Spoilers have begun to show up on the boards. As always, take with a grain of salt. Also, I didn’t order the book, so I have no way of directly confirming things.

This post will continue to be updated if I find more spoilers.


Riou (Jr.) and Shuurei are at the Hyou clan’s house. [I gather from other spoilers that Riou took Shuurei there for her health] EDIT: Shuurei’s condition got bad, so Suou and Ensei agreed with Riou that taking her to the Hyou clan would be the best course of action.
There’s a plague of locusts, causing a lot of problems for Ryuuki. (And possibly other natural disasters, such as earthquakes)
Apparently Ryuuki and Jyuusan-hime have some scenes together.
Shuuei and Shiba Jin (Jin under his master’s orders) are going to try to go the Hyou clan’s house using Uu Uu’s powers, but instead they are sent there by Ryuuren.
Ryuuren apparently is the host of the Blue Immortal
Shuurei confronts Ruka. I’m confused about exactly what’s going on here, but I think Ruka tells Shuurei that she can live longer if she possesses someone else’s body, but Shuurei refuses.
Sakujun, who had previously come back to life thanks to the power of the Black Immortal, kills Hyou Eiki in Sa Province, because by killing her, he can totally destroy the small shrine(?) in Sa Province.
Although Ryuuki is worried about Shuurei, he cannot go after her, as she is only one official. Shuuei, though, decides to go and search for her.

I found some more spoilers:
After Shuurei leaves Kiyou, the spell Bara-hime used to extend Shuurei’s life (which also made her grow more slowly?) is broken. Shuurei is on the verge of death, but continues her work. Telling Suou and Ensei to carry on in her place, she faints and Riou as a last ditch effort takes her to the Hyou clan. Apparently she can only continue to live by possessing the body of someone else, as Ruka does. Ruka is also still after Shuurei’s body. Shuurei refuses to have either occur. Ryuuki and co. are beginning to suspect Yuushun, when all of a sudden a disastrous locust plague occurs, and Ryuuki must for some reason give Ou Ki military authority.

More spoilers (vague)
Shouka is said not to really do too much; neither is Seiga.
Seiran appears, but really doesn’t seem to do too much either.
A LOT of characters show up. Fans said that this really does seem like things are being cleared up, and the character intro pages at the front, which are normally two pages long, were three this time.
It seems like Sera (Kurou’s daughter) doesn’t appear, but we learn some stuff about her.
We learn the name of the governor of Kou (red) Province. It’s someone who has appeared before the the Gaidens, apparently.
Actually, Eiki might not be dead. The spoilers here are confusing. (Damn it, can people just be clear here?) It seems that Sakujun appears only for three or so pages anyhow.
It seems that Kouki might have some connection with the mother of some other character.
Reishin doesn’t appear this volume. Neither does Yuri.
Ou Ki hasn’t yet openly made his move yet.
It remains unclear what the heck Yuushun is really doing.

More spoilers:
The prologue (you know those famous Saiunkoku gloom and doom prologues) this time features: Ruka.
Yuushun seems to be overworking himself to the point of endangering his health, so Kouki is worried about him. (Kouki didn’t seem to like him very much before, but I guess you can never tell with these tsundere types)
Someone tells Riou Jr. that he “resembles someone.” We learn Riou Jr.’s mother’s name, Hien-hime (Not sure on the reading, but it means ‘swallow in flight’) This person seems to be known (if I’m reading the spoilers correctly) to both Kouki and Yuushun, and she was somehow important to Kouki (unclear whether she was a relative, a friend, or perhaps he was in love with her?)
Speaking of love, Yuushun and Rin have some kind of angsty scene which is full of Obvious Foreshadowing of Yuushun’s death (what, like there hasn’t been enough Obvious Foreshadowing of that already in the books?) Well, I guess it’s more obvious than foreshadowing if the person starts talking about it himself.
It seems the Blue Immortal is associated with time.
Ryuu Shibi is the governor of Kou Province? XD XD
The stuff about the Heki clan and Karin doesn’t advance much, although it seems Karin is still alive.
Ou Ki’s faction seems to have ended up controlling many of the offices in the districts (? not sure how the translate this. Counties?) of the provinces.

Commentary: Whoa! I was wondering who Riou’s mother is. Actually, I have my own ideas on this….