Zhao State

Biodata

History

Origins and Founding

Before Zhao State existed, its future territory belonged to Rong State. Zhao De, father of the future founding emperor, served as a king outside the Rong royal clan and organized an Iron Clothes Department independent of the Six Ministries 324 504 991.

According to Zhao Xun’s historical account, several Human Immortals surrounded and killed Zhao De, leaving the Zhao family threatened with extermination. Zhao Chongxu then defended the family, advanced from Human Immortal to Land Immortal, killed the attackers, and unified a realm divided among competing lords. Zhao Xun places these events more than eight hundred years in the past 332.

Later revelations establish that Zhao De survived and deliberately concealed his identity. He explains that the Great Dream Dynasty used bribery and coercion to encourage a surrender faction within Rong State. He drove those advocates north while denying the dynasty a pretext for direct intervention. Yang Ling subsequently connects Zhao Chongxu’s rapid victory and Zhao State’s founding with the failure of the dynasty’s attempt to prolong internal conflict 935 1001.

Overseas Expansion

The Sixth Rank Top Hundred Battle brought Zhao State and the Rong Tribe to Fire Flood Dragon Island, where the Star Sea Fishing Alliance captured their contestants. Although Yang Ling initially suspected Xie Jinjia of betrayal, the Ministry of War and Iron Clothes Department had already learned of the Old Flood Dragon’s death and prepared a coordinated intervention with Rong State 466 519 520.

Zhao State and Rong State rejected the Great Dream Dynasty’s claim to the island. Negotiations assigned the southern jurisdiction to Zhao State and the northern jurisdiction to the Rong Tribe, while opening the island and fishing villages to martial artists from both countries 556 561.

Both states soon landed tens of thousands of people with supplies to begin development. A blood essence ore deposit was discovered in Zhao territory, strengthening its claim to a valuable resource and prompting expectations that a Human Immortal would be sent to oversee the island 589 591.

Territory and Locations

• Sea travel: Black Fish Island is at least seven days from Zhao State by fast boat; ordinary vessels require half a month or longer 757.
• Northern frontier: The bitterly cold lands occupied by the Rong Tribe were once part of the earlier Rong State. The tribe was driven there as Zhao State rose 991.

Government and Law

Imperial Rule

• Founding emperor: Zhao Chongxu remains alive and serves as the Iron Clothes Department’s Department Master, a discovery that surprises Yang Ling 842 843.
• Imperial advancement restrictions: Ancestral precepts limit official careers for imperial descendants. Zhao Qing states that no Imperial Son can become a fifth-rank official and describes joining the Iron Clothes Department as his route to a Seventh Rank Iron Clothes position 367.
• Ban on sect membership: Zhao descendants are forbidden from joining sects. Zhao Fu’s membership in—and leadership of—the Immortal God Cult becomes grounds for execution 962.
• Court accountability: Xu Zhiyuan threatens to impeach the Crown Prince if he breaks the rules while attempting to appropriate credit for Jiang Li’s capture 774.

Major Institutions

Registration and Restrictions

• Martial ranks: Martial artists must cultivate a method and pass an assessment to receive an officially recognized rank 53.
• Weapons control: Powerful crossbows are restricted goods; flying daggers generally are not 333.
• Displaced people: Those who lose their official identity do not count as Zhao subjects until they are registered again 337.
• Player guilds: Guilds can require official approval. Yang Ling offers to approve a guild that supports players and warns that inappropriate names may prevent approval 412.

Martial Strength and Sects

• Arhat Temple: Its abbot named Zhao Chongxu at birth. Yang Ling interprets this early relationship with the Zhao family as a possible reason for the temple’s later rise from second-rate to first-rate status 318.
• Heavenly Will Sect: Destroyed in an operation personally led by Zhao State’s Iron Clothes Department Master 229.
• Star Gazing Academy: Its head, Zheng Hai, accepts Rong support and cultivation resources, advances to Second Rank Human Immortal, and is later exposed as having betrayed Zhao State 944.

Economy and Resources

Cao Gang and Maritime Trade

• Transport network: The Cao Gang supplies ships for domestic travel and distant sea voyages, including Iron Clothes Department operations 424.
• Organization: Rather than a unified sect-like gang, it comprises numerous smaller factions. Sects throughout Zhao State invest money and manpower in it 424.
• Political influence: Li Zhong reports that the Grand Secretary has placed personnel within the Cao Gang and describes its importance as exceeding even that of the Six Ministries 424.
• Overseas commerce: Star Sea Fishing Alliance villages trade precious sea fish, rare flowers, and herbs with Zhao State 463 522.

Valuable Holdings

Foreign Relations

• Rong Tribe / Rong State — A rivalry lasting centuries, with daily border friction despite no major war in recent decades. The two states nevertheless cooperate against the Star Sea Fishing Alliance and partition Fire Flood Dragon Island 460 520 561.
• Heavenly Wolf Guard — Rival intelligence organization and sworn enemy of the Iron Clothes Department. Its Wei Lord is eventually revealed as Pei Zhiyan, First Branch Master of Zhao’s Strategy Division 522 927 928.
• Star Sea Fishing Alliance — A maritime trading partner and competitor for island resources. Zhao State also infiltrates it through Hua Jinsong, the Iron Clothes Department’s Command Department Second Branch Master 463 928.
• Great Dream Dynasty — A distant power that initially professes no hostile relationship with Zhao State but contests Fire Flood Dragon Island. Zhao De later advocates strengthening the Abyssal Beast Cavern’s clans to keep the dynasty occupied 546 549 886.
• Threat of renewed war — Pei Zhiyan warns that the Rong Tribe may launch a full-scale offensive within six months to a year 927.

Divine Domain Region

Regional Systems

• Separate rankings: Rong Tribe players do not appear on Zhao State’s Divine Realm Rank List. Yang Ling initially uses this discrepancy to infer that player regions and chat channels may be divided by country 318.
• Shared historical map: In an instance set before Zhao State’s founding, Zhao and Rong players enter the same map and can read one another’s public-channel messages 991.
• Population: More than two million Zhao players watch the inter-district tournament 973.
• Early strength gap: Apart from Yang Ling, Luo Kai, and a small leading group, Zhao’s top hundred largely possess Seventh- or Eighth-Rank combat strength when matched against Shura Path’s Fifth- and Sixth-Rank lineup 972.

Succession Main Quest

Zhao State becomes the first region to unlock the Divine Domain 3.0 main quest after Yang Ling promises to support Fourth Prince Zhao Zheng’s bid for the throne 928 929.

Martial Way Tournament

Notable Quotes

“Precisely for that reason, I will never allow anyone to cross Zhao State’s bottom line before my eyes!”
— Zhao Zheng, refusing to let Nangong Fengge treat Yang Ling as expendable 548

“His backers? What do his backers amount to? My backer is Zhao State.”
— Yang Ling 777