Xie Household

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Xie Household
Alias(es)	Xie Residence; Xie Clan; Xie White Goddess Shrine
Affiliation	Dragon King Lady and Dragon King Stronghold
Occupation/Role	Salt-trading household; patron of martial institutions; aspiring fourth power for handling supernatural threats in Qingwu County
Status	Active; publicly challenging the Inner City’s three major powers through its own ritual and supernatural patronage
First Appearance	Chapter 2

Estate, Wealth, and Influence

• The Xie Residence stands in Qingwu County’s outer city. Its expanded compound contains seven successive courtyards, more than forty resident guards, and over one hundred total guards, servants, maids, kitchen staff, and stablehands. The family head occupies the Central Courtyard; Xie An lives in the West Courtyard; Zhou Lan and Xie Xiaoyu reside in the East Courtyard. 2 3
• Xie Zhengtang built a commercial network comprising fleets of ships and carriages, salt warehouses, branch offices, license clerks, shore merchants, warehouse attendants, guards, and escort leaders. The family’s inheritable salt license is the basis of its wealth. 2
• The household operates Xie Grain Shop, which processes tenant rice into goods such as polished rice and flour. Its prices are kept ten percent below competitors’ rates. 2 35
• Xie Zhengtang’s patronage helped Yongsheng Martial Arts Hall survive opposition from established halls and secure its standing on Drill Ground Street. 17
• The household maintains secret grain reserves and silver vaults in Wuqiao Town. Knowledge of this project is restricted to a small circle, making A Shan’s detailed awareness of it a major security breach. 38
• During the Li Family Village festival, the household establishes porridge sheds for thousands of refugees, combining relief efforts with a public demonstration of wealth and influence. 60 65

Leadership and Household Members

Person	Position in the Household	Notes
Xie Zhengtang	Family head	Salt merchant, strategist, and architect of the household’s long-term rise.
Xie An / Xie Mingxi	Legitimate eldest son and heir	Receives unrestricted access to household cultivation resources and is expected to carry the family’s future. 34 65
Xie Yu	Eldest daughter	Publicly operates as Daoist Master Yusu; ritual expert and central figure in the household’s supernatural plans. 30 34
Su Shuibo / Uncle Shui	Head guard, steward, and Xie Zhengtang’s sworn brother	Dark Force expert; oversees guards, security, and much of the household’s martial defense. 2 70
Zhou Lan	Second Mother	Resides in the East Courtyard with her daughter, Xie Xiaoyu. 6
Xie Xiaoyu	Youngest daughter	Xie An’s six-year-old half-sister. 6
Qiu Lan	Xie An’s personal maid	Handles his daily care, meals, clothing, and confidential orders in the West Courtyard. 3 46
Li Dao	Retainer and guard	Carries out Xie An’s security, transport, and confinement orders. 23 39
Zhou Ji	Guard and sparring partner	Serves as Xie An’s trainer, informant, and field companion. 9 21

White Goddess Shrine and the Dragon King Lady

The Xie Household’s greatest secret is its private worship of an evil god. The family’s shrine stands at the end of Qingping Lane, among funeral businesses and mortuary shops. It is guarded by eight five-gate Blood Tempering experts and contains a faceless statue of a compassionate woman in its courtyard. 43

Inside the main hall, a larger statue is concealed beneath red cloth, surrounded by bones, dried blood, and incense smoke drawn unnaturally beneath the covering. Xie An’s Spirit Sight reveals an abyss and scarlet eyes behind the cloth, confirming that the family’s “goddess” is an evil entity. 15 43

Dragon King Lady

• The household’s deity is the Dragon King Lady, whose true form appears as a ragged woman in red associated with yellow lanterns marked “Dragon King’s Blessing.” 66 67
• Xie Yu identifies the Dragon King Lady’s organization as Dragon King Stronghold, a power outside Qingwu County’s Inner City Big Three. 67
• The Dragon King Lady acts as the household’s attendant god and provides protection against supernatural threats. 59
• Her yellow lanterns were placed around Xie Residence as a temporary defense when Xie An was threatened by the Grain-Collecting Ghost’s influence. 29
• Xie Yu intends to bring Xie An into the Dragon King Lady’s fold after the Li Family Village ritual. 67

Spirit Preservation Method

The Xie Household possesses a secret route to learning the Spirit Preservation Method, a mental martial art used to resist possession, ghosts, and evil spirits. Accepting this inheritance requires the practitioner to assume responsibility for the household’s “glory, disgrace, rise, and fall.” 43

• Xie An accepts this burden and learns the method through the household shrine. 43
• His one-day mastery of the technique is considered unprecedented; even Inner City prodigies normally require years. 45 46
• Xie Zhengtang and Xie Yu agree to conceal Xie An’s extraordinary achievement to avoid attracting danger. 46

