Mount Hua

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Mount Hua (华山派)
Type	Orthodox martial sect; one of the Seven Great Schools 21
Location	Shaanxi 5
Sphere of Influence	Shaanxi, Henan, and Shanxi, with a trade route and businesses extending to Capital City 32 49
Sect Leader	Master Kumei, also called Withered Plum 1 2
Successor	Fang Yunhua, formally designated young sect leader 13 32
Membership	Over a thousand disciples following Fang Yunhua’s reforms 5
Principal Alliance	An Prince’s Mansion 36
Signature Martial Art	Thirteen Forms of the Clear Wind 1
Status	Active and expanding; consolidating gains while facing opposition from regional factions 47 50
First Appearance	1

Background / History

Leadership Tradition and Decline

Mount Hua has centuries of history. Since Xu Shuzhen’s tenure, its leadership had passed through women who upheld her instruction to select disciples carefully, preferring unfilled places to inferior recruits. This protected the sect’s standards but restricted its growth; Master Yinyu, Kumei’s teacher, accepted only seven disciples 5 48.

More than twenty years before the current events, Mount Hua destroyed the Huangshan Family, leaving Li Qi as its sole survivor. She escaped to Fusang, acquired new martial arts, and returned as Stone Guanyin. Her revenge against the Huashan Seven Swords began Mount Hua’s decline 8.

The sect’s survival depended on Huangfu Gao, the foremost of the Huashan Seven Sons. Stone Guanyin desired him and used the remaining Mount Hua disciples as leverage over him. He resisted her, suffered mutilation and blinding, and eventually lived as Stone Camel after Ji Bingyan rescued him. Kumei sealed away the records of this humiliation, with the Overseer lineage respecting her decision 12.

Mount Hua also narrowly escaped absorption by the Rakshasa Gang. Kumei settled that confrontation through a wager in which she plunged her left hand into boiling oil, burning her arm down to charred bone and establishing her fearsome reputation as the Iron Fairy 12.

Fang Yunhua’s Reforms

Before recovering his previous-life memories, Fang Yunhua proposed reunifying Mount Hua’s separated branch lineages and reorganizing its disciples into outer, inner, and core divisions. Kumei initially resisted abandoning inherited practices but granted him three months to demonstrate the plan’s value 5.

Fang first recruited unsuccessful branches, then established supervisory Huashan Envoys. As the reunited sect prospered, more successful branches sought readmission. Escort work, guard employment, and commerce replaced dependence on a few plots of farmland, financing better cultivation resources and increasing membership beyond a thousand disciples 5.

Expansion brought covert attacks on trade routes and escort shipments. Fang deterred some attackers by invoking Xue Yiren’s name; after awakening his memories, he identified Stone Guanyin’s family as the enemy behind the obstruction and judged Nangong Ling’s Beggar Gang networks the likely means of organizing it 8 11.

Campaign Against Nangong Ling’s Faction

Fang’s next strategy used Chu Liuxiang’s investigation to weaken Nangong Ling while Mount Hua expanded across Shaanxi, Henan, and Shanxi. The leadership approved the plan, appointed Hua Zhenzhen its overall commander, and designated Fang as Kumei’s successor so that he could negotiate with the An Prince’s Mansion 13.

Mount Hua combined rumors about Ren Ci’s death with a campaign against corrupt Beggar Gang members. Its elders secretly secured Dai Duxing’s cooperation, intending to punish Nangong Ling’s faction without destroying the entire gang or harming principled disciples 11 34.

The campaign produced several concrete results:

• White Jade Demon’s execution: Kumei killed him and cut his corpse into seventeen pieces, dedicating the act to the families of the seventeen women he had raped and murdered 37.
• Official evidence: Cooperation with local authorities linked at least 265 unsolved cases to Beggar Gang disciples, including collusion with corrupt officials 37.
• Mount Hua casualties: The mysterious deaths of forty-three outer disciples appeared connected to the Beggar Gang 37.
• Wider participation: Fourth Master Jin, Cup-Tossing Manor, Xue Family Manor, Shi Family Manor, Diancang, the Hainan Sword Sect, and Emei joined the campaign 37.
• Political settlement: An official account attributed the conspiracy to Wuhua, Nangong Ling, Tianfeng Jushiro, and Japan. Fang and Chu received public thanks, while Dai Duxing became the Beggar Gang’s acting chief and promised reform 48.

