Chapter Summaries

After the High Priest died and Ji Lingjun’s divine power destroyed Sima Yi’s clan, Luo Chengzhi set out to unite the states for a final war against the Hu people. He secured Yan State’s support and won Liu Chen’s pledge to join the campaign and swear an oath by the Luo River, while Luo Yuan vowed to march with the Luo Clan.

• Luo Chengzhi announced that the Luo Clan would rally the states for a final war against the Hu people, and he and Luo Xi’s called on the clan to fight.
• Murong Chengguang gave the throne to Murong Yu and declared that he would lead Yan State’s army north to join the campaign.
• Luo Chengzhi crossed into Jizhou and found that Han State’s emperor had sent troops to escort him.
• Liu Shan died, and Liu Chen became emperor and pledged that Han State would join the war against the Xianbei.
• Luo Yuan told Luo Chengzhi that he and the men of Marquis Ying would march with the army, despite the danger to their branch of the clan.
• Liu Chen agreed to join the alliance and swear an oath by the Luo River when the states gathered in Luoyang.

Luo Chengzhi reached Chang'an, where Cao Shuang pledged Wei State to the campaign against the Xianbei and sought the Luo River Goddess’s favor. In Jiangdong, Xiao Yan prepared to seize the throne from the Chu Clan, with Luo Youzhi arranging support and warning him to move quickly before the Luo Clan’s alliance took shape.

• Luo Yuan advised Luo Chengzhi to travel through Guanzhong to Chang'an because unrest in Chu State made the southern route unsafe.
• Cao Shuang urged Wei’s court to honor the Luo River Goddess and invite the states to swear an alliance against the Xianbei.
• Cao Shuang welcomed Luo Chengzhi at Chang'an, proclaimed himself the Luo River Goddess’s hound, and vowed that Wei would fight until the Xianbei were destroyed.
• Luo Youzhi met Xiao Yan on the Yangtze, warned him about Jiangdong’s instability, and urged him to unite the great clans and join the anti-Xianbei alliance as emperor.
• Luo Youzhi persuaded Jianye’s aristocratic families to support the Chu Emperor’s abdication in favor of Xiao Yan, while securing a promise to spare and ennoble the Chu Clan.

The rulers of Wei, Yan, Han, and Liang gathered at Luoyang and swore an alliance, led by Luo Chengzhi, to unite against the Hu. After the oath, Cao Fang collapsed and bled from his eyes and nose, which the others took as backlash from the Luo River Goddess.

• Murong Chengguang arrived in Luoyang with Yan cavalry and provoked Wei and Han with his ambitions for Luoyang while calling for the states to unite against the Hu.
• Liu Chen arrived with Han forces, and Xiao Yan followed with Liang troops, joining the rulers of Wei, Yan, and Han at the Luo River.
• Luo Chengzhi warned the rulers that the Hu were a formidable threat and led them in swearing the Oath of the Luo River to cooperate and never betray or attack one another.
• The emperors and their followers proclaimed the alliance, and Luo Chengzhi burned the written oath in jade-green flames.
• Cao Fang collapsed after leaving the platform and bled from his eyes and nose; Luo Chengzhi caught him, and Cao Shuang took him into his arms.
• Cao Fang awoke, while the rulers and ministers feared that the Luo River Goddess had inflicted backlash for the oath.

After the Luo River oath, the states mobilized their armies to campaign against the Hu people, while Xiao Yan and Luo Youzhi planned Liang State’s contribution and provisions. The Luo Clan chose to send nearly all its people from Winter City under Luo Chengzhi, leaving Xizhi behind as household head and custodian of the clan’s reserves.

• Xiao Yan summoned Luo Youzhi to plan Liang State’s troop levy and supply strategy, and Luo Youzhi recommended a force of seventy thousand while warning against exhausting the population.
• Xiao Yan ordered Liang’s ministers and prominent families to accompany the campaign, hoping to gain soldiers and reshape the Jiangdong gentry’s standing.
• Luo Chengzhi and Xizhi argued over how many people Winter City could spare, and Luo Chengzhi decided to lead all able-bodied residents and Luo Clan members aged twelve and above.
• Xizhi gave Luo Chengzhi the God of the Four Seasons and stayed behind to monitor the clan’s reserves, while Luo Chengzhi gathered Winter City’s people and called them to march.
• Han and Yan forces coordinated passage through Yan territory as the allied armies advanced toward the grasslands to confront the Hu people.