History

Rise in the Outer City

Xie Zhengtang was driven from the Inner City lineage into Qingwu County’s outer city. After failing repeatedly in the imperial examinations, he obtained a salt license through an influential patron and entered commerce. He ultimately developed the Xie Household into a major mercantile power. 2

The household’s wealth supports an extensive guard force, martial training, medicinal cultivation, commercial operations, and patronage of institutions such as Yongsheng Martial Arts Hall. This financial foundation enables Xie An’s unusually resource-intensive cultivation. 2 17

Thirteen-Year Preparation

For thirteen years, Xie Zhengtang, Su Shuibo, and Xie Yu secretly prepared to elevate the Xie Household into an independent supernatural power. Their preparations included accumulating wealth, constructing reserves in Wuqiao Town, cultivating the Dragon King Lady’s worship, and developing ritual capability outside the established powers. 65 66

The plan was originally intended for a later date, but escalating attacks involving Li Family Village, Yin Cloth Dolls, Red Sleeve House, and the Xu Household forced the family to act early. 60 66

Major Arcs

Li Family Village Crisis

Li Family Village is an estate tied to the Xie Household’s grain business. When its tenant farmers begin disappearing and a Grain-Collecting Ghost emerges, Xie Zhengtang initially hires Returning Dragon Abbey to conduct a sacrificial rite. 2 6

The initial rites fail. Daoist Li Yunfeng and later Zhang Yunhe are discovered to have been dead or controlled before their ceremonies, while Su Shuibo kills their bodies after recognizing the danger. 13 21

The household later discovers that the village disaster was not merely a haunting: Hua Qianxiong and Granny Gu used Yin Cloth Dolls and Cocoon Force to manipulate the dead, create hauntings, and target the Xie family. 33 60 68

Attack on Xie An

A Yin Cloth Doll is planted beneath Xie An’s bed, intended to activate after his third nightmare and kill him. Xie Yu identifies the doll before it can do so. 33

The household’s investigation identifies grain-shop manager Zhou Yun as an accomplice. Xie An uses the discovery to expose Zhou Yun, capture A Shan, and begin tracing the conspiracy toward Xu Zhengyang and Hua Qianxiong. 34 35 38

Conflict with the Xu Household and Returning Dragon Abbey

Xu Zhengyang’s coerced confession and suicide temporarily close the case against him, but Xie An and Xie Yu conclude that Hua Qianxiong is the real mastermind. 58 59

The Xu Household is subsequently exterminated after a Yin Cloth Doll is used as a locator to draw Su Hongxiu’s ghostly evil to the residence. Xie Yu identifies the massacre as another human-directed supernatural attack. 60

Li Family Village Festival

The Xie Household publicly announces a ritual at Li Family Village and establishes large-scale porridge distribution for displaced civilians. The event is designed to destroy the village’s supernatural sources, expose Hua Qianxiong’s crimes, and prove that the Xie Household can protect civilians from evil spirits. 60 65

The ceremony is an open bid to become Qingwu County’s fourth major power for dealing with supernatural threats, challenging the monopoly of the Demon Suppression Bureau, Returning Dragon Abbey, and Red Flower Society. 65 66

During the ritual, Xie Yu summons the grievances of Li Family Village’s 314 murdered residents and publicly identifies Hua Qianxiong and Granny Gu as the figures behind the massacre, Yin Cloth Dolls, and ghost creation. 68

The household’s guards then incite the assembled refugees to demand Hua Qianxiong’s death, turning the ritual into a direct political and supernatural confrontation. 69

Relationships

• Dragon King Lady — The household’s attendant evil god and supernatural patron; worshipped in secret for thirteen years. 59 66 67
• Dragon King Stronghold — External organization associated with the Dragon King Lady; Xie Yu intends to bring Xie An into its fold. 67
• Yongsheng Martial Arts Hall — Household-backed martial arts hall; its status and development depend heavily on Xie Zhengtang’s patronage. 17
• Returning Dragon Abbey — Formerly hired for rites, but now a principal rival after the household exposes Hua Qianxiong’s involvement in multiple supernatural crimes. 2 60 68
• Canal Gang — Commercial partner controlling water transport for the household’s salt trade; its leader Mai Wenshan attempts to preserve ties while avoiding full commitment during the festival conflict. 49 73
• Xu Household — Formerly connected through Xu Wenjie’s friendship with Xie An and commercial ties; relations collapse after Xu Zhengyang’s involvement in the Yin Cloth Doll plot. 13 49 59
• Li Family Village — Tenant estate and origin point of the Grain-Collecting Ghost crisis; later becomes the site of the household’s public ritual and bid for regional influence. 2 60 65