Chapter Summaries

Gu Moran protected Gu Moli from an attack at the Marquis of Luoyang’s residence and forced Mei Hongye to surrender military command and supplies. After leaving the rain-soaked residence, Gu Moran met privately with Gu Moli and asked when she had sneaked out.

• Gu Moran’s qi shielded Gu Moli from Mei Zhongjun’s sleeve arrows, and the force killed Mei Zhongjun.
• Gu Moli presented the Grand Princess’s Command, and Mei Hongye recognized Gu Moran, knelt, and offered the tiger tally, military records, and three thousand soldiers.
• Gu Moran took the tiger tally, ordered the military registers delivered before dawn, and assigned Mei Boqian to lead three thousand men on the march for Qi and Lu.
• Gu Moran warned Mei Hongye that he would remember the attack on Gu Moli, then carried her out of the residence.
• After the rain eased, Gu Moran and Gu Moli met in a guarded heated chamber, and he asked when she had sneaked out.

Gu Moli gave Gu Moran detailed intelligence on the eleven cities between the capital and Dengzhou, including which officials supported their side or Prince An. She wanted to stay in Luoyang to watch the Mei Clan, but Gu Moran insisted she travel with him while he left thirty men to monitor the city.

• Gu Moli told Gu Moran she had left a double behind and presented him with a detailed ledger of troop strength, supplies, and loyalties in eleven cities along his route.
• Gu Moran recognized that Gu Moli's information revealed networks and details his own agents had not uncovered, and praised her accounts as more reliable than the Ministry of Revenue's.
• Gu Moli argued that she should remain in Luoyang to watch Mei Hongye and make sure the Mei Clan did not turn against Gu Moran after his army left.
• Gu Moran refused to leave Gu Moli behind and said he would assign thirty of Tuoba Mang's men to watch the Mei Clan instead.
• Gu Moli showed Gu Moran a booklet listing her farmland, shops, granaries, and horse ranches, and he told her they would leave together after the army arrived.

Gu Moran reassured Gu Moli before arranging for Mei Boqian to lead three thousand soldiers under Tuoba Mang's command toward Qi and Lu. Later, Gu Moran took Gu Moli sightseeing in Luoyang with several women, and Gu Moli grew jealous of Meng Jiuning's attention to her brother.

• Gu Moran told Gu Moli not to push herself or do anything reckless, and she urged him to take care too.
• Mei Hongye sent Mei Boqian off with three thousand soldiers and warned him to obey Prince Yi and protect the Mei family.
• Tuoba Mang arrived and ordered Mei Boqian and the Marquis of Luoyang's soldiers to answer to him on the road.
• Gu Moran and Gu Moli toured Luoyang's main street with Murong Xue, Shen Ling'er, Lin Qingdai, Yun Shuyue, Zhen Meili, and Meng Jiuning.
• Gu Moli noticed Meng Jiuning watching Gu Moran and asked whether she was the young lady from Dali.

Gu Moli confronted Meng Jiuning about Dali and grew jealous of how close she seemed to Gu Moran. Zhen Meili’s earnest praise softened Gu Moli’s mood, and the group gathered for a meal at the Water Banquet Restaurant.

• Gu Moli mocked Dali’s customs and suggested the kingdom might fall, bringing Meng Jiuning to tears.
• Gu Moran intervened, sent Meng Jiuning inside, and scolded Gu Moli for going too far.
• Shen Ling'er warned Gu Moli that Meng Jiuning had been taken in by their husband and might become her sister-in-law.
• Gu Moli complained that Gu Moran had become attentive because of his other women, but went inside with him to eat.
• Zhen Meili praised Gu Moli’s appearance and Yun Shuyue offered her candied hawthorn, so Gu Moli shared malt candy with her.
• At dinner, Gu Moli asked whether Gu Moran had brought a mechanical engineer, and Zhen Meili said she could build ballistae.

After an earthquake, tsunami, and volcanic eruptions devastated Wa, famine drove its infantry to revolt, and the regent sent eighteen thousand starving soldiers to invade Goryeo. Wa’s fleet emerged from the fog at Busanpo, where Kim Sang-won’s outnumbered garrison prepared to defend the harbor.

• A disaster destroyed much of Wa’s farmland, and its officials cut rations and banned discussion of the famine.
• Tanaka led eighty starving infantrymen to beg at a daimyo’s granary; after samurai killed two of them, the men stormed the granary and found it full of rice.
• Infantrymen across seven counties on Kyushu rebelled, killing retainers and samurai and burning granaries.
• Ōtanigi Akahisamitsu blamed Goryeo for Wa’s disasters and ordered eighteen thousand infantrymen onto ships to plunder its grain.
• Kim Sang-won spotted Wa’s fleet through the fog at Busanpo and ordered the beacons lit, but the ships crashed into the harbor wall and Wa’s soldiers began charging ashore.

