Recaps

Tao Lingluo helped Weiwei hold the passage against the intelligent Yin Gods, and Weiwei reported the attack to Fang Weiyan. After noticing the sky had grown unnaturally gray, Fang Weiyan went to the Dragon King of the Wu River to ask how the world had changed over time.

• Tao Lingluo struck down several Yin Gods and agreed to stay and defend the passage after Weiwei warned that they would return.
• Weiwei returned to the imperial palace and told Fang Weiyan that the Yin Gods had shown intelligence and nearly overwhelmed their defenses.
• Fang Weiyan wondered why the Yin Gods had hidden their intelligence and whether they could occupy the passage and prevent it from closing.
• Fang Weiyan flew into the sky, saw gray haze obscuring the land, and suspected that something from the Land of Ten Thousand Witherings had contaminated the world.
• After Judge Wen could not answer whether the sky had always been dim, Fang Weiyan went to the Wu River Dragon Palace to ask the Dragon King about the changes.

Fang Weiyan confirmed that the Golden Crow’s light had dimmed and warned the other Human Sovereigns about the danger surrounding the opened passage. Meanwhile, the Wu Kingdom’s court welcomed a trade deal with the Jiang Kingdom and began planning purchases, while its ruler worried about the Jiang Kingdom’s rapid rise.

• Fang Weiyan asked the Dragon King whether the Golden Crow’s light had grown dimmer, and the Dragon King confirmed that it had.
• Fang Weiyan returned to the imperial palace and sent state letters to the other Human Sovereigns to inform them of the danger.
• A Wu Kingdom envoy reported that the Jiang Kingdom had agreed to trade, prompting ministers to debate the risks posed by the opened passage in the Land of Ten Thousand Witherings.
• The envoy praised the Jiang Kingdom’s treasures, especially a material that hardened into stone for building roads and bridges, and the ministers grew eager to buy goods for resale.
• The Wu Kingdom’s emperor approved plans to use treasury silver for trade, while worrying that the Jiang Kingdom’s growing strength could threaten smaller neighboring kingdoms.

Fang Weiyan prepared the Jiang Kingdom for a possible threat from the intelligent creatures of the Land of Ten Thousand Witherings, while Empress Wanxi received his warning and realized their recent attacks might signal a larger scheme. The passage remained defended, but the creatures’ intentions were still unknown.

• Fang Weiyan ordered the Jiang Kingdom to stockpile supplies, recruit soldiers, and establish military production lines, then traveled to Earth, won money in a gambling city, and purchased equipment.
• Fang Weiyan returned to the Jiang Kingdom and learned from Yunxi that the Yin Gods were attacking the passage frenziedly, though Tao Lingluo and reinforcements were holding them back.
• Fang Weiyan reviewed the recovering Yin Gods and inspected the military workshop, instructing Gu Zhan to ensure production quality and secrecy.
• Fang Weiyan inspected the small power plant and recognized that a full power grid would be costly and difficult to build and maintain.
• Empress Wanxi received Fang Weiyan’s diplomatic letter revealing that the creatures of the Land of Ten Thousand Witherings possessed intelligence, and connected the news to their recent desperate attacks.

Fang Weiyan strengthened the Jiang Kingdom’s defenses against the Land of Ten Thousand Witherings while discussing the kingdom’s rapid growth with Yunxi. He planned further development through trade and a canal, and remained focused on raising the kingdom’s strength as the threat persisted.

• Empress Wanxi grew wary of the beings in the Land of Ten Thousand Witherings and ordered more Yin Gods sent to defend the passage.
• Fang Weiyan’s new recruitment drew a vast number of volunteers, who supported him because his promises to improve their lives had been fulfilled.
• Fang Weiyan reassured Yunxi that Tao Lingluo, the Yin Gods, weapons, and Mountain Spirit experts could hold the passage while the Jiang Kingdom prepared for danger.
• Yunxi told Fang Weiyan that she had trained palace maids to attend him in bed, and he declined to choose among them.
• Fang Weiyan discussed opening a canal and beginning trade with nearby vassal states, expecting these projects to boost the Jiang Kingdom’s national strength.
• Fang Weiyan reflected that the kingdom’s growing strength was increasing his own power, but he resolved to keep preparing for the unknown forces in the Land of Ten Thousand Witherings.

