Barbarian Tribe

Biodata

Background / History

Ancient Holy Clan

Ten thousand years before Gu Chenfeng’s era, the Holy Clan ruled Yan Province. Its people were divided into the Eight Tribes and numerous smaller branches. Great Wilderness City housed the Holy Clan Main Line, and Huang Qiu—the future Barbarian God—was one of its celebrated warriors 678.

Gu Chenfeng encountered this ancient society through the Myriad Worlds Time Wheel. After their duel, Huang Qiu accepted him as a younger brother and welcomed him into Great Wilderness City, believing him to belong to a scattered Holy Clan branch 677 678.

Defeat by Great Li

The Barbarian Tribe once dominated southern Yan Province, while Great Li was still a frontier power. Its original imperial capital later became Flame City, the capital of Great Li 116 542.

Great Li’s armies, led by Gu Beiwu and supported by the Futu Army, drove the tribe north. During the brutal fighting at the Border Pass, the future Emperor Xuan pursued recklessly and fell into an encirclement of Barbarian experts. Gu Beiwu rescued him but suffered lasting injuries 49 224.

Despite deploying powerful secret treasures and special methods, the tribe lost the decisive war ten years before the renewed invasion. Emperor Xuan later recalled that Barbarian commanders had mysteriously died and their treasures had failed at critical moments, suspecting Gu Lingxiao’s hidden intervention 224.

Recovery in the Frozen Expanse

After retreating into the barren Northern Frozen Expanse, the tribe survived through its strong physiques and purchases of outside supplies. Its demand for resources made smuggling highly profitable, including for Great Li’s Huangfu Lineage 54 215.

The discovery of the Holy Mountain appeared to reverse its fortunes. The mountain remained springlike despite the surrounding ice, contained abundant cultivation resources, and possessed an energy-rich pool at its summit. Holy Water and Holy Crystals substantially strengthened the tribe, encouraging its rulers to plan the reconquest of southern Yan Province 138 178 215.

Renewed Southern Invasion

Before open war resumed, Barbarian spies operated near Great Li’s Imperial Capital. Three Barbarian experts cooperated with corrupt Imperial Guard commanders in an ambush intended to kill Gu Yanshuang and frame the Gu Lineage for treason. The Huangfu Lineage expected the coming invasion to increase its political leverage and reopen its smuggling routes 111 116 117.

The Sixth Prince, Huyan Ji, organized covert border operations. One battalion infiltrated the Blackwater Army’s patrol zone as a feint, but Gu Chenfeng destroyed it and its shaman was captured. The tribe subsequently attacked Blackwater City with infantry, cavalry, siege equipment, and a vast Origin Beast tide 153 157 158 159 160.

Gu Chenfeng’s masked intervention devastated the shamans supporting the Blackwater assault. He killed a High-Rank Shaman and later struck the guarded chariots of the Intermediate Shamans, killing or disabling eight or nine out of every ten present 171 172 195.

The wider invasion committed two hundred thousand troops. After probing Great Li’s four frontier strongholds, more than eighty percent of the Barbarian force concentrated outside Heavenly Journey City. Its renewed offensive deployed the Spirit-Commanding Giant Horn, the Barbarian God Statue, and the elite Blood Frenzy Army 184 185 188 190.

The battle collapsed after Gu Chenfeng, operating as Li Zicheng, shot Huyan Ji dead. Fear of punishment and the prince’s death shattered the army’s morale; enforcement squads could not stop the rout, and Wanyan Bulin ordered a full retreat 201 204.

Coup and Helian Na’s Accession

After the campaign, Wanyan Bulin brought Gu Lingxiao and Gu Chenfeng to the Holy Mountain. Huyan Nushan offered to pardon the Gu Lineage, make Gu Beiwu a prince, and grant the family a large fief after Great Li’s conquest. His objective was to obtain the family’s military influence and the Futu Army’s strength 209 210.

