Jiang Fa

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Family Sacrifice and Enrollment

Jiang Fa comes from a poor family sustained by his father’s porter work. Jiang Dashan initially opposes martial training because tuition alone costs ten taels annually, while the family earns less than twenty. After his parents scrape together the money—including a loan from his second uncle—Jiang Fa enrolls at the Zhao Clan Martial Hall 1 2 21.

He sees martial arts as a means of surviving a world threatened by beasts, bandits, and war, as well as the best use of his newly appeared personal panel. At the hall, he befriends fellow poor disciples Li Tie and Wang Dahu and refuses wealthy roommate Liu Wen’s demands for the best bed and exemption from chores 1 2.

The Protective Charm and Training Debt

During stance practice, Jiang Fa notices warmth coming from the protective charm Ye Qingyu left him. Inside, he discovers a white jade that responds to his circulating blood and Qi and transmits the Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art. Recognizing the danger of possessing such a valuable technique, he keeps it secret 5 6.

His progress remains constrained by inadequate nourishment. Despite learning that Chen Erniu has borrowed dangerously from the Black Tiger Gang, Jiang Fa eventually takes a twenty-tael loan himself. He rejects a life-selling contract but accepts terms under which default would place his life in the gang’s hands. Master Hu privately hopes to sell him to the Wang Family if he fails to repay 9 12 14.

Medicinal supplements accelerate his training, but Li Tie and Wang Dahu leave before the assessment to support their families. Jiang Fa continues alone, reaches Ming Jin, and passes the assessment by shattering the bricks beneath his stance 15 17 18.

Protecting His Family

On returning to Yellow Earth Town, Jiang Fa discovers that Liu Laizi’s men have beaten his father over resistance to an increased head tax. His second aunt also arrives demanding repayment of the family’s five-tael tuition loan. Jiang Fa breaks the stone threshold with a stomp, warns his relatives against threatening his parents, and pays back two taels immediately 20 21.

That night, he kills Liu Laizi and stages the scene as a drunken accident. Before returning to the martial hall, he leaves his parents silver for treatment, household expenses, and the remaining family debt, claiming that he earned it through escort work. The authorities close the death investigation without pursuing him 22 23 24.

Black Wind Ridge Expedition

With his medicine and savings exhausted and the gang’s deadline approaching, Jiang Fa prepares to hunt on Black Wind Ridge. Wang Shi provides a map, while Lin Feng lends him a saber and warns him about dangerous hunters as well as beasts 28 30.

During the expedition, Jiang Fa kills beasts, gathers medicinal plants, and obtains an Iron-Claw Savage Bear’s core from a gravely wounded specimen. He also survives a wounded man’s poisoned-dagger ambush and kills two Boulder Martial Hall disciples who attempt to seize his haul at the exit. Their belongings include the Wind-Chasing Steps manual 31 32 34 36.

He sells his spoils through the West Market and Precious Ganoderma Hall, receiving 443 taels from the latter alone. The proceeds allow him to repay the Black Tiger Gang with interest and resume sustained cultivation 38 40.

Lin Lineage Service and An Jin

Lin Feng’s respect for Jiang Fa’s progress leads to an offer of employment as a Lin Lineage Attendant. Jiang Fa accepts, gaining a regular income and a position based on Lin Feng’s personal trust 40 41.

After reaching An Jin, Jiang Fa intervenes when Xie Tan threatens Ma Ping and Xu Feng. He suppresses Xie Tan’s attack and injures his hand in a direct exchange. Zhao Zhong subsequently teaches him the third layer of the Mountain-Breaking Stance and authorizes him to choose a weapon; Jiang Fa selects a heavy ghost-head saber 42 44 45 46 47.

Lin Feng later entrusts him with escorting a valuable shipment to Lin County alongside the Weiyuan Escort Agency. Jiang Fa spots signs of an ambush before the attack and, during the ensuing battle, drives back and wounds a twin-saber bandit leader who had endangered Liu Ying 48 49 50.

Appearance

Jiang Fa initially has a sun-darkened face, a thin build, and worn coarse-cloth clothing. Martial training makes him noticeably sturdier, more tanned, and more assured in his bearing 1 2 20.

