Chapter Summaries

Fang Yun learned that the King of Chu had seized control of Pearl City and persecuted people connected to him, including innocents, while he remained at Two Worlds Mountain. His officers urged him to stay calm and seek protection, but Fang Yun said he had his own way to resolve the crisis.

• Fang Yun recited a winter-plum poem that hinted at his concern for Zhang Jing'an, and the Jing Commandery Prince and Qishan Army officers sensed an undisclosed meaning.
• News spread that Zhang Jing'an had been beaten unconscious, prompting outrage and debate on the discourse rankings over the King of Chu's actions.
• Fang Yun's Pearl River Army officers learned that the King of Chu had transferred their army away, put the Jingzhou Army in control of Pearl City, and arrested or exiled people connected to Fang Yun.
• Fang Yun received an urgent letter describing the persecution and the death of a farmer's wife, and he resolved that the King of Chu would regret his actions.
• The Pearl River Army officers warned Fang Yun that returning or losing focus at Two Worlds Mountain could lead to his death, and they urged him to seek a post or protection there.
• Fang Yun thanked the officers for their concern but said he had his own way to resolve the crisis.

Fang Yun led the Pearl River Army through the aftermath of the King of Chu’s purge and learned that his grim mood was hurting his soldiers’ morale. After Du Ling reminded him to steady himself, Fang Yun restored his composure, and the chapter ended as he and other scholars sensed something ahead at Two Worlds Mountain.

• Fang Yun rejected offers of help and told Jie Bingzhi and Qu Tong that he would handle the purge himself while focusing on the Battle of Bi and Shen.
• Gou Bao taunted Fang Yun and the Pearl River Army with an allusion to the purge as the Pearl River Army and Qishan Army exchanged positions.
• Fang Yun led the Pearl River Army through battle while Du Ling served among its ranks and kept smiling despite the insults.
• Du Ling warned Fang Yun that his gloomy mood was affecting the Pearl River Army’s morale, and Fang Yun thanked him and regained his usual composure.
• Du Ling explained that he smiled so the demon barbarians would not see his tears, and Fang Yun kept the written note as the two shared a smile.
• On the night of the first day of the twelfth month, Fang Yun and other scholars looked up after sensing something ahead.

Three hundred Barbarian Kings began a coordinated assault on Two Worlds Mountain, prompting the human forces to mobilize for a battle that could determine the war’s outcome. Fang Yun watched Zhang Qingfeng’s army endure the attack as the Barbarian Kings stayed back and sent in a second group.

• Fang Yun and the other commanders put their troops on alert as hundreds of Barbarian Kings gathered, and the news mobilized forces across the human lands.
• The Barbarian Kings advanced with a much larger Demon Barbarian army, signaling a major assault and raising fears that the Battle of Bi and Shen could reach its decisive stage.
• The Barbarian Kings stopped a li from the wall and unleashed waves of demonic arts while Demon Barbarians attacked; human scholars countered with War Poetry and other powers.
• Fang Yun held back and watched Zhang Qingfeng lead the Pearl River Army against the attackers.
• When the Qishan Army arrived to relieve the defenders, the Barbarian Kings retreated and a second group of three hundred took their place.

The Demon Barbarians escalated the siege by rotating trained Barbarian Kings, while Fang Yun and the Two Worlds Mountain command prepared for fiercer fighting. On the fourth day of the twelfth month, the Qishan Army arrived to relieve the Pearl River Army, and Wang Li challenged Gou Bao over the three-month military merit contest.

• The Demon Barbarians sent waves of rotating Barbarian Kings, alarming Fang Yun and the commanders at Two Worlds Mountain.
• The commanders assessed the Demon Realm’s strategy and warned the human armies to conserve literary qi and prepare for further escalation.
• Fang Yun received notice that scholars would be issued Literary Treasures and chose two Great Scholar treasures with Zhang Qingfeng.
• The Pearl River Army routed many Demon Barbarians before the Qishan Army arrived to relieve it on the fourth day of the twelfth month.
• Wang Li announced that the Pearl River Army had surpassed the Qishan Army in military merit and demanded to know what Gou Bao had to say.