Gu Lingxiao revealed that the Holy Mountain had instead been his trap for the tribe’s elites for ten years. His concealed Gu Arts killed every shaman on the mountain, and he declared his intention to destroy Huyan Nushan’s followers and influence. He subsequently killed the emperor and destroyed the Barbarian God’s Phantom; an allied expert prevented the Grand Shaman from intervening 215 221.

Three days later, the tribe officially announced that Huyan Nushan had died of illness and that his sister-in-law, Helian Na, would succeed him. His trusted followers were removed, officials loyal to the previous emperor were restored, and Helian Na ordered the border army to withdraw. A strict information blockade concealed the coup’s details from outside powers 224.

Alliance with the Gu Lineage

Following the conflict in the Hidden Dragon Mountains, the Gu Lineage, its armies, and allied households relocated north and established their headquarters on the Barbarian Tribe’s Holy Mountain 303.

The tribe later joined the Gu Lineage in defending the Four Symbols Frozen Expanse against the Four Great Dynasties. Their forces used cavalry raids, traps, and assassinations to slow the invasion. Helian Na represented the Barbarian army in the allied command, whose final defensive line linked Silverwind City, the Holy Mountain, and the Barbarian Tribe Imperial City 528.

Gu Beiwu’s arrival on the Central Battlefield, revealing half-step Source Emperor Realm strength, helped turn the decisive battle in favor of the Gu–Barbarian alliance 532.

Organization & Leadership

Physiology & Bloodline

• Human ancestry: Barbarians are human, rather than a separate nonhuman species, but possess unusually specialized bloodlines 153.
• Build: Most are taller and more muscular than ordinary Great Li people, with thick limbs and powerful bodies 116 153.
• Totem mark: An inverted triangular mark between the brows symbolizes the tribe’s totem and serves as a source of its strength 153.
• Eyes: The three warriors encountered by Gu Yanshuang had pale-blue pupils 116.
• Two broad bloodline types: Most inherit physical strength and martial instincts; rare shamans instead possess weaker bodies and exceptional spiritual aptitude 153.

Military

Unit Structure

Forces & Tactics

• Individual superiority: Bloodline gifts generally give Barbarian martial artists an approximately one-to-three combat-strength advantage over Great Li counterparts at the same level 153.
• Army formations: Troops combine their strength in formation charges, including rotating three-hundred-soldier assaults and thousand-man formations 155 171.
• Heavy cavalry: Riders use specially bred warhorses carrying Origin Beast bloodlines 163.
• Beast-tide warfare: Shamans drive Origin Beasts ahead of the army to assault defenses and exhaust the enemy without immediately risking Barbarian soldiers 161 186.
• Siege forces: Field armies include armored infantry, heavy cavalry, war chariots, and substantial siege equipment 160 185.
• Technical disadvantages: Barbarian expertise in formations, talismans, and pills falls short of Great Li’s. Its cavalry also displays weaker coordination and formation discipline despite superior individual strength 161 163.
• Blood Frenzy Army: Its riders stand nearly three meters tall, with deep-red skin, swollen muscles, and blue-black veins. It is described as the strongest cavalry force the tribe had ever possessed 190 191.

Abilities & Skills

Berserk Transformation

• Activating the bloodline causes the forehead mark to shine, the body to expand, and strength, speed, toughness, and explosive power to rise sharply 154.
• Ordinary transformation compromises calm judgment and encourages reckless attacks, though it does not necessarily remove all reason or cause attacks on allies 188.
• The transformation leaves a prolonged period of weakness afterward 154.
• Huang Qiu’s exceptional bloodline allows him to remain clearheaded while berserk without relying on the statue’s blessing 677.

