Imperial Court

Biodata

Authority and Administration

• The Northern Yan Imperial Court is initially the country's dominant power, maintaining rule for several centuries and overshadowing sects, aristocratic families, and local powers. 78 169 200
• Its authority is exercised through regional institutions such as Prefectural Offices, which act as instruments of force and conduct investigations, arrests, asset seizures, and recruitment. 206 211 212
• It maintains a practical balance with powerful sects and families: cities such as Yuanyang City may be effectively ruled by local sects, but only through an imperial compromise rather than true independence. 124 204
• The Myriad Sect Alliance was formed by sects and families of at least the Bone Transformation realm to restrain the court from destroying factions without cause. 213
• The court can draw on substantial intelligence capabilities; Lin Sheng considers its ability to track people, investigate secrets, and uncover hidden assets a major threat. 260
• Before its nationwide purges, the Northern Yan court generally preserves a tacit understanding with established factions, avoiding outright extermination without a stated cause. Lin Sheng nevertheless recognizes that its investigators can uncover past wrongdoing or employ other methods to create grounds for intervention. 204 213
• Imperial service offers extensive resources and opportunities for advancement to martial artists without powerful backgrounds, but demands lifelong loyalty and substantial personal dependence on the court. 231
• Northern Yan's reserves of cultivation methods, secret techniques, and other resources give its Grandmasters advantages over similarly ranked experts from many independent sects. Lin Sheng observes this difference when comparing imperial Grandmasters with those of the reconstituted Myriad Sect Alliance. 428

Principal Imperial Figures

Bounty Lists and Recruitment

• The court publishes the Black List and Red List, offering silver, pills, martial arts techniques, and other rewards to mobilize martial artists against wanted targets. 114
• Wanyan Bei, the Black List's first-ranked fugitive, carries a reward exceeding 100,000 taels of silver, with further rewards potentially including access to techniques from the national treasury. 114
• Pei Er's wanted reward reaches 50,000 taels; successful hunters may also gain entry to the Dragon Demon Army. 169
• Joining a Prefectural Office grants protection from retaliation by ordinary sects, helping the court recruit Blood Circulation and Muscle Forging martial artists away from local factions. 211
• Lin Sheng is listed under the codename “Flame Demon,” later becoming the court's highest-ranked threat assessment target. 417
• Pei Er's repeated assassinations of imperial officials, including two successive county magistrates in Qu County, are the principal reason for his placement among the Black List's top ten. 169
• The court's investigation of Lin Sheng's background reveals that he attained his strength within only a few years of cultivation, contributing to its exceptional threat assessment and Xia Houqi's enormous bounty. 417

Military and Enforcement Arms

Northern Yan Campaigns

Intervention in Wanhua City

The court's renewed intervention in Wanhua City begins with Gold Badge Divine Constable Zhang Songbai's annihilation of Crimson Whale Hall, one of the city's four major powers. Constables subsequently seize the hall's assets and suppress its remnants. 199 200

It occupies Great Cui Peak, takes control of beast ore resources, imposes financial demands on major local factions, and conducts large-scale mining at Yunshui Mountain. These measures place the Seven Forms Sect and other established powers under severe economic pressure. 201 204 209 211

The Prefectural Office later destroys the White Dragon Gang after uncovering its attacks on merchants and wealthy households. With Crimson Whale Hall and White Dragon Gang gone, Wanhua City's local balance of power collapses. 206 212

The occupation extends across the Yunshui Five Peaks, while controls within Wanhua City damage businesses and water transport. Wealthy merchants begin selling affected enterprises or transferring their interests elsewhere. Lin Sheng suspects that the resulting financial pressure may be intended to provoke local factions into actions that would justify their destruction. 204 206

The ore deposits also attract direct official interest because of their Divine Seeds. After receiving a report that Bai Peak may contain at least five, Wan Jianghai orders confirmation of the discovery. He separately dispatches Liu Tianci and Wei Bo to capture or kill Lin Sheng. 220

