Chapter Summaries

Zhou Wanwan made the Xie Family pledge loyalty and keep her plans secret, while Old Master Xie revealed that Noble Consort Ning had betrayed their family and explained how Zhou Wanwan had gained control of the frontier. The chapter ended with Old Master Xie warning Xie Cheng'en to obey Zhou Wanwan and pretend to placate Princess Jianing while the family secured more supplies.

• Old Master Xie ordered Xie Cheng'en to recognize Zhou Wanwan as his master, and Zhou Wanwan invited the merchants to settle on the frontier while warning them to keep quiet.
• Eunuch Hai told Xie Cheng'en that Noble Consort Ning had used the Xie Family, prompting him to question his grandfather about their family's losses.
• Old Master Xie revealed that Noble Consort Ning had sent military intelligence to Great Qi, causing the deaths of Xie Cheng'en's uncles because they supported the eldest prince over the current crown prince.
• Old Master Xie explained that Zhou Wanwan had gathered former officials and brought the frontier generals under her control, leaving Xie Cheng'en terrified that he had offended her.
• Old Master Xie told Xie Cheng'en to obey Zhou Wanwan, avoid marrying Princess Jianing, and placate her while he tried to obtain more supplies.

Princess Jianing failed to reclaim her maids from Zhou Wanwan, who focused on improving the frontier estates and growing food with spiritual power. The chapter ended with Zhou Wanwan learning that Great Qi had sent 300,000 elite soldiers toward Yanmen Pass, while Zhao Lili warned its emperor that the pass and its young defender were more formidable than he realized.

• Princess Jianing confronted Zhou Wanwan over her maids, but Zhichun and the others refused to return, and Jianing left after threatening them.
• Shangguan Wan'er urged Princess Jianing to retaliate, so Jianing ordered someone to bring the maids' families and prepared to send a message to her imperial mother; Zhou Wanwan intercepted the message.
• Zhou Wanwan nourished the crops at her frontier estates with spiritual power and observed that the soil and harvests were improving.
• Eunuch Hai told Zhou Wanwan that Great Qi had sent General Qin Yuan and 300,000 elite soldiers to the border.
• Zhao Lili told the emperor of Great Qi that Yanmen Pass had been built with bricks from his kingdom's cities and was guarded by a six-year-old with many hidden advantages.

After Zhao Lili learned that Zhou Wanwan was behind her city’s disappearance, she sought refuge with the Great Qi emperor, who sent troops toward Yanmen Pass. Zhou Wanwan and her officials prepared to expand their territory, while Princess Jianing and Shangguan Wan'er tried to flee and were shocked by the cost of the city’s escort service.

• Zhao Lili consulted the Divine Calculator, learned Zhou Wanwan was responsible for her city’s disappearance, and was advised to seek safety in the Great Qi imperial palace.
• Zhao Lili urged the Great Qi emperor to send troops to Yanmen Pass, and Zhou Wanwan gathered officials to discuss the coming war.
• Shen Chaoge and the General Who Proclaims Might questioned why Great Qi had bypassed its border soldiers, while Zhou Wanwan argued that the invasion gave her a chance to expand her territory.
• Zhou Wanwan explained that she wanted to build a country of her own rather than seize the throne, and said her forces had to become strong enough to earn others’ respect.
• Princess Jianing and Shangguan Wan'er decided to flee Yanmen Pass, but the steward’s quoted prices for high-level escorts left them stunned.

Princess Jianing and Shangguan Wan'er traveled toward the Great Qi army camp with two hired guards, but the guards only protected them according to their contract. After the guards rescued their hidden guards for an extra fee, the women decided to head for Sunset Town, while panic spread through Yanmen Pass over rumors of an impending attack.

