Chapter Summaries

The Self-Defense Army routed the Cangling Army at Hanshan City, forcing Ouyang Mingyue to retreat to Firmament City. After the Empress ordered Guo Dundun to prepare to seize the city, the army began its assault with newly assembled Stone-Throwing Machines, and their first Heaven-Shaking Thunder blast stunned the defenders.

• Guo Dundun's cavalry broke through the Cangling Army's left wing and center, triggering a rout that left Han Cheng retreating and the Desert Cavalry fleeing.
• Guo Dundun reported the victory to Shenzhou City, and Ouyang Mingyue withdrew her army to Firmament City while the Empress ordered Guo Dundun to prepare an attack.
• Ouyang Mingyue mobilized Firmament City's defenders as four hundred thousand Self-Defense Army troops encamped nearby and prepared siege equipment.
• Chen Xiaolin told Guo Dundun that fifty Stone-Throwing Machines were ready, and Guo Dundun ordered them used against Firmament City.
• The Stone-Throwing Machines fired Heaven-Shaking Thunder into the city, killing Ouyang Mingyue's guards in a massive explosion, and Liu Zhiwei ordered all fifty machines to bombard the battlements.

The Self-Defense Army’s cavalry attacked Wei Ming’s troops while thousands of civilians fled toward Weizhou City, and reinforcements arrived before the pursuing infantry closed in. He Fu and Wei Ming chose to stand their ground rather than retreat, ending the chapter with the Weizhou Army assembling for battle.

• Liu Zhiwei directed the Heaven-Shaking Thunder at Firmament City’s wall, scattering the Cangling Army and frightening Ouyang Mingyue away.
• Wei Ming learned that thousands of Self-Defense Army cavalry were approaching as civilians fled, and he gathered the Weizhou Army to meet them.
• Yang Qingliu’s cavalry attacked Wei Ming’s formations until He Fu arrived with reinforcements and helped them disengage.
• Wei Ming and He Fu learned that ten thousand Self-Defense Army infantry were pursuing them, while enemy cavalry tried to delay their retreat.
• He Fu urged Wei Ming to defend the people behind them, and Wei Ming rallied the troops to stop retreating and form ranks.

Yang Qingliu’s Self-Defense Army suffered devastating losses defeating the Weizhou force, then besieged Weizhou while Ouyang Mingyue sent reinforcements by a circuitous route. Shi Wanshan refused surrender, but the relief army was discovered and harassed, leaving Weizhou under mounting pressure.

• He Fu led eight hundred armored cavalry through the Self-Defense Cavalry and charged into its main force, dying alongside the Weizhou soldiers as the battle ended in their annihilation.
• Yang Qingliu saluted the fallen Weizhou soldiers, learned that Wei Ming and He Fu had died, and later suffered more than eight thousand dead and wounded in another clash with Weizhou’s defenders.
• Shi Wanshan rejected his officials’ complaints and threats to surrender, declaring that he would live or die with Weizhou and ordering dissenters beheaded.
• Yang Qingliu arrived with her main army, encircled Weizhou, and stationed cavalry along the routes from Firmament City to intercept reinforcements.
• Ouyang Mingyue sent twenty thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry toward Weizhou by a roundabout route, but Self-Defense scouts discovered them and cavalry repeatedly harassed their march.
• Shi Wanshan had people who urged surrender beheaded as Yang Qingliu’s forces spread rumors that the relief army had been destroyed.

Guo Dundun ordered Yang Qingliu to capture Weizhou within five days, while Yao Daming and the city lord prepared to defend the city in a decisive battle. Han Wei led a thousand Cangling cavalry in a suicidal charge that broke through the Self-Defense Army’s left flank, though the riders fell one by one.

• Guo Dundun judged that the eastern front was decisive and ordered Yang Qingliu to take Weizhou as quickly as possible, giving her five days.
• Yao Daming ordered his reinforcements to burn their provisions and assemble for battle, and the lord of Weizhou rallied the city’s soldiers to support them.
• Yao Daming sent a thousand riders under Han Wei to break the Self-Defense Army’s flank while another thousand held off enemy cavalry.
• Yang Qingliu engaged the second cavalry force as Han Wei led his riders into the Self-Defense Army’s left flank under a hail of arrows and spears.
• Han Wei’s cavalry forced a breach through the enemy line, but his horse collapsed and the charging riders continued onward as they suffered heavy losses.