Fang personally killed Wuhua, although the public account stated that Wuhua had hanged himself in Southern Shaolin. Mount Hua emerged with increased territory, influence, and business holdings, but the gains also provoked fear among neighboring factions 45 47 48.

Organization and Leadership

Leading Members

Member	Position	Responsibilities
Master Kumei / Withered Plum	Sect leader	Maintains recruitment standards, oversees supervisory envoys, and uses her martial strength and prestige to deter outsiders 5 47.
Fang Yunhua	Young sect leader and designated successor	Directs reforms, expansion, political negotiations, and the sect’s broader strategy 13 36 50.
Hua Zhenzhen	Expansion commander; acting authority during the leaders’ absence	Manages intelligence and public messaging; represents Fang at Mount Hua and is recognized as its third most important figure 11 13 47 48.
Gao Yanan	Eldest senior sister and trusted enforcer	Handles discreet punitive work, supports internal reform, and communicates with Kumei 49 50.
Sect elders	Senior leadership	Review strategy, refine operational plans, contact outside allies, and implement reforms 13 34 50.

Disciple Divisions and Oversight

• Core disciples receive the sect’s supreme sword art and the Embrace the Origin Skill 1.
• Inner and outer divisions provide places for returning branch disciples according to their abilities and training needs 5 50.
• Commercial assignments allow disciples with less martial aptitude to support the sect through escort agencies, guard work, trade, and business management 5 50.
• Huashan Envoys supervise the reunited branches; Kumei personally oversees their selection 5.
• Inspections are intended to prevent distant disciples and rapidly growing businesses from becoming corrupt. Fang asks Kumei to intensify them after his return 50.

Kumei retains strict standards for her own disciples despite the larger membership. She has accepted Gao Yanan, Hua Zhenzhen, and Fang Yunhua, regarding Fang as her final disciple 5.

Overseer Lineage

• A concealed lineage monitors Mount Hua’s current sect leader 5.
• Hua Zhenzhen belongs to this lineage and is the great-great-grandniece of former leader Hua Qiongfeng, the Ruthless Fairy 5 14.
• The lineage preserves advanced arts taught privately to Hua, separate from Fang’s original core-disciple training 10.
• Its members respected Kumei’s decision to conceal the circumstances of Huangfu Gao’s sacrifice 12.

Martial Arts

Thirteen Forms of the Clear Wind

• Mount Hua’s signature supreme sword art, counted among the finest sword techniques in its martial world 1.
• Pine Waves Stack Upon Waves, its fifth form, allows Fang to shatter a table into a coordinated barrage of wooden spikes 3.
• Reversing the forms provides Hua Zhenzhen with an advanced acupoint-striking technique 10.
• Fang progresses beyond prescribed sword paths and eventually controls the art through sword intent during his fatal duel with Wuhua 4 45.
• Exposure of this secret art is one of the future dangers Fang hopes to prevent 1.

Embrace the Origin Skill

• An internal cultivation method restricted to core disciples 1.
• Fang practices it before receiving Hua Zhenzhen’s more advanced inheritance 1 14.

Overseer Arts

Art	Documented Use
Demon-Subduing Heart Method	An internal method superior in quality to Fang’s original cultivation art 10.
Heart-Plucking Hand	A vicious hand technique privately taught to Hua Zhenzhen 10.
Soaring Swan Step	A lightness technique in which Hua substantially surpasses Fang; her movement can briefly rival Chu Liuxiang’s 14 49.

Hua copies these three manuals for Fang before he leaves for Capital City 14.

Fang Yunhua’s Private Cultivation

• Fang later acquires the Mingyu Skill from the White Jade Beauty; it is a personal discovery, not an established Mount Hua teaching 25 26.
• He conceals its identity because exposure of a lost supreme art could attract enemies capable of overwhelming the recovering sect 26.
• His combination of Mingyu energy and Clear Wind sword intent places him roughly among the leaders and senior masters of major sects, with particularly formidable killing techniques 45 47.

