Chapter Summaries

Jian Ruonan used a Tesla Coil to convince the soldiers at the Drill Ground that she was the Electricity God, earning their devotion and winning their commitment to her Maiden Army. The chapter ended with Hou Lixie leading the soldiers in an oath to follow her and never betray the army.

• Jian Ruonan produced lightning with her Tesla Scepter and Tesla Coil, causing the soldiers to kneel and hail her as the Thunder God.
• Jian Ruonan declared herself the Electricity God, demonstrated catching lightning with grounded gloves, and lit a bulb with the Tesla Coil.
• The soldiers made wishes to Jian Ruonan and offered her silver pieces, which she told Chen Pozi to collect.
• Jian Ruonan asked the soldiers to follow her, and they enthusiastically agreed to serve the Distant Pacification General.
• Jian Ruonan defended the name Maiden Army, and no soldiers chose to leave.
• Hou Lixie led the soldiers in swearing to follow Jian Ruonan and never betray the army.

Jian Ruonan secured the soldiers’ loyalty and planned to expand the Maiden Army with new weapons and a five-thousand-strong cavalry force. She went to the Imperial Study with the Ministers of Revenue and War to seek funding, while Emperor Deyuan worried about the cost.

• Jian Ruonan warned the soldiers that breaking their oath would bring heavenly punishment, winning their allegiance and gaining 5,600 combat power.
• Jian Ruonan told Commander Wang and Battalion Commander Xue about her plans for advanced weapons, a projectile squad, and five thousand cavalrymen, and appointed Hou Wenyao as her deputy.
• Emperor Deyuan learned that Jian Ruonan had won the barracks’ loyalty in less than two hours by summoning the Lightning God.
• Jian Ruonan arrived at the Imperial Study with the Ministers of Revenue and War to request military funding, and Hou Wenyao warned that her request for a million taels might be rejected.
• Jian Ruonan said she would appeal to Emperor Deyuan’s feelings and reason, while privately considering summoning the Lightning God again if needed.

Jian Ruonan tested the upgraded Scavenger Group system with the Six Ministers, then joined them in the Imperial Study. As the ministers asked Emperor Deyuan about the Third Prince, her Light Screen revealed that the Third Prince had delayed excavating the Previous Dynasty Treasure until Jian Chuxue recovered.

• Jian Ruonan made the Marquis's Brother-in-law and Wang Defa Scavenger Group administrators, then kicked Pei Junfei out and added him back, briefly cutting off his ability to hear her thoughts and read his colleagues' looks.
• The Six Ministers accompanied Jian Ruonan to the Imperial Study, where Pei Junfei learned they had come to seek military funding and Chief Minister Su Blue-Balls said he wanted to ask about the Third Prince.
• Emperor Deyuan welcomed Jian Ruonan warmly but asked the ministers why they had come; Chief Minister Su Blue-Balls asked what role the Third Prince would have after his confinement ended.
• Jian Ruonan's Light Screen showed the Third Prince and his adviser discussing the First Imperial Prince's imprisonment and plans to excavate the Previous Dynasty Treasure.
• The Third Prince postponed the excavation until Jian Chuxue recovered from her injuries, and Jian Ruonan closed the Light Screen after hearing the plan had been delayed.

Emperor Deyuan summoned the Third Prince after suspecting his parentage, but Jian Ruonan’s anticipation of a blood test and Consort Yi’s steamy encounter was thwarted by the system’s age restriction. The chapter ended with Black Tortoise offering Jian Ruonan a way to watch through the Fourth Prince by holding his hand.

• Emperor Deyuan ordered a bowl of clean water for a blood test with the Third Prince, then canceled it after hearing Jian Ruonan think the method was unreliable.
• Jian Ruonan eagerly anticipated seeing Consort Yi and Emperor Deyuan together, and the Light Screen showed their flirtation before Mosaic obscured the scene.
• Jian Ruonan asked Dog System and Black Tortoise why the video was censored, and Black Tortoise explained that she was under eighteen.
• Black Tortoise told Jian Ruonan she could watch through the Fourth Prince if she held his hand and connected with Black Tortoise’s system.

