Zhang family

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

The Zhang family began as a prominent Fengxi County gentry household. Its ancestral hall preserved spirit tablets and portraits of prior generations, while a mysterious female benefactor’s golden statue received the clan’s incense offerings alongside them. The family’s social standing rose further after Sixth Uncle Zhang Duan passed the metropolitan examination. 1

During the northern drought, Zhang Jian proposed a large-tube waterwheel to reduce labor costs and improve irrigation. Zhang Yi arranged for the design to be tested and sent Zhang Duan to present it at court, seeking benefits for the entire clan rather than individual credit. The family also distributed grain, established porridge kitchens, hired physicians for refugees, and organized work-for-relief projects such as road and riverbank repair. 6 10 21 68

These relief efforts reinforced the Zhangs’ public reputation as a household that accumulated virtue, but also intensified their conflict with Fengxi Magistrate Yang Qing. The clan survived bandit attacks, attacks by unorthodox cultivators, and efforts to undermine its imperial-bestowed plaque and Dragon-Tiger Aura. 10 17 19

After the fall of the Fengyang Commandery Governor’s residence, the Zhang family rapidly consolidated its commandery holdings. Zhang Yi remained family head and great patriarch, while Zhang Jian became the acknowledged heir; together they focused on absorbing their gains, expanding their residence, and placing their own people in local forces. 77

The clan’s rise accelerated after it gained control of the Red Lotus Way, an organization with broad popular influence and foundations across multiple commanderies. By this stage, the Zhang family had become one of Fengyang’s foremost powers. 116

Zhang Jian later accepted the imperial title and founded the Great Xia Dynasty. The Zhang family became the ruling house, with Zhang Yi invested as Prince Nan’an and Zhang Jian’s children granted imperial ranks. The clan’s ancestral rites became state ceremonies, conducted in the Imperial Ancestral Temple with offerings of gold, silver, and Dharma treasures. 359 361 365

After Great Xia’s expansion and Zhang Jian’s ascent, the family developed into an immortal clan spanning several Heavenly Realms. Its branches established footholds in Copper Furnace Prefecture, Maple Bridge Town, the Central Heavenly Realm, and the Three Sovereigns Heavenly Realm. 525 526 555 610

Organization and Holdings

• Early leadership — Zhang Yi served as family head and great patriarch, while Zhang Jian was recognized as heir. 77
• Great Xia imperial house — Following Zhang Jian’s enthronement, the direct line became the ruling family of Great Xia. 359 361
• Three Sovereigns Heavenly Realm branch — Zhang Qi was appointed family head to preserve and develop the Copper Furnace Prefecture foundation. 526
• Central Heavenly Realm branch — Zhang Nan led the clan’s branch at Maple Bridge Town before later entering the Immortal Court Heavenly Realm. 610 688
• Red Lotus Way — The folk sect became available for Zhang family use, greatly widening the clan’s popular and regional influence. 116
• Black-Clad Guard — Zhang Lu commanded the force in suppressing a rebellion at Grotto God Abbey; the guard was also reorganized into an intelligence and supervisory network. 353 370
• Scripture Repository — By the time of Zhang Jian’s service in the Heavenly Court, the clan possessed a substantial library of classics, secret arts, high-level immortal arts, and Eternal Dao arts. 611
• Cultivation resources — The clan accumulated spirit roots, rare fruits, magical treasures, and other resources for competitions, recruitment, and the cultivation of later generations. 476 478

Ancestral Shrine and Worship

The Zhang family’s ancestral worship is both a spiritual practice and a defining clan tradition.