Fang Yun confronted Gou Bao over his broken promise to donate the Gou Household’s wealth, but learned the household had already gambled away nearly all its assets. Gou Bao was left publicly humiliated when the Gray Robes refused to cooperate with his army, while Fang Yun vowed to settle matters after the Battle of Bi and Shen.

• Gou Bao halted the wager dispute during the army rotation and claimed he would settle it after the Battle of Bi and Shen.
• Fang Yun and other commanders pressed Gou Bao to fulfill his promise to give the Gou Household’s fortune to Two Worlds Mountain.
• Fang Yun received word that Gou Bao’s descendants had gambled away nearly all the family’s assets at a gambling house tied to the Chu royal family.
• Gou Bao blamed his descendants and compared his family’s misfortune to the Pearl River Marquis Residence, prompting Fang Yun to promise repayment after the battle.
• The Ministry of War’s chief director announced that the Gray Robes would no longer cooperate with Gou Bao’s Qishan Army, and Gou Bao was publicly ridiculed.

As the Battle of Two Worlds Mountain intensified, Fang Yun and the Pearl River Army fought under increasingly severe conditions while remaining tenth in the military rankings. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Graduate Examination results revealed Ning'an County’s growing appeal, prompting kingdoms to expose corruption in their education and government offices, though some proved unwilling or unable to act.

• The Ministry of War ordered the armies at Two Worlds Mountain to rotate every twelve hours, and the arrival of three hundred Barbarian Kings made the fighting far more brutal.
• Fang Yun used War Poetry at a greatly increased rate as the Pearl River Army struggled to keep demon barbarians off the walls, while remaining tenth in the military rankings.
• The Metropolitan Graduate Examination results showed the Jing Kingdom ranked fourth in its proportion of second-class grades, and Ji County and Ning'an County placed among the kingdom’s top ten cities.
• Reports revealed that many Ning'an County graduates came from other kingdoms and that its graduates favored schools such as the Craftsmen School, prompting officials to investigate their education systems.
• Grand Secretariats in several kingdoms purged disloyal officials, but smaller kingdoms failed to act decisively, leaving scholars disillusioned and some preparing to move to Ning'an.

After the Human Race gained a hundred thousand new Metropolitan Graduates, Fang Yun continued fighting and training at Two Worlds Mountain through New Year's. On New Year's Day, the Demon Realm launched a surprise assault with ten thousand kings, and Fang Yun flew to the wall as the decisive battle began.

• The Human Race gained a hundred thousand new Metropolitan Graduates, and ten thousand were assigned to Two Worlds Mountain, boosting the army's morale.
• The Demon Barbarians reinforced their forces until a thousand Barbarian Kings were attacking, while Fang Yun spent New Year's Eve fighting, honing his True Dragon Ancient Sword, and writing History of the Ancient Demons.
• The Ministry of War warned Fang Yun that the Barbarian Kings might assault the wall and sent Grand Academicians to defend it, but Fang Yun stayed behind to write.
• Chen Ben announced that the Demon Realm had launched a surprise attack with ten thousand kings, and Fang Yun raced toward the Boundary Mountain City Wall.
• Fang Yun realized the Demon Realm had attacked before the new Metropolitan Graduates could complete Sword Gestation and saw black shadows swooping toward the wall beneath the Demon Moon.

Fang Yun raced toward the Two Worlds Mountain City Wall as a vast Demon Barbarian army overwhelmed its defenders, while powerful Demon Emperors watched from above. The Shen Kingdom army began to retreat, but five Gray Robes turned and advanced toward the enemy.

• More than a thousand Barbarian Kings and Demon Kings reached the wall and slaughtered human soldiers as Fang Yun rushed toward them.
• Human scholars and war machines fought back, killing over two hundred Barbarian Kings with Light Iron Poison Arrows, but the human defenders suffered heavy casualties.
• Three thousand Demon Kings and Barbarian Kings landed on the wall, forcing all fifty human armies to retreat under the pressure of their Blood-Qi Demon Banner.
• Fang Yun saw a Shen Kingdom army lose its courage and retreat while five Gray Robes stood their ground behind it.
• The elderly Hanlin Academician leading the Gray Robes walked against the retreating crowd and struck his chest with his hand.

