Chapter Summaries

Yang Ge spent the voyage fishing while his companions worried that his cultivation had gone awry, then explained his simple strategy for the Eastern Expedition. The discussion ended when he caught a shark and hauled it onto the ship.

• Yang Ge befriended Old Zhang over fresh fish and promised to help him return home and settle his past troubles.
• Yang Tiansheng, Li Jincheng, and Xiang Wudi questioned Yang Ge about his cultivation and raised the possibility of the Grandmaster Mystery.
• Yang Ge denied having doubts about his Dao, claimed his foundations would catch up during the expedition, and explained that the group would raid quickly and flee when necessary.
• Yang Ge’s fishing line snapped during an argument with Li Jincheng, but he leaped into the sea and returned carrying a shark.
• Xiang Wudi teased Li Jincheng by asking whether Yang Ge looked like his father.

Yang Ge led his seventy-two warriors ashore at Hirado Port and launched a surprise assault on its defenses. After the others seized the harbor walls, he entered Hirado Castle and slaughtered the Japanese pirate martial experts, while his companions decided not to interfere with his rampage.

• Yang Ge warned his warriors to fight armed Japanese pirates without mercy and assigned Wang Cheng to handle supplies and serve as their escape route and cleanup force.
• Yang Ge divided the warriors into three groups to attack Hirado Port’s walls and gate, then smashed the gate tower with a strike of golden blade qi.
• Yang Tiansheng, Xiang Wudi, and Li Jincheng led their forces over the walls and captured the harbor defenses before the cannons could fire.
• Yang Ge entered Hirado Castle and killed five Japanese pirate martial experts, then pursued and killed two fleeing ninjas.
• Yang Tiansheng, Li Jincheng, and Xiang Wudi discussed Yang Ge’s killing spree and chose to let him continue.

Yang Ge seized Hirado Castle, destroyed the Matsuura House, and began identifying and punishing Japanese pirates who had raided Huaxia. He left the city’s adult men gathered under guard, using rewards and fear to turn them against the pirates and further his goal of eliminating Japanese piracy.

• Yang Ge ordered Hirado Castle sealed, then entered the daimyo residence and killed its defenders with flying blade fragments.
• Yang Ge defeated Matsuura Takanobu, destroyed the Matsuura House, and ordered Zhou Fu’s Embroidered Uniform Guards to gather the city’s wealth and adult men.
• On hearing that it was September 18, Yang Ge recalled his homeland and softly sang about the Northeast and his parents.
• Yang Ge assembled more than five thousand adult men with the city’s valuables and offered rewards to anyone who identified Japanese pirates who had raided Huaxia.
• Yang Ge’s men executed the accused pirates, and he told Yang Tiansheng that his purpose was to ensure there were no Japanese pirates left.

Yang Ge explained his plan to fracture the Eastern Isles from within by empowering its paupers to fight the Japanese Pirates and each other. The chapter ended with the paupers carrying out bloody executions and Yang Tiansheng accepting that he would join Yang Ge’s campaign.

• Yang Ge told Yang Tiansheng and the others that he planned to break the Eastern Isles’ power by raising paupers against its leaders and keeping the people divided.
• Yang Tiansheng, Xiang Wudi, and Li Jincheng agreed to support Yang Ge, while Zhou Fu worried about the consequences of his methods.
• Yang Ge ordered the paupers to execute captured Japanese Pirates and promised a surname, slaves, and a hundred taels of silver to the first person to begin.
• A pauper named Kangami Ichirō beheaded an elderly Japanese Pirate, and Yang Ge rewarded him with silver and slaves.
• The paupers rushed to hack the bound Japanese Pirates to death as Yang Ge urged them to become more ruthless.

After seizing Hirado Castle, Yang Ge organized the captured islanders into a samurai-rank system and ordered Zhou Fu to train them while keeping them dependent and expendable. When scouts found two thousand pirates waiting in ambush in Chikuzen Province, Yang Ge and three companions rode ahead to break their ranks and force the auxiliaries into battle.