Wa forces captured Busanpo, looted its granary, and received orders to kill the city’s civilians. After learning of the invasion, Park Roejang confronted Inukami Jusaburo and declared that Goryeo and Wa would fight until one side was dead.

• Tanaka’s Wa infantry broke through Busanpo’s western harbor gate, seized the granary, and scattered rice while looting supplies.
• Kim Sang-won led the remaining defenders toward the inner city but was struck down as Wa soldiers burned the Goryeo flag.
• Wa forces captured Busanpo and its stores, and a samurai ordered Tanaka to load the grain onto ships and kill every Goryeo person in the city.
• Park Roejang received a report that Busanpo had fallen and the seven southern commanderies were under attack, then challenged Inukami Jusaburo over Wa’s invasion.
• Park Roejang attacked Inukami Jusaburo with his saber and declared that the conflict between Goryeo and Wa would end only when one side was dead.

Inukami Jusaburo escaped Park Roejang after their fight, and Park Roejang set off to ask Goryeo's king to appeal to Great Yan for help against Wa. In Anyang, Gu Moran took over the city's defenses and moved to curb rising grain prices before attending a banquet where Gu Moli answered Lady Lü's insult with a pointed attack on her and Gu Mochen.

• Inukami Jusaburo wounded Park Roejang, used a smoke bomb to escape through a hidden channel, and left Park Roejang to decide to seek the king's help.
• Zhou Huaili surrendered Anyang's defenses to Gu Moran, who learned that Prince An was gravely wounded.
• Gu Moran ordered grain released at fair prices and overseas shops, especially Wa shops, closed and their goods sealed.
• At Prince An's Residence banquet, Lady Lü mocked Gu Moran for bringing women with him on campaign.
• Gu Moli retorted that the women came to protect Gu Moran, then taunted Lady Lü and Gu Mochen over their failure to detect the poisonous Bliss Pills.

At a meal in Prince An's Residence, Gu Moran discovered that Lady Lü's unborn child was connected to Zhou Huaili and that they planned to steal thirty thousand taels from Anyang's secret treasury. He ordered Zhou Huaili to open the treasury and replace its guards before midnight, leaving Lady Lü unable to stop his inspection.

• Gu Moli and Shen Ling'er needled Lady Lü about her pregnancy while Gu Mochen and Gu Moran watched the meal.
• Gu Moran's Eye of Detection revealed that Lady Lü was pregnant by Zhou Huaili and planned to secure succession for her child after Prince An's death.
• Gu Moran learned that Zhou Huaili planned to use the defense handover to take thirty thousand taels from the western secret treasury for Lady Lü's maternal family.
• Gu Moran hinted at the affair and ordered Zhou Huaili to deliver Anyang's grain ledgers and treasury keys, replace the secret treasury's guards with the Yi Prefecture Army, and lead the inspection himself.
• Lady Lü challenged Gu Moran's right to inspect the treasury, but Gu Mochen nodded his permission while calling for the wokou to be wiped out.

Gu Moran seized thirty thousand taels from Zhou Huaili, entered it as a contribution to the Yi Prefecture Army, and kept Zhou in service to manage Anyang. He left to find his companions and heard Zhen Meili investigating a hidden compartment under his bed.

• Zhou Huaili presented thirty thousand taels, and Tuoba Mang counted the notes while finding one that smelled of rouge and powder.
• Gu Moli recorded the money as a contribution from Prince An's Residence and warned Zhou that his name would be remembered by court historians.
• Gu Moran ordered Zhou to secure grain routes, settle refugees, and copy the ledgers and records of Wa and Goryeo shops for Dengzhou, threatening to expose him if he failed.
• Gu Moran assigned the money to grain, shipbuilding, and troop payments, and Gu Moli joked about buying a hairpin with it.
• Gu Moran went to the rear quarters and heard Zhen Meili announce that she had found a hidden compartment under his bed.

Gu Moran returned to his guest room at Prince An's Residence, where his companions gathered around him and argued over his health and the bed's sturdiness. He joked that several people tossing around might break it, leaving the women embarrassed while Zhen Meili earnestly planned how to reinforce the bedding.