An old Hanlin Academician and other Gray Robes sacrificed their lifespans to unleash heaven-and-earth righteous qi and slaughter Demon Kings, but the battle at Two Worlds Mountain continued. Fang Yun killed three powerful enemies with Snow-Slaying Sword before Xu Changxiang revealed his sewn-shut mouth and began the same life-consuming technique.

• An old Hanlin Academician turned his blood and remaining years into righteous qi, killing eight Demon Kings before his body crumbled to dust.
• Other Gray Robes sacrificed their lifespans to kill more than seven hundred Demon Kings and Barbarian Kings, inspiring retreating human soldiers to turn back and fight.
• Fang Yun unleashed three Grand Academician war poems, using Snow-Slaying Sword to kill a Boar Demon King and a Wolf Barbarian King.
• Fang Yun saw Xu Changxiang remove his mask and cut open the stitches sealing his mouth.
• Xu Changxiang summoned a rusted Talent Qi Ancient Sword and recited Jade-Blooded Loyalty to sacrifice his remaining years for righteous qi.

Fang Yun and the Gray Robes helped hold back the Demon Barbarians at Two Worlds Mountain as Xu Changxiang sacrificed himself and Fang Yun’s War Poetry killed a Demon King. With Peak Demon Kings closing in, Fang Yun decided to forge a Glorious Prose Literary Platform to strengthen his War Poetry and aid the defense.

• Xu Changxiang used his Tongue Sword to kill nine Demon Kings, then sacrificed himself and left his gray robe to Du Ling.
• The Gray Robes, ballistas, Grand Academicians, and summoned famous generals slowed the Demon Barbarians’ advance while Peak Demon Kings approached the wall.
• Fang Yun’s Marching to War summoned thirty thousand soldiers, whose weapons tore a Wolf Demon King apart.
• More Grand Academicians, including Wei Huangan, Fan Wendong, Meng Jingshu, and Xun Tianling, joined the defense as Fang Yun feared the battle could escalate into the Second Battle of Two Worlds Mountain.
• Fang Yun postponed forging a True Dragon or Ancient Demon Literary Platform and chose to forge a Glorious Prose Literary Platform to strengthen his War Poetry.

Fang Yun fought the Demon Kings and Barbarian Kings at Boundary Mountain City while using Dual-Mindedness to forge the Glorious Prose Literary Platform in his Literary Palace. His first attempt exploded without damaging his powerful Literary Palace, leaving him to question why it had failed.

• Human reinforcements poured onto the walltop as Demon Kings and Barbarian Kings pressed forward behind vast numbers of demon barbarians.
• Fang Yun fought outside while beginning to condense the Glorious Prose Literary Platform within his Literary Palace.
• Fang Yun drew on his knowledge of poetry and prose, compressing literary qi into the platform’s initial form.
• The embryonic platform formed the characters for “Glorious Prose” and then exploded.
• The fragments bounced harmlessly off Fang Yun’s Literary Palace walls and returned to him as literary qi, but Fang Yun opened his eyes with a trace of doubt.

Fang Yun repeatedly failed to forge several kinds of literary platform, despite following their methods and finding no flaw. With Peak Demon Kings reaching the battlements and Du Ling’s army under attack, he faced an urgent need to succeed.

• Fang Yun tried four times to forge a glorious prose literary platform, but each nascent platform exploded without revealing a cause.
• Fang Yun abandoned the glorious prose platform and tried to forge an Eight-Bushel Literary Platform, but his next two attempts failed as well.
• Fang Yun turned to the Paper-Price Literary Platform, whose power could temporarily turn paper into a Sage Page, but his seventh and eighth attempts failed.
• Peak Demon Kings reached the battlements as Du Ling’s army came close to being breached by Barbarian Kings.
• Du Ling lowered his head to write an Edge-Opening Poem, spat out his Talent Qi Ancient Sword, and used Jade-Blooded Loyalty.