Consolidation of Northern Yan

• The court destroys sects accused of treason and enemy collusion, including the Sea Moon Sect and Nine Star Gate, prompting smaller factions to flee, hide, or launch desperate attacks. 334
• It dismantles the Myriad Sect Alliance before the alliance can effectively oppose the mass cultivation of beastified martial artists. 411
• By this period, nearly half of Northern Yan's sects and aristocratic families have been eliminated; most surviving factions have openly or covertly submitted. 411
• Dark Star remains one of the court's principal enemies and is subjected to a nationwide pursuit. 78 291 411
• The court dispatches elite constables against Dark Star cells, including more than ten late Bone Transformation Silver Badge Constables in one Tiannan operation. 280
• Surviving experts from purged factions later form a new Myriad Sect Alliance, distinct from the destroyed original. It has only four or five Grandmasters, the strongest being a Second Realm Grandmaster, and survives partly because the court concentrates its forces on Dark Star. 422
• Lin Sheng judges that the consolidation of domestic resources could substantially strengthen Northern Yan over the following decades, even apart from the Beast Taming Army. 422

Beastification Program

The court recruits martial artists into the Beast Taming Army under unusually generous conditions and minimal assessment requirements. Lin Sheng concludes that the program uses a method that beastifies martial artists to grant combat power beyond their original realms. 256

This program is linked to the remains of the Thousand-Eyed Nether Lord, a Void Beast with potent corrupting properties. Lin Sheng believes the court is risking widespread loss of humanity among its experts in pursuit of greater strength. 258 290

The Sky Rainbow Pavilion and Emperor Jingyuan are described as nearly fanatical about demonic blood, with experiments extending to Grandmaster martial artists such as Xia Houqi. 420

In the county yamen, Lin Sheng encounters beastified prisoners whose transformations can be intensified by a black single eye. The eye enters Tie He, drives him into a more violent transformation, and causes him to devour other prisoners. After Lin Sheng destroys the eye and burns the resulting black slime, the remaining beastified prisoners wither and die. 256

The army becomes a major instrument of Northern Yan's campaign against Southern Qi. Domestic sects and aristocratic families are also regarded as potential sources of manpower for the program, connecting the court's external war with its internal consolidation. 311

Interest in the program extends beyond Northern Yan. Heart of Thorns seeks information and high-level beastified specimens, although Hong Lian warns that interfering with Sky Rainbow Pavilion's highest priority could provoke overwhelming imperial retaliation. 422 423

The dangers of demonic blood eventually reach the imperial leadership. Emperor Jingyuan permits King Yan to draw on a large quantity despite Su Nü's concern. King Yan later returns with a profoundly altered, sinister aura, manifests tentacles and numerous black eyes, and is identified as potentially corrupted by the Void Beast's consciousness. 496 502 503

War with Southern Qi

Northern Yan launches its southward war with the intention of annexing Southern Qi rather than preserving the previous balance between the two countries. The Beast Taming Army helps force Southern Qi into repeated retreats and encourages it to seek outside allies. 311

By the time of an intelligence report received during Lin Sheng's cultivation, Northern Yan's army has effectively occupied the Northern Barrens. The Heaven Breaking Sect has been destroyed and the Prajna Sect has surrendered. Zhao Hongzhang and Tang Chong fight for two days at the northern border and both return wounded, while Southern Qi's sects and religious factions ally with its central court against the invasion. 306

Northern Yan also attempts to intercept Dark Star's cross-border operations. Its trap at Jade Sea Pass results in heavy losses among imperial troops and officials, after which the surviving convoy changes its route and continues toward Southern Qi. Later, Dark Star's Crimson Crystal Stone convoy breaks through Yan Pass while Luo Yin holds off imperial Grandmasters. 331 334 383

The front eventually becomes deadlocked. Following Lin Sheng's destruction of numerous imperial Grandmasters, Wu Hui explains that King Yan remains occupied by his struggles with Tang Chong and cannot easily intervene against Lin Sheng without jeopardizing the southward campaign. 478

Escalation Against Dark Star

• The court uses infiltrators within Dark Star, including Hua Long and Golden Leopard. Hua Long turns Golden Leopard and cooperates with constables during the attack on the Hidden Star Emissaries at Licorice Town. 280 281
• Qi Ning cites an earlier precedent in which imperial experts killed an ancestral-bloodline genius just before his Divine Form breakthrough, warning that Lin Sheng's talent could provoke a similar response if exposed. 291
• Dark Star's sabotage of the Beast Taming Army and the Jade Sea Pass incident provoke a major imperial offensive. Several strongholds are destroyed, six Blazing Star Emissaries are killed or wounded, and Grandmasters on both sides enter the fighting. 340
• Xia Houqi later sends nine Grandmasters against Dark Star. Luo Yin and Tu Long are badly wounded but escape with Divine Lord's assistance during this phase of the conflict. 417
• A subsequent imperial ambush kills a Dark Star Emissary and leaves Luo Yin, Divine Lord, and the other survivors seriously injured. Their danger prompts Lin Sheng to return to Northern Yan without requesting Southern Qi reinforcements. 471

