Chapter Summaries

Wen Zhong learned that Deng Xiu had been trapped by Yue forces in the mountain forests, where the Shang Army could not safely fight. Unable to find a way to rescue him, Wen Zhong sent out scouts and left Deng Xiu’s fate uncertain.

• Tai Luan reported that Deng Xiu had pursued Yue troops into an ambush and that many of his men had surrendered.
• Wen Zhong gathered Zhang Guifang, Chao Lei, Fang Xiang, and Fang Bi to discuss how to rescue Deng Xiu.
• Zhang Guifang proposed using Name-Calling Dismount, but admitted he did not know the Yue warriors’ names.
• Fang Xiang and Fang Bi suggested gathering intelligence and reporting back to King Zhou, while Wen Zhong recognized their fear of blame.
• Wen Zhong ordered scouts to investigate before deciding what to do.

Mai Yun learned that Deng Xiu was trapped in the Southern Borderlands and sent his disciples to rescue him, preparing the assassins he had trained to support King Zhou. He believed that, despite Great Shang’s isolation, many people understood King Zhou’s reforms and would fight for the dynasty.

• A woodcutter brought Mai Yun a newspaper reporting that Deng Xiu had been ambushed and was being used to lure Shang forces into the mountain forests.
• Ma Zhong reported that Deng Xiu was surrounded and that the Yue People were waiting for the Shang Army to enter the forests.
• Mai Yun ordered Ma Zhong and his fellow disciples to rescue Deng Xiu, and told Chen Tong to atone for his past crimes alongside his elder brother.
• Mai Yun reflected on his past with Zi Qi and decided that King Zhou’s campaign against the Feudal Lords was necessary for Great Shang.
• Mai Yun prepared his trained assassins, led by Ma Zhong with Chen Tong and Chen Wu as deputies, to target Xiqi’s loyal ministers and the Feudal Lords.

Chen Tong and Chen Wu infiltrated the Yue encirclement and rescued Deng Xiu, then fled toward a cliff with the enemy in pursuit. Chen Tong and Deng Xiu leaped into a haystack below and survived.

• Chen Tong and Chen Wu counted eight Yue sentries near Deng Xiu and prepared to rescue him.
• Chen Tong and Chen Wu swung past the traps, rushed the sentries, and killed all eight before Chen Tong carried Deng Xiu away.
• The Yue People discovered the rescue and pursued the group, while a thrown knife severed Chen Tong’s grappling rope.
• Chen Tong led Deng Xiu to a cliff and urged him to jump, explaining his faith in His Majesty and Great Shang.
• Deng Xiu leaped from the cliff and landed safely in the haystack below.

Deng Xiu and Chen Tong escaped the Yue ambush by leaping onto a haystack, leaving the King of Nanyue furious and blaming his guards. Ma Zhong then ambushed the Yue kings as they approached and captured all five alive.

• Deng Xiu and Chen Tong escaped the Yue army's trap by jumping from the cliff onto a haystack.
• The King of Nanyue ordered the guards executed to cover his failure and preserve his standing with the other kings.
• Ma Zhong became lost in the forest while trying to join Deng Xiu's rescue, then encountered and captured the King of Nanyue.
• The King of Luoyue, the King of Ouyue, the King of Yangyue, and the King of Wuyue approached with few guards, and Ma Zhong ambushed them.
• Ma Zhong captured all five kings of Baiyue alive inside their own ambush perimeter.

Chen Tong and Deng Xiu escaped into the mountains, where Deng Xiu found the legendary Heavenly Mandate Sword, but the five kings of Baiyue caught up with them. They then discovered that Ma Zhong had already captured all five kings, and Deng Xiu considered using the prisoners and the sword to end the fighting in the south.

• Chen Tong and Deng Xiu found a lake, where Deng Xiu pulled the Heavenly Mandate Sword from a dead softshell turtle and Chen Tong explained its history.
• Chen Tong insisted they return to find their scattered companions, despite Deng Xiu’s fear that they would be recaptured.
• The five kings of Baiyue pursued Chen Tong and Deng Xiu, and Chen Tong prepared to hold them off while Deng Xiu escaped with the Fire Dragon Dart.
• Deng Xiu recognized Ma Zhong below them and saw that Ma Zhong had already bound all five kings of Baiyue.
• Deng Xiu considered using the Heavenly Mandate Sword and the captured kings to rally the Yue People and bring the southern war to an end.

Zi Shou washed, cut, and curled Nezha’s hair while deciding to force a new hairstyle on the people of Shang. Several days later, Yu Hua turned the Anqiao Clinic into a barber shop offering hair services under an imperial sign threatening those who kept their braids.

