Barbarian Suppression City

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Barbarian Suppression City (镇蛮城)
Affiliation	Great Xia Dynasty; administered by the Barbarian Suppression Army 461
Occupation/Role	Great Xia's foremost border pass against the Barbarians; a military stronghold, trade hub, and gateway to the Great Desolation / Outer Barbarian Lands 353 355 432
Location	Yunzhou borderlands, between Great Xia territory and the Barbarian-controlled wilderness 353 355
Status	Standing. It suffered major structural damage during the emergence of the Ancient Sword Sect's Inheritance Palace; evacuation, repairs, and reconstruction were ordered afterward 653 658 690
First Appearance	Chapter 353

Appearance

Barbarian Suppression City is a vast, ancient border city marked by towering, mottled walls stained with the traces of old blood and warfare. Its defensive works overlook the route between Great Xia and the Barbarian lands 353.

• Its walls are guarded by disciplined Barbarian Suppression Army soldiers with formidable vital energy 353.
• The city contains military camps, commercial districts, merchant traffic, private factions, and landmarks such as the First Grade Tower 355 462.
• It held a permanent population of tens of millions before the later evacuation crisis 355.
• Its prosperity was described as comparable to Yunzhou City, fueled by trade caravans and explorers traveling into the Barbarian lands 432.

History

An unparalleled Great Xia War God established Barbarian Suppression City after slaying a Barbarian Army Commander. From the Yunzhou frontier, the new fortress suppressed Barbarians across millions of miles of wilderness and prevented them from entering Great Xia territory for many years 353.

After the War God's disappearance, the Barbarians recovered and resumed their threat. The city's strategic position nevertheless allowed Great Xia to keep Barbarian forces outside its borders and preserve relative stability on the frontier 353.

Thirty years before Lin Baichuan's first arrival, the former commoner Ye Linshan was granted the title of Marquis Beichen and placed in command at the border. Although the city was never breached, Barbarian raiding parties repeatedly crossed into Great Xia, devastating border communities. Lin Baichuan's investigation concluded that Ye Linshan had likely colluded with the Barbarians to preserve the threat and strengthen his own position 353.

Lin Baichuan killed Ye Linshan after using the Earthen Seven Kill Formation to suppress the city’s guardian formation. Ye Linshan's death fractured the Barbarian Suppression Army, while evidence and correspondence later exposed allegations that he had colluded with Barbarian officials, murdered the previous army commander, and seized power 357 361 362.

The imperial court subsequently ordered Lin Baichuan to take command of the Barbarian Suppression Army. He recognized that rival court factions were using both him and the army as pieces in a larger political struggle, but entered the city openly to seize control nonetheless 426.

Defensive Formations

Formation / Defensive Measure	Chapter	Notes
Original guardian formation	356 357	Generated a city-wide energy shield that protected the walls from the backlash of Lin Baichuan's Mighty Ox Heaven Shaker. It could withstand an attack from a Divine Ability Tenth Layer cultivator, though its Great Xia-facing defenses were weaker than its Barbarian-facing side.
Earthen Seven Kill Formation	354 357	An external formation established by Lin Baichuan over seven days. Drawing on surrounding ley lines, mountains, and lakes across several hundred miles, it suppressed the guardian formation and weakened inhabitants inside the city.
Reinforced guardian array	458	Lin Baichuan redesigned and strengthened the city's defenses according to its terrain in preparation for a Barbarian invasion.
Reconstructed city array	466	Suppressed hostile cultivators' strength by roughly 30–80%, with weaker Divine Ability Realm cultivators suffering the greatest reduction.
Nine Heavens Ten Earths God Slaying Formation	481 489	A sixth-tier formation capable of suppressing and killing Chaos Hole Realm cultivators. It later trapped a million-strong Barbarian army within a thousand-mile radius.
Wind and Thunder Barrier	485	A barrier drawing on Nine Heavens Gang Wind and Earth Fiend Nether Lightning. It enveloped the city and dispersed a Divine Ability Seventh Layer Barbarian general's axe strike.
Mount Zhen Great Array	653	Deployed during the underground magma eruption. It merged with the city's existing defenses, sealed the upheaval, and stabilized the city after the Ancient Sword Sect's Inheritance Palace ruptured the defensive array.

Governance and Military

Barbarian Suppression City is directly governed by the Barbarian Suppression Army rather than ordinary local administrators. The army manages the city’s tax regulations and submits only a portion of its revenue to the imperial court, making the city’s taxes a primary military income source 461.

Before Lin Baichuan's takeover, the army was divided into three visible blocs:

• Jiang Ying's faction — Generals loyal to Commander Jiang; weakened after years of suppression under Marquis Beichen 435.
• Neutral faction — Officers who avoided the internal struggle and initially held no particular loyalty to Lin Baichuan 435.
• Marquis Beichen's direct lineage — The strongest faction and Lin Baichuan's principal opposition after Ye Linshan's death 435.

