Chapter Summaries

Zi Shou pretended that Ji Fa had struck him with Daoist Arts so he could hand command to Lu Xiong and create an excuse to retreat to Chuanyun Pass. Ao Lie suspected the illness was feigned and urged Lu Xiong to watch for Zi Shou’s plans.

• After Zi Shou collapsed, Ao Lie led the Shang Army back to camp, and Lu Xiong hurried to check on the king.
• Zi Shou woke when Lu Xiong called, pretended to be confused and ill, and claimed that Ji Fa had harmed him with Daoist Arts.
• Zi Shou told Lu Xiong a story about Jiang Ziya cursing the Marquis of Ding and said the Imperial Preceptor would soon arrive.
• Zi Shou asked Lu Xiong to take command and keep the illness secret, while privately planning to spread rumors and justify retreating to Chuanyun Pass.
• Ao Lie questioned whether Zi Shou was truly ill, but Lu Xiong dismissed the idea that the king was luring the Zhou Army out of Sishui Pass.

Ji Fa realized King Zhou’s feigned illness was meant to stir the Zhou Army’s soldiers into believing he had suffered heavenly retribution and urge them to attack. He and Nangong Shi returned from the pass wall uncertain how to restrain their troops.

• Ji Fa worried that King Zhou’s accusation had damaged his reputation and the Zhou Army’s credibility among the feudal lords.
• Lei Zhenzi reported that King Zhou’s illness had sparked rumors and a stream of messengers between the Shang camp and Chuanyun Pass.
• Ji Fa concluded that King Zhou’s apparent withdrawal scheme made little sense and summoned Nangong Shi to inspect the pass wall.
• Ji Fa and Nangong Shi overheard Zhou soldiers interpreting King Zhou’s collapse as heavenly retribution and becoming eager to attack.
• Ji Fa and Nangong Shi realized King Zhou’s scheme targeted the ordinary Zhou soldiers, whose belief in Heaven’s mandate made them susceptible to the rumor.

Ji Fa and his commanders launched a night raid on the Shang Army after their soldiers demanded action, but Ao Lie’s defenses and Lu Xiong’s reinforcements turned the attack into a retreat. Ji Fa ordered his troops to withdraw as Shen Gongbao blocked Lei Zhenzi from reaching the Central Army Tent.

• Nangong Shi and Lei Zhenzi concluded that the Zhou soldiers’ belief in Heaven’s punishment left them no choice but to attack, so Ji Fa prepared the troops and spread demoralizing rumors outside the Shang camp.
• Ji Fa led the night assault with Lei Zhenzi at the vanguard, but the Shang Army’s linked camps and fortifications contained the Zhou attack while Ao Lie directed the defense.
• Ao Lie ordered the forward troops to hold the Zhou Army until Lu Xiong arrived, then planned to strike its flank and capture Ji Fa.
• Lu Xiong’s reinforcements arrived, and Lu Renjie killed a Zhou general, throwing the Zhou ranks into confusion; Ji Fa ordered a gradual withdrawal.
• Shen Gongbao confronted Lei Zhenzi outside the Central Army Tent, prompting Lei Zhenzi to pull back, and Ji Fa ordered the full retreat.

Lu Xiong’s preparations turned the Shang Army’s victory into a second defeat for the Zhou Army, raising the soldiers’ morale and giving them a chance to avenge their humiliation. After routing Nangong Shi’s second raid, Lu Xiong asked King Zhou for permission to march on Sishui Pass and led his troops toward battle.

• The Shang Army secured its provisions and celebrated its victory, while Lu Xiong recognized that the battles had united the army’s varied forces.
• Lu Xiong’s troops ambushed Nangong Shi’s returning raiders and surrounded them, cutting off their retreat.
• The Shang soldiers slaughtered the trapped Zhou force, venting their anger over their earlier defeat at Sishui Pass.
• Lu Xiong ordered a report sent to King Zhou, requested permission to seize Sishui Pass, and rallied his soldiers to march and erase their past humiliation.

Zi Shou set a five-day limit on the assault against Sishui Pass to prevent more Shang soldiers from dying needlessly. Lu Xiong rallied the army for a frontal attack, and the chapter ended as the war drums sounded.

• Ao Lie offered to lead the attack and take responsibility, but Zi Shou ordered the army to withdraw to Chuanyun Pass if it failed to take Sishui Pass within five days.
• Ao Lie joined Lu Xiong beneath Sishui Pass and they found its defenses strengthened, leaving a frontal assault as their only practical option.
• Lu Xiong rejected the prospect of retreat and told the soldiers they would take the pass or die trying.
• Xiao Liu and the returning survivors joined Lu Xiong as the Shang Army swore to retake Sishui Pass.
• Yin Pobai beat the war drum, and the Shang soldiers prepared to charge.

