Chapter Summaries

Zhao Xinning joined Zeng Mu and Kanni in their nighttime judgment, then revealed that he had amnesia and a head wound. At Hill’s bedside, he found her face resembled someone he had not seen in nearly ten years.

• Zhao Xinning told Zeng Mu and Kanni that he had rescued Hill and asked to join their judgment.
• Zeng Mu killed the sleeping guards at Maiya County Town’s gates while Zhao Xinning watched.
• Zeng Mu and Kanni noticed a wound on the back of Zhao Xinning’s head and bandaged it.
• Zhao Xinning explained that he had lost his memory for nearly ten years and described his unusual ability to sense others nearby.
• Zeng Mu and Kanni took Zhao Xinning to see Hill, and he told her she looked like someone he remembered.

Zhao Xinning told Zeng Mu and Kanni how he lost his lover, survived the destruction of Maiya County, and spent years living in grief until Miss Hill’s resemblance to her stirred his memories. While Zhao recovered, Zeng Mu and Kanni helped the women of the camp burn the Yan State soldiers’ corpses.

• Zhao Xinning recounted meeting and falling in love with a woman in Maiya County, then being attacked and left with amnesia during a raid.
• An old woman took Zhao in as her godson, taught him to make tofu, and later died; Zhao recognized his lover’s corpse among those burned after the Holy Temple’s Knights’ Order retook the county.
• Zhao explained that Miss Hill’s appearance and voice reminded him of his lost lover and had brought his memories into focus.
• Zeng Mu and Kanni told the injured Zhao to rest while they went to help dispose of the corpses.
• The women asked Zeng Mu and Kanni to burn the Yan State soldiers’ bodies, and the two men lit the pyre as the women watched.

Zeng Mu woke refreshed and saw off the women leaving Maiya County, then agreed with Kanni to spend one more day there before returning to Sand City. Back at their lodging, the remaining women welcomed them with food and travel supplies, while Hill and Zhao Xinning stayed with them.

• Zeng Mu found Hill tending to Zhao Xinning’s injuries and left them to continue their treatment.
• Zeng Mu went to the town gate and said goodbye as the women who had gathered there departed Maiya County.
• Kanni arrived too late to see the women off, and he and Zeng Mu agreed to leave for Sand City the following morning.
• The remaining women ushered Zeng Mu and Kanni back to their lodging and served them travel rations, dried fruit, and rice porridge.
• Hill and Zhao Xinning stayed calm amid the lively gathering, and Hill’s grief over her older sister had eased.

Zeng Mu and the others spent a peaceful day with the women of Maiya County, playing games, sharing meals, fishing, and dancing. The chapter ended with music and dancing under the candlelight and moonlight.

• Zeng Mu beat Kanni repeatedly at a pebble game until Kanni finally won and then challenged the women to play.
• Hill watched a butterfly settle on her nose and wondered if it was her sister, who had wished to become a butterfly after death.
• The group shared a plentiful lunch and rested before heading to the stream to fish.
• Kanni complained about mosquitoes and caught no fish, while Zeng Mu caught a large carp.
• At night, Zeng Mu and the others danced to harp music, and Zhao Xinning invited Hill to dance with him.

Zeng Mu and Kanni left Maiya County with Zhao Xinning and Hill, then parted ways at a lakeside farewell. Back in Sand City, Zeng Mu joined a military conference and challenged the plans to recapture Morgaya City, leaving the commanders to face the scale of their disadvantage.

• Zeng Mu and Kanni tried to leave Maiya County without saying goodbye, but Zhao Xinning and Hill caught up and rode with them to a nearby lake.
• Zhao Xinning said he had used three copper coins to predict their departure, then parted from Zeng Mu and Kanni with Hill at the lake.
• Kanni and Zeng Mu reached Sand City and noticed that the number of gate sentries had doubled, suggesting reinforcements had arrived.
• Zeng Mu entered a military planning meeting with Yetos and met Tovi Belle, who had brought 4,500 knights.
• Zeng Mu calculated that their forces numbered fewer than 6,000 against the Qi Kingdom's 16,000 troops and said none of the three proposed plans could win.

Zeng Mu’s forces marched from Sand City toward Morgaya City after he proposed adding a counter-espionage stratagem to their battle plan. The army camped near the city, and Zeng Mu joined Aikimu and two scouts on a nighttime reconnaissance mission, where he sensed movement ahead.