Jian Ruonan tried to watch an adult film but learned the system barred her until both her body and soul were adults, then proposed a costly Maiden Army to Emperor Deyuan. The emperor refused to fund it from the treasury and urged her to find steady revenue, leaving Jian Ruonan ready to make a money-making proposal that would involve him and the imperial family.

• Black Tortoise System told Dantai Mo that Jian Ruonan planned to hold his hand, while Dantai Mo suspected the turtle had done something foolish.
• Jian Ruonan discovered that the system would not let her watch adult material until both her body and soul were adults, despite her protests that her soul was twenty-two.
• Jian Ruonan told Emperor Deyuan she wanted to build a Maiden Army and requested about two million taels in annual military funding.
• Jian Ruonan defended the army’s high costs, while Emperor Deyuan pointed out that garrisons were expected to support their own troops and suggested using confiscated gambling revenue.
• Emperor Deyuan urged Jian Ruonan to devise a steady source of income, and she said her plan would require him and the imperial family to take the lead and contribute.

Jian Ruonan introduced the Honeycomb Coal Plan and drew Emperor Deyuan, the six ministers, and the harem consorts into making Briquette Coal in the Imperial Study. When the Third Prince arrived, her thoughts revealed that she had gathered everyone to watch a blood-drop kinship test.

• Jian Ruonan pitched the New Energy Plan, showed the court a glimpse of a steam train and factory assembly lines, and revealed that her project was the Honeycomb Coal Plan.
• The six ministers volunteered to join the project, and Emperor Deyuan summoned the Empress Dowager and the harem consorts to the Imperial Study.
• The Empress Dowager hurried over after hearing the plan could benefit the people and earn money, then found the emperor and ministers making coal briquettes.
• Jian Ruonan assigned the consorts to carry finished Briquette Coal and mix coal powder while the Empress Dowager recorded their output.
• A young eunuch announced the Third Prince’s arrival, and Jian Ruonan paused the work as she anticipated a blood-drop kinship test with the harem consorts present.

Jian Ruonan arranged a mock paternity-test scene in the Imperial Study as Emperor Deyuan confronted the Third Prince over suspicions about his parentage. She used her thoughts to make it seem that Wei Liren accused Consort Xian of adultery, then revealed that the supposed lover was an Imperial Prince of the Wa Kingdom.

• Jian Ruonan cleared the briquette-making materials from the Imperial Study and arranged the room for a paternity test.
• The Third Prince entered in mourning, and the Empress Dowager comforted him while Jian Ruonan's thoughts exposed his apparent weight gain and crooked height-increasing insoles.
• The Empress Dowager urged Emperor Deyuan not to take his anger at Consort Xian out on the Third Prince, while Emperor Deyuan summoned Wei Liren to report his discoveries.
• When Wei Liren stayed silent, Jian Ruonan imitated his voice in everyone's minds and made him appear to accuse Consort Xian of adultery.
• Jian Ruonan's imagined testimony identified the adulterer as an Imperial Prince of the Wa Kingdom.

Wei Liren exposed the Third Prince’s Wa Kingdom parentage, and Jian Ruonan’s vision revealed Consort Xian’s affair with Mechuan Kuchazi. The Third Prince’s identity remained without physical proof until Wei Liren pointed to evidence of his contact with a Wa Kingdom spy in the Third Prince’s Residence.

• Wei Liren said Consort Xian had been close to a prince of the Wa Kingdom, while the Empress Dowager demanded evidence and denied his accusation.
• Jian Ruonan’s vision showed Consort Xian meeting the Wa Kingdom’s Crown Prince, Mechuan Kuchazi, at Jade Buddha Temple twenty years earlier.
• Jian Ruonan’s vision revealed that Consort Xian and Mechuan Kuchazi had been lovers, and the Third Prince panicked as the Empress Dowager turned away from him.
• Wei Liren told Emperor Deyuan that the Third Prince had secretly contacted a Wa Kingdom spy and urged him to search the Third Prince’s Residence for evidence.

