Recaps

Liu Zhipeng and Yvraine entered the Gladiatorial Arena, where Vect turned their arrival into a spectacle and sent Xilis to attack. Liu Zhipeng defeated Xilis and used his primordial fire to sever her connection to Slaanesh, leaving her transformed by the sudden relief.

• Vect recognized Yvraine and Liu Zhipeng, then ordered Xilis to fight him for a lavish reward.
• Yvraine warned Liu Zhipeng that Vect would send challengers to test him, and Xilis attacked from behind.
• Liu Zhipeng caught Xilis after her dagger broke against his neck and burned away her poison.
• Liu Zhipeng enveloped Xilis in primordial fire, which burned through her connection to Slaanesh.
• Xilis's agony gave way to relief as the hunger and fear imposed by Slaanesh vanished.

Liu Zhipeng and Yvraine revealed that Xilis had escaped Slaanesh’s hunger, stirring the Drukhari to hope for freedom and threatening Vect’s rule. Vect tried to trap Liu with a stasis field, but Liu ignored it and advanced toward Vect as the Archons hesitated.

• Xilis knelt before Liu Zhipeng and declared that Slaanesh’s hunger was gone and she was free.
• Yvraine announced to the arena that Liu could offer the Drukhari salvation from Slaanesh, and the crowd turned its attention from Vect to them.
• Vect recognized the threat to Commorragh’s order and confronted Liu, who challenged him to act like a real leader.
• Vect activated the Void Suppression Field and Dimensional Stasis Net, but Liu walked through the field unaffected.
• Vect ordered the Archons and Incubi to kill Liu, but they stayed still as they watched Xilis follow him in freedom.

Liu Zhipeng persuaded Vect and Commorragh’s leaders to accept his flames, severing their ties to Slaanesh in exchange for helping seal the Eye of Terror. After purging Commorragh and assembling its fleet, they set out to join the Aeldari forces.

• Vect abandoned his attack on Liu Zhipeng and invited him and Yvraine to negotiate at his palace.
• Liu Zhipeng offered to purify the Drukhari and demanded they end large-scale raids and help him at Cadia; Vect agreed on condition that he and the other leaders be healed first.
• Liu Zhipeng ignited Vect and Commorragh’s leaders, freeing them from Slaanesh’s mark and transforming the palace into a treatment center.
• Drukhari who sought salvation joined the Ember Faithful, while Vect and Yvraine crushed those who refused and used their souls to awaken the Avatar of Ynnead.
• Vect led tens of thousands of Drukhari warships into the Webway toward Ulthwé and the gathered Aeldari forces.

Liu Zhipeng’s Drukhari fleet rescued Ulthwé from a Slaaneshi attack, then Aeldari leaders gathered there with Khaine Shards for his ritual. He began absorbing the shards despite Prince Yriel’s warning about their maddening will.

• Eldrad told Ulthwé’s defenders that reinforcements had arrived as a vast fleet emerged from the Webway.
• Asdrubael Vect received Liu Zhipeng’s permission to attack the Flawless Host and led the Drukhari in destroying it.
• Ulthwé’s warriors watched the Drukhari fleet return to formation after erasing the Chaos Warband.
• Eldrad welcomed Liu Zhipeng as a god and opened Ulthwé to the arriving Craftworld fleets and their Khaine Shards.
• Prince Yriel warned Liu Zhipeng that the shards could drive him insane, but Liu began drawing in the largest shard.

Liu Zhipeng absorbed all the Khaine Shards and merged their power with his own before revealing the Four Pillars Plan to seal the Eye of Terror. He led the Aeldari fleet to Bloodfang and began clearing the planet of Khorne’s forces.

• Liu Zhipeng devoured the Khaine Shards, compressing their power into his body and merging it with his primordial fire and Golden Judgment.
• Liu Zhipeng proposed building four planetary-scale Blackstone Obelisks around the Eye of Terror to create a web of reality and seal it.
• Vect commanded the combined Aeldari fleet to Bloodfang, where its guns destroyed the Chaos forces in orbit.
• Liu Zhipeng descended onto Bloodfang and purified approaching daemons with his golden flames.
• Liu Zhipeng erased a Chaos champion, the Space Marines behind him, and a stretch of the planet with one punch, then vaporized an escaping battleship.

Liu Zhipeng and the Aeldari began building four Blackstone Spires, provoking a massive Chaos assault before Roboute Guilliman arrived with the Indomitus Crusade to reinforce them. Guilliman assigned Imperial forces to defend three nodes while the Aeldari took responsibility for the Slaanesh node, and both sides prepared for the war ahead.

