Chapter Summaries

Erzhu Rong’s northern garrisons rebelled, seized Ji City, and massacred the Murong imperial family and nobles, while Murong Chui and Xiao Yan maneuvered against his fragile rule. Xiao Yan ordered a literary campaign against Erzhu Rong, weakening support among the gentry as Erzhu Rong tried to consolidate power and considered claiming the imperial title.

• Erzhu Rong led the northern garrisons’ uprising, and their forces captured Ji City while Murong Chui struggled to advance against them.
• Erzhu Rong’s uncontrolled troops slaughtered more than a hundred thousand people in Ji City, including nearly a thousand members of the Murong imperial family and powerful nobles.
• The Court’s Imperial Guards surrendered to Murong Chui, who paused his attacks to consolidate his holdings and wait for Erzhu Rong’s rule to weaken.
• Luo Xianzhi urged Xiao Yan to condemn Erzhu Rong and consider marching north, and Xiao Yan mobilized Liang’s scholars to spread accounts of the massacre.
• Erzhu Rong moved to Ye City, appointed trusted followers to control Ji City, and began building his own power structure while his subordinates resisted his bid to become emperor.
• Luo Xianzhi’s campaign damaged Erzhu Rong’s standing with the gentry, while Erzhu Rong’s followers refused to retreat to the Northern Frontier and he remained in Ye City trying to strengthen his rule.

Luo Xianzhi recognized that his legs had gone numb and, believing he was near death, gave Xie Daoyun and Emperor Xiao Yan his final instructions for protecting the Luo family and stabilizing Liang State. After Luo Xianzhi died, Xie Daoyun completed a book about his life and died soon afterward, leaving their descendants to remain in Gusu.

• Luo Xianzhi told Xie Daoyun he feared he had left Liang State vulnerable, then asked her to return to Gusu and keep their children out of government.
• Luo Xianzhi was carried into the palace, where he urged Xiao Yan to tax Buddhist institutions, limit the power of imperial princes, and prevent conflict among the emperor's descendants.
• Luo Xianzhi died while being carried from the palace, and Xiao Yan posthumously honored him as Duke of Yue and ordered him buried beside Xiao Yan at Xiu Mausoleum.
• The people of Jianye mourned Luo Xianzhi, and the Luo Clan buried him after seven days of lying in state.
• Xie Daoyun wrote the Treatise on Duke Luo Wencheng and instructed the Luo family to preserve its books and treat its dependents fairly.
• Xie Daoyun remembered Luo Xianzhi's promise that he would live the same life again, then died after completing her final instructions.

Years after Luo Xianzhi’s death, Murong Chui conquered Luoyang and drove Liang State south, but Yan State’s northern campaign, Wang Meng’s death, and Murong Ling’s murder destabilized his empire. Murong Chui and Xiao Yan both died, and Xiao Yan’s reign ended with his palace burning as a rebel army seized Jianye.

• Xiao Yan doubted Liang State’s defeats and sought Buddhist prayers and immortality, while Murong Chui captured Luoyang and prepared to press south.
• Murong Chui withdrew from the northern campaign after Wang Meng fell gravely ill, then learned that his crown prince, Murong Ling, had died, apparently by poisoning.
• Murong Chui died after failing to punish the son he suspected of murdering Murong Ling, while Xiao Yan continued to rule Liang State.
• An army entered Jianye unopposed, seized the palace, and forced Xiao Yan to become the Retired Emperor.
• Xiao Yan hallucinated Luo Xianzhi and Luo Youzhi, regretted his failures, and died when fire engulfed his palace.

After centuries of waiting, Luo Su descended into the mortal world as a three-year-old child in Winter City and began learning about the Luo Clan’s present circumstances. His arrival produced strange phenomena across All Xia, drawing the attention of Sui’s Emperor Yang Jian.

• Ji Lingjun asked Luo Su how he would descend, and he chose to be born through the Origin Tripod with a Phoenix Feather Sacred Mark rather than take a descendant’s body.
• Luo Su told Ji Lingjun he planned to travel the world and seek its ultimate truth instead of immediately assisting the Son of Heaven.
• After Ji Lingjun reported that the Sui Dynasty had unified the realm, Luo Su asked to hear about its founding and said he might visit Chang'an.
• Luo Chengxian told the Luo Clan’s direct descendants that Luo Su would return, and he arranged for them to receive their ancestor in Winter City.
• Luo Su emerged from the Origin Tripod, warmed the waiting clan members, and asked Luo Chengxian to explain the Luo Clan’s history and current affairs.
• Unusual phenomena spread throughout All Xia after Luo Su’s descent, and reports reached Yang Jian in Chang'an, where rumors began to circulate.

