Recaps

Li Qinwu took his underlings sightseeing on Paradise World, where they compared its privileged lifestyle with their lives on Agricultural World 496B. He reassured them that their home planet was improving, then brought them to a lavish restaurant and ordered an extravagant fitness meal for himself and children’s meals for the others.

• Li Qinwu strolled through Paradise World’s streets with Joel and his other underlings, who marveled at the bustling city and bought ice cream.
• Joel said Paradise World’s glamorous residents seemed happier than people on Planet 496B, and the others silently agreed.
• Li Qinwu reassured the group that Agricultural World 496B was improving and could reach Paradise World’s standard of living in about twenty years.
• Li Qinwu took his underlings to a grand restaurant and booked its enormous High Lord Suite.
• Li Qinwu ordered protein, carbohydrates, supplements, and iced creatine for himself, then ordered children’s meals for his underlings.

Li Qinwu learned about the Time Corridor and set out to see its historical attractions and meet its creator, Aifeisi. Meanwhile, Inquisitor Thraxol planned to secure a Warrant of Trade for Li Qinwu and bring him into his command as a formal Inquisitor.

• Li Qinwu ordered another round of meals and asked the waiter about local attractions.
• The waiter described the Time Corridor, a month-long train journey through recreations of human history, and introduced its creator, Aifeisi.
• Li Qinwu paid for the meal and led his underlings toward the Time Corridor to see the attraction and meet Aifeisi.
• Governor Mr. Stomach Bag praised Thraxol’s accomplishments and prospects for promotion to Grand Inquisitor.
• Thraxol credited Li Qinwu with helping him succeed and revealed that he had sent the Pale Baron to obtain a Warrant of Trade for Li Qinwu, intending to give him a place among his Inquisitors.

Inquisitor Thraxol met Lady Aifeisi, the Terra aristocrat who created the Time Corridor, at the planetary governor’s banquet. He learned that she considered his arrival a chance to complete her living record of human history by including a real inquisitor.

• The planetary governor introduced Lady Aifeisi to Inquisitor Thraxol as the head of the Aifis Family and creator of the Time Corridor.
• Thraxol judged Aifeisi’s family to be weak and dismissed her historical artwork, though he remained polite.
• Aifeisi explained that six billion people on Purple Diamond Star lived according to different eras to recreate humanity’s history.
• Aifeisi told Thraxol that his arrival had made her work more complete.
• The planetary governor clarified that the Time Corridor’s modern era had not yet included an inquisitor, and Thraxol would fill that gap.

Li Qinwu toured the Era Promenade, where actors and elaborate recreations depicted prehistoric life and second-century Rome and Great Qin. Disturbed by a realistic staged stoning in Rome, he accelerated the villa toward the next era.

• Li Qinwu boarded a mobile villa with his underlings and learned to control its speed with a remote.
• He watched prehistoric humans hunt a mammoth and eat its raw flesh as the attendant explained their reenactment.
• Li Qinwu slowed the villa to admire second-century Rome and Great Qin, while the attendant described their civilizations.
• Li Qinwu saw a prisoner being stoned in Rome and asked whether the reenactors were actually killing someone.
• The attendant said the victim was a dummy, but Li Qinwu found the crowd’s performance unsettling and accelerated toward the next era.

Li Qinwu watched a witch trial in fifteenth-century Trier and realized the people along the Era Promenade were genuinely living through their eras. After Magdalena was burned, he sensed her soul enter the Warp and questioned the waiter’s claim that everything was an act.

• Li Qinwu passed through historic eras before recognizing that the people outside the window were not actors.
• In Trier, a priest accused the elderly Magdalena of witchcraft before a crowd and ordered her burned.
• Magdalena used her powers to knock away the first torch, but crossbow bolts weakened her and the priest set the pyre alight.
• Li Qinwu sensed Magdalena’s soul detach from her body and leave a psychic trail into the Warp.
• Li Qinwu lit a cigarette and asked the waiter whether everything along the Era Promenade was an act.

Li Qinwu realized the Time Promenade was a Warp-tainted trap and tried to escape with his inner circle. After they jumped from their runaway Gravity Villa, they found themselves in the middle of the Normandy landings.

