Zhao Family

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Zhao Family (赵)
Alias(es)	Zhao Clan; Northwest Zhao Family
Affiliation	One of the Six Great Families alongside the Yang, Li, Xia, Yue, and Liu families 44
Occupation/Role	Millennia-old aristocratic clan and former ruling power of the Northwest 44 389
Status	Overthrown as ruler of the Northwest; surviving bloodline members and hidden remnants persisted afterward 389 405 507
First Appearance	Chapter 44

Background & History

The Zhao Family was one of the realm’s six thousand-year noble houses. It claimed descent from the royal house of the ancient State of Zhao and maintained its power through inherited cultivation arts, a Spirit Realm, intelligence networks, retainers, and elite cavalry. 44 229

For decades, the family dominated the Northwest from Western Capital. Its influence Beyond the Pass extended through secret agents, including Zhao Feng—Zhao Lizhong’s twin younger brother—who was sent there as a hidden operative more than ten years before Kang City’s rise. 166 168

Approximately fifteen years before the family’s fall, its Spirit Realm became inaccessible. According to Zhao Qiying, this trapped the clan’s accumulated wealth and resources inside, forcing the family to consume its reserves and seek an alliance with the Yue Family for military and financial support. 392 The loss of access weakened the Zhao Family, but its deeper decline stemmed from internal decay, conservative leadership, and a loss of popular support in the Northwest. 392 395

The family’s conflict with Zhao Sheng and Wu Juan began over twenty years earlier. While the Maoshan disciples were briefly seeking employment as Zhao retainers, the then-young master of the Zhao Family attempted to violate Wu Juan through underhanded means; the couple escaped Beyond the Pass, where they established the Refining Blade Workshop. That young master later became Zhao Lizhong, the family head. 159

Organization

Main Branch

Figure	Position / Significance
Zhao Family Ancestor	Former Void Transformation Realm cultivator whose final state became a demonic-path artifact and mechanical puppet concealed as the Ancestral Hall. 339 367
Zhao Lizhong	Family head during the conflict with Kang City; Zhao Qiying’s father and Zhao Feng’s twin brother. 168 196
Zhao Qiying	Zhao Lizhong’s eldest son; commanded Zhao Border Cavalry squads and later led major campaigns against Kang City. 229 271
Zhao Feng	Zhao Lizhong’s twin younger brother and a long-term covert operative Beyond the Pass; operated Galloping Horse Hall under the name Ma Jinfeng. 168
Zhao Lifa	Zhao Lizhong’s younger brother; survived the family’s defeat and became consumed by revenge against Zhou Yan. 416 420

Hidden Branch

The Zhao Family preserved a contingency tradition in which one descendant of each generation was concealed outside the main line to preserve the bloodline should the clan fall. Over time, these hidden heirs declined from carefully selected talents to neglected children. 405

• Zhao Qirui / Qi Rui — Concubine-born son of Zhao Lizhong and master of the hidden branch. Sent away at two or three years old and denied the Zhao surname, he survived the collapse with loyal retainers and attempted to preserve—not immediately restore—the family. 405 406
• Tao Wangshan — A loyal outsider retainer and likely the surviving Zhao Family’s only Concentration Realm expert during Qirui’s flight. 406 407
• Xiao Ren — Zhao Qirui’s shadow guard since childhood; a peak Qi-Inducing Realm specialist in concealment and movement. 407

Military Forces & Defenses

Force / Asset	Details
Zhao Border Cavalry	A force directly subordinate to the family head. Its captains possessed Concentration Realm cultivation, and Zhao Qiying commanded three squads. 229
Zhao Border Cavalry inheritance	Originally a true Military Formation Dao Soldier of the Warring States era, also called the Barbarian Blade Riders. It specialized in mounted archery and barbarian blades; the later Zhao armored cavalry was only a weakened derivative. 471
Armored Cavalry	The family’s most dangerous conventional force and the main source of Kang City’s losses during the Northwest war. Its training records later enabled Zhou Yan to rebuild the force as the War Riders. 395 405
First Kang City campaign	Zhao Qiying fielded 50,000 troops: 10,000 armored cavalry, 20,000 cold-weapon infantry, 10,000 riflemen, and 10,000 logistics and engineering personnel. 271
Second Green Iron Pass campaign	Zhao Lizhong dispatched 200,000 troops under Xu Fengxing; many were poorly trained substitutes, ghost-salary soldiers, or otherwise unfit personnel. 341 343
Zhao Family Ancestral Hall	A concealed demonic-path magical artifact and mechanical puppet formed from the family’s old ancestor. It absorbed the blood of fallen family members through a suspected blood-sacrifice formation. 365 367