• Vect ordered Aeldari propaganda networks to broadcast Liu Zhipeng's victory as construction crews began raising Blackstone Spires on four death worlds.
• The Four Gods sent vast daemon armies to attack the construction sites, and the Aeldari alliance struggled to hold its defensive lines.
• Roboute Guilliman arrived with the Indomitus Crusade and struck the Chaos army's flank, turning the tide of the battle.
• Liu Zhipeng, Yvraine, and Vect teleported aboard the Macragge's Honour and met with Guilliman to plan the defense of the four nodes.
• Guilliman assigned the Blood Angels to Bloodfang, the Ultramarines to the Garden of Decay, and Belisarius Cawl with Custodes support to the Crystal Labyrinth, while the Aeldari took the Slaanesh node.
• Guilliman ordered all forces to battle stations, declaring that they had no way back.

Perturabo launched a massive assault on the four planets, forcing Guilliman’s forces into simultaneous battles against Chaos armies and Daemons. The Blood Angels and Ultramarines held their lines with help from the Grey Knights and Guilliman, while the fighting continued across the besieged worlds.

• Guilliman recognized Perturabo’s saturation attack and ordered the Imperial fleet and planetary defenses to intercept the drop pods and bombardment.
• Dante led the Blood Angels against the invading Chaos forces, but Ang'grath’s arrival drove many warriors toward the black rage.
• The Grey Knights teleported in and suppressed the black rage, allowing Dante to rally the Blood Angels against Ang'grath and Khorne’s Daemons.
• Rotigus unleashed toxic rain that devastated Marius Calgar’s defensive line and killed many mortal soldiers.
• Guilliman teleported in and used the Emperor’s Sword to create a purification field, then left Calgar to hold the line.
• Calgar rallied the Ultramarines and Imperialis Militia to defend the hallowed ground against Nurgle’s Daemon Army.

Belisarius Cawl fought Kairos Fateweaver’s attempt to corrupt the Blackstone Obelisk’s construction formula while the Imperials defended it from Tzeentchian daemons. On another battlefield, Liu Zhipeng swiftly defeated Syll’Esske and left Vect’s Drukhari to overwhelm her twelve Keepers of Secrets.

• Belisarius Cawl ordered his forces to adapt to the unstable planet and battled Kairos Fateweaver’s attack on the Obelisk’s construction formula.
• Adeptus Custodes and Imperialis Militia forces defended the Obelisk from waves of Tzeentchian daemons.
• Syll’Esske emerged from the mist with twelve Keepers of Secrets and challenged Liu Zhipeng.
• Liu Zhipeng seized Syll’Esske, negated her powers, and punched her out of realspace into the Warp.
• Vect commanded the Drukhari to attack, and they engulfed the stunned Keepers of Secrets.

The Four Gods destroyed three Blackstone Obelisks just before the Four Pillars Plan could succeed, and Liu Zhipeng led the surviving Aeldari into the expanding Eye of Terror to attack Slaanesh’s palace. Guilliman rallied the Imperial survivors to defend the Eye and keep Liu Zhipeng’s way home open.

• The Four Gods descended into realspace and destroyed the obelisks at Bloodfang, the Garden of Decay, and the Crystal Labyrinth, killing countless Imperial warriors.
• Liu Zhipeng withstood Slaanesh’s strike, but the final obelisk cracked and Guilliman ordered the forces to retreat as the Eye of Terror began expanding.
• Liu Zhipeng urged the surviving Aeldari to follow him into Slaanesh’s palace, and their golden fleet plunged into the Eye of Terror.
• Guilliman grieved over the Aeldari sacrifice, then rallied the Imperial fleet to form a defensive line around the Eye of Terror.

Liu Zhipeng led the Ember Legion into Slaanesh’s first ring of temptation, where illusions of everything the Aeldari desired lured souls away to be devoured. A Saim-Hann chieftain sacrificed himself to break the ring’s illusions, allowing the legion to pass, while his remaining spark was trapped behind.

• Liu Zhipeng gathered the Aeldari souls into the Ember Legion as their fleet was destroyed in the Warp, and Yvraine warned that Slaanesh’s six rings guarded the Palace.
• Liu Zhipeng led the legion into the first ring, where visions of restored Craftworlds, wealth, and power tempted souls to break away and die.
• Vect urged the legion to resist the illusions, but the temptations continued to draw souls from the torrent.
• A Saim-Hann chieftain sacrificed himself in a burst of pure will, awakening the bewitched souls and shattering the ring’s illusions.
• Liu Zhipeng led the rallied legion through the breach, while Yvraine saw the chieftain’s remaining spark trapped in the ring.

