Zhang Liangfu

Biodata

Power Progression

Appearance

• Build and complexion: Burly and dark-skinned 3.
• Face: Square-faced, with an honest-looking smile 3.
• Work attire: Keeps a towel draped around his neck while tending spirit medicines 35.

Personality

Zhang Liangfu is forthright, sociable, and quick to praise others. He readily acknowledges Li Ye’s superior farming talent and jokes freely with him, including teasing him about his exhausted appearance after a night of study. His friendliness also has a practical side: he recognizes that supporting a talented fellow disciple could improve his own prospects 3 5 15.

He can speak impulsively when angry or pleased. After celebrating the deaths of the cultivators who had humiliated him, he immediately thanks Li Ye and Hu Zhiquan for warning him that his words could invite retaliation. Though generous with gratitude, he comically refuses when the pair jokingly ask to borrow Spirit Stones 9.

His concern for friends is tempered by self-preservation. He initially wants to help Hu Zhiquan’s bereaved family in person, but accepts Li Ye’s warning that leaving the sect during the unrest would be dangerous 46.

Abilities & Skills

Spirit Plant Cultivation

Zhang Liangfu has several years of experience growing spirit rice, but initially considers his farming talent average 5 9.

• Gains insight into Spirit Plant techniques after three or four years of practice 5.
• Improves through Li Ye’s practical assistance and shared cultivation methods 11 20.
• Harvests more than 220 jin of spirit rice, earning an opportunity to take the spirit medicine garden assessment 20.
• Initially struggles with precious spirit medicines because he lacks hands-on experience; excessive plant losses can result in punishment 35.

Farming Knowledge

• Has more experience than Li Ye with the pest problems that accompany increasingly vigorous spirit rice 4.
• Recognizes that an Earth-Born Snake’s intact gallbladder can sell for two or three Spirit Crystals 4.
• Explains how harvest yields and a subsequent assessment determine eligibility to work in the spirit medicine garden, including its contribution rewards and richer Spiritual Qi 5.

History

Friendship in the Spirit Fields

Zhang Liangfu works the field directly beside Li Ye’s and becomes his closest contact among the neighboring spirit farmers. Their discussions help the disciples exchange techniques, while Zhang enthusiastically praises Li Ye’s rapid improvement 3.

When Li Ye asks about tending larger fields or more valuable plants, Zhang explains the route into the spirit medicine garden. The two promise to support each other within the sect. Their conversation is interrupted by Tang Xiaohan and two cultivators, whose Fourth Layer cultivation overwhelms Zhang when he objects to their intrusion 5.

After Li Ye refuses the visitors’ invitation, Zhang admires his resolve. He later angrily condemns the rumors portraying Li Ye as a coward. When the two male visitors die, Zhang openly celebrates until Li Ye and Hu Zhiquan warn him that their surviving associate, Cai Shiwei, remains influential. He then worries that Cai might retaliate against Li Ye, shortly before witnessing evidence that Li Ye’s Fourth Layer cultivation has recovered 6 7 9.

Entry into the Spirit Medicine Garden

Li Ye continues helping Zhang and other friendly disciples with their fields. At harvest, Zhang’s yield exceeds 220 jin, qualifying him for an assessment opportunity. In thanks, he presents Li Ye with approximately ten jin of his own spirit rice, prompting other disciples to offer similar gifts 11 20.

By the time Zhang is shown working in the spirit medicine garden, he finds its precious plants much harder to manage than spirit rice. He performs unpaid work for another disciple in exchange for guidance and hesitates to approach Li Ye, fearing that their changed standing would make a visit look like an attempt to curry favor 35.

Li Ye nevertheless remembers their friendship. At his request, Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin agree to look after Zhang, deliver a Jade Slip, and offer to answer his questions. Their public acknowledgment of the connection startles the disciple who had been ordering Zhang around 33 35.

Hu Zhiquan’s Death

Zhang joins Li Ye and other friends for New Year celebrations 41.

Later, he brings Li Ye news that Cai Shiwei has resurfaced and killed Hu Zhiquan. Zhang initially plans to visit Hu’s widow and children, but ultimately agrees to remain within the sect after Li Ye urges caution. He accepts a wooden box of talismans from Li Ye to have forwarded to the family through other visitors 46.

Equipment / Items

• Storage Bag — Used to hold his possessions and the spirit rice he gives Li Ye 9 20.
• Jade Slip from Li Ye — Delivered by Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin; its contents are not specified in the provided account 35.

Relationships

• Li Ye — Neighboring spirit farmer, close friend, and source of cultivation guidance. Their pledge of mutual support continues after Li Ye obtains a position tending an elder’s fields 3 5 33 35.
• Hu Zhiquan — Fellow spirit farmer and friend. Hu relies on Zhang to help watch his field during family visits; Zhang later grieves his death and seeks to assist his dependents 9 46.
• Yao Shaohui — Offers Zhang guidance in the spirit medicine garden at Li Ye’s request 33 35.
• Gu Daojin — Joins Yao in supporting Zhang and reacts unfavorably to the disciple who has been ordering him around 35.