Recaps

Li Qinwu gained the Barbarians’ submission after the Beast God left him its egg, then promised justice for the Agent Orange scandal and led a crackdown in Hive City. By the chapter’s end, the Barbarians had named him the Upright Lord, and he was questioning the imprisoned planetary bishop about the decision to poison their world.

• The Beast God dispersed into black mist, ending the Warp Storm and restoring normal space and time across the planet.
• The Barbarians knelt before Li Qinwu and asked him to punish the Sky People responsible for spreading contraceptives and Agent Orange.
• Li Qinwu promised to investigate, then ordered his forces to arrest those involved in the Agent Orange incident.
• Over half a million officials, officers, and family members were arrested, and Li Qinwu handed many of them over to the Barbarians for vigilante justice.
• The Barbarians came to regard Li Qinwu as the Upright Lord, while his soldiers captured the planetary bishop and Li Qinwu questioned him in prison.

Li Qinwu interrogated the planetary bishop, who defended his use of Agent Orange by describing the brutal pressures imposed on the Savage World by the Imperium and an Astartes Chapter. He challenged Li Qinwu to explain who could survive when both those who tried to help and those who obeyed were doomed.

• Li Qinwu told the bound planetary bishop he would face White Phosphorus Execution and asked for his last words.
• The bishop denied responsibility for the Agent Orange, and Li Qinwu confronted him with the deaths, miscarriages, deformities, and contamination it caused.
• The bishop explained that the Savage World’s annual tithe of Barbarian recruits far exceeded the official hundred thousand and that Astartes recruitment also killed many children.
• The bishop revealed that his predecessor had distributed grain seeds and taught farming, but an Astartes Chapter Master had him assassinated to preserve the Barbarians’ primitive way of life.
• The bishop said the Chapter Master had threatened him into destroying the crops with Agent Orange, then asked Li Qinwu who could survive in a world where good and bad people both died.

Li Qinwu executed 113 senior officials responsible for the Agent Orange Incident and learned that the Red Star Chapter would soon arrive to recruit on Savage World. He resolved to industrialize and establish an Imperial government despite the likely conflict, but questioned what the planet's people wanted.

• Li Qinwu sentenced the Planetary Bishop and 112 accomplices to death by white phosphorus before a crowd of Barbarian leaders and residents.
• Little Knife signaled the soldiers to ignite the phosphorus, and the condemned officials died in the flames while the sedated Planetary Bishop burned quickly.
• Before dying, the Planetary Bishop told Li Qinwu that the Red Star Chapter had killed his predecessor, forced him to restore Barbarian customs, and would likely return within a month or two to recruit.
• Li Qinwu decided Savage World needed an industrial society and a functioning Imperial government to address the contamination and sustain its people.
• Li Qinwu accepted that his plan could bring him into conflict with the Red Star Chapter, then wondered what the people of Savage World wanted.

Li Qinwu asked ten Barbarian leaders whether they wanted to risk Astartes retaliation to industrialize, and they chose progress despite the dangers. He began reforms on Savage World, where the Fat Pig Regiment had already established an Imperial Government and advanced a vast northern region to the early firearms era.

• Li Qinwu explained the dangers of remaining in a polluted primitive society and the risk that the Astartes would sabotage industrialization.
• The Bear Priest asked whether the Astartes would retaliate, and Li Qinwu confirmed that they would after he left.
• After hours of discussion, the ten Barbarian representatives chose industrialization because nature’s hardships already killed countless people.
• Li Qinwu approved their decision and began plans to build factories, hospitals, and schools on Savage World.
• The Fat Pig Regiment had spent eight years stranded in the north, founding an Imperial Government and advancing local industry to the early firearms era.

After the white fog vanished, Li Qinwu reunited with the five hundred former Planetary Governor officials, who had built a government and spread the God-Emperor’s faith among the primitives. He began industrializing the Savage World, leaving a thousand fleet personnel behind to govern it while preparing to take valuable goods and recruits with him.

• Li Qinwu met the five hundred former fatties in the Hive City and learned they had established a government over eight years by adapting the local Beast God faith into worship of the Ape God, then identifying him as the God-Emperor.
• Li Qinwu told the former officials he planned to expand their rule worldwide and industrialize the Savage World, but refused the Planetary Governor’s request to remain there.
• Several months later, Li Qinwu selected a thousand people from his fleet and had the Planetary Governor train them to govern the planet after the others departed.
• Li Qinwu’s two warships delivered industrial equipment, and factories and a Plasma Reactor were installed around the Hive City.
• Li Qinwu received warehouses of beast hides, fangs, and bones in exchange for the equipment, while Beast Priests, Barbarian recruits, and children under ten volunteered to leave with him.

