Clear Wind Stronghold

Biodata

Feature	Information
Name	Clear Wind Stronghold (清风寨)
Affiliation	Mountain bandit organization operating around Green Mountain City
Occupation/Role	Road robbery, covert infiltration, and armed rebellion against the court
Status	Destroyed as an organized force during the Six Gates and government assault on Ox-Crouching Mountain. The Chief died after destroying his own dantian; surviving leaders, including Shang Youyan, were captured, although some powerful bandits escaped the encirclement. Collaborators were arrested or pursued, and the full truth of the stronghold's destruction was subsequently sealed in Six Gates archives. 146 147 149 150 154 155 176 177
First Appearance	Chapter 22

Power Progression

Period	Development	Evidence
Before Chapter 22	Became the largest bandit stronghold around Green Mountain City and survived for more than a decade despite repeated Six Gates and government campaigns against regional bandits.	22
At least eight years before Chapter 66	Established a long-term infiltration network in Green Mountain City, providing agents such as Sun Ping with silver, martial instruction, and external-hardening arts.	66
Chapters 75–111	Its River Temple Village outpost, lower-ranking Thirty-Six Bandits, city spies, and a shipment of more than twenty standardized heavy crossbows were successively exposed or destroyed.	75 80 97 101 104 111
Chapters 123–131	Its confirmed Ox-Crouching Mountain base proved to be a fortress comparable to a small city, while its Chief was believed capable of forming a Great Heavenly Circuit. A preliminary Six Gates decapitation raid failed.	123 131
Chapters 145–155	Eight hundred armored elites encircled the mountain, a fire attack breached the stronghold, and Yin Zijing defeated the Chief. The organization dispersed and was uprooted.	145 146 147 149 155
Chapters 151–154	Its Fifth Seat, Komodo, was killed by Chen Jing, who seized the Great Sun Visualization Diagram from him. More than half of the Thirty-Six Bandits were killed or wounded during the suppression, although some powerful members escaped.	151 152 154
Chapters 156–177	The suppression expanded into a prolonged dismantling of its collaborators: captured bandits and implicated officials were processed, Song Zhuoqun's case was transferred to Jin City, and implicated family branches received punishments including execution and property confiscation.	160 176 177
Chapter 383	Its martial legacy received a possible historical explanation when Chen Jing speculated that a Fire-Worship Sect figure might have carried the Great Sun Visualization Diagram to Clear Wind Stronghold after escaping Qu Feiguang's ambush. This remained conjecture rather than a confirmed connection.	383

Background / History

Clear Wind Stronghold emerged as the largest bandit stronghold around Green Mountain City. While numerous mountain strongholds had previously been destroyed within a year by Six Gates and government troops, Clear Wind Stronghold endured for more than a decade by concealing its location and evading searches. It was initially said to lie deep within Little Green Mountain, with its members described as appearing and vanishing like ghosts. Its actual base was later confirmed to be on Ox-Crouching Mountain. 22 80

The stronghold capitalized on regional unrest caused by roving rebels, returning to open road robbery. Its first direct encounter with Chen Jing occurred when nearly a hundred bandits ambushed a medicinal-herb caravan in a narrow mountain hollow. Rejecting the Wei Yuan Escort Agency's fifty-tael payment, the bandits ordered the caravan's cargo seized and every witness killed. 22

Over time, Clear Wind Stronghold developed a network inside Green Mountain City. Its infiltration had begun at least eight years before Sun Ping's exposure, with the organization funding agents' martial training and supplying them with external-hardening techniques in exchange for future service. 66

Zhou Yunhan served as an inside man at Hundred Flowers Pavilion and White Horse Pharmacy, using his position to provide the stronghold with medicinal herbs, silver, intelligence, and likely caravan-route information. After his plot to abduct Bai Zhixing failed, he died in the resulting fire. Zhou Fan was subsequently brought to the stronghold and offered his family's savings in exchange for revenge against Chen Jing and Cheng Qingshi. 43 47 49