Yang Qingliu’s attempt to capture Weizhou ended in a devastating battle that cost both armies thousands of lives, while the arrival of the Desert Star shifted the strategic balance toward Cangling. Guo Dundun refused to retreat and sent Shen Zaitian and Liu Zhiwei with fifty thousand troops to hold off the Desert Star, whose commander, Situ Long, prepared to attack their defensive formation.

• Yang Qingliu’s forces and Yao Daming’s reinforcements fought a brutal battle near Weizhou, and Yao Daming was killed, but the Self-Defense Army suffered more than eight thousand deaths and could no longer capture the city.
• The Desert Star arrived near Weizhou, and scouts later reported that at least fifty thousand Cangling troops were positioned behind the city.
• Guo Dundun rejected retreat and ordered Shen Zaitian and Liu Zhiwei to lead fifty thousand troops to hold off the Desert Star while the army awaited reinforcements.
• Guo Dundun explained that the Beast Tamer troops could withstand assassination attempts because they had Brother Hao’s New-Style Potion.
• Situ Long assembled the Desert Star cavalry, while the Self-Defense Army formed a defensive Square-Circle Formation.
• Situ Long recognized the formation’s defensive purpose and prepared to split his cavalry into four forces to attack from four directions.

Liu Zhiwei and Shen Zaitian countered Situ Long’s attempt to draw the Self-Defense Army into battle, and Shen’s cavalry defeated the Desert Star’s mounted vanguard. The next morning, Situ Long advanced with a much larger force, and the chapter ended as thousands of Desert Star Assassins vanished into Stealth near the Self-Defense Army’s lines.

• Liu Zhiwei sent Shen Zaitian with six thousand cavalry to harass the Weizhou Army while Wang Zheng scouted for an ambush.
• Shen Zaitian found the Desert Cavalry concealed nearby and led his riders to attack them, killing their commander and routing the force.
• Situ Long flew into a rage when the Desert Cavalry commander’s severed head was brought to him, while Liu Zhiwei and Guo Dundun welcomed the victory.
• Situ Long reorganized his army into two forces and advanced on Liu Zhiwei’s main force with more than sixty thousand troops.
• Liu Zhiwei ordered Yang Zaixing to ready five thousand cavalry, and Yang Qingliu rallied the vanguard as the Desert Star’s Assassins disappeared into Stealth.

The Self-Defense Army used Heaven-Shaking Thunder to devastate Desert Star's advancing troops, but Situ Long sent three thousand heavy cavalry to break its line. As Liu Zhiwei joined the front with reinforcements, the exhausted defenders rallied to face another charge.

• Heaven-Shaking Thunder blasted Desert Star's soldiers and killed Assassins in Stealth, but the Assassins soon destroyed the Self-Defense Army's Stone-Throwing Machines.
• Situ Long ordered three thousand heavily armored cavalry to charge, and they smashed through the Self-Defense Army's first ranks.
• The Self-Defense Army fought back by attacking the horses' legs, while Yang Qingliu led her troops and the defenders stopped two cavalry charges at great cost.
• Liu Zhiwei refused to send in the cavalry, then went to the front with Shen Zaitian and two thousand infantrymen.
• The reinforcements strengthened the wavering line, and the Self-Defense Army's soldiers shouted their resolve as the Desert Army prepared a third charge.

Liu Zhiwei’s Vanguard Battalion repelled repeated attacks by Situ Long’s desert heavy cavalry while Guo Dundun countered the Cangling Army’s cavalry with a layered formation. The battle remained unresolved, with Liu holding his ground and Guo preparing to face Ouyang Mingyue’s forces.

• Liu Zhiwei reached the Vanguard Battalion and ordered crossbowmen onto both flanks, helping the Self-Defense Army withstand Situ Long’s third heavy cavalry charge.
• Guo Dundun refused to divert troops immediately and instead ordered his army to advance in successive, mutually supporting formations toward the enemy.
• Ouyang Mingyue sent cavalry to counter each advancing Self-Defense Army formation, then assembled her remaining cavalry to attack alongside Situ Long.
• Guo’s thirty-four thousand troops formed a deep wedge with heavy crossbows, and their defenses prevented Ouyang Mingyue’s cavalry from gaining ground.
• Ouyang Mingyue personally led cavalry out and found Guo’s formations already advancing, while Liu Zhiwei repelled another attack from Situ Long.

Guo Dundun’s Self-Defense Army used fire bolts and a carefully arranged formation to repel Ouyang Mingyue’s cavalry and bombard the Cangling camp. At midnight, Situ Long learned that Liu Zhiwei had also defeated his left wing, leaving the Cangling forces split and beaten.