Li Qinwu prepared to leave the Savage World after crushing its rebellion and establishing a new administration, taking a hundred thousand trained Barbarian recruits and more than a thousand Beast Priests with him. The chapter ended with the recruits boarding shuttles for the fleet and Rudosen reporting that Little Sun had failed to lose weight.

• Li Qinwu selected one hundred thousand young Barbarians for military training and recruited fifty thousand orphans and more than a thousand Beast Priests for future service.
• Li Qinwu and the Silent One began training the Beast Priests, while the Savage World’s new steel furnace gave its industrial district the capacity to produce one million tons of steel annually.
• After completing his Inquisitorial assignment, Li Qinwu inspected the hundred thousand Barbarian soldiers as Rudosen described their great physical strength and poor discipline.
• Li Qinwu ordered Rudosen to keep educating the Barbarians, promote capable soldiers into elite units, and use the least cooperative as skirmishers.
• The Barbarian recruits boarded shuttles bound for Li Qinwu’s fleet, and Rudosen told Li Qinwu that Little Sun had still not lost weight.

Li Qinwu saw that Little Sun had lost weight and was still trying to improve despite years of stagnation, and offered him surgery to help him start over. Little Sun recalled how the other former slackers had built a government and changed their lives, leaving him to face his own shortcomings as Li Qinwu led him toward the operation.

• Rudosen brought Li Qinwu to see Little Sun training with the Barbarians and explained that the Fat Pig Regiment had built an Imperial Government while Little Sun remained stuck in the military.
• Li Qinwu noticed Little Sun's bruises and weight loss, and wondered whether they had treated him too harshly.
• Little Sun reported to Li Qinwu, who recognized that he still wanted to improve despite his slow progress and privileged outlook.
• Li Qinwu offered Little Sun surgery to remove fat and part of his stomach, then told him to come along for the operation.
• Little Sun remembered how his former companions had built a government and lost weight, and realized that he had fallen far behind them.

Little Sun began taking training seriously and chose to keep losing weight on his own, while Li Qinwu reassigned him to Joel and encouraged him to become a man. As Li Qinwu’s fleet prepared to leave the Savage World, a warship from the Star Chapter emerged from the Warp.

• After Rudosen sent Little Sun back for training, he cooperated and lost weight, but Rudosen still considered him below standard.
• Li Qinwu recognized Little Sun’s progress and offered surgery, but Little Sun refused and said he wanted to slim down through his own effort.
• Li Qinwu assigned Little Sun to Joel and told him that his father had only wanted him to learn to become a man.
• Little Sun apologized to Redhead, Yellowhead, and Greenhead for the trouble he had caused, and Rudosen ordered him back to training.
• As the fleet prepared to depart with its supplies, the Fortune's Bird Spectrometer detected a Warp fluctuation and a Star Chapter flagship arrived near the Savage World.

Li Qinwu learned that the Red Star Chapter had returned to Savage World to recruit new aspirants and decided to confront its Battle Barge. Chapter Master Xingchen dismissed his Librarian’s warning and insisted the Chapter stay to recruit, leaving an ominous clash ahead.

• Li Qinwu learned that the Red Star Chapter’s Battle Barge was patrolling near the Mandeville Point and had spotted his Inquisition fleet.
• Li Qinwu ordered a shuttle prepared, told his fleet to enter combat readiness, and went to organize himself before confronting the Red Star Chapter.
• Chapter Master Xingchen discussed the Inquisition fleet with his officers, while a Company Captain urged him to withdraw.
• The Librarian divined that someone in the Inquisition fleet could inflict grave harm on the Chapter and advised Xingchen to leave.
• Xingchen refused to withdraw, insisting that the Chapter needed to recruit mortal auxiliaries and new aspirants on Savage World.

Li Qinwu revealed a third, short-tempered personality marked by a towering topknot, then arrived alone at the Red Star Chapter’s barge to investigate. He provoked the Astartes captain into a confrontation, and the captain struggled to contain his anger because Li Qinwu wore an Inquisitorial Rosette.

• Li Qinwu told Little Knife about his personalities and unveiled his new sky-high topknot, claiming it connected him to Games Workshop’s financial reports and activated his short temper.
• Several days later, Li Qinwu arrived alone aboard a Shuttle at the Red Star Chapter’s barge, where the First Company captain and two Astartes waited to meet him.
• Li Qinwu insulted the barge and spat phlegm onto the captain’s armored boot.
• Li Qinwu challenged the furious captain to kill him, pointing out his Inquisitorial Rosette and daring him to strike.
• The captain nearly drew his combat knife but restrained himself because killing an Inquisitor could amount to rebellion.