• Zi Shou pinned Nezha in a basin, washed his hair, and used the Kongtong Seal to stop him from moving.
• Zi Shou cut Nezha’s hair badly, then used heated tongs to give him a perm.
• Zi Shou decided to ban dangling braids and make people shave their hair and change their dress.
• Several days later, Yu Hua switched from circumcision to barbering at the Anqiao Clinic.
• The Anqiao Clinic began offering hair services beneath the emperor’s sign: “Keep your braid, lose your head.”

Zhang San reluctantly went to the Anqiao Clinic for the mandatory haircut, where Lü Yan gave him a clean, painless trim and explained how barbering could offer people a livelihood during wartime. The chapter ended with Tai Luan and Deng Xiu arriving in Chaoge with the Five Kings of Baiyue and many Yue captives.

• Zhang San was taken to the Anqiao Clinic after King Zhou ordered people to cut their hair, and he paid extra for an experienced barber.
• Lü Yan introduced himself with extravagant claims about his talents and explained that barbering could provide a trade for people displaced by war.
• Lü Yan spotted Zhang San's scalp sores and hairless patches, then carefully trimmed around the sores.
• Zhang San admired his neater appearance in the mirror and left pleased that the haircut had not hurt.
• Tai Luan and Deng Xiu arrived in Chaoge with the Five Kings of Baiyue and numerous Yue captives.

Tai Luan arrived in Chaoge with news from the Southern Campaign, while Zi Shou comforted Deng Chanyu over her brother Deng Xiu’s apparent death. The chapter ended as Zi Shou realized Tai Luan’s arrival meant news had come from the South and prepared to receive him.

• Tai Luan reached Chaoge ahead of the Five Kings of Baiyue and sought King Zhou’s instructions on whether to reveal their capture.
• Tai Luan withheld the news from Lu Xiong and hurried to request an audience with Zi Shou.
• Zi Shou comforted Deng Chanyu, who grieved over Deng Xiu and said her brother should not command an army until he corrected his flaws.
• Deng Chanyu suggested summoning her father to Chaoge for an operation to preserve the Deng family line, but Zi Shou redirected the conversation to Deng Xiu.
• A eunuch announced that Tai Luan was requesting an audience, and Zi Shou realized news from the South had arrived.

Deng Xiu returned to the palace alive after escaping the Yue encirclement, shocking Zi Shou and relieving Deng Chanyu. After mistaking him for a ghost and ordering him beaten to test whether he was human, Zi Shou asked how he had escaped.

• Tai Luan announced that Deng Xiu had escaped and come to pay his respects, stopping Deng Chanyu’s grief and leaving Zi Shou baffled.
• Deng Xiu rushed into the palace, apologized for his military failures, and offered to accept Death by a Thousand Cuts.
• Zi Shou ordered Deng Xiu struck with a paddle to determine whether he was alive, and Deng Xiu cried out in pain.
• Deng Chanyu recognized Deng Xiu, slapped him, and rebuked him for his reckless actions and unauthorized entry into the palace.
• Deng Chanyu urged Zi Shou to punish Deng Xiu further, but Zi Shou asked him how he had escaped.

Deng Xiu told Zi Shou that he had captured the Five Kings of Baiyue and obtained the Heavenly Mandate Sword, prompting Zi Shou to summon them to the palace in secret. On the way, the King of Nanyue’s hood came off in a market, but Chaoge’s short-haired residents made his Yue haircut seem unremarkable.

• Deng Xiu told Zi Shou that wandering heroes had rescued him and that he had captured the Five Kings of Baiyue and acquired the Heavenly Mandate Sword.
• Zi Shou ordered Deng Xiu to keep the capture quiet and bring the five kings to the palace.
• Deng Xiu found the hooded kings and escorted them through Chaoge, where they expected Zi Shou might send them back to Baiyue.
• The King of Nanyue knocked over an old woman’s vegetable stall, and she grabbed his sleeve until his hood fell off.
• The King of Nanyue noticed that Chaoge’s residents also wore cropped hair, while Deng Xiu paid the old woman for the damaged vegetables and hurried the kings onward.

Zi Shou received the Heavenly Mandate Sword, which symbolized rule over Baiyue, and tried to appease the Five Kings by cutting Deng Xiu’s braid and explaining his haircut policy. The kings mistook his actions for a sincere gesture of respect toward Baiyue, but Zi Shou ended the chapter by snapping the sword in half.

• Zi Shou scolded the captured Five Kings of Baiyue and learned that the Heavenly Mandate Sword symbolized the lordship of Baiyue.
• The King of Nanyue flattered Zi Shou and explained the sword’s history and significance.
• Zi Shou cut off Deng Xiu’s braid, and Deng Xiu accepted the punishment as a sign that his life had been spared.
• When the King of Nanyue asked about short hair, Zi Shou said he had ordered men to cut their braids or lose their heads.
• The Five Kings interpreted Zi Shou’s haircut policy and his own short hair as proof that he respected Baiyue and its people.
• Zi Shou called the Heavenly Mandate Sword useless and snapped it in half.