• Yang Ge and his companions left Hirado Castle with a thousand auxiliaries, while Wang Cheng's men transported the captured goods back to Great Wei.
• Yang Ge told Zhou Fu to train the auxiliaries harshly but withhold real military knowledge, and to remove capable leaders by sending them into dangerous missions.
• Zhou Fu imposed collective punishment through the Baojia System, and the auxiliaries began to take on the appearance of a military force after two days of marching.
• An Embroidered Uniform Guard scout reported that at least two thousand troops with bows, crossbows, cannons, and traps were waiting in a valley ahead.
• Yang Ge decided that he, Yang Tiansheng, Li Jincheng, and Xiang Wudi would attack the ambushers, break their fighting spirit, and send the auxiliaries in to finish the fight.
• The four men rode toward the valley, jokingly turning the attack into a contest to see who could kill the most Japanese.

Yang Ge and his companions routed Sue Harukata’s forces in the Eastern Isles, and Sue Harukata was killed as he fled. Afterward, Yang Tiansheng and Xiang Wudi marveled at Yang Ge’s and their own rapid martial-arts growth before helping drive the surviving Japanese Pirates into a valley.

• Sue Harukata ordered his warriors to attack Yang Ge, but Yang Ge’s blade qi tore through the ambush and shattered the cannons fired at him.
• Yang Ge reached the hilltop and killed Sue Harukata’s armored guards, while Sue Harukata fled on horseback and died beneath Erhei’s hoof.
• Yang Ge chased the fleeing Japanese Pirates as Yang Tiansheng, Li Jincheng, and Xiang Wudi defeated the forces on the opposite hill.
• Yang Tiansheng unleashed a powerful sword strike that broke the Japanese Pirates’ resistance, and Xiang Wudi said the feat put him on par with Yan Bufan before entering the Heroes Ranking.
• Yang Tiansheng and Xiang Wudi discussed Yang Ge’s seemingly unstoppable martial-arts progress, then the three men drove the remaining soldiers into the valley for Zhou Fu’s auxiliary troops.

Yang Ge crushed the Sue forces, forged the Auxiliary Army into a disciplined fighting force, and led it to conquer Dazaifu. As the city burned, his mental power surged, leaving the Japanese pirates and the Seventy-Two Braves awed by him.

• Yang Ge used floating metal fragments to stop the Auxiliary Army's bloodlust, ordered it to retreat, and forced the surviving Sue soldiers to surrender.
• Zhou Fu reorganized the Auxiliary Army, promoted battle-hardened troops into its ranks, and drilled it through three days of fighting against Sue forces outside Dazaifu.
• Yang Ge and the Seventy-Two Braves broke the Sue formation, allowing Zhou Fu to defeat the remaining troops and expand the Auxiliary Army to more than thirty-five hundred men.
• Yang Ge opened Dazaifu's gates, and the Auxiliary Army sacked the city while its streets and Tang-style Towers burned.
• Yang Ge's realization that he had become a participant in history sparked a surge in his mental power, and Yang Tiansheng, Xiang Wudi, and Li Jincheng decided they had no grounds to challenge him.

Yang Ge divided his forces after the destruction of Dazaifu, sending one group east to invade Honshu and another south to secure the Western Sea Circuit. In Luoyang, Shen Fa and Wei Heng debated how to report Yang Ge’s campaign to the emperor and decided to propose binding him to the imperial family through a marriage arrangement.

• Yang Ge sent Yang Tiansheng, Li Jincheng, and Xiang Wudi back with fifteen hundred Auxiliary Army pirates while he led the remaining forces toward the Shimonoseki Strait.
• The Southern force headed for Buzen and Bungo to unify the Western Sea Circuit and establish a base for Huaxia’s advance.
• Shen Fa and Wei Heng received intelligence describing Yang Ge’s campaign and worried that the emperor would see him as a threat.
• Shen Fa argued that they had to tell the emperor and proposed managing the conflict while gradually binding Yang Ge to the court.
• Wei Heng agreed to raise the idea of sending a princess to Yang Ge’s home as a maid, though he remained uncertain whether Yang Ge would return there.

Yang Ge led the Auxiliary Army through the Eastern Isles toward Heian-kyō, intending to use the islanders as expendable troops for endless campaigns. After foiling an assassination attempt on Zhou Fu, he ordered preparations for an assault that would give the Ashikaga Shogunate time to gather its full strength.