Li Qinwu provoked the Star Chapter’s captain and Chapter Master while confronting them over their conduct on the Savage World. He reached the bridge and demanded that the Chapter Master face him, leaving the furious Astartes forced to hold back because killing an Inquisitor could doom their depleted Chapter.

• Li Qinwu shoved the captain, insulted him, and demanded to be taken to the Chapter Master.
• The captain led Li Qinwu toward the bridge as Li Qinwu continued cursing the Star Chapter and kicking a Servitor aside.
• The Chapter Master watched Li Qinwu on surveillance and recalled killing a planetary bishop who had taught the Savage World’s Barbarians to farm.
• Li Qinwu spat on the surveillance camera, and the Chapter Master nearly ordered his death before the Librarian warned that the Chapter might be wiped out in a Penitent Crusade.
• Li Qinwu kicked open the bridge doors, spat toward the central control console, and demanded that the Chapter Master face him.

Li Qinwu provoked the Red Star Chapter during a heresy investigation, while Xingchen struggled to keep his temper. The chapter ended with Li Qinwu insulting the Chapter’s food and Xingchen trying to attack him before the Librarian restrained him.

• Li Qinwu demanded to investigate the Red Star Chapter, and Xingchen sheathed his Power Sword after the Librarian warned him to endure the provocation.
• The Chapter Chaplain offered access to the Chapter’s decks and database, and the Librarian arranged a banquet to ease tensions.
• At dinner, Li Qinwu cursed the Chapter’s canned food and ate his serving while Xingchen held back from attacking him.
• Li Qinwu smashed his plate and complained that the food made him full, prompting the Astartes to draw their weapons.
• Xingchen charged at Li Qinwu with his Power Sword, but the Librarian hugged him and held him back.

Li Qinwu confronted the Red Star Chapter Master over the Chapter’s use of Agent Orange on the Savage World. After exposing his connections and forcing the Master to acknowledge the chemical’s lethal effects, Li Qinwu challenged him to a duel, and the Master eagerly accepted.

• The Chapter Librarian showed the Star Chapter Master a video of Li Qinwu honored at the Great Hall of Heroes, persuading the Master that he could not safely harm the Inquisitor.
• Li Qinwu demanded that the Star Chapter Master drink a can of Agent Orange, revealing that he knew the Chapter had ordered it sprayed across the Savage World.
• Li Qinwu accused the Chapter of letting super-Astartes ideology make it disregard mortal lives and smashed the can, splattering Agent Orange over the Star Chapter Master and other Astartes.
• The Star Chapter Master drew his Power Sword and threatened Li Qinwu, who armed himself with a Power Maul and proposed a duel in the Duel Arena.
• The Star Chapter Master accepted the challenge and led Li Qinwu toward the Duel Arena.

Li Qinwu challenged the Star Chapter Master to a duel and defeated him with a surprise burst of psychic power and two strikes from his Power Maul. He left the arena humiliating the injured Chapter Master while the Astartes watched in shock.

• Li Qinwu and the Star Chapter Master prepared for a fight to the death as more than three hundred Astartes watched.
• Li Qinwu declared his Grand Inquisitor Ideology and provoked the crowd before the duel began.
• Li Qinwu used psychic power to slow the Star Chapter Master, knocked his shield away, and smashed his chest with the Power Maul.
• The Chapter Librarian explained how Li Qinwu had won, and Li Qinwu revealed he had deliberately enraged the Star Chapter Master to make the surprise attack effective.
• Li Qinwu straddled the injured Star Chapter Master's face and repeatedly squatted up and down to humiliate him.

Li Qinwu defeated the Star Chapter Master and provoked the Astartes into demanding another duel, this time against their Librarian. After Li Qinwu revealed his connection to the God-Emperor, the Chapter's anger gave way to unease and regret.

• Li Qinwu mocked the Astartes after defeating the Star Chapter Master, and one Astartes accused him of cheating with psychic power.
• An Astartes challenged Li Qinwu to face the Chapter Librarian, who reluctantly stepped onto the dueling platform.
• Li Qinwu had the Apothecary remove the injured Chapter Master, then prepared to duel the Librarian with golden Psychic Lightning.
• The Chapter Librarian recognized Li Qinwu as a Living Saint, and Li Qinwu bragged about receiving the God-Emperor's blessing and gifts.
• The Astartes' hostility faded, the Chaplain began praying, and the Star Chapter Master regretted provoking Li Qinwu.