King Zhou snapped the Heavenly Mandate Sword, prompting the Five Kings of Baiyue to interpret his act as a sign of sincerity and pledge allegiance to Shang. He ordered everyone to keep Baiyue’s submission secret, and Deng Xiu revealed that Grand Tutor Wen had left him a brocade pouch for this very possibility.

• King Zhou snapped the Heavenly Mandate Sword, leaving Deng Xiu and the Five Kings of Baiyue stunned.
• The Five Kings of Baiyue prostrated themselves, believing King Zhou had shown that no one would use the sword to claim authority over them.
• The King of Nanyue carved the character Shang into his arm, and the other four Kings of Yue followed his example.
• Deng Xiu asked whether they should announce Baiyue’s submission, but King Zhou ordered him and the others to keep it secret and swear under military law not to reveal what happened.
• Deng Xiu took out a brocade pouch and said Grand Tutor Wen had instructed him to open it if King Zhou did not want Baiyue’s submission announced.

Zi Shou followed Uncle Wen’s plan to conceal Baiyue’s submission and prepare for the coming war, while Jiang Ziya went to Kunlun to seek help for Zhou. Yuanshi Tianzun sent him away without assistance, but Jiang Ziya summoned Chan Sect’s third-generation disciples and urged them to fight Shang.

• Deng Xiu read Uncle Wen’s plan to use Baiyue’s concealed submission to lure the feudal lords into an ambush and win an opening victory.
• Zi Shou decided to keep Baiyue’s allegiance secret and ordered Dou Rong transferred to Sishui Pass to defend against Xiqi.
• Jiang Ziya left his fortune-telling stall in Chaoge and traveled to Kunlun to meet Yuanshi Tianzun.
• Jiang Ziya asked Yuanshi Tianzun for help while Xiqi prepared to attack, but Yuanshi Tianzun told him to handle worldly affairs himself.
• White Crane Boy allowed Jiang Ziya to ring the bell, and Jiang Ziya summoned Chan Sect’s third-generation disciples and called on them to fight for Zhou against Shang.

Jiang Ziya ordered the Chan Sect’s Third-Generation Disciples to descend the mountain and aid Zhou in its campaign against Shang, assigning each an appointed time and warning them to keep their movements secret. San Yisheng reluctantly accepted his pouch, and Jiang Ziya watched the Great Tribulation’s chaos obscure Heaven’s workings.

• Jiang Ziya promised the disciples great rewards for surviving the Great Tribulation and ordered them to prepare to help Zhou defeat King Zhou.
• Jiang Ziya distributed embroidered pouches with instructions for when the disciples should descend the mountain, and told them not to associate with fellow Daoists.
• San Yisheng refused his pouch, saying he lacked cultivation and did not wish to oppose King Zhou, whom he considered a wise ruler trapped by Heaven’s decree.
• Jiang Ziya and the White Deer Boy persuaded San Yisheng that he had to descend the mountain, and San Yisheng accepted a pouch and read its instructions.
• Jiang Ziya dismissed the disciples, then saw the Great Tribulation’s murky gray obscure Heaven’s workings at Qilin Cliff.

Zi Shou delayed Lu Xiong and Fei Zhong’s push for an immediate campaign, while outlining a possible strategy to conquer Xiqi. He recognized that Great Shang would still lose to the Zhou Army’s immortal allies unless his foolishness value gave him a way to change the outcome.

• Lu Xiong and Fei Zhong urged Zi Shou to launch a Western Expedition, but he said Great Shang lacked troops and postponed sending an army until next year.
• Lu Xiong asked to lead an expedition against Xiqi, and Zi Shou described a strategy using multiple passes, defensive tactics, and an attack through Chuanyun Pass.
• Lu Xiong accepted Zi Shou’s plan and left with Fei Zhong to prepare the troops.
• Zi Shou reflected on the seven failed Western Expeditions in the original story and concluded that Jiang Ziya’s immortal allies had repeatedly turned the battles against Great Shang.
• Zi Shou judged that Shang’s improved harvests would not overcome Xiqi’s magical supply of provisions, and relied on his four-digit foolishness value to change the war’s outcome.

Zi Shou visited Ji Chang in Youli, where Ji Chang demonstrated winter wheat cultivation and explained how furrow-and-ridge farming could support an additional harvest. Zi Shou then asked Ji Chang for advice on invading Xiqi, leaving Ji Chang stunned by the absurd request.