• Princess Jianing hired a level-eight and a level-nine guard, then insisted on traveling south despite one guard's warning.
• Great Qi soldiers stopped the women's carriage, recognized Princess Jianing as a possible Great Xia princess, and attacked them.
• The guards refused to protect Princess Jianing's hidden guards unless she paid another ten thousand taels, which she did.
• The guards and their hidden trees defeated the Great Qi soldiers, and the women chose to visit Sunset Town instead of returning to Yanmen Pass.
• Residents and soldiers at Yanmen Pass panicked over rumors that the Great Qi army was about to attack.

Zhou Wanwan ordered Yanmen Pass’s main forces to withdraw and train while the city wore down the 300,000 Great Qi troops. When Qin Yuan arrived with 500,000 elite soldiers and demanded surrender, Zhou Wanwan and the others faced the threat from the city wall.

• Zhou Wanwan dismissed a general’s fears about another siege and ordered the main forces to gather north for training, intending to exhaust Great Qi’s troops before surrounding them.
• The General Who Proclaims Might refused General Qin’s offer to surrender, and Qin ordered his army to surround Yanmen Pass.
• Qin Yuan discovered Yanmen Pass had grown too large to encircle easily, but he decided to attack it directly after another 200,000 elite troops arrived.
• Qin Yuan led all 500,000 troops to the city walls and demanded that Yanmen Pass surrender.
• Xie Cheng'en urged the defenders to surrender, but Old Master Xie scolded him and threatened to hang him on the wall.

Zhou Wanwan refused to abandon Yanmen Pass as Qin Yuan led five hundred thousand soldiers against the city. Her power turned the attackers’ arrows back and, with the help of Old Ancestor and Old Scholar Tree, caused soldiers to disappear before they could reach the wall.

• Xie Cheng'en begged Zhou Wanwan for forgiveness, and she reassured him that Old Master Xie had only been teasing him.
• Zhou Wanwan stayed at Yanmen Pass despite Xie Cheng'en’s warning, while the people offered to defend the city with her.
• Qin Yuan ordered archers to shoot Zhou Wanwan, but their arrows turned around and flew back at him.
• Qin Yuan commanded his five hundred thousand soldiers to charge, but far fewer reached the wall than his men expected.
• Old Ancestor and Old Scholar Tree discussed the Profound Fire Nether Serpent and grew stronger by absorbing soldiers, who vanished from the attackers’ ranks.

Qin Yuan’s army retreated from Yanmen Pass after more than 180,000 soldiers mysteriously disappeared, while Zhou Wanwan visited Great Qi’s imperial estate and discovered the crown prince wanted takeout. She promoted her food to the palace eunuchs and asked to meet the crown prince to learn what he liked.

• Qin Yuan ordered his army to retreat from Yanmen Pass after noticing that its soldiers kept disappearing, then discovered 180,000 men were missing.
• Zhou Wanwan and Old Scholar Tree visited Great Qi’s imperial estate, where Zhou sampled sour fruit and admired the estate’s grounds.
• Zhou Wanwan named dishes from the imperial kitchen, and Old Scholar Tree brought them to the treehouse for her to eat.
• A eunuch complained that the crown prince refused the imperial food and demanded takeout, prompting Zhou Wanwan to seek customers at the estate entrance.
• Zhou Wanwan showed two eunuchs her takeout menu and asked to accompany them to meet the crown prince.

Zhou Wanwan sold an expensive takeout order to the crown prince of Great Qi and wagered two hundred-year-old wild ginseng roots against Eunuch Gu’s treasured possessions, betting the food would arrive within half a shichen. The third princess tried to force Zhou Wanwan to sell her another ginseng root, but Zhou Wanwan refused and calmly drank her tea.