The Zhou Kingdom's princess arrived in Yanhuai City and was astonished by its prosperity, low prices, and energetic people, while the envoy explained the currency exchange and their actual trade goals. Fang Weiyan learned of her arrival, ordered her protected discreetly, and prepared to sell grain as the autumn harvest approached.

• The Zhou Kingdom's princess entered Yanhuai City and noticed how much its prosperity and appearance had changed since the envoy's last visit.
• The princess was excited by the low prices of local goods, but the envoy explained that exchanging silver for Kaiping Treasure Currency reduced the savings and reminded her they had come to buy valuable goods such as pearls and body wash.
• The princess and envoy compared the vitality of Jiang Kingdom's people with the people of the Zhou Kingdom, leaving the princess worried that Jiang Kingdom might eventually expand its territory.
• Fang Weiyan heard that the Zhou Kingdom's princess had arrived and ordered his guards to protect her secretly without requiring her to visit the imperial palace.
• Fang Weiyan reviewed plans to sell grain from the coming bumper harvest to the Zhou Kingdom and put the ships built near Yanhuai City to use.

Fang Weiyan answered Liang Lijian’s request to find an escaped spy and discovered that the pursuit would be dangerous, so he went to the border himself. He confronted the spy and his armed extraction team, whose bullets could not harm him, and the captain tried to find a way to negotiate.

• Liang Lijian asked Fang Weiyan to help locate an escaped espionage agent, and Fang divined that Liang would die if he led the pursuit.
• Fang Weiyan traveled to the border and found the agent meeting an armed team preparing to smuggle him out of Huaxia.
• Fang Weiyan questioned the agent, and the team leader ordered his men to open fire when Fang refused to identify himself.
• The team’s gunmen and sniper fired at Fang Weiyan, but he remained completely unharmed.
• The frightened captain realized his team could not defeat Fang Weiyan and considered negotiating for their release.

Fang Weiyan killed an invading squad with an unseen power, then returned to the Jiang Kingdom and met Princess Liu Yun, who sought to buy chemical fertilizer. He refused to sell it and suggested she inspect the kingdom’s new steel instead; she visited the steelworks and froze at what she saw.

• Fang Weiyan killed the armed men who had attacked him, and a responding team found the squad and a sniper dead with no apparent injuries.
• Fang Weiyan sent Liang Lijian the location he had divined, and Liang questioned whether Fang had been involved in the strange deaths before accepting his explanation.
• Fang Weiyan returned to the Jiang Kingdom and agreed to receive Princess Liu Yun, who asked whether its chemical fertilizer could be sold to the Zhou Kingdom.
• Fang Weiyan refused to sell the scarce fertilizer and suggested Princess Liu Yun inspect the Jiang Kingdom’s new steel instead.
• Princess Liu Yun went to the steelworks and froze when she saw what was there.

Princess Liu Yun discovered that Jiang Kingdom’s steel was far stronger than Zhou Kingdom’s and brought a sample to show her ministers. After the sample broke a guard’s hundred-refined steel saber without taking a scratch, the ministers faced the question of buying steel to protect Zhou Kingdom from rivals.

• Princess Liu Yun inspected Jiang Kingdom’s steel and confirmed with a guard that it could be sold.
• She took a steel sample back to the Ministry of Rites courtyard and summoned Zhou Kingdom’s ministers.
• At her order, a guard struck the sample with his hundred-refined steel saber, which snapped while the ingot remained unmarked.
• Princess Liu Yun told the ministers the steel came from Jiang Kingdom and warned that its production could be substantial.
• She explained that Zhou Kingdom needed to decide whether to buy the steel before rival countries acquired it, and the ministers grew gravely concerned.

Li Muchuan learned that a passage had been breached and went with Weiwei into the Land of Ten Thousand Witherings to investigate the relentless attacks. Deep inside, they encountered an unusually intelligent armored Yin God, who did not answer Li Muchuan’s question about what the Yin Gods sought.

• The Zhou princess clarified that she only meant to buy a small amount of steel for her father to examine, easing her envoys’ fears about spending their trade funds.
• Weiwei told Li Muchuan that the attacks on their passage had increased to nearly three times a day and that another passage had reportedly been breached.
• Li Muchuan returned to the Land of Ten Thousand Witherings with Weiwei, checked the soldiers’ supplies, and confirmed with Lin Liyun that the troops were fighting in shifts.
• Li Muchuan and Weiwei flew deeper into the Land of Ten Thousand Witherings, where swarms of Yin Gods tried to stop them and a stretch without piled-up withered bones caught their attention.
• An armored Yin God appeared and addressed Li Muchuan; Li Muchuan asked why the Yin Gods were invading the passages, and the Yin God shook his head.