• Gu Moran returned to the heated guest room, told Murong Xue he had received thirty thousand taels, and let Shen Ling'er check his pulse.
• Zhen Meili crawled out from beneath the bed and warned that its joints might not withstand several people moving around on it.
• Lin Qingdai stayed outside to keep watch while Shen Ling'er prescribed medicine and told Gu Moran to sleep alone.
• Meng Jiuning offered Gu Moran a hot towel, and Murong Xue demonstrated her whip work before claiming her hand had slipped.
• Gu Moran joked that the bed might not hold up if several people tossed around on it, and Zhen Meili began arranging extra quilts to distribute the weight.

Gu Moran received word that Wa forces had burned Busanpo and were shipping looted Goryeo grain north, while Goryeo’s royal court faced invasion with few defenses. The chapter ended as Princess Kim Seon-a entered the troubled court.

• Yun Shuyue delivered a salt-stained letter from Dengzhou, and Gu Moran learned that Busanpo had fallen and Wa ships were carrying off Goryeo’s grain.
• Zhen Meili recognized that the heavily loaded ships would be slow and difficult to maneuver, but Gu Moran noted that he lacked ships, soldiers, and local guides to attack them.
• Gu Moran read that contact with Goryeo’s southern coast had been lost and its royal capital had sent no news, then told his companions to sleep before breaking camp.
• The king of Goryeo blamed Wa for betraying their alliance, while ministers reported that seven southern commanderies had fallen and debated war or peace.
• Princess Kim Seon-a entered Gyeongbok Hall as the king and his ministers faced the advancing Wa army.

Kim Seon-a persuaded the King of Goryeo and his court to let her travel to Great Yan to seek help against the Wa raiders, proving her strength with the Eastern Peak Tiger Spirit Art. She prepared to leave with Park Roejang and twenty companions, while a man in a seafood shop learned their departure time and route.

• Kim Seon-a picked up the royal seal and asked to go to Great Yan, arguing that her status as the eldest princess would give Goryeo’s plea weight.
• Choe Won-hyeong tested Kim Seon-a and was repelled by her four white tiger manifestations, confirming her formidable protection.
• The King of Goryeo gave Kim Seon-a a state letter and half a tiger tally, and she ordered Park Roejang to redeem his family’s failure by guiding her to Great Yan.
• Kim Seon-a set the departure for midnight by the west coast with only twenty people so they could conceal their boat.
• A young eunuch told a man in a seafood shop that Kim Seon-a would leave at midnight by the west coast, and the man paid him gold.

Kim Seon-a led Park Roejang and the royal-letter escort ashore near Dengzhou, where Wa ninjas attacked them in the fog. She drove off two attackers with her martial arts, but the remaining five waited as something foul began bubbling beneath the mud.

• Park Roejang directed Kim Seon-a’s ship to a deserted mudflat south of the Dengzhou Guard compound to avoid watchers at the main harbor.
• As the escort crossed the mudflat, two rearguards disappeared into the reeds and blood spread beneath them.
• Seven Wa ninjas attacked with chained iron darts, dragging guards down and knocking the royal letter into the mud.
• Kim Seon-a used Tae Steps and summoned four white tigers, then repelled two ninjas and ordered the guards to recover the chest and head for the breakwater.
• The five surviving ninjas retreated to the fog’s edge and waited while foul-smelling bubbles rose from the mud beneath Kim Seon-a.

Gu Moran learned that Kim Seon-a, a powerful Goryeo princess, had entered Dengzhou and saw her as a potential guide for the planned attack on Wa. When he received warning that Wa ninjas had ambushed her, he told Murong Xue he could hear the fight and prepared to respond.

• Gu Moran assessed Dengzhou’s rotten warships, unprepared navy, and lack of sea charts or guides as obstacles to attacking Wa.
• The system revealed Kim Seon-a’s strength and the original plot in which Gu Moran would attack her and be crippled by Xie Linyuan.
• Gu Moran realized Kim Seon-a’s Goryeo background could help him learn Wa’s sea routes and locate its ships.
• Murong Xue brought Gu Moran food and told him the princess was waiting to settle accounts over his late visit to Meng Jiuning’s room.
• The system warned that eleven Wa shadow ninjas and a jōnin had ambushed Kim Seon-a on a beach south of the headquarters, and Gu Moran said he had heard the fight.

Gu Moran decided to intervene after learning that Kim Seon-a and her guards were under attack, hoping to earn her favor before negotiations. Kim Seon-a was surrounded and weakened by a foul-blood attack, then unleashed her signature killing technique as the attackers closed in.

• Gu Moran chose to go watch the fight and told Murong Xue to stay behind, then climbed to a watchtower overlooking the foggy mudflats.
• A jonin signaled four buried ninja to emerge and hurl jars of Wa's Foul Blood at Kim Seon-a's protective qi.
• The foul blood discolored Kim Seon-a's four white tigers and injured her meridians as the attackers surrounded her with chains and weapons.
• Kim Seon-a refused to retreat because her guards and diplomatic letter were behind her.
• Kim Seon-a rose into the air and invoked Lone Mountain Returns to Silence, sending the shadow of a mountain down as her qi drove the mud into a vast pit.