• Zhou Wanwan introduced her takeout menu to the crown prince of Great Qi, who ordered one of each listed dish for five hundred taels and agreed to try drinks as well.
• Zhou Wanwan said the order would arrive in half a shichen, and she challenged Eunuch Gu to wager his jade belt buckle and jeweled incense burner against two hundred-year-old wild ginseng roots and a jade disc.
• Zheng Xing'an brought in the ginseng roots and jade disc, impressing the crown prince and drawing the attention of three Great Qi princesses.
• The third princess asked Zhou Wanwan to sell her a wild ginseng root, but Zhou Wanwan quoted twelve hundred taels and refused when the princess offered only two hundred.
• The third princess threatened Zhou Wanwan after her offer was rejected, while Zhou Wanwan sat down and drank her tea.

Zhou Wanwan served the crown prince a meal from Great Xia, collected the old eunuch’s wager, and promoted her goods. The second princess asked Zhou Wanwan to treat the toxin-caused mark on her face, but the third princess refused to let them proceed.

• Zheng Xing'an announced that the food had arrived, and Zhou Wanwan served the crown prince a feast of dishes, milk tea, and fruit.
• The crown prince praised the meal and ordered the old eunuch to honor their wager, so Zhou Wanwan collected what he had promised.
• Zhou Wanwan showed the crown prince a takeout menu and listed the many other goods she could provide, while the third princess doubted her claims.
• The second princess asked whether Zhou Wanwan could remove the mark on her face, and Zhou Wanwan identified it as a toxin and offered treatment for a hundred thousand taels.
• The second princess agreed to Zhou Wanwan's fee and took her to the inner chamber, but the third princess insisted on staying and ultimately prevented the treatment.

Zhou Wanwan treated the second princess’s facial mark despite the third princess’s objections, revealing the second princess’s beauty and earning her gratitude. Zhou then returned to the palace takeout business, where the crown prince ordered another meal and enjoyed the food after it was tested.

• The third princess tried to stop Zhou Wanwan from treating the second princess, but the second princess confirmed that she wanted treatment and paid 100,000 taels.
• Old Scholar Tree slowly drew the stubborn toxins from the second princess’s face while Zhou Wanwan prepared medicinal ingredients.
• The second princess emerged with her beauty restored, stunning the crown prince and angering the jealous third princess.
• Zhou Wanwan revealed that she owned the Drunken Immortal Restaurant and left after reminding the crown prince he could order takeout.
• That evening, the crown prince ordered another meal; Zhichun insisted the food be tested in the palace, and the crown prince enjoyed the dishes and mango pomelo sago.

Zhou Wanwan expanded her businesses and learned that her spiritual energy made crops and medicinal plants grow rapidly. When Great Qi surrounded her cities and threatened anyone who left, she inspected the tunnels Old Scholar Tree had built as another way to get around the blockade.

• The crown prince of Great Qi hired two ninth-level experts from Zhichun, and Zhou Wanwan suspected someone was poisoning him but chose to stay out of the royal schemes.
• Zhou Wanwan arranged to provide more people for the increasingly busy escort agency and kept the price of wild mountain ginseng unchanged despite a surge in orders.
• Lingbao and Grandpa He Shou Wu explained that Zhou Wanwan's abundant spiritual energy made their plants, grain, and other crops grow unusually quickly.
• Cheng Chao reported that Great Qi had surrounded all eight cities and threatened to kill anyone who left, but Zhou Wanwan told him to trust their supplies and strength.
• Old Scholar Tree showed Zhou Wanwan the completed tunnel connecting her courtyard to the estate outside the city, and she marveled at its costly white marble steps.

Zhou Wanwan discovered that the Old Scholar Tree and his family had built an immense underground palace using the stolen contents of the Great Qi emperor’s tomb, including an underground farm. After deciding that food supplies were essential to building a country, she returned to court and learned that her cities were surrounded.

• The Old Scholar Tree showed Zhou Wanwan an enormous underground palace assembled from buildings and treasures taken from Great Qi, including the emperor’s tomb.
• The Great Qi emperor learned that his tomb had been stripped bare, went to inspect it, and collapsed in rage after finding even its doors missing.
• The Old Scholar Tree explained that spiritual power let ginseng and vegetables grow underground without sunlight, and that the palace also had a river and space for farming.
• Zhou Wanwan agreed that expanding the underground palace could help provide grain, since her eight cities already struggled to feed their people.
• Zhou Wanwan returned to court, where ministers reported that Yanmen Pass and the other cities were surrounded, and she asked how they had gotten out.

