Chapter Summaries

Zhen Meili demonstrated a ship-mounted repeating crossbow that fired Subduing Fire Thunder, and Kim Seon-a compared its mass-produced destructive power with her own cultivation. Gu Moran explained that the explosive charges were still limited but cheap and could be made in large numbers, leaving Kim Seon-a to confront the threat of this new weapon.

• Zhen Meili brought Gu Moran a working repeating-crossbow model that could fire Subduing Fire Thunder as far as seventy zhang and potentially blast open wooden ships from beneath their decks.
• Murong Xue presented an improved detonator, and she and Zhen Meili debated how much to shorten its fuse and how much gunpowder to use.
• Kim Seon-a compared the crossbow and its explosive charges with her techniques, realizing that ordinary soldiers could wield weapons whose collective force rivaled her ultimate strike.
• Zhen Meili said Tuoba Mang had ordered a rush batch of two thousand charges before she left to rest.
• Gu Moran told Kim Seon-a that Subduing Fire Thunder could not yet breach iron armor or city walls, but it was cheap and could be produced at seventy or eighty charges a day.

Kim Seon-a accepted Gu Moran’s wartime terms after seeing the power of the Subduing Fire Thunder, and she sealed the agreement. She then attended a lavish banquet with Park Roejang, where the chapter ended as they watched Gu Moran and the women enjoy an extraordinary spread of food.

• Gu Moran warned Kim Seon-a that the Subduing Fire Thunder could destroy ships and fleets, leaving her without leverage to resist his terms.
• Kim Seon-a confirmed the conditions for Great Yan’s passage through Incheon Port and its withdrawal after the war, then sealed the agreement in writing.
• Gu Moran gave the signed document to Lin Qingdai to keep safe and take to Moli, while Shen Ling'er offered Kim Seon-a hot soup.
• Kim Seon-a and Park Roejang were seated at separate tables at the banquet because of Kim Seon-a’s restriction.
• A lavish feast arrived, including Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, and Park Roejang stared at the rare ingredients while the women ate and served Gu Moran.

At a banquet in Dengzhou, Kim Seon-a watched Gu Moran and the women around him share food and affection, awakening a longing for the closeness she had never known. Unable to sleep in her guest room, she listened through the wall and realized Gu Moran was with four women.

• Gu Moran welcomed Kim Seon-a and Park Roejang to the banquet, where Park marveled at the dishes and Kim compared the feast with the scarcity of food in Goryeo.
• Kim Seon-a watched Gu Moran and the women serve one another, joke, and bicker, remembering how she had been isolated at royal banquets.
• After the banquet, Kim Seon-a moved into a room near Gu Moran’s bedroom and sat alone, yearning to be touched, cared for, and needed.
• Unable to sleep, Kim Seon-a used her spiritual senses to listen to the neighboring room and heard Shen Ling'er, Murong Xue, Lin Qingdai, and Meng Jiuning speaking with Gu Moran.

Kim Seon-a struggled with the loneliness imposed by her Three-Chi Forbidden Domain and wondered whether Gu Moran could truly treat it. As she resolved to ask him the next day, the chapter revealed that Gu Moran was deliberately waiting for her to seek his help.

• Kim Seon-a remembered being alone at the banquet while Gu Moran and the others shared easy warmth, and she considered asking him to treat her condition.
• Unable to sleep, Kim Seon-a hesitated outside Gu Moran’s room and returned to bed without knocking.
• Gu Moran saw the system report that Kim Seon-a’s defenses were weakening and decided to wait until she came to him herself.
• Kim Seon-a recalled how her astral qi had injured her mother and how everyone had avoided touching her ever since she was seven.
• Kim Seon-a decided she would get an answer from Gu Moran the next day and recognized that her supposed divine power had been a cage for twelve years.

At dawn, Gu Moran considered how to win Kim Seon-a’s trust by treating her heart ailment, while Gu Moli challenged his plans and reminded him how isolating the condition could be. After Gu Moli left, her words lingered with Gu Moran as he looked toward Kim Seon-a’s room.

• Gu Moran reviewed Kim Seon-a’s weakening defenses and planned to treat her with daily acupuncture and breathing regulation for at least three months.
• Gu Moli brought Gu Moran congee and asked whether he was deceiving Kim Seon-a; he said he intended to cooperate with her and make her willingly support him.
• Gu Moli warned that Kim Seon-a’s long isolation was pitiful and asked Gu Moran how he would cope if no one could come near him.
• Gu Moli told Gu Moran that Kim Seon-a did not look at him as a partner, then left.
• Gu Moran reflected on Gu Moli’s words, watched Shen Ling'er and Lin Qingdai sleep, and looked toward Kim Seon-a’s closed window.

