Jin

Biodata

History

War with Great Liang

Jin lost a war against Great Liang twelve years before the opening of the story. The defeat brought enormous war reparations, while compensation for Jin’s war dead remained meager—particularly for civilians. Wu Youren’s father died while assisting with wartime logistics 1 7.

Liang officially claimed that it had withdrawn after achieving its punitive objectives, presenting its demands for territory and reparations as a lesson to Jin. The account given in the story distinguishes this justification from the military reality: Liang had been unable to continue the war. Jin’s large population and substantial fighting strength made outright conquest difficult despite its defeat 79.

Postwar Relations

Eight years before the story begins, Jin sent a hostage delegation to Liang. Its members included the seventeenth prince and descendants of numerous noble families, providing Liang with leverage over a much broader section of Jin’s ruling class than a single royal hostage could offer 6 90.

By the early academy arc, the two countries had ceased hostilities and maintained fairly decent relations. Nevertheless, Liang had previously executed a female hostage after Jin refused compensation over an alleged border incursion. Jin ultimately paid, leaving the surviving hostages acutely aware that diplomatic disputes could cost them their lives 33 51.

Government and Nobility

• Cultivation requirement: Knight cultivation is the minimum requirement for holding a noble title in Jin 46.
• Unequal family standing: Many hostages have powerful relatives but are personally sidelined within their households. Illegitimate descent, remarriage, and disputed family standing shape their treatment 5 6 7.
• Revocable fiefs: Chen Quanxu’s family fief was reportedly abolished, a circumstance raised when Wu Youren investigated his alleged treason 119.

Hostage Delegation

Jin Garden

• Location and purpose: Jin Garden is the residence for Jin’s hostage princes in Liang, not a settlement within Jin itself 1 2.
• Scale: The grounds cover more than one square kilometer. The approximately one hundred hostages’ separate lodgings occupy less than ten thousand square meters in total 2.
• Leadership: The seventeenth prince is the principal royal figure. The Duke of Wei’s concubine-born son serves as guard captain and is the delegation’s only Great Knight 6 133.
• Selection: Hostages’ identities are formally endorsed by Jin. Selection considers both bloodline and appearance because the delegation represents the country’s image 5 78.
• Secrecy: Officials forbid disclosure of embarrassing family circumstances, especially in official settings. Internal disputes are tolerated more readily than leaks that could expose the delegation’s weaknesses 6.
• Hidden protection: Chen Quanxu was secretly placed in the delegation as an Ability User Apprentice tasked with saving the seventeenth prince in an emergency. No more than five people in Jin Garden knew his status 132.

Access to Liang’s Martial Academies

Liang’s offer of thirty intermediate-academy places gave the hostages a route out of Jin Garden. More than one hundred applied, despite the requirement to fight the Weird Race. Wu Youren interpreted the offer as an opportunity for Liang to cultivate divided loyalties among Jin’s promising young nobles 4.

• Red Pine intake: Wu Youren and four other hostages entered Red Pine Martial Academy as foreign martial artists 13.
• Concealed status: Academy staff instructed them to identify themselves as Jin students rather than reveal that they were hostages 13.
• Continued restrictions: Academy admission did not end Liang’s control. Wu Youren’s identity card initially prohibited him from leaving the grounds even with an instructor’s written order 20.
• Voluntary students: Other Jin nobles’ children attended Liang’s academies willingly, independently of the hostage program 13.

Society and Cultivation

Martial Culture

• Prestige of strength: Jin reveres martial prowess; frail, scholarly-looking men are generally less admired 6.
• Popular reputation: A fierce populace had been one of Jin’s hallmarks before its defeat. The country retains at least two million combat-capable Knight Apprentices 79.
• Economic contrast: Jin is described as having extravagant customs alongside an impoverished populace 79.
• Foreign qualifications: Jin’s authorities favor martial artists who graduate from Liang’s academies, but require an actual diploma rather than mere attendance 12 14.

Cultivation Techniques

Ability Users and Strategic Weapons

• Construction advancement: Feng Qianjun credits Jin with inventing advancement to Ability User through construction 8.
• Research advantage: Much of Jin’s Ability User knowledge is ahead of Liang’s, although this advantage is not described as universal across every field 132.
• Restricted knowledge: Chen Quanxu received limited advancement resources and little instructional material during his secret assignment. The account suggests preventing leaks was a likely reason for withholding information 132.
• High-level personnel: Jin possesses both Ability Users and Great Ability Users, though their presence at home does not make them readily available to assist hostages inside Liang 159.
• Legacy weapon: Jin possesses a World-Left Weapon, also described as a legacy weapon. Only a narrow circle can receive its protection 135.

Foreign Relations

Jin Citizens in Liang

• Institutional dependence: Red Pine staff bluntly describe Jin as needing Liang, pointing to the willing attendance of Jin’s privileged families at Liang’s academies 13.
• Social hostility: Jin accents and recognizable equipment can expose citizens to prejudice. Aslan identifies Wu Youren’s origin partly through his Weird-Repelling Jue and declares that Jin people cannot be trusted 14 61.
• War grievances: Liang’s heavy wartime casualties sustain hostility toward Jin even during official peace 79 81.
• Intelligence presence: Jin maintains arrangements inside Liang; Liu Jingming explicitly reminds Wu Youren that defeat did not mean Jin’s destruction 96.

Later Political Threats

Parasitic Weird Incident

A hostage’s Parasitic Weird infection becomes a potential national-security issue because Lei Lixing’s father guards the northern frontier. Hao Wei warns that Lei’s death could destabilize that border 159.

Jin Garden refuses Liang’s offer to attempt treatment, suspecting that Liang was responsible for the infection and might destroy the host’s body to erase evidence. This is presented as Jin Garden’s suspicion, not an established finding 159.

Liang’s Internal Struggles

Jin’s representatives appear unwilling to intervene in Liang’s domestic conflicts. Princess Ailin interprets this restraint as waiting for Liang to make a mistake, while arranging hints to contacts around Saina and inside Jin Garden to encourage confrontation 160.

Threat of a Taowan Campaign

Commander Jeff tells Wu Youren that Taowan will send troops south against Jin after spring begins, with Saina leading them. Wu Youren and Chen Quanxu recognize that the move could also pull Liang into war 175.

The Duke of Wei’s concubine-born son subsequently offers Wu Youren grenades and other limited assistance on the grounds that he is acting for Jin. Even so, Jin Garden cannot obtain powerful weapons or explosives in large quantities 176.