Zhou Wanwan reassured her ministers and planned new industries while they slowly built up their strength. She discovered that an underground palace lay beneath the tomb of Great Qi’s ruler and agreed to hold midday court there; afterward, Zhichun told her that Great Qi’s crown prince wanted to speak with her.

• Zhou Wanwan told Zhao Muyuan and the ministers to calm the people and described plans to raise livestock and expand silk production.
• Zhao Muyuan praised Zhou Wanwan’s potential to rule all under heaven, but she said she preferred to grow her small realm gradually and avoid war.
• Qin Yuan asked whether the cities had made any moves, and he decided to wait and see.
• The Old Scholar Tree opened a passage to an underground palace, which Zhou Wanwan showed the ministers; she revealed it was Xiao Heng’s tomb and found the palace furnished with real gold and treasures.
• Zhao Muyuan proposed holding midday court sessions in the underground palace, and Zhou Wanwan agreed.
• Zhichun told Zhou Wanwan that Great Qi’s crown prince had summoned her to discuss something.

Zhou Wanwan visited the crown prince, who tried to recruit her wealth and support by offering her a place as his secondary consort. When she refused, he had her locked in the woodshed, where she settled in comfortably and heard that her family was struggling in the capital.

• Zhou Wanwan entered the crown prince's bedchamber despite Eunuch Xu's objections, and Old Scholar Tree warned her that the tea was poisoned.
• The crown prince asked Zhou Wanwan to become his secondary consort in exchange for supporting her businesses, but she rejected his offer and demanded payment for any help.
• The crown prince threatened Zhou Wanwan and ordered his guards to seize her and lock her in the woodshed.
• Old Scholar Tree cleared and decorated the woodshed, while Zhou Wanwan decided she would stay there and return only for morning court.
• Old Scholar Tree told Zhou Wanwan that her family was mocked and unwelcome in the capital, and that her parents and brothers were having a difficult time.

Zhou Wanwan rejected the crown prince’s attempt to recruit her as his secondary consort and insisted on a partnership instead. After the crown prince ordered her killed, the attackers who entered the woodshed were stopped, while Old Ancestor’s cultivation advanced.

• The crown prince discussed Zhou Wanwan’s refusal with the second princess and said he needed her resources and connections to survive.
• The second princess visited Zhou Wanwan in the woodshed and tried to persuade her to become the crown prince’s secondary consort.
• Zhou Wanwan refused, saying she wanted a partnership, and challenged the crown prince to come at her.
• The crown prince ordered guards to kill Zhou Wanwan, despite the second princess warning him that they needed her.
• More than a dozen attackers crept into the woodshed, but they could not move and were dragged into the woods.
• Old Ancestor completed a transformation and said his strength had reached at least the level of the Earth Ranking’s top ten.

Old Scholar Tree and the other trees secretly moved the crown prince’s entire imperial estate and its valuables away overnight. The crown prince blamed Zhou Wanwan and took his party to the Home Inn, where she claimed a luxury suite for herself.

• Old Scholar Tree and the trees decided to take the imperial estate, leaving its fruit trees behind, and cleared it out overnight.
• The crown prince woke on a field ridge covered in cow dung and learned from Eunuch Xu that his estate, valuables, and subordinates had disappeared.
• The second, third, and seventh princesses mourned their missing possessions, while Zhou Wanwan emerged from the woodpile and denied knowing what happened.
• The crown prince accused Zhou Wanwan of stealing the estate and ordered his two remaining subordinates to watch her.
• The group went to the Home Inn, where the second princess pledged a gold hairpin for their rooms because the crown prince had no money.
• Zhou Wanwan ignored the crown prince’s complaints and went to stay in a luxury suite.

