Chapter Summaries

At the Grand Court Assembly, Fang Yun rejected the demand that he admit fault to appease the Miscellaneous School and accused the Jing Kingdom’s officials of lacking the courage to defend their nation. The officials were left facing his charge that their fear and self-interest were undermining the kingdom.

• Sheng Boyuan asked Fang Yun to admit fault to the Miscellaneous School for the Jing Kingdom’s sake.
• Fang Yun challenged Sheng Boyuan’s claim that admitting fault and promising not to obstruct the Miscellaneous School would resolve the crisis, pointing out that its other demands were vague and threatening.
• Sheng Boyuan argued that Fang Yun’s reforms were too radical and that gentler methods might have avoided conflict with the Qing Kingdom.
• Fang Yun erupted at Sheng Boyuan, saying the threats from the Demon Barbarians and Qing Kingdom had forced him to act quickly and accusing the officials of endangering the Jing Kingdom.
• Fang Yun declared that the Miscellaneous School wanted to swallow him and the Jing Kingdom, then condemned the officials as cowardly and self-serving.
• Many officials changed color as Fang Yun accused them of holding back the people trying to strengthen the Jing Kingdom.

Fang Yun rejected the court's plan to seek peace with Qing Kingdom and the Miscellaneous School, arguing that Jing Kingdom should stall and resist rather than surrender. His defiance triggered resignations and military preparations, while Sacred Way Suppression struck Fang Yun's ally Chen Yu and marked the start of the Miscellaneous School's attack.

• Fang Yun condemned the officials for their cowardice and insisted that peace talks should only be used to stall, since Qing Kingdom and the Miscellaneous School sought to cripple Jing Kingdom's reforms.
• Fang Yun left the court before the meeting ended, and Miscellaneous School officials began resigning or fleeing to other kingdoms.
• Zhang Poyue declared that he would fight Qing Kingdom or resign and form a militia, and many military commanders followed him out of the hall.
• The next day, officials from several schools resigned, School of War generals prepared for battle, and Grass Barbarians raided Shuofang City before withdrawing.
• On the third day after the court session, the Academy of Literary Trust severed Chen Yu's Miscellaneous School Sacred Way, leaving him gravely injured and unconscious.

The Miscellaneous School’s warning triggered a wave of resignations among Jing Kingdom’s grassroots officials, forcing the Grand Secretariat to impose penalties and seek a Sacred Academy ruling. Meanwhile, Fang Yun tried to address Jing Kingdom’s labor shortage by recruiting workers from poor regions, but criminal organizations began exploiting the trade.

• Officials and clerks across Jing Kingdom resigned in large numbers after the Miscellaneous School punished Xiang Prefecture officials.
• The Grand Secretariat raised benefits for officials who retired normally and barred those who resigned during the crisis, along with their descendants, from public service.
• Some officials returned to their posts while others resigned in protest, and Jing Kingdom condemned the Miscellaneous School and asked the Sacred Academy to adjudicate the dispute.
• Right Prime Minister Cao Dean and Minister of Rites Sheng Boyuan brought Jing Kingdom’s case to the Sacred Academy, where negotiations dragged on for a month without agreement.
• Fang Yun arranged recruitment of workers from impoverished regions and paid wages in advance to ease Jing Kingdom’s labor shortage and keep workshops operating.
• Lineages and trading firms began selling recruited workers to Jing Kingdom’s workshops, attracting criminal organizations to the profitable trade.

Fang Yun balanced worker protections and public security against the Jing Kingdom’s rapid development while preparing a new Ritual Chancellor Pavilion amid growing political pressure. At Seeking Friends Lodge, Zhang Zongshi’s fellow scholars learned that his rapid rise came partly from sharing in Fang Yun’s rare rewards, then turned their attention to the pavilion’s duties.

• Fang Yun suppressed memorials against labor recruitment but ordered workshops to treat workers properly, expanded worker housing, and tied local officials’ evaluations to public security.
• Fang Yun’s reforms expanded local yamen forces and gradually addressed abuses, while the Negotiation Bureau bought the Jing Kingdom time through the summer.
• As autumn neared, the Miscellaneous School, Qing Kingdom, Ritual Hall, and Eastern Sage Pavilion joined forces to press for a resolution, while the Grand Secretariat announced plans for a Ritual Chancellor Pavilion.
• At Seeking Friends Lodge, the proprietor questioned Zhang Zongshi about resigning from his post to take the Metropolitan Graduate Examination, and Zhang said he wanted to serve the Jing Kingdom sooner.
• The proprietor revealed that Zhang Zongshi had benefited from a Sacred Apricot and Fang Yun’s banquet, where Zhang had dined while receiving guests.
• The scholars gathered in the center of Seeking Friends Lodge to discuss the Ritual Chancellor Pavilion and its responsibilities.

