Shitou

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Shitou (石头); also addressed as Wen Shitou 123
Alias(es)	Wen Ji, the name he adopts at Wenlong’s suggestion 56
Gender	Male 2
Affiliation	Wen Lineage; Huaxia Sect 2 51
Occupation/Role	Martial instructor, Security Squad commander, and later Acting Huaxia Sect Master 19 44 51
Age	Thirteen during preparations to establish the sect; fourteen when appointed Acting Sect Master 40 51
Family	Son of Grand Elder Wen Tian’gang and an unnamed mother who serves as an instructor; later has a son 51 56 157
Status	Alive and using a wheelchair when confronted by Wenlong in Tai’an City; his subsequent fate is not given 157
First Appearance	Chapter 2, “Hardship” 2

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Accurate hidden-weapon use	22	Wins one of the martial-contest prizes and demonstrates good aim while helping Wenlong and Wenzhu ambush pursuing Kai experts. His exact contest placement is not specified.
Proficiency in saber techniques	25	Wenlong finds few flaws in his saber work and praises his powerful broadsword handling. He also demonstrates forceful spear thrusts.
Considerable martial prowess	40	At thirteen, Shitou and Wenzhu are considered strong enough that even members of Wenlong’s father’s generation might not be their match.

• No named cultivation realm or ranked breakthrough is documented for Shitou. A spirit-water test fails to awaken an ability in him 23.

Background / History

Flight to the Ancestral Grounds

Shitou is among the Wen survivors fleeing their pursuers. He cries for his mother when she takes the ox carts down another road to draw the enemy away. She returns safely after misleading the pursuers and erasing the refugees’ tracks, then continues helping conceal their route toward the Ancestral Grounds 2 3 4.

During the clan’s early struggle for food, Shitou leads other children in archery practice at Wenlong’s request. He remains focused despite the snow and cold, although his aim is initially poor. On a subsequent hunt, his arrow only grazes a fleeing hare. He later witnesses Wenlong fall over a cliff during a wild-boar encounter and is found sobbing with the other children 9 10.

After Wenlong returns, Shitou accompanies him into the mountains to retrieve wolf cubs for the refuge. He initially wants to take the dead adult wolves as well, but accepts Wenlong’s decision to bury them rather than carry their bodies away 13.

Instructor and Field Commander

Shitou begins supervising roughly a dozen boys in literacy and martial practice. As training expands to sixteen children aged six and older, he and Wenzhu each lead a group. Wenlong eventually regards Shitou’s steady judgment and weapon proficiency as sufficient to entrust him with future martial training 19 23 25.

He also becomes Wenlong’s regular companion on supply missions. He helps distribute grain to the aunts’ birth families and protects Wenlong’s maternal relatives during their journey to the Ancestral Grounds. When two Kai riders threaten them, Shitou responds to Wenlong’s signal by striking one rider in the temple with a stone; the pair then restrain both attackers with daggers 20 21.

In the continuing Kai campaign, Shitou progresses from scout and supporting fighter to commander. He leads seventeen youths through successive crossbow ambushes, redirects their fire toward exposed legs, signals changes of position, and organizes their withdrawal. All seventeen return unharmed 26 28 36.

His responsibilities grow to include covert raids, patrols, and interception of Kai scouts. Wenlong later observes rather than commands a Security Squad ambush, allowing Shitou to direct the operation independently. The attack kills several dozen Kai and captures nearly a hundred without Wen casualties, earning Wenlong’s praise 37 39 44.

Brightlight City and the Kai Defeat

Shitou commands fifty youths assigned to support the He Family’s takeover of Brightlight City. He initially objects when Wenlong orders the deaths of anyone who sees the strike team’s true faces, including He Family members. After Wenlong explains the danger to the sect’s reputation, Shitou coordinates the operation with the He Family 47.

During the raid, his squad silently kills the entrance guards and joins Wenlong inside the City Lord’s Residence. Shitou checks that everyone is accounted for before the force leaves the city; the operation ends without casualties 48.

Wenlong subsequently orders him to raise and train a Combat Force of at least five hundred. In the final campaign against the Kai, Shitou distributes ambush teams around Wan Family Town’s exits, sends reinforcements to the eastern road, announces terms of surrender, and oversees the transport of captives 48 49 50.

Acting Sect Master and the Name Wen Ji

After Wenlong clashes with the elders over executing Kai prisoners, Shitou explains the long-term reasoning behind Wenlong’s earlier orders. Ashamed of misunderstanding his son, Wen Tiancheng withdraws into seclusion and appoints fourteen-year-old Shitou Acting Huaxia Sect Master. The elders initially resist the appointment but ultimately accept his leadership 51.

Shitou organizes sect and city affairs, assigns captive labor, and preserves time for the Wen youths’ cultivation. He uses collective punishment to deter escape attempts, but recognizes that harsh discipline can deepen resentment. Remembering Wenlong’s advice to combine kindness with authority, he introduces rewards such as extra food for cooperative captives 51.

Satisfied with his administration, Wenlong leaves him a handwritten copy of The Art of War. On a later visit, Wenlong suggests a more dignified name: Wen Ji, explaining that a stone can serve as a foundation on which the Huaxia Sect may rest securely. Shitou accepts the name with his father’s approval 54 56.

As Wen Ji, he helps plan an expedition against regional bandits and later enforces the sect’s prohibition against exploiting commoners. A disciple who accepts bribes to assist a local tyrant is stripped of cultivation and expelled. Wen Ji also establishes public reporting stations and strengthens moral instruction 56 58.

