Fang Family

Biodata

Background / History

The Fang Family rose from obscurity in Qixi County over five thousand years ago. Its ancestral land remains in Fang Family Village, where the clan preserves its genealogy, conducts five-year ancestral rites, and maintains the Ancestral Hall. The Prefecture City branch retains the status of main lineage because it holds the genealogy and presides over these rites. 37 39 44

By the beginning of the story, the family is one of Clear Sea City's Three Great Clans and is described as rising rapidly, even vaguely leading the other two. Its power rests on extensive businesses, mineral deposits, cultivation resources, and a substantial body of Xiantian Realm stewards and Foundation Establishment elders. 1 8 24

Green Ridge Stronghold repeatedly attacked the family's mines at Falling Mist Mountain, killing disciples and stewards and later capturing Fang Man. The Fang Family retaliated with a large expedition under the Eleventh Elder, divided into ten squads. After Fang Yuan's infiltration and the collapse of the stronghold's leadership, the family annihilated Green Ridge Stronghold, burned it down, and distributed its resources to nearby villagers. 24 32

During the ancestral rites, the Prefecture City and Royal City branches contested ceremonial precedence and the legitimacy of the main lineage. Fang Yuan's victory over Royal City heir Fang Lian secured prestige for the Prefecture City branch and reinforced the clan's standing at its ancestral land. 39 42

After Fang Yuan survived his second Foundation Establishment and Heavenly Lightning tribulation, Emperor Hongtai recognized the family's loyalty and virtue by granting it the hereditary status of the Zhenyuan Duke Mansion. The family subsequently expanded its influence, recruited talent, and received the Wang Clan as a vassal after Wang Jingtang confessed to plotting against it. 61 71 73

Governance and Structure

• Family Head: Fang Zhongwu — Leads the Prefecture City main lineage, directs clan policy, and is later revealed to be a Golden Core True Lord. He is enfeoffed as Duke of Zhenyuan. 43 61
• Council Elders — Seventeen formally ranked elders, from the Grand Elder through the Seventeenth Elder, who deliberate on military action, expansion, security, and clan affairs. 24 71
• Ordinary Elders — Foundation Establishment Realm elders who do not hold council titles. 24
• Stewards — Xiantian Realm experts who oversee assignments, mines, transport, and field operations. 11 17
• Ten Elders — The clan's most senior retired contributors and strongest known guardians. They hold supreme authority at the ancestral land, protect the Ancestral Hall, and rarely appear publicly. 46
• Younger generation — Clan disciples may compete with one another, but the family tacitly forbids conflicts resulting in death or serious injury. 3

Ancestral Land and Heritage

The ancestral land is located in a village under Qixi County, surrounded by subordinate towns and guarded by clan members. Ordinary clan members generally cannot reside in Fang Family Village; its inhabitants are either reclusive elders or highly senior village elders. 39

The Ancestral Hall is the center of the family's inheritance. Over centuries, it has accumulated faith, incense, and the essence of heaven, earth, sun, and moon; Fang Zhongwu compares it to a top-grade Spiritual Treasure. Its periodic blessing and purification can reshape physiques and stimulate potential. 44

The ancestral land also possesses a feared defensive power. A past head of the Royal City branch attempted to seize the main-lineage position and took the family-head token by force, but died violently that night; his accomplices died shortly afterward and were erased from the genealogy. 44

Thunder Dao Inheritance

The Fang Family's primary inheritance is tied to the Thunder Dao. Exceptional descendants may awaken bloodlines, physiques, spiritual roots, Dharma manifestations, or Martial Dao Imprints upon reaching Foundation Establishment. Stronger talents can resonate through the clan's bloodline. 47

• Fang Yuan's Martial Dao Imprint is identified as a Thunder Dao Imprint. 47
• The Ten Elders regard Fang Yuan's awakened imprint as significant enough to openly support and protect him. 46
• Fang Zhongwu possesses his own Thunder Dao Imprint, manifested as Tri-Colored Lightning. 47

Holdings and Resources

• Clear Sea City estate — The family's principal residence and administrative center. 1 71
• Falling Mist Mountain mineral deposits — Strategically important mines repeatedly targeted by Green Ridge Stronghold. 14 24
• Blacksmith shop and pig-iron transport routes — Supported by ore extracted from the family's mines. 17
• Fang Family Village and Ancestral Hall — Sacred ancestral site in Qixi County and source of the clan's blessing and purification. 39 44
• Life tablets — Used to monitor the survival of important clan members at a distance. 24
• Private Guard — Secretly assigned to protect select members on dangerous journeys. 49

Relationships

• Fang Yuan — Young Master, future heir, and central hope of the clan; later Marquis of Xiaoyao. His achievements greatly elevate the family's prestige. 43 61 64
• Fang Zhongwu — Family Head of the Prefecture City branch and Fang Yuan's father; later Duke of Zhenyuan. 43 61
• Royal City Fang Family — A shared-root branch descended from a line that left the Prefecture City branch roughly three thousand years earlier and earned the hereditary Dingguo Duke title. Their relationship with the main lineage is strained by disputes over legitimacy and historical grievances. 38 39 54
• Shi Family — Long-standing business associate, especially in mineral veins; relations deepen after Fang Yuan saves a Shi caravan from Green Ridge bandits. 16 50
• Azure Cloud Academy — Offers admission to Fang Yuan and later agrees to assist with admitting Fang Family disciples. 49 62
• Wang Clan — Former rival among Clear Sea City's Three Great Clans; becomes a Fang Family vassal after Wang Jingtang confesses to backing Green Ridge Stronghold and assassination attempts against Fang Yuan. 72 73
• Snow Listening Pavilion — Hostile assassin organization targeted for retaliation after attempting to assassinate Fang Yuan within the Fang estate. 69 71

Notable Policies and Customs

• Clan hierarchy is strictly enforced; inferiors may not openly defy superiors. 3
• The family encourages younger disciples to gain combat experience through missions, including mine defense and bandit suppression. 11 12
• Internal competition is tolerated within limits, provided it does not result in death or grave injury. 3
• Ancestral rites occur once every five years and are governed by ritual law, ceremonial precedence, and rules of succession. 37 39
• The family prioritizes collective development despite internal factions and power struggles. 2 24
• Following the Snow Listening Pavilion attack, the Council resolves to expand influence, recruit talent, and alter the Prefecture City Grand Competition's rules in the family's favor. 71

Trivia

• The family was initially one of Clear Sea City's Three Great Clans; its later ducal enfeoffment elevates it beyond an ordinary regional noble house. 1 61
• Fang Yuan's defeat of Fang Lian is regarded as an unprecedented feat: defeating a Foundation Establishment cultivator while still in the Xiantian Realm. 41 42
• The family has a reputation for producing exceptional talents, a point emphasized by both its ancestral inheritance and its rapidly growing political standing. 45 52