• Zi Shou found Ji Chang planting winter wheat and asked why he was sowing crops during winter.
• Ji Chang explained that winter wheat, combined with summer crops, could yield two harvests a year and improve farmers' lives.
• Ji Chang described using alternating furrows and ridges to protect seedlings, conserve moisture, and maintain soil fertility.
• Zi Shou recognized that Ji Chang's agricultural work would further strengthen his reputation, while resenting that he gained no foolishness value from it.
• Zi Shou announced that he planned to launch a western expedition and asked Ji Chang how Great Shang should attack Xiqi.
• Ji Chang froze and wondered how Xiqi's leader could be expected to advise the enemy on invading his state.

Zi Shou asked Ji Chang for advice on the Western Expedition, then accepted Ji Chang’s plan to feign illness and disgrace himself to make Xiqi complacent. After sharing wine, Zi Shou asked Ji Chang who in the world deserved to be called a hero.

• Ji Chang warned that Xiqi’s three hundred thousand soldiers and threats to Shang’s rear made a direct assault difficult, and proposed lulling Xiqi into complacency before launching a sudden attack.
• Zi Shou agreed to feign illness and practice Self-Slandering, planning to begin the deception around the turn of winter and spring.
• Zi Shou helped Ji Chang rise, then let go when he noticed the mud on Ji Chang’s clothes, nearly causing him to fall.
• Ji Chang questioned why Zi Shou had spared him despite knowing of his plans to Overthrow Shang, and Zi Shou avoided answering.
• After drinking together, Zi Shou pointed to the dark clouds and asked Ji Chang who deserved to be called a hero.

Zi Shou discussed heroes with Ji Chang over wine, intending to release him before secretly arranging his assassination. Ji Chang mistook the release for a warning and feared for his life, but was allowed to return to Xiqi; after both men fell ill from drinking in the rain, rumors spread that Zi Shou was gravely ill.

• Zi Shou asked Ji Chang to name the world's heroes, and Ji Chang dismissed Yuan Futong, Yi Shangxie, King Pingling, and E Chongyu before calling Ji Chang the only hero alive.
• Ji Chang realized Zi Shou's praise could be a warning that Xiqi was the last force able to oppose Great Shang, and he asked for a quick death.
• Zi Shou told Ji Chang he would not kill him and ordered him to return to Xiqi the next day, while secretly intending to have him assassinated on the way.
• Zi Shou and Ji Chang drank together in the rain for an hour, and both caught chills; Ji Chang could not depart the next day.
• Zi Shou began feigning grave illness, and Chaoge's spies sent word to Xiqi that he had entrusted state affairs to his officials.

Ji Fa ordered preparations to march against Great Shang despite Ji Dan's warnings, driven by his limited remaining lifespan and urgency to conquer Chaoge. As Ji Chang set out for Xiqi, Zi Shou secretly arranged to have Gao Jieneng kill him, while the fortune-teller's stall in Chaoge's West Market was taken over by a vegetable seller.

• Ji Dan told Ji Fa that King Zhou was gravely ill, Ji Chang had been released but was too unwell to travel, and Great Shang's officials were handling state affairs.
• Ji Fa rejected Ji Dan's warnings, ordered men and provisions sent to bring Ji Chang home, and commanded Xiqi to prepare for a spring campaign against Great Shang.
• Ji Dan asked Nangong Shi to dissuade Ji Fa, but Nangong Shi said Wei Hu and Nezha could handle Shang generals and that Xiqi had infiltrated Sishui Pass.
• Ji Fa revealed to himself that he was rushing to campaign because an immortal had told him he had only twenty-five years of mortal life remaining.
• After Ji Chang's health improved and he departed, Zi Shou secretly ordered Gao Jieneng to intercept and kill him, while an old woman took over the absent fortune-teller's stall in Chaoge's West Market.

After dreaming of a winged tiger and interpreting it as the omen of the Flying Bear, Ji Chang left an inn after paying his bill with a jade pendant. At the Qi River, Jiang Ziya called himself Flying Bear and argued with the woodcutter Wu Ji; days later, Ji Chang divined that a great worthy was nearby and resolved to seek him out.

• Ji Chang dreamed of a winged tiger and flames, then interpreted the vision as an omen of Zhou’s rise and the Flying Bear.
• An innkeeper insisted that Ji Chang pay for his lodging and meals, so Ji Chang surrendered a jade pendant and continued toward Xiqi.
• Jiang Ziya fished by the Qi River and told the woodcutter Wu Ji that his Daoist name was Flying Bear.
• Wu Ji mocked Jiang Ziya’s name and fishing method, and Jiang Ziya warned Wu Ji that he faced a bloody calamity.
• Ji Chang arrived at the Qi River, divined that a great worthy was nearby, and resolved to seek him out.