Tang Wen

Biodata

Power Progression

The martial system has ten ranks, descending from tenth—the weakest—to first—the strongest. Each rank has early, middle, late, and perfection stages 1.

Background / History

Life on Earth

Tang Wen grew up as an orphan and had never experienced a mother's affection before transmigrating. He became a renowned medical expert and director of a provincial hospital, acquiring management experience that later informed his handling of the Tang household 1 4 9.

A military enthusiast, he was invited to serve as a battlefield doctor by an international special-forces headquarters. He trained alongside its personnel for a year and accompanied them on several missions 3 9.

The Tang Family's Decline

His new body's ancestor, Tang Ze, earned military honors and received the title Count of Liangzhou with a ten-thousand-mu fief. Successive generations lost standing; by Tang Shixian's time, the family's title had fallen to Second-Class Baron 1.

Tang Shixian lost the family fortune in a business trap and subsequently died. Liu Qingmei sold their ancestral residence to clear the debts, then discovered that an ancestor had purchased Su Mei Island. Tang Wen's elder brother, Tang Guodong, relinquished the inheritance to him while preparing for examinations in the capital, allowing Tang Wen to inherit as a Third-Class Baron 1.

Arrival on Su Mei Island

The household traveled more than a thousand li from Liangzhou. Bandits stole their valuables and killed three of their five guards. On arrival, they found the ancestral island residence burned and looted, while refugees and other occupants had seized the farmland 1.

After a failed attempt to collect rent, the original Tang Wen took a Qi Condensation Pill in anger. His internal qi ran out of control, killing him and allowing Tang Wen from Earth to possess his body 1.

Personality

Tang Wen treats material security as the foundation of loyalty. He provides food, wages, clothing, housing, and cultivation resources, while deliberately testing recruits and cultivating their sense of being trusted. He considers five hundred taels a worthwhile price for discovering whether Zhan Dongwen can be relied upon 3 4 18 35.

He is protective of his family and followers. He initially offers departing servants their indentures and travel money, compensates the families of guards killed in an attack, and promises to avenge them. His desire to prevent further deaths drives his investment in defenses and modern military equipment 1 9 15.

His generosity coexists with coercion and a harsh insistence on loyalty. He makes treatment of Gu Hanyan and her group conditional on entering his service, tortures a suspected traitor with a scalpel, and threatens to kill the families of future traitors 15 19 20.

He can also be sexually intrusive and overbearing. After being caught watching Gu Hanyan and Zhan Junru bathe, he refuses Gu Hanyan's proposed purchase of her freedom. Later, recognizing that he has mistreated her, he tears up her indenture and offers her money to leave; she chooses to remain 25 46.

Abilities & Skills

Great Landlord Space

• Version 2.0 doubles popularity absorption speed and adds more detailed destination maps 42.
• Time passes differently between worlds: on one trip, a month away corresponds to three days in Great Chu 34.
• The space is initially severely damaged, restricting access to the lower-popularity gate 5.

Popularity Eye

• Initially sees household members' human aura only intermittently, including during a nighttime attack. This lets him distinguish servants from intruders 9 18.
• Forms a tenth-rank Popularity Eye after recruiting the disaster refugees 18.
• Reads changes in aura to assess loyalty and intent: a traitor's aura becomes tangled or points away, while supporters' auras lean toward him 19 35 42.
• Advances to ninth rank with system version 2.0 42.
• Uses Li Liao's wavering aura to recognize disbelief during equipment demonstrations 50.

Internal Cultivation

• Uses Foundation-Nourishing Pills alongside cultivation to build the foundation needed for popularity-driven breakthroughs 18.
• During a sparring match with Chen Guozhang, uses the Fish-Dragon Nine-Turn Art to recover in midair, rotate, and descend safely 43.
• The Fish-Dragon art's highest-level leaps and gliding are described by Yang Yun; Tang Wen is not shown reaching that level 39.

Willow-Floating Step

• Produces three apparent images when demonstrated in Yunhai City, drawing on the original body's years of practice 6.
• Uses it to slip through a nighttime melee and evade attacks during sparring 9 43.
• Full mastery can produce more than a dozen images, but this is not his demonstrated proficiency 6.

Medicine

• Applies the expertise of his former medical career to patients in the Chu Kingdom 9 14.
• Measures Gu Hanyan's temperature and diagnoses malaria from her recurring chills and fever 14.
• Saves Zhan Shifeng, earning the Zhan family's gratitude and service 3 11.
• Imports medicines, diagnostic equipment, an X-ray machine, and a compact ultrasound machine for the estate 20.
• Explicitly cautions that he cannot promise to cure every illness 14.

