Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Ito Makoto finishes a furious, arrogant tirade, expecting the crowd to fear him and beg for mercy. Instead, everyone laughs, as does the livestream audience.
• Yue Xiaofei mocks Makoto’s faith in his great-grandfather and removes his blindfold so he can see the old man for himself.
• Makoto sees Ito Yūgorō sitting on the ground, filthy, trembling, and broken. He initially insists the man is an actor and refuses to believe it is his great-grandfather.
• At Yue’s command, Yūgorō calls Makoto by name. Recognizing his voice, Makoto realizes the humiliating figure is truly the man he idolized.
• Yue drives the point home, declaring that Makoto’s supposed “god” and trump card is, to them, “just a pile of shit.”

Character developments

• Ito Makoto shifts from loud confidence to panic and denial, then suffers a complete collapse of his pride and beliefs when he recognizes Yūgorō.
• Ito Yūgorō is shown as fearful and defeated, unable to live up to the powerful, dignified image Makoto had built around him.
• Yue Xiaofei remains composed and deliberately uses the revelation to destroy Makoto’s confidence, making him confront the gap between his boasts and reality.

Significant themes

• The danger of blind hero-worship and inherited pride.
• The collapse of an identity built on family honor, national glory, and imagined strength.
• Public humiliation and irony: Makoto boasts about an absent savior while that very figure is already defeated before him.

Character interactions

• The crowd and livestream viewers mock Makoto’s boasts, intensifying his confusion and humiliation.
• Yue taunts Makoto, removes his blindfold, and orders Yūgorō to speak so Makoto cannot dismiss what he sees.
• Yūgorō’s agonized call confirms his identity and becomes the trigger for Makoto’s emotional breakdown.

Yue Qinhu forced Ito Yūgorō to face the memorial names and the Tiger Regiment’s flag, then demanded that he confess and repent for his crimes. Ito Yūgorō knelt before the Modu Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall as viewers around the world watched.

• Ito Makoto spat blood and fainted after the crowd mocked him.
• Yue Qinhu approached Ito Yūgorō with the Tiger Braves Battle Flag and the bayonet that had blinded him.
• Yue Qinhu made Ito Yūgorō look at the memorial wall and the 1,319 heroes of the Tiger Regiment, then ordered him to kowtow and repent.
• Overcome by fear, Ito Yūgorō knelt before the memorial hall, more than eighty years after his crimes.
• Viewers in the livestream sent gifts, praised Yue Qinhu, and honored the fallen heroes.

Yue Qinhu saw Ito Yūgorō kneel and mourned the comrades whose names he had carried on his Patchwork Garment, declaring that they had finally won. After confronting Ito’s insults, Yue Qinhu faced a hostile reporter who accused him of hating all Eastern Japanese people and being a butcher.

• Yue Qinhu released his bayonet and let go of the Tiger Braves battle flag, which Yue Xiaofei caught and replanted.
• Yue Qinhu remembered his fallen comrades by touching the patches on his garment and told them that Ito Yūgorō had knelt and they had won.
• Yue Qinhu saluted the comrades he imagined behind him and cried out, “Brothers, we won!” as veterans and livestream viewers wept and celebrated.
• Ito Yūgorō insulted Yue Qinhu and claimed he had only been forced to kneel because of luck.
• Yue Qinhu warned Ito that he should be grateful the Dragon Kingdom was civilized and had not destroyed his country for its past crimes.
• A reporter from Eastern Japan rushed through the security cordon and challenged Yue Qinhu over his supposed hatred of Eastern Japanese people and his wartime killings.

Yue Qinhu rejected a reporter’s attempt to portray the trial as racial hatred, distinguishing ordinary Japanese people from the invaders who committed atrocities. Yue Xiaofei then forced Ito Yūgorō to pick up an Edict of Self-Accusation and prepare to read it aloud, leaving Ito trembling as he agreed.