Businesses and Territorial Strategy

Commercial Network

• Mount Hua Escort Agency — transports cargo, establishes routes, and supports the sect’s regional presence 5 11.
• Mount Hua Trading Company — generates revenue and helps extend Mount Hua’s influence into Capital City 11 16.
• Guard employment — provides work for disciples; the An Prince’s Mansion hires thirty at a generous rate to formalize the alliance 36.
• Capital City businesses — provide Fang with lodging and local support during his visit 14.
• Jin Ban Hua’s investment — supplies substantial early startup capital and helps Mount Hua establish its escort agency and trading company in the capital 16.

Four-Sided Expansion Plan

Fang’s proposed regional encirclement assigns a distinct role to each route 11.

Area	Planned Action
Tong Pass, east	Deepen the Yellow River Transport Gang alliance, jointly control the Qin–Jin Waterway, and station mounted couriers at Fengling Ferry 11.
Dasan Pass, west	Secure cooperation from Jade Spring Temple, a hidden Mount Hua branch 11.
Shangluo, south	Establish an escort and trading presence; require other agencies carrying valuable cargo to pay Sword-Pattern Silver tolls 11.
Tongguan, north	Secure the area through an alliance with the An Prince’s Mansion 11.

Relationships

• An Prince’s Mansion — Political and commercial ally. Mount Hua supplies martial personnel and opportunities, while the mansion provides influence and assistance. Fang handles Southern Shaolin negotiations in exchange for concessions concerning Beggar Gang properties in Henan 28 35 36.
• Imperial Court — Supports the crackdown with criminal evidence and investigations. It regards Mount Hua as a useful counterweight to the Beggar Gang and expects the sect to require years to consolidate its gains 47 49.
• Chu Liuxiang — Fang’s friend and an important source of investigative legitimacy. His visit also helps Fang overcome a swordsmanship bottleneck and raises Mount Hua’s prestige 4 5 39.
• Beggar Gang — Formerly a friendly orthodox ally; Nangong Ling’s covert attacks turn the relationship into conflict. Mount Hua distinguishes his faction from honorable members and cooperates with Dai Duxing to limit the damage 32 34 37.
• Southern Shaolin — Negotiating partner during Wuhua’s downfall. Fang uses Wuhua’s compromising notebook as leverage and obtains restorative pills from the temple 36 44 46.
• Stone Guanyin — Blood enemy whose revenge nearly destroyed the sect. Fang prepares a direct confrontation rather than trusting her original defeat to recur 8 12 47.
• Wuzheng Manor / Yuan Suiyun — Longstanding associates. Yuan visits as an old friend, but Mount Hua’s expansion into Shanxi affects his interests; Hua Zhenzhen detects and obstructs his attempts to gather information 48.
• Yellow River Transport Gang — Existing partner targeted for a deeper waterway alliance 11.
• Jade Spring Temple — Hidden branch expected to support Mount Hua’s western expansion 11.

Unresolved Challenges

• Regional resistance: Wuhua’s proposed alliance against Mount Hua begins taking shape. Official investigations and an offer to explain matters after Fang’s return delay confrontation without resolving the underlying fear of expansion 47.
• Weak foundations: Mount Hua’s elite core remains too small for its many new branches. Its expanded influence still falls far short of the Beggar Gang at its peak 49.
• Internal misconduct: Fang has already suppressed opportunistic branch leaders and relies on Gao Yanan for harsher disciplinary work; continued inspections remain necessary 50.
• Missing senior members: Fang seeks Huangfu Gao and Liu Yanfei, hoping to restore both to the sect. Huangfu’s disabilities and distrust, and Liu’s use of aliases, complicate their return 12 25.
• Future Bat Island danger: Fang’s foreknowledge warns him of Kumei’s possible involvement with Yuan Suiyun and the exposure of Mount Hua’s sword art. These remain anticipated threats, not events already suffered by the reformed sect 1 10.