Cha Ming is back in Verdant Crossroads, and for now, his allies are safe. The Thread Seer has chosen to honor her promise and has begun crafting a new body for the Monkey King. Her seclusion has not gone unnoticed, however. Verdant Crossroads’ traditional allies are giving them the cold shoulder, and their neighbor, the Republic of Fendal, is now eyeing their territory. It falls to the junior Thread Seer, Clever Dusk, to cobble together a defense—and to Cha Ming, her teacher, to help her. As a craftsman, Cha Ming has no trouble finding allies. But he and his friends are much better at finding trouble instead. But maybe all the chaos they’ll cause is a good thing? Cha Ming’s research on rankers and Daoism infringes on the domain of the gods. The last thing he needs is for Mendin’s deities to notice him.