• Yue Qinhu told the reporter that he did not hate ordinary people from Eastern Japan, but hated the invaders who murdered and burned in the Dragon Kingdom.
• Yue Qinhu’s answer silenced the reporter and drew thunderous applause from the crowd.
• Yue Xiaofei threw an Edict of Self-Accusation at Ito Yūgorō and ordered him to read every word in his native language and the language of the Dragon Kingdom.
• Yue Qinhu picked up the rust-covered bayonet that had blinded him and used its threatening presence to make Ito fear refusing.
• Ito Yūgorō overcame his hesitation, picked up the document with shaking hands, and said he would read it.

Ito Yūgorō publicly confessed to his family’s war crimes and its decades-long effort to influence Dragon Kingdom writers and public intellectuals, igniting widespread anger and an online campaign against suspected collaborators. As netizens identified a scholar whose recent work matched the confession, he panicked and tried to erase his posts, but people had already exposed him.

• Yue Xiaofei forced Ito Yūgorō to read his confession in both Eastern Japanese and Dragon Kingdom speech, including accounts of massacres and human experiments.
• Ito Yūgorō confessed that the Ito Family had bribed 137 Dragon Kingdom writers and scholars to distort history and undermine national spirit.
• The crowd and livestream viewers erupted in anger, and netizens began searching for public intellectuals whose posts matched the confessed influence campaign.
• A renowned historian recognized that Ito Yūgorō’s confession matched his own articles and suspected payments, then tried to close the livestream and delete his posts.
• Furious netizens flooded the historian’s accounts with accusations and preserved screenshots as they called for his arrest.

Plot points

• Public outrage sweeps the Dragon Kingdom as netizens expose and report pundits and influencers who had insulted patriots and national heroes. The resulting evidence campaign grows nationwide, though Ito Yūgorō remains unaware of it.
• Ito finishes reading his forced Edict of Self-Accusation and collapses, begging Yue Qinhu to let him go.
• Yue Qinhu rejects the plea. Yue Xiaofei announces that Ito will be taken to Jiangcheng and confined in the Martyrs’ Cemetery.
• The crowd, livestream viewers, and even Ito initially mistake this for mercy. Ito secretly hopes to survive long enough to seek revenge.
• Yue Xiaofei reveals the intended punishment: Ito will be kept in an iron cage, forced to kneel before the memorial, hear military calls each day, and face the names of those he killed. He must also carve every crime from his confession onto a stone tablet. He will receive only enough food to stay alive and be punished with starvation if he disobeys.

Character developments and interactions

• Ito Yūgorō is reduced from a defiant enemy to a broken, pleading prisoner. His brief hope of survival turns into the prospect of prolonged psychological torment.
• Yue Qinhu regards Ito with cold disgust, his long-standing anger giving way to contempt.
• Yue Xiaofei demonstrates calculated vengeance: he believes death would be too easy and designs a punishment meant to keep Ito alive and make him confront his crimes.
• Xu Wenqiang responds obediently to Yue Xiaofei’s orders; the witnesses and online audience react with confusion before learning the full sentence.

Significant themes

• Justice and accountability: Publicly collected evidence is being used to pursue those who betrayed or demeaned national heroes.
• Memory and atonement: Ito’s punishment centers on the victims’ names and his own written confession.
• Vengeance versus mercy: The chapter presents survival not as leniency, but as the means of imposing lasting punishment.

Yue Xiaofei sentenced Ito Yūgorō to lifelong humiliation at the Martyrs' Cemetery, and Xu Wenqiang stopped him from killing himself before taking him and the others away. Yue then offered the Tiger Braves battle flag to the Modu Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall so it could be honored by future generations.