Scholars at Seeking Friends Lodge debated whether Jing Kingdom could withstand the Miscellaneous School, the Ritual Hall, and the Eastern Sage Pavilion. Zhang Zongshi noted that Fang Yun commanded four additional powers, but the discussion concluded they could do little in disputes within the human race.

• Scholars argued that the Ritual Chancellor Pavilion was a stopgap meant to weaken the Ritual Hall and prevent Jing Kingdom from facing Sacred Way Suppression.
• An elderly Academy Student explained that the Ritual Hall and Eastern Sage Pavilion gave Fang Yun’s opponents a decisive advantage over Jing Kingdom’s allies.
• Zhang Zongshi pointed out that Fang Yun also commanded the Water Hall, Bloodmang Hall, the Yangtze, and the Ten Cold Ancient Land.
• The elderly Academy Student argued that those four powers could not meaningfully intervene in internal human disputes, and another Licentiate agreed.

At Seeking Friends Lodge, Zhang Zongshi argued that Fang Yun’s reforms aimed to protect and expand Jing Kingdom’s cultural influence, and the scholars debated how to learn from foreign cultures without surrendering national interests. The next day, Zhang Zongshi received an offer to join the Left Prime Minister’s Office if he passed the Metropolitan Graduate examination.

• Zhang Zongshi learned that Qing Kingdom and the Miscellaneous School had united in a desperate stand against Jing Kingdom, making a direct confrontation dangerous.
• Zhang Zongshi explained that Fang Yun had designed the Ritual Chancellor Pavilion to safeguard Jing Kingdom’s national interests and Literary Way.
• A young man suggested that Fang Yun feared the Pavilion might be eroded by foreign culture and forget its duty to Jing Kingdom.
• Zhang Zongshi used Europa’s Renaissance to argue that cultural flourishing could strengthen Jing Kingdom and extend its influence abroad.
• The young man argued that Jing Kingdom should learn useful knowledge from foreign lands without worshipping them, and Zhang Zongshi praised his insight.
• Zhang Zongshi received an official document offering him a post in the Left Prime Minister’s Office if he passed the Metropolitan Graduate examination.

Fang Yun continued modest reforms while the Ritual Chancellor Pavilion stalled, and the Miscellaneous School’s punishments drove thousands of its scholars to flee Jing Kingdom. The Grand Secretariat responded by announcing clerk examinations and a new merit-based system for selecting and promoting officials.

• Fang Yun introduced hygiene songs and other gradual reforms, while negotiations with the Miscellaneous School made progress on minor details.
• The Ritual Chancellor Pavilion failed to win two-thirds support in either Grand Secretariat vote and was temporarily shelved.
• The Miscellaneous School expelled twenty-three Fang Party officials, then threatened broader action that scholars feared could include Sacred Way Suppression.
• Qing Kingdom offered refuge and favorable treatment to Jing Kingdom’s Miscellaneous School scholars, prompting thousands of officials to resign and flee north.
• The Grand Secretariat announced large-scale clerk examinations and declared that officials would be selected by ability, with any scholar eligible to rise to Left Prime Minister.

Fang Yun announced a nationwide clerk examination for the Jing Kingdom, creating a new route for scholars to enter government service. The examination’s challenge to the Miscellaneous School’s influence sparked debate, and most scholars concluded Fang Yun intended to use it as leverage to negotiate peace.

• The Grand Secretariat announced that the Jing Kingdom would hold a standardized clerk examination in ten days, with Fang Yun setting the questions and serving as chief examiner.
• People across the kingdoms debated the examination, with some praising its open recruitment and others accusing Fang Yun of challenging the Sacred Academy.
• A Qing Kingdom Miscellaneous School Grand Academician accused Fang Yun of establishing his own Miscellaneous School, leading people to recognize that the examination could bypass the Miscellaneous School’s control over government posts.
• Scholars concluded that Fang Yun was using the examination as a bargaining chip to force the Miscellaneous School to negotiate, and they expected the conflict to subside.