• Situ Long admitted that he had underestimated Liu Zhiwei and the other Self-Defense Army commanders, then went to comfort his demoralized heavy cavalry.
• Guo Dundun ordered his repeating crossbows to fire their oil-coated bolts into the Cangling camp, throwing its soldiers into panic and forcing Ouyang Mingyue to assemble her troops.
• Ouyang Mingyue led several thousand cavalry against Guo Dundun’s formation, where the Self-Defense Army’s crossbows and spear ranks broke up the charge and inflicted heavy losses.
• After Ouyang Mingyue fled, Guo Dundun ordered the remaining bolts fired at the Cangling camp and had his soldiers treat their wounded, receive food, and rest instead of pursuing.
• At midnight, Situ Long received news that Liu Zhiwei had defeated the Cangling left wing and condemned his failure to unite his forces.

Situ Long prepared a concealed heavy-cavalry ambush, but Guo Dundun refused to pursue and instead fortified the Self-Defense Army’s camp while waiting for the Cangling forces to advance. The Cangling army arrived and began probing the defenses as Jiang Hao, whom Guo missed, traveled back toward him.

• Situ Long ordered Deputy General Wang to regroup and arranged for Ouyang Mingyue to secretly send infantry and heavy cavalry.
• Guo Dundun rallied his soldiers, then discussed Situ Long’s likely plans with Chen Xiaolin and ordered the army to stay in camp and prepare defenses.
• The Cangling army waited for Guo Dundun to pursue, then advanced steadily after Situ Long ordered it to close in and patrol for supply convoys.
• The Cangling infantry deputy general volunteered to attack, while Deputy General Wang let him take the lead.
• Guo Dundun waited in camp as Jiang Hailong’s engineers dug trenches and set chevaux-de-frise; Jiang Hao reached Lonely Ghost Ridge on his way back.
• The Cangling main force arrived, beat drums, and sent crossbow-armed vanguard troops forward to provoke and probe the Self-Defense Army.

Guo Dundun’s Self-Defense Army held its camp against Cangling attacks with iron wire, Heaven-Shaking Thunders, and flaming arrows while Liu Zhiwei’s cavalry harassed Situ Long’s forces. As Deputy General Wang committed more troops to breaking through the defenses, a large Self-Defense Army cavalry force appeared to the west.

• Guo Dundun refused to respond to Cangling insults, and his troops used iron wire and Heaven-Shaking Thunders to drive off heavy infantry attacking their barriers.
• Jiang Hailong reported the day’s fighting, and Guo Dundun predicted Cangling would try to burn through the barriers.
• Five thousand cavalry traveled toward the battlefield by a hidden route behind Small Hill.
• Liu Zhiwei sent Shen Zaitian’s cavalry to harass Situ Long’s flanks, while the Cangling troops repeatedly failed to burn the barriers with tar and flaming arrows.
• Situ Long suspected Guo Dundun might have a surprise force but chose to let Deputy General Wang continue wearing down the defenders.
• Deputy General Wang ordered more troops to force open a breach, then learned that a large Self-Defense Army cavalry force had appeared to the west.

Yang Qingliu’s cavalry surprised and routed the Cangling Army, destroying its heavy cavalry and killing Assistant General Wang Ning. Guo Dundun ordered Liu Zhiwei to let Situ Long escape so he could undermine Ouyang Mingyue, but Yang Qingliu’s night pursuit failed to catch him.

• Assistant General Wang dismissed scouts who reported Self-Defense Army cavalry, then heard the approaching hooves and ordered his camp to prepare.
• Yang Qingliu led thousands of cavalry into the Cangling Army camp, broke through its barricades, and routed its unformed troops and heavy cavalry; Wang Ning fled and was killed.
• Guo Dundun learned of the victory and told Qian Zhonglin to have Liu Zhiwei block Situ Long while secretly allowing him to escape.
• Situ Long withdrew at night with his Personal Guard Army and twenty thousand Desert Star troops, while Liu Zhiwei arranged an assault on the camp and sent Yang Qingliu in pursuit.
• Yang Qingliu pursued Situ Long through the night but failed to find him, while Self-Defense Army infantry captured or killed many fleeing Cangling soldiers along the roads.

Ouyang Mingyue abandoned Firmament City and retreated with her remaining Cangling troops as Jiang Hao returned to a jubilant Self-Defense Army. After dividing his forces to pursue the Desert Star and advance on the Fallen Spirit Forest, Jiang Hao warned his officers that powerful beasts and a changing world threatened Shenzhou, leaving his plans for the Cangling campaign uncertain.