• Yue Xiaofei declared that Ito Yūgorō would be imprisoned at the Martyrs' Cemetery and made to face the memory of his crimes.
• Ito Yūgorō broke down and tried to bite off his tongue, but Xu Wenqiang dislocated his jaw and stopped him.
• Yue ordered Xu Wenqiang to take Ito Yūgorō, the unconscious Ito Makoto, and Tanaka away, and to let Ito Makoto choose his fate when he awoke.
• Xu Wenqiang's men loaded the three Eastern Japan officials into vehicles and drove them away as Tanaka protested.
• Yue Xiaofei and his grandfather offered the Tiger Braves battle flag to the Modu Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall.

Yue Xiaofei and the veterans entrusted the Tiger Braves Battle Flag to the Memorial Hall and toured its exhibits. In the second-floor exhibition, Yue Qinhu recognized a young man in a photograph as Zhenhua.

• The Memorial Hall director accepted the Battle Flag from Yue Xiaofei and Yue Qinhu and ordered it placed at the center of the main exhibition hall.
• Yue Qinhu, supported by Yue Xiaofei, entered the Memorial Hall with Xu Anbang, Li Erniu, and the other veterans.
• The veterans recalled fallen comrades as they viewed battlefield relics and photographs.
• At the Resistance War Miracle exhibition, the veterans saw a portrait of a young soldier who resembled Yue Xiaofei.
• Yue Qinhu recognized the man in the photograph and cried out, “Zhenhua!”

Yue Xiaofei discovered that the legendary soldier in a Memorial Hall photograph was his granduncle, Lu Zhenhua, who had killed at least 563 Japanese invaders while holding a position during the Changsha Campaign. The director began recounting the battle, explaining that Lu was the only man left standing after his regiment was effectively destroyed.

• Yue Xiaofei recognized the photograph's Lu Zhenhua as his granduncle and read that he had killed 563 enemy invaders during the Changsha Campaign.
• Xu Anbang, Li Erniu, and the other veterans doubted the astonishing record until the director said Japanese records and reports from reinforcements confirmed it was accurate, and possibly an underestimate.
• Xu Anbang asked the director to explain the battle, and the director described the regiment's desperate defense of the southern bank of the Xinqiang River.
• The director said Lu Zhenhua's regiment had been wiped out as a fighting unit by the third day, leaving Lu as the only man on the position who could still stand.

The curator recounted how Lu Zhenhua single-handedly held a position against repeated Japanese assaults and survived artillery and poison gas. After his deeds earned him the chance of exceptional promotion, Lu refused the honors and chose to go overseas to learn technology and industry so the Dragon Kingdom could grow strong.

• The curator described how Lu Zhenhua turned the position into a trap-filled stronghold and held off more than a dozen Japanese assaults alone.
• The Japanese attacked with artillery and poison gas, but reinforcements found Lu unconscious in a collapsed bomb shelter without life-threatening wounds.
• Yue Xiaofei asked the curator what became of Lu Zhenhua after his legendary battle.
• The curator revealed that Lu refused commendations and promotion after waking from his coma.
• Lu told his superior he wanted to study powerful countries’ technology and industry overseas to help the Dragon Kingdom build a stronger nation and military.

Yue Xiaofei learned that his Granduncle Lu Zhenhua disappeared overseas after leaving the army to seek a way to make the Dragon Kingdom prosperous and strong, and resolved to find him. As Yue Qinhu and the veterans left the Memorial Hall, a young People's Armed Police platoon leader recognized the old man’s uniform and ordered his squad to salute.

• The curator told Yue Xiaofei that Lu Zhenhua had left for overseas and that no one knew whether he was alive or dead.
• Yue Xiaofei resolved to uncover Lu Zhenhua’s fate and ensure the hero was not forgotten.
• Yue Xiaofei supported Yue Qinhu as the group left the Memorial Hall, where the staff bowed to them in farewell.
• Yue Qinhu looked at Modu’s bright nightscape and murmured that there was no more shellfire.
• A young People's Armed Police platoon leader noticed Yue Qinhu’s old military uniform and ordered his squad to salute.

