Gao Gun

Biodata

Power Progression

Background

Gao Gun comes from a leading aristocratic clan. Although renowned as a martial Great Grandmaster, his reputation as a Great Eminent Scholar is even more prominent. Yuzao calls him the Greatest Teacher Under Heaven, noting that two of the Four Heavenly Prodigies studied under him and that his fame stands second only to the Five Supreme Masters 104 105.

As leader of the Way of Great Peace, Gao Gun sought to recover the fragmented Fundamental Scripture for Cultivating the Thirty-Two Marks of Divine Transformation. Obtaining portions held by the court accounted for half his reason for entering imperial service as Grand Preceptor of the Crown Prince 127.

At the Empress’s request, he spent three years teaching her son, Wen Zhengchun—the identity used by Wang Chong. He raised the prince’s martial arts to the third rank, developed his lightness skills into the foremost ranks of the age, and improved his essays to a standard he described as “barely readable” 105.

Gao Gun also helped arrange the prince’s escape from Chang’an. The Empress intended him to feign death, evade the great clans’ schemes, and live quietly under an identity connected to the Way of Great Peace 105.

Appearance

• Usual appearance: Tall and refined, with a beard on his chin; wears scholarly clothing, including broad-sleeved robes 113 125 126.
• Build: More powerfully built than his usual scholarly presentation suggests 126.
• Alanti disguise: Slightly darkened facial skin, a full beard, white robes, and a large cloth-wrapped hat set with a white gemstone 126.
• Travel habits: Carries his own bedding, utensils, bowls, chopsticks, and teapots. His personal maids repeatedly clean his lodgings before he settles in 104.

Personality

Gao Gun’s cultivated public image conceals a ruthless strategist. When Wen Yande sends only one of thirty-two promised stone slabs, he immediately devises six or seven schemes to destroy the man’s reputation. His standing as a celebrated scholar largely shields this side of his character from public view 116.

He is affectionate toward his students without being indulgent. He acknowledges Yuzao’s place beside Wang Chong, pursues an assassin who attacks his disciple, and personally guards Wang Chong after a conspicuous tournament victory. His teaching combines sharp insults, clear explanations, and warnings against neglecting fundamentals 105 127 132 145.

Despite his willingness to deceive armies and ruin opponents, scholarly pride can restrain him in combat. His reluctance to fight without regard for appearances contributes to his dispute with Wang Chong over Xun Ba. In territorial expansion, however, he remains pragmatic: he refuses an unnecessary pursuit into another tribe’s lands and abandons a risky attack on the Xiongnu 179 195 199 221.

Abilities & Skills

Martial Instruction and Scholarship

• Trained two of the Four Heavenly Prodigies and laid the foundation for Wang Chong’s later martial achievements 104 105 127.
• Explains difficult martial principles through precise, accessible analogies; an overnight discussion helps Wang Chong master Yang Flame Sword Qi 127 128.
• Recognizes advanced techniques, including Wudang’s Thunderfire Demon-Subduing Aura 194.
• Advises Wang Chong to build on his existing Wudang foundation rather than abandon it for Xuanhuang Dao arts 127 128.

Great Grandmaster Martial Arts

• Possesses powerful unarmed techniques and exceptional lightness skills, demonstrated while protecting Wang Chong and pursuing Han Hexuan 132 133.
• Gains the advantage over the injured Han Hexuan during their subsequent fight, though Han remains capable of resisting 133.
• Redirects Xun Ba’s meteor hammer with a palm strike, sending it back toward its wielder 192.
• Is not invulnerable: he explains that three to five Grandmasters could kill a Great Grandmaster who insisted on fighting head-on, albeit at horrific cost 127.

Extraordinary Mental Power

• Projects the image of a towering divine statue into Wang Chong’s perception, making resistance seem impossible without physically moving 127.
• Uses a cold snort that sounds like an exploding thunderclap to Han Hexuan, causing the already injured attacker to cough up more blood 132.
• Employs a Way of Great Peace secret art to shake off Wang Chong’s invading mental power 237.
• Acknowledges that no known method safely and steadily tempers the spirit; he identifies arduous cultivation and life-or-death combat as the principal approaches 127.

Thirty-Six Heavenly and Earthly Transformations

• Creates an imitation of Zhao Feishan’s art by observing him and arranging exchanges with his disciples; invents substitutes for principles he cannot reconstruct 236.
• Captures approximately thirty to forty percent of the original art’s essence 237.
• Teaches the imitation to Wang Chong before their disguised attack on Third Lord Jiang’s residence 236.
• Does not possess the later killing manifestations Wang Chong develops through the Mani Jewel; Gao Gun explicitly recognizes that his disciple has transformed the imitation into something new 237.

Strategy, Administration, and Disguise

• Uses promises of wealth, territory, and plunder to draw eight thousand Shangtuo troops away from their homeland 113.
• Combines false reports, controlled communications, and logistical assistance to make Ye Lihei dependent on him 113 121.
• Governs the Way of Great Peace directly, unlike Qiguan Sui’s limited authority within the Way of the Yellow Heaven 203.
• Maintains the Alanti identity through altered appearance, clothing, voice, and recognized tribal authority 126 238.

Equipment / Items

• Seven fragmentary scripture volumes — Gives Wang Chong portions of the Fundamental Scripture for Cultivating the Thirty-Two Marks of Divine Transformation, including the volume called “Heavenly Gang Saber” 128 133.
• Wudang patriarch’s stone slab — Receives one slab from Wen Yanqing and later recognizes it as the missing thirty-second slab from the collection presented to Wang Chong 116 248.
• Withered Meditation Method and Vajra Prajna Palm manuals — Accepts these gifts from Wang Chong through Yuzao 105.
• Personal traveling household — Travels with his own furnishings, tableware, and maids rather than relying on local accommodations 104.

