Great Qi

Biodata

Geography and Settlements

Government and Society

Imperial Administration

• Civil and military authority: Officials traditionally operate in separate spheres, including county magistrates and county commandants. Martial cultivation gives military officials substantial standing rather than leaving them categorically subordinate to civil officials 101 143.
• Military command: The Great General traditionally commands the empire’s troops. His house arrest and the Minister of War’s temporary assumption of command mark a major disruption of that arrangement 143.
• Grain administration: The Grain Transport Governor’s Office possesses enormous authority. Its Transport Commissioner is a first-rank official with a ministerial title and, when first described, an Astral Force grandmaster 23.
• Security organizations: The Embroidered Uniform Guard and Western Depot participate in investigations, surveillance, and political repression. The Marquis of Divine Might controls Six Fan Gate 114 143 164 183.
• Administration under Li Yanbing: The Military Affairs Office allows state affairs to continue without the empress’s constant involvement. Wang Yang and rotating Grand Councilors help administer Great Qi while other senior allies train elsewhere 223 224.

Clans and Political Factions

• Aristocratic families: Major clans possess land, martial retainers, local officeholders, and influence over County and Prefectural Soldiers. Their support during the succession crisis depends heavily on promised concessions 210.
• Military factions: The Transport Commissioner represents officers who rose through the Martial Examination; the Marquis of Divine Might represents hereditary military honors. Imperial loyalists such as the Hexi Feng Family and forces controlled by the Minister of War form additional blocs 183.
• Southern trading families: The Hu, Sun, Lü, Zhou, and Lu families influence all seven southern provinces, maintain extensive marriage alliances, and control overseas maritime trade 219.
• Outsiders: Newcomers without clan protection face exclusion, exploitation, and difficulty obtaining a livelihood despite relatively decent grain production 32 77.
• Practical basis of status: Wealthy families employ experts and train household guards. Even rural gentry generally need a Hidden Force practitioner’s support for their words to carry weight 230.

Martial Examinations and Privileges

Martial Arts

Realm System

Great Qi’s native martial arts develop bodily coordination, force, vitality, and control rather than internal energy or true qi 9 23.

Techniques and Limitations

• Technique mastery: Proficient mastery reproduces a teacher’s techniques; Great Achievement requires personal adaptation and understanding. Perfection reaches or surpasses a technique’s apparent limits and is exceptionally rare 35.
• Rank is not absolute: Innate Divine Strength, superior killing techniques, surprise attacks, and coordinated assaults can overcome realm differences. Lime powder, nets, and powerful bows remain effective against experts 23.
• Military vulnerability: Even a Seeing the Divine great grandmaster cannot withstand being surrounded and attacked by an army under the conditions initially described 23.
• Palace training: Dragon-Guard True Art, inherited by palace experts and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, derives from the Imperial Ultimate Sword and True Dragon Breathing Technique. It emphasizes rapid progress and helps overcome the tendon-alignment hurdle to Hidden Force 150.
• Compatibility with Antares: Qi-Blood Breathing supplies explosive power and physical development, while Great Qi’s methods contribute precision, agility, and efficient force application 201 224 264.

Four Great Grandmasters

At Lin Hao’s first arrival, University Town identifies four great grandmasters in Great Qi 23.

History

Founding and Early Conditions

Great Qi’s founding sovereign obtained the Imperial Ultimate Sword, an artifact forged by Great Chu’s founding emperor using that dynasty’s national fortune. The sword helped him command the assembled heroes and unify the realm 124.

When Lin Hao arrives, Great Qi is comparatively peaceful and materially prosperous. Dam Market supports cloth shops, gambling houses, brothels, restaurants, and canal pleasure boats. Its relative stability later makes it more attractive as a secure base than the war-torn Antares Continent 25 131.

Lin Hao, Zhao Xiaowen, Nie Yi, and Yi Feng enter the countryside near Dam Market seeking supplies, an Evacuation Item, and martial instruction. Information from a farmer directs them toward the town’s three major martial arts schools, particularly the Wu Family Martial Arts School 23.

Court Crisis and Persecution

Local disorder includes River Pirates and Mountain Bandits suspected of cooperating with Outworld Demons. A later investigation into a secret order to breach the dam becomes a political crisis when local officials and gentry agree to defend their shared interests through a joint memorial 32 114.

The court increasingly pressures the Yanhuang Trade Association, while University Town prepares evacuation plans in case of an attack. The Great General’s house arrest, Western Depot purges, and reports of Shadow Fiends replacing military nobles deepen the instability 143 164 187.