• Li Qinwu recognized Magdalena as a historical witch and suspected the Promenade’s attractions were not merely performances.
• The attendant refused to send Li Qinwu back, so Li Qinwu killed him and discovered that contact with the Golden Road and access to the Warp were blocked.
• Li Qinwu concluded that the Era Promenade was part of a Daemon ritual and warned his companions not to reach the Terminal Station.
• When the Gravity Villa began moving on its own, Li Qinwu smashed its glass and led his inner circle in jumping out, using his psychic power to lower them safely.
• Li Qinwu and his companions landed on the Normandy battlefield during the American landing on June 6, 1944, and he identified Operation Overlord as they took cover from gunfire.

Li Qinwu and his companions arrived at Normandy Beach through the Era Promenade, where American soldiers could not see the Gravity Track that might offer a way back through time. While the Americans attacked German bunkers, Li Qinwu seized a Bangalore torpedo and reached Bunker No. 14, leaving the American sergeant stunned by his impossible leap onto its roof.

• American soldiers landed under German machine-gun fire, and a squad took cover in the shell crater with Li Qinwu and his companions.
• Li Qinwu learned the Americans could not see the Gravity Track and warned his companions they might be swallowed by the Era Promenade if they followed it forward.
• Rudosen urged Li Qinwu to wait until the Americans cleared the bunkers, but Li Qinwu feared they would be captured and interrogated once the battle ended.
• Li Qinwu took a dead demolition soldier’s Bangalore torpedo, blew up the barbed wire, and charged toward Bunker No. 14.
• Li Qinwu leaped more than thirty meters onto the bunker roof, astonishing the American sergeant.

Li Qinwu captured Machine Gun Bunker 14 and armed his companions before leading them through German-held trenches in Normandy. He continued clearing the way ahead while the American soldiers watched in stunned disbelief.

• Li Qinwu used Gravity Control to reach Machine Gun Bunker 14, then killed the German soldiers inside and seized the bunker.
• Li Qinwu signaled Little Knife and the staff officers to join him, and he told them to arm themselves with the captured weapons.
• Rudosen took an MG42, while Li Qinwu loaded up on grenades and insisted he would lead the group with his axe.
• When a German squad came to retake the bunker, Li Qinwu killed the soldiers at the entrance and slaughtered the squad in the trench.
• Li Qinwu led his companions through the trenches as the American squad reached Bunker 14 and watched him fight in astonishment.

Li Qinwu led his staff through the German trenches and used an American squad to call in naval artillery on a German staging area. After a Tiger Tank pinned down both groups, Li Qinwu destroyed it and continued along the Black Gravity Track with his staff.

• Li Qinwu reached the edge of the rear trenches with his staff and found a German staging area crowded with soldiers.
• An American squad that had followed Li Qinwu agreed to call in naval artillery after he asked them to bombard the staging area.
• The naval guns leveled the German staging area, allowing Li Qinwu and his staff to advance along the Black Gravity Track.
• A Tiger Tank opened fire and pinned down Li Qinwu's staff and the American squad after American soldiers tried to follow.
• Li Qinwu charged the Tiger Tank, killed its commander, and destroyed it by throwing grenades through its hatch.
• Li Qinwu continued forward along the Gravity Track with his staff as the American sergeant cheered him on.

Li Qinwu led his staff through the Era Promenade from the Normandy beach to the Battle of the Somme, where they discovered that the simulated eras enforced the technology available in each period. After their modern clothes vanished, Li Qinwu realized the Promenade’s rules had been rewritten by Warp energy and urged the group to return to the Initial Station.

• Li Qinwu led his staff across an empty pasture and through a forest, concluding that the Era Promenade depicted different eras in separated zones.
• Li Qinwu identified the muddy battlefield as the 1916 Battle of the Somme and chose to cross through the German trenches to avoid fire from both sides.
• Li Qinwu’s group entered the deserted German trenches at the edge of the era, where Little Knife noticed their clothes and shoes disappearing.
• Li Qinwu explained that their nylon and plastic clothing vanished because people in 1916 could not manufacture those materials, while their weapons and canvas gear remained.
• Li Qinwu concluded that Warp energy had rewritten the Era Promenade’s rules and called for the group to return to the Initial Station so a warship could destroy it.

Li Qinwu and his aides disguised themselves in German Army uniforms and tried to cross the trenches without speaking German. His improvised words accidentally triggered a German assault on the British Army, leaving the squad caught under artillery fire as they fled through the trenches.

