Chapter Summaries

Qu Jianglin’s Shenzhou Army defeated the defenders and captured Great Desert City, then withdrew before Cangling reinforcements could surround them. The Cangling forces arrived to find the city empty, and Situ Long’s troops mistakenly exchanged arrows with Han Wei’s soldiers before the commanders reconciled.

• Qu Jianglin led the Shenzhou cavalry into battle, broke the Desert Star Cavalry, and helped rout the Great Desert Army.
• The Shenzhou cavalry killed Qin Shang as he fled toward the city, and the Shenzhou Army captured Great Desert City before nightfall.
• After scouts reported Cangling forces closing in, Qu Jianglin ordered his army to withdraw west with the city’s portable supplies.
• Han Wei’s 180,000-strong Cangling New Army reached the empty city, searched it, and reported that Qu Jianglin had fled.
• Situ Long’s Military Strategist mistook Han Wei’s troops for Shenzhou soldiers and ordered his archers to fire, prompting the Cangling troops on the walls to return fire.
• Situ Long met Han Wei in the city and apologized after both sides realized they had attacked their own troops.

Jiang Hao warned his commanders that the Death Desert’s creatures were growing stronger and that a coming cataclysm made defeating Cangling and preparing defenses urgent. Shenzhou built a fortified line and struck back at Cangling cavalry, while the enemy’s response to its setbacks remained unresolved.

• Situ Long described how the Self-Defense Army had beaten the Desert Star, while Cangling reinforced Great Desert City to 450,000 troops.
• Jiang Hao told his commanders that the Death Desert’s beasts were growing stronger and revealed his concern about an approaching Era of Revival, then ordered Shenzhou to fortify a defensive line and conserve its strength.
• Shenzhou built fifteen fortified villages, stopped moving supply convoys along exposed roads, and held its positions as Desert Star cavalry harassed its defenses.
• Situ Long and Han Wei learned that Shenzhou had halted its supply movements and planned to use Ouyang Mingyue’s forces to test Weizhou’s defenses.
• Guo Dundun reasoned that Cangling was relying on Ouyang Mingyue to pin down Shenzhou’s forces and urged a strike against the scattered Desert Star cavalry.
• Qu Jianglin sent Shenzhou cavalry to destroy two Desert Star units, routing the second near Great Desert City and leaving only about a hundred riders to escape.

After the Cangling Army lost nearly three thousand cavalry to the Shenzhou Army, Situ Long prepared for war, and Ouyang Mingyue’s army advanced on Firmament City. The Cangling forces besieged the city for seven days, breached its walls, and began a bloody fight against the Self-Defense Army inside.

• Situ Long learned that both cavalry columns had been routed and, despite Han Wei’s warning about the unfinished defenses and supply route, ordered his forces to muster.
• Jiang Hao predicted that the Cangling commander would launch a full-scale war and sent Nangong Han to Weizhou City to command the cavalry.
• Ouyang Mingyue assembled her 150,000 troops near Firmament City and began an assault on July eighteenth with thirty heavy artillery engines.
• The Self-Defense Army destroyed ten artillery engines and repeatedly repelled the Cangling attacks, repairing sections of wall between assaults.
• On the seventh day, the Cangling Army filled part of the moat with corpses, blasted a breach, and charged into a trap of Stone-Throwing Machines and Heaven-Shaking Thunder.
• The fighting spread through the breach and along the battlements as both armies exhausted their ammunition and the Self-Defense Army’s infantry clashed with Cangling troops inside the city.

The Cangling Army and the Self-Defense Army fought to a stalemate at Firmament City while Ouyang Mingyue attacked without informing Situ Long and Han Wei. As Jiang Hao learned of Cangling’s hidden forces and ordered a search for sites of mystery revival, the Shenzhou Army faced a surprise assault by Desert Star Heavy Cavalry near a fortified village.