• Zeng Mu proposed using the Counter-Espionage Stratagem to strengthen the plan against Qi Qing’s larger force.
• Zeng Mu explained the plan to Kanni, who suggested assassinating Qi Qing, but Zeng Mu pointed out the dangers and Qi Qing’s strength.
• Zeng Mu learned that White and his companions had left Sand City, and Ma Linya volunteered to accompany the army as a healer.
• Zeng Mu, Yetos, and Ma Linya discussed plans during the march, while Kanni slept in the carriage.
• The army reached the woods near Morgaya City, set up camp, and sent out scouts.
• Zeng Mu joined Aikimu and two scouts on a nighttime reconnaissance mission and warned them that he sensed movement ahead.

Zeng Mu’s scouting party discovered that Morgaya City was heavily defended, forcing the commanders to revise their plans. The next morning, Kanni accompanied Zeng Mu and Ma Linya to gather medicinal herbs, where he recognized a pile of crystal-like droppings as evidence of a valuable Burche but realized they had arrived too late.

• Zeng Mu and Aikimu’s party silently eliminated two squads of Qi Kingdom scouts and observed Morgaya City’s formidable defenses.
• Zeng Mu reported that the enemy’s numbers and the city’s walls made the original assault plan too dangerous.
• Kanni joined Zeng Mu and Ma Linya on a medicinal-herb gathering trip while the army stayed in camp to prepare for battle.
• Kanni detected a strange odor in the woods, and Zeng Mu found a heap of translucent gray-blue droppings.
• Kanni identified the droppings as belonging to a valuable Burche, then examined them and concluded they had arrived too late.

The Knights' Order prepared to march on Morgaya City while Qi Qing learned of Yan Feiheng's death and braced for an attack. As the two armies faced each other outside the city, Yetos challenged Qi Qing to a duel.

• Kanni explained that the Burche had fled far away, and Zeng Mu agreed that pursuing it could wait until after the army reached Morgaya City.
• Zeng Mu, Ma Linya, and Kanni spent the evening in camp before the Knights' Order set out at dawn with more than five thousand troops.
• Qi Qing reprimanded his officers over Yan Feiheng's disgraceful conduct and ordered them to avoid debauchery and gambling.
• Qi Qing was awakened by news that the Knights' Order had arrived outside Morgaya City, and he hurried to the defenses.
• Yetos rode out from his army and challenged Qi Qing to fight.

Yetos’s army tried to provoke Qi Qing into pursuing them, but the cautious general recognized the trap and kept his forces inside Morgaya City. That night, Zeng Mu infiltrated the city to deliver Yetos’s secret letter to Lin Yanmu, but found the room empty.

• Yetos and Qi Qing exchanged threats as the Knights’ Order challenged the city, but Qi Qing refused to open the gates or fight.
• Yetos ordered his army to withdraw slowly in formation, hoping Qi Qing would mistake their apparent exhaustion for an opening.
• Yan Mu urged Qi Qing to pursue the retreating knights, but Qi Qing pointed out their disciplined formation and dismissed him.
• The Knights’ Order rested through the afternoon, while Zeng Mu and others watched a mysterious figure appear and vanish near the camp.
• Near midnight, Zeng Mu climbed Morgaya City’s walls and entered a building used by high-ranking officers.
• Zeng Mu reached Lin Yanmu’s empty room with the secret letter intended for him.

Qi Qing set a trap for Yetos, but an intercepted letter made him arrest Lin Yanmu as a suspected traitor. Lin Yanmu was left in Morgalia’s dungeon, where Qian Mu, Yan Jue, and Sun Ming came to visit him.

• Zeng Mu secretly searched Lin Yanmu’s room and left without being noticed, while Lin Yanmu returned from a meeting and went to sleep.
• Qi Qing and the others prepared their troops to ambush Yetos, expecting the Knights' Order to attack, but the enemy did not appear by noon.
• Tian Zij ing brought Qi Qing a sealed letter addressed to Master Yanmu, and Qi Qing ordered Lin Yanmu’s arrest after reading it.
• Qi Qing dismissed Qian Mu, Yan Jue, and Sun Ming, then struggled with the disappointment of suspecting a trusted comrade.
• Lin Yanmu protested his innocence from Morgalia’s dungeon until Qian Mu, Yan Jue, and Sun Ming arrived and called him General Lin.

Sun Ming, Qian Mu, and Yan Li visited the imprisoned Lin Yanmu and resolved to uncover the letter that had turned Qi Qing against him. Meanwhile, Qi Qing met Zeng Mu, who was disguised as Lin Yanmu, and heard the enemy’s plan; after Qi Qing drove the three generals away with flames, they vowed to save Lin Yanmu even if it cost them their lives.