Fang Yun witnessed Du Ling sacrifice himself to kill demon barbarians, then forged an unprecedented Sea of Learning Literary Platform after all seventeen known designs failed. He wrote four linked war poems that produced several rare forms of treasure light, including a never-before-seen same-rhyme treasure light.

• Du Ling merged his Talent Qi Ancient Sword with Heaven-and-Earth Righteous Qi, killed eleven Demon Marquises and Barbarian Marquises, and helped the True Dragon Ancient Sword kill a Barbarian King before dissolving into light.
• Fang Yun folded Du Ling's gray robe, resolved to keep fighting, and created an eighteenth type of Literary Platform: the Sea of Learning Literary Platform.
• Fang Yun wrote four war poems on a Sage Page, from "Ode to the Qin People" through "Ode to Li Guang," with Instant Poem Completion.
• The poems produced eternal-transmission radiance and four layers of linked-poetry treasure light, astonishing the scholars on the battlefield.
• A new treasure light, named same-rhyme treasure light, appeared because all four poems used the same Han-Shan rhyme.

Fang Yun’s four linked battle poems awakened same-rhyme treasure light, and Ode to Li Guang became a Great-Scholar-level war poem that summoned Li Guang and raised a protective Great Wall. The chapter ended as Li Guang drew his bow and fear spread among the Demon Kings.

• The scholars recognized the four linked poems’ shared themes and saw that Fang Yun’s work had awakened same-rhyme treasure light.
• The poem’s many layers of treasure light elevated Ode to Li Guang beyond Grand Academician battle poetry to Great-Scholar War Poetry.
• The Sage Page burned, and Li Guang appeared behind Fang Yun as a fully corporeal general while a translucent Great Wall protected the humans.
• Fang Yun exhausted one cloud of literary qi as Li Guang took up his bow and drew immense primordial energy toward it.
• An Emperor Realm being ordered the Demon Kings and Barbarian Kings to attack, but fear appeared on some Demon Kings’ faces when Li Guang drew his arrow.

Fang Yun empowered Ode to Li Guang with literary hearts and platforms, then unleashed a devastating arrow storm that annihilated the demon barbarians near Two Worlds Mountain. The Battle of Bi and Shen ended in victory for the human race.

• Fang Yun used his literary hearts and the Sea of Learning Literary Platform to strengthen Ode to Li Guang, while the Myriad-People Literary Platform enveloped the archers in radiant figures.
• Four Li Guangs appeared and surrounded the demon barbarians, prompting the Tiger Demon Emperor to order his forces to attack.
• As hundreds of Peak Demon Kings prepared a joint Sage Aspect Strike, Fang Yun released his Poetry Cauldron and activated Golden Resonance of Jade.
• Li Guang and the human archers fired, and the arrows multiplied until more than seven hundred million rained down on the demon barbarians.
• The arrows killed every demon barbarian within ten li of Two Worlds Mountain, and the surviving army retreated as the human race won the Battle of Bi and Shen.

Fang Yun taught the Grand Academicians on Two Worlds Mountain his Ode to Li Guang, allowing them to summon a host of Li Guang phantoms that broke the demon barbarians’ courage. The demon army fled toward Demon Barbarian City, where a stampede killed many, and the humans celebrated Zhang Longxiang’s decisive victory.

• The fleeing demon barbarians turned back in rage and threatened to attack Two Worlds Mountain, prompting the human soldiers to form defensive ranks.
• Fang Yun offered to teach the war poem directly, and the Poetry Lords and most Grand Academicians bowed to him as their master.
• Fang Yun recited the Ode to Li Guang, and its power entered the Grand Academicians who had acknowledged him.
• The Grand Academicians used War on Paper to summon hundreds of Li Guang phantoms, which frightened the demon barbarians into fleeing and caused a stampede at Demon Barbarian City’s gates.
• An Emperor Realm demon killed the barbarians near the gates and ordered the army to stay outside the city.
• The Poetry Lord and other officers praised Zhang Longxiang’s poetry and wondered how much military merit Mingzhou would receive.