After the Third Prince was imprisoned over Consort Xian’s affair with Mechuan Kuchazi, Jian Ruonan demonstrated Briquette Coal and Consort Yi gave birth to a son. Emperor Deyuan named the baby Tantai Feng and put Jian Ruonan in charge of organizing Briquette Coal production and promotion, with Zang Chun appointed as a representative.

• Emperor Deyuan ordered the Third Prince bound and sent to prison, then dispatched people to search his residence for evidence.
• Jian Ruonan and the court tested Briquette Coal, observing its cleaner burn and longer lasting heat compared with ordinary coal.
• Consort Yi went into labor and gave birth to a healthy boy, whom Emperor Deyuan named Tantai Feng, nicknamed Briquette Coal.
• Emperor Deyuan assigned Jian Ruonan to lead Briquette Coal production, promotion, and sales.
• Jian Ruonan proposed representatives from the Imperial Household Department, the court, and the consorts, then appointed Zang Chun to represent the women.

Jian Ruonan’s Daughter Coal became a popular success, bringing in profits to fund the Maiden Army, while the imprisoned Third Prince encountered a tunnel-boring rescuer. The chapter ended with the flatbread seller reaching the Third Prince and addressing him as a subordinate.

• Jian Ruonan told the maids of Deer Song Courtyard that they could join the Daughter Coal enterprise as female officials and urged them to stand up for themselves.
• Chen Jingzhe mocked Daughter Coal, accepted a free sample, then returned to buy more after his family found it cheap and effective.
• Daughter Coal sold out and spread across Great Xia as Jian Ruonan’s factories expanded and she used her earnings to build the Maiden Army.
• The Third Prince and the imprisoned First Imperial Prince met in neighboring cells and exchanged news before going to sleep.
• The Third Prince felt vibrations beneath the prison and saw the flatbread seller emerge from a tunnel to rescue him.

The Third Prince escaped prison through a dog hole with help from Yoshikawa Kudan and Yoshikawa Haruyo, after Xue Yuanyu pulled him free when he got stuck. He reunited with Mr. Snow and Mister Ouyang and met the Wa warriors sent to support him, while resolving to reclaim the throne.

• Yoshikawa Kudan and Yoshikawa Haruyo delivered Mr. Snow’s letter and offered to guide the Third Prince through a dog hole to safety.
• The Third Prince got stuck in the narrow tunnel, and Xue Yuanyu pulled him out before slipping through the hole himself.
• Yoshikawa Kudan widened the tunnel, allowing the Third Prince to escape and reunite with Mr. Snow, Mister Ouyang, and his guards.
• Yoshikawa Haruyo introduced Honda Sanlunzi, Yamagata Xiao Chi, and Tokugawa Dajiao as warriors sent by the Wa emperor to serve the Third Prince.
• The Wa warriors swore loyalty to the Third Prince as he stood above them, looking toward the moon with dread.

The First Imperial Prince escaped to Smeedah to build a new dynasty, while the Prince of the Southwest ordered an investigation into his heir’s death and prepared to challenge the emperor. The Third Prince headed for Coiling Dragon Mountain with the Wa warriors, discovering that their tallest warhorse barely reached his waist.

• The First Imperial Prince thanked the Third Prince for rescuing him, gave him a cloth token, and rode east with his advisers to claim Smeedah.
• Shang Kedao learned that his heir, the Heir Apparent’s Consort, and Tenth Young Miss had died after encountering the Fifth Miss of the Jinyang Marquis’s Residence.
• Shang Kedao sent Gao Shou to investigate the deaths, ordered him to kill the culprit and Shi Fan, and sent letters to the Princes of Zhennan and the Southeast threatening the emperor.
• The Third Prince prepared to regroup on Coiling Dragon Mountain, where Mister Ouyang’s formations would protect his guards.
• Yoshikawa Kudan presented the Third Prince with a Kiso Horse, and the Third Prince mounted it while the Wa warriors praised his strength.

After escaping prison, Xue Yuanyu brought Xue Yingxuan to the Eldest Princess’s Residence, expecting the Eldest Princess to forgive him. He interrupted her demon-hunting performance, where she was flirting with handsome male demons, and left her comparing him unfavorably with them.