• Li Qinwu found German uniforms and boots at a supply station, and his squad changed clothes and ate canned food.
• Li Qinwu led the squad through the German trenches, bluffing past suspicious soldiers with nonsensical phrases.
• A German Army major mistook Li Qinwu’s nodding and shouted “And!!” for orders, then sounded a whistle that sent thousands of German soldiers charging toward the British lines.
• British and German forces exchanged machine-gun and artillery fire, and shells struck near Li Qinwu’s squad.
• Li Qinwu led his aides sprinting through the trenches to escape the artillery barrage.

Li Qinwu’s group encountered Britain’s Mark I tanks during the Somme attack, forcing him to defend his companions and fight the British advance. After destroying ten tanks from the air, he helped rally the German Army, which charged into battle as he continued overhead.

• Li Qinwu shielded his group from a Mark I tank’s machine-gun fire and ordered them to retreat into a bend in the trench.
• Li Qinwu rose into the air and used Psychic Lightning to destroy British tanks while evading rifle and machine-gun fire.
• British soldiers called Li Qinwu a German Superman and fired at him as he continued blowing up tanks.
• After Li Qinwu destroyed the tenth tank, German soldiers surged from their trenches and attacked the British Army.
• A German officer urged his soldiers forward, and they charged while looking up at Li Qinwu in admiration.

Li Qinwu helped the German Army defeat the British Army, then led his group toward the edge of the era, hoping to escape the Era Promenade by heading north. His flight revealed that the forest and landscape looped back on themselves, leaving the group with no choice but to travel upstream through the eras.

• Li Qinwu routed the British Army by appearing as German Superman, then left the celebrating German soldiers to rejoin Rudosen and the others.
• Yellow Hair suggested heading north or south to leave the Era Promenade, and Li Qinwu decided to test the idea at the forest between eras.
• Greenhead stopped to rest, so Li Qinwu flew north alone to scout while the others ate their rations.
• Li Qinwu saw that the forest stretched far beyond sight and suspected the Era Promenade repeated its landscape beyond the traversable route.
• After flying more than twenty kilometers north, Li Qinwu found Little Knife, Little Joel, and the others waiting ahead, confirming the route looped back on itself.
• Li Qinwu concluded that the group could not escape by traveling north or south and would have to continue upstream through the eras.

After learning that the Era Promenade was a vast project, Li Qinwu worried that Inquisitor Thraxol might be in danger but chose to lead his staff onward instead of abandoning them. The group reached a new era and identified a naval battle as the 1862 Battle of Hampton Roads, the first clash between ironclad warships.

• Rudosen and Little Knife realized the Era Promenade’s construction might implicate the planetary governor and endanger Inquisitor Thraxol.
• Li Qinwu weighed reviving himself to rescue Thraxol against staying with his staff, then chose to lead the staff into the next era.
• Li Qinwu reassured Rudosen that Thraxol had his own bodyguards as the group crossed the forest toward the next era.
• The group emerged by a bay and watched two small ironclad warships exchange cannon fire.
• Li Qinwu identified the battle as the Battle of Hampton Roads in 1862 and explained that it marked the start of ironclad warfare.

Li Qinwu and his group traveled through the American Civil War era, discovering that their modern weapons and alloy axe had vanished. When a Southern supply wagon’s dog exposed their hiding place, Li Qinwu killed the hound and hurled its body at its owner, killing him.

• Li Qinwu explained that the group’s guns, ammunition, and alloy axe had disappeared because Civil War-era technology could not produce their materials, while their wool uniforms remained.
• Li Qinwu described the North and South’s economic differences and their conflict over slavery as the group followed the Gravity Rail.
• Li Qinwu’s group hid in the woods as a Southern supply wagon escorted by more than twenty Flintlock-armed infantrymen passed.
• A black hound detected the group and charged into the forest, where Li Qinwu grabbed it and snapped its spine.
• The hound’s owner aimed his Flintlock at Li Qinwu, who threw the dog’s corpse at him and killed him.

Li Qinwu and his group killed a convoy’s guards, took their heavy carriage and supplies, and traveled into a new era. They identified the battlefield ahead as the Siege of Pilsen during the Thirty Years’ War, around 1618.

