Chapter Summaries

Han Shuo discovered that the Violet Thorn Knights had entered the Dark Forest to seize the Underground World’s riches and followed their commander, Selt, after the knights set out. As a Golden Dragon attacked Selt’s Green Dragon, Han Shuo flew after them to see what would happen.

• Han Shuo sneaked back to the Violet Thorn Knights’ camp and used a Yin Demon to eavesdrop on their plans.
• Han Shuo learned that Cassel had told Selt about a Lizardman magic crystal mine and that Selt had brought the Violet Thorn Knights to plunder the Underground World.
• Selt ordered the knights to move out, then flew away on a Green Dragon in the direction Cassel had gone while the knights headed toward an entrance to the Underground World.
• Han Shuo found charred Lizardman bodies in the camp and suspected the knights had tortured them for information.
• A Golden Dragon attacked Selt’s Green Dragon, accusing Selt’s group of stealing his treasure, and Han Shuo flew toward the confrontation.

Selt used a dragon net to trap the Golden Dragon and tried to force him into a master-servant contract, then began stabbing him when he refused. Han Shuo secretly freed the Golden Dragon, and the injured dragons fought on while a Silver Giant Ape waited for a chance to claim the victor.

• The Golden Dragon attacked Selt and his Green Dragon, but the Green Dragon deflected the Golden Dragon’s lightning.
• Selt trapped the Golden Dragon in a bladed dragon net that prevented him from shapeshifting, then demanded a master-servant contract.
• When the Golden Dragon refused, Selt repeatedly stabbed him as the net tightened around his wounds.
• Han Shuo secretly sent a streak of dark light to tear apart the dragon net, freeing the Golden Dragon.
• The Golden Dragon attacked Selt and the Green Dragon, while a Silver Giant Ape hid nearby and waited for one of them to fall.

Han Shuo took the Green Dragon's Magic Beast Core and valuables after the dragon was killed, then pursued the wounded Selt as he fled. Selt stopped to face the weakened Golden Dragon, but Han Shuo's sudden attack forced him to redirect the divine artifact Starry Sky's power.

• The Golden Dragon battered the Green Dragon while the Silver Giant Ape wounded him, and Selt used the divine artifact Starry Sky to drive the ape back.
• Han Shuo killed the Green Dragon and took his Magic Beast Core, eyes, and horns, while the Silver Giant Ape hesitated before Han Shuo's Demon-Slaying Edge.
• Selt cried out in grief over Uraka's death, was struck by the Golden Dragon, and fled as Han Shuo and the Golden Dragon pursued him.
• The Silver Giant Ape devoured the Green Dragon's remains, while Selt resolved to use the Violet Thorn Knights to find Han Shuo.
• Selt stopped to unleash Starry Sky against the pursuing Golden Dragon, but Han Shuo suddenly attacked and Selt redirected the starlit Battle Aura toward him.

Han Shuo intervened in the fight between Selt and Shidrik, helping drive Selt away with only his left ear left behind. After Shidrik flew back toward Dragon Valley and Han Shuo found the Violet Thorn Knights unable to continue their expedition, he returned to Brettel City and discovered that Helen Tina had been left without food for two days.

• Han Shuo supplied the Demon-Slaying Edge with Demonic Essence, and it clashed with Selt's Divine Artifact Starry Sky until Selt was too weakened to fight.
• The Golden Dragon Shidrik charged Selt, but Selt escaped using a spatial Magic Scroll, leaving behind his left ear after Han Shuo struck at him.
• Han Shuo revealed himself and befriended Shidrik, who flew toward Dragon Valley to recover and promised to return with Dragon Clan warriors.
• Han Shuo found Selt protected inside the Violet Thorn Knights' camp, saw Cassel return without capturing Cecilia Emily and her party, and abandoned his plan to assassinate Selt.
• Han Shuo returned to Brettel City through the Death Cemetery's Teleportation Array and found Helen Tina pale and starving in the secret cell.

Han Shuo neglected to feed his prisoner, Helen Tina, and the resulting rumors convinced his subordinates that he had abused her for two days. After learning the Xilun Duchy had not sent a ransom, Han Shuo pressured Helen Tina to accept a million-gold-coin ransom deal, leaving her bound by contract to pay the remaining balance later.

• Han Shuo discovered that Helen Tina had fainted from hunger and ordered two maids to feed her and bring her back when she recovered.
• Valklan, Dick, and Chester mistook Helen Tina’s weakness for evidence of Han Shuo’s abuse, while Han Shuo explained that he had simply forgotten to feed her.
• Han Shuo revealed Helen Tina was the grand duchess of the Xilun Duchy, and Valklan warned that Brettel City lacked enough magic crystal ore to sustain its Magic Crystal Cannons through repeated attacks.
• Han Shuo told Valklan to spend his gold on the city’s defenses and demanded a million gold coins from the Xilun Duchy to ransom Helen Tina.
• Helen Tina offered Han Shuo four hundred thousand gold coins to release her, but he demanded the full million and proposed an IOU for the remaining six hundred thousand.
• Helen Tina agreed to Han Shuo’s terms, and he had her sign the contract, leave her handprint, and affix a Magic Mark.