Fang Weiyan encountered the Corpse Sovereign of the Land of Ten Thousand Witherings and learned that his forces were preparing a major undertaking involving Yin Qi. After withdrawing without a fight, Fang Weiyan returned to the Jiang Kingdom and sent questions to the other Human Sovereigns about fallen passages and the invaders’ immortality.

• The corpse general attacked Fang Weiyan when he tried to explore the bone-free area, but the Corpse Sovereign appeared and caught Fang Weiyan’s sword strike.
• Fang Weiyan and the Corpse Sovereign exchanged warnings, and the Corpse Sovereign hinted that Fang Weiyan had guessed something correctly before withdrawing with his subordinate.
• Fang Weiyan and Weiwei chose not to pursue the Corpse Sovereign and returned to the passage, where Tao Lingluo asked about the threat.
• Fang Weiyan told Weiwei and Tao Lingluo that the Corpse Sovereign might be channeling Yin Qi into the Land of Eternal Radiance to support his forces’ immortality.
• Fang Weiyan ordered the passage guarded, returned to the imperial palace, and sent Judge Wen to ask the other Human Sovereigns about past fallen passages and whether their invaders had been immortal.

Fang Weiyan arranged to obtain substitute weapons, agreed to meet Su Qingyun, and discovered from an old class photo that she was the girl he had carried to the hospital in middle school. When he brought up the incident at their dinner, Su Qingyun blushed and stopped him from saying more.

• Fang Weiyan agreed to take Silver Scale and the other koi back, then asked an arms dealer about close-in weapon systems and Vulcan Series weapons after learning he could not obtain mushroom bombs.
• Su Qingyun told Fang Weiyan that her medicines had succeeded and invited him to celebrate, and he flew to meet her.
• While waiting for Su Qingyun, Fang Weiyan read his middle school class chat and learned that a former classmate had died in an accident.
• Fang Weiyan recognized the girl in an old class photo as Su Qingyun and realized she had been interested in him since college.
• When Fang Weiyan began recounting the middle-school incident, Su Qingyun covered his mouth and begged him not to continue.

Fang Weiyan learned that Su Qingyun had favored him since university, became intimate with her, and then returned to the Jiang Kingdom to handle urgent affairs. The chapter left him hearing the Ministry of Revenue's complaints that the state treasury could not meet the regions' needs.

• Fang Weiyan told Su Qingyun he had only just discovered her feelings through divination, and she admitted she had treated him well at university because she liked him.
• Su Qingyun explained that her company was developing medicine to strengthen people's resistance, and Fang Weiyan requested ten million doses of its children's version for the Jiang Kingdom.
• Fang Weiyan and Su Qingyun spent the evening together at her villa and became lovers.
• The next morning, Fang Weiyan left Su Qingyun to watch the threat in the Land of Ten Thousand Witherings and returned to the Jiang Kingdom.
• Fang Weiyan summoned ministers to the imperial study, where the Minister of Revenue reported that the treasury lacked enough money to support the regions.

Fang Weiyan reviewed regional funding requests, received reports on completed canal bridges, and ordered stronger factory safety inspections after hearing of fatal accidents. He then opened the canal, inspected its route with Yunxi, and returned to the palace ready to put it into use.

• The Minister of Revenue presented Fang Weiyan with regional funding requests, and Fang Weiyan considered printing additional money without approving the funds immediately.
• The Minister of Works reported that the bridges along the planned canal route were complete, and Fang Weiyan approved the map.
• Fang Weiyan heard reports of fatal factory and shipping accidents, ordered proper investigations and punishments, and directed the Ministry of Personnel to conduct random safety inspections several times a year.
• Yunxi served Fang Weiyan lunch, and they discussed opening the canal and the power station and factories along its route.
• Fang Weiyan and Yunxi flew from the palace, and Fang Weiyan used the treasure to fill the dry riverbed with water.
• Fang Weiyan inspected the canal's depth and bridges before returning to the palace with Yunxi.