In book 8 of The Years of Rice and Salt, by Kim Stanley Robinson, titled The War of the Asuras, advanced military tactics are displayed by both the Muslims and the Chinese. At the beginning of the book the Chinese use the power of the sun to their advantage by blinding the Muslims and staying in the trenches and the caves. Later on in the book poison gas infiltration and major artillery is used by both the Muslims and the Chinese. Such advanced war technology is interesting coming from this time period. The commanding major for the Muslims and Chinese were Iwa and Kuo, respectively. Later on in the story Kuo and Bai see each other in the bardo, or a state of consciousness between death and rebirth. Bai comes back to the real world and discovers another battle is occurring. After Bai and Iwa travel to India to escape the violence they come to find that the Indian army is going to attack in defence and they are asking the Chinese for help. Bai later learns that he was a butterfly in his past life and Kou was Admiral Kheim, from a discussion he had with Kou where the Buddha was enlightened. Bai is distraught from this news and discusses it with Iwa. Bai probably realizes he will be reincarnated, just as he has been, to ultimately find success and possibly enlightenment.