Defeat at the Imperial Capital

Lin Sheng's return brings direct attacks on Northern Yan's officials and forces. In East Sea Prefecture, he kills soldiers confronting him at the docks and City Lord Zhu Quan while searching for information about Xia Houqi. News of the attacks reaches Vast Sea City, where Shi Kui offers to hunt him down. 471

The ensuing losses force the court onto the defensive. After Xia Houqi and Shi Bao are killed, Sky Rainbow Pavilion Master Wu Hui retreats and orders all Grandmasters stationed outside the capital to return. Emperor Jingyuan laments that one Divine Form martial artist has killed a third of Northern Yan's Grandmasters and forced the remainder to shelter in the Imperial Capital. 478

Northern Yan's capital, formerly the ancient capital of the previous dynasty, possesses an exceptionally powerful protective array. Lin Sheng identifies Void Beast materials in its construction after attacks capable of threatening an ordinary Second Realm Grandmaster produce little effect against it. 478

Wu Hui brings the captured Tu Long to the capital, knowing that Lin Sheng has already attempted to rescue him in Fulong City. The confrontation ends with Lin Sheng killing Wu Hui and Xiang Kong. The remaining Grandmasters hand over the unconscious Tu Long, and Lin Sheng withdraws after verifying his identity and checking him for demonic blood. Emperor Jingyuan witnesses the defeat in terror. 478 479

Fall and Restoration

King Yan's corruption culminates in the destruction of Northern Yan's Imperial Capital. When Tang Chong and Thor arrive, they find the city devastated and the imperial palace reduced to ruins. Thor attributes the destruction to Zhao Hongzhang and observes that his corruption has advanced far beyond expectations. 502 503

Northern Yan subsequently falls, but is later restored under Prince Ji, an imperial descendant who had possessed little cultivation talent at the time of the collapse. Her restoration also brings Southern Qi into Northern Yan's fold, accomplishing the unification sought by earlier rulers. 812

The restored regime is closely associated with Prince Ji's devotion to Great Nightmare. Having received the evil god's favor, she becomes increasingly brutal and unpredictable, with black markings and other inhuman features appearing on her body. Northern Yan's officers attend her in fear, and her personal pursuit of power and divine favor eclipses any satisfaction she might take in restoring and expanding the state. 809 812

Southern Qi Imperial Court

Southern Qi's Imperial Family does not possess Northern Yan's absolute dominance, but its close alignment with the Military Department makes it Southern Qi's foremost power. 381

Emperor Jing of Southern Qi is a Divine Form peak martial artist and governs from the Imperial City alongside powerful officials and court experts, including multiple Grandmasters. 392

Northern Yan and Southern Qi were originally one country before their division. Despite their shared use of the reign title Emperor Jing in earlier references, their emperors head separate courts during the war. 392

Imperial City and Treasury

• The Southern Qi Imperial City is protected by specialized defensive formations powerful enough that ordinary Grandmasters may be unable to breach them. 392
• The Imperial Palace contains numerous Divine Form martial artists and at least three detectable Grandmaster-level presences. 392
• The Imperial Family's treasury contains divine weapons, Demon Beast materials, essence blood, cultivation methods, and Void Beast remains. 405
• Security around the treasury includes late Divine Form cultivators, Grandmasters, and an ancient dragon-shaped defensive formation. 405
• Lin Sheng specifically detects eighteen late Divine Form experts and three Grandmasters in the palace's inner depths. Excluding Tang Chong, he judges the Imperial Family's strength to be at least comparable to, and possibly greater than, the Military Department's. 405
• As a reward for reclaiming the Crimson Feather Army and exposing the Gongsun family's collusion, Emperor Jing grants Lin Sheng his Dragonheart Jade Token, permitting free treasury access and use of its blood, techniques, and cultivation treasures. The token symbolizes the Dongfang imperial clan and is traditionally passed down by Southern Qi's emperors. 405

Crimson Feather Army Reclamation

Emperor Jing appoints Lin Sheng as Second-Rank General of Cavalry and Commander of the Crimson Feather Army, using the appointment to reclaim an army long controlled by Grand Councilor Gongsun's family. 393 394

Grand Councilor Gongsun opposes the appointment on grounds of Lin Sheng's youth and Northern Yan origins, but Emperor Jing overrules him by citing Lin Sheng's impending marriage to Princess Lingyu and Tang Chong's endorsement. 393

