Southern Sun Kingdom

Biodata

Geography and Settlements

• Regional position: A small frontier state within the Southern Dipper Domain 11.
• Western frontier: Borders the Blood Marsh, where the Southern Sun, Heavenly Nether, and Misty Moon kingdoms meet. The marsh lies outside all three kingdoms’ jurisdiction 11.
• Central capital: The Imperial City stands at the kingdom’s center and is livelier than Dragon City 37.

Government and Foreign Relations

Li Imperial Family

• Emperor Shao’s reign: Fang Ling arrives during year 678 of her rule. She ascended the throne at twenty-two and is seven hundred years old when they meet 8 37 38.
• Imperial resurgence: Mister Mo credits her capable leadership with reviving the imperial family’s fortunes 36.
• Resource control: The imperial family takes the kingdom’s largest share of resources, but active sects and cultivation lineages substantially reduce its dominance 37.
• Hidden strength: Emperor Shao conceals her mid-stage Jade Balance cultivation to avoid alerting the Great Qian Dynasty. She regards the domestic sects and great clans as powers she can subdue whenever necessary 38.

Great Qian Dynasty

• Overlord: The Great Qian Dynasty is a first-rate power in the Southern Dipper Domain and supports the Li family’s hold on the throne 36 38.
• Annual tribute: Southern Sun must provide at least two billion spirit stones each year. Emperor Shao attributes widespread suffering and deaths to the effort required to collect this sum 38.
• Emperor Shao’s objective: Since childhood, she has cultivated intensely with the intention of resisting these demands 38.
• Protection and deterrence: Mister Mo warns that killing Emperor Shao would provoke Great Qian and endanger the Heavenly Net Church. Fang Ling likewise recognizes that slaughtering a Southern Sun city would bring consequences absent in the lawless Blood Marsh 36 40.

Cultivation Powers

Major Factions

Local Power Scale

• Heavenly Balance experts: Even early-stage cultivators count as first-rate experts locally. The Heavenly Net Church’s six experts gathered at Heavenbreak Mountain are each described as first-rate figures in Southern Sun 15 23.
• Imperial palace defenses: Fang Ling detects twenty-one Heavenly Balance experts and one early-stage Heavenly Authority cultivator in the palace’s direction. The latter has severely depleted vitality and little remaining lifespan 37.
• Limits beyond the kingdom: Bai Jiang acknowledges that his standing and the White Family’s influence within Southern Sun do not translate into comparable importance outside it 29.

History

Foundation and Earlier Powers

The Southern Sun Kingdom succeeded the Great Chu Kingdom, which had lasted roughly fifty thousand years. By Fang Ling’s arrival, Southern Sun had existed for a little over twenty thousand years, and the former Smelting City had long since been renamed Willow City 8 24.

The Heavenly Net Church once dominated the kingdom’s cultivation world, with successive leaders bearing the name Rakshasa. Its later decline exposed members to persecution: about a century before Fang Ling’s involvement, Earth Guard Valley Master was publicly beheaded in the Imperial City. Man Tianning’s attempt to avenge him ended in an imperial ambush and near capture 13.

Fang Ling’s Arrival

After leaving Cold Mountain Temple, Fang Ling learned from He Dayou that the Great Chu Kingdom no longer existed. He stayed with the Zhao Family in Willow City and spent more than a month studying its books, gaining an understanding of Southern Sun and the surrounding lands. Before leaving for the Blood Marsh, he slaughtered the Qin Family, resolving the threat they posed to his hosts 8 9 11.

On his journey west, Fang Ling took control of the Heavenly Net Church and ordered its members to gather in Dragon City. His stay there brought him into contact with the White Family, whose poisoned daughter he cured, and led him to investigate the nearby Lost Ancient Mine 16 18 22.

Destruction of the Six Harmonies Sect

The Six Harmonies Sect attacked the Flying Eagle Gate with secret backing from the Blood Marsh’s Heavenly Mystic Hall. The outside faction sought the Heavenly Net Divine Art and used the local sect to avoid attracting competing Blood Marsh powers 30 32.

Fang Ling annihilated the attacking army of three hundred thousand cultivators, then ordered the destruction of the sect’s headquarters and branch halls. The Heavenly Net Church seized its shops, medicinal fields, spirit mines, and supplies, restoring itself as Southern Sun’s foremost sect. News of the victory spread throughout the kingdom 33 34 36.

Imperial Dispute and the Blood Marsh Expansion

Mister Mo proposed retaining Southern Sun as the church’s rear base, supplying resources and recruits while roughly eight hundred elites advanced into the Blood Marsh. Fang Ling consequently visited Emperor Shao to secure protection for the disciples remaining behind 36 37.

Emperor Shao refused to leave the enlarged church unchecked and demanded at least half of the Six Harmonies Sect’s former holdings. Their confrontation exposed her hidden cultivation and her fear that Fang Ling’s actions would draw Great Qian’s attention. Fang Ling overcame her attacks; afterward, he told Yun Shuiqing that the matter was settled and departed 37 38 39.