The Shang Army launched an all-out assault on Sishui Pass while Ji Fa and Nangong Shi prepared the Zhou defenses. Han Sheng and Han Bian breached part of the wall, but Ji Shuqian confronted Han Sheng as the fighting intensified.

• Ji Fa and Nangong Shi assessed the Shang Army’s large force and prepared to defend Sishui Pass.
• The Shang Army rallied with a battle cry, and Ji Fa steadied the Zhou soldiers with his presence.
• Han Sheng and Han Bian led their troops toward the wall, using a shield to protect themselves from arrows and rocks.
• The brothers cut through Zhou defenders and opened a breach, but Nangong Shi and Ji Fa reinforced the threatened section.
• Han Sheng charged the incoming Zhou troops and faced Ji Shuqian, advancing despite knowing he was outmatched.

The Shang Army captured Sishui Pass after Han Sheng and Han Bian fought Ji Shuqian, and Ao Lie broke open the gate. Just as the Shang forces seemed poised to overwhelm the Zhou defenders, Ji Fa unleashed a storm that plunged the pass into darkness, while Shen Gongbao sensed the change near Zi Shou.

• Han Sheng and Han Bian used dirty tactics against Ji Shuqian, but Ji Shuqian pierced Han Sheng before Han Sheng shielded Han Bian from another thrust.
• The Sishui Pass Remnants protected Han Bian, while Ji Fa left the wall and Nangong Shi took command of the Zhou defense.
• Ao Lie battered open the gate, and Lu Xiong, Han Bian, and the Shang soldiers poured into the pass as Ji Shuqian held them at the narrow entrance.
• Ji Fa signaled that his preparations were complete, and Lei Zhenzi summoned dark clouds and torrential rain over both armies.
• The sudden darkness and rain panicked the Shang soldiers as the Zhou forces advanced, while Shen Gongbao awoke beside Zi Shou and tapped the empty air.

The Zhou Army’s attempt to retake Sishui Pass faltered when strange white lights filled the stronghold, allowing the Shang Army to counterattack and drive Ji Fa’s forces out. Outside the pass, Ji Fa faced the human cost of defeat as wounded soldiers asked why they had lost.

• The Shang and Zhou armies fought blindly in the darkness and rain until white lights rose throughout Sishui Pass.
• Shen Gongbao recognized the lights as the lingering souls of the pass’s defenders, who had resisted the Investiture List and illuminated the road for the living.
• Lu Xiong rallied the Shang Army and used its superior numbers to surround and break the Zhou Army’s defensive line.
• Ji Fa, Ji Shuqian, Nangong Shi, Lei Zhenzi, and the others withdrew through the West Gate as the Zhou Army suffered heavy losses.
• Ji Fa ended the suffering of gravely wounded soldiers, while Niu Jieshi told him about his family and asked why the Zhou Army had lost.

After the Zhou Army’s crushing defeat, Niu Jieshi’s doubts about Ji Fa and Heaven’s mandate threatened to spread through the ranks until Nangong Shi redirected the soldiers’ anger toward King Zhou and steadied their morale. The army then learned that Ji Shuqian had not returned from the rearguard, raising fears of new conflict within Zhou.

• Wounded and dying, Niu Jieshi questioned why the soldiers fought for Ji Fa after the Zhou Army had been defeated.
• Nangong Shi killed Niu Jieshi to prevent his doubts from spreading and called on the soldiers to fight against King Zhou’s tyranny.
• Nangong Shi recast the defeat as a trial from Heaven, and his planted guards’ shouts helped restore the soldiers’ morale.
• A messenger told Ji Fa that Lei Zhenzi had returned, but Ji Shuqian had not.
• Nangong Shi worried that Ji Shuqian’s disappearance alongside Lei Zhenzi would deepen Ji Dan’s resentment toward the Immortals.

Ji Shuqian and his rearguard were overwhelmed as the Shang Army retook Sishui Pass, and Ji Shuqian was killed after singing a final verse honoring his father and Zhou’s legacy. Zi Shou ordered the battlefield cleared and military merit counted, leaving Lu Xiong’s army at the pass as dawn broke.

• Ji Shuqian led his remaining personal guards toward the West Gate, but Lu Renjie and Yin Pobai pinned him down while Han Bian knocked him from his horse.
• Ji Shuqian sang a poem honoring Ji Chang and his descendants, then Han Bian beheaded him.
• Lu Xiong ordered the final assault, and the Shang Army wiped out the remaining Zhou soldiers inside Sishui Pass.
• Zi Shou entered the pass and ordered military merit tallied by reassembling the fallen soldiers’ bodies, delaying any further advance.
• At dawn, Lu Xiong rode through the ruined pass and resolved to keep fighting for Shang and military merit.