Luo Chengzhi confronted Murong He and explained why the Luo Clan would wage war to prevent the powerful Xianbei state from assimilating into All Xia on its own terms. Surrounded by a vast Xianbei army, Luo Chengzhi gave the God of the Four Seasons to Luo Qingling for a desperate plan, and the chapter ended as the forest caught fire.

• Luo Chengzhi’s army entered the Grasslands as Han State and Liang State suffered devastating losses crossing the Yellow River.
• Murong He challenged Luo Chengzhi’s reasons for war, and Luo Chengzhi declared that the Xianbei must be broken before Hu-Han merging could proceed.
• Murong He accepted that war would decide the future of their peoples and challenged Luo Chengzhi to battle.
• Surrounded by more than a hundred and fifty thousand Xianbei troops, Luo Chengzhi planned to burn the forest, drive poisonous smoke toward the enemy, and lead the Dare-to-Fight Warriors against Murong He.
• Luo Qingling took the God of the Four Seasons from Luo Chengzhi and told him to prepare the charge.
• Murong He grew suspicious as the Luo Clan army prepared to fight, then heard the order to fire and saw flames erupt in the forest.

Luo Qingling activated the God of the Four Seasons at the cost of Luo Clan lives, unleashing poisonous smoke and wind that routed the Hu army at Pojun Mountain. Far to the west, Luo Jialan and Zhao Yingluo rallied the Western Regions against the Xianbei, and Luo Jialan began using a divine banner to restore the Temple Army.

• Luo Qingling activated the God of the Four Seasons, but its immense Fortune Point cost forced her to use the Luo Clan’s blood and souls to command the wind.
• Luo Qingling and her cousin sacrificed themselves to unleash a gale that drove poisonous smoke through the Hu army, while Luo Chengzhi led the Luo Clan forces in pursuit.
• Luo Chengzhi returned after the battle and found Luo Qingling had died and begun dispersing into light; he learned that A-Cheng and A-Ling had also departed as light.
• Luo Jialan and Zhao Yingluo returned to the Western Regions, gathered dissatisfied nobles and local forces, and raised an uprising against the Xianbei.
• Luo Jialan promised to rebuild the Temple Army and activated its banner, spending 100,000 Fortune Points and suffering a nosebleed as he prepared to restore a thousand soldiers.

Luo Chengzhi persuaded the allied rulers to launch a winter offensive against the Xianbei, while Luo Jialan and Zhao Yingluo prepared to advance in the Western Regions. The armies marched through deadly snow toward the tribes and Royal Court, suffering enormous losses as their resolve hardened into a cry to kill the Hu.

• Luo Chengzhi met Murong Chengguang, warned him that Lady Gao was pregnant, and heard Murong Chengguang accept the child as his own and name a possible son Murong Ke.
• Luo Chengzhi and Murong Chengguang convinced the allied rulers to attack during winter, arguing that surprise and the threat of disaster made a swift victory necessary.
• Luo Jialan and Zhao Yingluo planned a Western Regions offensive and prepared to unite its forces under the Hu-Slaying Army.
• The Xianbei Chanyu expected the Han armies to retreat for winter and ordered his forces to avoid direct battles, strike supply convoys, and wait for spring.
• Luo Chengzhi led elite cavalry toward the Royal Court as allied armies advanced through blizzards, losing countless soldiers to the cold while crying, “Kill the Hu!”

Luo Chengzhi led a desperate winter raid on the Xianbei Royal Court, using the God of the Four Seasons to find and pursue the Chanyu while the Luo Clan sacrificed itself to counter the Hu Mandate of Heaven. The chapter left the Chanyu under attack and the allied forces poised to reclaim the lands north of the Tianshan Mountains.

• Luo Chengzhi gathered the Dare-to-Fight Warriors and led a surprise night assault on the Xianbei Royal Court through the snow.
• Luo Jialan and Zhao Yingluo ordered the Western Regions to kill the Xianbei and prepare to reclaim the lands north of the Tianshan Mountains.
• Luo Chengzhi activated the God of the Four Seasons, and Luo Xi sensed the Hu people's fortune rapidly diminishing as Luo Clan members paid with their lives.
• Luo Chengzhi fought through the Royal Court defenses, searched several Golden Tents, and charged toward the fleeing Xianbei Chanyu.
• The snow and wind swept across the battlefield as Luo Chengzhi and the Dare-to-Fight Warriors attacked the Chanyu's guards.