The family’s armed forces deteriorated sharply. Its leadership long resisted firearms and artillery because it trusted Northwest hardened soldiers and armored cavalry, only purchasing substantial Western weapons after earlier defeats exposed that weakness. 271 341

Inherited Arts & Resources

Cultivation Inheritance

The Zhao Family’s primary battle inheritance was a complete martial and military cultivation system capable of reaching the Dao Integration Realm. 395

• Ironblood Battle-Slaying Art — Top-tier art that could absorb battlefield Killing Intent to accelerate cultivation and increase combat power.
  • Required practitioners to endure pain compared to being cut by a thousand blades.
  • Was rarely cultivated by later Zhao descendants because of its agony and because the main branch withheld it from members it did not trust. 395
• Blood Battle Thirteen Spears — Matched spear art. 395
• Hundred Battles Golden Body — Body-tempering method. 395
• Thousand-Jun Battle Qi — Battle-focused qi art. 395
• Four Directions Step — Movement technique. 395
• Nine Forms of Heavy Slash — Saber technique. 395
• Additional inheritances — The Spirit Realm pavilion contained seventeen other superior cultivation arts and secret techniques. 395

Spirit Realm Reserves

After gaining entry to the Zhao Family Spirit Realm, Zhou Yan recovered the clan’s long-sealed stores. 395

Resource	Recorded Quantity / Use
Gold	Eight million taels
Silver	Fifty million taels
Grain and fodder	One million shi
Weapons and armor	Enough to equip roughly 30,000 soldiers
Jewelry and jade	Vast quantities, though considered less useful than food, metals, and military resources during wartime
Archives	Intelligence records, Northwest maps, household registers, land registers, and armored-cavalry training materials 375 395

Downfall

The Zhao Family initially underestimated Kang City, repeatedly assuming Zhou Yan was merely a Yue Family proxy rather than an independent threat. Zhao Lizhong dismissed warnings from Sima Qin, relied on indirect schemes, and showed little concern even for trusted retainers such as Zhao Li when they disappeared. 196 230

After Zhao Qiying’s 50,000-man campaign failed, the family attempted peace negotiations while pursuing assassinations and other covert measures against Zhou Yan. 283 Zhao Lizhong later protected Qiying from much of the political backlash, but lifted the blockade of Kang City amid the family’s growing internal problems. 294

The White Lotus Sect attacked after receiving reports that the Zhao Family’s Void Transformation Realm ancestor was near death or had already fallen. The Zhao Family anticipated the attack, however, lured the sect’s core forces into Western Capital, and killed the White Lotus Holy King inside the Ancestral Hall. 339 347

Kang City’s subsequent offensive exposed the clan’s weakened state. Zhou Yan’s forces captured Western Capital, while the Blood Wolf Riders overwhelmed the remaining defenders and killed a Concentration Realm Zhao elder through their military formation. 361 364 Zhou Yan then demolished the Ancestral Hall, forcing the transformed Zhao ancestor to reveal himself. 365 367

The ancestor’s puppet body, demonic qi, and recovery ability made him an exceptionally dangerous opponent, but his damaged soul was vulnerable to Zhou Yan’s spiritual attacks. Zhou Yan and Armor General eventually exhausted him through formations, domains, undead forces, and repeated spiritual assaults. 369 370

With the family’s military power and Western Capital broken, Kang City formally replaced the Zhao Family as ruler of the Northwest. 389

Remnants

Zhao Qirui preserved a concealed network of more than one hundred loyal retainers after the main family’s collapse. The General Affairs Bureau systematically dismantled most remaining Zhao covert assets over the following months, leaving only isolated survivors, defectors, and people living under assumed identities. 405 406

The other great families offered limited or exploitative assistance:

• Yang, Xia, and Liu Families — Offered to escort only a small number of Zhao survivors out of the Northwest. 407
• Li Family — Demanded the Zhao inheritance, intelligence files, remaining network, and two-thirds of the family’s wealth in return for aid. 407
• Yue Family — Wanted Zhao Qirui to remain in the Northwest, sabotage Zhou Yan, and provoke war before receiving help to regain a foothold. 407

Zhao Qirui ultimately cooperated with the Yue and Li families while secretly leaking their movements to Kang City’s General Affairs Bureau. He prioritized evacuating Zhao bloodline members from the Northwest before opposing Zhao Lifa’s revenge-driven plan to release ancient demons. 420 422

Zhao Qirui survived the resulting ancient-demon incident with severe burns, adopted the name Zhao Rui, and was appointed deputy commander of the Sixth War Riders by Zhou Yan. 432