After Ji Gao returned from Sishui Pass with news that King Zhou seemed to be withdrawing and spending his time dancing and singing, Ji Fa and his advisers suspected a trap. Lei Zhenzi warned them about Shang forces approaching from the north and south, and Ji Fa set out to find a place to ambush one of them.

• Ji Gao reported that King Zhou had released the prisoners, while Lu Xiong drilled the Shang Army every three days and King Zhou held daily dances and songs.
• Ji Fa and Nangong Shi considered whether King Zhou planned to withdraw, while Ji Gao and Lei Zhenzi revealed reasons to distrust the apparent opportunity.
• Ji Gao deduced that King Zhou had released the prisoners to spread misleading news and draw the Zhou Army's attention away from Shang forces advancing from the north and south.
• Ji Fa ordered scouts to watch the approaching forces and began surveying the terrain with rotating groups of soldiers.
• Ji Fa chose to target Shi Bufan's force and identified rugged ground near the Quicksand River as a possible ambush site.

Ji Fa hid Zhou troops in the mountains beside the Quicksand River and waited for Shi Bufan’s Shang Army to enter their ambush. When the Shang soldiers marched deep into the forest, Ji Fa launched a three-pronged attack, leaving Shi Bufan to realize his army was in grave danger.

• Ji Fa chose the mountain forest for an ambush and led his exhausted troops there under cover of night.
• Shi Bufan approached with the Shang Army, dismissed his deputy general’s warnings, and ordered a cursory search that failed to find the Zhou troops.
• Ji Fa ordered his forces to block the Shang vanguard, cut off its retreat, and attack once the entire army had entered the forest.
• Ji Fa led the charge as the Zhou Army ambushed the Shang soldiers, and Shi Bufan realized they were in trouble.

Shi Bufan’s Dare-to-Bear Army was trapped and destroyed by Ji Fa’s ambush, but its former slaves refused to surrender despite their fear of death. Ji Fa left the captives facing execution as he tried to make them submit for his planned assault on Sishui Pass.

• The undisciplined Dare-to-Bear Army panicked in the mountain pass, and Shi Bufan rallied his troops and ordered them to charge through.
• Ji Fa led Zhou troops down from the heights, splitting the army, while further Zhou forces blocked the vanguard’s path.
• Shi Bufan led his soldiers into battle and charged a guarded position, only to discover Ji Fa there and be captured with his remaining guards.
• The Dare-to-Bear Army was killed or crippled, and Ji Fa repeatedly offered surrender while having captured soldiers beheaded.
• Shi Bufan recognized the dead deputy general and reflected on the brutal conditions the soldiers had endured as slaves.

Shi Bufan and the Dare-to-Bear Army refused to surrender to Ji Fa, and Shi Bufan died in a final attack. Ji Fa recognized that the dead soldiers had escaped slavery in Xiqi, but a massive Shang force then appeared and approached across the land and the Quicksand River.

• Ji Fa asked Shi Bufan to surrender, and Shi Bufan pretended to submit before breaking his bonds and lunging at him.
• Ji Fa evaded Shi Bufan's attack, and two spears pierced Shi Bufan's chest before he died trying to strike Ji Fa with his head.
• Ji Fa saw the slave markings carved into the dead Dare-to-Bear soldiers and realized they had escaped from Xiqi.
• Warning drums and horns sounded, and Ji Fa climbed to a high peak to investigate the approaching enemy.
• Ji Fa saw a vast Shang force advancing with ships on the Quicksand River and wondered where it had come from.

Ji Fa’s Zhou Army was ambushed by Zhang Guifang and the Shang Army returning from the South, and their forces were surrounded with their retreat cut off. Ji Fa ordered his troops to hold their formation and await reinforcements, while the battle left him questioning his own instincts.

• Ji Fa recognized that Zhang Guifang, Fang Xiang, Fang Bi, and the battle-ready Shang troops had come from the South, suggesting Baiyue had secretly submitted to Great Shang.
• Zhang Guifang broke through the Zhou Army’s outer defenses, and Fang Xiang and Fang Bi led Shang soldiers in a fierce assault that threw the Zhou formation into disarray.
• Ji Fa ordered the Zhou Army to withdraw, but a scout reported that Shang ships had occupied the Quicksand River and blocked their retreat.
• Ji Fa stopped his guards from attempting a desperate escape and told the Zhou Army to hold its formation while they waited for Nangong Shi and Jiang Ziya’s reinforcements.
• Seeing Zhou soldiers’ bodies scattered among the dead, Ji Fa reflected that his decision to wait seemed unlike his usual approach.