Han Shuo prepared Brettel City’s defenses after forcing Helen Tina to leave and considered how to address the city’s shortage of residents and soldiers. He arranged to meet the Mountain People leaders and continued studying necromancy, leaving their banquet set for seven days later.

• Han Shuo waved goodbye to Helen Tina, reminded her to repay the gold she owed, and sent her back toward the Xilun Duchy.
• Han Shuo ordered Dick to invite the surrounding Mountain People leaders to Brettel City and told Valklan to strengthen the city’s defenses and arm its forces.
• Han Shuo explained that he hoped to recruit the Mountain People to help defend Brettel City, which lacked residents and combat-ready soldiers.
• Han Shuo weighed the risks of relying on Lawrence’s administrators and began considering how to find trusted people of his own.
• Han Shuo spent two days practicing magic and testing Soul Tremor on magical beasts in the Death Cemetery.
• Dick told Han Shuo that all five Mountain People leaders had agreed to attend a banquet in Brettel City seven days later.

Han Shuo investigated the ambush on a caravan carrying war equipment and traced it to infiltrators among Valklan’s knights. He went with Valklan to confront the bandits, but discovered they had hostages, a strong defensive position on the river, and a clever leader named Dokes.

• Valklan reported that five bands of bandits had robbed the caravan and demanded fifty thousand gold coins, and Han Shuo suspected a spy had tipped them off.
• Valklan uncovered three newly recruited soldiers who were bandits in disguise, and Han Shuo ordered him to help destroy the bandits to redeem his negligence.
• Han Shuo and a hundred knights rode to the exchange site, where the bandits waited on rafts with two Light Department mages prepared to counter his Gargoyles.
• Han Shuo’s Yin Demon found Fubin'en, Jack, other merchants, and their guards bound among the bandits, making an attack risky.
• Han Shuo overheard Dokes explain that the hostages, rafts, and mages would force the knights to pay, and recognized him as a prodigy from the Empire Military Academy.

Han Shuo paid the bandits fifty thousand gold coins to recover the merchants and military equipment, then let Valklan escort them safely back to Brettel City. The bandits ignored their promise to help Dokes take revenge, but as they headed toward Tulian Town, Han Shuo appeared to confront them.

• Han Shuo recognized Dokes as an expelled military prodigy and ordered Valklan to hand the bandits the gold so the merchants and equipment could be recovered safely.
• Dokes’s cautious plan kept the rafts out of reach, and the bandits took the gold and drifted downstream into the darkness.
• Han Shuo told Valklan to escort the merchants and equipment back to Brettel City rather than pursue the bandits, then departed alone.
• After the bandits relit their torches, Dokes demanded that they fulfill their promise to help him take revenge, but Laxi and the others put him off and planned to visit the Garden of Spring Delights.
• As the bandits went ashore near Tulian Town, Han Shuo appeared ahead of them and announced that he had been waiting for them.

Han Shuo slaughtered the bandits who had captured Dokes and offered him a chance to take revenge by serving under him. Dokes accepted, kneeling before Han Shuo and pledging to become his hunting hound.

• Han Shuo revealed that he had followed Dokes for his talents, not the fifty thousand gold coins, and rejected the bandits' attempts to intimidate him.
• Han Shuo killed the charging bandits with Bone Spears as his Evil Knights and other undead arrived.
• The bandits and the two Light Department mages were killed in the ensuing slaughter, while the undead left Dokes unharmed.
• Han Shuo offered Dokes the opportunity to avenge himself by submitting to him and building power in Brettel City.
• Dokes accepted Han Shuo's offer and knelt, promising to be his hunting hound.

Han Shuo returned to Brettel City with Dokes, secured the merchants and defensive equipment, and set plans in motion to strengthen the city. At a banquet three days later, Jack asked to stay in Brettel City and pursue the ambition of becoming a knight or nobleman.

• Han Shuo learned that Valklan’s knights had lost three men to bandits, then ordered proper burials and the destruction of the surrounding bandit groups.
• Han Shuo appointed Dokes commander of a thousand knights and ordered him to eliminate the twelve remaining bandit groups between Brettel City and Sea Mist City.
• Han Shuo visited the resting merchants, reunited with Jack and Fubin'en, and received a letter from Phoebe.
• Han Shuo hosted a Food Festival and banquet, paid the merchants for their delivered equipment, and promised them opportunities in Brettel City.
• Jack told Han Shuo he wanted to stay in Brettel City and build a name for himself so he could become a knight or nobleman for Jessica.