Kim Seon-a defeated the Wa attackers with a devastating technique but exhausted her qi and collapsed, leaving her defenseless. Gu Moran killed the surviving ninja and saved her from his poisoned blade, then stood at a careful distance as she looked up at him.

• Kim Seon-a crushed the Wa attackers with her technique, but the effort drained her true qi and left her kneeling in the mud.
• A wounded shadow ninja crawled toward Kim Seon-a with a poisoned blade and lunged at her while she could not move.
• Gu Moran fired an invisible strike from the watchtower and killed the shadow ninja.
• Gu Moran caught the falling poisoned blade in Kim Seon-a’s fox-fur cloak and sent both into the sea.
• Kim Seon-a raised her head and looked at Gu Moran, who remained two zhang away.

Gu Moran revealed himself as Prince Yi to Kim Seon-a after protecting her from afar, then invited her to discuss Goryeo and Great Yan at his camp. Kim Seon-a followed him, but her attempt to probe his cultivation met a fierce backlash.

• Park Roejang recognized Gu Moran's token and announced that he was Prince Yi, while Kim Seon-a realized he had protected her with a powerful long-range strike.
• Gu Moran checked the system and saw Kim Seon-a's favorability had risen to 58.
• Gu Moran invited Kim Seon-a to return to camp for a formal discussion, then left without pressing her for answers.
• Kim Seon-a followed Gu Moran to the command tent and tried to sense his cultivation with Moon Tiger Listens to the Wind.
• Gu Moran's aura struck back against Kim Seon-a's probe, and he asked what she was doing.

Gu Moran diagnosed Kim Seon-a’s uncontrolled three-foot barrier as a heart-meridian illness rather than a divine gift and said it could be cured. He learned that her destined bond with Xie Linyuan would bring them a painful life without physical contact, and decided to intervene as he hinted that treatment would require a sacrifice.

• Gu Moran identified Kim Seon-a’s technique and explained that her protective qi erupted because of a damaged heart-meridian valve.
• Gu Moran told Kim Seon-a that her supposed Tiger Spirit gift was the root of an illness she had endured since childhood.
• Kim Seon-a asked whether her condition could be cured after Gu Moran revealed its cause.
• Gu Moran saw that Kim Seon-a was fated to love Xie Linyuan without ever touching him and decided to intercept their bond.
• Gu Moran told Kim Seon-a her illness could be cured, but that she would have to give something up.

Gu Moran exposed Kim Seon-a’s mistaken belief about her illness and secured her promise to owe him a favor. When she asked Great Yan to help Goryeo retake Busanpo, he warned that Goryeo was in greater danger than she realized and demanded Incheon and command of her remaining troops, but she refused.

• Gu Moran explained that he used the Turtle Breath and Qi Concealment Method, and Kim Seon-a injured herself when she tried to probe his qi again.
• Gu Moran called Kim Seon-a conceited and told her that her illness could be treated, shaking her faith in the diagnosis she had accepted for twelve years.
• Kim Seon-a agreed to owe Gu Moran a favor, to be collected when he chose.
• Kim Seon-a asked Great Yan to send troops to help Goryeo retake Busanpo.
• Gu Moran showed Kim Seon-a the map and warned that Goryeo had lost its southern ports and Incheon was its last major harbor.
• Gu Moran offered Great Yan’s help in exchange for using Incheon and commanding Goryeo’s remaining troops, but Kim Seon-a refused.

Gu Moran pressed Kim Seon-a to lend him Incheon’s port so his forces could reach the war, and she agreed to his terms for military command. As Shen Ling’er fed Gu Moran soup, Kim Seon-a’s jealousy surfaced, and a sudden crash interrupted the negotiations.

• Gu Moran warned Kim Seon-a that her battered troops could not retake Busanpo or withstand the Japanese army without his help.
• Kim Seon-a said she would negotiate military command but would not surrender Incheon, and Gu Moran insisted his ships needed its port.
• Shen Ling’er arrived with soup and fed Gu Moran while Lin Qingdai watched from the doorway, stirring Kim Seon-a’s jealousy.
• Kim Seon-a agreed that Gu Moran could direct her remaining troops, provided he returned command after Busanpo was retaken and left no soldiers behind.
• Gu Moran accepted her military conditions but required the use of Incheon’s port for docking and resupply.
• A muffled crash sounded outside the courtyard.