Zhao Yingluo became the Western Regions’ King of Kings as Luo Jialan used the Temple to proclaim her sovereignty, while the other states settled into new political arrangements after the war. In Winter City, Luo Yuzhi brought home only 1,352 survivors, and Luo Xi’s faced the task of preserving the devastated Luo Clan until it could rise again.

• Luo Jialan proclaimed a divine oracle naming Zhao Yingluo King of Kings, and Zhao Yingluo declared the establishment of Zhao State in the Western Regions.
• Murong Chengguang punished his grandson’s insult of Murong Ke and explained that Yan State must unite Hu and Xia by preventing discrimination against Hu descendants.
• Wei State’s officials chose Cao Mao as a potential new emperor while Cao Fang lay dying without an heir, and Han State debated how to secure its future.
• Xiao Yan returned to Liang State, where Luo Youzhi described compensation for fallen soldiers and affirmed that the Jiangdong Luo Clan would preserve the family’s legacy.
• Luo Yuzhi returned to Winter City with 1,352 survivors from the more than 20,000 Luo clansmen who had gone to war, and Luo Xi’s mourned the dead and resolved to protect the remaining family.
• The war ended, leaving the Luo Clan greatly weakened and determined to remain in Liaodong until it could safely return to prominence.

Luo Xianzhi traveled to Jianye after Xiao Yan summoned him and offered him the office of Chancellor of the Secretariat. As he weighed whether accepting would undermine Luo Youzhi’s institutions during Liang State’s crisis, a young woman urged him to forge a new policy of his own.

• Luo Xianzhi told his family that he feared going to Jianye because he could not inherit Luo Youzhi’s authority without violating Liang State’s rules for advancement.
• Xiao Yan offered Luo Xianzhi the office of Chancellor of the Secretariat, but Luo Xianzhi declined for the moment and went to consult Xie An.
• Xie An told Luo Xianzhi that suspected embezzlement and military setbacks had left Xiao Yan dissatisfied with his ministers and desperate for capable leadership.
• Luo Xianzhi and Xie An discussed whether accepting high office would weaken Luo Youzhi’s system and revive the power of aristocratic clans.
• A sixteen-year-old girl told Luo Xianzhi to devise a new policy rather than cling to his father’s, urging him to surpass his forebears.

Luo Xianzhi met his betrothed, Xie Daoyun, and agreed to accept the position of Chancellor of the Secretariat. Daoyun proposed a grand banquet to establish his reputation in Jianye before he entered court, and Luo Xianzhi recognized the political risks and ambition behind her plan.

• Xie An introduced Xie Daoyun to Luo Xianzhi as his betrothed and proposed that they marry soon.
• Luo Xianzhi told Xie An that he would accept the position of Chancellor of the Secretariat, provided the emperor did not grant him extraordinary rank or honors.
• Left alone with Luo Xianzhi, Xie Daoyun praised his practical ambitions and proposed inviting Jianye’s great houses to a winding-stream banquet celebrating his arrival.
• Xie Daoyun explained that the banquet would build Luo Xianzhi’s reputation and authority before he entered court.
• Luo Xianzhi marveled at Daoyun’s bold plan and recognized that it would help him gain prestige while closing off that path to future rivals.

Luo Xianzhi accepted the chancellorship of the Secretariat and outlined to Emperor Xiao Yan a strategy of weakening rival states while cleansing Liang’s government. After Xiao Yan approved his appointment, Luo Xianzhi rose from attendant to right vice director to chancellor in three days, stunning Jianye.

• Luo Xianzhi visited Emperor Xiao Yan and agreed to become chancellor of the Secretariat, explaining that Liang needed to seize its chance amid the rivalry among the states.
• Luo Xianzhi urged Xiao Yan to undermine rival states through political schemes and to suppress corruption among both aristocratic clans and humble officials.
• Luo Xianzhi argued that Liang had to maintain clean government and expand south of the Yellow River before Yan grew too powerful, while Xiao Yan recognized his proposed administration as a continuation of Luo Youzhi’s work.
• Xiao Yan promised to appoint Luo Xianzhi chancellor, and Luo Xianzhi left the palace resolved to take up the responsibility.
• Jianye’s elite speculated about Luo Xianzhi’s future office, but Xiao Yan appointed him attendant of the Secretariat, then promoted him to right vice director the next day.
• Xiao Yan promoted Luo Xianzhi to chancellor of the Secretariat on the following day, and Jianye was shaken by the news.

