Medicine King Gang

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Medicine King Gang (药王帮)
Organization Type	Martial faction whose principal businesses are medicinal herbs and pills 45 108
Headquarters	Qinghe City 27 85
Leader	Li Tiansheng, an Organ Tempering Realm expert 85 103
Occupation/Role	Medicinal-herb trade, pill production and sales, cultivation training, and ownership of mines and other businesses 45 105 108
Affiliation	Parent organization of Hundred Herbs Pharmacy in Qingyang Town 76 112
Standing	One of Qinghe City's five top powers 80 85 179
Status	Active; continues operating and rewarding disciples after its conflict with Black Wind Stronghold 150 179

Background / History

The Medicine King Gang began in the medicinal-ingredient trade, which remains its main business. It also sells pills to outsiders. Over centuries, it accumulated cultivation resources and martial manuals, including six Advanced Martial Arts 45 105.

Its dependable pill allotments, clear rewards and punishments, and enforcement of gang rules attracted many young martial artists. Before its losses against Black Wind Stronghold, it had more than one hundred Blood Strengthening Realm disciples 50 76.

Organization and Leadership

The gang is divided into five halls. Three are identified in the supplied accounts 86.

Hall	Leadership / Personnel	Responsibilities and Characteristics
War Hall	Hall Master Zhao Tie	Described as the most elite and dangerous hall. Supplies combat personnel and suffers heavy losses during the medicinal convoy conflict 86 96 112.
Alchemy Hall	Hall Master Zhu Xuan	Handles alchemy and medicinal herbs and manages the Medicine Garden. Most members specialize in herb management rather than combat 110 143 166.
External Affairs Hall	Wang Fei, a member involved in recruitment	Handles recruitment arrangements and verifies completed missions before issuing Contribution Points and reward authorizations 86 95 150.

Senior Figures and Notable Members

• Li Tiansheng — Gang Leader and highest authority. Values exceptional talent, personally receives new disciples, and must lead their ceremony honoring the gang's ancestors—a rule dating to its founding 101 103.
• Zhu Xuan — Mid-stage Iron Bone Realm alchemist. Skillfully refines Iron Bone Realm pills and can produce two types of Organ Tempering Realm pills, though with a low success rate. His status exceeds Zhao Tie's despite his slightly lower cultivation 110.
• Zhao Tie — War Hall Master with considerable influence. Opposes Yang Heng's immediate receipt of an Advanced Martial Art and invokes gang rules and possible resentment among disciples 96 104.
• Elder Li — The gang's sole Bone Touching expert for decades, responsible for examining new disciples' root bones and estimating their future potential. Takes Yang Heng as his personal disciple 89 93.
• Zhao Feng — Enshrined Elder who leads the investigation into the Exotic Beast attack at the Medicine Garden 129.
• Yang Heng — Elite disciple associated with the Alchemy Hall; serves as captain of the Medicine Garden's guards 105 110 117 143.
• Bai Chun — Medicine Garden steward entrusted with its management by Zhu Xuan 143.
• Dong Hao — Deputy captain of the Medicine Garden guard team, with five years of experience at the site 117.
• Lei Xiong — Hundred Herbs Pharmacy guard captain and medicinal-convoy escort; killed during Black Wind Stronghold's attack 77 112.

Military Strength

Period / Asset	Documented Strength
Before the Black Wind Stronghold conflict	More than 100 Blood Strengthening Realm disciples 76
After the conflict's losses	Approximately 80 Blood Strengthening Realm disciples, leaving affiliated businesses short of guards 76
Replacement recruitment	Intended to recruit 20 disciples; ultimately admitted 24 successful candidates 76 103
Senior combat protection	Li Tiansheng provides Organ Tempering Realm leadership; Iron Bone Realm martial artists guard important facilities and lead major operations 76 103 150
Alchemy Hall's recognized Qi Refining personnel	Only three are publicly identified in the account discussing Chen Tong's killer 166

Recruitment and Membership

The emergency recruitment following the Black Wind Stronghold conflict relaxed the gang's usual entry conditions and offered better treatment than previous recruitment drives 76.