Kim Seon-a visited Gu Moran to ask when he could treat her illness, and agreed to remain in Great Yan for at least three months. After Gu Moran said treatment would begin the next day, she told Park Roejang to return to Goryeo with the state letter while she stayed behind.

• Kim Seon-a woke after a sleepless night and ordered Park Roejang to take her to the command tent.
• Kim Seon-a asked Gu Moran to begin treating her illness and said she would cooperate with any conditions.
• Gu Moran explained that treatment would require daily acupuncture and breath regulation for at least three months, and Kim Seon-a agreed to stay in Great Yan.
• Gu Moran told Kim Seon-a to rest that day and said treatment would begin the next day.
• Kim Seon-a ordered Park Roejang to return to Goryeo with the state letter and tell her father she would return in three months.

Gu Moran treated Kim Seon-a’s meridian disorder, overcoming her Three-Chi Barrier and earning her deep gratitude. After learning Xie Linyuan would arrive within three days and might cripple him, Gu Moran planned to improve Kim Seon-a’s favorability before they met.

• Kim Seon-a reluctantly lay down while Gu Moran prepared to treat her, and her barrier repelled him as he approached.
• Gu Moran used needles at Neiguan, Shanzhong, Jianjing, Quchi, and Zusanli to calm her qi and clear her meridians.
• Kim Seon-a cried as Gu Moran’s touch awakened memories of twelve years of isolation, then thanked him and agreed to return for daily treatment.
• Shen Ling'er brought a calming decoction and warned Gu Moran that Kim Seon-a’s qi and blood would be weak after her barrier was first broken.
• The system reported Kim Seon-a’s favorability at 79 and warned that Xie Linyuan would arrive within three days and could cripple Gu Moran.
• Gu Moran decided to avoid confronting Xie Linyuan directly and raise Kim Seon-a’s favorability before his arrival.

Xie Linyuan sensed that Kim Seon-a’s qi had been badly damaged and rode to the Dengzhou camp, where Gu Moran recognized him as a dangerous threat. After probing the camp from the gate, Xie Linyuan left without entering and planned to visit the next day.

• Xie Linyuan sensed Kim Seon-a’s scattered qi and concluded that someone on Great Yan’s side had damaged her.
• Yun Shuyue spotted Xie Linyuan and four monks approaching the camp and warned Gu Moran.
• Gu Moran identified Xie Linyuan through the system panel and ordered extra guards at the gate while asking Lin Qingdai to fetch Murong Xue.
• Xie Linyuan probed the camp, recognized Kim Seon-a’s qi, and sensed that someone was regulating it for her.
• Xie Linyuan left for the city without entering, and Gu Moran told Yun Shuyue to let him through if he returned the next day.

Gu Moran met with Xie Linyuan, who asked about Kim Seon-a and offered to examine her, but left without seeing her. The system revealed that Xie planned to sneak into camp that night and eavesdrop, and Gu Moran decided he could not be allowed to live.

• Gu Moran prepared to meet Xie Linyuan and arranged for Lin Qingdai, Murong Xue, and Zhen Meili to stay near him.
• Xie Linyuan arrived at the camp and inspected its orderly grounds and workshops while Pu Yunshan escorted him to Gu Moran.
• Gu Moran told Xie Linyuan that Kim Seon-a was recovering under Physician Shen’s care and refused his offer to examine her.
• Xie Linyuan warned Gu Moran to be cautious with Kim Seon-a, then left and told his monks they would return that night.
• The system informed Gu Moran that Xie Linyuan had noticed something unusual about his relationship with Kim Seon-a and planned to sneak into camp to eavesdrop in the inner chamber.

Gu Moran treated Kim Seon-a with acupuncture while she wrestled with her feelings about him and rejected Xie Linyuan’s claim that they were old friends. As Gu Moran cleared the blockage in her heart meridians, Kim Seon-a let out an involuntary moan, leaving their close encounter unresolved.

• Gu Moran told Kim Seon-a that Xie Linyuan had visited and offered to arrange a meeting, but she said they had met only once and were hardly old friends.
• Xie Linyuan secretly listened from outside the camp, heard Kim Seon-a’s denial, and left wounded and resentful.
• Gu Moran sent Shen Ling’er to supervise the rear camp, leaving him alone with Kim Seon-a during her acupuncture treatment.
• Gu Moran asked Kim Seon-a to consider how she might repay him for curing her, while she privately wondered whether offering herself in marriage would frighten him.
• Gu Moran used his true qi to clear the final blockage around Kim Seon-a’s heart meridians, and she involuntarily moaned.