Shamanic Arts

• Divination and detection: Rare spiritual gifts make shamans valuable intelligence specialists 153.
• Beast control: Shamans coordinate large Origin Beast armies through spiritual power, chants, and hand seals 161.
• Spiritual attacks: A High-Rank Shaman’s tome contains both the Beast-Taming Technique and a divine-sense attack secret art 195.
• Physical vulnerability: Shamans are much weaker bodily than ordinary Barbarian warriors; Zuo Yutang accidentally renders a captured shaman unconscious by gripping his neck too tightly 153 157.
• Countermeasures: Great Li’s Startling Dragon Bells disrupt the spiritual connection between shamans and controlled beasts 184 187.

Barbarian God’s Blessing

• The sacred statue empowers warriors possessing Barbarian bloodlines through their totem marks 188.
• Its blessing produces a stronger-than-normal berserk state while preserving clear judgment, allowing enhanced soldiers to form and maneuver coordinated battle formations 188.
• The resulting surge reverses Great Li’s battlefield advantage at Heavenly Journey City 188.
• The statue’s stored power is exhaustible: its accumulated power of faith had been depleted during the previous decisive war 188.

Sacred Sites & Resources

Sacred Relics & Secret Arts

• Barbarian God Statue — According to legend, contains a drop of the Barbarian God’s essence blood and developed divinity through generations of worship. It manifests a gigantic axe-bearing phantom and bestows bloodline blessings; its roar cracks and weakens Great Li’s Startling Dragon Bells 188.
• Spirit-Commanding Giant Horn — Forged centuries earlier by a Grand Shaman from a Jiao Dragon’s single horn. Spiritual power activates it to command vast numbers of Origin Beasts and induce a fearless, berserk-like state 185.
• Five Elements Sacred Origin Art — Secret art Gu Chenfeng obtains from the Five Great Protectors; it remains beyond his grasp for a time 312.
• Heaven’s Mandate Nine Strikes — Huang Qiu’s signature axe secret art. During his ancient travels, he perfects its Human-Slaying Chapter and begins developing the Earth-Slaying Chapter 678 679 681.

Religion & Culture

• Divine ancestry: Tribal tradition identifies the people as descendants of the Barbarian God, who supposedly shattered the void and departed the mortal world. Generations worship him through statues and carvings 188.
• Historical identity of the deity: Gu Chenfeng recognizes the ancient Huang Qiu through his resemblance to the statues. Huang Qiu, unfamiliar with the title, says he will adopt “Barbarian God” if he reaches the Immortal Realm 678.
• Respect for strength: In ancient Great Wilderness City, the inhabitants accept Gu Chenfeng as a powerful Holy Clan warrior after he demonstrates his blood-qi pressure 678.
• Pearl-Seizing Battle: Its ancient victory celebration includes bonfires, roasted meat, animal-hide drums, and a marriage reward presented by clan elders 678.
• Warrior marriage ideal: Huang Qiu advocates unions between strong men and strong women to produce exceptionally gifted children 678.

Relationships

• Great Li Dynasty — Longstanding rival that displaced the tribe from southern Yan Province. The renewed invasion ends in defeat, followed by Helian Na’s withdrawal order 49 201 224.
• Gu Beiwu — Principal architect of the tribe’s earlier military defeat; even Barbarian enemies acknowledge his formidable ability 116 224.
• Gu Lingxiao — Covert enemy of Huyan Nushan who undermines the Holy Mountain’s elites, kills the emperor, and precipitates the change in regime 215 221 224.
• Gu Chenfeng / Li Zicheng — Destroys an infiltrating battalion, devastates the shamans at Blackwater City, and kills Huyan Ji 156 172 201 204.
• Gu Lineage — Former blood enemy that later establishes its headquarters on the Holy Mountain and becomes the tribe’s military ally 151 303 528.
• Huangfu Lineage — Profits from smuggling supplies to the tribe and cooperates with Barbarian experts in a plot against the Gu family 54 117.
• Four Great Dynasties — Later invaders opposed jointly by the Barbarian Tribe and Gu Lineage 528 532.