Combat and Military Organization

• Combines special-forces experience, the original body's ten years of martial training, modern weapons, and protective equipment 9.
• Designs a palm-sized crossbow with a small scope and six-shot capability for manufacture by Song Qingyang's company 13.
• Organizes ambushes, protects noncombatants, and assigns stronger fighters to enemy experts 19 20.
• Builds a special-operations training ground and equips guards with crossbows, radios, night-vision devices, camouflage, and protective gear 15 49 50.
• Defeats Chen Guozhang in a sparring exchange, earning an invitation to the War Dragon special forces. He declines membership but agrees to provide martial-arts advice when available 43.
• Recognizes that firearms remain difficult to use against alert experts with exceptional agility and lightness skills 42.

Trade, Management, and Education

• Exploits price differences between worlds by selling Chu Kingdom pills and cultivation methods in the Great Eastern Republic, then importing silver and modern goods 2 4 6.
• Markets mirrors, cosmetics, lighters, cigarettes, and other unfamiliar goods as products from the Western Lands 4 30 31 40.
• Acquires Hengjiang Trading Company to legitimize gold and silver transactions; it later becomes a subsidiary of the Tang Su Mei Group 20 34.
• Uses gifts, hospitality, and business opportunities to cultivate officials and merchants 23 37 40 42.
• Records machinery-operation and repair videos with seal-script subtitles, and rewards students for learning to read and write more than two thousand characters 43 46.
• Purchases professional hydraulic plans rather than attempting to design the Crouching Dragon Lake works himself 8.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Wooden bracelet — His means of entering the Great Landlord Space 5 20.
• Prop gun — Fires blanks, sparks, and smoke without bullets; used to intimidate the refugees blocking the island bridge 3.
• Compact repeating crossbow — Palm-sized, fitted with a scope, and capable of firing six bolts in succession 13.
• Sabers and swords — Custom steel weapons that can cut thin sheet iron when wielded with his strength 6 8.
• Bulletproof vest — Lightweight synthetic-fiber protection obtained through Luo Jun; protects him during the nighttime attack and Gu Hanyan's confrontation 9 25.
• M2000 handgun — Given to him by Zhao Jiang for self-defense 34.
• Drone and binoculars — Used for surveying Su Mei Island and demonstrating the advantages of imported equipment 46 48 49.
• Mechanical Television — Used to teach literacy and train household members to operate modern equipment 46.
• Military-green Land Cruiser — Purchased during a supply trip to Yunhai City 43.
• Light-steel villa — A two-story residence of more than four hundred square meters, positioned near the estate's main warehouse 35.

Relationships

Family

• Liu Qingmei — Mother of his Chu Kingdom body. Her affection gives the former orphan an experience he lacked on Earth; he promises to provide her a comfortable life 1 4.
• Tang Shixian — Deceased father of his new body. His financial ruin and death leave Tang Wen with the title and impoverished household 1.
• Tang Guodong — Elder brother studying at Black Deer Academy; yields the inherited title to Tang Wen 1.
• Tang Yiyi — Elder sister, married into a family in Jiangzhou 1.
• Tang Hao — Younger brother studying literature and martial arts at Ridge-Sea Academy for the military jinshi examinations 1.
• Tang Mei — Nine-year-old younger sister who accompanies him and their mother to Su Mei Island 1.

Household

• Li Quan — Trusted personal servant who entered Tang service after Tang Wen saved him from illness. Handles purchases and protects Tang Wen and his mother 4 18.
• Zhang Kui — Longtime family guard indebted to Tang Shixian; assigned to family protection and among Tang Wen's most trusted men 5 18.
• Zhan Dongwen — Recruited refugee leader and estate organizer. Passes Tang Wen's financial trust test and receives his assurance that he regards him as a brother 3 4 11.
• Zhan Junru — Devoted personal maid who agrees to keep his secrets. Later placed in charge of the planned clothing workshop and intervenes to protect him from Gu Hanyan 6 11 25.
• Gu Hanyan — Former rival group's mistress, patient, and personal maid. Their relationship moves from coercion and open hostility toward greater trust; she remains after he destroys her indenture 15 25 35 46.
• Qiao Xiao / Flying Cat — Skilled fighter recruited with Gu Hanyan's group; becomes chief instructor and personal bodyguard. His arrest and mistreatment bring Tang Wen into conflict with Kang Qingfeng 14 15 28 40.
• Ge Ziyun — Adviser recruited with the Gu group. Handles contracts and estate administration, and interprets Kang Qingfeng's pressure tactics 15 34 40.
• Zhao Du — Recruited refugee appointed chief guard, responsible for household security 8 12.
• Tang Jun — Artisans' representative whom Tang Wen protects in jail and recruits to develop Su Mei Island. Also explains the Iron Sword Sect and cultivation-method hierarchy 31 32 35 36.
• Li Liao — Disgraced former Hundred-Household Commander invited to a ten-day trial. Tang Wen works to win over him and his loyal fighters through the estate's facilities, weapons, and armor 48 49 50.