• The original Fengxi ancestral hall displayed the tablets of figures including Zhang You Ren, Zhang Changsheng, and Zhang Linghui. 1
• A golden statue of a woman stood at the hall’s center. Clan records identified her only as a benefactor who had shown the Zhang family great kindness and was invited to receive incense from later descendants. 1 463
• The statue held an ancient patterned stone mirror, treated as a sacred inherited clan treasure. Zhang Jian and Zhang Yi were initially unable to activate it. 1 19
• Zhang Jian received several responses after worshipping the shrine, including golden fortune in the form of a spoonful, ingot, and pearl; this fortune aided his examination success and saved an important person’s life. 1
• In the Imperial Ancestral Temple, the female statue later responded to incense offerings by opening a spatial gateway and bestowing a strand of primordial ancestral qi upon Zhang Jian. 463
• Zhang Jian regularly performed rites after major breakthroughs and achievements. This practice became an enduring Zhang immortal clan tradition, followed by its branch families and guardians in the Mount Zhou Realm. 503 912

Relationships

• Zhang Jian — Eldest son of the early family head; later patriarch, Great Xia’s founding emperor, and the principal force behind the clan’s transformation into an immortal family. 1 359 712
• Zhang Yi (Zhang Jian’s father) — Family head and great patriarch during the Fengxi and Fengyang expansion; invested as Prince Nan’an after Great Xia’s founding. 77 361
• Zhang Kui — Zhang Jian’s Fourth Uncle; military leader who helped suppress bandits and supported the family’s regional expansion. 15 24
• Zhang Duan — Sixth Uncle whose metropolitan examination success helped turn the family toward scholarship; entrusted to present the waterwheel design at court. 1 6
• Zhang Lu — Long-serving attendant and later Black-Clad Guard commander; blocked Empress Dowager Qi’s effort to influence the Zhang clan and led the suppression of Grotto God Abbey’s rebellion. 111 353 359
• Zhang Zhao — Zhang Jian’s son, Crown Prince, Great Xia regent, and later Taewu Emperor; he managed many clan and imperial affairs and became a major Taiyi-level powerhouse. 378 525 712
• Zhang Yi (Zhang Jian’s eldest son) — Dragon-blooded descendant with four high-quality spiritual roots; entered the Paulownia Mountain Dao Lineage and later became a Heavenly Immortal. 242 273 507
• Zhang Qi — Appointed head of the Zhang family’s Three Sovereigns Heavenly Realm branch. 526
• Zhang Nan — Head of the Central Heavenly Realm branch at Maple Bridge Town before pursuing cultivation in the Immortal Court Heavenly Realm. 610 688
• Paulownia Mountain Dao Lineage — The clan’s principal sectarian ally; it accepted Zhang Jian and later several Zhang descendants, enabling the family’s cultivation inheritance to expand. 199 243 525

Later Generations

By the time of the Central Heavenly Realm ancestral rite, the Zhang immortal clan had developed a substantial core of high-level cultivators.

• Taiyi Heavenly Immortal-level members included Zhang Zhao, Zhang Yi, Zhang Xian, the Bai clan, and the Ji clan. 712
• Taiyi-level backbone members included Si Lier, Zhang Chang’an, Zhang Qiao, Zhang Tianrui, Zhang Tianhe, Zhang Tianxiang, Zhang Yujing, Zhang Nan, Zhang Qi, Bai Nu, Phoenix Spirit, Goddess Red Flower, White Eleven, and Bai Xianyin. 712
• Zhang Yi’s branch produced several Heavenly Immortals, including Zhang Tianrui, Princess Tianxiang, and Zhang Tianhe; their connection to Demon-Slaying Peak strengthened their standing within the Paulownia Mountain Dao Lineage. 525
• Zhang Zhao’s descendants were regarded as likely to keep the East Continent main branch flourishing because of their favorable destinies for descendants and blessings. 477
• The clan maintained a relatively fair internal system for its many descendants, while Zhang Zhao handled much of the family’s administration. 499

Legacy

• Fengxi County developed from a small town into a large city associated with the birthplace of Great Xia’s founding emperor; it contains both mortal and cultivator districts. 507
• The Zhang family’s methods, branch lines, and ancestral-worship tradition remained in the Mount Zhou Realm even after the main Zhang immortal clan departed. 912
• Later descendants understood that the clan had not perished with Great Xia’s collapse, but had instead left the Mount Zhou Realm as a whole. 912