• Ouyang Mingyue’s army attacked Firmament City for five days but failed to capture it, while Situ Long and Han Wei discovered that she had acted without their knowledge.
• Han Wei revealed that Cangling planned to send two hundred thousand troops toward Firmament City, and Situ Long warned that Ouyang Mingyue’s attack might be an attempt to draw his forces into battle.
• Jiang Hao told Qu Jianglin that Cangling had secretly moved two hundred thousand troops and ordered him to search Fallen Spirit Forest for suspicious areas linked to mystery revival.
• Qu Jianglin sent Nangong Han toward Weizhou City with ten thousand troops, while the Holy Son of Heaven prepared to retake Firmament City and later confront Jiang Hao.
• On August ninth, Desert Star cavalry attacked the assembling Shenzhou Army, and Jiang Hao ordered the Heaven-Shaking Thunder used against the approaching heavy cavalry.
• The Desert Star Heavy Cavalry broke through several infantry ranks but lost momentum against the Shenzhou Army’s artillery and defenses.

Han Wei’s overwhelming army besieged Peace City while Liu Zhiwei fought to reinforce it, and the Self-Defense Army launched a deceptive offensive around Firmament City. Ouyang Mingyue discovered that Weizhou’s siege had failed and realized Guo Dundun’s forces had secretly prepared a trap against her army.

• Han Wei joined Situ Long, gathered a claimed four hundred thousand troops, and launched a siege of Peace City, where Jiang Hao steadied the frightened people and the Shenzhou Army fought off the assault.
• Liu Zhiwei assembled fifty thousand troops to reinforce Peace City, while Situ Long moved to intercept him and the two armies fought south of the city.
• Shen Zaitian’s force broke through Ouyang Mingyue’s right flank outside Firmament City, and Ouyang Mingyue set out with fifty thousand elite troops to trap him.
• Ouyang Mingyue learned that the siege of Weizhou City had failed and realized the Self-Defense Army had concealed troops nearby to coordinate an attack from within and without.

Ouyang Mingyue chose to leave the Self-Defense Army occupying Weizhou alone while she focused on Firmament City, as the conflict around Peace City escalated. Gongsun Qianxun’s outnumbered unit met Situ Long’s army in battle and initially overwhelmed its vanguard, but the Cangling heavy cavalry’s charge plunged the Self-Defense Army into a desperate fight.

• Ouyang Mingyue deduced that most of the Self-Defense Army troops who left Weizhou had remained nearby and decided to deal with them after taking Firmament City.
• Situ Long rejected the idea of joining forces with Han Wei and marched to intercept Liu Zhiwei, while Liu sent Yang Qingliu with twenty thousand troops to reinforce Gongsun Qianxun.
• Situ Long divided his forces and advanced on Gongsun Qianxun’s unit, believing Liu Zhiwei’s main force was too far away to intervene.
• Gongsun Qianxun refused to retreat and led her ten-thousand-strong unit into battle against Situ Long’s roughly thirty thousand troops.
• The Self-Defense Army’s infantry and cavalry held off the Cangling attack and devastated its vanguard, prompting Situ Long to order his heavy cavalry into the fight.
• The Cangling heavy cavalry broke into the Self-Defense Army’s front ranks, but its soldiers formed defenses and began bringing down the horses by striking their legs.

Gongsun Qianxun’s ten thousand troops defeated Situ Long’s thirty-thousand-strong army, but Yu Mo moved to attack before they could recover. Yang Qingliu chose to reinforce Gongsun, and the chapter ended with Yu Mo’s Heavy-Armored Iron Cavalry threatening the Self-Defense Army’s hard-pressed forces.

• Gongsun Qianxun led her medium cavalry through the Cangling Army’s defenses, routing Situ Long’s army and forcing him to retreat into the Endless Death Desert.
• Yu Mo learned of Situ Long’s defeat and ordered his army to march against Gongsun Qianxun’s exhausted troops.
• Yang Qingliu weighed delaying her advance to benefit politically, but decided to reinforce Gongsun Qianxun and marched toward her position.
• Gongsun Qianxun refused Zhang Xiaobai’s advice to retreat and prepared to fight Yu Mo’s approaching thirty thousand troops.
• Yu Mo’s army engaged Gongsun Qianxun’s force as Yang Qingliu’s reinforcements fought their way toward the battlefield.
• Yu Mo deployed two thousand Heavy-Armored Iron Cavalry against Yang Qingliu’s reinforcements, while Gongsun Qianxun’s troops remained under pressure and awaited help.

