Xin, Bi, and the breakaway force, fighting to reach the throne room, face the seemingly invincible Zuo Ci in the "Right-Side Dragon" corridor, while outside, the King and Lord Changwen hold out against Si Shi and Wei Xing.

Blocked by Wei Xing's elite crossbowmen, the forces of Zheng and the mountain folk split up. Xin accompanies a smaller force to seek out the usurper Cheng Jiao in the palace... but their way, too, is blocked, by the deadly assassin Zuo Ci and his men.

Zheng, Xin, and their companions arrive at the gates of Xianyang, capital of the Qin Kingdom, with a force far too small to assault such a great fortress. A stratagem may get them inside the walls, but they won't reach the Royal Court without a fight.

Zheng and Xin return to where Lord Changwen waits. They make ready to ride to the capital, but they'll need remarkable strategy to overcome the terrible odds. Meanwhile, in the capital, Jie Shi has raised a vast army to face the formidable Lu Buwei.

In the stronghold of the mountain folk, Zheng treats with their king, who seems determined to kill the young King of Qin in retribution for longstanding grudges. And the arrival of Xin and his companions pushes this confrontation to its crisis.

Xin sets out into the western mountains with Zheng and his handful of soldiers, seeking the aid of the mountain king. The mountain folk, though, have little liking for flatlanders, and when he meets them, King Zheng is forced to make a perilous choice.

Xin hears a tale of Piao's heroism during Wang Yi's ambush, but he also learns that King Zheng has even fewer allies than he'd been told. With little time left to forestall a civil war, Zheng decides on a dangerous path, to seek out unlikely allies.

Xin, who's vowed in the name of his own ambitions to help the King, must singlehandedly face the treacherous assassin Mu Ta. Meanwhile, General Wang Yi brings a piece of tribute to the Court that seems to spell the end for all young King Zheng's hopes.

Fleeing pursuit, Zheng and Xin struggle with exhaustion, and with each other. When they reach the appointed meeting-site, there's no sign of Zheng's sole supporter, Lord Changwen . . . and the murderous tracker Mu Ta is hot on their trail.

Xin and Zheng, the King, entrust their escape to young Diao, who knows a secret way out of Heibei Village. Xin still blames Zheng for Piao's death, and even as this simmering conflict boils over, a new and deadly pursuer takes up the chase.

Xin discovers Ying Zheng, the young King of Qin, who's fleeing his half-brother's uprising. But when Piao's killer arrives to murder Ying Zheng, Xin, who's learned that Piao died serving as Zheng's stand-in, must decide which to help and which to kill.

Orphan and small-town servant Piao is unexpectedly invited to work at the Royal Court. Some months later, he returns to his village mortally wounded and, before he dies, sends his friend Xin off to a dangerous village, where Xin has a shocking encounter.