Lin Baichuan used formations, military pressure, and a purge of hostile city factions to consolidate authority. He then planned to dismantle and reorganize the army, promote new generals, and introduce his own battle formations 466 469.

• The army numbered roughly 500,000 during its early reorganization 438 483.
• Following confiscated resources, mass pill refinement, artifact production, and training, soldiers advanced rapidly in cultivation 477.
• By the second major Barbarian invasion, the army had expanded to three million troops under seven commanders and deployed the Three Talents Seven Kill Battle Formation 548.
• The Shadow Guard conducts internal security operations, including the arrest of suspected Barbarian and Heaven Splitting Sword Sect spies 482 540.
• The Venerable Pavilion provides high-level cultivator support and helped defend the city against Barbarian experts 548 549.

Economy and Strategic Importance

Barbarian Suppression City is the necessary passage between Great Xia and the Outer Barbarian Lands. Despite the hostility between Great Xia and the Barbarians, commerce and travel flow through the city, with merchant caravans, prospectors, martial artists, and explorers seeking the resources of the Great Desolation 355 432.

Its wealth attracted numerous Great Xia factions, which built a dense network of competing interests within the city. Marquis Beichen exploited that environment to cultivate political allies, effectively making the border city a source of profit for figures in the imperial court 432.

Following Lin Baichuan's consolidation of power, many city factions had assets confiscated and were compelled to surrender resources to the Barbarian Suppression Army 469 477.

Major Events

• Investigation of Marquis Beichen — Lin Baichuan spent ten days gathering intelligence around the city and concluded that Ye Linshan was colluding with the Barbarians 353.
• Siege and death of Ye Linshan — Lin Baichuan established the Earthen Seven Kill Formation, suppressed the guardian array, and killed Marquis Beichen, triggering internal struggle within the army 354 357 361.
• Lin Baichuan's return and takeover — Appointed by the court, Lin Baichuan entered openly and began confronting the army's remaining factions and the city's entrenched powers 426 436.
• Purge of major factions — At the First Grade Tower, Lin Baichuan activated the city array, killed Shentu Hongtian and more than a hundred faction members, and forced surviving groups into submission 462 466 469.
• First million-strong Barbarian invasion — The Nine Heavens Ten Earths God Slaying Formation trapped the invading army, after which Lin Baichuan led the army out to engage it 483 489.
• Second Barbarian invasion — Millions of Barbarians attacked under the Mist Mountain Commander. The city formation and the Three Talents Seven Kill Battle Formation enabled a one-sided annihilation 548 549.
• Campaign beyond the city — Ancient Warships departed from Barbarian Suppression City carrying two million soldiers for offensives in the Barbarian lands, culminating in the destruction of Barbarian God Mountain and the Barbarian army there 560 568 571.
• Ancient Sword Sect crisis — A scheme involving the Inheritance Palace beneath the city caused underground magma eruptions, building collapses, and a breach of the defensive array. Lin Baichuan organized evacuation and stabilized the city with the Mount Zhen Great Array 652 653.
• Planned reconstruction — Lin Baichuan ordered repairs and proposed rebuilding the city to correct its structural shortcomings and accommodate the enlarged Barbarian Suppression Army 658.

Associated Figures

• Lin Baichuan — Commander who killed Marquis Beichen, took control of the city and army, upgraded its defenses, and treated the city as his home territory 426 469 690.
• Marquis Beichen (Ye Linshan) — Former guardian and commander. His suspected Barbarian collusion and later death destabilized the city’s existing power structure 353 361 362.
• Jiang Ying — Leader of a suppressed army faction who later allied with Lin Baichuan; she secretly controlled 50,000 troops before his consolidation of the army 435 436.
• Li Changsheng — One of the army's leading commanders, who commanded forces during later campaigns and led the Three Talents Seven Kill Battle Formation in battle 549 568.
• Luo Zhan — Captain of Lin Baichuan's personal guard who activated the Nine Heavens Ten Earths God Slaying Formation during the second Barbarian invasion 549.
• Tu Fusheng — Leader associated with the Venerable Pavilion, which reinforced the city’s high-level defensive strength 548 658.

Trivia

• The city remained commercially active even after Marquis Beichen's death, illustrating that its economic life was not dependent on a single ruler 426.
• Lin Baichuan temporarily sealed the city during the first major invasion scare, preventing anyone from entering or leaving without his permission 482.
• The Ancient Sword Sect's Inheritance Palace is located beneath Barbarian Suppression City and became the cause of its later near-destruction 651 653.