The Self-Defense Army defeated Yu Mo’s forces and destroyed Situ Long’s Desert Star Army through a surprise attack with Heaven-Shaking Thunders, then advanced on and surrounded Great Desert City. Situ Long learned that Liu Zhiwei had led the assault and raged as his army’s defeat left him trapped.

• Gongsun Qianxun’s Gongsun Commandant’s Unit stopped and surrounded the Cangling heavily armored cavalry while Yang Qingliu and Qin’s troops struck Yu Mo’s forces from multiple directions.
• The Self-Defense Army routed Yu Mo’s army, killed or captured thousands, and marched north toward Great Desert City as Yu Mo fled.
• Situ Long advanced through the Ancient City Ruins, where Liu Zhiwei’s forces bombarded Desert Star with Heaven-Shaking Thunders and routed it.
• Situ Long tried to regroup, but the Self-Defense Army blocked his return to Great Desert City and bombarded his forces again.
• Liu Zhiwei struck Strategist Wang and sent him back with an offer for Situ Long to surrender and be spared.
• Strategist Wang reported Liu Zhiwei’s message, and Situ Long erupted in fury before spitting blood and questioning why Liu Zhiwei had come to Great Desert City.

Liu Zhiwei’s Self-Defense Army captured Great Desert City, severing the Cangling forces’ supply lines and threatening their rear at Fallen Spirit City. The Holy Son of Heaven’s court debated how to respond, ultimately ordering Fallen Spirit City to hold for a month while Han Wei destroyed the Shenzhou Army at Peace City before November.

• Situ Long surrendered Great Desert City to Liu Zhiwei, whose Self-Defense Army occupied the city and cleared nearby resistance.
• After learning Great Desert City had fallen and its supply routes were cut, Han Wei ordered Yu Mo to lead thirty thousand troops to retake it.
• Han Wei’s assault on Peace City lasted from morning until dusk as both armies suffered heavy casualties.
• The Holy Son of Heaven learned that Liu Zhiwei’s forces were advancing toward Fallen Spirit City and convened a council to decide where to send reinforcements.
• Han Shan argued that troops could not be taken from Han Wei, and the Holy Son of Heaven ordered fifty thousand available soldiers to defend Fallen Spirit City for a month.
• The Holy Son of Heaven sent Han Wei an urgent order to wipe out the Shenzhou Army in the Death Desert before November.

A mountain-sized Iron-Eating Beast and its army of ancient ferocious beasts attacked the Cangling Kingdom after crushing the Imperial Guards Corps. The Iron-Eating Beast reached the National Capital, leaving the city in panic as its defenders fled.

• A roar from a monster a hundred li away terrified the people of the Cangling Kingdom, and Han Shan ordered General Wu to lead the Imperial Guards Corps against it.
• The ten-thousand-strong Imperial Guards Corps marched out from the National Capital to destroy the approaching threat.
• A day later, the defeated Imperial Guards Corps returned with only a few hundred battered survivors as the monster pursued them.
• Han Shan saw the mountain-sized Iron-Eating Beast wielding a War Hammer and leading an army of ancient ferocious beasts.
• The Iron-Eating Beast was revealed as one of three great Mystic Beasts from the Tianyuan Secret Realm, and it had already swept through the Xisheng Kingdom before reaching the Cangling Kingdom.

The Iron-Eating Beast destroyed the National Capital and then headed toward the Death Desert to confront the inheritors of those who had sealed it away. Jiang Hao and the Snow and Ice Banshee went to intercept it, and after a three-day battle they disappeared with the beast, leaving their fate unknown.

• The Iron-Eating Beast smashed through the National Capital’s walls, killed General Wu, and led its ancient ferocious beasts in a three-day massacre.
• The Iron-Eating Beast sensed Thunderbolt’s power and set out for the Death Desert to find the inheritors of its ancient sealers.
• The Snow and Ice Banshee warned Jiang Hao that the Iron-Eating Beast was approaching, and Jiang Hao ordered the defenders to hold their positions while he and Xue'er lured it away.
• Jiang Hao and the Snow and Ice Banshee departed to face the Iron-Eating Beast as Jiang Hao’s allies prepared to defend the Death Desert line.
• After three days of fighting in the Fallen Spirit Forest, the battle ended, but Jiang Hao, the Snow and Ice Banshee, and the Iron-Eating Beast had all vanished.