Requirement / Procedure	Details
Recruitment period	Half a month, beginning October 1 76
Standard eligibility	Blood Strengthening Realm martial artists aged sixty or younger 84
Background checks	Origins are not questioned during this recruitment; cultivation and combat strength determine acceptance 76 84
Registration	Applicants provide their name, age, and cultivation level; age and cultivation are subsequently verified 85 86
Combat assessment	Candidates face a gang disciple of the same realm. Maintaining a draw, or showing no signs of defeat, for a quarter of an hour qualifies them to pass 84
Young-talent exception	Blood Strengthening martial artists under twenty can enter directly, but may take the assessment for greater benefits 84
Hall assignment	Successful recruits meet the Gang Leader before assignment. Exceptional talents may choose their hall 102 103

• Recruiters receive merit for securing promising disciples. Wang Fei expects his accumulated Contribution Points and recruitment reward to fund a Minor Restoration Pill 89.
• Public assessments attract spectators and observers from other factions. Hostile agents use them to identify talented recruits for possible assassination 85.
• Yang Heng officially completes his joining procedures before taking the competition intended to secure additional benefits 93 95.

Cultivation Resources and Rewards

Member Benefits

• Guaranteed pill allotments: Eligible disciples receive their monthly pills without shortfalls; the leadership treats reliable distribution as essential to retaining members 50.
• Purchasable resources: Members can spend silver on pills, cultivation methods, weapons, and guidance from senior gang members 105.
• Contribution Points: Used to obtain cultivation resources and access alchemy instruction. Yang Heng initially lacks the points required to learn alchemy 112.
• Exceptional pill availability: Among Qinghe City's five top factions, the Medicine King Gang offers the most abundant supply of pills for disciples to exchange 113.
• Talent rewards: Li Tiansheng grants Yang Heng the upper volume of the Advanced body-refining art called Boulder Body or Pebble Body, rewarding his talent and victory over Yan Qing 104 105 114.

Documented Stipends and Mission Rewards

Recipient / Task	Reward
Yang Heng's elite-disciple stipend	60 taels of silver and three cultivation pills per month 105
Advance payment for his Medicine Garden posting	360 taels and 18 Blood Nourishing Pills, covering half a year 115
Guarding the Medicine Garden	120 Contribution Points for a six-month assignment; leaving is prohibited except during a major incident 114
Defending the garden from the Wind Wolf	An additional 300 Contribution Points and permission to choose one treasure at or below the Qi Refining level 150
Recuperation after the attack	Rejuvenation Pills and a three-month exemption from duties 143

Controlled Knowledge and Treasures

• Advanced Martial Arts: The Library Pavilion holds six manuals of this rank. Obtaining one normally requires substantial Contribution Points and the Gang Leader's approval 105.
• Restricted access: Only a minority of the gang's Iron Bone Realm martial artists practice Advanced Martial Arts; most use Intermediate Martial Arts 105.
• Pill formulas: Yang Heng decides to submit the Lesser Marrow Cleansing Pill formula in exchange for Contribution Points. The pill can improve a martial artist's foundation and aptitude 112.
• Treasure authorization: A jade token marked “Medicine” and “Qi Refining” authorizes its holder to select a Qi Refining-level treasure 150.

Holdings and Facilities

Holding / Facility	Description
Headquarters compound	Occupies thousands of acres, enclosed by a two-meter green wall. Rows of towering trees conceal its buildings and serve as a city landmark 85 108.
East Gate	Site of recruitment registration and public assessment. Guards verify members' identity tokens before allowing entry 85 108.
Assembly Hall	Venue for major decisions and the reception of new disciples. Contains Li Tiansheng's purple agarwood throne and eight seats for senior figures 103.
Library Pavilion	Stores cultivation methods; its third floor contains the gang's Advanced Martial Arts. Protected by Iron Bone Realm personnel 105 150.
Alchemy Hall	Contains medicinal plantings, including a rare Dragon Beard Root, and is guarded by Iron Bone Realm martial artists 110 150.
Medicine Garden	Secluded valley with five mu of fields and nearly twenty thousand auxiliary herbs for Blood Strengthening and Qi Refining pills. Guarded by elite personnel 117.
Treasure vault	Two-story, heavily guarded store of pills, weapons, herbs, and other treasures. Iron Bone Realm martial artists are stationed there year-round 150.
Hundred Herbs Pharmacy	Qingyang Town subsidiary that gathers medicinal herbs and transports them to Qinghe City 27 76 112.
Mines	Produce tungsten iron, fine iron, and other weapon-forging ores; their defenses are formidable 108.