The Miscellaneous School Great Scholars debated how to respond to the Clerk Examination, which threatened the school’s future, and chose to pursue peace talks with Fang Yun. They began outlining concessions but remained unable to solve the deeper problem of what careers a Miscellaneous School examination could lead to.

• At Old Peach Residence, two identical men played Go for hours without placing a stone, until one stone fell like a mountain.
• At Upside-Down Peak Mountain, Zong Ganyu asked the Great Scholars what they thought of the Clerk Examination, and Hong Maoshan called it half a Miscellaneous School.
• The Great Scholars argued over force and negotiation, but Zong Ganyu urged peace talks, and an overwhelming majority chose them.
• Hong Maoshan said they would abandon their previous conditions on Jing Kingdom, while Zong Ganyu offered his family’s divine treasures to compensate expelled scholars.
• The Great Scholars debated whether to let Jing Kingdom scholars take the Clerk Examination without facing expulsion or Sacred Way Suppression, but could not agree on the terms.
• Zong Ganyu asked what office a scholar who passed only a Miscellaneous School examination could enter, and the hall had no answer.

The Miscellaneous School chose to abandon its failing campaign against Jing Kingdom and send officials there to negotiate peace. The news overturned the fortunes of two fleeing scholars, leaving Ji Wu desperate to return to Jing Kingdom.

• Zong Ganyu argued that controlling the Clerk Examination could advance the Miscellaneous School and eventually let it seize Jing Kingdom.
• Hong Maoshan led the Miscellaneous School’s negotiating officials to find Jing Kingdom’s delegation gone, then ordered them to travel to Jing Kingdom for peace talks.
• News of the officials’ departure spread, and Jing Kingdom celebrated as the Miscellaneous School headed there to negotiate.
• At the Yangtze River dock, Ji Wu forced Guan Che to wait for another boat as they fled Jing Kingdom for Qing Kingdom.
• After Guan Che read the news, he taunted Ji Wu, who realized Qing Kingdom might reject him and Jing Kingdom might punish him for treason.
• Ji Wu shouted that he belonged to Jing Kingdom and jumped into the river.

Fang Yun delayed peace talks with the Miscellaneous School for ten days, allowing rumors and tensions between Jing Kingdom and its neighbors to grow before scheduling negotiations. At the first meeting, Fang Yun was still absent, and the officials began with fruit and conversation while waiting for him.

• Hong Maoshan and the Miscellaneous School envoys arrived in Jing Kingdom, but Fang Yun refused to meet them, citing illness, and postponed the peace talks.
• Hong Maoshan toured the capital and spread the claim that Fang Yun alone was obstructing negotiations, prompting rumors and denunciations across the Ten Kingdoms.
• News that Fang Yun was handling government affairs while recovering intensified anger in Qing Kingdom and Gu Kingdom, while some Jing Kingdom officials criticized his conduct.
• On the tenth day, Fang Yun scheduled peace talks for the following morning at the Left Prime Minister's Office, relieving both Jing Kingdom officials and the envoys.
• At the meeting, Fang Yun's chair remained empty as Sheng Boyuan told the envoys he was on his way and introduced them to new fruits cultivated with the Bloodmang Realm.

Fang Yun joined the peace talks with the Miscellaneous School, where Hong Maoshan offered to put the Clerk Examination under their control in exchange for Jing Kingdom’s cooperation. Fang Yun agreed only on sweeping conditions that demanded Qing Kingdom territory, the Qing Lord’s death, and long-term guarantees for Jing Kingdom, leaving Hong Maoshan furious.

• The officials spent the day chatting and eating before Fang Yun arrived at the conference room on the Marquis Wu Chariot, eating durian and claiming he was ill.
• Hong Maoshan opened the negotiations by demanding that the Miscellaneous School direct Jing Kingdom’s Clerk Examination and offered support against threats, including the Qing Kingdom.
• Fang Yun pretended to consider Hong Maoshan’s offer, then demanded five Qing Kingdom prefectures, the Qing Lord’s death, an end to the Miscellaneous School’s opposition, the execution of Qing spies including Liu Shan, and further guarantees for Jing Kingdom.
• Hong Maoshan slammed the table and shouted at Fang Yun after hearing the conditions.