• Sun Ming, Qian Mu, and Yan Li visited Lin Yanmu in the dungeon and promised to find a way to free him by learning what the letter contained.
• Qi Qing left his quarters and met Zeng Mu, who impersonated Lin Yanmu and explained the Knights’ Order’s plan to capture Morgaya City.
• After Zeng Mu departed, Qi Qing returned to find Sun Ming, Qian Mu, and Yan Li waiting to question him about Lin Yanmu and the letter.
• Qi Qing told the three generals that he had met an enemy Elementalist and believed the enemy intended to use Lin Yanmu to defeat their army.
• When the three generals demanded to see the letter, Qi Qing burst into flames and forced them out of his room.
• Sun Ming, Qian Mu, and Yan Li vowed to save Lin Yanmu, even if they had to give their own lives.

Qian Mu, Sun Ming, and Yan Li rescued the tortured Lin Yanmu from Qi Qing’s dungeon, while Nameless and Aikimu led a covert attack that set the city walls ablaze. Qi Qing confronted the three generals, and their argument ended with them rejecting loyalty and righteousness as ideals.

• Qian Mu, Sun Ming, and Yan Li found Lin Yanmu tortured and chained in the dungeon, freed him, and carried him away despite the jailer’s objections.
• Qi Qing learned of the rescue and headed to confront the three generals, while the chief jailer falsely stoked his anger against them.
• Nameless led Aikimu, Kanni, and two others in secretly spreading incendiary oil across the city walls, then escaped with his group as the fire alarm sounded.
• Qi Qing confronted the three men while Lin Yanmu lay weak on a bed, and they exchanged furious accusations.
• The three men concluded that loyalty and righteousness were not part of human nature.

After Gong Gonggong warned that Lin Yanmu had only three days to live unless he was treated with fresh yanxi grass, Qian Mu, Yan Li, and Sun Ming mobilized soldiers to take him out of Morgaya City. Qi Qing’s forces blocked the southern gate, and Yan Li severed Bai Yulin’s outstretched arm as the confrontation began.

• Gong Gonggong diagnosed Lin Yanmu with a difficult poison and said fresh yanxi grass from the Naxiage Plain was needed within three days to save him.
• Qian Mu, Yan Li, and Sun Ming decided to escort Lin Yanmu out of the city themselves, then recruited more than half the soldiers at the barracks to help despite the risk of disobeying Qi Qing.
• More than three thousand mounted soldiers rode toward the southern gate, where nearly a thousand armed troops were waiting to stop them.
• Bai Yulin accused the group of mutiny and ordered them to dismount and surrender their weapons, while Yan Li and Sun Ming approached him.
• Yan Li cut off Bai Yulin’s outstretched arm with a single stroke.

Qi Qing met Yetos and the Holy Temple’s men in the woods, where they ambushed him and nearly trapped him before he escaped. He reached Morgaya City to find it under attack, while the Knights' Order rode in behind him.

• Qi Qing disguised himself as General Yan Mu and met Yetos, Tovi Belle, Zeng Mu, and Xibizete to discuss a supposed plan to assassinate him.
• Yetos and the others attacked Qi Qing, striking him from behind and binding him in a huge ball of vines.
• Qi Qing burned through the vines and escaped into the woods, and Yetos sent a green signal to summon the Knights' Order.
• Qi Qing fled toward Morgaya City, believing his troops could protect him once he reached it.
• Qi Qing saw that soldiers were fighting along Morgaya City's walls and the gates were being breached, while the Knights' Order charged toward the city behind him.

Qian Mu, Yan Li, and Sun Ming led their soldiers in an assault to rescue Lin Yanmu, but Qi Qing arrived and turned the battle against them. The Knights' Order attacked the city and Yetos and Zeng Mu appeared, while the city gate remained under assault.

• Qian Mu, Yan Li, and Sun Ming drove toward the city gate with Lin Yanmu's carriage as Bai Yulin's troops suffered heavy losses.
• Qi Qing appeared on the city wall, set the carriage ablaze, and used Venomous Fangs to attack the soldiers.
• Qi Qing's forces pressed the three commanders and their dwindling troops until a green arrow exploded and knocked Qi Qing away.
• Yetos and Zeng Mu appeared atop the watchtower as the Knights' Order began attacking the city gate.
• Qian Mu, Yan Li, and Sun Ming ordered soldiers to clear obstacles and open the gate while Tovi Belle led five thousand knights in an assault outside the city.

