Sun Fuping

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Sun Fuping (孙孚平)
Alias(es)	State Preceptor Sun; State Preceptor
Species/Race	Human
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Great Yuan; royal expedition to Coiling Dragon Desert
Occupation/Role	State Preceptor; leader and ritual specialist of the Great Square Pot expedition
Status	Active; entered the world beneath the blood pool in pursuit of the Great Square Pot 48 49
First Appearance	Chapter 11

Background / History

Sun Fuping is one of Great Yuan's three State Preceptors, practitioners regarded as both regulators of national fortune in peacetime and decisive weapons in war. He had known He Chunhua since the latter attended a Heaven Worship Ceremony twenty years earlier. 11

Acting on orders discussed by the King and Grand Marshal Dong Haoming, Sun travelled to Blackwater City with Nian Songyu to locate the Great Square Pot before the rebels at Woling Pass could advance on the capital. He identified the artifact as the nest of the Three-Corpse Insect, a divine object once used by Zhong Shengguang to defend Coiling Dragon City. 13

Sun persuaded He Chunhua to provide guides, troops, and leadership for the expedition, citing the Grand Marshal's past support of the He family and the promised rewards for success. 14

Appearance

Sun Fuping is a tall, thin man nearing sixty, with graying hair and beard. Despite his age, his eyes are exceptionally bright and unsettlingly penetrating. 11

• Tall and lean build. 11
• Graying hair and beard. 11
• Bright eyes described as seeming able to uncover a person's hidden secrets. 11
• Carries a long staff crowned with a beast-shaped head. 20 43

Personality

Sun is composed, authoritative, and highly confident in his own preparation. He repeatedly approaches the Coiling Dragon Desert's dangers as problems to be solved through research, ritual planning, and calculated use of national fortune. 36 38 40

He places the recovery of the Great Square Pot and the safety of the capital above individual hardship. This pragmatism leads him to pressure He Chunhua into leading the expedition, trigger the Furious Sand Season despite its likely frontier casualties, and forcibly send a sand bandit into the pool to scout for a route. 21 38 45 47

Sun can also be ruthless when extracting information. He tortures Three-Corpse Insect hosts with heated medicinal needles, carefully escalating the pain while attempting to avoid killing the insects too quickly. 39

Abilities & Skills

State Preceptor Rituals and Origin Power

Sun can conduct large-scale rituals that affect both people and national fortune.

• Summoned spiritual rain over Blackwater City, healing residents' damaged lungs, chronic pain, fatigue, and other ailments. 21
• Drew water from the bodies and surroundings of the gathered crowd, purified it, and collected it in a crystal vat. 21
• Gathered the expedition troops' fortune into the ritual and used it to temporarily strengthen a State Decree. 21
• Received royal permission to invoke the Primal Power sealed within Great Yuan's Divine Altar for the expedition's return. 38
• His rituals may require a sufficiently powerful local State Decree; Zeng Feixiong's Kite Coin was inadequate against the desert's power, while He Chunhua's higher-ranked coin succeeded. 21

Barriers and Formations

Sun employs defensive arts and formations against vengeful spirits.

• Created a Void Barrier that concealed the living from spirits and allowed the trapped expedition members to breathe. 44
• The Void Barrier is temporary and primarily conceals life rather than physically resisting attacks. 44
• Empowered Nian Songyu's Prism Shield with an incantation, enabling it to block a vengeful commander's spear. 46
• Drew and activated the Heavenly Thunder Defense using He Chunhua's State Decree, destroying heroic spirits and sealing the pool against their return. 48
• The Heavenly Thunder Defense depended on He Chunhua remaining within roughly one hundred paces of his State Decree. 48

Spirit Lore and Countermeasures

Sun possesses extensive knowledge of the Three-Corpse Insects, vengeful spirits, and the Great Square Pot.

• Determined that the Three-Corpse Insects feared something near the Great Square Pot and attempted to interrogate them for its location. 39
• Used hollow golden needles, medicinal fire, and injected medicine to torture Three-Corpse Insects within their hosts. 39
• Recognized that vengeful spirits emerge from the pot in order from weak to strong, with some consuming and fusing into more powerful entities. 44
• Ordered the use of Soul-Suppressing Powder and Life Fire when the blood pool began releasing spirits. 43
• Directed Bai Shan and Qingshui to use the Soul-Fixing Banner to distract and pacify the Sixteen-Eyed Monster. 44 45

Historical and Strategic Knowledge

Sun's mission is supported by research into Coiling Dragon City's fall, its defenders, and earlier expeditions.