Yue Qinhu received a respectful salute from a squad of young soldiers and fell asleep peacefully after Yue Xiaofei brought him back to the Bai family’s residence. Yue Xiaofei asked Han Duoduo to find his missing granduncle, Lu Zhenhua, and resolved to uncover what had happened to the rest of his family.

• A squad of young soldiers saluted Yue Qinhu, who returned their salute and said that no one would dare bully them anymore.
• Yue Xiaofei helped Yue Qinhu settle into bed, where the old man soon fell asleep peacefully.
• Yue Xiaofei called Han Duoduo and asked her to investigate Lu Zhenhua, his grandmother’s younger brother.
• Han Duoduo agreed to search for Lu Zhenhua, though she warned Yue Xiaofei that the investigation could take time.
• Yue Xiaofei reflected on his father, mother, sister, and granduncle, and resolved to uncover their fates and bring his family home.

After Ito Yūgorō’s public humiliation sparked outrage in Eastern Japan, the Female Chancellor plotted to have him killed in the Dragon Kingdom and frame the country for his death. She ordered officials to hire an overseas Chinese assassin group, Hua Gate, to carry out the murder.

• The video of Ito Yūgorō kneeling spread worldwide, drawing celebration abroad and furious protests across Eastern Japan.
• The Female Chancellor smashed a tablet replaying the footage and berated her ministers for failing to prevent the disgrace.
• An intelligence official reported that the Amaterasu Group’s elite fighters, including the Twelve Demon Shadow Guards, had failed to reach the masked man.
• The Female Chancellor ordered Ito Yūgorō killed in the Dragon Kingdom so his death could be blamed on its people and used to justify sanctions or a blockade.
• The intelligence official proposed hiring Hua Gate, an overseas Chinese assassin organization, and the Female Chancellor offered up to a billion US dollars for Ito’s head to be cut off on Dragon Kingdom soil by someone with a Dragon Kingdom face.

Plot points and events

• Money Hall leader Qian Tong learns that Japanese clients will pay Hua Gate $500 million to assassinate Ito Yūgorō, an elderly Japanese war criminal in Jiangcheng.
• Despite Hua Gate’s rule against accepting jobs from Eastern Japan, Qian Tong’s greed and ambition lead him to order ten elite men to leave for Jiangcheng that night.
• Hua Gate’s long-absent Dragon Head suddenly enters the hall in a wheelchair, accompanied by a young woman in a white qipao.
• He confronts Qian Tong, wounds him by hurling a teacup lid through his palm, and reminds everyone of Hua Gate’s founding principle: loyalty to the Dragon Kingdom and refusal to serve Japanese invaders.
• Qian Tong begs for his life. The Dragon Head turns to his companion, Nianqing, and orders her to give Qian Tong his blade, leaving his fate unresolved at the chapter’s end.

Character developments

• Qian Tong is shown to be greedy and power-hungry: he sees the contract as a chance to enrich himself and raise Money Hall’s standing. When confronted, he becomes terrified and tries to excuse himself before admitting fault.
• The Dragon Head emerges as an imposing, uncompromising authority figure. Though physically frail and confined to a wheelchair, his presence and fighting ability command immediate obedience.
• Nianqing is introduced as the Dragon Head’s poised, aloof attendant; her role becomes significant when he gives her the blade.

Significant themes

• Loyalty versus greed: Qian Tong puts money and ambition ahead of Hua Gate’s principles.
• Patriotism and historical memory: The Dragon Head insists that Hua Gate must remain loyal to its roots in the Dragon Kingdom and never serve Japanese invaders.
• Authority and consequences: The Dragon Head enforces the organization’s rules decisively, making clear that status does not excuse betrayal.

Character interactions

• Qian Tong boasts to his subordinates about the lucrative contract, and they eagerly anticipate sharing in the reward.
• The Dragon Head’s arrival silences the hall and immediately reduces Qian Tong from confident leader to frightened supplicant.
• In confronting Qian Tong, the Dragon Head rejects his excuses and forces him to acknowledge the rule he violated.
• The Dragon Head’s final order to Nianqing signals that punishment is imminent.