Fang Yun disrupted the peace talks by making extreme demands, then left the Jing and Qing Kingdom officials to negotiate. The talks grew tense as Sheng Boyuan offered concessions, Yu Xingshu challenged him for abandoning Jing’s interests, and Cao Dean demanded that Saint Zong answer whether he would safeguard Jing’s peace.

• Fang Yun made outrageous demands, dismissed them as a joke when challenged, and left the negotiations with Hu Li.
• Sheng Boyuan and Hong Maoshan began formal talks, with Sheng offering reduced reparations and below-market prices for Qing resources.
• Yu Xingshu accused Sheng Boyuan of sacrificing Jing’s national interests and walked out with several School of War generals.
• Sheng proposed that the Qing Lord abdicate and offered to urge the Water Hall to lift the water ban, while seeking guarantees against attacks on Jing.
• Cao Dean asked whether Saint Zong would safeguard Jing for ten years and refused to continue negotiations until the Eastern Sage Pavilion replied.

Cao Dean and other Jing Kingdom officials rejected the Miscellaneous School’s demands, while Sheng Boyuan tried to push the peace talks forward. After the negotiations stalled and officials walked out, Sheng vowed to settle the terms within two days, and the talks concluded.

• Cao Dean refused to pressure Saint Zong to protect the Jing Kingdom, while Hong Maoshan asked the Eastern Sage Pavilion for an answer.
• Sheng Boyuan criticized Fang Yun’s proposed Ritual Chancellor Pavilion, and Cao Dean mocked Sheng’s ambition to join the Ritual Hall.
• A rumor spread that the Miscellaneous School planned to force the Qing Lord to die for the Clerk Examination, and the Qing Lord replaced military commanders and summoned officials from other schools.
• The Eastern Sage Pavilion reported that Saint Zong had not agreed to protect the Jing Kingdom, prompting Cao Dean and several officials to leave the negotiations.
• Sheng Boyuan argued with Cao Dean over sacrificing the Clerk Examination and declared that he would settle the terms within two days; the peace talks concluded two days later.

At a grand court assembly, officials argued over whether Jing Kingdom should accept peace terms that would end Sacred Way Suppression. Fang Yun acknowledged the concessions but warned that they could not avert Jing Kingdom’s looming peril, leaving the assembly divided over the threat of its eventual fall.

• Sheng Boyuan presented the peace agreement, while Yu Xingshu opposed its terms and accused Sheng of betraying Jing Kingdom’s interests.
• Sheng defended his concessions as necessary to secure peace, and Yu argued that yielding to Qing Kingdom would invite further aggression.
• The Empress Dowager asked whether anyone had a better way to stop Sacred Way Suppression, and the hall fell silent.
• Fang Yun said the agreement might be worthwhile if it bought Jing Kingdom decades of safety, but warned that the kingdom still faced the danger of losing the nation.
• Sheng argued that the peace terms could secure favorable treatment after Jing Kingdom’s crisis, while refusing them would bring harsher retaliation.

Fang Yun refused the Empress Dowager’s peace talks, arguing that Jing Kingdom must keep building its strength despite the threat of defeat. The debate ended with a Miscellaneous School scholar dead, and Sheng Boyuan warning that failed talks would leave Jing Kingdom without the school’s members and in chaos under Sacred Way Suppression.

• Fang Yun told Sheng Boyuan and the Empress Dowager that giving up the Clerk Examination would weaken Jing Kingdom, and he vowed to keep seeking victory until defeat was unavoidable.
• The Jing Lord praised Fang Yun, and Cao Dean, Zhang Poyue, Cai He, Chen Xibi, Fang Shouye, and Chen Jing each declared how they would stand by Jing Kingdom or Fang Yun.
• An old Metropolitan Graduate of the Miscellaneous School withdrew from the school, destroying his Sacred Way, and died as Fang Yun caught him with Literary Qi.
• Fang Yun ordered the old scholar’s remains given an honorable burial at the Bell Garden’s expense and vowed to collect a blood debt from the Miscellaneous School.
• Sheng Boyuan warned that the failed peace talks would drive every Miscellaneous School member from Jing Kingdom and leave it in chaos under Sacred Way Suppression.