• Used surviving records from He Jian and a personal guard's final letter to identify the Great Square Pot and Zhong Shengguang's blood sacrifice to Mitian. 12 13
• Shared detailed knowledge of the Red General's campaigns and proposed that the general may have been a Divine Descent. 26
• Consulted records from Grandmaster Zhu Gen and prior explorers to narrow the possible location of the Great Square Pot. 36
• Deduced that rain and water were connected to the Furious Sand Season, then directed the irrigation and blood-filling operation at the Mitian Temple pool. 39 40 42 43

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Beast-headed long staff — Used in rituals, barrier creation, fire attacks, and the activation of formations. 20 21 43 48
• Soul-Fixing Banner — A rune-covered banner wielded by Bai Shan and Qingshui under Sun's command to influence vengeful spirits. 44 45
• Golden needle set — Hollow needles used with medicine and true fire to torture Three-Corpse Insects. 39
• Crystal vat — Ritual vessel used to gather purified water, troop fortune, and the power of State Decrees. 21
• Miniature carved boats and Mystic Crystals — Three carved boats that Sun enlarged into wooden vessels for crossing the desert. 28
• Bullet Fish spray sac — A compressed water reservoir used to pour a sustained stream of water into the Mitian Temple pool. 42

Relationships

• Nian Songyu — Expedition companion supplied by Governor Nian Zanli; Nian leads assisting personnel and fights alongside Sun during the Coiling Dragon City crisis. 13 46 47
• He Chunhua — Local governor whose troops, State Decree, and authority Sun needs for the expedition; Sun pressures him into personally leading the force and later relies on him to maintain the Heavenly Thunder Defense. 14 21 48
• He Lingchuan — He Chunhua's eldest son; frequently questions Sun's plans, yet assists in the investigation of the Furious Sand Season and later encounters Sun beneath the blood pool. 39 42 49
• Dong Haoming — Grand Marshal whose discovered clues and political backing support Sun's mission to retrieve the Great Square Pot. 13 14
• Bai Shan and Qingshui — Sun's attendants, ordered to raise the Soul-Fixing Banner against the Sixteen-Eyed Monster. 44 45

Story Role / Major Arcs

Mission for the Great Square Pot

Sun arrives in Blackwater City with Nian Songyu and informs He Chunhua that Woling Pass has fallen. He reveals that the Great Square Pot could be used to turn the war's course, then recruits the He family's personnel and local expertise for an expedition into the Coiling Dragon Desert. 11 13 14

Before departure, he performs an Expedition Ritual that inspires Blackwater City's soldiers and heals its residents. He subsequently uses the troops' fortune to demonstrate that He Chunhua's higher-ranked State Decree is necessary for a viable expedition. 20 21

Journey through the Coiling Dragon Desert

Sun travels with the Blackwater Garrison, the He father and son, Nian Songyu, and conscripted sand bandits. He expands three miniature boats for desert travel, recruits the sand bandits for their local knowledge, and acts as the expedition's principal guide through Coiling Dragon City's defenses and history. 27 28 35

At Coiling Dragon City, he reveals that earlier explorers had already searched the ruins, but maintains that he can narrow the Great Square Pot's location through historical research and the behavior of Three-Corpse Insects. 36 39

Triggering the Furious Sand Season

Sun concludes that water is the key to awakening the Great Square Pot's effects. He directs the group to fill the Mitian Temple pool with water and then beast blood, causing the pool to expand and release vast numbers of vengeful spirits. 40 42 43

The release begins the Furious Sand Season across the Coiling Dragon Desert. Sun maintains that Coiling Dragon City is the safest place during the storm and that removing the Great Square Pot should end the phenomenon. 38 45

Defense of the Blood Pool

As the vengeful spirits attack, Sun deploys the Void Barrier, Soul-Fixing Banner, and Heavenly Thunder Defense. When He Lingchuan falls through the pool, Sun uses a sand bandit as a living scout to determine whether the passage below is survivable. 44 47 48

After assigning He Chunhua and the garrison to hold the defensive formation, Sun enters the pool himself to seize the Great Square Pot. He later appears in the world beneath the pool alongside Nian Songyu. 48 49