Chapter Summaries

The Moses Empire struggled to respond as Great Liang seized its colonies, and Emperor Moshili decided to deploy the Flying Hedgehogs to destroy the Xinma Empire quickly. He then demanded that Abide Leien explain why Abide William was leading Great Liang's attacks.

• Island nations discussed the escalating war between the Moses Empire, Great Liang Empire, and Xinma Empire, fearing the conflict would spread.
• Emperor Moshili and his elders worried that Great Liang's attacks on the colonies could leave the three-million-strong expeditionary army vulnerable to a pincer attack.
• Amu advised Moshili to conquer the Xinma Empire swiftly, use it as a base, and then confront Great Liang with support from the homeland and auxiliary colonial forces.
• Moshili ordered the Flying Hedgehogs deployed to break through the Xinma Empire's defenses and hasten its destruction.
• Moshili told Abide Leien that Abide William was leading Great Liang's attacks on the colonies and demanded an explanation from the Abide Family.

Emperor Moshili and the Moses Empire’s elders debated Abide William’s alleged role in Great Liang’s seizure of their colonies and the empire’s response. They chose to prioritize the war against Xinma, temporarily abandon the colonies, and stir up rebellion there, leaving a future decisive conflict with Great Liang looming.

• The elders demanded that Abide Leien explain Abide William’s actions and compensate them, while Leien promised an investigation and asked them to wait for the family head’s return.
• Emperor Moshili ordered the Moses Empire to declare a state of war and expand recruitment in preparation for fighting on two fronts.
• The council recognized that the empire lacked enough troops to reclaim its colonies without delaying the campaign against Xinma, and Emperor Moshili decided to abandon them temporarily.
• Emperor Moshili ordered agents to incite the natives in the colonies to rebel against Great Liang, and the elders approved the plan.
• Moshili Chaer accepted the decision to focus on conquering Xinma and anticipated a decisive battle with Great Liang afterward.

Lin Yi welcomed Lin Rusong and the victorious army home after Great Liang conquered the western nations, then promised honors for the campaign’s distinguished veterans. The army presented captured Great West Empire ministers to Lin Yi, while Great Liang’s new supremacy and its future beyond the continent came into view.

• Lin Yi greeted Lin Rusong and praised him and the returning army for their triumph, as the soldiers proclaimed Great Liang supreme.
• Princess Dada and Xinier watched the celebrations and concluded that befriending Great Liang was wiser than opposing its overwhelming strength.
• Lin Yi took Lin Rusong’s hand and urged him to retire from warfare, and Lin Rusong agreed that his aging body could not endure another expedition.
• Lin Yi told Wang Ziwen and Bai Zizai that they would be honored in a Lingyan Pavilion within the Heroes Memorial Tower.
• Lin Rusong explained that Abaddon had killed himself but that Great Liang had captured Adolf and Morandi, then ordered the bound ministers brought before Lin Yi.

Lin Yi and Lin Rusong received Morandi, Adolf, and other captives from the fallen Great West Empire, then ordered the prisoners executed at their own request. As father and son rode together afterward, Lin Rusong asked about Lin Yi’s consorts and lack of children, and Lin Yi explained that his enhanced body made fatherhood difficult.

• Adolf introduced himself to Lin Yi, and Lin Yi reminded Morandi that the Great West Empire had broken its alliance with Great Liang.
• Morandi accused Lin Yi of planning to destroy the empire regardless, while Adolf said powerful nations treated allies as future prey.
• Lin Yi asked why Adolf had not rebelled against Abaddon, and Adolf said he had wanted to protect the Great West Empire from ruin.
• Lin Rusong praised the captives’ love for their country and ordered them killed facing west; Amur was spared because he had defected to Great Liang.
• Lin Rusong asked Lin Yi about his new consorts and the lack of an heir, and Lin Yi said his enhanced body made having children difficult as he continued to pursue the Nine Tripod Cauldrons.

Lin Yi told Lin Rusong and the others about the Xinma Empire and the growing conflict at sea, while the older generation discussed stepping aside for younger warriors. Zhao Gao then reported that Princess Anne and the eastern palace empress were both pregnant, leaving Lin Rusong delighted at the news of two grandchildren.

• Lin Yi explained how the Xinma Empire had formed and described its plan to join Great Liang against the Moses Empire.
• Lin Yi told the group about the conflict between the Moses Empire and another country, while Bai Zizai lamented that seasickness kept him from seeing the fighting.
• Lin Rusong said the older generation should retire and give younger warriors room to prove themselves, and Bai Zizai joked about his record of destroying four countries.
• Zhao Gao reported that Princess Anne and the eastern palace empress seemed to be pregnant.
• Lin Rusong celebrated becoming a grandfather, while Lin Yi began musing about names for the two children.