• Xue Yuanyu escaped prison, returned to his family, and announced that he would take Xue Yingxuan to the Eldest Princess’s Residence to win the Eldest Princess’s help.
• Dantai Mo ignored the Black Tortoise System’s invitation until it mentioned the Fifth Miss, then went to watch the performance.
• The Eldest Princess and Jian Ruonan acted in a demon-hunting play, while Dantai Mo watched as the Eldest Princess fought and flirted with a series of handsome male demons.
• Xue Yuanyu and Xue Yingxuan interrupted the Eldest Princess’s scene with the Peach Blossom Spirit, and the Eldest Princess denied knowing Xue Yuanyu.
• The Eldest Princess compared Xue Yuanyu’s old, scrawny appearance with the young demons and wondered why she had once loved him so intensely.

Xue Yuanyu dramatically reunited with the Eldest Princess, but Jian Ruonan’s Light Screen exposed the couple’s past and humiliated them both. As the spirit-catching performance resumed, Dantai Mo caught Jian Ruonan and earned conquest points, though she mistook him for a secret character before recognizing him as the Fourth Prince.

• Xue Yuanyu claimed he had escaped prison after enduring countless hardships to see the Eldest Princess, who questioned his sanity.
• Jian Ruonan’s Light Screen revealed the Eldest Princess had once asked her to prove that her husband did not love her, then showed the couple’s passionate past.
• The Eldest Princess ordered Xue Yuanyu and Xue Yingxuan thrown out and gagged Xue Yuanyu, then stopped the Light Screen before it could show more embarrassing memories.
• The spirit-catching play resumed, and the male spirits intensified their performances as they competed to impress the audience.
• The Bull Demon hurled Jian Ruonan, and Dantai Mo caught her; his emotional reaction earned him twenty conquest points before Jian Ruonan realized he was the Fourth Prince.

The Third Prince enjoyed feeling tall among the Wa warriors on Coiling Dragon Mountain while planning how to fund his campaign for the throne. Jian Chuxue proposed making Daughter Coal and developing weapons and cavalry equipment, while the Wa warriors suggested selling flatbreads and establishing a monopoly.

• The Third Prince drilled with the Wa warriors and marveled at how easily he mounted a horse compared with them.
• At a strategy meeting, the Third Prince asked Jian Chuxue for ideas to cover the expenses of his mountain camp and future army.
• Jian Chuxue identified Jian Ruonan’s Daughter Coal as briquette coal and proposed making it herself, along with developing saddles, stirrups, and stronger weapons.
• The Third Prince urged Jian Chuxue to continue developing gunpowder, and she vowed to create weapons powerful enough to counter Jian Ruonan’s gas-canister bombs.
• Honda Sanlunzi, Yamagata Xiao Chi, Tokugawa Dajiao, and Yoshikawa Haruyo proposed selling flatbreads and monopolizing the trade to raise money.

Jian Chuxue and the Wa Kingdom generals tried to make money with coal and flatbread, but their ventures repeatedly failed. She then sent Honda Sanlunzi to steal Jian Ruonan’s spatial storage, believing it held the secret to Jian Ruonan’s inventions.

• Dantai Huai named Jian Chuxue’s briquette coal “Huai Xue Coal” and assigned the Wa Kingdom generals to dig for the Previous Dynasty Treasure and make flatbread.
• Jian Chuxue and the generals tested their smoky coal in a hut, nearly dying from carbon monoxide before Yoshikawa Kudan opened the door.
• The generals ate all the flatbread they had made, and Jian Chuxue’s coal and flatbread business plans stalled amid growing friction between them.
• Jian Chuxue abandoned her attempts to make coal, explosives, glass, iron, and cement after repeated failures and injuries.
• Jian Chuxue told Honda Sanlunzi that Jian Ruonan’s pink spatial-storage pouch enabled her inventions, then sent him and the generals to retrieve it.
• In the Golden Hall, Emperor Deyuan and the court watched the Wa Kingdom generals discuss their flatbread plans on the Light Screen, though none of them understood Japanese.