• Yang Ge told Zhou Fu to keep Ashikaga Yoshiteru's gifts and return the envoys' heads, then had the Cold Moon Saber kill an assassin who had followed Zhou Fu into camp.
• Yang Ge assigned the Twelve Earthly Branches to protect Zhou Fu and ordered them to prioritize his escape if danger arose.
• Zhou Fu reported that the Auxiliary Army had enough supplies for a month, but Yang Ge ordered ration cuts to drive the army toward Heian-kyō and weed out its weakest soldiers.
• Yang Ge planned to use the Eastern Isles as a base for recruiting auxiliary troops to fight in Goguryeo and the Grasslands, then discussed ways to occupy the islands with Huaxia settlers.
• Yang Ge ordered Zhou Fu to burn the granary, blame the Ashikaga Shogunate, cut rations by twenty percent each day, and attack Heian-kyō in seven days.
• Yang Ge said he wanted the Ashikaga forces to muster fully before he defeated them, while Zhou Fu sat beside the brazier, alarmed by his resolve.

Ashikaga Yoshiteru prepared Heian-kyō for a looming invasion while weighing the dangers of accepting the Tokaido alliance’s aid. In Yang Ge’s camp, he let Zhou Fu manage mounting unrest in the Auxiliary Army and ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guard to watch for enemy spies.

• Mori Motonari blamed Sue Harukata for the defeats and revealed that a golden-armored demon had aided Yang Ge’s forces, prompting Ashikaga Yoshiteru to summon Tsukahara and Kamiizumi.
• Ashikaga Yoshiteru learned that the Kai-Sagami-Suruga Alliance was sending ninety thousand troops and that Oda Nobunaga had arrived with eight thousand soldiers.
• Ashikaga Yoshiteru accepted Yang Ge’s challenge to fight at Tanigawa in seven days and ordered Oda Nobunaga to attend him.
• Yang Ge told Zhou Fu to keep suppressing the Auxiliary Army’s unrest, explaining that he was not afraid of a riot and wanted Zhou Fu to gain experience.
• Yang Ge warned Zhou Fu to have the Embroidered Uniform Guard watch carefully so the enemy could not steal from their camp.

The Japanese slave Auxiliary Army’s starvation-driven riot spiraled out of control, while Yang Ge sheltered his followers and explained why he would show no mercy to the Japanese Pirates. After his men chose to follow him toward Heian-kyō, Yang Ge summoned newly elevated Japanese warriors, and two masters at Tanigawa sensed his killing intent and prepared to confront him.

• The Japanese slave Auxiliary Army erupted into a camp-wide riot after warriors fought over scarce food, and Zhou Fu failed to suppress it with the Twelve Earthly Branches.
• Zhou Fu and his companions retreated to Yang Ge’s warm command tent, where Yang Ge said his hatred of the Japanese Pirates came from atrocities only he remembered and declared that he would slaughter them.
• Yang Ge invited anyone unable to follow his purpose to turn back, but the Twelve Earthly Branches, Liu Tang and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Nangong Feiying and the Western Factory, the interpreters, and Zhou Fu chose to follow him.
• Yang Ge released his killing intent, beat the marching drum, and summoned Japanese slaves bearing the ranks of Third-Rank Warrior, including Mōri Saburō, Kitaoka Asahi, and Murakami Yūsei.
• At Tanigawa, a lean master and Kamiizumi sensed Yang Ge’s powerful killing intent and resolved to face him; Kamiizumi admitted he might have only one strike against such a powerful foe.

Yang Ge led the Auxiliary Army toward Sasayama and ordered a full-force charge against the Japanese, despite discovering enemy forces positioned to ambush them. He tore open the Japanese ranks and met two formidable Eastern Isles fighters in combat, ending the chapter as he descended to face them both.

• Liu Tang and Nangong Feiying reported a Japanese ambush of twenty thousand near the enemy formation and traces of another force behind the Auxiliary Army.
• Yang Ge assigned Zhou Fu, Liu Tang, and Nangong Feiying to command the rear and flanks, then ordered the army to fight without taking prisoners or accepting surrender.
• Yang Ge beat the war drum, killed a group of Japanese riders with a blade-qi strike, and led the Auxiliary Army in a direct charge.
• Yang Ge swept aside a storm of arrows, smashed through the Japanese front, and drove a metal dragon of broken weapons through the enemy ranks.
• Two Eastern Isles experts ambushed Yang Ge, but he blocked their attacks and leaped skyward to confront them both.