Fang Yun opposed Sheng Boyuan’s attempt to force through negotiations that would hand Jing Kingdom’s Clerk Examination to the Miscellaneous School. He asked the Empress Dowager to retract the decree, and Jing Lord urged his mother to listen to Fang Yun.

• Fang Yun ended the negotiations, declaring that the Clerk Examination could not be handed over while even one scholar disagreed.
• Sheng Boyuan revealed that he had already drafted an imperial edict stamped with the Imperial Jade Seal, forcing the negotiations to take effect after court.
• Fang Yun warned that the decree would drive history backward, while Sheng Boyuan argued that the Miscellaneous School would otherwise suppress Jing Kingdom’s scholars and establish a new Clerk Examination elsewhere.
• Fang Yun explained that Saint Zong had rejected his request to protect Jing Kingdom for ten years, confirming his intent to resist the annexation.
• Fang Yun asked the Empress Dowager to retract the decree, and Jing Lord tugged her sleeve and asked her to listen to Fang Yun.

Fang Yun persuaded Zhao Yuan to cancel the peace talks and revoke Sheng Boyuan’s decree, then took the young ruler on a flight to show him the limits of his future and the vastness of Fang Yun’s own power. Zhao Yuan fell asleep on Fang Yun’s back as they returned to his sleeping quarters.

• After the empress dowager fell ill, Fang Yun challenged Sheng Boyuan’s authority and urged Zhao Yuan to take responsibility as ruler.
• Zhao Yuan canceled the peace talks, voided the agreements, confined Sheng Boyuan at home for three days, and ordered him to surrender the decree.
• Fang Yun sent Cao Dean to retrieve the decree and walked with Zhao Yuan through the imperial garden, asking about the ruler he hoped to become.
• Fang Yun took Zhao Yuan into the sky on Walking the Blue Clouds and showed him how far beyond Zhao Yuan’s reach his own height lay.
• Fang Yun brought Zhao Yuan back to the imperial garden, carried him to his sleeping quarters, and Zhao Yuan fell asleep on his back.

The Empress Dowager confronted Zhao Hongzhuang over her influence on Zhao Yuan and her support for Fang Yun. Zhao Hongzhuang argued that Fang Yun could restore the Jing Kingdom and that her efforts to advance women’s education were worth the risks, leaving the Empress Dowager in tears.

• The Empress Dowager woke and recalled discovering that Zhao Hongzhuang had influenced Zhao Yuan to admire Fang Yun, undoing her plans for the young ruler.
• The Empress Dowager dismissed everyone else and demanded to know why Zhao Hongzhuang had taught Zhao Yuan that way.
• Zhao Hongzhuang defended her actions, saying she had told Zhao Yuan the truth and that the Empress Dowager’s expectations could bring him harm.
• The Empress Dowager accused Zhao Hongzhuang of putting the Heroine Society and Fang Yun ahead of the imperial family, and Zhao Hongzhuang affirmed her resolve to advance women’s learning even if she died for it.
• Zhao Hongzhuang argued that Fang Yun could avenge the late emperor, defeat the Qing Kingdom, and preserve the Zhao Family, while the Empress Dowager wept.
• Zhao Hongzhuang told the Empress Dowager that her experience beyond the palace had changed her, as she had worked with women, founded women’s academies, served in the army, and held government office.

Zhao Hongzhuang left the Empress Dowager to pursue change through women’s strength, while the Miscellaneous School announced that Jing Kingdom would be cut off from its Sacred Way and subjected to Sacred Way Suppression. As scholars fled the kingdom, Liu Shan prepared to return to the capital and confront Fang Yun.

• Zhao Hongzhuang told the Empress Dowager she would eventually leave the palace, and the Empress Dowager ordered her to go before calling her back; Zhao Hongzhuang fled in tears.
• Fang Yun put away his brush as a great white jade seal appeared above the Sacred Academy and proclaimed that Jing Kingdom would be severed from the Miscellaneous School Sacred Way in five days and face Sacred Way Suppression in ten.
• Ji Wu and Guan Che discussed fleeing to Qing Kingdom, and Guan Che predicted that Duke Liu would return to power after Jing Kingdom needed a scapegoat for the coming crisis.
• More than a million people, including Miscellaneous School scholars and their families, began fleeing Jing Kingdom and selling their property.
• Liu Shan put on Grand Academician’s robes in Falling Waterfall Valley and declared that he would return.