Luo Xianzhi took up the post of Chancellor of the Secretariat despite fierce memorialized opposition, using the objections to identify political factions and arriving at the Secretariat to assume command. He intended to challenge Jiangdong’s acceptance of hereditary aristocratic privilege, while the chapter ended with an account of Luo Youzhi rebuking families who tried to elevate their pedigrees through ancestry.

• Xiao Yan promoted Luo Xianzhi to Chancellor of the Secretariat, prompting a flood of memorials opposing his appointment.
• Luo Xianzhi explained that Jiangdong’s aristocratic houses posed political and social dangers, and resolved to reshape the people’s attitudes toward inherited privilege.
• Luo Xianzhi told Xiao Yan he would handle the memorialists himself, then took their signed memorials from the palace to study their motives.
• Crown Prince Xiao Tong saw Luo Xianzhi take the memorials and concluded that opposing him would be dangerous while Xiao Yan trusted him.
• Luo Xianzhi arrived at the Secretariat, where officials rushed to welcome him, and he addressed the staff before summoning the Left and Right Directors.

Luo Xianzhi took charge of the Secretariat and began considering how to curb powerful aristocratic clans without destroying the foundations of Liang's government. After Xie Daoyun pointed out the role of genealogy craftsmen, he decided to investigate Jianye's gentry clans by comparing them with the Record of Clans, while arranging to marry her that year.

• Luo Xianzhi warned Secretariat officials that he would enforce the law strictly and scrutinized their reports to judge their competence and intentions.
• Luo Xianzhi resolved to weaken powerful aristocratic clans through political measures while promoting humble families and common clans.
• Xie Daoyun explained how genealogy craftsmen repaired and sometimes falsified family records, giving Luo Xianzhi the idea to expose fraudulent aristocratic lineages.
• Luo Xianzhi told Xie Daoyun he wanted to marry her in Gusu that year, and she shyly said the proposal must come through their families.
• At a family banquet, Luo Xianzhi offered to recommend Xie Xuan for military service and asked Xie An to arrange a gathering of Jianye's gentry clans so he could compare them with the Record of Clans.

Luo Xianzhi and Xie Daoyun attended the Winding Stream Wine-Cup Banquet after their clans accepted their marriage proposal. There, Luo Xianzhi announced a plan to revise the Record of Clans, setting the stage for the Taiwu Institutional Reform.

• Luo Xianzhi’s family sent betrothal gifts to the Xie Clan, and Xie Daoyun began traveling with him openly.
• At the banquet, Xie An described Luo Xianzhi’s governing ambitions, and Luo Xianzhi told Xie Daoyun that the Luo Clan’s Main Lineage would survive in Liaodong and eventually return to the Central Plains.
• Luo Xianzhi arrived with Xie Daoyun and was welcomed by the gathered aristocratic clans and scholars.
• Luo Xianzhi asked the guests to affirm the Luo Clan’s leadership, then argued that aristocratic clans had betrayed the ideals of scholarship and should meet standards of conduct.
• Luo Xianzhi announced that he would revise the Record of Clans and said Emperor Xiao Yan had approved the proposal.
• The chapter’s historical account stated that Luo Xianzhi began the Taiwu Institutional Reform in the first year of Taiwu and used the Record of Clans to suppress powerful aristocratic clans.

Luo Xianzhi cautioned Xiao Yan against hastily suppressing the aristocratic clans and prepared to use evidence of forged clan genealogies to drive reform. After uncovering four fraudulent clan cases in Kuaiji, he presented the evidence to Xiao Yan, who ordered the offenders killed.

• Luo Xianzhi warned Xiao Yan that suppressing aristocratic clans too harshly could empower new officials who would repeat their abuses, and urged him to balance the clans while pursuing reform carefully.
• Aristocratic clans gathered to oppose Luo Xianzhi’s proposed revision of the Record of Clans, but they struggled to justify resisting the Luo Clan’s long-standing support for talent beyond inherited rank.
• A messenger reported that an investigation in Kuaiji had uncovered four cases of forged aristocratic status, and Luo Xianzhi instructed the governor to gather more evidence in secret.
• The governor of Kuaiji concealed Luo Xianzhi’s plan and continued the investigation, while Luo Xianzhi quietly recruited allies and arranged to detain the fraudulent clans.
• Luo Xianzhi brought the evidence to Xiao Yan, who reacted with fury and ordered the fraudulent clans killed by imperial edict.