Following Lin Sheng's suppression of the army's defiant centurions and the exposure of the Gongsun family's collusion with Heart of Thorns, the Imperial Guards raid the Gongsun residence. 397 405

The reclamation also addresses the Gongsun family's repeated demands for excessive military supplies, which have imposed a heavy burden on the national treasury. Emperor Jing considers Lin Sheng an appropriate intermediary because direct imperial intervention or the deployment of Grandmasters could escalate the dispute with the entrenched court faction. 393 398

Dongfang Longcang personally confronts Gongsun Yue during the raid. Members of the household are killed or imprisoned, but a concealed Heart of Thorns Grandmaster enables the badly wounded Gongsun Yue to escape. Emperor Jing subsequently summons the assembled officials after receiving the captured Gongsun Changyue. 405

Imperial Alliances and Succession

• The war with Northern Yan prompts Southern Qi's sects and religious factions to ally with the central court in collective resistance. 306
• Southern Qi also develops a close alliance with Dark Star. Emperor Jing explicitly cites this relationship when rejecting objections to Lin Sheng's Northern Yan origins. 311 393
• The imperial clan places exceptional importance on bloodlines. Princess Lingyu's outstanding bloodline qualifies her to inherit the throne, with a Grandmaster breakthrough potentially establishing her as a future empress. 393
• Lingyu later reaches the Six Transformations of Divine Form. Granny Shi describes her cultivation pace as the fastest within the imperial family in nearly three hundred years. 522
• The Silver Luminous Tulip Family establishes cooperation with the Imperial Family after settling in a valley near the Imperial City, a development its members attribute to Lin Sheng's patronage and status as imperial son-in-law. 461
• Southern Qi is eventually incorporated into Northern Yan after Prince Ji restores the northern state. 812

Relationships

• Dark Star — Long-standing enemy of Northern Yan's court; Dark Star was founded by members of the Former Dynasty Royal Family, and the court maintains wanted lists and sustained suppression against it. Southern Qi, by contrast, allies with Dark Star against Northern Yan. 78 291 411 311 393
• Myriad Sect Alliance — Coalition created to restrain imperial overreach; later dismantled during Northern Yan's consolidation campaign. Surviving experts establish a weaker successor alliance to resist continued suppression. 213 411 422
• Seven Forms Sect — A Wanhua City sect pressured by the court's resource seizures, demands, and recruitment efforts. 201 204 211
• Crimson Whale Hall — Destroyed by Gold Badge Divine Constable Zhang Songbai, triggering Wanhua City's political upheaval. 199 200
• White Dragon Gang — Eliminated by the Prefectural Office after attacking merchants and wealthy households. 206 212
• Heart of Thorns — Opposed by Southern Qi's Imperial Family after the Gongsun family colludes with the organization. Its agents also seek Northern Yan's beastification secrets and high-level specimens. 404 405 422 423
• Lin Sheng — Northern Yan marks him as “Flame Demon” and pursues him; Southern Qi later makes him Princess Lingyu's future consort and commander of the Crimson Feather Army. His victories eventually force Northern Yan's surviving Grandmasters to withdraw to the capital, where he kills Wu Hui and Xiang Kong and secures Tu Long's release. 417 393 478 479
• Gongsun Family — An entrenched Southern Qi court faction that controls the Crimson Feather Army for nearly fifty years. Its collusion with Heart of Thorns leads to an imperial raid and the collapse of its position, although Gongsun Yue escapes. 393 405
• Military Department — Closely aligned with Southern Qi's Imperial Family and central to its position as the country's leading power. 381
• Silver Luminous Tulip Family — Cooperates with Southern Qi's Imperial Family after relocating near the Imperial City under Lin Sheng's patronage. 461
• Great Nightmare — The evil god whose favor empowers Prince Ji, the ruler responsible for Northern Yan's restoration and subsequent incorporation of Southern Qi. 809 812

Trivia

• The Northern Yan court's strength is regarded as sufficient to deter even long-established sects and aristocratic families from openly opposing it. 78 229
• Imperial bounty rewards are intentionally valuable enough to tempt independent martial artists, including Lin Sheng himself. 114
• In Northern Yan, local factions commonly invoke the court's authority as a deterrent even when they lack the strength to confront an enemy themselves. 413
• Southern Qi has historical precedents for female emperors; Princess Lingyu's prospective succession is therefore treated as a realistic political possibility rather than an unprecedented departure. 393