Lu Zhenhua punished Qian Tong for betraying the Hua Gate, then learned that Yue Qinhu was alive and recognized him as his long-lost brother-in-law. Overcome with emotion, Lu Zhenhua ordered a plane prepared so he could return to Modu and see him.

• Lu Nianqing stabbed Qian Tong three times, leaving six holes in his body, after he defied the Dragon Head’s punishment.
• Lu Zhenhua asked why people from Eastern Japan were paying so much to kill one of their own, and the Intelligence Hall Master reported what had happened at the Modu Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall.
• The Intelligence Hall Master identified the masked man as Yue Xiaofei and the elderly man beside him as his grandfather, Yue Qinhu.
• Lu Zhenhua recognized Yue Qinhu in the photograph as his brother-in-law, whom he had believed lost for eighty years, and broke down in tears.
• Lu Zhenhua struggled to rise from his wheelchair and ordered his people to prepare a plane so he could return to Modu and see Yue Qinhu.

After learning that his sister Lu Lanxin had died, Lu Zhenhua vowed to return to the Dragon Kingdom and protect her descendants. Hua Gate rejected Eastern Japan’s bounty and declared its support for the Yue family, prompting the Female Chancellor to order an elite squad to infiltrate Jiangcheng.

• Lu Zhenhua learned that Lu Lanxin had died, and his grief over their eighty-year separation nearly caused a medical crisis.
• Lu Nianqing reminded Lu Zhenhua that Lu Lanxin’s husband and grandnephew were still alive, renewing his resolve to return and meet them.
• Lu Zhenhua ordered Hua Gate to protect Yue Qinhu and Yue Xiaofei and to monitor Eastern Japan.
• Hua Gate rejected Eastern Japan’s bounty, punished Qian Tong for accepting it without authorization, and sent a scornful message to the Japanese.
• The enraged Female Chancellor ordered the Wild Wind Special Forces to infiltrate Jiangcheng despite warnings that the move could amount to declaring war on the Dragon Kingdom.

Plot and key events

• Ito Yūgorō, a former Japanese general, is imprisoned in a padded iron cage at the Martyrs’ Cemetery. He is forced to carve his crimes into stone, face the graves of those he killed, and endure a harsh routine designed to keep him alive while breaking his spirit. His attempts at suicide are thwarted.
• Yue Xiaofei is guarding the site when Han Duoduo calls with news: an elite Japanese unit called the Wild Wind Special Forces is coming to free Ito and kill him.
• Yue asks whether to call in the Azure Alliance or the military. Han refuses, saying she has arranged for unconventional allies to deal with the attackers.
• Yue sneaks to the cemetery entrance and discovers that the guards are not soldiers or alliance fighters, but a group of Taoist priests led by an imposing elderly master. Zhang Huaiyu, a Wudang prodigy Yue knows, is among them.

Character developments and interactions

• Ito Yūgorō has been reduced from a proud general to a terrified, nearly broken prisoner; the chapter emphasizes the psychological punishment Yue has imposed on him.
• Yue Xiaofei remains vigilant and practical, considering official support when he learns armed attackers are coming. He is also bewildered by Han’s choice of defenders.
• Han Duoduo is playful and confident, treating the coming attack as a spectacle and insisting her chosen allies can handle it without authorities.
• Zhang Huaiyu reappears as part of the unexpected Wudang contingent, recalling his earlier rivalry with Yue Feng.

Significant themes

• Retribution and remembrance: Ito’s punishment forces him to confront the victims and record his own crimes.
• Vengeance versus justice: The chapter presents severe, deliberately humiliating punishment as a response to wartime atrocities.
• Clashing worlds: The looming confrontation between modern special forces and Taoist fighters sets up a contrast between firearms and traditional martial or spiritual methods.
• Suspense and surprise: The chapter ends by leaving the Taoists’ ability to face the armed unit uncertain.