Allies and Business Contacts

• Luo Lin and the Luo family — Tang Wen's rescue of Luo Lin earns the family's help with identification, money, credit, and his initial foothold in the Great Eastern Republic 2.
• Luo Jun — Pill customer and military contact who helps him obtain equipment and introduces him to Chen Guozhang 2 9 43.
• Song Qingyang — Manufacturer of Tang Wen's custom blades and crossbows 6 13.
• Zhao Jiang — Trusted manager of his modern-world business interests and recipient of cultivation instruction; gives him the M2000 handgun 34 43.
• Yang Yun — Head constable and political ally. Helps with recruitment, teaches the Fish-Dragon Nine-Turn Art, and agrees to gather information concerning Kang Qingfeng 37 39 41 42.
• Zhang Hongjiang — Prefect who supports Tang Wen's count promotion while seeking tax revenue and wartime contributions from him 29 30 37.
• Li Chun'er — Sales intermediary for his imported novelties; introduces him to Shen Xihe 4 27 40.
• Shen Xihe — Merchant who purchases a large consignment of Tang Wen's imported goods 40 41.
• Chen Guozhang — Special-forces commander and pill buyer impressed by Tang Wen's martial ability 43.

Opponents

• Kang Qingfeng — Six Fan Gate official who uses Qiao Xiao's imprisonment to pressure Tang Wen over the Thousand-Leaf Workshop property 28 40 42.
• Liu Dang — Household traitor involved in collusion with pirates. Tang Wen interrogates him and ultimately turns him over to the authorities 19 20.
• Pirates and unidentified attackers — Repeated threats to the estate that prompt Tang Wen's fortification and military expansion 9 19 20.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Establishing the Estate

• Rescues Luo Lin in the modern world, obtains identification and supplies, and replaces the island household's fragile huts with tents 2.
• Turns the bridge confrontation into a recruitment opportunity, bringing sixty-two people into Tang service and gaining his first documented popularity-driven breakthrough 3.
• Establishes an estate guard and recruits additional refugees through food, wages, and shelter 5 8.
• Begins restoring Crouching Dragon Lake with imported materials, machinery, and engineering plans 8 11.

Defending Su Mei Island

• Repels a nighttime attack that leaves two servants dead; supports their widows and plans wire fencing and watchtowers 9.
• Recruits Gu Hanyan's group and appoints Qiao Xiao to train an expanded forty-man guard force 15.
• Uncovers traitors and turns a subsequent attack into an ambush, then orders the guard expanded to sixty men 19 20.

Commercial and Political Expansion

• Establishes a legitimate modern-world trading company and uses imported goods to expand his Chu Kingdom business 20 27 31.
• Negotiates the Thousand-Leaf Workshop purchase by assuming responsibility for the artisans' unpaid wages and recruits many of its workers 31 32 33.
• Replaces the tent camp with reinforced two-story prefab housing, warehouses, utilities, and a central plaza 34.
• Receives official confirmation as Third-Class Yanling Count 37.
• Refuses Kang Qingfeng's attempt to obtain the workshop property cheaply, despite pressure through Qiao Xiao's imprisonment 40.

System Upgrade and Skilled Recruitment

• Recruitment arranged through Yang Yun triggers Great Landlord Space version 2.0, unlocking a second world gate and stronger cultivation benefits 41 42.
• Continues importing heavy machinery and prepares instructional material for its operators 43.
• Expands literacy instruction and begins preparing a private cave to safeguard his secrets 46.
• Courts Li Liao's experienced fighters through demonstrations of crossbows, training facilities, bulletproof vests, and helmets 48 49 50.

Notable Quotes

“Five hundred taels to see a man's true colors? Worth it!” 4

“If everyone follows me, I can't let them go hungry or cold.” 4

“We mustn't become arrogant. Many experts in this world dislike the limelight. Hidden dragons and crouching tigers abound.” 28