First of A Thousand Autumns
Conflict breaks out over a dust-covered writing knife in Sky Mirror Pavilion.
A sliver of life retrieved from oblivion awakens the smoke frozen for a century.
Is it the first of a thousand autumns, or the last? The halls of power are filled with dispute for but one question.
The weiqi player who made himself a stone is on the brink of an answer.
Step upon the board, dreamer who claims to be evolution.
Who am I? You are me, yet you are not me. How can you know me?
Looking on, As a new age comes into view.
- TA-ST-1: Unfailing Recitation (Interlude)After the Feast of a Hundred Delicacies, strange phenomena manifest around Yan. The True Lung makes an agreement with the Grand Commandant and sets the day of the full moon as the deadline before which Yan will send troops to quell the Sui. Zuo Le leaves the Garden of Grotesqueries, hurrying back to Baizao with a token in hand. At the same time, Ch'en enters a dream woven by the Feranmuts.
- TA-1: Surge Against Rocks (Before Operation)Faced with her past and the Feranmut crisis before her, Ch'en refuses to stay uninvolved. The Grand Tutor's sudden visit deepens the wedge between Ch'en and Wei Yenwu, and Ch'en leaves unhappy. When she returns, Wei Yenwu has vanished without a trace.
- TA-1: Surge Against Rocks (After Operation)Zuo Le runs into danger, and Mo Yi lends a hand, but she also takes the chance to snatch the strange token from him. Ch'en passes through a sentry post, and rescues a woman under attack by geists. Scriptgeists pour into the city, sending it into turmoil.
- TA-2: The Great Ghost (Before Operation)Sui traps Wang in the cage of memory. Strange things have been happening around the Sui proxies after the appearance of Yu, all pointing to the awakening of Sui. Jie demonstrates the power of the writing knife to Wang, as she seeks a way to eliminate Sui.
- TA-2: The Great Ghost (After Operation)Wang encounters a weiqi maniac and recognizes Sui's trap in the game. He uses the writing knife to scrape away every 'Sui' character in the book until he dies. This round, he sacrifices three black stones to kill Sui in the dream, disrupting Sui's memory.
- TA-3: Dense Ink Trace (Before Operation)Jun halts Ya's attack at Savors at Yu's. Ch'en follows the scriptgeists' trail into the library from her dreams, and encounters an unfamiliar relative. Scriptgeists cause a commotion in the Sky Mirror Pavilion, and a fight breaks out.
- TA-3: Dense Ink Trace (After Operation)Liang Xun appears and calms things down. Ch'en asks Liang Xun his thoughts on the disappearance of Wei Yenwu. The group decides to head to the top of the Sky Mirror Pavilion and investigate the writing knife that has lain there for ages.
- TA-4: Small Avalanche (Before Operation)Wang angers Shuo by allowing Ju to escape from the Yanese army. Shuo advocates taking a proper, steady approach to fighting Sui, while Wang seeks a decisive breakthrough. Ling mediates their conflict and explains to Wang her plan to protect their siblings from Sui.
- TA-4: Small Avalanche (After Operation)Wang glimpses Sui's nightmare with Ling and Hou's help. He loses several more of his weiqi stones and experiences the terror of the proxies being devoured when Sui awakens in the 'future'. He manages to erase the White player from the dream and kills Sui again.
- TA-5: Twin Swallow Pincer (Before Operation)One hundred and forty years ago, the previous True Lung took the throne. He summons Wang and demands that he eliminate Sui in twenty years, in order to free up the massive energy spent keeping Sui suppressed. Jie meets Chun, her new Candleholder.
- TA-5: Twin Swallow Pincer (After Operation)Dark tides brew below the surface of Baizao's rebuilding effort. The writing knife disappears, and Chun learns during the search that Jie's powers have been growing. The rebuilding of Baizao runs into obstacles, and a rift develops between Yan and the proxies.
