Great Zhou

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Great Zhou (大周)
Alias(es)	Great Zhou Dynasty; Great Zhou Imperial Court
Ruling Clan	Ji Imperial Clan 786
Capital	Shengjing City, in Beiyuan Circuit 397
Territory	Forty-Nine Circuits 787
Occupation/Role	Imperial dynasty that rules the Central Plains
Status	Active; its military and Su Xin's forces jointly mobilize against Spirit Mountain 1510
First Appearance	Chapter 2

Background

Great Zhou rose from a small Southern Barbarian state into a Central Plains empire during the collapse of Great Jin. Ji Haodian inherited little from the dynasty's earlier rulers, but seized the opportunity presented by Great Jin's turmoil, destroyed Great Jin, and established the Great Zhou that came to dominate the Central Plains 449. Another account credits the legendary Emperor Longwu with expanding Great Zhou from a Southern Barbarian state into an empire spanning thousands of miles 2.

The Sanxiang Martial Alliance was instrumental in Great Zhou's early campaigns. Its leader, “Mad Lion” Du Yuansheng united martial artists from Xiangnan, Xiangjiang, and Xiangxi to aid Great Zhou's assault on Eastern Jin; his disappearance shattered the alliance and halted the offensive before Eastern Jin could be eradicated 85. Later accounts state that Ji Haodian secretly purged Du Yuansheng after discovering his ulterior motives, eliminating a former ally who had helped Great Zhou conquer the realm 776.

Shengjing City became the capital after Great Zhou secured the realm. Located in Beiyuan Circuit on the border with the Golden Tent Khanate, its position reflects the principle of the Son of Heaven guarding the frontier 397. The former capital, Changning Prefecture, declined after its imperial city was demolished and much of its elite population was relocated to Shengjing 2.

Government and Institutions

Great Zhou functions less as an absolute monarchy than a coalition of armed and political interests. The emperor mediates between the Ji Imperial Clan, the military, the Six Fan Sect, and the Imperial Offering Hall; no one faction is meant to control the entire state alone 751 812.

Institution	Function and position
Ji Imperial Clan	The ruling bloodline and source of dynastic legitimacy. After Ji Haodian's death, it was one of the four principal decision-making blocs; Prince of Changshan Ji Xuanyuan temporarily directed Shengjing City affairs 786.
Military	Guards the Forty-Nine Circuits and the frontiers. Its hierarchy includes circuit Military Governors, the Longwu, Feixiong, and Huben field armies, and the four frontier armies 971.
Six Fan Sect	Great Zhou's principal intelligence and law-enforcement organization. It carries out secret assignments, monitors officials and martial arts factions, and operates branches throughout the realm 660 771.
Imperial Offering Hall	A body of outside martial retainers supported with cultivation resources. Its members normally hold no direct political power, but include high-level combatants assigned to frontier defense 394 971.
Palace eunuchs	A long-serving covert force within the palace. Senior eunuchs such as Tang Xian serve as imperial confidants and possess formidable martial strength 394 408.

Recruitment and Administration

• Great Zhou recruits martial artists into either the military or the Six Fan Sect and distributes cultivation resources according to contribution rather than seniority 220.
• It accepts rogue cultivators and even former demonic-path martial artists provided they uphold Great Zhou's position and do not betray it 486.
• Circuit Chief Constables and Military Governors exercise broad local authority, allowing most regional matters to be handled without frequent court assemblies 417.
• This decentralization protects the dynasty from an incompetent emperor, but leaves the Ji Imperial Clan dependent on cooperation from the military and the Six Fan Sect 771.

Military Strength

Formation / Asset	Notes
Three Great Field Armies	The Longwu, Feixiong, and Huben Armies are among the military's central formations 971.
Four Frontier Armies	Guard the eastern, northern, southern, and western borders; their commanders hold status above ordinary circuit Military Governors 971.
Northern Garrison Army	Great Zhou's strongest frontier force due to the persistent threat of the Golden Tent Khanate 971.
Dragon-Slaying Crossbows	Large-scale weapons capable of killing Xiantian martial artists 970.
Imperial Offering Hall experts	Yang Spirit Realm retainers stationed at frontiers to counter hostile high-level martial artists 971.
Shengjing field armies	All three were deployed alongside the Six Fan Sect, Ji Imperial Clan experts, and Zhao Wunian during the Qingcheng Sword Sect operation 637.

Policies and Relations with the Jianghu

Great Zhou and the major martial arts factions maintain an unstable balance. Great Zhou possesses the capability to destroy major sects, but an assault on a top-tier faction risks severe losses and intervention by other powers; the sects, in turn, avoid openly provoking the dynasty 620 621.

The imperial court considers hidden organizations such as the Heavenly Court and Underworld particularly dangerous because their bases and full strength are unknown 621. Great Zhou's relationship with open Jianghu powers is also strained by the Six Fan Sect's extensive surveillance of both martial arts factions and court officials 660.

