, though Xi realized Nian had also wanted to reveal her feelings for Chen Qi.
• Zheng Michang and He Maocai concluded that the court’s failed farmland-conversion policy would leave them facing punishment, so they planned to frame Qi Dazhu for colluding with the Church of the Deep and force Hai Rui to compromise.
• Chen Qi explained that Hai Rui’s knowledge of the law and the officials’ mistakes would thwart Zheng Michang and He Maocai, while Shen Yishi would buy farmland through the Weaving Bureau.
• Wei Yenwu filmed Emperor Jiajing taking elixir pills and attempting to ride clouds, as Chen Qi planned to show the pills’ deadly consequences later.