Luo Xianzhi exposed gentry clans that had falsified their genealogies, arrested those involved, and used the scandal to take control of the Record of Clans. After marrying Xie Daoyun, he announced that the accused would face severe punishment and that gentry status would no longer grant access to office until the Record of Clans was revised.

• At Luo Xianzhi's order, soldiers arrested the heads of Shanyin County's five great clans for falsifying their gentry identities and sent them to Jianye.
• Luo Xianzhi presented evidence of forged genealogies to protesting scholars and said Emperor Xiao Yan had ordered a full investigation.
• As rumors spread and the gentry failed to gain access to the emperor, Luo Xianzhi postponed action until after his wedding to Xie Daoyun.
• Luo Xianzhi and Xie Daoyun held their wedding in Jianye, and he told her he would resume handling the case after their celebration.
• After returning to the Secretariat, Luo Xianzhi summoned officials responsible for criminal justice and declared that those who committed or knowingly accepted the forgeries would be executed.
• Luo Xianzhi announced that the Record of Clans would no longer confer nobility or qualify people for office until the Gusu Luo Clan revised and reordered it.

Luo Xianzhi received news from the north as Cao Mao confronted Wei State’s failed campaign in Hedong and pushed to recruit talent beyond the imperial clan. After Cao Lin’s efforts to resist reform failed, Cao Chengsi urged his family to deal with the emperor, leaving Cao Mao’s safety and Wei State’s political future in jeopardy.

• Luo Xianzhi paused the Secretariat’s proceedings after his steward brought news from the north.
• After another defeat in Hedong, Cao Mao demanded that Wei State recruit talented people, but Cao Lin and the ministers opposed him.
• Cao Mao persuaded the Empress Dowager to support his reforms, and she rejected the ministers’ appeal to restrain him.
• Cao Lin presented a plan to sow discord between Murong Ke and Yan State’s ruler, but Cao Mao rejected it as no substitute for reform.
• Cao Lin blamed the gentry for influencing Cao Mao and began discussing how to stop them, while Cao Chengsi said they should deal with the emperor.

Cao Mao’s effort to bring scholars into Wei’s court provoked Cao Lin’s coup, which Cao Chengsi secretly pushed toward regicide. Cao Mao was killed in the imperial palace, while Cao Lin realized his son had orchestrated the murder and disappeared.

• Cao Mao issued a decree inviting worthy scholars and aristocratic clans back into Wei’s government, alarming Cao Lin and his followers.
• Cao Chengsi told Cao Lin that he had arranged the execution of scholars and framed them as enemy collaborators, then pressured his father to mobilize troops.
• Cao Lin’s soldiers killed scholars in Chang’an and besieged the imperial palace, while Cao Chengsi persuaded the troops that they were rescuing Cao Mao from treacherous ministers.
• Cao Lin’s forces broke into the palace, took control of Cao Mao and the imperial authorities, and killed the eunuchs attending the emperor.
• Cao Mao reassured Cao Lin that he did not intend to punish him, but a soldier stabbed Cao Mao through the heart without Cao Lin’s order.
• Cao Lin recognized the Demon Mask among the fallen soldier’s belongings and realized that Cao Chengsi had arranged the regicide and vanished.

After Cao Mao was killed, Cao Chengsi concealed the regicide, blamed Cao Lin in public opinion, and secured the regency for himself by enthroning the emperor’s infant son. In Liang State, Luo Xianzhi counseled Xiao Yan on preserving political balance and urged him to use Wei’s turmoil to recover Yizhou, while warning that the regicide threatened morality across the states.

• Cao Chengsi portrayed a disguised, poisoned assassin as the emperor’s killer and persuaded Wei’s imperial relatives to conceal the regicide and enthrone Cao Mao’s youngest son.
• Cao Chengsi told the court that Cao Lin had failed to protect the emperor and resigned; when a minister accused Cao Lin of regicide, Cao Chengsi had him executed and delayed further questions.
• Luo Xianzhi advised Xiao Yan that Wei’s coup had arisen from a badly skewed balance of power and explained how eunuchs, maternal relatives, imperial kin, and gentry clans could be kept in check.
• Xiao Yan considered curbing Liang’s imperial relatives, but Luo Xianzhi warned that doing so immediately could provoke rebellion and argued that Wei’s turmoil created an opportunity to recover Yizhou.
• Luo Xianzhi condemned Wei’s regicide and urged Xiao Yan to preserve moral governance; Xiao Yan praised him as a loyal minister, while the closing account blamed the Luo Clan’s disappearance for the ensuing moral collapse.