During the Spring Examination, Jian Ruonan caught cheaters and encountered Wang Defa, who finished early and later placed in the top ten. Dantai Mo took an examination paper while the Black Tortoise System tried to help him court Jian Ruonan, leaving him unaware that she had lost interest after learning he was a virgin.

• Jian Ruonan caught several candidates cheating while proctoring the Spring Examination.
• Jian Ruonan found Wang Defa cooking hot pot in the examination hall, warned him to stop, and later learned he ranked in the top ten.
• Dantai Mo asked for an examination paper and began answering it beside Jian Ruonan.
• The Black Tortoise System told Jian Ruonan that Dantai Mo was trying to court her and praised his looks and virtue.
• The Black Tortoise System revealed that Dantai Mo was a virgin, causing Jian Ruonan's brief romantic interest to vanish.
• Dantai Mo noticed Jian Ruonan's flushed cheeks, and the Black Tortoise System assured him that she was about to swoon over him.

After the Third Prince and the First Imperial Prince escaped, Emperor Deyuan summoned Jian Ruonan to court to learn their whereabouts. The Light Screen revealed the Third Prince searching for the Previous Dynasty Treasure, but Jian Ruonan realized he had removed the height inserts needed to find it, leaving Emperor Deyuan’s throne safe for now.

• Emperor Deyuan ordered his men to capture the escaped Third Prince and First Imperial Prince, but both princes evaded them.
• Jian Ruonan dressed in her new third-rank uniform and went to court with the Fourth Prince, while Teng took a jade jue from him.
• At the afternoon court session, the Light Screen showed the Third Prince searching the mountains for the Previous Dynasty Treasure with Mister Ouyang and Wa Kingdom warriors.
• Jian Ruonan noticed that the Third Prince was not wearing his height inserts and explained that they were the key to finding the treasure.
• Emperor Deyuan wiped away his cold sweat when Jian Ruonan realized the Third Prince would not find the treasure anytime soon.

Jian Ruonan learned of the First Imperial Prince’s conquest of Smeedah and agreed to help capture Zheng, while Jian Chuxue’s starving warriors turned to banditry. As Jian Ruonan prepared to leave, a thief stole the maids’ intimate clothing from the Jinyang Marquis’s Residence.

• The screen showed the First Imperial Prince conquering Silla, declaring Goguryeo independent, and promoting Great Xia’s culture; Jian Ruonan reacted with outrage to Smeedah’s traditional attire and the system’s Mosaic censorship.
• Emperor Deyuan asked who would capture Zheng, and Dantai Mo and Jian Ruonan volunteered; he ordered them to prepare for three days before setting out.
• On Coiling Dragon Mountain, Jian Chuxue’s money-making venture ran short of food and funds, so the fierce Wa Kingdom warriors became bandits and robbed women and children in Tong County.
• Honda Sanlunzi and Yamagata Xiao Chi sneaked into the Jinyang Marquis’s Residence, where Jian Ruonan was packing for her expedition.
• Xiaoyu told Jian Ruonan that a thief had entered the courtyard, and the maids reported that their bellybands, handkerchiefs, and undergarments had been stolen; Jian Ruonan said she would divine the culprit.

Jian Ruonan identified Honda Sanlunzi and Yamagata Xiao Chi as the thieves Jian Chuxue sent to steal her purse, then set a trap for them. While her family discussed the upcoming weddings, the hungry intruders found and ate the Roach Eggs hidden in a storeroom, leaving the family horrified.

• Jian Ruonan watched the Light Screen reveal Honda Sanlunzi and Yamagata Xiao Chi sneaking into the Jinyang Marquis's Residence and stealing the maids' red belongings.
• Jian Ruonan learned that Jian Chuxue had sent the thieves after her purse, drew their faces, and had the portraits circulated throughout the estate.
• After the Imperial Guard located the thieves, Jian Ruonan put a Mousetrap in her pink purse and whispered instructions to a maid.
• Jian Ruonan gave Jian Huayuan a poetry crash-course book while the family discussed his and Jian Xilu's upcoming weddings.
• Honda Sanlunzi and Yamagata Xiao Chi searched a storeroom for food, found the Roach Eggs, and began eating them as Jian Ruonan's family watched the Light Screen.