Key plot points and events

• Yue Xiaofei is discovered hiding near the Cemetery by an elderly Taoist whose awareness surpasses what Yue thought possible.
• Yue introduces himself to Zhang Huaiyu, who recognizes him as Yue Feng’s younger brother and explains that the old priest is Zhang Daoxuan, the current Celestial Master of Dragon Tiger Mountain.
• The Old Celestial Master confirms that the Taoists have come to confront an elite Japanese agent team approaching the area.
• He recounts fighting Japanese invaders as a teenager under his master, explaining that Taoist cultivation exists to protect one’s home and country.
• When Yue doubts that the Taoists’ modest-looking equipment will be enough, the disciples open their cases to reveal automatic rifles, ammunition, grenades, and a light machine gun.

Character developments

• Yue Xiaofei shifts from suspicion and confusion to deep respect for the Old Celestial Master. He also comes to share the Taoists’ confidence about the coming fight.
• Zhang Daoxuan is revealed as both a legendary spiritual leader and a seasoned patriot with a personal history of combat.
• Zhang Huaiyu acts as the welcoming intermediary, recognizing Yue and introducing him to the Celestial Master.

Significant themes

• Patriotism and duty: The Old Celestial Master argues that spiritual cultivation is meaningless if the country and home are lost.
• Appearances versus reality: The Taoists’ traditional clothing and outwardly humble cases conceal modern weaponry and military readiness.
• Continuity across generations: The Old Celestial Master’s memories of fighting invaders connect his master’s resistance to the present confrontation.
• Unity of spiritual and worldly life: The chapter challenges Yue’s assumption that Taoists who withdraw from society are indifferent to national affairs.

Character interactions

• Yue greets Zhang Huaiyu and is formally introduced to Zhang Daoxuan, whom he treats with reverence.
• Zhang Daoxuan praises Yue’s patriotic deeds, while Yue responds modestly and asks why the Taoists have gathered.
• Yue voices concern about facing heavily armed agents; the Taoists answer with knowing smiles and reveal their concealed arsenal.

Yue Xiaofei discovered that the Daoists of Dragon Tiger Mountain were heavily armed and prepared to fight Eastern Japan’s Wild Wind Special Forces at the Cemetery. As the enemy advanced on the iron cage, the Old Celestial Master’s Desert Eagle fired the first shot.

• The Old Celestial Master revealed his Desert Eagle, and Zhang Huaiyu explained that Dragon Tiger Mountain trained its disciples in firearms and marksmanship.
• The Old Celestial Master spotted the approaching Japanese invaders and ordered the Daoists to take up positions around the Cemetery.
• The Old Celestial Master assigned Yue Xiaofei to roam the battlefield and hunt anyone who slipped through the defensive lines.
• Yamamoto led the Wild Wind Special Forces toward the Cemetery, planning to destroy Ito Yūgorō and the iron cage with explosives.
• Yamamoto sensed something was wrong, but the Old Celestial Master fired his Desert Eagle before he could finish his warning.

The Old Celestial Master and the Taoist priests ambushed Yamamoto’s Wild Wind Special Forces with overwhelming gunfire while Yue Xiaofei hunted those trying to flank them. As Yamamoto’s survivors charged through smoke toward the Cemetery, the Old Celestial Master revealed a Gatling gun and opened fire.

• The Old Celestial Master’s shot killed Yamamoto’s deputy captain and began the ambush on the Wild Wind Special Forces.
• The Taoist priests’ rifles and light machine gun pinned down the Japanese attackers, inflicting heavy casualties.
• Yue Xiaofei silently killed agents attempting to circle behind the defenders while watching the battle.
• Yamamoto ordered the survivors to use smoke grenades and charge toward the Cemetery gates.
• The Old Celestial Master uncovered a six-barrel Gatling gun, invoked the Gatling Celestial Venerable, and pressed the firing button.