The stronghold later ordered the ambush that crippled Cheng Qingshi's leg, retaliating for Zhou Yunhan's exposure and death. Sun Ping's interrogation confirmed the order, while later investigations exposed further moles within Six Gates, the yamen, and government troops. 65 67 110

Its endurance and expansion also depended on covert patronage. According to Ding Yunzhou, aristocratic families supplied money and grain in exchange for the stronghold carrying out dirty work that could not be conducted openly. Shangchuan Sect cooperated with it on occasion rather than controlling it as a subordinate organization. Shang Youyan was credited within the stronghold with much of its growth despite repeated official encirclement campaigns. 104 119

Following the destruction of its Ox-Crouching Mountain base, Six Gates continued investigating the seized captives, documents, military equipment, and collaborators. The resulting cases reached Green Mountain City's officials and major families; seventh-rank official Song Zhuoqun was sent to Jin City for trial, while the Wang Family's second branch and direct relatives of other implicated families were sentenced to execution and confiscation of property. 155 176

Appearance

Clear Wind Stronghold was a major fortified settlement hidden in Ox-Crouching Mountain rather than an ordinary bandit camp. Its defenses made it comparable to a small fortified city. 123 146

• Stockade walls built from massive logs and rammed earth, seven or eight zhang high. 146
• Heavy wooden battlements atop the walls. 146
• Rows of watchtowers and regular wall patrols. 123
• Arrow towers positioned on both sides of the main gate. 123
• Crossbow mechanisms visible behind its battlements. 123
• The stronghold contained major gathering halls, including the Hall of Gathering Righteousness, from which the Chief directed its senior bandits during the final assault. 148
• A dungeon held prisoners and torture victims. During the final cleanup, the authorities discovered corpses inside and found Zhou Fan chained there after prolonged torture. 154
• The fire used in the final assault remained within the stockade walls rather than spreading into the surrounding mountain forests. 154

Organization and Resources

• The Chief — Supreme leader of the stronghold; his voice alone commanded immediate silence from the assembled chieftains. He ordered Chen Jing's assassination and was believed to have opened all twelve primary meridians and the three great passes, allowing him to form a Great Heavenly Circuit. He wielded an eighteen-foot snake spear of Hundred-Refined Iron and red gold weighing more than two hundred catties, but was ultimately defeated by Yin Zijing during the fall of the stronghold. Rather than remain alive in defeat, he destroyed his own dantian and died. 104 131 148 149 154
• Shang Youyan (Mr. Shang) — The stronghold's white-robed strategist and operational brain. He tracked Chen Jing's operations, recognized him as the source of several setbacks, coordinated plans for city-based agents to assassinate him, and controlled the organization’s deployments, communications, intelligence, and knowledge of its collaborators. During the final assault, he deliberately spread panic to facilitate his own escape, but was captured after the final assault. His martial talent was mediocre despite his considerable strategic ability. 104 145 149 153 155
• Thirty-Six Bandits — Named bandit ranks within the organization, formed by thirty-six great bandits who had sworn brotherhood. The members Chen Jing had encountered before Chapter 111 were considered among the lowest tier and below the level of opening four meridians. Liu Su was one such member, while Komodo held the Fifth Seat. More than half were killed or wounded during the final suppression, but some escaped the encirclement. 80 111 151 154
• Bandit leaders — Included Coiled Dragon Staff, Armored Golden Blade, Han Yang, Zhang Tie, Zhu Can, Liu Su, Komodo, and others involved in combat, recruitment, outpost operations, or the defense of the stronghold. 80 95 97 104 127 149 151
• Manpower — The stronghold reportedly commanded several thousand bandits. Beneath the Thirty-Six Bandits were nearly a hundred leaders of varying rank, drawn from disgraced noble clans, expelled sect members, escaped criminals, and practitioners of unorthodox paths. During the final assault, one chieftain claimed that more than a thousand bandits were present inside the stronghold itself. 80 147
• Military equipment — The stronghold possessed crossbows, arrowheads, bows, armor, and helmets despite crossbows being strictly controlled Yu Dynasty military equipment. It fielded more than twenty standardized heavy crossbows during its attempt to silence Chen Jing and Lu Xiucheng. 97 101 123 104
• Supply network — River Temple Village supplied bandits in exchange for provisions, while Shangchuan Sect, Jinghe Medicine Shop, White Horse Pharmacy through Zhou Yunhan, and several Green Mountain City noble families secretly provided money, grain, medicinal herbs, intelligence, and military supplies. Pine Forest Village served as a receiving point for medicinal herbs before their onward transport to Ox-Crouching Mountain. 47 75 119 123
• Martial instruction and manuals — The organization supplied Sun Ping with the Immovable Wisdom King Stance and helped Shao Yunhe begin internal-force cultivation. Chen Jing seized the Foundation-Nurturing Technique from Liu Su and later obtained the Great Sun Visualization Diagram from Komodo. These acquisitions made the stronghold an important, unintended source of Chen Jing's early martial inheritance. 66 79 109 152
• Communications — Its network used carrier pigeons to transmit intelligence, including Ma San's report after discovering Han Yang and Zhang Tie's bodies. City informants also supplied Shang Youyan with detailed information about Chen Jing's identity and operations. 97 104
• Collaborator identities — Shang Youyan held the identities of the stronghold's moles, noble-family backers, merchant-house contacts, and yamen agents. These identities were central to the post-suppression investigation of Green Mountain City's officials and major families. No physical list was found on him when he was captured; Yin Zijing concluded that Shang avoided leaving written evidence because his knowledge was his final safeguard against execution. 146 154 176

