Qin Zheng approves Zetian's plan to pilot with Di Renjie and Feng Xiaobao, who undergo castration that afternoon to become "eunuch-pilots." Sima Yi appears on a government-directed talk show to spin a cover story explaining why Zetian, not Qin Zheng, will be deployed against the Hunduns, framing the Yellow Dragon as better reserved against "counter-revolutionary" threats. Zetian feels no triumph at the surgeries, recognizing them as another assertion of Qin Zheng's control rather than her liberation.

The night before her deployment, Zetian requests another dream-realm training session. Qin Zheng reveals he doesn't actually want a child but is performing for the gods, who he believes want to give him an heir as a vulnerability. He warns Zetian she must prove her worth as a pilot to justify keeping her womb unused. He then teaches her about qì theory: all five qì types share the same primal particles in different configurations, and spirit metal is crystallized qì whose bonds enable transmutation under dual-pilot pressure. He channels Wood qì through her body to demonstrate, and challenges her to isolate Fire qì from Metal, which she struggles with.

Zetian proposes pardoning all political prisoners jailed under the old regime. Qin Zheng immediately agrees to issue the order the next day, unsettling Zetian with how quickly her suggestions become policy. He chides her for being unused to wielding power. When she worries about moving too fast given his vulnerability, he instructs her that if he dies, she must arm the workers and peasants, planning universal firearms training for civilians.

Zetian protests this could cause civil war, but Qin Zheng counters that they are already in one, and reveals that during his original reign the other six nations declared war on him first, forcing his unification campaigns. He argues revolutions are tragedies forced upon those denied peaceful options. When Zetian despairs that human nature—greed and selfishness—dooms any new system, Qin Zheng manifests dream-visions of historical worker rallies being massacred by soldiers, eventually showing soldiers joining the people. He argues resistance to exploitation is equally part of human nature, and that exploiters always sow their own destruction. Zetian recognizes her own rage mirrored in him and realizes that, despite hating him, she does not want him to die.