Sun Family

Biodata

Background

The Sun Family is one of Pingjiang Town’s more powerful clans. It recruits local youths as prospective crewmen, offering martial training and a monthly wage of half a tael of silver to those who qualify. Its recruitment offers poor fishing families a rare route out of poverty. 2 3 4

The family maintains side residences and training courtyards where recruits practice under martial personnel. It also possesses several treasure ships capable of travelling through dangerous stretches of the Hun River and reportedly uses a specialized method to catch treasure fish. 5 9 10

The family has declined since the death of its strongest martial expert during the previous year. The loss left it at a disadvantage relative to Pingjiang Town’s Wu and Huang Families, suspended its treasure-ship voyages for roughly half a year, and drove it to seek new martial talent capable of supporting the clan. 18 27 39

Sun Sheng has consequently invested heavily in securing Master Qin’s disciples and cultivating martial support. Shen Wu and Liang Jun accepted marriages into the family, while Wei Luo refused its offer to become a live-in son-in-law despite the promised business share and treasure-fish dividends. 40 55

Recruitment and Training

Martial Training

Folding Waves Fist

The Sun Family uses the Folding Waves Fist as the required martial art for prospective crewmen. Recruits must first establish its foundational Stacked Waves Stance before they may learn the fist routine. 5 8

• Stacked Waves Stance tempers qi and blood and is treated as the basis of martial practice. 5
• After one month of stance training, recruits must remain on a wobbling platform for ten breaths to qualify for fist instruction. 8
• Master Qin teaches the Folding Waves Fist only once, leaving students to develop it through practice and occasional guidance. 9
• The family uses food, meat, and medicinal-soup rewards to encourage rapid advancement. 6 9
• The art includes Surge Force, Linked Waves Force, Whirling Force, and the more difficult Layered Wave Force, the latter being the technique’s central force principle. 27 40
• The Layered Waves Shatter Rock visualization diagram is not available to ordinary crewmen. Access to it is a principal benefit of becoming Master Qin’s disciple and is necessary for pursuing advancement beyond the Three Refinements. 26 40

Training Personnel

• Master Qin / Qin Changfeng — Martial instructor responsible for training recruits in the Stacked Waves Stance and Folding Waves Fist. He is a martial master who has crossed the third qi-and-blood threshold and stands on equal footing with the Sun Family rather than serving as an ordinary subordinate. 5 9 The family provides him an exclusive western compound and repeatedly petitioned him to accept disciples in order to reinforce its declining martial position. 39 40
• Steward Li — Leads recruitment, oversees registration, and has authority over admissions. He accepts payments to admit borderline applicants but initially refuses Wei Luo because of his exceptionally poor bone aptitude. 4 5
• Sun Family martial practitioners — Conduct bone examinations and maintain order during recruitment. 4
• Zhang Chi — A crewman of two years and later the captain of an unauthorized treasure-fish expedition. He recruited Bighead and others for the dangerous venture, then abandoned his crewmates to a river creature to save himself. 10 20
• Sun Chai — The family’s Second Master and an elder with real authority. He oversees treasure-ship matters, recruitment-related affairs, and attempts to bind promising martial artists to the clan. 29 36 55
• Sun Sheng — The Sun Family patriarch. He recognizes the clan’s precarious martial standing and seeks to preserve it through alliances, Master Qin’s disciples, and the recruitment of capable outsiders. 39 60 61
• Sun Qianchuan — The Sun Family’s Fifth Young Master. He attempts to build a faction among the crewmen by promising extra bait and treasure-fish shares during expeditions. 25 27