The Knights' Order overwhelmed the Qi Kingdom's forces as Yetos fought Qi Qing, while Zeng Mu and Yenaier supported the assault. After Qi Qing killed Yan Li, Sun Ming and Qian Mu charged toward him, leaving the battle poised for another confrontation.

• Tovi Belle led more than five thousand knights in a prepared assault that seized the walls and exploited the Qi Kingdom soldiers' low morale.
• Yetos fought Qi Qing with his wood-element power, while Qi Qing used fire to block the attacks and strike back.
• Zeng Mu controlled metal across the battlefield, breaking enemy weapons and protecting the knights, while Yenaier fought through the soldiers with her Red-Bladed Saber and Black Sea Sword blade.
• Yan Li ambushed the fatigued Qi Qing, but Qi Qing turned and burned him to ashes.
• Furious at Yan Li's death, Sun Ming charged Qi Qing with his twin hammers, and Qian Mu joined him.

Qi Qing killed Qian Mu and Sun Ming before fighting Yetos as the rebels broke through Morgaya City's gate and Holy Temple cavalry poured in. Zeng Mu slaughtered hundreds of Qi Kingdom soldiers while conserving his dwindling Elemental Power, and the battle continued beneath an ominous red sun.

• Qi Qing drew his Blazing Flame Sword and killed Qian Mu and Sun Ming with one strike, turning them to ash.
• Qi Qing fought Yetos while the remaining rebels charged the failing Gate of Hope.
• Zeng Mu helped bring down the city gate, and the Holy Temple's armored cavalry swept into Morgaya City.
• Zeng Mu slaughtered hundreds of Qi Kingdom soldiers, then slowed his attacks as his Elemental Power ran low.
• Qi Qing's strength dwindled during his fight with Yetos as the battlefield filled with crimson fire and an eerie red sun.

Qi Qing was driven to the brink by Yetos and Zeng Mu, but Yenaier’s attack gave him a chance to seize her as a hostage. The chapter ended with Qi Qing demanding that the two commanders let him leave while they hesitated over her life.

• Yetos wounded Qi Qing, and Zeng Mu knocked away his sword before Yetos’s energy dagger tore into his thigh.
• Qi Qing’s loyal soldiers and death-sworn men shielded him, while Zeng Mu and Yetos struggled to break through them and the knights attacked from the outside.
• Yenaier slipped through the crowd and traded rapid sword strikes with Qi Qing, pushing him close to defeat as her stamina waned.
• Qi Qing used a severed arm to obscure Yenaier’s view, then caught her at swordpoint and threatened to kill her if Zeng Mu and Yetos attacked.
• Qi Qing demanded to be allowed to leave, and Zeng Mu and Yetos held back as the battlefield around them continued to rage.

Qi Qing escaped after slashing Yenaier's neck, and Zeng Mu used a Wind Elemental Artifact to help the Knights' Order defeat the Qi Kingdom army at great cost. Yenaier survived emergency treatment but developed heartloss syndrome.

• Qi Qing escaped the battlefield on horseback after releasing the wounded Yenaier, whose neck wound left her bleeding and unconscious.
• Yetos and Zeng Mu sealed Yenaier's wound with elemental power, and Ma Linya's healers confirmed that her injuries were not immediately life-threatening.
• Zeng Mu activated a Wind Elemental Artifact with another Elementalist, empowering the knights as they routed the Qi Kingdom army.
• The Knights' Order won the battle, but fewer than eight hundred knights survived, and all were wounded.
• Yetos visited Yenaier with Nameless and Xibizete, and Ma Linya told them that Yenaier had developed heartloss syndrome.

After Yenaier developed Heartloss Syndrome, Zeng Mu and Ma Linya set out with the injured Kanni to find a Burche whose blood could help save her. Kanni deduced that the beast would likely be near Cloud Ink Town, and Zeng Mu galloped north ahead of the others.

• Ma Linya explained that Yenaier's heart was failing and that she might die if she did not wake within ten days.
• Zeng Mu remembered a Burche he had seen near their former station, and Yetos ordered him, Ma Linya, and Kanni to search for it.
• Kanni insisted on joining despite his injuries, and the three traveled to the forest where Zeng Mu had spotted signs of the Burche.
• Kanni used the beast's droppings and its migration habits to reason that it was heading north toward the Great Rift Valley.
• Kanni guessed the Burche would seek liquor in Cloud Ink Town, and Zeng Mu rushed north while Ma Linya and Kanni called after him.