After Great Liang celebrated the birth of an heir, Lin Yi endured several consorts’ attempts to conceive children. He gave Lü Qiling gene enhancement serum to prepare for her overseas expedition, and she challenged him to a fight.

• News that Great Liang had an heir spread through the capital, delighting ministers and commoners while Lin Yi faced pressure from his consorts.
• Princess Shenle drew Lin Yi into her bedchamber and asked him for a child, and he spent hours with her before encountering Ma Ling'er.
• Ma Ling'er invited Lin Yi to see her treasure, and he spent the night attending to his consorts before canceling morning court from exhaustion.
• Lü Qiling told Lin Yi she wanted to lead the Flying Phoenix Camp overseas and earn respect through her own strength.
• Lin Yi gave Lü Qiling gene enhancement serum, and she took it and challenged him to a one-on-one fight.

Lin Yi held a Heaven-worship ceremony at Chengtian Gate to proclaim Great Liang’s unification of the continent. As the people prayed, he used the system to make a sacred cauldron descend beside the altar, and the gathering hailed it as Heaven’s acknowledgment of Great Liang.

• Lin Yi dressed in imperial ceremonial robes and allowed Shenle’s newspaper to record the ceremony, warning her not to report confidential matters.
• Ministers and common people gathered at Chengtian Gate to witness the ceremony celebrating Great Liang’s unification.
• Lin Yi arrived, and Zhang Jiao read the sacrificial address as the people prayed for Great Liang’s enduring peace.
• Lin Yi used the system to make a Nine Provinces Tripod Cauldron descend from the sky beside the altar.
• Zhang Jiao declared the cauldron an auspicious sign, and the ministers and common people knelt and prayed as incense rose toward the sky.

After the divine cauldron’s arrival astonished the commoners and Princess Dada’s party, Lin Yi’s court finalized Great Liang’s new administrative divisions and inspector system. Lin Yi then revealed the overseas threats to his ministers, and Xu Zhong volunteered to lead a naval campaign.

• After Lin Yi completed the ceremony, the commoners celebrated the cauldron while Princess Dada and Xinier concluded that Great Liang was too powerful to provoke.
• Xun Yu presented a plan to divide Great Liang into sixteen circuits, separate military and civil authority, and limit officials’ power through transfers and oversight.
• Lin Yi ordered the inspectors to form an independent department and guaranteed the commoners’ right to speak, threatening execution for anyone who blocked them.
• Xun Yu recorded Lin Yi’s orders, and Chen Qun presented revised official appointments, which Lin Yi approved.
• Lin Yi explained the overseas threats posed by the Moses Empire and Xinma Empire, prompting Xu Zhong to volunteer for a naval campaign.

Lin Yi announced that Great Liang would begin overseas expeditions in the name of liberating people, and assigned Zheng Chenggong to oversee naval training. Zhuge Liang welcomed the chance to study naval warfare and lead a force, while Lin Yi also declared that Lü Qiling would command an army of women joining the expeditions.

• Xu Zhong and other military officers sought opportunities to fight overseas, and Zhang Liao and others joined them.
• Lin Yi declared that Great Liang would pursue overseas wars to liberate people and give them a better life, and the ministers praised his justification.
• Xun Yu told Zhuge Liang that Lin Yi intended to put him in charge of an army, and Zhuge Liang resolved to study naval warfare and landing operations.
• Lin Yi appointed Zheng Chenggong to lead naval training for those hoping to join an expedition.
• Lin Yi announced that Lü Qiling would oversee an army of women that would also join the expeditions, leaving the ministers stunned.

Lin Yi defended Lü Qiling’s right to lead a women’s corps on the expedition and let her prove her strength before the officials. After Lü Qiling defeated Zhou Cang and another officer, she fought Lü Bu to an even first exchange, leaving the assembled officials stunned.

• Xun Yu and Chen Qun objected to women joining the battlefield, but Lin Yi insisted that Lü Qiling should be allowed to serve.
• Lin Yi summoned Lü Qiling and asked her to demonstrate her ability to the skeptical ministers.
• Lü Qiling knocked Zhou Cang out of the hall with one punch, then sent another Northern Liang Army officer flying.
• Lü Bu challenged Lü Qiling to test her strength, and their Sky Piercers clashed as they fought evenly.
• Xun Yu remarked that Lü Qiling was exceptionally skilled in battle.