• Li Qinwu blocked the riflemen’s shots with a Psychic Shield, sent their bullets back at them, and killed the coachman with a bayonet, wiping out the convoy’s guards and dog.
• Rudosen and the others gathered around the carriage, and Li Qinwu decided to use the ordinary cargo carriage for travel through future eras.
• Li Qinwu explained why the group could not rely on the convoy’s Black Powder guns, then found sugar, chocolate, canned beef, and explosives under the carriage tarp.
• Li Qinwu drove the group through the forest and into the next era, where they followed the Gravity Track along a dirt road.
• The group spotted an army besieging a city, and Li Qinwu identified the scene as the Siege of Pilsen during the Thirty Years’ War, around 1618.

Li Qinwu explained the significance of the Siege of Pilsen to Joel, then led the group to a riverside blacksmith’s shop to acquire plate armor. He offered the wary blacksmiths a box of valuable white sugar, and the old master asked what Li Qinwu wanted in return.

• Li Qinwu identified the battle as the Siege of Pilsen and described its military, religious, and ideological significance to Joel.
• Li Qinwu turned away from a bridge and followed the river, explaining that he wanted to have plate armor made for the group.
• Li Qinwu and his companions found a water-powered blacksmith’s shop, where the workers blocked their approach.
• Li Qinwu showed the blacksmiths a box of white sugar and gave it to the old master, astonishing the workers.
• The old blacksmith asked Li Qinwu what he wanted.

Li Qinwu arranged for seven suits of plate armor and decided to turn a massive cannon breech into a greatsword to intimidate future enemies. After demonstrating his strength, he used Psychic Power to melt the iron in his hands, leaving the old blacksmith kneeling in shock.

• Li Qinwu paid the blacksmiths with ten crates of white sugar and ordered seven suits of plate armor for his group.
• Li Qinwu told his advisers to rest while he stayed awake to watch the blacksmiths work.
• Li Qinwu found a salvaged cannon breech and asked the old blacksmith to forge it into a greatsword.
• Li Qinwu lifted and tossed the heavy cannon breech one-handed, stunning the blacksmiths.
• Li Qinwu used Warp energy to melt the cannon breech into molten iron and held it aloft with Gravity Control.
• The old blacksmith fell to his knees and called Li Qinwu a god.

Li Qinwu and his group left the smithy in newly made plate armor and traveled through the forest into a ruined coastal city. After surveying the city from a tower, Li Qinwu recognized Constantinople and guessed they had arrived shortly before its fall in 1453.

• Li Qinwu told Rudosen and the others to put on their new armor, eat, and fill their waterskins before leaving the smithy.
• Rudosen, Little Knife, Little Joel, and the others donned their armor, and Li Qinwu led the group away in the carriage.
• The group followed the Gravity Track to the forest boundary and crossed into the next era, emerging inside a vast, eerily deserted walled city.
• Li Qinwu led the group up an abandoned stone tower, where they saw the sea, warships, and the city's enormous western wall.
• Li Qinwu recognized Hagia Sophia and identified the city as Constantinople, likely just before its fall in 1453.

Li Qinwu and his companions discovered that their Gravity Track led through Constantinople’s breached walls and the Ottoman siege army. As the exhausted defenders fled and Ottoman soldiers surged toward the city, Li Qinwu headed for the breach alone.

• Li Qinwu learned that the Ottoman cannon had opened a breach in Constantinople’s walls, directly along the group’s route out of the era.
• Li Qinwu ordered his staff to bring the carriage and explosives so they could help block the breach, then ran ahead to scout the battlefield.
• Li Qinwu reached the walls and saw Ottoman troops steadily forcing Constantinople’s defenders back through a narrow gap in the inner and outer walls.
• Constantinople’s defenders lost morale and fled, leaving the breach open to the advancing Ottoman soldiers.
• The Ottoman soldiers saw Li Qinwu walking toward the breach against the stream of retreating defenders, wearing full armor and carrying a massive sword.

As the Ottomans breached Constantinople, Li Qinwu held the city wall and slaughtered the soldiers who tried to enter. Explosives thrown by Little Knife, Little Joel, and the others drove the Ottoman army back, and Constantine XI knelt before Li Qinwu, believing God had sent a miracle.