Criminal Activities

Road Robbery

Clear Wind Stronghold specialized in killing and robbing travelers on mountain roads. During the caravan ambush, its forces refused a ransom payment, sought both the medicinal cargo and the deaths of all caravan members, and pursued those who escaped into the forest. 22 23

Infiltration and Espionage

The stronghold planted agents throughout Green Mountain City and its institutions.

• Zhou Yunhan infiltrated Hundred Flowers Pavilion and White Horse Pharmacy, betraying Bai Deyuan's family and supplying the stronghold with resources and intelligence. 43 47
• Sun Ping acted as a spy and revealed that the stronghold had ordered Cheng Qingshi's ambush. 65 67
• Lu Xiucheng, chief of Six Gates' Anti-Theft Bureau, admitted to serving as a stronghold spy after his parent was taken hostage. 97
• Shao Yunhe cultivated internal force through the stronghold and served it in exchange for martial resources. 109
• Xu Anyuan's capture exposed additional moles in the yamen and government troops. 110

Agents maintained separate contact with the stronghold, limiting their knowledge of one another. The full network was believed to be known only to Shang Youyan and the Chief, making the exposure of individual spies insufficient to eliminate its infiltration. 110

Coercion and Recruitment

Clear Wind Stronghold recruited agents through both material inducement and coercion. It supplied Sun Ping with silver and martial training during his poverty, while Lu Xiucheng was forced into service after the organization kidnapped a parent as leverage. 66 97

It also recruited displaced and criminal martial artists into its mountain force, including sect castoffs, fugitives, escaped prisoners, and practitioners of unorthodox paths. 80

The stronghold's coercion extended to imprisonment and torture. Although Zhou Fan offered his family's savings in exchange for revenge, the Chief ordered him tortured. He remained chained in the dungeon until the stronghold's destruction, by which time he had been driven mad. 49 154

Rebellion

Han Yang attempted to recruit Chen Jing into the stronghold and openly stated its ambition to rebel against the court. Chen Jing refused and killed Han Yang during the ensuing battle. 95

The organization accumulated troops, grain, medicinal resources, armor, bows, and crossbows while cultivating a network of collaborators throughout Green Mountain City, making it a potential internal force for seizing the city should open rebellion begin. 97 123 140

Story Role / Major Arcs

Caravan Ambush

Clear Wind Stronghold ambushed the Wei Yuan Escort Agency's medicinal-herb caravan with nearly a hundred bandits. Wang Chong and Chen Jing broke through the encirclement, escaped into the forest, and killed pursuing bandits while evading the stronghold's search. 22 23