• Ouyang Mingyue withdrew from Firmament City with about four hundred thousand Cangling soldiers, leaving the city's civilians behind.
• Jiang Hao returned to the Self-Defense Army camp, where Guo Dundun and the officers welcomed him as their marshal.
• Guo Dundun, Liu Zhiwei, and the other officers reported how they had repelled the Cangling and Desert Star forces, and Jiang Hao praised their growth.
• Jiang Hao split the campaign forces, assigning Guo Dundun to advance toward the Fallen Spirit Forest while he led the cavalry to pursue the Desert Star and join Marshal Qu.
• Jiang Hao told the officers about his travels and demonstrated his Purple Lightning Azure Frost Fist to convince them that powerful beasts and mutated wild animals posed a growing danger.
• Jiang Hao explained that he had once planned to destroy the Cangling Kingdom before protecting Shenzhou's border, but seeing mutated beasts in the Fallen Spirit Forest had changed his thinking.

Jiang Hao delayed pursuing Ouyang Mingyue’s forces into the Fallen Spirit Forest while the Cangling Army suffered heavy losses there. In winter, Guo Dundun’s army used Liu Zhiwei’s retreat to lure Wang Wei’s troops into a narrow mountain road, where the Cangling cavalry began charging toward a prepared position.

• Jiang Hao reassured the Self-Defense Army’s officers that their contributions would be rewarded and ordered them to wait while Ouyang Mingyue’s troops dealt with the beasts in the Fallen Spirit Forest.
• Ouyang Longtian told the Cangling emperor that the Self-Defense Army posed little immediate threat, while Ouyang Mingyue’s soldiers continued to suffer casualties from powerful beasts.
• After a Cangling force approached Guo Dundun’s winter position, Guo sent Liu Zhiwei with three thousand troops to draw it onto a narrow mountain road.
• Wang Wei led his troops against Liu Zhiwei, whose soldiers endured a brutal fight and repeated barrages of Heaven-Shaking Thunders before the explosives ran out.
• Wang Wei ordered a cavalry charge, and Liu Zhiwei feigned retreat while his men felled trees across the road to slow the pursuing Cangling cavalry.

The Self-Defense Army used Heaven-Shaking Thunders to break a Cangling cavalry charge, then surprised and captured most of the enemy camp in a night raid. Guo Dundun warned that the escaped commander could return with reinforcements, and Qian Zhonglin volunteered to scout Lonely Ghost Ridge.

• Liu Zhiwei feigned retreat and led the Cangling cavalry toward Guo Dundun's forces as the Self-Defense Army prepared its Stone-Throwing Machines.
• Guo Dundun ordered the Heaven-Shaking Thunders fired, killing and scattering the charging cavalry before the surviving riders clashed with the Self-Defense Army's infantry and fled.
• The Self-Defense Army's cavalry launched a night attack on the Cangling camp, killing more than a thousand men and capturing over eighteen hundred, while the commander escaped.
• Guo Dundun warned Jiang Hailong and Qian Zhonglin that the escaped commander might return from Lonely Ghost Ridge with more troops.
• Qian Zhonglin volunteered to investigate Lonely Ghost Ridge, and Guo Dundun accepted his offer.

Qin Rong realized the woman he had rescued may have led the Shenzhou Army to Great Desert City, where the Desert Star Cavalry launched a devastating charge against the besieging force. The chapter ended with Qu Jianglin watching his twenty thousand troops collapse beneath the cavalry’s attack.

• Qin Shang and Qin Rong feared Great Desert City could not withstand the Shenzhou Army and suspected Qin Rong’s rescued outsider had revealed its location.
• Qin Rong watched the Desert Star Cavalry armor up and gather at the city gate while its commander rallied the riders to attack.
• Qu Jianglin ordered the Shenzhou Army to assault Great Desert City, and his troops opened the city gate during the attack.
• The Desert Star Cavalry charged out as cataphracts and tore through the Shenzhou Army’s vanguard and main force.
• Qu Jianglin, Nangong Han, and the other deputies dismissed the cavalry’s threat, while Gongsun Qianxun watched impassively.
• Qu Jianglin saw his troops fall in great numbers and realized the Desert Star Cavalry’s charge had decided the battle.

