Gu Dongfeng

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Gu Dongfeng (顾东风)
Courtesy Name	Xingyu 107
Alias(es)	Commoner; also disparaged as a “mediocrity” or “mediocre man” 107 110 120
Species/Race	Human 134
Gender	Male 107
Age	Thirty-three when preparing for the Half-Limit Secret Realm expedition 107
Origin	Tuanhua Province 134
Affiliation	Emerging Cloud Peak 107
Occupation/Role	Sect disciple; Mo Chen’s partner during the Half-Limit Secret Realm expedition 110
Cultivation	Perfected ninth level of Qi Refining; no Foundation Establishment breakthrough documented before his death 110 134
Spiritual Roots	Three-pronged earth, wood, and metal root; adverse pomegranate wood resonance 122 134
Status	Deceased; dies after a self-inflicted silver-needle wound while already critically injured 134
First Appearance	Encounter with Mo Chen over a sect mission 67

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Qi Drawing into the Body	134	Recalled in his final account: an unnamed master met him in the hills behind his village and helped him begin cultivation.
Ninth level of Qi Refining	107	Reported at age thirty-three. He considers his progress poor despite having entered Emerging Cloud Peak during the preceding Recruitment Tournament.
Perfected ninth level of Qi Refining	110	Confirmed when he proposes partnering with Mo Chen. He later says he has been stalled in Qi Refining for seven years 121.

Background / History

Family and Early Discipleship

Gu Dongfeng’s memories include young men taking away his younger sister. When they threatened the consequences her family would face if they lost another member, he froze rather than fight. He later bitterly regretted not resisting. His parents subsequently drove him from home 127 134.

An unnamed master accepted him beneath an old tree behind his village and guided his entry into cultivation. That relationship ended after Gu fled when a Spirit-Eater Beast captured his senior brother. His master explained that the slow-moving beast could have been killed while it held its victim, condemned Gu for abandoning a fellow disciple, and dismissed him 127 134.

The “Commoner” Reputation

Gu used spells to build bridges and roads for his village and performed numerous other good deeds. Nevertheless, villagers repeatedly publicized embarrassing incidents from his past. On a return home, he failed to see his parents and sisters one last time and instead faced the neighbors’ contempt. The nickname “Commoner” spread through nearby villages 107 110.

He later joined Emerging Cloud Peak, but poverty, slow cultivation, and mistreatment continued to undermine his confidence. Fellow disciples betrayed and robbed him five years before the secret-realm expedition. He also became so accustomed to being denied minor spoils that he hesitated to claim materials from a beast he had helped defeat 107 117 120.

Personality

Gu is shy, self-effacing, and deeply afraid of offending others. He readily describes his aptitude as poor and initially seeks Mo Chen’s protection despite having slightly more developed cultivation. Mo Chen comes to regard him as honest and kind rather than scheming 67 107 110.

His timidity does not prevent loyalty or careful preparation. During the expedition, he remains beside Mo Chen in danger, volunteers to lure a Thorn Rat, and saves him when their formation fails. Encouragement and fair treatment help him become more assertive, although the shame attached to being called a commoner continues to shape his final wishes 117 120 126 134.

Abilities & Skills

Pomegranate Wood Resonance

Gu’s adverse wood resonance produces a Hundred-Child Ruins-Return Tree within his sea of consciousness. He first notices its sapling in the second year after his sea of consciousness forms and investigates the condition through ancient texts, jade slips, and a predecessor’s handwritten notes 122.

• Soul consumption: The tree draws on its owner’s soul power as it grows 122.
• Potential soul attack: Its Pomegranate Dharma Fruit can be detonated to deliver a devastating attack capable of erasing an opponent’s soul; Gu is not shown using this attack 122.
• Dangerous maturation: A developing fruit can exhaust its owner’s mind. A ripe fruit left too long may acquire consciousness and seize the owner’s body, while premature removal can also cause serious harm 122.
• Foundation Establishment potential: The records describe the tree independently comprehending Hundred-Child Ruins-Return after its owner draws the three flames into the sea of consciousness during Foundation Establishment 122.
• Treatment: Special essence refined from a Thorn Rat’s false core colors one fruit, making its transition from green to ripe red visible. Gu successfully consumes this Azure Radiance Dew and expects to monitor his first fruit over the next twenty years 123.
• Timing pressure: Because the secret realm opens only every thirty years, waiting for the next expedition would leave him unable to safely judge the fruit’s maturation 123.

Wood Suppression Art

An advanced Five Elements spell that Gu spends more than five years learning specifically to obtain a Thorn Rat’s false core 121 122.

• Drains vitality from surrounding wood-aspected objects, including natural plants and vegetation produced by spells 121.
• Suppresses the male Thorn Rat’s thicket while Mo Chen burns it from the outside, progressively reducing the beast’s hiding space 121.
• Requires late-stage Qi Refining cultivation and slow casting; Gu asks Mo Chen to protect him while preparing it 121.

