Kai
Death God of the Night
Biodata
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Kai (开家) |
| Alias(es) | Kai clan, Kai family, Kai Lineage |
| Organization Type | Family clan / lineage 5 25 |
| Occupation/Role | Dominant clan of Wan Family Town; rivals of the Wen clan 5 25 |
| Main Base | Wan Family Town, including the Kai Family Compound 18 25 |
| Leadership | A clan chief and influential elders; successive chiefs are killed during the conflict with the Wen 38 48 50 |
| Status | Wan Family Town lineage destroyed as an organized power; many members flee or are captured for forced labor 50 63 |
| First Appearance | Black-clad attackers ambush the fleeing Wen clan 1 |
Background / History
Rise in Wan Family Town
The Kai established control over Wan Family Town by bullying merchants, dominating markets, and forcing weaker lineages to attach themselves to the clan. Most residents of other surnames became farmhands, servants, or hired laborers rather than independent equals. Resistance to Kai rule could mean death 25.
Their feud with the Wen lasted several years. The Kai repeatedly seized Wen land, then attempted to eliminate the weakened clan altogether. A captured Kai clansman also revealed that the family head sought a supposedly long-lost Wen secret manual, believing it could make its owner the richest person in the region 5 15.
Near-Destruction of the Wen
Kai members killed Wenlong’s two elder brothers while they were protecting him and severely injured his father during the lineage war 11. When the Wen fled their village, black-clad Kai attackers ambushed their convoy. The Wen patriarch and other elders fought to the death so the younger generations could escape 1.
Only fifty-eight Wen clanspeople survived the campaign. The Kai posted guards at burial sites containing the dead; Wenlong killed these guards while recovering his grandparents and other relatives for proper burial 5 14 15.
Wenlong’s Raids
Unable to confront the Kai’s numbers directly, Wenlong began a covert campaign against their stores and households. His first supply raid took grain, fabric, sewing supplies, and valuables; he also killed a boy in the compound whom he had seen mistreating servants 18 19.
The Kai added traps to their grain warehouse, but Wenlong disabled them with the aid of his Mental Power. He later located their concealed treasury, emptied it, sabotaged its entrance, and returned to steal more supplies. During the subsequent raid, he killed the sleeping clan chief and set the main house on fire 22 25 26.
Kai parties sent to investigate the chief’s murder and locate the Wen were ambushed and captured. The Wen also seized Kai field workers, while prisoners were shackled and made to build walls and farm 21 29 33.
Leadership Losses and Flight
Wenlong and the Wen youths escalated their attacks through night raids, Repeating Crossbow ambushes, and assassinations of wealthy Kai members and Retainer Warriors. One pursuit ended with more than a hundred Kai killed at an ambush site; further attacks continued as the Wen withdrew 34 35 36.
Using information obtained from prisoners, Wenlong killed the Kai’s known leading figures. The clan appointed a new chief and continued sending scouts, but the Wen intercepted them and learned the locations of the replacement leadership 38.
Repeated thefts, deaths, and disappearances drove entire Kai households away. By the time the remaining elders debated whether to abandon Wan Family Town, successive chiefs had died and fewer than five thousand clanspeople remained 45 48.
Defeat and Prisoners
When scouts reported that the Kai were secretly gathering, Wenlong advanced his attack schedule. His fighters struck sleeping Kai men and drove the fleeing clan toward ambushes at the town’s exits. He expressly prohibited indiscriminate killing of the elderly, children, women, and the weak 49.
More than four thousand Kai were encircled. Most surrendered under crossbow fire; those who continued resisting were killed, and several elders were found dead. Wenlong ordered the wounded treated and the prisoners transported under guard 50.
The victory exposed a division within the Wen: Wen Tiancheng and the elders wanted to kill the prisoners as sacrifices, while Wenlong argued that further slaughter would perpetuate the feud. He threatened to leave with his mother and younger siblings rather than accept the executions 50.
Later searches captured more than two thousand Kai family members and sent them to the Slave Camp. Searchers could find no others, with the narrative suggesting that remaining fugitives had changed their names. The Wen regarded the Kai family as destroyed and their blood feud as settled 63.
Later Kai Family on Another Continent
A later Kai family attacked Elder Liu’s clan after learning that he possessed a Talisman-Making Manual. The Liu evacuated, and a black-robed Kai elder wounded Elder Liu while he searched for missing relatives. Wenlong described this as encountering another Kai family after destroying the earlier one; no genealogical connection is established 82.
Wenlong raided this family’s village, stole its smithy tools and treasury contents, and killed its strongest fighter. He subsequently used Elder Liu’s information to eliminate the remaining experts, leaving Kai Village unable to threaten his allies 85 87.
Population and Decline
| Point in the Conflict | Recorded Size or Loss | Chapter |
|---|---|---|
| Early feud | Nearly twenty thousand Kai clanspeople in Wan Family Town | 5 |
| Prolonged Wen raids | More than half had moved away; captured Kai exceeded one thousand | 45 |
| Before the decisive attack | Fewer than five thousand remained in Wan Family Town | 48 |
| Final encirclement | More than four thousand surrounded; most surrendered | 50 |
| Later searches | More than two thousand additional members captured and sent to the Slave Camp | 63 |
Holdings and Military Resources
- Kai Family Compound — Walled residence with patrolling guards, vicious dogs, and a grain warehouse fitted with traps 22.
- Treasure Vault — Concealed behind a mechanism and protected by traps; held large quantities of gold, silver, weapons, and equipment 25 26.
- Agricultural wealth — Fertile lands, substantial grain reserves, and farm labor supported the clan’s dominance 15 22 25.
- Embroidery House — Supplied fabric, needles, and thread taken by Wenlong for the Wen survivors 19.
- Armed forces — Included household guards, Retainer Warriors, bowmen, scouts, and larger search parties. The Kai also attempted a concealed hundred-man encirclement near Wan Family Town 29 34 36.
- Kai Family Village — The later family’s settlement was more than ten times larger than Wang Family’s settlement and contained numerous shops, a large marketplace, a smithy, and a treasury 85.
- Later family’s strongest cultivator — Its sole Lord Realm expert was killed during Wenlong’s first village raid; the remaining warriors could not withstand his later ambushes 87.
Relationships
- Wen clan — Principal blood-feud enemy. Kai attacks nearly exterminated the Wen, whose survivors eventually destroyed the Kai’s power in Wan Family Town 5 50 63.
- Wenlong — Led the thefts, assassinations, and ambushes that dismantled the clan, but opposed sacrificing surrendered prisoners. The deaths of his relatives continued to haunt him long after the Kai’s destruction 18 38 50 242.
- Wen Tiancheng — Wen clan leader whose parents and two eldest sons were killed by the Kai; supported revenge and the proposed sacrifice of Kai prisoners 48 50.
- Shitou — Directed scouting, crossbow ambushes, and prisoner handling against the Kai 36 44 50.
- Huaxia Sect — Built defenses against possible Kai attacks and used captured Kai as labor during its expansion 31 44.
- Liu family — Victims of the later Kai family’s attempt to seize a Talisman-Making Manual; their displacement prompted Wenlong’s intervention 82 85.