After Yang Jian investigated the prophecy that the Luo Clan would return, Luo Su left Winter City to study the Grasslands and the Sui Dynasty’s distant frontier. He finished his two-and-a-half-year journey intending to visit the Central Plains and the ruins of Haojing City.

• Yang Jian sent investigators toward Winter City after the Luo Clan’s return prophecy spread, while other great clans and Yang Guang also began searching for the clan.
• Luo Su told Luo Chengxian he would leave Winter City in ten years, then traveled to Black Water and across the Greater Khingan Range with Spirit Soldiers and the Mountain Lord.
• In the Eastern Desert Grasslands, Luo Su concluded that the Eastern Turkic Khaganate should be destroyed and the grasslands brought under control, then learned that the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates were at war.
• Luo Su met Aqina, a Liaodong Hu chief migrating south with his tribe, accepted his warhorses, and continued west across the Grasslands.
• After studying the tribes and Western Regions monks, Luo Su decided he needed to investigate Western Regions Buddhism and consider how to govern the Hu people and stabilize the Eastern Desert Grasslands.
• Luo Su ended his Grasslands journey and headed south toward Guanzhong, planning to visit the ruins of Haojing City.

Luo Su descended into the mortal world as a three-year-old child in Winter City, where he reunited with his Luo Clan descendants and began learning about their present circumstances. Across the Sui Empire, strange phenomena marked his arrival, and Yang Jian and Dugu Jialuo received reports that stirred rumors throughout the realm.

• In the Void Heavenly Realm, Luo Su chose to descend into Winter City rather than be reborn as a descendant, intending to explore the world and seek its ultimate truth.
• Ji Lingjun told Luo Su that the Sui Dynasty had united All Under Heaven, and Luo Su decided to begin his travels in the Grasslands after spending a few years in Winter City.
• Luo Chengxian told the Luo Clan elders that Luo Su, Duke Wen of Luo, would be born anew, and ordered them to prepare to welcome him.
• Luo Su descended through the Origin Tripod with a Phoenix Feather Sacred Mark, warmed the gathered Luo Clan members, and asked Luo Chengxian to explain the clan's situation.
• Luo Su declined the Household Head position, paid respects to Ji Zhao, and asked to study alongside the clan's children while he grew.
• Unusual phenomena appeared across All Xia after Luo Su's descent, and Yang Jian consulted Dugu Jialuo as reports and rumors reached Chang'an.

Luo Su left Winter City and traveled across the Grasslands, studying its peoples and the challenges of governing them as the Sui Dynasty investigated rumors of the Luo Clan’s return. After two and a half years, he resolved to head south through Guanzhong and visit the ruins of Haojing City.

• Yang Jian investigated reports that the Luo Clan had returned and used rumors of supernatural signs surrounding his birth to strengthen his rule.
• Luo Su told Luo Chengxian he would preserve the clan’s strength and personally visit the Central Plains, then taught the clan’s children about the relationship between ruler and people.
• Luo Su crossed Black Water and the Greater Khingan Range, reached the Eastern Desert Grasslands, and concluded that the Eastern Turkic Khaganate should be destroyed and the region brought under control.
• Eastern Turkic cavalry surrounded Luo Su, but his Spirit Soldiers defeated them; their prisoners revealed that the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates were at war.
• Luo Su met Aqina, whose tribe was migrating south to submit to the Sui Dynasty, and accepted several horses before continuing west across the Grasslands.
• After studying nomadic rule and Western Regions Buddhism, Luo Su ended his two-and-a-half-year journey across the Grasslands and set out for Guanzhong to visit Haojing City.

Luo Su traveled through Guanzhong with Luo Xuanye and Luo Xuanjing, discussed the Sui Dynasty’s administrative divisions, and met Li Yuan at a roadside tea shelter. After an Eastern Palace eunuch tried to seize Luo Xuanjing, Luo Su killed the guards, revealed the Phoenix Feather Sacred Mark, and left Li Yuan fearing for his life.

• Luo Su guided Luo Xuanye and Luo Xuanjing through the Hexi Corridor and into Guanzhong, where he explained the Sui Dynasty’s provincial and commandery system.
• Luo Su introduced himself to Li Yuan and the travelers at a tea shelter as Ji Su, and Dou Shi recognized the Ji-surnamed Luo Clan.
• Gao Cheng tried to take Luo Xuanjing to the Eastern Palace, but Luo Su agreed to go with him after rebuking him for threatening a Luo Clan woman.
• Once the carriage was out of sight, Luo Su ordered the Eastern Palace guards killed, and his Spirit Soldiers slaughtered them.
• Luo Su revealed his Phoenix Feather Sacred Mark, terrifying Gao Cheng to death and confirming that the Luo Clan Main Lineage had returned to the Central Plains.
• Luo Xuanye asked whether they should kill the following Li Yuan, who realized he had witnessed the massacre and stood in fear before Luo Su.