Fang Yun planted the Pearl River Army Banner atop the Boundary Mountain City Wall after his victory, restoring the army’s pride and earning the human race’s first true victory in the War of the Two Worlds. The chapter ended with armies and civilians bowing to Zhang Longxiang while the demon barbarians lowered their heads in fear.

• Scholars mocked Gou Bao after Fang Yun’s victory and recognized the Pearl River Army’s military merit.
• Fang Yun carried the Pearl River Army Banner to the wall as Pearl River Army soldiers remembered their years of disgrace and oppression.
• Fang Yun planted the banner in the corpse of a Great Demon King and declared, “The slayer of ten thousand kings—the Pearl River Army!”
• Zhang Qingfeng, Wang Li, and the Pearl River Army shouted their army’s name as the soldiers wept with renewed pride.
• A Great Scholar declared the battle the human race’s first true victory in the War of the Two Worlds, and the crowd acclaimed Zhang Longxiang.
• Gou Bao and the assembled armies were forced to bow to Zhang Longxiang, while hundreds of millions of demon barbarians lowered their heads in fear.

After the Battle of Bi and Shen, the Pearl River Army received honors while Gou Bao and the Qishan Army faced condemnation. That night, Lei Tingzhen and Gu Ju Wu visited Fang Yun to recruit him into their campaign against Void Sage Fang, but Fang Yun questioned the Lei Family’s motives and its broken promise.

• The Command Office granted the Pearl River Army generous leave, pay, and educational benefits, while Gou Bao led the Qishan Army away.
• Chen Ben convened a six-hour meeting where scholars criticized Gou Bao and the Qishan Army, praised Fang Yun and the Pearl River Army, and agreed to spread the army’s methods.
• The scholars predicted the Second Battle of Two Worlds Mountain would come no sooner than six months, then celebrated their victory at a Literary Gathering.
• Fang Yun studied after the banquet, and Lei Tingzhen and Gu Ju Wu arrived to congratulate him and remind him of their agreement to help defeat Void Sage Fang in a literary contest.
• Fang Yun objected that competing against Fang Yun would harm him and asked about the Lei Family’s past apology; Lei Tingzhen claimed Lei Zhongmo had only pretended to seek forgiveness while the family recovered.

After completing the Ninth Mountain, Fang Yun received its supreme reward, the complete literary heart Dual-Mindedness, and chose to return to the Chu Kingdom to uphold justice before entering the Battle Realm to kill Lei Zhongmo. He arrived in Jingzhou City and set out in an ordinary carriage to look around without drawing attention.

• Lei Tingzhen left after Fang Yun agreed to compete with Void Sage Fang for literary renown and promised not to go back on his word.
• Fang Yun awoke at the Ninth Mountain's starting point, and the Book Mountain Elder confirmed that he had passed the trial and praised his achievements.
• The Ninth Mountain's altar and divine light revealed the trial's meaning to Fang Yun, who received the complete supreme literary heart Dual-Mindedness.
• Fang Yun told the Book Mountain Elder that he would return to the Chu Kingdom to uphold justice and later enter the Battle Realm to slay Lei Zhongmo.
• The Book Mountain Elder sent Fang Yun to the Zhang Estate in Jingzhou City, where he ordered an ordinary carriage and changed into a plain blue robe.

Fang Yun visited places from his past and checked that Old Guo had avoided trouble because of him. At a literary assembly in a Ji Family Restaurant, he revealed his poetic skill and overwhelmed the scholars with his presence.

• Fang Yun passed Old Guo’s vegetable stall and felt reassured that the old man had not been implicated because of him.
• Fang Yun remembered the farming couple harmed by the King of Chu’s purge and grew somber.
• Fang Yun entered the Ji Family Restaurant and went upstairs toward a literary assembly.
• When scholars challenged him to compose a poem, Fang Yun began with a line they mocked, then silenced them with a line about the railings reaching toward the stars.
• Fang Yun declared that he would leave no name behind lest it crush the Literary World’s fourteen provinces, and the scholars trembled before him.