After Lü Qiling proved her strength against Lü Bu, Lin Yi approved the Flying Phoenix Camp’s trial enlistment and ordered maritime training, while Great Liang began adapting to the sweeping reforms. Public arguments over women joining the army turned into fights, and Lü Qiling became interested in meeting Princess Dada’s older sister, a female general of the Xin'an Empire.

• Lü Qiling drove Lü Bu back in their duel, and Lin Yi stopped the fight once she had proven her strength.
• Lin Yi approved the Flying Phoenix Camp’s participation in future campaigns and ordered it to begin training for maritime warfare.
• Lin Yi and his ministers refined the new policies, agreeing that the changes would be adjusted through practice.
• People across Yong'an City debated Great Liang’s reforms and the creation of an army of women, and men and women began fighting over the issue.
• Lin Yi refused Zhao Gao’s offer to stop the brawls, saying the people would grow accustomed to the changes through experience.
• Princess Dada told Lü Qiling that her older sister was a female general, and Lü Qiling decided to meet her someday.

Lin Yi learned that the Xinma Empire had sent another delegation, while Princess Dada waited for word from home about negotiations and Great Liang’s support. The new envoys arrived with the Empress’s latest instructions, allowing the next round of talks to begin.

• Lin Yi and Lü Qiling watched a fight between women and discussed whether ordinary women could survive on the battlefield.
• At a restaurant, Lin Yi caught Cao Cao speaking with local women and warned him against pursuing respectable married women, threatening to have Zhao Gao make him a eunuch.
• Lin Yi told Cao Cao to find a suitable wife and asked how the Ministry of Rites was handling its work.
• Cao Cao reported that the Xinma Empire had sent more people to Great Liang.
• Lin Yi and Princess Dada discussed Xinma’s difficult situation and the need for meaningful support from Great Liang.
• The Xinma delegation’s deputy envoy arrived and told Princess Dada that the Empress had sent new instructions and negotiations could resume.

Princess Dada learned that Xinma's empress was willing to offer the empire as her dowry to secure Great Liang's aid against Moses's three-million-strong army. Lin Yi rejected the dowry but said he would conquer Xinma himself, leaving Princess Dada moved to tears.

• The deputy envoy told Princess Dada in private that Xinma had brought its stockpiled Black Gold Steel and that she could offer the empire as her dowry to win Great Liang's intervention.
• The deputy envoy reported that Xinma still held the initiative but faced an approaching enemy force of nearly three million, and Princess Dada decided to secure Great Liang's help.
• Princess Dada asked Lin Yi whether he would marry her if she offered Xinma as her dowry.
• Lin Yi refused the dowry, saying he did not want her caught between him and her country, but declared that he intended to conquer Xinma and make it his gift to her.
• Princess Dada was stunned by Lin Yi's response and began to cry.

Lin Yi agreed to send five hundred thousand naval troops to support the Xinma Empire, while saying Great Liang would need a year before it could fully confront the Moses Empire. Princess Dada accepted his explanation, but Xinier and the deputy envoy feared the Xinma Empire would be devastated before help arrived.

• Princess Dada was moved when Lin Yi admitted he planned to take the Xinma Empire but promised to give it to her, and she thanked him for being honest.
• The deputy envoy asked Lin Yi to send troops against the Moses Empire, and Lin Yi cited Great Liang's small, inexperienced navy while saying it had already sent men to stir up trouble.
• Cao Cao explained that Great Liang had only recently built its navy, and Xinier concluded that the Xinma Empire would be left to fight the Moses Empire alone.
• Lin Yi promised to send five hundred thousand naval troops to Xinma's waters and said Great Liang could destroy the Moses Empire after a year of preparation.
• Cao Cao privately recognized that the Moses Empire's millions of troops were land forces transported by ship, while Princess Dada accepted the limited aid and the Xinma envoys remained distressed.

Lin Yi learned that the Judgment Legion had infiltrated Great Liang and clashed with Sima Yi’s forces at Shannan Pass. As Meng Huo arrived with reinforcements, Adorno’s assault on the pass was in danger of being crushed.

• Lin Yi saw the system’s warning that fighting had begun and realized the Judgment Legion had reached Sima Yi’s territory.
• Sima Yi ordered Meng Huo to hurry to Shannan Pass and kill the foreign infiltrators discovered carrying weapons.
• After the guards exposed them, Adorno and the Judgment Legion fought Great Liang’s troops outside the closed gate.
• Adorno led his men in a charge, but Great Liang’s reinforcements arrived under Meng Huo.
• Meng Huo charged into the Judgment Legion and killed several soldiers with his hammers.

