Chapter Summaries

Ye Xuan summoned the court to discuss Su Hu of Jizhou’s growing army and preparations for rebellion. After the ministers debated how to respond and generals volunteered to lead an attack, Bi Gan warned that Jizhou’s forces and defenses might be stronger than they appeared.

• Wushuang summoned the court officials after word reached Chaoge that Su Hu was recruiting troops and stockpiling grain in Jizhou.
• Ye Xuan told the ministers that Su Hu had gathered at least seventy or eighty thousand elite troops and challenged them to propose a response.
• Shang Rong and other ministers debated whether Chaoge should attack, wait, or send an envoy, while Ye Xuan warned that delay or failure could encourage other lords to rebel.
• Zheng Lun, Lu Xiong, and other generals volunteered to lead forces against Jizhou, proposing different troop numbers and strategies.
• Bi Gan cautioned Ye Xuan that Su Hu might command more troops than reported and that Jizhou City was difficult to attack.

Ye Xuan decided to lead a swift campaign against Su Hu in Jizhou, despite his ministers’ objections and the small size of his force. Zheng Lun gathered thirty thousand elite cavalry and rode out ahead of the emperor’s march.

• Zhang Guifang offered to take Jizhou with fifty thousand soldiers, but Ye Xuan chose to command the campaign himself.
• Ye Xuan appointed Zheng Lun deputy commander and ordered him to lead thirty thousand troops toward Jizhou, where they would join Huang Feihu.
• Ye Xuan rejected the ministers’ pleas for more troops, saying speed and secrecy were essential to defeating Su Hu quickly.
• Zheng Lun selected thirty thousand elite cavalry and set out on his Fiery-Eyed Golden-Gazed Beast.

Ye Xuan secretly brought his cavalry to Jizhou while Chaoge spread false reports that a 500,000-strong army would attack Su Hu. After Su Hu publicly rebelled, he prepared for a bitter fight, unaware that the Human Emperor's forces were already outside the city.

• Shang Rong and Bi Gan kept Chaoge orderly and concealed that Ye Xuan had personally gone to war.
• Ye Xuan's 30,000 cavalry joined Huang Feihu's forces, bringing their combined strength to nearly 100,000.
• Su Hu declared his rebellion, denounced the Human Emperor, and proclaimed that Jizhou would never pay homage to Shang.
• Shang Rong and Bi Gan spread false reports that Ye Xuan was assembling 500,000 soldiers and intended to slaughter Jizhou City.
• Ye Xuan secretly encamped outside Jizhou while Su Hu discussed the coming battle with his generals.

Su Hu and Su Quanzhong prepared Jizhou to resist Chaoge’s planned invasion, while Su Hu secretly relied on Xiqi’s promises of support. Su Hu acted as though he feared defeat and offered the generals a chance to leave, prompting one tall, slender general to kneel before him.

• Su Quanzhong dismissed Chaoge’s planned 500,000-man force and urged Su Hu to trust Jizhou’s defenses and the support of Bo Yikao and other vassal lords.
• Su Hu warned the generals not to underestimate Chaoge’s experts, though their fighting spirit remained strong.
• Su Hu privately relied on Bo Yikao’s promises that Xiqi would provide provisions, rally other lords, and nominate him as king of the vassal lords.
• Su Hu pretended to fear that Jizhou would be isolated and defeated, offering money and treasures to any general who wished to leave.
• A tall, slender general stepped forward and knelt before Su Hu.

Su Hu rallied Jizhou’s generals by pretending to doubt their resolve, then laid out a plan to strike Huang Feihu before Chaoge’s army arrived. Jizhou prepared for a prolonged siege as Su Quanzhong was sent to bring nearby provisions into the city.

• The generals and soldiers swore to defend Jizhou after Su Hu questioned whether they could face Huang Feihu.
• Su Hu revealed his resolve and directed Jizhou’s scouts to track Huang Feihu while the city prepared a surprise attack.
• Su Hu planned to defeat Huang Feihu’s forces, raid Chaoge’s camp during its setup, and burn its provisions before the main army arrived.
• Su Hu ordered Su Quanzhong to move nearby food stores into Jizhou City while avoiding Huang Feihu.

