More black scrolls are recovered. Many shugenja are now aware of their existence, and of the awesome powers they can convey. Isawa Tadaka and Isawa Uona have become corrupted by the knowledge gained from the scrolls, but still they labor to understand their significance.
Battles large and small are common. Land is taken, retaken, and lost over and over, churning the farmlands of the peasants into huge fields of mud. The harvest is terrible. Famine, combined with the still raging plague, continues to exact a tremendous toll on the Empire. Combat related deaths, deaths from starvation and disease exceed one million Rokugani.
The barriers between the material world and jingoku, the nether regions of the underworld begin to weaken. Immensely powerful Elemental Terrors are unleashed - oni of heretofore unknown powers.
Hitomi, raving from her injury, is conveyed to the Imperial Capitol by a band of Ize Zume (the tattoed men) who are fleeing one of the many battles at Beiden Pass. In Otosan Uchi, Hitomi is tended by Kachiko, who seeks to twist the hatred in her heart for Yakamo into an all out desire to destroy the Crab Clan itself. In return for her support, Kachiko provides a powerful artifact, the Obsidan Hand for Hitomi's use.
A Test is held to chose a new Emerald Champion. Many samurai from across the Empire have arrived for the Test. Among them are Doji Hoturi and Kakita Toshimoko, the young Diamyo of the Crane and his sensei, the Iaijutsu Master. Kachiko manages to entrap Hoturi and use another ancient artifact, the Egg of P'an Ku, to create a duplicate of him, the False Hoturi, who leaves the Capitol city and returns to the lands of the Crane, where his boorish behavior and increasingly insulting remarks soon so enrage the Lion that they march openly on the Crane lands.
Shattered by his Lord's behavior, and convinced that there is something grievously amiss, Toshimoko enters himself in the Test of the Emerald Champion at the last minute, and defeats all challengers, including Hitomi. She survives, but leaves the Capitol to return to the Dragon lands to confront Togashi Yokuni, the Dragon Clan Diamyo. Donning the Emerald Armor, Toshimoko lets Kachiko know that he will not stand for her meddling in his affairs. However, as the representative of the Emperor's justice, his first actions must be to return home and kill Hoturi. With heavy heart, he sets out to fulfil his destiny.