Adorno led the Judgment Legion into a failed attack against Meng Huo’s forces, then found the coast blocked by Gan Ning’s soldiers. As the trapped legion charged into battle, Great Liang’s Divine Arm Bows pierced their shields and inflicted devastating casualties.

• Adorno charged Meng Huo, but Meng Huo struck him down and bent his spear, forcing Adorno to order a retreat.
• Meng Huo pursued the retreating Judgment Legion to the coast, where Gan Ning’s troops had blocked their escape.
• Adorno rallied the three thousand trapped soldiers, bound his injured hand, and led them in a desperate charge.
• Great Liang’s archers killed hundreds of the Judgment Legion, while the legion hurled spears that wounded soldiers in rattan armor.
• Meng Huo ordered the Divine Arm Bows to fire, and their bolts pierced the legion’s shields and struck Adorno in the shoulder.

Meng Huo’s Shannan Circuit Legion destroyed the invading Judgment Legion after Adorno led a charge against them. Gan Ning arrived afterward and explained that a storm and a lapse in patrols had let the enemy slip through the naval blockade.

• Adorno rallied the Judgment Legion and led its soldiers in a desperate charge toward Meng Huo.
• Meng Huo countercharged with his rattan-armored troops, using his war hammers and armor to break through the Judgment Legion’s spear formation.
• The Shannan Circuit Legion overwhelmed the Judgment Legion, killing or silencing its remaining soldiers.
• Gan Ning arrived and greeted Meng Huo, who criticized him for letting the invaders pass.
• Gan Ning admitted that his men had missed half a day of patrols while sheltering from a storm during a handover, allowing the enemy through.

Meng Huo defeated the Moses Empire’s Judgment Legion after learning it had come to assassinate Lin Yi. Lin Yi ordered Meng Huo rewarded and responded to the failed plot by calling for an even harsher storm against the Moses Empire.

• Gan Ning identified the defeated force as the Moses Empire’s elite Judgment Legion, which had infiltrated Great Liang to kill Lin Yi.
• Meng Huo demanded that Gan Ning curse Adorno, then beat the Judgment Legion commander to death with his hammers.
• Gan Ning invited Meng Huo to train for naval combat, but teased him about being a landlubber, and Meng Huo left without answering.
• Lin Yi learned that Wang Yue had captured a smaller group of Judgment Legion assassins and had gone to launch a retaliatory operation in the Moses Empire.
• Lin Yi ordered the Ministry of War to reward Meng Huo for destroying the elite legion and declared that the storm against the Moses Empire should rage harder.

After Lin Yi sent the Net to retaliate for the attempted assassination, Moshili Chaer feared the Moses Empire was in danger and moved into the heavily guarded imperial palace. He remained focused on the war with the Xinma Empire as his advisers warned that the Judgment Legion’s mission had likely failed.

• Lin Yi mobilized the Net’s operatives in the Moses Empire and sent three Heaven-grade assassins to join them.
• Moshili Chaer realized that the assassins were probably Lin Yi’s revenge for the Judgment Legion’s attempt on his life.
• The grand elder warned Moshili Chaer to protect himself, since the Moses Empire would be plunged into turmoil if he died.
• After repeated infiltrations and the deaths of his guards, Moshili Chaer decided to remain inside the imperial palace, guarded by more than ten thousand additional soldiers.
• Moshili Chaer lamented Adorno’s likely death, then asked Ashan whether the Moses Empire had broken through the Xinma Empire’s outer defenses.

Moshili Chaer learned that the Xinma Empire’s empress had stalled the Moses Empire’s invasion with mobile defenses and debated how to break the deadlock. He ordered an envoy to approach Great Liang, but a young man proposed allying with Xinma to attack Great Liang instead, an idea Moshili Chaer decided to pursue.

• Ashan reported that the Xinma empress had used catapults, giant crossbows, and naval harassment to keep the Moses Empire’s forces locked in a stalemate.
• Moshili Chaer and his advisers discussed concentrating troops to break through Xinma’s defenses and trying to bring Great Liang into an alliance against Xinma.
• Moshili Chaer ordered an elder to send envoys and gifts to negotiate with Great Liang, even proposing that they divide Xinma between them.
• A young man suggested that the Moses Empire ally with Xinma and conquer Great Liang instead.
• Moshili Chaer agreed to try approaching Xinma, reasoning that it could join him to destroy Great Liang and preserve its own empire.