• Constantine XI prepared to lead his armored warriors in a final charge as Ottoman soldiers poured through the breach.
• Li Qinwu met the advancing Ottomans and cut down dozens with his greatsword, then blocked the breach alone.
• Ottoman soldiers' attacks failed to penetrate Li Qinwu's plate armor, and he continued advancing through their ranks.
• Little Knife, Little Joel, and the others threw explosives from the walls, killing Ottoman soldiers and forcing the attackers to retreat.
• Constantine XI saw Li Qinwu standing at the breach, knelt, and hailed him as a divinely sent savior.

Li Qinwu held the breach in Constantinople and met Constantine XI, who first mistook him for a divine savior but then sought a way to communicate. After an Arab merchant identified Li Qinwu as a man of the eastern civilization called Great Qin, Constantine XI wept at the meeting of two ancient empires as Rome faced its end.

• Li Qinwu drove the Ottoman troops back from the breach with blasting charges, delaying Constantinople’s fall.
• Constantine XI asked whether Li Qinwu was an Archangel, then recoiled when he could not understand Li Qinwu’s language and saw his threatening greatsword.
• Constantine XI summoned anyone who understood the Sinai language, and his soldiers brought an Arab merchant who greeted Li Qinwu in Chinese.
• The Arab merchant explained that Li Qinwu came from the ancient eastern civilization and that Rome and Great Qin had once called each other by that name.
• Constantine XI listened to the merchant’s account of the two ancient civilizations and wept as he faced Rome’s impending end.

Li Qinwu rejected Constantine XI’s offer of rewards and recognized that Constantinople could not be saved, but Constantine XI chose to defend the city rather than escape. As Li Qinwu and his companions left through a secret tunnel, Constantine XI and his remaining soldiers died fighting the Ottoman assault, and the detonators destroyed his body in an explosion.

• Constantine XI offered Li Qinwu riches, rank, and a princess if he drove back the Ottomans, but Li Qinwu warned that Rome had already fallen.
• Constantine XI ordered his officers to rally the fleeing soldiers and repair the wall, then asked Li Qinwu what had brought him to Constantinople.
• After Li Qinwu praised the city’s landmarks, Constantine XI asked him to witness and describe the end of Roman civilization, and offered him a secret tunnel to escape.
• Li Qinwu gave Constantine XI the detonators on the cart and left with his companions through the tunnel as the Ottoman army launched another assault.
• Constantine XI led about eighty soldiers in defending the breach, but Ottoman troops overwhelmed them and stabbed him with spears.
• Constantine XI dropped his torch onto the detonators, and the explosion killed nearby Ottoman soldiers and destroyed his body.

Lu Sen planned to split his forces, sending Ke Suo Ye east to establish a Royal Court while he stayed near White Phosphorus City to pin down the Alliance. The chapter ended with Ke Suo Ye agreeing to seek reinforcements from his uncle Ke Lei.

• Lu Sen led his men to a mountain fortress and explained that he and Ke Suo Ye needed to divide their forces.
• Lu Sen assigned ten thousand loyal soldiers to Ke Suo Ye, who would take them and his own troops east to secure cities at the foot of the Eagle God Mountains.
• Lu Sen said he would take the other ten thousand toward the mountain entrance to threaten White Phosphorus City and force the Alliance to divide its army.
• Ke Suo Ye offered to stay and join Lu Sen, but Lu Sen warned that a larger force would draw the Alliance's full attention and risk annihilation.
• Lu Sen urged Ke Suo Ye to establish a Royal Court in the east and write to Ke Lei for reinforcements to support a possible three-pronged attack on the Great Chief.
• Ke Suo Ye accepted Lu Sen's plan and said he would write to Ke Lei immediately.

In 1066, Viking leader Harald faced the English army across a river in Yorkshire and reflected on the heroic death he wanted. As the English prepared to attack, Harald walked alone onto the bridge and challenged them to fight him.

• Harald asked Olaf whether he would find a glorious death and told him the story of Beowulf.
• After Olaf reported that the English were assembling to attack the bridge, Harald armed himself with armor and a great axe.
• Harald and Olaf surveyed the Viking position as Harold II gathered twelve thousand men on the opposite bank.
• Harald ignored Olaf’s plan to defend the bridge with armored warriors and walked onto it alone.
• Harald announced himself as King of Norway and challenged the English to face him in battle.