Bao's growing followers encounter imperial General Tung, who states that the Empress is pleased with Bao's attacks on the foreigners, and adds that so long as they support the Empress, imperial troops will not fight them. Bao kills a large group of missionaries, European soldiers, and Chinese Christians, but spares the women and children, enraging Ch'in Shih-huang. Bao is wounded, and his brothers killed, capturing a Christian town. After Mei-wen nurses him, he burns the Christian women and children alive.; Bao and his followers enter Peking, where a joyous Mei-wen shows him the marvelous Hanlin Academy Library. Fighting explodes, abetted by the government. Bao's forces besiege the Legation Quarter until Ch'in Shih-huang orders him to gain entry by burning the library. He hesitates until the enraged First Emperor tells him that the time has passed. He burns it anyway to the disgust of Mei-wen, who joins a foreign man in rescuing books until the roof caves in on them. As Bao's forces begin their attack the foreign relief force arrives. In short order, Bao and all his followers are dead.; Little Bao and his followers save a young woman from Chinese Christian thugs. Obsessed by Mei-wen, he keeps his men in her village and trains the village men. Tension threatens the brotherhood, several of whom desire Mei-wen. Ch'in Shih-huang appears to Bao, demanding that he ruthlessly sacrifice everything and everyone for the cause of China. When imperial troops attack, Little Bao and his men kill them all, then venture forth with their new recruits, not as a small band but as an army. Mei-wen too fought the imperial troops, but Bao orders her to stay home.; Red Lantern Chu comes to the village and performs healings following a disastrous flood. He trains the young men in kung fu and takes a detachment to fight Chinese Christian in another village. Little Bao demands to accompany the expedition, but Red Lantern sends him to Master Big Belly for further training.; Master Big Belly trains Little Bao in kung fu, and in mystic arts, until the detachment comes home. They report victory over the Chinese Christians; but that victory was followed by imperial repression, and the death of Red Lantern, in accord with European demands. Imperial troops seize the village men who attacked the Christians, but the death of Master Big Belly unleashes mystic power in Little Bao. Channeling the deified First Emperor [Ch'in Shih-huang Ti] he leads the slaughter of the imperial troops, and is acknowledged as the leader.; European soldiers, a Catholic priest, and Chinese Christian thugs torment a village in Shan-tung, and the national government is powerless to intervene.