Kim Seon-a crossed the barrier that had kept her from touching Gu Moran for twelve years and clung to him as she mourned her lost connection with her mother. Outside the tent, Xie Linyuan's jealousy stirred a disturbance that brought the camp guards running, and Murong Xue confronted him beneath the old tree.

• Gu Moran finished treating Kim Seon-a and prepared to leave, but she called him back and crossed the astral-qi barrier to touch and embrace him.
• Kim Seon-a wept against Gu Moran and told him she had been unable to touch her mother's hand for twelve years; Gu Moran comforted her and said she no longer had to hold back.
• Xie Linyuan listened from beneath an old tree, shattered a bodhi-seed prayer bead in his grip, and sat in silence as the camp horses began kicking their posts.
• Gu Moran sensed a presence outside the tent, and Murong Xue, Lin Qingdai, and Zhen Meili rushed to guard its entrance.
• Murong Xue found Xie Linyuan beneath the tree, surrounded by nine golden halos, and challenged him for entering the military camp at night.

Gu Moran emerged from the main tent holding Kim Seon-a’s hand after the system declared he had won her over and advanced him to second rank. He challenged Xie Linyuan’s belief that he loved Kim Seon-a, and Xie’s charged Vajra Nirvana Wheel erupted as he rejected the loss of his destiny.

• Xie Linyuan surrounded the main tent with his golden wheel ready, while Tuoba Mang and the other officers blocked his path.
• The system announced that Gu Moran had won Kim Seon-a’s affection, severed her fate line, and broken through to second rank with new martial arts rewards.
• Gu Moran took Kim Seon-a outside by the hand, and Xie Linyuan stopped his attack when he saw them together.
• Kim Seon-a said Xie Linyuan had come for her and tried to explain, but Xie accused Gu Moran of using a dark art.
• Gu Moran argued that Xie had only watched Kim Seon-a from a distance and feared approaching her, while he himself dared to break through her barrier.
• Xie Linyuan’s golden wheel lost control, and he howled that he refused to accept losing the destiny everyone had said was his.

Gu Moran persuaded Xie Linyuan to abandon his attack and help defend Goryeo, while Kim Seon-a affirmed her love for Gu Moran. Afterward, Gu Moran received a new martial arts technique and privately confessed that his claim about true love meaning letting go had been a lie.

• Gu Moran argued that killing him would void the alliance and endanger Goryeo, and Kim Seon-a told Xie Linyuan she loved Gu Moran.
• Xie Linyuan put away the golden wheel, agreed to fight the Japanese army, and volunteered to lead the vanguard.
• The system rewarded Gu Moran with the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms and warned that the Heavenly Dao was preparing another major move.
• Gu Moran ordered the army to assemble in three days and learned from Shen Ling'er that Kim Seon-a's condition was improving.
• Kim Seon-a asked whether Gu Moran meant that true love meant letting go, and he told her he had lied and believed true love meant possession.

Kim Seon-a experienced kindness and physical contact from Gu Moran’s women for the first time, and their care overwhelmed her until she cried. The women comforted her and served her an extravagant meal, leaving her stunned by their hospitality.

• Shen Ling'er brought Kim Seon-a soup and breakfast, while Zhen Meili took her wrist and found that her astral qi no longer harmed anyone.
• Lin Qingdai, Murong Xue, Yun Shuyue, and Meng Jiuning offered Kim Seon-a warmth, candy, sparring, clothing, and lessons.
• Gu Moli gave Kim Seon-a a jade bracelet, and Kim Seon-a cried as she confessed that no one had ever treated her so kindly.
• The women comforted Kim Seon-a, and Gu Moran briefly entered with silver needles before withdrawing when he saw them caring for her.
• Shen Ling'er had food brought into the tent, and Kim Seon-a stared in disbelief at the lavish meal.

Kim Seon-a began overcoming her isolation as Gu Moran helped her break through her fear of physical contact during a spar. The chapter left Gu Moli seething as she watched their intimate-looking exchange.

• Kim Seon-a tearfully ate with the women, who comforted her and welcomed her into their company.
• Murong Xue tested Kim Seon-a's combat skills, but Kim Seon-a's protective barrier still repelled her when she instinctively released astral qi.
• Gu Moran challenged Kim Seon-a to use her full strength and forced her into close combat, helping her overcome her fear of touching someone.
• Kim Seon-a and Gu Moran froze together after she caught his wrist and he sealed her acupoints, while Gu Moli watched jealously from the sidelines.
• Kim Seon-a left to rest, and Gu Moran received a system notification about Gu Moli's abnormal emotional fluctuations.

Kim Seon-a received word that Gaegyeong had fallen and struggled with Gu Moran’s order to preserve Goryeo’s remaining forces rather than return to defend the capital. As Wa scouts watched the camp and Xie Linyuan’s prayer beads suddenly broke, the danger to Goryeo remained unresolved.