• Identifying clothing: Gang members stationed at Qinghe City's gates wear garments with a large “Medicine” character on the chest. Their affiliation deters provocation even when their individual cultivation is modest 80.

Rules and Internal Politics

• Pill embezzlement: Hoarding or short-delivering disciples' pills is punished by crippling cultivation and inflicting six cuts. Survivors are expelled; the bodies of those who die are fed to wild dogs 50.
• Prohibition on infighting: The gang emphasizes unity and mutual assistance. Even a Hall Master cannot openly attack another disciple in violation of its rules 102.
• Cultivation-method secrecy: The Library Pavilion guardian warns Yang Heng that cultivation methods must remain confidential 105.
• Leadership opposition: Receiving Li Tiansheng's Advanced Martial Art marks Yang Heng as the leader's supporter in the eyes of opposing factions. Sabotaging his Medicine Garden assignment could therefore undermine Li Tiansheng's authority 114.
• Suspected internal conspiracy: Zhao Feng suspects gang insiders may have contributed to Yang Heng's apparent death, but lacks evidence to act against them 129.

Major Story Arcs

Conflict with Black Wind Stronghold

Hundred Herbs Pharmacy requests extra protection for a medicinal shipment worth two thousand taels of silver. Shopkeeper Chen plans to lure Black Wind Stronghold into a trap, but the bandits anticipate the ambush. All eight members of the gang's hidden Blood Strengthening force die; subsequent reports place the convoy incident's total losses at twelve Blood Strengthening martial artists 50 53 70 75 76.

The gang retaliates by sending an Iron Bone Realm expert to destroy Black Wind Stronghold's city hideout. Five bandits are killed, including a peak Blood Strengthening martial artist, and their heads are displayed at the city gate. Black Wind Stronghold answers by killing the guards of an outlying medicinal field and stripping it of valuable herbs 76.

The gang then mobilizes its disciples and offers pills, cultivation methods, and weapons for the heads of Blood Strengthening-or-higher bandits. The bounty forces Black Wind Stronghold to reduce its operations, while the gang's manpower shortage prompts public recruitment 76.

Recruitment of Yang Heng

Yang Heng initially intends to exchange an Intermittent Flower with Lei Xiong for an entry voucher. Lei Xiong's death makes that route impossible, so Yang Heng travels to Qinghe City for the open recruitment drive 32 77.

His age—sixteen—and mid-stage Blood Strengthening cultivation immediately attract attention. After joining, he defeats Yan Qing in the recruitment competition, revealing a Major Accomplishment fist technique. Li Tiansheng recognizes his potential and grants him an Advanced Martial Art; Yang Heng subsequently enters the Alchemy Hall 85 93 101 104 110.

Black Wind Stronghold sends its scout Liu Ping to monitor the recruitment and target Yang Heng before he becomes a stronger opponent 109.

Defense of the Medicine Garden

During his garden assignment, Yang Heng holds off the Wind Wolf so others can escape. Reinforcements arrive, but Zhao Feng finds neither him nor the beast, and Yang Heng is presumed dead 128 129 130.

After his return, the gang recognizes his defense of the herbs and personnel. It provides healing pills, recuperation leave, additional Contribution Points, and a treasure-vault selection 143 150.

Influence Beyond the Compound

Yang Heng later uses a Rejuvenation Pill from the Gang Leader to treat Lai Er's wounds. When Tang Ba Tian intercepts them, Yang Heng offers an introduction to Zhu Xuan; the Alchemy Primer lent by Zhu Xuan supports his claim and persuades Tang Ba Tian to spare him 167.