The ambush leader wielded a Nine-Ring Broadsword and killed escort captain Zhao Tieqiao during the melee. He then threatened his own men with death if they allowed any caravan member to escape. 22

Hundred Flowers Pavilion Plot

Zhou Yunhan's failed attempt to abduct Bai Zhixing exposed his connection to Clear Wind Stronghold. The attack destroyed Hundred Flowers Pavilion by fire, and Zhou Fan subsequently sought the stronghold's help to avenge his father. 47 49

Li Dingfang ordered Bai Deyuan to cooperate with an investigation of White Horse Pharmacy and promised official rewards to Chen Jing and Cheng Qingshi for disrupting the plot. The Chief subsequently planned to have both young men crippled during the Green Mountain Martial Tournament, using city-based agents rather than openly deploying mountain bandits inside the city. 48 49 65

Six Gates Investigation

After joining Six Gates, Chen Jing received missions connected to the stronghold. His investigations uncovered River Temple Village's support of its bandits, exposed spies within the city, and revealed the organization’s access to illegal crossbows and other military equipment. 70 75 76 97 101 110

At River Temple Village, Chen Jing captured Liu Su, a former tomb robber who ranked near the bottom of the Thirty-Six Bandits. Liu Su disclosed the organization's scale and its location on Ox-Crouching Mountain, while the Foundation-Nurturing Technique seized from him provided Chen Jing with an internal-cultivation manual. 79 80

Shang Youyan later identified Chen Jing as responsible for the deaths of Han Yang, Zhang Tie, Zhu Can, and Liu Su, the loss of the River Temple Village outpost, and the exposure of Sun Ping and Zhou Yunhan. The Chief responded by ordering the organization's agents in Green Mountain City to assassinate him. 104

Pine Forest Village Operation

Evidence obtained from Ding Yunzhou exposed Shangchuan Sect's role in transporting medicinal herbs to Clear Wind Stronghold through Jinghe Medicine Shop. Chen Jing subsequently infiltrated its Pine Forest Village outpost with Lu Xiaoyi and Qinghong to obtain herb ledgers, fought several of its leaders, and helped clear Pine Forest Village of remaining bandits. 119 126 127 130

The ledgers were sought as evidence of other families' collusion with the stronghold. Despite facing several bandit leaders, the participating Wind-Catching Scouts survived the operation without fatalities, though they suffered serious injuries. 125 130

Failed Decapitation Raid

After Xu Anyuan's interrogation revealed the stronghold's location, Yin Zhengping led trusted Six Gates experts into Ox-Crouching Mountain to assassinate the Chief and collapse the organization from within. Although they successfully reached the Chief's residence, the operation failed, leaving Yin Zhengping, Li Dingfang, and their party injured. 131

Fall of the Stronghold

Yin Zijing secretly assembled eight hundred armored elites to surround Ox-Crouching Mountain. His force launched a nighttime fire attack, while Yin Zijing, Li Dingfang, Chen Jing, and Six Gates officers scaled the walls to open the gates for the government army. 145 146 147

The armored troops had approached in small groups disguised as merchant caravans, escort agencies, and members of the Porter Guild, bypassing the stronghold's intelligence network. Less than a quarter of an hour passed between the first flaming arrows and the army's entry through the opened gates. 145 147

Yin Zijing defeated the Chief, triggering panic and dispersal among the bandits. Chen Jing pursued Shang Youyan and other fugitives, eventually capturing the strategist; the captured survivors were later paraded through Green Mountain City. 149 150 153 155

During the pursuit, Chen Jing killed Komodo, the Fifth Seat of the Thirty-Six Bandits, and recovered the Great Sun Visualization Diagram from his body. Komodo refused to explain its origin and warned of consequences associated with it. 151 152

The Chief died after destroying his own dantian rather than accepting survival in defeat. Li Dingfang reported that more than half of the Thirty-Six Bandits had been killed or wounded, but acknowledged that some powerful members had broken through the encirclement. Shang Youyan was delivered to Yin Zijing alive, without a written collaborator list. 154

