Shangguan Family

Biodata

Feature	Information
Name	Shangguan Family (上官家)
Alias(es)	Shangguan Family of the Flying Flower Scattered Hands 5
Affiliation	Dongjiang City; associated merchants and trade routes 20 25
Occupation/Role	Martial arts family, commercial supplier, and controller of key local industries 20 48
Status	Active; its Dongjiang City residence was evacuated through a secret route amid the conflict with Huang Lingyan 50
First Appearance	Chapter 5

Background / History

The family’s reputation was established by its head, Shangguan Huang, whose travels and mastery of the Flying Flower Scattered Hands earned him renown across the Great Wu Dynasty. He was known in the martial world for righteousness and generosity. 5

Based in Dongjiang City for generations, the family developed extensive commercial holdings alongside its martial standing. Its caravans supplied the city with vital goods—including salt, cloth, and medicinal herbs—and its businesses helped turn Dongjiang into a prosperous trade center. 20 47 48

Its signature cultivation method, the Flower Cultivation and Leaf Nurturing Art, originated from a fragmented technique found by an ancestor. Despite its demanding requirements, the art’s high ceiling was central to the family’s standing in the martial world. 15

Influence in Dongjiang City

• The family controls important industries and resource supplies, giving it major leverage within Dongjiang City. 20
• Its caravans historically provided essential goods to a city surrounded by barren land and unable to meet its own consumption needs. 48
• Family businesses were described as selling quality goods without exploiting ordinary residents. 47 52
• Their commercial power made them a target of City Lord Huang Lingyan, who sought to replace their supply network and seize control of the city. 19 47
• Shangguan Liuyun threatened to halt all family business and merchant cooperation in Dongjiang City when Shangguan Xiyun was endangered. 47 48

Martial Arts & Cultivation

Flying Flower Scattered Hands

The family’s renowned hand technique specializes in feints, shifting between illusion and reality, exposing weaknesses, and delivering decisive palm strikes. Legend holds that its creator could keep falling petals dancing between his fingers without allowing one to touch the ground. 13

• Used by Shangguan Huang to build the family’s reputation. 5
• Employed by Shangguan Feiyun to create layers of deceptive palm shadows and manipulate surrounding debris as both shield and weapon. 13 54
• Shangguan Liuyun’s variation, Flying Flower Chasing Leaves, allows him to move upon swirling leaves and project them as a suppressive force. 13 14

Flower Cultivation and Leaf Nurturing Art

The Shangguan Family’s signature cultivation method is a high-ceiling art that produces unusually abundant and pure True Qi after advancement. 15

• Requires immense time, continuous effort, and substantial resources before major breakthroughs yield results. 15
• Is not hoarded by the family; Shangguan Liuyun freely explained its drawbacks before offering it to Li Yan as repayment for saving Shangguan Xiyun. 15
• Its difficult breakthroughs and overbearing nature create severe risks for practitioners. 40 51
• Shangguan Liuyun and Shangguan Feiyun used their shared lineage to conduct a dangerous cultivation transfer: Liuyun absorbed Feiyun’s True Qi to reach the Energy Gathering Realm, but his meridians were shattered by the backlash. Feiyun was restored to the peak of the Ninth Level of Meridian Opening. 51

Known Members

• Shangguan Huang — family head; renowned martial artist and father of Shangguan Liuyun, Shangguan Feiyun, and Shangguan Xiyun. 5
• Shangguan Liuyun — eldest son and principal manager of the family’s affairs; known for Flying Flower Chasing Leaves. He disappeared following the family’s withdrawal from Dongjiang City. 14 20 58
• Shangguan Feiyun — second young master; a Meridian Opening Realm martial artist and defender of the family. 11 17
• Shangguan Xiyun — youngest daughter; her repeated targeting by the Fierce Wind Bandits sparked the family’s conflict with both the bandits and Huang Lingyan. 5 41

Relationships

• Li Yan / Wan Sanhuo — Benefactor and protected guest. After he saved Shangguan Xiyun and killed pursuing Fierce Wind Bandit leaders, the family sheltered him, gave him the Flower Cultivation and Leaf Nurturing Art, and openly defended him against citywide pressure. 14 15 17 18
• Fierce Wind Bandits — Hostile. The bandits targeted Shangguan Xiyun over rumors that Shangguan Huang possessed a priceless treasure and later sought to force her handover. 5 9 38
• Huang Lingyan — Hostile. Dongjiang City’s City Lord manipulated the bandit crisis, suppressed information about Xiyun’s initial pursuit, and attempted to dismantle the family’s influence and supply network. 16 19 47
• Dongjiang City residents — Former beneficiaries whose opinion was turned against the family by Xu San and Liu He; some residents stormed the estate and supported handing Xiyun to the bandits. 38 47 48
• Associated merchants — Commercial allies relied upon to sustain the family’s trade routes and Dongjiang City’s supply of goods. 25 38

Story Role / Major Arcs

Fierce Wind Bandit Attack

While returning from her maternal grandfather’s funeral, Shangguan Xiyun and her guards were ambushed by the Fierce Wind Bandits. The guards and Zhu Han gave their lives to enable her escape into the mountains. 5

Li Yan’s intervention saved Xiyun, but his killing of Xu Sanqiang and Yuan Feipeng brought Wang Dingtian into direct conflict with the family. Shangguan Feiyun protected Li Yan and Xiyun despite the danger, while Shangguan Liuyun ultimately repelled Wang and declared that the bandits’ grievance was now with the Shangguan Family. 12 13 14

Dongjiang City Power Struggle

Huang Lingyan exploited the bandit conflict to incite martial artists and civilians against the family, using Li Yan’s killings as a pretext. The Shangguan brothers refused to surrender their sister’s savior despite external pressure. 17 18 19

The family recognized that the real threat was not merely the Fierce Wind Bandits but Huang Lingyan’s effort to seize their commercial influence and control Dongjiang City’s resource supply. 20

Siege, Deception, and Withdrawal

Following attacks on their businesses and public agitation, the family arranged Shangguan Xiyun’s apparent abduction to mislead their enemies and buy time. 29 49

When Huang Lingyan attempted to force the family’s collapse, Shangguan Liuyun ordered the evacuation of its goods and personnel. The Shangguan residence was left empty, with Huang unable to locate the family or uncover its trade routes. 50

Battle for Dongjiang City

Shangguan Feiyun confronted Huang Lingyan at the family estate, fighting despite poison, a hidden attacker, and extensive collateral damage. 53 54 55

Li Yan later joined Feiyun in battle. Feiyun immobilized Huang Lingyan with Flying Flower Scattered Hands, creating the opening that allowed Li Yan to kill the City Lord. 56

Trivia

• The family’s public image is strongly tied to righteousness, but its survival depends equally on martial strength, secret passages, merchant alliances, and control of supply lines. 5 20 50
• Although the family is wealthy, even its resources were barely sufficient to support both Shangguan brothers’ cultivation of the Flower Cultivation and Leaf Nurturing Art. 15
• Shangguan Xiyun’s angry public rebuke established that the family’s businesses had long supported Dongjiang City’s prosperity, despite the city’s later hostility toward them. 47