- TA-6: Enveloped Edge (Before Operation)Zuo Le and Mo Yi exchange pointed words in the Sky Mirror Pavilion, as the Sui Regulator's secrets begin to reveal themselves. Ch'en and Ch'en Chao-ch'ien talk about the dark history of the Ch'en family. They begin to unearth the hidden truth.
- TA-6: Enveloped Edge (After Operation)Yumen receives marching orders. Jun returns to the Judicial Review Office and discusses the past and the law with Chen Che. Ch'en's group reaches the top of the Sky Mirror Pavilion, and Mo Yi reveals the existence of Bu Fan. An unexpected figure appears.
- TA-7: Severed Yearning (Before Operation)Twenty years flash past in the blink of an eye in the maze of memory. White forces Wang to go into the game alone, but developments inside the Tomb of Sui are beyond anyone's expectations.
- TA-7: Severed Yearning (After Operation)Deceived by White's words to 'eliminate the great evil before dealing with the culprit', Chun encourages Jie to die on Wang's behalf. Jie entrusts her writing knife to Jun before she departs.
- TA-8: Golden Erasing Blade (Before Operation)In the Sky Mirror Pavilion, Mo Yi claims that the Grand Commandant's goal is to steal the writing knife and alter history, unlocking Bu Fan with Wei Yenwu's life, and that he is aided and abetted by Chun, head of the Sui Regulator. With leaves rustling and candlelight flickering, Baizao sits on the brink of war.
- TA-8: Golden Erasing Blade (After Operation)The token that Zuo Le retrieves from the Garden of Grotesqueries turns out to be a sliver of Jie's lifeforce, before which Chun's pride and principles fall to pieces. Jun entrusts the writing knife to Ch'en. Zuo and Mo head for the Tomb of Sui, but they are stopped by Ya.
- TA-9: Defiant Spirit (Before Operation)Soldiers put their lives on the line as scriptgeists devastate the city. The Grand Commandant remonstrates with the True Lung, but is helpless to stop his sovereign from activating Bu Fan and putting an end to it with his own life. Inside the Forbidden City, Ch'en and Wei Yenwu reunite and cross blades.
- TA-9: Defiant Spirit (After Operation)Ch'en bests Wei Yenwu's Heaven's Eye with Heaven's Plaint, and points out how he's past his prime, and is actively fleeing. Ya abducts Zuo Le and Mo Yi in a bid to find 'Bu Fan'. During this critical juncture, Hou and Ju step in to lend a hand. Then, Yumen's horns sound from afar.
- TA-10: Capping the Sui (Before Operation)Zuo Le brings the truth to the city, and the Lord Exorcist regains command. However, the order to fire upon the Tomb of Sui has already been issued. In the depths of the Tomb, Wang grasps a record of a game Jie left behind. Finally, he meets the one who plays White from the shadows.
- TA-10: Capping the Sui (After Operation)Ling and Jun use verse, wine and tune to weave a dream, delaying the awakening of Sui. The rest of their family also lend their aid. Elsewhere, Ch'en performs Heaven's Plaint using the writing knife, buying time for Yumen's artillery barrage to be interrupted.
- TA-11: Eternal Cycle (Before Operation)At the border between dream and reality, Chongyue and Wang exchange words across the great divide. Fear and anger grip Sui. Wang lifts his sword, declaring the end of Sui's evolution.
- TA-11: Eternal Cycle (After Operation)Sui's consciousness is defeated, and Wang successfully takes Its place. Ya arrived late and lost the target of Her vengeance, but in a moment between madness and clarity, She makes a decision that will influence the future, as Wang calculated. With the matter settled, everyone outside the Tomb of Sui is well, with only one yet to return.
- TA-ST-2: Unfailing Chronicle (Interlude)The crisis is over, but it still echoes. The Ch'ens revise their family chronicle. The True Lung attempts to reconcile with his older brother. The Old Tianshi meets with a mysterious visitor. Chongyue sets foot on the path to find Wang.