• Park Roejang delivered a blood letter reporting that the Wa army had breached Gaegyeong’s outer city and encircled Hanseong, while Goryeo’s royal clan had withdrawn to Ganghwa Island.
• Gu Moran persuaded Kim Seon-a not to lead the remaining troops back to Gaegyeong and ordered Park Roejang to keep them at Ganghwa Island and hold the port.
• Kim Seon-a agreed to Gu Moran’s plan after he promised to retake Gaegyeong when Great Yan’s navy arrived, and Zhen Meili was ordered to finish refitting the warships within two days.
• Gu Moli studied the royal genealogy and found that Kim Seon-a had no brothers or sisters.
• Wa scouts observed the camp and reported that Prince Yi had taken in a Goryeo woman before retreating into the woods.
• Xie Linyuan opened his eyes as three of his prayer beads cracked and fell to the floor.

Xie Linyuan captured six Wa scouts, whose confession revealed an ambush waiting for Goryeo’s reinforcements outside Hanseong. Gu Moran called an early war council and arranged a plan to reach the city, while Kim Seon-a grieved over the threat to her homeland.

• Xie Linyuan bound six Wa scouts in the woods and brought them, along with a detailed camp sketch, to Gu Moran.
• Gu Moran ordered Tuoba Mang to interrogate the scouts, and the lead scout revealed Inukami Jusaburo’s encirclement of Hanseong and an ambush outside its northern gate.
• Gu Moran convened a war council and ordered Zhen Meili to finish the warships, Pu Yunshan to harass Wa supply routes, and Park Roejang to attempt a false surrender.
• Gu Moran set the army’s departure for the day after the warships’ test launch and approved Park Roejang’s plan to clear a path to Hanseong from within.
• Kim Seon-a mourned the danger to Gaegyeong, and Gu Moran promised to help her reclaim it before holding her as she cried.

Gu Moran kissed Kim Seon-a and took her to the inner tent while she tacitly accepted his advances. Gu Moli learned what had happened and resolved to retaliate, while Zhen Meili accidentally witnessed the pair from a roof beam.

• Gu Moran kissed Kim Seon-a, stopped when patrol soldiers passed, then undressed her and carried her to the couch.
• Qingwu told Gu Moli that Gu Moran and Kim Seon-a had stayed together in the tent and later confirmed that something intimate had happened.
• Gu Moli ordered Qingwu to keep the matter secret and vowed to show no courtesy to the pair.
• Zhen Meili, measuring a beam above the main tent, glimpsed Gu Moran holding Kim Seon-a and stayed frozen on the beam to avoid being discovered.

Gu Moli sent Qingwu to lure Yun Shuyue into the main tent, hoping she would catch Gu Moran with Kim Seon-a and spread damaging rumors. Yun Shuyue arrived but left without seeing inside, while Zhen Meili remained hidden on a beam as the tent fell silent around her.

• Gu Moli instructed Qingwu to tell Yun Shuyue that candied fruit and sour plum soup were left in the prince's tent.
• Qingwu hinted to Yun Shuyue that the sweets might go to waste, and Yun Shuyue ran to the main tent to get some.
• Zhen Meili watched from a beam as Yun Shuyue entered, took candied fruit, and approached the inner tent.
• Gu Moran called out, and Yun Shuyue backed away, explained why she had come, and left with sweets without seeing inside.
• Kim Seon-a asked Gu Moran if Yun Shuyue would discover anything, and he reassured her that she had seen nothing.
• Zhen Meili tried to move her numb leg, creaking the beam and bringing the sounds below to a stop.

Gu Moli failed to catch Gu Moran and Kim Seon-a together and planned to sow distrust through Kim Seon-a’s maid, while Kim Seon-a chose to stay the night with Gu Moran. The system rewarded Gu Moran with a map of Wa’s military camps and granaries, along with schematics for a three-eyed hand cannon.

• Gu Moran caught Zhen Meili on the tent beam, made her promise to keep quiet, and sent her away.
• Qingwu told Gu Moli that Yun Shuyue had fled without seeing anything, so Gu Moli ordered her to approach Park-ssi Chunhyang and invite Kim Seon-a for a visit.
• Gu Moli planned to exploit Park-ssi Chunhyang’s loyalty by spreading false claims about Gu Moran and creating suspicion between Kim Seon-a and him.
• Kim Seon-a refused to leave Gu Moran’s tent, and he agreed to let her stay the night.
• The system gave Gu Moran the locations of Wa’s military camps and granaries, then awarded him complete schematics for a three-eyed hand cannon.