Luo Su spared Li Yuan and his family, arranged for Li Xiuning to marry into the Luo Clan, and continued on to Mount Li and Chang’an. In Chang’an, he explained why he doubted the Sui Dynasty could renew the realm and planned to work through the Luo Clan; meanwhile, the Eastern Palace learned that its attendants had been killed on the post road.

• Li Xiuning pleaded for Li Yuan and Dou Shi, and Luo Su spared them while giving her a jade pendant and promising her a match within the Luo Clan.
• Luo Su suggested Luo Xuanye as Li Xiuning’s future husband, then reached Mount Li and mourned the vanished world of the Zhou State.
• In Chang’an, Luo Su examined the Sui Dynasty’s institutions and told Luo Xuanye and Luo Xuanjing that he doubted the emperor could restore order and values across the realm.
• Luo Su said he would not serve the Sui emperor directly and would instead rely on the Luo Clan to carry out his plans.
• A rider reported to the Eastern Palace that its attendants had all been killed on the post road.

Luo Su explained that the Luo Clan’s dwindling fortune made it vulnerable and chose to bind the clan deeply to a capable dynasty, so he ordered Luo Xuanye to investigate Yang Guang before choosing a side. Meanwhile, Yang Yong learned that the Luo Clan was suspected of killing his palace attendants and hurried to confront his parents in the imperial palace.

• Luo Su told Luo Xuanye and Luo Xuanjing that the Luo Clan’s fortune had declined because it had received little from the Han Dynasty, and he planned to secure its future by tying it to a dynasty.
• Luo Su predicted that Yang Yong would be deposed, but said the Luo Clan needed to judge Yang Guang’s true character before approaching him.
• Luo Su sent Luo Xuanye to investigate the King of Jin’s household and asked Luo Xuanjing to help calculate information using the Annals.
• Yang Yong learned that the Gusu Luo Clan was suspected of killing Gao Cheng and his men after they abducted Luo Clan travelers, including a woman.
• Yang Yong worried that the Luo Clan had sided with Yang Guang and decided to enter the palace to see his parents and demand that the killers pay.

Luo Su, Luo Xuanye, and Luo Xuanjing reached Suzhou and reunited with the Jiangnan Luo Clan, whose Household Head, Luo Jingcheng, welcomed their ancient ancestor. Luo Su prepared to leave again after honoring the clan and securing its treasured collection, while he and Luo Xuanjing teased Luo Jingcheng about marriage and Luo Su unexpectedly proposed that Luo Xuanjing marry him.

• Luo Su, Luo Xuanye, and Luo Xuanjing traveled through prosperous Suzhou and learned that the Jiangnan Luo Clan held great influence over the city.
• Luo Jingcheng recognized Luo Xuanye and Luo Xuanjing’s Sacred Marks, welcomed them back, and learned that Luo Su was their ancestor Duke Wen from fifteen hundred years earlier.
• Luo Su toured the clan manor, praised the Jiangnan Luo Clan for preserving its name, and said he would leave the Central Plains again without widely announcing his return.
• Luo Jingcheng showed Luo Su the clan’s collection, and Luo Su stored its treasures in the Sumeru Mustard Seed, keeping the Orchid Pavilion Preface for Luo Jingcheng’s future child.
• Luo Su proposed arranging a marriage between Luo Jingcheng and a woman of the Direct Line, and then surprised Luo Xuanjing by suggesting that she marry Luo Jingcheng herself.

Luo Su traveled through the Western Regions, learned how the Sage King Temple had become a powerful religious and political institution, and saw the Temple Army as a tool for his plans. He explained that he meant to transform both the Luo Clan and All Xia rather than restore an old imperial golden age, leaving his companions with a glimpse of his unfinished blueprint.

• Luo Su told Luo Jingcheng that he would not devote himself to governing All Under Heaven and continued west with Luo Xuanjing and Luo Xuanye.
• Luo Su observed the growing population and difficult high-altitude terrain of the Western Regions, and concluded that the Temple Army could operate there.
• Luo Su and his companions learned that the Zhao State had collapsed, the Temple radicals had prevailed, and the Sage King Faith had become a concrete religion with a powerful institution.
• Luo Su explained that the Western Turkic Khaganate had likely partnered with the Temple, and said the Temple Army and pressure from the Sui Dynasty could help him take over the organization.
• Luo Su told Luo Xuanjing and Luo Xuanye that he was a pragmatist who planned to overturn inherited rules and break from the Qin-Han model of empire.
• Luo Su revealed that he had begun forming a new blueprint for changing All Xia and the Luo Clan.