Later Betrayal and Remorse

Much later, Seventh Uncle reports that Daniu, Erniu, Linzi, and Shitou’s escaped son abducted Shitou’s family and killed Wen Tie and his wife. Wenlong traces the faction to Tai’an City, where it controls a puppet ruler and appropriates the city’s revenues 157.

At the faction’s compound, Shitou is brought out in a wheelchair. Wenlong confronts him alongside Daniu, Erniu, and Linzi. Shitou acknowledges his own guilt: his father’s greed, and his inability to stop him despite repeated attempts at persuasion, contributed to the deaths of clanspeople. His attachment to his father had outweighed his resistance to the wrongdoing 157.

Personality

Shitou is initially diligent, steady, and dependable. He continues archery practice while the other children shiver in the snow, and Wenlong considers him the least worrying of the promising young fighters. In command, he favors prepared ambushes and withdrawal over uncertain head-on battles 9 25 44.

His friendship with Wenlong includes easy teasing rather than rigid deference. When Wenlong jokingly addresses him as “Sect Master” and “my lord,” Shitou laughs and insists that he call him brother. He also has a habit of slapping desks when excited, which Wenlong compares to Wen Tiancheng’s behavior 56.

He is capable of lethal violence but not wholly comfortable with indiscriminate killing. He openly questions the order to kill witnesses during the Brightlight City operation and later lowers his head rather than endorse further slaughter of defeated Kai captives. As an administrator, he recognizes the resentment punishment can create and adjusts his methods accordingly 47 50 51.

His later remorse exposes a limit to that judgment: he had tried to restrain his father, but family attachment prevented him from stopping the greed that helped bring disaster upon the clan 157.

Abilities & Skills

Saber and Spear Combat

• Preferred weapon: The broadsword, wielded with powerful, weighty movements 25.
• Saber proficiency: His technique has few apparent flaws by Wenlong’s assessment 25.
• Spear use: Delivers forceful thrusts, though the broadsword remains his favorite 25.
• Lethal duel: Uses his black saber to cleave a challenger and the challenger’s weapon in two with a single stroke 43.

Lightness Skills

• Can close the distance to an opponent almost instantly during a formal duel 43.
• His speed nevertheless remains far below Wenlong’s demonstrated Shadow Step 53.

Hidden Weapons and Archery

• Throws a stone accurately enough to knock a mounted Kai attacker down with a temple strike 21.
• Supports ambushes against Kai experts with accurately thrown hidden weapons 22.
• Trains with bows and later commands fighters equipped with repeating crossbows and darts 9 36.
• Does not awaken an ability through Wenlong’s spirit-water test 23.

Military Command and Scouting

• Coordinates successive ambush positions, signal arrows, concentrated fire, and mounted retreats 36.
• Maintains scouts watching Brightlight City approaches and Kai movements 44 48.
• Directs surrender procedures, prisoner binding, and guarded transport 44 50.
• Studies The Art of War at Wenlong’s instruction, with an emphasis on applying its lessons flexibly 54.

Teaching and Administration

• Supervises literacy and martial instruction for younger boys, then leads one of the children’s training groups 19 23.
• Organizes sect duties so youths retain time for cultivation 51.
• Uses captive team leaders, reporting incentives, collective discipline, and rewards for cooperation 51.
• Establishes public reporting stations to expose abuses committed under the sect’s name 58.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Black saber — One of three black sabers carried by Shitou, Wen Tiancheng, and Wenlong; capable of cutting through an opponent’s saber in a single blow 43.
• Spear — A secondary weapon with which he demonstrates powerful thrusts 25.
• Daggers and throwing stones — Used during the encounter with Kai riders 21.
• Bow, repeating crossbows, and darts — Used in hunting practice and the armed operations he commands 9 36.
• The Art of War — A handwritten copy given to him by Wenlong before the latter leaves to train 54.
• Wheelchair — Used at the Tai’an City confrontation; the cause of his condition is not stated 157.

Relationships

• Wenlong — Childhood companion, martial mentor, and strategist. Their practiced coordination allows them to act on subtle signals; Wenlong repeatedly entrusts him with training, military command, and administration before their later confrontation 21 25 44 54 157.
• Wen Tiancheng — Clan chief who appoints him Acting Huaxia Sect Master at fourteen 51.
• Wen Tian’gang — Father and grand elder. Approves the name Wen Ji; his later greed becomes central to Shitou’s admission of guilt 56 157.
• Shitou’s mother — Risks her life to divert the refugees’ pursuers. Later manages Wen Family Village affairs temporarily and serves as an instructor 2 3 40 51.
• Wenzhu — Fellow youth instructor and frequent combat partner; helps him manage affairs after his appointment 22 23 51.
• Daniu, Erniu, and Linzi — Daniu and Linzi are earlier allies in the Wen’s military and administrative work; all three are present with Shitou when Wenlong confronts the faction in Tai’an City 47 51 157.
• Shitou’s son — Reported as an escaped member of the group that abducts Shitou’s family and kills Wen Tie and his wife 157.
• He Da — Political ally with whom Shitou coordinates the Brightlight City operation 47.

Notable Quotes

“Long’er, what do you mean? Isn’t that far too cruel?” 47

“You brat, call me brother or get out.” 56

“Wen Ji is a good name, much better than Shitou. From now on, I’ll be Wen Ji.” 56