Han Shuo prepared Brettel City for war as Dokes returned from defeating twelve bandit bands and recruiting their survivors. When Dick reported that fifteen thousand bandits were gathering nearby, Han Shuo chose to defend the city with its own forces, and Brettel City braced for battle.

• Jack insisted that he wanted to face danger, and Han Shuo told him to stay in Brettel City and reconsider before deciding.
• Han Shuo surveyed the fortified city and praised Dokes for returning with 960 soldiers after clearing the road and winning the submission of 742 bandits.
• Dokes gave Han Shuo the bandits' recovered wealth and recommended combining force with conciliation; Han Shuo ordered him to use the gold to equip the new soldiers.
• Dick warned Han Shuo that fifteen thousand bandits were gathering twenty li from Brettel City to plunder it, but Han Shuo declined to call on the Mountain People leaders.
• Han Shuo placed Brettel City under martial law, concealed its siege weapons, and closed all four gates as the people recognized that war was coming.

Han Shuo taunted four bandit leaders threatening Brettel City, provoking Fas into ordering a citywide massacre and launching the siege. As Greenfire’s troops charged, Brettel’s hidden defenses opened fire and devastated the attackers.

• Four bandit leaders advanced on Brettel City, planning to attack its gates and seize the million gold coins they believed were inside.
• Han Shuo took the main gate with only three hundred soldiers and reassured Jack, while the bandits prepared mages and siege weapons outside.
• Fas demanded a million gold coins, and Han Shuo mocked him before revealing that Brettel City held even more treasure and daring the bandits to attack.
• Fas ordered his men to slaughter the whole city and signaled the four groups to begin their assault.
• Han Shuo ordered Brettel’s concealed war machines, ballistae, and stone throwers to fire, killing many charging bandits in a hail of flames and boulders.

Han Shuo defended Brettel City against the Greenfire Bandits Group, first devastating their mages and then unleashing Corpse Revival when the exhausted defenders faced a stronger second assault. The risen dead sent the bandits fleeing, while Han Shuo prepared another bloody attack against Fas.

• Fas sent two thousand recruits to assault Brettel City, where the defenders' siege weapons inflicted heavy casualties.
• Han Shuo destroyed the bandits' mage tower and nearby forces with the Demon-Slaying Edge's Ten Thousand Blood-Blade Slashes, then helped defend the walls as supplies and soldiers ran low.
• Fas ordered Tuku and a thousand better-equipped bandits, including five hundred armored horsemen, to charge the city.
• Han Shuo cast Corpse Revival, causing the fallen bandits to rise and attack the living, spreading panic through the besieging force.
• Han Shuo blocked the fleeing bandits with acidic swamps and formed another Ten Thousand Blood-Light Slashes as Fas aimed a crossbow at him.

Han Shuo fought Fas’s bandits with the Demon-Slaying Edge and undead magic, but Zhankesi arrived with the Church of Light’s Temple Knights and used the Book of Revelation to destroy Han Shuo’s undead defenses. The chapter left Brettel City exposed as Fas returned with his bandits and threatened the soldiers on its walls.

• Han Shuo’s Demon-Slaying Edge tore through Fas’s bandits, while his Acidic Swamp and reanimated corpses trapped and terrified the survivors.
• The bandits overcame their fear of the corpses and began destroying their fallen comrades to protect themselves.
• Han Shuo saw Zhankesi approaching with the Temple Knights and redirected the Demon-Slaying Edge to attack him.
• Six high-ranking Temple Knights contained the Demon-Slaying Edge with a holy sword formation, forcing it to retreat before it could reach Zhankesi.
• Zhankesi opened the Book of Revelation and spread sacred light that erased Han Shuo’s corpses, Undead Sky, and Acidic Swamp.
• Fas returned with his bandits after the sacred light cleared their path, and they began targeting Brettel City’s soldiers.

Han Shuo and his undead forces helped Brettel City repel Fas's bandits and Zhankesi's Church of Light troops, while the defenders at the other gates also held off their attackers. The enemies withdrew, and Han Shuo ordered the exhausted soldiers to guard the battlefield as the city celebrated its survival.

• Han Shuo unleashed the Bloodlust Banner and summoned his undead, as the Fire Armored Corpse's lotus flames and the Earth Armor Zombie's spikes devastated the attackers and killed the Church of Light's priests.
• Fas ordered the Greenfire Bandits Group to retreat after the city's weapons resumed firing, then angrily insulted Zhankesi as he passed.
• Han Shuo ordered the city's soldiers to fire on the Church of Light, and Zhankesi withdrew with the Temple Knights after admitting defeat.
• Brettel City's residents celebrated as the defenders reported the enemies retreating, and Han Shuo ordered the remaining soldiers to stay alert.
• Valklan's defenders and residents resisted their attackers, while Dokes's forces routed the Flying Dragon Bandits Group's assault.
• Yafei withdrew after learning of Fas's defeat, leaving two hundred dead, while Chester and Fubin'en mistakenly believed their standoff had frightened him away.