Ji Fa led the Zhou Army into a valley to escape the Shang Army, then used the terrain and smoke to survive a fire attack. As his soldiers praised him as Heaven’s chosen ruler, thunderclouds gathered and rain began to fall, though the Zhou Army had still suffered a crushing defeat.

• Ji Fa abandoned the mountain position and led three thousand Zhou soldiers into a narrow valley while Zhang Guifang pursued them.
• Zhang Guifang stopped the Shang soldiers from entering the valley and ordered them to shoot fire arrows into it.
• Ji Fa guided his soldiers through the burned ground to a stream, where they soaked their clothes and waited out the smoke and flames.
• Zhang Guifang and the Shang soldiers mocked Ji Fa’s claim to the Mandate of Heaven, while the Zhou soldiers affirmed their faith in him.
• Ji Fa questioned whether he truly bore Heaven’s mandate, and thunder and rain arrived as the Shang Army watched in disbelief.
• The rain extinguished the fire, but it could not erase the Zhou Army’s crushing defeat.

Zhang Guifang ignored orders to pursue Ji Fa and attacked the fleeing Zhou troops alone. Ji Fa’s men tried to surround him, but Zhang Guifang repeatedly broke through their ranks and continued his assault.

• Fang Xiang urged Zhang Guifang to tend the wounded and secure prisoners, but Zhang Guifang rode off to pursue Ji Fa.
• Ji Fa escaped down a muddy mountain trail with his soldiers, carried by his loyal guard Ji Yi.
• Zhang Guifang caught up with the Zhou troops and killed Ji Yi after his first charge missed Ji Fa.
• Zhang Guifang charged through the Zhou formation repeatedly, killing and scattering soldiers as Ji Fa urged his men to hold their ranks.
• The Zhou soldiers surrounded Zhang Guifang with shields and weapons, but he swept them aside and broke out to charge again.

Ji Fa escaped Zhang Guifang by leaping the Quicksand River on an old horse, then met a group of Zhou generals who came as reinforcements. As the generals crossed to confront Zhang Guifang, he continued slaughtering Zhou soldiers, including those who had surrendered, and Ji Shukun ordered the archers to shoot him.

• Ji Fa retreated toward the Quicksand River while Zhang Guifang fought through the Zhou Army in pursuit.
• An old horse carried Ji Fa across the river in a single leap, then collapsed and died from exhaustion.
• Ji Shukun and the other arriving generals learned that Zhang Guifang alone had routed Ji Fa's three thousand soldiers and crossed the river to confront him.
• Exhausted Zhou soldiers surrendered, but Zhang Guifang continued attacking them without mercy.
• Ji Shukun ordered the Zhou archers to shoot Zhang Guifang.

Wounded and outnumbered, Zhang Guifang used his Name-Calling Dismount art to turn the pursuit against the Zhou generals. He read their names from the Great Shang Daily’s Monthly Appraisal and knocked them from their horses one after another.

• Ji Shukun and the other Zhou generals shot Zhang Guifang, wounding his right arm and forcing him to retreat across a bridge.
• Zhang Guifang stopped across the bridge and challenged the Zhou generals, then pulled out a copy of the Great Shang Daily.
• Zhang Guifang called Ji Shuzheng’s name, but no one fell; he then called Ji Shukun, who toppled from his horse.
• Zhang Guifang called Yin Xun’s name, and Yin Xun also fell from his horse.
• The Zhou generals charged, but Zhang Guifang rapidly read more names from the Monthly Appraisal and sent a succession of them tumbling to the ground.

Zi Shou and Wen Zhong learned that the Dare-to-Bear Army had been wiped out and Zhang Guifang was in danger after pursuing Ji Fa. As Zhou reinforcements closed in, Zi Shou asked Shen Gongbao whether he could perform a Transcendence Ritual.

• Wen Zhong reassured Zi Shou that he had no objections to the king's military changes and would let him act freely.
• A messenger reported that Ji Fa had ambushed and destroyed the Dare-to-Bear Army, while Zhang Guifang pursued him alone and disappeared.
• Wen Zhong explained that the Four Generals of the Mo Family obeyed summons but not deployment orders, suggesting the Western Teachings had their own plans.
• Chao Lei reported that Jiang Ziya had sent dozens of generals to reinforce Ji Fa, leaving Zhang Guifang in greater danger.
• Zi Shou gathered the generals and asked Shen Gongbao whether he knew how to perform a Transcendence Ritual, but Shen Gongbao said he did not.