The Ember Legion crossed Slaanesh’s Ring of Gluttony, where Yriel and Iyanden’s warriors sacrificed themselves to clear a path, then entered a ring that forced each soul to face its deepest desires. Vect embraced his mirror image, leaving his fate uncertain.

• The Ring of Gluttony’s seductive energy slowed the Ember Legion and began assimilating souls who stopped moving.
• Yriel and tens of thousands of Iyanden warriors formed an Ancient Spirit Array, absorbing the corruption so the legion could pass.
• After Liu Zhipeng led the legion through, the Iyanden warriors’ overfilled souls exploded and merged with the Ring of Gluttony.
• In the next ring, mirror images embodied the legion’s hidden desires, forcing each soul into a private struggle against corruption.
• Vect admired his mirror image, which embodied his desire for power, intrigue, and betrayal, then opened his arms to embrace it.

Vect led the Ember Legion out of Slaanesh’s Ring of Lust by rejecting his false reflection, then broke the Ring of Domination by turning its rulers against one another. The legion continued onward, but Vect’s soul-fire dimmed from the effort.

• Vect rejected and destroyed his reflection, inspiring the Ember Legion to overcome their desires and escape the Ring of Lust.
• The legion entered the Fourth Ring, where enslaved souls tried to strip away their free will under a false system of perfect order.
• Yvraine warned that the Ring’s laws made resistance ineffective and allowed the Enslavers to assimilate the legion’s warriors.
• Vect infected the Inquisitors with suspicion and betrayal, causing them to turn on one another and collapse the Ring’s order.
• Liu Zhipeng led the legion through the halted Enslavers while Vect withdrew his will, visibly weakened by the effort.

Liu Zhipeng led the Ember Legion through the Ring of Vanity by turning them away from false glory and toward the suffering of realspace. Vect sacrificed himself to destroy the Pleasure Titan in the Ring of Sloth, waking the exhausted survivors, who reached the Palace of Slaanesh.

• Liu Zhipeng showed the souls realspace’s suffering, helping the Ember Legion resist the statues’ false glory and bring down the Ring of Vanity.
• The Ember Legion began sinking into the soothing river of the Ring of Sloth, overcome by exhaustion.
• Vect rallied the sleepers, then detonated his soul against the awakening Pleasure Titan, destroying it and disrupting the river’s spell.
• Liu Zhipeng led the fewer-than-one-tenth survivors out of the Ring of Sloth, and they saw the Palace of Slaanesh ahead.

Liu Zhipeng led the surviving Ember Legion into Slaanesh’s palace and confronted the Dark Prince while Yvraine and the remaining Aeldari withdrew. He admitted he could not yet kill Slaanesh, but vowed to make the god suffer.

• Liu Zhipeng and Yvraine mourned Vect, then Liu gathered Ember’s surviving power and smashed through Slaanesh’s palace doors.
• Liu charged into the palace with the Ember Legion, ignoring the daemons and focusing on Slaanesh upon the throne.
• Slaanesh welcomed Liu and threatened to make him an eternal slave beneath the throne.
• Liu ordered Yvraine and the surviving Aeldari souls to retreat, leaving him alone to face Slaanesh.
• Liu condemned Slaanesh for feeding on the Aeldari and treating the galaxy as a game, then declared that he would make the god suffer.

Liu Zhipeng wounded Slaanesh with the Emperor’s fire and Khaine’s Wrath, then detonated his soul as the Four Gods fought over him. The blast devastated Slaanesh and her palace, weakened the other gods’ manifestations, and eased the Great Enemy’s pull on Aeldari souls, while Liu Zhipeng vanished in the explosion.

• Liu Zhipeng struck Slaanesh through the god’s domain and burned a grievous wound into the source of Slaanesh’s divinity.
• Khorne, Nurgle, and Tzeentch entered the palace and reached for Liu Zhipeng, each claiming his soul, while Slaanesh also tried to seize him.
• Liu Zhipeng abandoned resistance and detonated his soul, fused with Khaine’s divinity, primordial fire, and millions of Aeldari souls.
• The explosion erased much of Slaanesh’s palace and inflicted the god’s worst injury since birth, forcing Slaanesh to withdraw from the Great Game.
• Khorne, Nurgle, and Tzeentch’s manifestations were damaged and retreated, while across the galaxy Slaaneshi Daemons fled and the Aeldari felt Slaanesh’s soul-draining pull weaken.