Great Qi eventually hunts transmigrators and offers enormous bounties. For Earth’s survivors, this threatens access to food, supplies, money, and Wish Power; the pressure drives some into madness 221.

Li Yanbing’s Accession

A coup places Li Yanbing on the throne. Lin Hao receives the title Prince Qi—a princely title drawn from the empire’s own name despite his different surname—and is subsequently recognized as Regent King 210 221.

The new regime faces Emperor Mingde’s competing promises to aristocratic families and conflict involving the northern armies and Grasslands. Lin Hao’s side defeats the False Emperor and Grassland opponents, and the Anxi Army and Northern Court Army rally behind the empress 210 218.

The regime initially prioritizes reassurance and stability over sweeping changes. The Prince of Pacification of the South later joins the Transmigrator Alliance, bringing all elite field forces effectively under imperial control 219 228.

Consolidation and Reform

The new government lifts the warrants for transmigrators and cancels “replace rice with mulberry.” It confiscates temple assets, directs most proceeds to the treasury, and sells much of the recovered farmland cheaply to local people, allowing payment through annual installments 223.

University Town favors gradual reform rather than a destructive revolution. Its advisers judge immediate comprehensive land reform impractical because of entrenched clan power and the danger of widespread devastation 135 210.

Great Qi subsequently becomes a stable base for trade, farming, workshops, and overseas exploration. By the time University Town encounters survivors from Great Jin, Great Qi is described as fully pacified and enjoying genuine peace and prosperity 221 249 308 321.

Economy and Resources

Trade and Revenue

• Survivor lifeline: Great Qi supplies food, goods, money, and Wish Power. Before other destinations become available, it is the only world accessible through the settlement’s Teleportation Point 90 221.
• Yanhuang Trade Association: An Earth-origin commercial organization operating in Great Qi; its earlier arrival and established network make it valuable to later survivors 83.
• Ji Merchants Chamber of Commerce: A larger and initially more profitable organization than the Yanhuang Trade Association, with interests spanning frontier trade, officials, military nobles, and payments to the imperial family 194.
• Privy Treasury: Provides Lin Hao with a continuing stream of wealth after the regime stabilizes 289.
• Overseas expansion: Fleets formerly belonging to southern aristocratic families are incorporated into preliminary trading ventures 249.

Wish Power and Currency

• Finite extraction: Evacuation Items and Wish Power Items are limited; possible replenishment cannot keep pace with consumption 221.
• Silver depletion: Silver is a widespread Wish Power Item. Its continued consumption creates a need for a new monetary anchor, although ordinary people rarely handle much silver 221.
• Changing evacuation value: By the later consolidation period, Great Qi’s silver is no longer worth using Special Evacuation to extract; spare funds can instead be brought out through Regular Evacuation 249.

Industrial Development

• Early projects: Blast furnaces, a cement plant, a basic chemical plant, and reaction-vessel designs are under construction or planning 277.
• Construction constraints: Even basic steelmaking furnaces take years to build with local materials and conditions 277.
• Training bottleneck: Recruiting literate scholars does not eliminate the substantial time required for technical crash courses and training in logic 277.
• Industrial emphasis: Great Qi’s advantages are manpower and stability. Its proposed near-term focus is light industry and large-scale handicraft workshops, while the Dwarf Kingdom is better positioned to advance directly into heavy industry 307.

Supernatural Features and External Threats

• Great Qi Dragon Aura: Court-issued official seals can gather Dragon Aura through public recognition. For Lin Hao, it provides controllable imposing force and helps restrain more violent aura effects 58 105.
• World Will: Great Qi possesses a World Will capable of attempting to repair an Abyss rift. At that breach, the Great General connects with the world and seals himself in place to reinforce it 215.
• World-scale strength: Although its detectable presence is weaker than Earth Will’s, the Great Qi World’s total magnitude still far exceeds Lin Hao’s own much later in the story 215 517.
• Lizardmen: Great Qi brands them Outworld Demons, while Grassland peoples sometimes revere them. Legends suggest earlier Lizardmen had appeared there and were exterminated long before Boha’s tribe arrived 200 218.
• Physiological incompatibility: Great Qi’s martial system is poorly suited to Lizardmen. Even the exceptionally talented Boha reaches only a flawed Embrace the Elixir because of differences in physique 218.

Later States Bearing the Great Qi Name