Aftermath

The destruction of Clear Wind Stronghold was publicly celebrated by Green Mountain City's residents, who saw captured bandits—including Shang Youyan—paraded through the streets. Hostages, medicinal ingredients, military equipment, and other seized supplies were counted and registered after the campaign. 155

Cleanup lasted a full day and night before the victorious force departed. Soldiers collected and registered the dead, while Six Gates officers and government troops searched the remaining corners of the stronghold for hidden survivors. The dungeon's discovery also revealed Zhou Fan's imprisonment and torture. 154 155

The subsequent investigation reached the stronghold's official and family collaborators. Li Dingfang returned with captured bandits and implicated officials, Song Zhuoqun's case was submitted to Jin City, and sentences against implicated family branches included executions and confiscations. However, the broader truth concerning the stronghold's connections and destruction was sealed in Six Gates archives, leaving the official record unknown to ordinary citizens. 176 177

The inquiry also continued against Shangchuan Sect. Its elders were ordered to give a complete account of their collusion with Clear Wind Stronghold, with both Six Gates and the Ba Alliance presented as authorities that would not tolerate further concealment. 166

Later Reference

Chen Jing later recalled that his Black Gold Blade had accompanied him since the Green Mountain City bandit-suppression campaign, before it ultimately broke during his battle against the Icefire Elder. 330

After reading Qu Feiguang's account, Chen Jing speculated that Qu's ambush of Fire-Worship Sect figures might have allowed one survivor to escape with the Great Sun Visualization Diagram and eventually reach Clear Wind Stronghold. The actual route by which the diagram reached the stronghold remained unknown, and Chen Jing regarded the historical truth as lost. 383

Relationships

• Six Gates — Principal enemy; Six Gates investigated the stronghold's spies, supply routes, and political collaborators before joining the final suppression campaign. Following the victory, it sealed the full record of the stronghold's destruction in its archives. 67 110 119 146 176 177
• Chen Jing — Major threat to the stronghold; he survived its caravan ambush, exposed its agents and supply network, infiltrated its outposts, killed numerous bandit leaders, and captured Shang Youyan during the stronghold's collapse. He also obtained the Immovable Wisdom King Stance, Foundation-Nurturing Technique, and Great Sun Visualization Diagram through encounters with its members. 22 79 104 126 150 152 153 155
• Yin Zijing — Commandery-level Six Gates officer who organized the eight-hundred-man encirclement, led the final assault, and defeated the stronghold's Chief. 145 146 149
• Shangchuan Sect — Secret collaborator that transported medicinal herbs to the stronghold with help from Jinghe Medicine Shop. Ding Yunzhou characterized the relationship as occasional cooperation rather than the stronghold being under the sect's control. Its elders were later required to account for their collusion. 119 166
• Green Mountain City noble families — Several families covertly supplied the stronghold with resources and equipment, expecting its fortress and difficult terrain to deter official retaliation. They also used it to carry out dirty work that could not be undertaken openly. The post-destruction inquiry ultimately led to punishments against implicated family branches and direct relatives. 119 123 132 176
• Song Zhuoqun — Seventh-rank official implicated in the Clear Wind Stronghold case; following the stronghold's fall, his case was transferred to Jin City for trial. 176
• River Temple Village — Supported the stronghold's bandits in exchange for supplies and concealed a bandit outpost at the River God Temple. 75 76
• Zhou Yunhan — Inside man whose failed kidnapping plot exposed Clear Wind Stronghold’s infiltration of Hundred Flowers Pavilion and White Horse Pharmacy. 43 47
• Zhou Fan — Sought revenge against Chen Jing through the stronghold after Zhou Yunhan's death, but was tortured and imprisoned in its dungeon rather than treated as an ally. He later died upon learning of Chen Jing's rise within Six Gates and the stronghold's destruction. 49 154 155
• Fire-Worship Sect — Possible connection through martial inheritance, not a confirmed organizational alliance. The Immovable Wisdom King Stance supplied to Sun Ping was also used as foundational training by the sect's Wisdom King branch. Chen Jing later speculated that a fleeing sect figure might have brought the Great Sun Visualization Diagram to Clear Wind Stronghold, but this explanation remained unverified. 66 361 363 383

---