Facilities and Operations

• Training courtyards — Side-residence compounds where recruits train alongside established crewmen. 5 6
• Fist-practice area — A separate, spacious training ground with wooden dummies, targets, and sparring crewmen. 9
• Treasure ships — Ships said to withstand strong winds and towering waves while travelling to dangerous parts of the Hun River. 10
• Treasure-fish fishing — The family maintains a fleet for catching treasure fish and is said to possess a specialized capture method. 5 10
• Treasure-ship expeditions — The family provides bait to volunteer crewmen on voyages to remote waters such as Falling Geese Gorge and Nameless Island. Crewmen who catch treasure fish may retain them, making the expeditions an important source of cultivation resources and income. 27 29
• Bait distribution — Access to bait can be manipulated by Sun Family members; Sun Qianchuan arranged for his own group to receive preferential amounts in exchange for their support. 27
• Cold Pool — A productive treasure-fish location on Nameless Island claimed by Sun Qianchuan for his own group during the expedition. 29 31
• River-passage precautions — Before the Nameless Island voyage, Sun Chai paid a self-proclaimed River God for safe passage, then compelled the supposed Daoist to accompany the fleet aboard ship. 29

Current Crisis

During the unrest caused by the Pure Fragrance Cult, the Sun Family withdrew its forces to its estate rather than continuing to defend the inner city. Thousands of refugees subsequently gathered outside the estate, while cult infiltrators among the attackers caused the family’s front defensive line to collapse. 66

Sun Sheng prepared to evacuate part of the family under Master Qin’s protection while directing Shen Wu and the remaining martial guards to break out with the other relatives. Before the plan could be carried out, a Force Training Martial Master of the Pure Fragrance Cult entered the rear courtyard. 66

Relationships

• Wei Luo — Initially a recruited trainee. Steward Li admits him after Wei Luo provides a Crimson Firefin to treat Fan-shi, Steward Li’s wife. 4 5 Wei Luo later becomes an official crewman and Master Qin’s disciple, but refuses the Sun Family’s marriage proposal and live-in son-in-law arrangement. 13 40 55 The family nevertheless sends him to fight the Pure Fragrance Cult on its behalf; after his substantial contribution, Sun Sheng formally apologizes for Sun Chai’s prior treatment and presents him with the Iron Shatterflower concealed weapon. 57 60 61
• Liu Changle — Recruited trainee whose entry is secured through family connections and payment arranged by his relatives. 4 5 He later becomes an official crewman and advances to the Second Refinement alongside Wei Luo. 13 43
• Liu Qing — Accountant for the Sun Family and Liu Changle’s third uncle. 1 4
• Master Qin — Contracted martial instructor; his cultivation places him on equal standing with the family. 9 The family depends upon his discipleship to develop martial artists able to restore its influence. 39 40
• Fan-shi — Steward Li’s wife. Her recovery begins after receiving Wei Luo’s Crimson Firefin, which allows Wei Luo to enter the family. 4 5
• Sun Sheng — Family patriarch who has shifted toward conciliating Wei Luo after recognizing his value as a Three Refinements martial artist. 60 61
• Sun Chai — Second Master who initially sought to control Wei Luo through marriage and later assigned him to the anti–Pure Fragrance Cult force after his refusal. He was subsequently compelled by Sun Sheng to apologize to Wei Luo. 55 57 60
• Sun Qianchuan — Fifth Young Master who associates closely with Shen Wu and regards ordinary-background crewmen such as Wei Luo and Liu Changle as beneath his social standing. 25 27 36
• Shen Wu — Master Qin’s first disciple and the Sun Family’s son-in-law. The family gives him preferential treatment and expects him to serve as a principal martial pillar during its crisis. 26 55 66
• Liang Jun — Master Qin’s third disciple and a Sun Family son-in-law. 43 55
• Zhao Xiu — Veteran crewman and friend of the Sun Family through the Zhao Family’s longstanding ties with the clan. He assists and spars with Wei Luo, though he unsuccessfully tries to include Wei Luo and Liu Changle in Sun Qianchuan’s expedition group. 14 27
• Fish-Dragon Gang — A hostile criminal gang whose treasure ship collided with a Sun Family vessel. Sun Chai retaliated violently and demanded compensation, though the family later refrained from openly pursuing the matter after Sun Chai was seriously injured. 37 39
• Pure Fragrance Cult — The cult’s disruption of Pingjiang Town has forced the Sun Family to organize fighters with the other major clans. Its forces later lead a refugee assault on the Sun Family Estate. 55 57 66