Yang Ge fought through the Japanese ranks, killed the Eastern Isles master Kamiizumi, and defeated Tsukahara Bokuden in a brutal duel. Wounded but still standing, he raised another Blade-Army Mad Dragon as the battle continued.

• Yang Ge survived a coordinated attack by two Eastern Isles masters, though one sword strike badly wounded his left shoulder and nearly cut his throat.
• Yang Ge used broken weapon fragments to attack the Japanese soldiers and killed the one-armed master Kamiizumi, then confronted the gaunt Tsukahara Bokuden.
• Yang Ge and Tsukahara Bokuden fought at close range, trading fast sword strikes and carving a bloody path through the Japanese ranks.
• Tsukahara Bokuden unleashed Ultimate Iaijutsu: Half Moon and pursued Yang Ge with Ultimate Iaijutsu: Nukidachi, but Yang Ge countered with No Return and killed him.
• Yang Ge caught Tsukahara Bokuden’s severed head, dismissed him as mediocre, and gathered broken weapons into a more dragon-shaped Blade-Army Mad Dragon.

Yang Ge unleashed his completed black-dragon saber technique, shattered the Japanese army’s resistance, and killed Ashikaga Yoshiteru and the Kanto daimyo. As the battle ended in victory, Oda Nobunaga and Hashiba Hideyoshi appeared before Zhou Fu’s rear guard.

• Yang Ge joined the Cold Moon Saber to the Blade-Army Mad Dragon, creating a black dragon powered by killing intent that tore through the Japanese troops and opened a path for the Auxiliary Army.
• The Japanese army broke and fled, while Ashikaga Yoshiteru and the Kanto daimyo led a stubborn counterattack against the rout.
• Ashikaga Yoshiteru struck Yang Ge with his ultimate iaijutsu, but the black dragon survived and killed him and the daimyo, leaving Yang Ge to claim Mikazuki Munechika.
• More than a hundred thousand Japanese troops fled as the Auxiliary Army pursued them, and the exhausted Yang Ge watched the battlefield fall quiet.
• Oda Nobunaga and Hashiba Hideyoshi arrived with Japanese troops at Zhou Fu’s rear guard, and Zhou Fu ordered the Twelve Earthly Branches to attack.

After the defeat of the Japanese forces, Yang Ge planned the occupation and future exploitation of the Eastern Isles with Zhou Fu, Liu Tang, and Nangong Feiying. Heian-kyō fell, Emperor Go-Nara and his family were taken into custody, and the Auxiliary Army began burning the city as Yang Ge denied ordering the slaughter.

• The Auxiliary Army executed 130,000 captured Japanese soldiers, and Yang Ge discussed the next steps with Zhou Fu, Liu Tang, and Nangong Feiying.
• Yang Ge assigned Zhou Fu to command and purge the Auxiliary Army, proposed dividing the Eastern Isles between the Court and his allies, and outlined plans to use the islands as a base for expansion.
• Yang Ge said he would return to Great Wei only after completing the campaign and bringing his companions back with him.
• Yang Ge led the troops to Heian-kyō, where Emperor Go-Nara and the imperial court knelt outside the White Tiger Gate and surrendered the gold seal.
• Yang Ge appointed Zhou Fu to receive the seal, ordered Emperor Go-Nara and the imperial family into custody, and sent the Auxiliary Army into the city.
• The Auxiliary Army set Heian-kyō on fire, and the chapter recorded the fall of the Eastern Isles, the extinction of its imperial lineage, and the collapse of the Ashikaga Shogunate.

Fang Ke met Shen Fa at the Welcome Inn, where they discussed the quiet state of Luting and Shen Fa revealed that the Eldest Princess had arrived on Firewood Gate Street. Shen Fa asked Fang Ke to help bring her and Yang Ge together, and Fang Ke agreed to handle the plan while fearing Yang Ge’s reaction.

• Fang Ke reassured the old innkeeper that Yang Ge was alive but might not return until spring.
• Fang Ke recognized Shen Fa dining at the Welcome Inn and secretly joined him to discuss Luting’s affairs.
• Fang Ke told Shen Fa that the White Lotus Cult, the Bright Cult, Chain Wharf, and the Xiang Family had sent no one into his net.
• Shen Fa revealed that the Eldest Princess was staying at Yang Ge’s house on Firewood Gate Street under a fabricated refugee identity.
• Fang Ke warned Shen Fa that outsiders should not tamper with Yang Ge’s home and said their plan should focus elsewhere.
• Shen Fa promised Fang Ke a promotion, and Fang Ke agreed to devise a way to bring Yang Ge and the Eldest Princess together.