Li Qinwu defeated the Star Chapter's Librarian by exploiting his connections and the Librarian's restraint, then met with the Chapter's Dreadnought Veteran. The veteran asked what verdict Li Qinwu intended to impose on the Chapter, leaving the dispute unresolved.

• Li Qinwu endured the Chapter Librarian's weakened Psychic Blast and knocked him off the dueling platform with his own attack.
• Li Qinwu mocked the Astartes with celebratory squats before the Chapter Chaplain summoned him to meet the Dreadnought Veteran.
• Li Qinwu privately reflected that he had relied on a sneak attack against the Chapter Master and on political pressure to persuade the Librarian to hold back.
• The Chapter Chaplain led Li Qinwu to a room where the Dreadnought Veteran asked whether he planned to banish the Chapter on a penitent crusade and demanded his verdict.

Li Qinwu explained to a Dreadnought Veteran why he had used force to stop the Red Star Chapter from exploiting the Savage World, then warned that the Chapter’s super-Astartes ideology clashed with Guilliman’s rule. He demanded reforms, leaving the Veteran to consider replacing the Chapter Master and changing the Chapter’s culture.

• The Dreadnought Veteran accused Li Qinwu of insulting the Red Star Chapter, and Li Qinwu argued that force was the only way to keep it from returning to the Savage World.
• Li Qinwu warned the Veteran that Guilliman opposed super-Astartes ideology and that the Chapter risked consequences for devaluing mortal lives.
• Li Qinwu said he had spared the Star Chapter’s Chapter Master because of his service, but had beaten him to condemn the Chapter’s mistaken path.
• The Dreadnought Veteran asked what Li Qinwu wanted the Chapter to do, and Li Qinwu demanded that it abandon super-Astartes ideology and remove its Chapter Master.
• Li Qinwu urged the Veteran to use the Chapter Master’s defeat and the Agent Orange Incident to reform the Chapter and appoint a captain friendly toward mortals.

Li Qinwu secured the Red Star Chapter's promise to abandon its super-Astartes ideology and stop interfering in Savage World's affairs. As he prepared to leave, the new Chapter Master gave him an Iron Halo as a prize for his duel, and Li Qinwu delivered him a long lecture about following Guilliman's goals.

• Li Qinwu explained that he had defended Savage World's mortals because an Inquisitor had to act when injustice was within reach.
• The Dreadnought Veteran promised that the incoming First Company Captain would succeed the Star Chapter Master, that recruits would abandon super-Astartes ideology, and that the Chapter would leave Savage World's internal affairs alone.
• Li Qinwu headed to the hangar deck while Astartes watched him with conflicted expressions.
• The new Chapter Master offered Li Qinwu an Iron Halo as a prize for defeating the former Chapter Master in a duel.
• Li Qinwu accepted the Iron Halo and spent an hour lecturing the new Chapter Master about following Guilliman the Regent's goals.

Li Qinwu’s Beast God egg hatched into a bizarre Warp crocodile that devoured a box of meat cans and rapidly grew. The Emperor Shrine gained a loyal-dog statue, while the Beast God visited the God-Emperor and offered him a captured Chaos battleship as a trophy.

• Li Qinwu checked that his Inquisition mission progress had reached 1/3 after executing the governor of the Savage World.
• Li Qinwu tapped the Beast God’s egg, and a horned, winged, long-legged crocodile hatched and pounced on him.
• The crocodile ate a box of Guga Meat Cans, swallowed the metal cans, and grew larger as Li Qinwu discovered it was a Warp creature formed from a fragment of a Warp Minor God.
• A golden light changed the Emperor Shrine, adding a statue of a loyal dog beside the God-Emperor’s statue.
• The Beast God entered the God-Emperor’s domain and presented him with a corrupted Retribution-class Battleship as a trophy.

Li Qinwu struggled to stop his hungry crocodile from eating his bed and taught it to follow his commands. He named it Bruce and took it to the cold storage for a reward.

• After finishing the Guga Meat Cans, the crocodile ate Li Qinwu's pillow and quilt, then started biting his bed.
• Li Qinwu grabbed the crocodile and ordered it not to eat his bed, but it swallowed the wood chips it had bitten off.
• Li Qinwu named the crocodile Bruce and told it to eat only what he allowed and bite only whom he instructed.
• Bruce nodded in understanding, and Li Qinwu promised to take it to the cold storage to eat its fill.

Li Qinwu fed and trained with Bruce Crocodile, then was forced to take over caring for Catwoman Nova’s baby. Exhausted by the baby’s constant needs, Li Qinwu handed him to Bruce Crocodile and fell asleep, leaving Bruce to discover that the baby would cry whenever he tried to put him down.