Relationships

• Wang Chong / Wen Zhengchun — Disciple and political partner. Their relationship develops from imperial tutorship into cooperation between two independent rulers, with a serious confrontation over Gao Gun’s reluctance to fight Xun Ba wholeheartedly 105 195 199 222.
• The Empress — Entrusts him with her son’s education and escape arrangements. Gao Gun later represents Wang Chong’s interests at court and serves as deputy to her Marriage-Bestowing Envoy 105 236 244.
• Yuzao — Allows her to call him Teacher, acknowledging her place at Wang Chong’s side without formally accepting her as a disciple. Promises Chi Prefecture as her dowry and leaves its conquest credited to her 105 121 124.
• Qiguan Sui — Wang Chong’s other teacher and Gao Gun’s fellow adviser. They cooperate on military and political matters and later help manage the Yellow Heaven Assembly 182 186 249.
• Yueliduo / Moonlight Princess — Refers to her as his “beloved only daughter” within his Alanti identity and says he has betrothed her to Wang Chong. Yueliduo herself knows he is not the real Alanti 132 143.
• Mi Jixiang — His disciple and Wang Chong’s arranged fiancée; he repeatedly warns Wang Chong against pursuing her 105 200.
• Shafeina — Previously supported her contest for the position of Holy Mother. She later regards her assistance to Wang Chong as repayment of that favor 138.
• Ye Lihei — Shangtuo young lord whose trust Gao Gun cultivates while taking practical control of his army’s supplies and movements 121.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Return as Imperial Envoy

• Reappears after several years of absence as the envoy delivering the Empress’s edict to Wang Chong 104.
• Reveals his involvement in Wang Chong’s escape and agrees to help recover Yanzhou 105.
• Accepts the task of personally carrying wealth to the Shangtuo Tribe, using his authority as a Chang’an envoy to support the operation 106 107.

Shangtuo Campaign and Heroes’ Assembly

• Brings eight thousand Shangtuo troops through Green Mountain Pass, leaving their homeland exposed to Wang Chong’s attack. Guarantees at least twenty days of inactivity through false messages and control of communications 113.
• Redirects the army under a fabricated report that the Empress has arrested Wang Chong, then clears the way for Yuzao’s acquisition of Chi Prefecture 121 124.
• Reveals that he preaches the Way of Great Peace among the White Camel Tribe under the cover of the Great Asura faith. His influence also extends to the Nine-Bend Alliance 125 136.
• Attends the Heroes’ Assembly as Alanti, encourages Wang Chong’s participation, and protects him against assassination 125 126 132 145.
• Grants the Tailwind Army fee-free trade between three tribes, though it is not permitted to gather military intelligence or accompany his campaigns 143 179.

Rise as a Grassland Ruler

• Defends Tongzhou while Wang Chong attacks Huangzhou, then induces Feng Pofeng’s army to move during the Ling Prefecture campaign 156 162.
• Incorporates thirty thousand surrendered Ling Prefecture troops into his forces and attacks the Post-Deer Tribe. Captures Post-Deer Mountain and absorbs roughly seventy to eighty percent of its population 171 179.
• Seeks to build a fifth great grassland hegemon strong enough to discard the Great Asura cover and openly proclaim the Way of Great Peace 183.
• By Wang Chong’s Great Grandmaster breakthrough, has conquered three tribes; his territory exceeds the Xianbei’s, though his troops are stretched to their limit 208.
• Later reports taking five tribes, more than twenty mountain territories, and two great rivers. Exchanges the White Camel lands and four hundred thousand slaves for two territories held by Li Cunshou and Shi Langying 221.
• Emerges alongside Wang Chong and the Four Great Tribes as one of six major grassland powers 222.

Conflict over Authority

• Joins the group attack on Xun Ba but holds back sufficiently for Wang Chong to challenge his teachers’ conduct 192 193 195.
• Faces Wang Chong’s insistence that a struggle for the realm cannot be governed by personal pride when countless lives are involved 195.
• Subsequently makes an indirect admission of fault. Their partnership continues, with Wang Chong expecting their Central Plains and grassland ambitions to remain compatible for at least a dozen years 199 200 222.

Chang’an and the Marriage Mission

• Urges Wang Chong to seek formal investiture for his nineteen provinces and acknowledges wanting a court title for his own absorbed tribes 230.
• Petitions for approval of Wang Chong’s marriage to Su Luoyan. After Third Lord Jiang obstructs it, teaches Wang Chong the imitation transformations and guides him on a disguised nighttime attack 236 237.
• Claims to be Zhao Feishan during the raid and is assigned to confront Jiang Zongda, a Jiang Clan Great Grandmaster 238.
• After Third Lord Jiang’s death, sends Wang Chong out of Chang’an to prevent his discovery from implicating both Gao Gun and the Empress 240.
• Is appointed deputy to Longji on the marriage-bestowing mission, later identifies the missing patriarchal stone slab, and remains behind to assist Qiguan Sui with the Yellow Heaven Assembly 244 248 249.

Notable Quotes

“Martial arts are a little boat for crossing the world’s bitter sorrows, rancor, and ruinous obsessions. So long as it can sail a thousand miles across the ocean, its design does not matter.” 127

“Since you call me Teacher, I shall give you Chi Prefecture as your dowry.” 121

“It’s the dead of night, just the time for murder and arson.” 237