Combat and Evasion

• Flying-sword control: Uses sword attacks against Flame Horses and Thorn Rats, including the finishing blow against the first hunted Thorn Rat 113 120.
• Close-range sickle attacks: Cuts four fingers from a water-aspected ambusher’s left hand before the enemy completes his transformation into water 116.
• Earth defenses and escape: Raises earthen walls against the Flame Horse herd and uses Earth Escape to evade a stream-based ambush 113 115.
• Flight and concealment: Uses Wind-Riding, Form-Concealing, and Breath-Concealing techniques while escaping pursuers 125 126.
• Demon restraint: Saves Mo Chen by binding a charging Thorn Rat with a Demon-Binding Rope after their formation collapses 120.
• Physical force: Shatters one of Yan Hua’s Mist Flood Dragons during their escape attempt 130.

Refining and Cultivation Knowledge

• Refines a Thorn Rat’s false core into Azure Radiance Dew using a Pill Furnace Spirit Artifact 123.
• Explains heavenly, earthly, and human Dao Foundation Establishment to Mo Chen, including their different requirements and the pill-toxin burden of the human Dao route 108.
• Understands flesh false cores, qi false cores, and the Dragon Scale Token’s role in opening an exit from the secret realm 121.
• Supplies information about previously stripped realm layers, unmapped territory, exploration rewards, and possible unmarked restrictions 111 118 125.
• Teaches Mo Chen a hands-free method of charging fire spells through fire in the furnace, knowledge Mo later uses against Yan Hua 138.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Paired Sound Transmission Talismans — Gives one to Mo Chen so they can communicate and regroup after random teleportation 110 113.
• Flying sword — Used in beast hunts and other fighting 113 120.
• Two sickles — Deployed against the water-aspected ambusher 116.
• Binding Formation — Used to trap a Thorn Rat; repeated talisman blasts damage it, and the beast’s final charge destroys it 120 123.
• Spiritburst Talismans — Used during the first Thorn Rat battle 120.
• Demon-Binding Rope — Emergency restraint used to save Mo Chen 120.
• Pill Furnace Spirit Artifact — Refines his treatment and is lent to Mo Chen for refining a fish false core 123.
• Privately purchased map information — Identifies the secluded Thorn Rat cave absent from the current Travel Map 117 118.
• Seven Storage Bags — Carry the pair’s growing herb harvest after Mo Chen’s bags fill 124.
• Strife Iron Armor — Protects him during the Jade Void Sect pursuit; later appears among Mo Chen’s defensive equipment 125 205.
• Silver Needle Magic Artifact — Used to inflict his fatal wound 134.

Relationships

• Mo Chen — Fellow disciple, expedition partner, and friend. Their alliance develops from Gu’s request for protection into reciprocal support, shared resources, and mutual rescue 110 120 123 126.
• Unnamed master — Introduces him to cultivation but dismisses him after he abandons a captured senior brother 127 134.
• Parents and sisters — Family whose loss and rejection haunt him. His younger sister’s abduction remains a source of guilt, and he longs for home after twenty-three years away 107 127 134.
• True Person Yan Hua — Enemy whose Mist Flood Dragon inflicts Gu’s catastrophic injuries. Mo Chen subsequently holds Yan Hua responsible for his friend’s death 130 136.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Arc	Events
Mission encounter and reunion	Yields the Gaoyou City mission to Mo Chen, then recognizes him before the Xiangzi Sacrifice. Explains Mo Chen’s reputation in the sect and agrees to build a friendship 67 107.
Expedition partnership	Shares cultivation knowledge and offers a paired transmission talisman. Their conversations during the two-month journey establish Mo Chen’s trust in him 108 110.
Chestnut Horse Slope and Windhearing Ravine	Becomes trapped by twenty-eight Flame Horses until Mo Chen subdues their leader. Later survives a cultivator ambush and seriously wounds one attacker 113 114 115 116.
Thorn Rat hunt and treatment	Leads Mo Chen to a privately identified cave, helps defeat two Thorn Rats, and obtains the special essence needed to monitor his dangerous spiritual-root fruit 117 118 120 121 122 123.
Harvest and pursuit	Finds twenty priority mushrooms worth fifty credits per partner. Their later harvest covers most assignments, but a Jade Void Sect ambush drives them deeper into the realm 124 125.
Dreamsilver Flower valley	Helps divert their pursuers into a fight between stronger cultivators. Refuses to leave Mo Chen behind while he recovers; a later clash breaks their concealment and exposes them 126 127 128.
Fatal injuries and death	A Mist Flood Dragon tears away both legs and severely damages his pelvis. Mo Chen rescues him and controls his bleeding during their flight into a ravine cave. Believing himself beyond saving and a burden to his friend, Gu wounds himself with a silver needle and dies 130 131 133 134.
Aftermath	Leaves all his possessions to Mo Chen and asks to be refined into Five Elements Essence so that he can symbolically continue cultivating through him. Mo Chen refuses, stores his remains, and resolves to seek information about his family. His death strengthens Mo Chen’s opposition to Yan Hua, and his absence weighs on Mo Chen after the expedition 134 136 190.

Notable Quotes

“Forget it. If you can't go, neither will I.” 126

“Once you refine me, it'll count as us cultivating together.” 134

“I've been away from home for twenty-three years. I miss it terribly. My home is in Tuanhua Province...” 134