Yvraine and the surviving Aeldari returned to Realspace after Liu Zhipeng sacrificed himself to cripple Slaanesh, giving the galaxy a temporary reprieve. Reborn in a new life, Liu Zhipeng gained Primordial Divine Fire, which bound his followers’ souls to him so they could return and reincarnate alongside him.

• Yvraine led the surviving Aeldari out of the Warp, and Guilliman honored them for their sacrifice.
• Yvraine told Guilliman that Liu Zhipeng had acted to let everyone live, then returned to the Webway with the last seeds of hope.
• Yvraine’s followers formed the Death God-Ember sect, while Slaanesh’s weakness sparked a war among Khorne, Nurgle, and Tzeentch.
• Liu Zhipeng awoke in a new reincarnation and learned that his sacrifice had earned him the permanent ability All as One.
• The system fused All as One with Primordial Fire into Primordial Divine Fire, allowing his followers’ souls to return to him and reincarnate alongside him.

Liu Zhipeng escaped the Gorkanaut’s grip and used Golden Judgment to slaughter the Orks in the workshop. He left the last surviving mechanic trapped in the cockpit, trying to start the machine against him.

• Liu Zhipeng broke apart the Gorkanaut’s mechanical finger and leaped free.
• Liu Zhipeng smashed the Ork overseer’s knee with a wrench and killed a nearby mechanic with a blow to the chin.
• Liu Zhipeng punched an attacking Ork, causing its body to collapse and disintegrate under Golden Judgment.
• Liu Zhipeng darted through the workshop, erasing the charging Orks with punches and kicks.
• The last Ork mechanic tried to start the Gorkanaut, and Liu Zhipeng bent his knees as he looked up at him.

Liu Zhipeng slaughtered the Orks in the workshop and sparked a rebellion among thousands of Gretchin, founding the first Ember Company. He assigned Ghazghk, Sharpfang, and Snot leadership roles and turned the Gretchin toward technology, combat, and reconnaissance.

• Liu Zhipeng killed the Orks in the workshop, then rallied the terrified Gretchin by asking whether Ork Warbosses were born to rule.
• Liu Zhipeng's Primordial Divine Flame awakened the Gretchin's defiance, and they attacked the Ork corpses as the first Ember Company formed.
• Liu Zhipeng decided the Gretchin would rely on technology rather than melee and planned to combine Ork machinery with Necron principles.
• Liu Zhipeng named Ghazghk his first Mekboy and ordered him to gather Gretchin interested in tinkering.
• Liu Zhipeng appointed Sharpfang his first warlord to organize fighters and maintain order among the Gretchin.
• Liu Zhipeng made Snot his scout leader, tasking him with mapping the workshop and locating Orks, scrap, food, and water.

Liu Zhipeng transformed the Gretchin workshop by teaching Ghazghk and his apprentices to build Mini Power Armour and unstable Gauss Rifles. The Gretchin organized into disciplined squads and sang of their march toward victory over the Orks.

• Liu Zhipeng dismantled the Big Mek's inventions and taught Ghazghk and the mechanic apprentices to modify Ork technology.
• Ghazghk and the apprentices built crooked but functional Mini Power Armour that let Gretchin lift heavy iron plates.
• Liu Zhipeng tested his Gauss Rifle: Youth Edition by having Sharpfang fire at a scrap block, which disintegrated after a grazing hit.
• Liu Zhipeng promised every Gretchin a rifle, and the Gretchin cheered at the prospect of fighting from a distance.
• Ghazghk's Engineering Department produced rifles and armour while Sharpfang's Combat Department trained the Gretchin to form ranks and fire together.
• The Gretchin stopped fighting over food and supplies, formed disciplined ranks, and sang together through Scrap Canyon.

Liu Zhipeng learned that Gurlok “Ironhead” was marching on the Ember Company with a huge Ork army, Killa Kans, and a Morkanaut. He rallied the frightened Gretchin to fight for their lives as the attack approached.

• A Big Mek saw the Gretchin rebellion and roared for his Orks to march against it.
• Liu Zhipeng planned to spread word of the Gretchin uprising, but first prepared to face retaliation from the workshop’s former owner.
• Snot reported that Gurlok “Ironhead” was advancing with tens of thousands of Orks, many Killa Kans, and a Morkanaut.
• The Gretchin panicked at the size of the approaching force, but Liu Zhipeng reminded them that they now had weapons, armor, and a reason to fight.
• Sharpfang and thousands of Gretchin shouted that the Orks would pay the price of blood, and Liu Zhipeng began giving orders.

