Three Great Merchant Associations

Biodata

Constituent Associations

Background / History

Expansion into the North Sea

The three associations entered the North Sea together and steadily seized business from the Langya Merchant Association, turning Langya’s former near-monopoly into a commercial stalemate. Their combined financial resources exceeded Langya’s, while Langya relied on the North Sea being its home territory and on support from the Northern Darkness Sacred Ground. 51

Their first major response to Wang Mu’s growing influence was to imitate the Langya Foundation’s charitable model. Penglai, Si Hai, and Cloud Palace coordinated to establish the Penglai Cloud Sea Foundation, promoting donations through promises of merit and recognition. 37 38

The project backfired. Their foundations were repeatedly vandalized; more than one hundred had reportedly been smashed within three days. 50 Public accounts later accused the associations of exploiting disaster victims through inflated prices, defective pills, and forced IOUs, severely damaging the credibility of their charitable efforts. 148

Secret Realm Monopolization

The associations bought intelligence on Secret Realms and ruins, offering at least 5,000 Spirit Stones for low-confidence leads and far more for corroborated information. 62

After verifying a site, they dispatched guards, claimed the territory, and barred unaffiliated cultivators from entering. Access was generally limited to their own personnel and disciples of major sects close to them, causing resentment among rogue cultivators. 62

Communication Talisman Conflict

In response to Langya’s successful communication talismans, the Three Great Merchant Associations released visually similar products in four styles—Phoenix, Qilin, Kunpeng, and Zhulong—with Xingyao, Huiyue, Haori, and Yinhe grades. They undercut Langya’s pricing and used broad production through ordinary workshops and refiners to maintain abundant supply. 84 85

Their low-cost talismans rapidly captured the low-end market, but widespread overheating and explosion concerns triggered a public backlash. 85 88 The resulting reputation damage was severe enough that the associations withdrew their North Sea businesses after selling tens of millions of talismans and refusing refunds. 90

Business Practices

• Imitation-based competition — Repeatedly copied Langya initiatives, including charity foundations, communication talismans, forums, money houses, lotteries, and Ascension Convention-style events. 37 84 163 175
• Low-price, high-volume sales — Used cheaper materials and unrestricted supply to compete against Langya’s higher-quality but initially scarce communication talismans. 84 85
• Information acquisition — Paid cultivators for secret-realm and ruin intelligence, then claimed confirmed sites with stationed guards. 62
• Three Immortals Forum — Upgraded its talismans with a forum, higher-level cultivation insights, and a points mall modeled after Langya Forum. 129
• Wanfu Lottery — Rushed into lottery operations after Langhuan Jade Pavilion’s success, running separate draws in different cities and increasing the number of winners to compensate for low public trust. 175
• Money house imitation — Adopted mechanisms from Langhuan Jade Pavilion to retain customers, despite concerns over interest payments and insufficient new revenue sources. 163

Reputation Crisis

The associations’ reputation deteriorated through successive failures in their communication talisman, forum, and lottery businesses.

• Their upgraded forum prompted refund demands after cultivators reportedly suffered Qi Deviation from poorly explained cultivation insights. Shops distributing the talismans were vandalized during the protests. 116
• In Lixiao Immortal City, Tianwen Communication Talismans surpassed fifty percent market share, while users of the Three Great Merchant Associations’ talismans became reluctant to display them publicly. 123
• Their Wanfu Lottery initially attracted customers by producing unusually frequent grand-prize winners. 176 180
• The associations then changed the 30 million Spirit Stone first-prize rule into a single 30 million pool split among all first-prize winners in a city, provoking widespread outrage. 187
• The lottery fallout caused mass withdrawals from the associations’ money houses across major Immortal Cities and smaller towns. 192
• Their worshipers were also implicated in an attack on an injured girl; the Saint Son of the Primal Beginning Sacred Ground intervened and defeated them. 186

Decline and Cooperation with Langya

After Langya’s Tianwen Communication Talismans captured ninety percent of the Northern Region continent market, the Three Great Merchant Associations lost the user base needed to meaningfully compete in online payment. 207 208

Internal debate split the associations between pragmatists seeking survival through cooperation and figures such as Tang Qian, who regarded cooperation as surrender. 208 Their representatives ultimately approached Langhuan Jade Pavilion to request admission to the Money House Alliance and online banking system. 210

They later accepted Langya Merchant Association’s terms, including a fifty-percent commission, and signed the required contracts. By this point, Langya had established a Supervisory Council over other merchant associations, leaving Penglai, Si Hai, and Cloud Palace dependent on Langya’s commercial system to remain profitable. 402

Relationships

• Langya Merchant Association — Principal commercial rival; later became the dominant force whose money house, online-payment, and supervisory systems the Three Great Merchant Associations were forced to join. 84 208 402
• Wang Mu — Strategist behind Langya’s commercial rise. The associations repeatedly attempted to copy his initiatives but ultimately recognized that his plans had outpaced them. 90 164 208
• Tang Qian — Penglai representative and a persistent opponent of Wang Mu; advocated resistance even when other leaders considered cooperation. 37 208
• Gou Ansheng — Si Hai supervisor who helped devise the initial plan to replicate the Langya Foundation. 37
• Liu Yanshuang — Cloud Palace leader involved in the North Sea campaign and its eventual defeat. 90
• Taishutong — Senior Penglai leader who acknowledged the associations’ inability to keep pace with Langya and supported seeking cooperation. 208 210
• Qiu Shan Hong — Penglai chairman who ordered the association’s withdrawal from the North Sea and later witnessed the three associations’ acceptance of Langya’s terms. 90 402