Han Shuo helped Brettel City repel a siege by four bandit groups, then oversaw the aftermath and appointed Jack treasurer as merchants departed to obtain supplies. The city began rebuilding and preparing for the greater threat from the Seven Grand Duchies.

• Han Shuo found Chester and Dick's gate secure, then rushed to Valklan's side, where the Battle Axe Bandit Group was close to overwhelming the defenders.
• Han Shuo killed the bandits who had stormed the wall, summoned his undead forces, and slaughtered the attackers, including their leader Bainam.
• Han Shuo recovered Bainam's Spatial Ring, and the Battle Axe bandits fled as the defenders held the gates and the fighting on Dokes's side ended.
• Han Shuo ordered rewards for citizens who had fought, saluted the fallen with Dokes, and learned that Brettel City had lost more than 327 soldiers while defeating the siege.
• Han Shuo entrusted Jack with the city's finances and appointed him treasurer, while Jack proved his ability to manage the city's immense funds and purchase supplies.
• Han Shuo and Jack saw Fubin'en and the merchants leave for Sea Mist City to secure more equipment, food, and other necessities.

The five Mountain People leaders visited Brettel City to meet Han Shuo, whose recent victory had transformed the city and made them wary of his power. As the leaders waited at his mansion, Delia grew curious about him, and Han Shuo finally appeared, saying he had prepared unusual delicacies.

• Dick led the five mountain leaders into Brettel City, where they saw its fortified defenses, disciplined soldiers, and citizens at work.
• Fokalin declared that Tali Mountain would build a good relationship with Han Shuo, while Dick warned the others not to provoke him.
• At the mansion, Dokes rebuked Zack for speaking disrespectfully about the city lord, and Zack apologized after Ademan intervened.
• While waiting for Han Shuo, the leaders questioned Valklan and Chester about him, and Delia overheard their lewd account of his capture of Helen Tina.
• Han Shuo emerged from the inner room, apologized for being late, and said he had prepared unusual delicacies for his guests.

Han Shuo hosted the five mountain leaders with a feast of rare magical beasts before persuading them to cooperate with Brettel City. The leaders pledged to help defend the city, and Han Shuo promised to protect their mines, resettle their people, and provide weapons.

• Han Shuo served Jack, Dokes, Delia, and the mountain leaders rare magical-beast meats, which they eagerly devoured.
• Han Shuo told the leaders he would protect Brettel City and their mining mountains, and Fokalin pledged Tali Mountain's support.
• Han Shuo proposed moving the thirty or forty thousand mountain people into empty homes in Brettel City while leaving the mines under the leaders' control.
• Han Shuo asked the mountain people to help defend Brettel City, and the leaders swore to protect it with their lives.
• Han Shuo offered the leaders weapons and armor taken from the bandits, winning their gratitude while Jack lamented the cost.

Han Shuo returned to the Underground World to find the magic crystal ore the Lizardmen had discovered and learned that the Violet Thorn Knights were already searching for it. After meeting Dark Curtain mage Chris, he headed with her to find Emily and learn more about the mission.

• Han Shuo entered the Underground World alone after searching for Violet Thorn Knights near the entrance and finding no trace of them.
• Han Shuo defeated a band of Bat People, captured their leader, and forced him to reveal that the Violet Thorn Knights were seeking the Lizardmen's magic crystal ore.
• The Bat Person led Han Shuo to a large Lizardman settlement, where Han Shuo's Yin Demon spotted a human hiding nearby.
• Han Shuo discovered that the hidden human was Chris, a Dark Curtain mage he had met before, and learned she knew where Emily was.
• Chris agreed to guide Han Shuo to Emily and described the situation in the Underground World as they traveled.

Han Shuo learned that the Violet Thorn Knights had failed to seize the Lizardmen’s magic crystal mine and went to Dark Curtain’s camp to find Emily. After Chris realized he had killed Selt’s Green Dragon and cut off Selt’s ear, Han Shuo admitted it to Emily.

• Chris told Han Shuo that the Violet Thorn Knights had retreated after a strange creature in the Lizardmen’s mine defeated their efforts.
• Han Shuo said he had come to the Dark Forest partly to obtain magic crystal ore and partly to eliminate Selt.
• Wallis blocked Han Shuo from entering Dark Curtain’s camp, but Han Shuo forced him aside and continued toward Emily.
• Chris recognized Han Shuo as the person who had killed Selt’s Green Dragon and cut off his ear, leaving Wallis frightened.
• Emily took Han Shuo aside, accused him of flirting with Chris, and then learned that he had indeed attacked Selt.