• Li Qinwu fed Bruce Crocodile frozen meat, watched him grow, and rode him through the warship corridors.
• Li Qinwu enlisted Bruce Crocodile as a workout partner, and Bruce helped him bench press 2.5 tons before nearly being forced to lift the weight himself.
• Catwoman Nova brought her baby to Li Qinwu and left him to take care of the child.
• Li Qinwu changed the baby, fed him formula, and let him absorb Psychic Power, then named Bruce Crocodile the child’s caretaker and went to sleep.
• Bruce Crocodile fed and burped the baby, but the baby drained his Psychic Power and cried whenever Bruce tried to set him down.

Exhausted from caring for infant psychic Chloe, Li Qinwu took him from the warship to the Agri-World, where Nightingale would help raise him. Nightingale was wary of sharing her children’s attention, but Li Qinwu tried to persuade her by explaining Chloe’s potential as a powerful Psyker.

• Bruce Crocodile struggled to care for Chloe and consumed the warship’s meat reserves, so Li Qinwu decided to leave the child with Nightingale on the Agri-World.
• Li Qinwu asked Catwoman Nova for permission to take Chloe; she agreed but stayed with the fleet to protect her son’s influence and interests.
• Li Qinwu opened a portal and brought Bruce Crocodile and Chloe to the Agri-World.
• After returning, Li Qinwu asked Nightingale to help raise Chloe, and she complained that he was adopting godsons when he could barely raise his own children.
• Li Qinwu told Nightingale that Chloe was a psychic lifeform who could become a powerful Psyker and a valuable brother to her five children.

Li Qinwu learned that the Psychic Lighthouse had turned his planet into a major hub, bringing trade and plans for Imperial expansion but also drawing pirates and potentially worse threats. He prepared to develop a highly educated military while considering the dangers gathering near the planet.

• Li Qinwu encouraged Nightingale to accept Chloe and Troy as part of the family, and Nightingale joked that Li Qinwu would be her baby if he drank her milk.
• Li Qinwu visited Governor Zeppelin and learned that the lunar nuclear factory was 40 percent complete and could produce Plasma Guns.
• Li Qinwu urged the planet to prioritize higher education so its soldiers could safely operate advanced weapons, and General Zeppelin agreed to expand military academies.
• Governor Zeppelin told Li Qinwu that the Psychic Torch had increased ship traffic thirtyfold, while the butler explained that the Segmentum Ultima Commander-in-Chief planned to use the planet as a base for expansion.
• The butler warned that pirates were following merchant ships toward the planet and might establish themselves near its asteroid belt, with Daemons or Chaos forces also posing possible threats.

Li Qinwu and Governor Zeppelin planned to strengthen Agricultural World 496B with orbital fortresses, polar military districts, and a highly trained, mechanized army. Li Qinwu then learned that Zeppelin’s Radiation Sickness was irreversible with current treatments, but promised to seek a cure as he traveled the universe.

• Governor Zeppelin proposed gradually converting the existing space station into a Space Fortress, though completing six fortresses would take centuries at current production rates.
• Li Qinwu proposed buying prefabricated space station components from visiting ships, and Zeppelin suggested prioritizing four equatorial fortresses while delaying the polar ones.
• Li Qinwu established plans for North Pole and South Pole Military Districts, each starting with one million troops and aiming for ten million elite soldiers within fifty years.
• Li Qinwu and Governor Zeppelin finalized plans for six Space Fortresses, twenty million trained troops, universal Power Armor, mechanization, and planetwide Void Shield coverage.
• Li Qinwu asked whether specialists from Terra could treat Zeppelin’s Radiation Sickness, and Zeppelin explained that the damage to his body and genetic chains was permanent.
• Li Qinwu promised to search the universe for a person, discovery, or technology that could help Zeppelin.

Li Qinwu learned that the Dwarves had traded advanced equipment for liquor and awaited a Sisters of Battle pilgrimage ship coming to investigate his Golden Psychic Flame. While waiting, he discovered that his daughter Li Danü had befriended Blue Whales.

• Governor Zeppelin told Li Qinwu that the Dwarves had supplied mech and Terminator Armour frames and Factory equipment in exchange for liquor.
• Li Qinwu inspected the frames in the Spire's vault and ordered Plasma Reactors installed as soon as his Nuclear Industrial Chain could produce them.
• Zeppelin warned Li Qinwu that a Sisters of Battle pilgrimage ship would arrive to investigate suspected heresy and their observations of the Golden Psychic Flame.
• Li Qinwu looked forward to using his authority as an Inquisitor to command the Sisters of Battle.
• Li Qinwu found Li Danü at her seaside villa, where she revealed she was making friends, and several Blue Whales rose from the sea.