Su Daji worried over Su Hu’s rebellion and flew toward Jizhou, while Ye Xuan prepared to capture the city with a disguised force. His plan faced a possible opening when Wushuang reported a grain convoy at Jizhou’s eastern gate.

• The people of Jizhou feared the coming war, and Su Daji suspected Bo Yikao had persuaded Su Hu to rebel.
• Su Daji recalled Ye Xuan’s achievements and flew from Chaoge toward Jizhou.
• Ye Xuan discussed how to take Jizhou with Huang Feihu and Zheng Lun, then proposed sending twenty thousand disguised soldiers into the city to open its gates.
• Wushuang told Ye Xuan that a general had appeared at Jizhou’s eastern gate with several thousand soldiers and over a thousand empty grain carts.

Ye Xuan planned to infiltrate Jizhou by ambushing its grain convoy, and Zheng Lun led the attack. The convoy’s commander, Su Quanzhong, recognized Zheng Lun as a traitor as the ambush began.

• Ye Xuan ordered Zheng Lun to ambush Jizhou’s grain escort and disguise his soldiers as its guards to enter the city.
• Zheng Lun led ten thousand soldiers to conceal themselves along a narrow pass while Ye Xuan watched from above.
• Su Quanzhong arrived leading the grain convoy, and Ye Xuan recognized him as Su Hu’s son and his brother-in-law.
• Zheng Lun’s troops sent boulders crashing down on the convoy, then charged from the woods as the escort fell into chaos.
• Su Quanzhong led a counterattack and, upon seeing Zheng Lun, cursed him for betraying Jizhou and ambushing him.

Zheng Lun used his divine ability to rout Jizhou’s soldiers and capture Su Quanzhong. Brought before Ye Xuan, Su Quanzhong realized the Human Emperor had anticipated Jizhou’s rebellion and was already reclaiming the old territories.

• Su Quanzhong fled, but Zheng Lun’s thunderous snort sent yellow Qi after him and knocked him down, while Chaoge’s troops recovered and attacked the Jizhou soldiers.
• The Jizhou soldiers surrendered after their commander fled, and Ye Xuan followed Zheng Lun’s army.
• Zheng Lun pursued Su Quanzhong, defended his service to the Human Emperor, and vowed to kill the Su clan for rebelling.
• Zheng Lun overwhelmed Su Quanzhong with his demon-subduing pestle, smashed his mount, and incapacitated him with a kick.
• Zheng Lun brought Su Quanzhong before Ye Xuan, and Su Quanzhong realized the Human Emperor had known of Jizhou’s rebellion and had come to reclaim its territory.

Ye Xuan’s forces began their assault on Jizhou after Su Daji offered to help him punish the Su Clan, while Empress Nuwa watched with interest. The disguised Chaoge troops breached the east gate and charged the city, leaving the battle underway.

• Su Quanzhong cursed Ye Xuan, and Wushuang silenced him with a water arrow.
• Su Daji arrived and knelt before Ye Xuan, saying she had come to clean house for him; Ye Xuan told her to rise.
• Empress Nuwa observed the events from Wa Huang Palace and wondered how Ye Xuan would restore order in Yin Shang.
• Huang Feihu and Zheng Lun prepared five thousand soldiers in Jizhou armor, hiding their weapons beneath grain wagons, while Zheng Lun used an illusion to look like Su Quanzhong.
• The disguised troops entered Jizhou through the east gate, then Zheng Lun ordered them to attack the guards.
• The soldiers charged through the city as the Jizhou guards realized they were under attack by what appeared to be their own troops.

Chaoge’s elite forces broke into Jizhou and overwhelmed its defenses, leaving Su Hu to realize that Bo Yikao and Xiqi had drawn him into a rebellion without offering support. As the fighting spread through the city, Su Hu despaired while his wife urged him to gather the remaining troops and resist.

• Chaoge’s war elephant cavalry, led by Huang Feihu, stormed through Jizhou City and headed for Su Hu’s residence while Zheng Lun and the horsemen attacked the provisions depot.
• Chaoge’s hundred thousand troops seized the streets, slaughtering the city’s defenders and breaking the Jizhou army’s resistance.
• Su Hu heard that Chaoge had entered the city and regretted rebelling, realizing his forces could no longer defend Jizhou effectively.
• Su Hu blamed Bo Yikao and Xiqi for luring him into rebellion and leaving Jizhou to face the consequences alone.
• Su Hu’s wife begged him to stop drinking and rally the remaining soldiers, but he remained overwhelmed by despair.