Liu Zhipeng organized the Gretchin into layered defenses as Big Mek Gurlok’s Ork horde advanced on the workshop. Once the Orks entered the Gauss Rifles’ optimal range, Liu ordered the Gretchin to fire, and their beams began disintegrating the front ranks.

• Liu Zhipeng ordered Ghazghk to build three breastworks, Sharpfang to organize the combat Gretchin, and Snot to scout the Orks.
• The Gretchin took positions behind the defenses while Liu waited for the Orks to enter the rifles’ lethal range.
• Big Mek Gurlok led an Ork horde, Killa Kans, and a Morkanaut toward the workshop, expecting an easy victory.
• When the Orks reached fifty meters, Liu Zhipeng gave the order to open fire.
• Thousands of Gauss Rifle beams struck the Orks, silently disintegrating their bodies and armor.

Liu Zhipeng’s Gretchin used rotating volleys of Gauss fire to decimate the Ork charge, but Big Mek Gurlok’s Morkanaut smashed through their defenses and sent them fleeing. Liu Zhipeng launched himself at Gurlok, passed through the stasis field unhindered, and continued toward the cockpit.

• Liu Zhipeng ordered the Gretchin firing squads to rotate volleys, disintegrating waves of Orks as they charged.
• Big Mek Gurlok sent Killa Kans forward and activated the Morkanaut’s Void Shield.
• Gurlok’s Morkanaut smashed through the breastwork and burned hundreds of Gretchin, causing the defenders to flee.
• Liu Zhipeng launched himself toward Gurlok’s cockpit, and Gurlok activated a Stasis Field Generator to stop him.
• Liu Zhipeng’s Temporal Wraith ability let him pass through the stasis field as he continued toward the cockpit.

Liu Zhipeng destroyed Big Mek Gurlok and led the Ember Company to victory over the Orks at Scrap Canyon. His propaganda spread among oppressed Gretchin, and thousands fled to join the Scrap Workshop, swelling his army to tens of thousands.

• Liu Zhipeng broke through the Morkanaut’s Void Shield, dragged Gurlok from the cockpit, and disintegrated him with a Gauss Rifle.
• The Gretchin rallied under Liu Zhipeng’s command and slaughtered the Orks, while the enemy army fell into confusion and collapse.
• Liu Zhipeng ordered the Ember Company to kill all surviving Orks and leave none alive.
• Liu Zhipeng sent Snot’s selected Gretchin to spread the story of the Gretchin Savior among nearby Ork tribes.
• Gretchin escaped from mines, rubbish heaps, and kitchens to join Liu Zhipeng at the Scrap Workshop, growing the Ember Company to tens of thousands.

Liu Zhipeng equipped his Gretchin army with nutrient paste, rocket artillery, Killa Kans, and Liberator Gundams before leading them to attack Rust Fungus Mine. The chapter ends with Warboss Dok Ripsaw spotting the advancing army and its four steel giants.

• Liu Zhipeng showed Ghazghk plans for Katyusha Squigs, a nutrient paste synthesizer, and Liberator Gundams rebuilt from the Morkanaut and Gorkanaut.
• Ghazghk and the mechanics completed the synthesizer, rocket launchers, Killa Kans, and the first crimson Liberator Gundam, which knelt before Liu Zhipeng.
• Liu Zhipeng gathered his tens of thousands of Gretchin and ordered them to march on Rust Fungus Mine.
• Dok Ripsaw heard that a Gretchin army was approaching and climbed the lookout tower to see its artillery and four steel giants.

Liu Zhipeng’s Gretchin Liberation Army seized the Rust Fungus Mine in a swift assault, freeing its slaves and killing the Ork Warboss Dok. The victory supplied the army with resources and recruits, and Liu’s forces spent the following month conquering nearby Ork strongholds.

• Dok ordered the Orks to prepare their defenses, but hundreds of rockets devastated the mine’s walls and scattered his forces.
• Liu Zhipeng ordered a full assault, as the Red Comet and White Devil Gundams broke through the defenses for the Killa Kans, Ember Veterans, and Gretchin recruits.
• The attackers overwhelmed the Orks, and the mine’s Gretchin slaves joined the rebellion against their overseers.
• Dok tried to make a final stand, but the Red Comet killed him as the battle ended in less than fifteen minutes.
• More than ten thousand freed slaves pledged loyalty to Liu Zhipeng, bringing his army close to sixty thousand and giving it the mine’s equipment and supplies.
• Over the following month, Liu Zhipeng used the Rust Fungus Mine as a base to attack nearby small and medium-sized Ork strongholds.