• Early clothing: A faded short tunic and frayed cloth shoes reflect his family’s poverty 2 13.
• Martial hall clothing: Wears the hall’s distinctive training outfit after entering the inner courtyard 24 27.
• Carried weapon: Straps the large ghost-head saber to his back when departing on escort duty 49.

Personality

Jiang Fa is exceptionally disciplined. During one two-month training period, he cultivates for fourteen to sixteen hours daily, dividing his time between stance work, fist practice, and nighttime body refinement. Other disciples mistake this persistence for stubbornness and nickname him “Blockhead” 28 40.

He is practical rather than openly resentful about inequality. When Wang Dahu damages his food in anger over Liu Wen’s advantages, Jiang Fa reminds him that going hungry will not change their rival’s circumstances. He also deliberately conceals his speed of improvement to avoid jealousy and unwanted attention 9 12.

His restraint has firm limits where family and friends are concerned. He confronts relatives who humiliate his parents, kills Liu Laizi to prevent further abuse, and stands between Xie Tan and his fellow disciples. Although his first killing leaves him pale, he remains resolved that the threat to his family must end 21 22 44.

Abilities & Skills

Personal Panel and Diligence Talent

His panel records cultivation realms, arts, and numerical proficiency under the talent “Heaven Rewards Diligence; Learning Inevitably Bears Fruit” 1 7.

• Reliable improvement: Correct practice produces lasting gains without the usual mastery bottlenecks 10 18.
• Learning assistance: Detects and offers to learn arts transmitted by the jade or contained in manuals 6 37.
• Combat gains: Real fighting can increase proficiency, including gains from killing Liu Laizi and battling beasts 22 31 34.
• Resource limits: The talent does not eliminate his need for nourishment, medicine, or sustained effort 5 12 15.

Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art

A Heaven Rank, Upper Grade body-refining art obtained from Ye Qingyu’s jade, comprising nine levels 6 42.

• Body strengthening: Toughens flesh, sinews, bones, skin, and membranes while increasing physical strength and recovery 28 37 42.
• Medicinal refinement: Uses blood and Qi to refine external medicinal power. Jiang Fa can absorb roughly eighty to ninety percent of a medicinal bath’s potency, compared with less than thirty percent for an ordinary person 39.
• Second-level defenses: Ordinary blades leave only white marks; a Ming Jin martial artist needs a full-force, Jin-reinforced slash to breach his defenses 42.
• Physical combat potential: Jiang Fa estimates that his body alone can contend with an Early An Jin martial artist, possibly with a slight advantage 42.
• Training cost: Progress is slow without medicinal support, despite his talent 12 28.

Mountain-Breaking Stance

A Mid Yellow Grade cultivation art taught by the Zhao Clan Martial Hall 7.

• First layer — Sinking Jin: Develops rooted posture, blood and Qi, and the foundation for Ming Jin 4 5 18.
• Second layer — Lifting Jin: Trains the release, withdrawal, and control of force; perfection enables his breakthrough to An Jin 19 24 42 47.
• Third layer — Penetrating Jin: Emphasizes force entering a target rather than merely striking its surface 46 47.
• Current limit: His early Penetrating Jin can crack the bottom of a bowl, but he remains far from transmitting force through objects at Zhao Zhong’s level 48 49.

Mountain-Breaking Fist

A Mid Yellow Grade fist art with eighteen forms, cultivated to major accomplishment 28 42.

• Whole-body power: Channels force from the feet through the body into a strike; Chen Erniu helps him correct excessive shoulder tension 12 18.
• Destructive force: Breaks a three-inch-thick bluestone slab with a standing punch while at Middle Ming Jin 28.
• Direct exchanges: Combined with his strengthened body and An Jin, overpowers Xie Tan’s matching fist attack 44.

Cloak Saber Technique

A ten-move, Mid Yellow Grade saber art cultivated to major accomplishment 42 48.

• Continuous offense: Emphasizes speed and an unbroken succession of cuts 47.
• Turning Wind Brushes the Willows: A difficult defensive move using subtle wrist-generated force to redirect the blade; Jiang Fa uses it to touch Lin Feng’s back during sparring 40.
• Heavy-saber adaptation: His mastery and exceptional strength let him use an eighty- to ninety-jin saber despite the technique’s usual suitability for lighter weapons 47 48.
• Demonstrated cutting power: Cuts three inches into ironwood and cleanly bisects a four-inch-thick bluestone slab 48.

