(Season 1 Episode 2) - The series is set in the mid fourth century BC during the Warring States period of China. In 338 BC, Ying Si (King Huiwen) succeeds his father, Ying Quliang (Duke Xiao), as the ruler of the Qin state. After coming to power, he gets rid of Shang Yang, whom he has a personal grudge against, but retains the sociopolitical reforms implemented by his father and Shang Yang in the past two decades.

Ying Si soon receives an invitation to attend a ceremony in Pengcheng, where he and the rulers of the Qi and Wei states will declare themselves kings and recognise each other's legitimacy. (The rulers of Qin and Qi were previously dukes.) He survives assassination attempts and prevents rival states from forming an alliance against Qin. While he is away, the Qin aristocrats who have long opposed Shang Yang's reforms instigate the Yiqu state to attack Xianyang, the Qin capital, and attempt to use the opportunity to overthrow the king. However, King Huiwen remains cool-headed while dealing with the crisis, and eventually drives back the Yiqu invaders and eliminates the traitorous aristocrats.

Under King Huiwen's reign, the Qin state defeats the Wei state and seizes all the Wei territories west of the Yellow River between 330 and 328 BC. In 330 BC, the Qin state takes advantage of internal conflict in the Yiqu state to attack them and force them to surrender by 327 BC. In 318 BC, the Qin army successfully repels an invasion by a five-state alliance – Wei, Zhao, Han, Yan and Chu. Two years later, Qin conquers the Shu state to its south. In 313 BC, King Huiwen sends his chancellor Zhang Yi to sow discord between the Chu and Qi states. When King Huai of Chu learns that he has been deceived, he orders an attack on Qin but loses at the Battle of Danyang. With these victories, the Qin state gains control over the Guanzhong, Hanzhong and Bashu regions, and poses an even greater threat to its rivals in the east.

King Huiwen dies in 311 BC. He is succeeded by his first son, Ying Dang (King Wu), who wages war against the Han state and gains access to the Zhou dynasty's capital, Luoyang, after the Battle of Yiyang. In 307 BC, while visiting the Zhou royal palace in Luoyang, King Wu attempts to powerlift a ding as a show of his physical strength. Although he succeeds in his attempt, he suffers a fatal injury and dies shortly afterwards. His younger half-brother, Ying Ji (King Zhaoxiang), will eventually succeed him as the next king of Qin.

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