After conquering the Eastern Isles, Yang Ge split Mount Fuji with a saber strike and prepared to return to Great Wei with his companions. He claimed Mount Fuji as his own while Zhou Fu and the others remained behind to govern the conquered territory.

• Yang Ge reflected on the conquest of the Eastern Isles, drank wine on Mount Fuji, and unleashed a saber strike that sheared off part of its summit.
• Yang Tiansheng, Li Jincheng, and Xiang Wudi watched the strike from Edo Port, argued over Yang Ge's new level of cultivation, and discussed joining forces in trade.
• Wang Cheng reported that the plunder had been loaded, and Yang Tiansheng sent up a Cloud-Piercing Arrow to summon Yang Ge.
• Yang Ge returned to the port, told Zhou Fu, Liu Tang, and Nangong Feiying he would report their situation to the Court, and asked them to put Mount Fuji under his name.
• Yang Ge and his companions said farewell to Zhou Fu and the others and prepared to sail back to Great Wei.

Yang Ge sent most of the Eastern Isles’ plunder to be sold in Hangzhou, set aside funds for fallen warriors’ families and coastal relief, and prepared to bring the remaining goods to the Court. After parting with his allies, he continued toward the capital, while Shen Fa learned that Yang Ge was approaching and tried to flee before an imperial decree confined him to his post.

• Yang Ge divided the Hangzhou proceeds among the participating factions and entrusted Li Jincheng with a fund for widows and coastal relief.
• Yang Ge arranged to escort the remaining goods to the capital as a gesture to the Court, hoping to avoid a confrontation with Emperor Xiping.
• Yang Tiansheng, Li Jincheng, Xiang Wudi, and the Twelve Earthly Branches accompanied Yang Ge north, then parted from him after he asked them to return home.
• Yang Ge reassured his companions that he could face the Court alone, and they departed while offering him support if he needed it.
• Shen Fa heard that Yang Ge was escorting goods toward the capital and tried to leave, but eunuchs arrived with an imperial decree ordering him to remain at his post for a fortnight.

Yang Ge returned to Luoyang and overpowered five immense pressures before heading to the Northern Pacification Office, where he seized Shen Fa and beat him behind closed doors. Meanwhile, Emperor Xiping consulted the Four Elders, who warned that trying to control Yang Ge by force would come at a price the Great Wei could no longer afford.

• Wei Heng welcomed Yang Ge's fleet at the Grand Canal wharf, but Yang Ge flew straight to Luoyang after ordering the cargo unloaded and inventoried.
• Five powerful figures blocked Yang Ge above the city, but withdrew after his pressure surpassed theirs.
• Yang Ge arrived at the Northern Pacification Office, rejected the commandants' welcome, and carried Shen Fa into the main hall to beat him.
• Emperor Xiping met with his Granduncle and the Four Elders, who advised against seizing what they wanted from Yang Ge by force.
• Zhao Shu asked whether the elders could keep Yang Ge in check, but the five men drank their tea without answering.

Yang Ge ended his friendship with Shen Fa after confronting him over his schemes, then returned to the Welcome Inn and reunited with Shopkeeper Liu and Little Yellow. He met Shopkeeper Liu’s new goddaughter, Zhao Miao, and was embarrassed when the neighbors joked that they should marry.

• Yang Ge beat Shen Fa and accused him of using their friendship to manipulate him and interfere in his affairs.
• Shen Fa admitted through his reaction that he had meddled in Yang Ge’s life, and Yang Ge ended their friendship while giving him plans for the Eastern Isles.
• Shen Fa presented Yang Ge’s Eastern Isles Territorial Assimilation Plan to Emperor Xiping, who lamented the loss of a great talent.
• Yang Ge rode Erhei back to the Welcome Inn, where Shopkeeper Liu, Little Yellow, Zhang Erniu, and Master Lu welcomed him home.
• Shopkeeper Liu introduced his goddaughter Zhao Miao and said she would help run the inn with Yang Ge.
• The neighbors teased Yang Ge and Zhao Miao about becoming husband and wife, embarrassing them both.