The Western Border Esoteric Sect became Great Zhou's state religion after deciding that imperial support offered its best chance to establish itself in the Central Plains 669 998.

Relationships

• Ji Imperial Clan — ruling family and political center of the dynasty, though its attempts to reclaim authority created friction with the military and Six Fan Sect 1069 1099.
• Six Fan Sect — Great Zhou's oldest and most indispensable intelligence institution; the Tie Family chose to join Great Zhou during its early rise and helped establish the sect 490 1097.
• Military — the dynasty's primary armed force and guardian of the borders; its senior commanders emphasize loyalty to Great Zhou itself rather than solely to the Ji family 1069 1120.
• Imperial Offering Hall — powerful external retainers whose loyalty is tied to Great Zhou's resources and, in Zhao Wunian's case, a personal debt to the Ji Imperial Clan 1099.
• Western Border Esoteric Sect — state religion and occasional source of high-end support, including Baoxiang Tathagata Suonanche 669 780.
• Su Xin — former Four Great Constable and Northwest King who commanded Great Zhou's campaign against the Qingcheng Sword Sect, later broke with the court after its campaign to strip his authority, and subsequently aided Great Zhou against Imperial Heaven Domain 637 1116 1403.
• Heavenly Court and Underworld — powerful hidden organizations regarded with suspicion by the imperial court; Great Zhou avoided direct conflict with them because a full-scale confrontation would be devastating 621 810.
• Imperial Heaven Domain — a stronger Immortal Domain faction whose arrival severely challenged Great Zhou's prestige and forced the dynasty to seek Su Xin's assistance 1397 1403.

Major Arcs

Qingcheng Sword Sect Campaign

Great Zhou mobilized Zhao Wunian, Lin Zongyue, Shengjing's three field armies, Ji Imperial Clan experts, and the Six Fan Sect under Su Xin's command for an operation against the Qingcheng Sword Sect 637. The campaign demonstrated that Great Zhou could concentrate overwhelming force against a top-tier Jianghu faction, but also exposed the political and military costs of such a deployment 637 639.

Heaven-Observing Banquet and the Battle of Shengjing City

Ji Haodian convened the Heaven-Observing Banquet while pursuing longevity through Soul Transplantation. The event erupted into a battle involving numerous True Martial Realm experts and culminated in Ji Haodian's death 781 787. Despite expectations of collapse, the Forty-Nine Circuits remained stable under the Six Fan Sect, Military Governors, and Ji Imperial Clan 787.

Succession Crisis

After Ji Haodian's death, Ji Xuanyuan required the princes to compete for the throne by collecting tokens while forbidding Yang Spirit Realm experts from intervening 788. Ji Yanxiu became Crown Prince, but Su Xin, Tie Zhan, and Lin Zongyue opposed his accession after his regency created repeated crises for the court 799 815.

War with the Golden Tent Khanate and Eastern Jin

The Golden Tent Khanate launched a large-scale invasion with hundreds of thousands of cavalry, compelling Great Zhou to impose martial law in Shengjing and reinforce the northern front 994. Eastern Jin subsequently allied with the Khanate, forcing Great Zhou to deploy Pang Yuande and the field armies while seeking aid from the Esoteric Sect and the Central Plains Martial Arts World 998.

Conflict with Su Xin

Ji Xuansi attempted to consolidate Ji Imperial Clan power by removing Su Xin and Li Huai from their Six Fan Sect positions, appointing overseas martial artists in their place, and installing military supervisors over major armies 1098. After Su Xin's identity as King Chujiang of the Underworld was exposed, Great Zhou assembled forces to move against him in the Northwest 1109 1116.

The campaign weakened Great Zhou's defenses. The Golden Tent Khanate and Eastern Jin attacked its borders while the Seven Great Gangs seized its production resources, forcing Ji Xuanyuan to withdraw the army and suspend the conflict with Su Xin 1120 1129.

Imperial Heaven Domain Conflict

Great Zhou became increasingly constrained after Immortal Domain forces descended into the lower realm, lacking the Divine Bridge Realm strength needed to confront them directly 1397. When Imperial Heaven Domain killed Jiangnan Circuit Chief Constable Zhang Dongping and challenged Great Zhou's authority, Xue Zhenyue advanced to the Divine Bridge Realm, allowing Great Zhou to besiege Imperial Dragon City with Su Xin as its hidden trump card 1403 1404.

Loss of Local Control

The Buddha Sect later displaced Great Zhou's Six Fan Sect and military from administrative authority across many circuits, reducing their role largely to intelligence gathering 1495. Faced with this erosion of control, Great Zhou sought Su Xin's aid and committed elite military forces to the assault on Spirit Mountain 1495 1510.