As Chaoge's army closed in on Jizhou, Su Hu regretted rebelling after being misled by Xiqi and Bo Yikao. Fearing his wife would be dishonored, he proposed killing her, but Su Wan insisted that a hero's sword should not be stained with a woman's blood and drew her own dagger.

• Su Hu's wife urged him to stop drinking and escape, but he lamented that rebellion had left him with nowhere to go.
• Su Hu accused Xiqi and Bo Yikao of inciting him to rebel, and he regretted not remaining loyal while his daughter Su Daji was in Chaoge.
• Su Hu, driven to despair by the approaching Chaoge army, drew his sword and offered to kill his wife to spare her from dishonor.
• Su Wan recalled her years with Su Hu, praised him as a hero, and said she would take her own life instead of letting his sword stain itself with her blood.
• Su Wan drew an exquisite dagger from her sleeve.

Su Wan tried to kill herself with the dagger Su Hu had named Sever Longing, but Su Hu stopped her as Huang Feihu arrived to confront his old friend over his rebellion. The Human Emperor then entered, and Su Hu and Su Wan knelt before him.

• Su Wan drew Sever Longing and stabbed at her chest, but Su Hu caught the dagger and was wounded.
• Huang Feihu arrived on his divine ox and asked Su Hu why he had rebelled.
• Su Hu said he had believed slander about the Human Emperor, and Huang Feihu angrily defended the emperor and his policies.
• Su Wan told Huang Feihu she had supported her husband even though it could lead her to the Yellow Springs.
• The Human Emperor entered with two women, and Su Hu and Su Wan knelt to greet him.

Ye Xuan ordered Jizhou massacred after Su Hu’s rebellion, rejecting Su Daji’s plea for mercy. He left Huang Feihu and Zheng Lun to prepare the slaughter, arguing that the brutal example would deter the other feudal lords from rebelling.

• Ye Xuan confronted the captured Su Hu, while Su Daji struggled with her feelings as her human consciousness took control.
• Su Daji knelt before Ye Xuan and pleaded for her father, but Ye Xuan questioned whether her actions could make him spare Su Hu.
• Zheng Lun reported that Chaoge’s army controlled Jizhou, had killed sixty thousand defenders, and captured one hundred and seventy thousand soldiers.
• Ye Xuan ordered a massacre of Jizhou, declaring that neither people nor animals should be spared.
• Ye Xuan instructed Huang Feihu and Zheng Lun to prepare the massacre, saying he would bear responsibility for the order.

Ye Xuan ordered Jizhou City’s three million residents killed but allowed one member of the Su Clan to live, leaving Su Daji to choose. Daji named her parents, Su Hu and Su Wan, and Su Hu killed himself; Su Wan prepared his body and accepted the Human Emperor as her son-in-law.

• Ye Xuan ordered Huang Feihu and Zheng Lun to carry out his decree against Jizhou, then told Su Daji that one person in the Su Clan could live.
• Su Daji asked her parents to go to their deaths, and Su Hu and Su Wan understood that she had chosen someone else in the family to survive.
• Su Hu thanked Ye Xuan, urged Daji to serve the Human Emperor, and killed himself with his sword.
• Su Wan covered Su Hu’s face with white silk and accepted Ye Xuan as her son-in-law, recognizing that he had spared one member of the Su Clan.

Su Wan and Su Hu died by their own hands after entrusting Daji to serve Ye Xuan, while Ye Xuan struggled under the weight of the slaughter at Jizhou. The Fox Lord of Green Mound resolved to finish the city’s destruction, and Chaoge learned that Jizhou had already fallen in a great victory.

• Su Wan thanked Daji for preserving the Su Clan’s line and urged her to serve Ye Xuan well.
• Su Wan joined Su Hu and killed herself with Lovesickness Severing, leaving Daji grief-stricken.
• Ye Xuan suffered from the karmic burden of the deaths of three million people, and Wushuang took him back to Chaoge.
• The Fox Lord of Green Mound took control of Daji and set out to help Ye Xuan complete the slaughter of Jizhou.
• A messenger reached Chaoge with news that Huang Feihu’s forces had captured Jizhou and defeated Su Hu.