Zhou Wanwan warned her officials not to provoke rival countries, dismissed court for three days, and asked Zhao Muyuan to oversee the farms while she remained in Great Qi. Meanwhile, the crown prince of Great Qi searched for her and revealed that he wanted her as his secondary consort to gain control of her wealth and businesses.

• Zhou Wanwan rushed from her room to the underground palace and presided over a midday court session.
• When ministers proposed sending troops against the forces outside the city, Zhou Wanwan warned that other countries had hidden powers and said she had chosen the borderlands to build a kingdom gradually.
• Zhou Wanwan dismissed court for three days and told the ministers to tend their farms, then asked Zhao Muyuan to attend in her place if she did not return.
• Zhao Muyuan urged Zhou Wanwan to study her books and finish her assignments before she left.
• The crown prince of Great Qi complained that Zhou Wanwan had disappeared, while the second princess questioned his plan to make her his secondary consort.
• The crown prince explained that he wanted Zhou Wanwan's money, shops, estates, restaurants, and delivery business to strengthen his position amid political pressure.

Zhou Wanwan rejected the crown prince’s offer to make her his secondary consort and refused to feed him for free. After the crown prince and several princesses returned, they bought her palace dishes and learned they could not afford her luxurious suite.

• The crown prince asked Zhou Wanwan to become his secondary consort, but she refused and ordered him out when he demanded a free meal.
• Old Scholar Tree brought Zhou Wanwan dishes from the imperial kitchen and said Old Ancestor had fought the person in the palace to a draw.
• The crown prince and several princesses returned, and the third princess fell from a toppled stool and accused Zhou Wanwan of causing it.
• The crown prince paid Zhou Wanwan twenty taels for the dishes, and she let the royals take the food.
• The third princess learned that Zhou Wanwan’s suite cost five hundred taels a day, failed to get Zhou Wanwan to share it, and left in a rage.

The Third Princess and the crown prince accepted Zhao Mingzhu’s invitation to stay at the Zhao residence, while Zhou Wanwan was forced to follow their carriages on foot. Eunuch Xu ordered the carriage to speed up to torment her, but Zhou Wanwan kept pace, and the Old Scholar Tree prepared to show him what real speed was.

• Zhao Mingzhu brought the Third Princess twenty thousand taels and invited her and the crown prince to stay at the Zhao residence.
• The crown prince told Zhou Wanwan to pack and come along, and the Old Scholar Tree explained the Zhao Family’s wealth and influence.
• The Third Princess and Zhao Mingzhu mocked Zhou Wanwan and left her out of the carriages heading to the Zhao residence.
• Eunuch Xu had Zhou Wanwan’s hands tied and ordered her to follow the speeding carriage.
• Zhou Wanwan kept pace with the carriage and taunted Eunuch Xu as the Old Scholar Tree promised to make it go faster.

Zhou Wanwan’s speeding carriage caused a crash that injured the crown prince and several princesses, and she refused to treat them without payment. Meanwhile, Old Ancestor and Old Scholar Tree blocked both ends of the road with rocks, and the county magistrate learned the royal party was trapped in the wreckage.

• Zhou Wanwan’s carriage sped past the royal party, then crashed into the crown prince’s carriage and injured the crown prince, the second and third princesses, and Zhao Mingzhu.
• Zhou Wanwan demanded payment before treating the injured, and the crown prince threatened her before promising to repay her later.
• Zhou Wanwan explained that a supposed rockfall had blocked both ends of the road, leaving everyone trapped for days.
• Old Ancestor, Old Scholar Tree, and the trees piled huge rocks across the road while arguing over who had carried more.
• Travelers who found the blocked road questioned whether the rocks had come from a rockfall and went to report it to Xin'an County’s magistrate.
• The magistrate learned that the crown prince and the second, third, and seventh princesses were trapped in the carriage wreckage among the rocks.