Wind-Chasing Steps

A Yellow Rank, Upper Grade movement art recovered from a Boulder Martial Hall disciple, later raised to minor achievement 36 37 42.

• Evasion and positioning: Produces nimble, curving footwork that helps him evade Lin Feng’s saber during sparring 40.
• Training difficulty: Requires more proficiency than his Mid Yellow Grade arts and progresses comparatively slowly 37 42.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Protective charm and white jade: Ye Qingyu’s parting gift; a yellow-silk charm containing the jade that transmits the Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art. Jiang Fa rewraps it and returns it to his neck after learning the art 5 6.
• Ghost-head saber: Selected from the martial hall armory after reaching An Jin. Weighs approximately eighty to ninety jin and bears cold-iron patterns; its weight complements his body-refining strength 47 48.
• Borrowed plain saber: Lent by Lin Feng for the Black Wind Ridge expedition; formerly used by Zhou Ping and later returned 30 45.
• Black Wind Ridge maps: Uses Wang Shi’s annotated map and later acquires another marking water sources near the boundary of the ridge’s outer and middle regions 30 34.
• Blood Strengthening Powder and Blood Condensation Pills: Purchased repeatedly to nourish his body and accelerate cultivation 15 25 28.
• Wound medicine: Uses it after the hunting expedition and later gives a bottle to the injured Ma Ping 37 44.

Relationships

• Jiang Dashan — Father. Scrapes together Jiang Fa’s tuition despite the family’s poverty; Jiang Fa later protects him and finances his recovery from a beating 1 20 23.
• Lady Chen — Mother. Supports his enrollment with clothing and food and worries over his health when he returns home 1 20.
• Jiang Xiaohe — Younger brother. Jiang Fa hopes eventually to bring him and their parents to live near the martial hall 1 32.
• Ye Qingyu — Longtime acquaintance whose parting gift gives him his most valuable cultivation art. Its discovery leaves him questioning her identity and her father’s unusual nature 5 6.
• Li Tie and Wang Dahu — Friends and former roommates from similarly poor families. Both leave training because of family needs before Jiang Fa’s assessment 2 17.
• Chen Erniu — Diligent senior outer courtyard disciple who corrects Jiang Fa’s fist technique. His dangerous borrowing and later death expose the risks facing poor trainees 9 12 17.
• Zhao Zhong — Teacher who supplies cultivation formulas and annotations. Praises Jiang Fa’s unusual achievements despite his low aptitude and accepts his cover story about a folk body-refining method 24 45 46.
• Wang Shi — Instructor who corrects his early stance work, provides hunting guidance, and warns him about Xie Tan’s potential retaliation 4 30 45.
• Lin Feng — Senior disciple, sparring partner, and trusted ally. Lends him a saber, recruits him into Lin Lineage service, and raises his stipend after his An Jin breakthrough 30 40 41 48.
• Xu Feng and Ma Ping — Fellow inner courtyard disciples whom he protects from Xie Tan. Xu Feng also advises him on cultivation expenses and escort work 27 28 44.
• Qin Xuan — Exceptionally gifted fellow disciple whose rapid advancement contrasts with Jiang Fa’s low aptitude and resource-intensive training 7 8 41 44.
• Xie Tan — Hostile senior disciple defeated by Jiang Fa in front of the inner courtyard; threatens retaliation afterward 44 45.
• Liu Ying — Fellow caravan escort from the Flying Swallow Martial Hall. Jiang Fa intervenes against the twin-saber leader after her difficult exchange with him 49 50.

Notable Quotes

“If you have that much influence, you needn't eat and live with us.”
— Responding to Liu Wen’s attempt to intimidate his roommates 2

“But from today onward, if anyone dares set even half a foot inside my home again and point fingers in my parents' faces, their legs will end up just like this threshold.”
— Warning his relatives after breaking the stone threshold 21

“We're fellow disciples. It's only right.”
— Dismissing Ma Ping’s thanks after confronting Xie Tan 45