Gongsun Qianxun watched the Shenzhou New Army’s attack on Great Desert City collapse before the Desert Star Cavalry, while Nangong Han’s intervention secured the city’s victory. Elsewhere, Jiang Hao caught up with Situ Long’s retreating Desert Star force and used improved Heaven-Shaking Thunders to disrupt its ranks before Situ Long sent his heavy cavalry forward.

• Gongsun Qianxun watched the Shenzhou New Army flee after the Desert Star Cavalry broke through its vanguard, while Nangong Han charged in and killed nearly two hundred riders with his Disaster Star Devours the Sun skill.
• Qin Rong reached the battlements, saw the Desert Star Cavalry being crushed, and spotted Gongsun Qianxun among the enemy forces, fueling his hatred.
• Jiang Hao located Situ Long less than three hundred li from Great Desert City and ordered Yang Qingliu to prepare five thousand cavalry to attack the enemy’s right flank.
• Jiang Hao’s Self-Defense Army bombarded Situ Long’s formations with improved Heaven-Shaking Thunders, causing casualties and frightening the Desert Star troops.
• After the Self-Defense Army’s two volleys ended, Situ Long ordered Wang Ming to lead the Desert Star’s fully armored heavy cavalry forward.

Jiang Hao arrived as the Self-Defense Army struggled to withstand repeated charges from Situ Long’s Desert Star heavy cavalry. After strengthening the Mutated Phoenix, Jiang Hao took command at the front and used a tactic modeled on Guo Dundun’s battle, leaving the third clash poised to decide whether the cavalry charge would break.

• Situ Long’s heavy cavalry shattered the Self-Defense Army’s front ranks, and the soldiers held their ground despite catastrophic casualties.
• Jiang Hao refused Yang Qingliu’s request to send in the cavalry and ordered Shi Wan to bring two thousand infantrymen to the front.
• The Self-Defense Army stopped two charges, while Situ Long recognized the tactic from his earlier defeat by Guo Dundun.
• Jiang Hao spent all 9,550 attribute points on the Mutated Phoenix’s strength and reviewed the Ant Queen’s status.
• Jiang Hao reached the Vanguard Battalion, rallied the exhausted soldiers, and positioned crossbowmen on both flanks.
• As Desert Star launched its third charge, the Self-Defense Army attacked the horses and unleashed crossbow bolts from the flanks, bringing down cavalry and soldiers alike.

The Self-Defense Army repelled Situ Long’s cavalry with its powerful Heaven-Shaking Thunder bombs, then endured several days of attacks while Jiang Hao prepared a counterstrike. Yang Qingliu’s cavalry arrived behind Desert Star and crushed its forces, though Situ Long escaped.

• The Self-Defense Army’s Heaven-Shaking Thunder bombs devastated Deputy General Wang’s frontal cavalry charge, killed him, and forced Desert Star to retreat.
• Situ Long widened his cavalry’s formation and launched a second attack, beginning a days-long standoff that exhausted the Self-Defense Army infantry.
• Jiang Hao ordered his assembled cavalry to move while Situ Long delayed his decisive assault, believing the infantry was close to collapse.
• Yang Qingliu force-marched her cavalry around the desert and arrived behind Desert Star on the third day of the twelfth month.
• Yang Qingliu sent five thousand cavalry to block Desert Star’s retreat and led ten thousand in an attack that routed Situ Long’s forces.
• Half of Desert Star’s twenty-thousand-man force died, more than thirteen hundred were captured, and just over eight thousand escaped, including Situ Long.

Qu Jianglin and Nangong Han faced Great Desert City, where Qin Shang and Han Duo chose to negotiate before the Shenzhou Army's stone-throwing machines forced them into battle. Qu Jianglin rejected Cangling’s claims of a voluntary withdrawal, demanded surrender, and then led the Shenzhou vanguard against the defenders; the battle remained fierce and unresolved.

• Qu Jianglin and Nangong Han hesitated outside Great Desert City and decided to avoid a direct assault while preparing a report that made their army appear to have fought hard.
• Qin Shang and Han Duo learned that Jiang Hao was approaching, suspected their military plans had been leaked, and sent Yang Qikai to negotiate with the Shenzhou Army.
• Qu Jianglin slapped Yang Qikai for calling Cangling’s withdrawal benevolent and ordered him to tell Great Desert City to surrender in exchange for favorable terms.
• Shenzhou’s stone-throwing machines battered Great Desert City’s walls, prompting Han Duo and Qin Shang to open the gates and prepare for a decisive fight.
• Qu Jianglin ordered the Shenzhou vanguard into battle against Great Desert City’s infantry and cavalry, and the two forces clashed with heavy casualties.