After Chaoge officials learned how Di Xin captured Jizhou through a swift deception, Wushuang revealed that he had ordered all three million inhabitants slaughtered and instructed them to publicize the massacre. As the news spread across the realm, a mysterious blessing strengthened Chaoge’s fortune, which began to take the shape of a black bird.

• Wushuang explained that Di Xin’s army had entered Jizhou disguised as soldiers escorting provisions, then opened the gates for the Chaoge cavalry.
• The officials praised Di Xin’s victory and decided to spread the news to the common people and the eight hundred vassal lords.
• Wushuang told the officials that Di Xin had ordered Jizhou’s three million inhabitants killed and wanted the massacre publicized throughout the realm.
• The officials carried out Di Xin’s orders, and news of the massacre spread from Chaoge.
• A mysterious force blessed Chaoge, whose fortune grew stronger and began to resemble a black bird; Wushuang looked up in alarm.

After the massacre of Jizhou, the Human Clan’s providence increased and the regional lords became more obedient. A month later, Ye Xuan inspected the rapidly multiplying crops Wushuang had cultivated and ordered their existence kept secret.

• Wushuang and Empress Nuwa saw that the Human Clan’s providence had grown after Ye Xuan ordered the slaughter of Jizhou’s three million people.
• News of the massacre frightened the regional lords, and the realm remained peaceful for a month while Ye Xuan cultivated with Su Daji and Wushuang nearby.
• Ye Xuan asked Wushuang about the crops he had entrusted to her, and she reported that they had ripened seven or eight times and increased more than tenfold.
• Ye Xuan summoned the civil and military officials and followed Wushuang to the guarded mountain north of Chaoge, where they saw the thriving crops.
• Wushuang showed Ye Xuan another planted area, and he praised her work and ordered everyone to keep the crops secret.

Ye Xuan showed the court officials the crops Shang Rong had brought back and explained that they would sustain Yin Shang in the future. After tasting peanuts and learning about sweet potatoes, the officials followed him through the fields to discover what the next crop would be.

• Shang Rong recognized the plants he had brought back, while Ye Xuan told the officials that the crops would secure Yin Shang’s future.
• Bi Gan asked what the plants were for, and Ye Xuan led the curious officials into the fields.
• Ye Xuan pulled up a peanut plant, explained how its kernels could be eaten and pressed for oil, and let the officials taste them.
• Ye Xuan dug up a sweet potato plant and described ways to cook its tubers and make wine from them.
• The muddy officials followed Ye Xuan toward the next patch, eager to see what other crops he would reveal.

Ye Xuan showed the civil and military officials several crops, explaining how corn, buckwheat, and potatoes could be eaten and processed. By evening, he had them prepare an outdoor feast and make their first buns from buckwheat flour.

• Ye Xuan showed the officials corn and explained its uses, including making durable pancakes for armies.
• Ye Xuan introduced high-yield buckwheat and described how it could be processed into flour and many foods.
• Ye Xuan pulled up potatoes and explained that they could be boiled, steamed, or cooked into dishes.
• Ye Xuan led the officials across several hills, teaching them about the crops and their edible parts.
• Ye Xuan ordered large pots for an outdoor cookout and directed the officials to prepare crops and make buckwheat flour.
• Ye Xuan helped the officials knead dough and steam their first batch of misshapen buns, then asked them a question.

Ye Xuan prepared corn, sweet potatoes, and steamed buns for the court officials, who overcame their doubts and devoured the food. Moved by Ye Xuan’s accomplishments and the kingdom’s prospects, Bi Gan and the ministers knelt before him, and Ye Xuan told them to stay overnight because he had more to show them the next day.

• Ye Xuan asked whether the officials had learned how to prepare the foods, then invited them to eat.
• Shang Rong tasted the corn and sweet potato, marveled at their flavor, and encouraged the hesitant officials to try them.
• The officials eagerly ate the food, while Ye Xuan tasted a steamed bun and reflected on his uncertain life in the Primordial World.
• Bi Gan wept over Yin Shang’s decline and praised Ye Xuan’s accomplishments, and the ministers joined him in kneeling before Ye Xuan.
• Ye Xuan told the officials to stay on the mountain overnight because he would show them more good things the next day.