Fu Rong

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Founding the Fish-Dragon Gang

Over five or six years, Fu Rong helped build the Fish-Dragon Gang from nothing alongside its former leader and “Burrowing Loach” Wu Lu. Together, they established the gang at Black Sand Wharf. After a crushing defeat, she remained to hold the survivors together; many members stayed because of her past kindness 9.

Two months before Li Yu’s arrival, Gao Jingzong fled with the gang’s gold, silver, and valuables. Publicly, the gang claimed that its leader had disappeared and might have been murdered. The Black Flood Dragon Gang exploited the resulting disorder to seize its territory, inflicting heavy casualties. Wu Lu was killed by Zhang Biao during this conflict 7 8 9.

Rescue and New Leadership

Zhang Biao held Fu Rong captive at the wharf, where Li Yu and Qin Xiu intervened to rescue her. Her explanation that she belonged to the Fish-Dragon Gang revealed that her rescuers had confused it with the hostile Black Flood Dragon Gang 7.

After Li Yu killed Zhang Biao and publicly declared himself the Fish-Dragon Gang’s leader, Fu Rong brought him to the secluded headquarters and asked him to make that declaration genuine. She disclosed Gao Jingzong’s flight, and Li Yu accepted her request 8.

Fu Rong secured the members’ acceptance by presenting Zhang Biao’s Black Slaughter Great Saber as proof of Li Yu’s victory. Li Yu retained her as deputy gang leader and placed all the gang’s affairs under her authority 9.

Revenge Against Deng Baichuan

When Li Yu asked why she had remained with the failing gang, Fu Rong named hatred—not merely loyalty—as her driving force. Her target was Deng Baichuan, master of Azure Cloud Manor and foremost among the Murong household’s four retainers. Aware of the danger posed by the Gusu Murong Clan, she offered to leave rather than burden the gang with her feud 9.

Li Yu instead promised that she would one day carry the captured saber into Azure Cloud Manor and take Deng Baichuan’s head. He then passed the weapon to her, and she bowed in gratitude 9.

Appearance

Fu Rong has ordinary features, a full figure, fair skin, black hair, and a resolute expression. After receiving treatment for her injuries, she changes from her torn clothing into a coarse-cloth dress and pins up her hair 8 9.

• Later attire: A floral skirt, embroidered white satin shoes, and a silver hairpin 13.
• Signature weapon: A broad, long saber carried on her back 13.
• Bearing: Her mature charm is repeatedly associated with her nickname, “Pretty Spider,” while her weapon gives her a distinctly martial presence 13.

Personality

Fu Rong combines loyalty to her followers with a stubborn commitment to revenge. She preserves the Fish-Dragon Gang after its collapse, but openly admits that her hatred of Deng Baichuan helps keep her in the jianghu. She recognizes the gulf between their abilities without accepting it as a reason to abandon her goal 9.

Her care for others extends beyond command duties: she adopted the orphans Guo Xie and Luo Xia, and her kindness earned lasting loyalty among the gang’s surviving members. That compassion does not prevent ruthlessness. At Red Flower Villa, she condemns the trafficking of women, exposes a husband who forced his wife to die, and directs a subordinate to carry out his execution 9 26 27 47.

She is cautious about threats to the organization, questioning the Black Flood Dragon Gang’s banquet invitation and later proposing retreat onto Lake Tai when stronger enemies gather. Yet she can also be aggressive when her followers suffer, volunteering to attack West Canal Gate after its ambush of the White Dragon Banner 13 28 49.

Abilities & Skills

Saber Fighting

Fu Rong uses the Black Slaughter Saber Technique and continues practicing it after joining the Divine Dragon Cult 29.

• Boat-based training: Practices aboard a rocking fishing boat to improve her technique, following Li Yu’s example 29.
• Attacking combinations: Uses a descending two-handed strike followed by a low, spinning pursuit against Chen Youchun 47.
• Combat limitations: Chen Youchun knocks her saber aside and disrupts her footwork with Snake-Catching Hand. She forces him back with a committed counterattack but cannot prevent him from tearing away her sash 47.
• Mobility limitations: During the ascent of Black Stone Peak, she lacks the strength to keep up with Lin Mang and stops halfway 16.

Leadership and Administration

Fu Rong manages the Fish-Dragon Gang’s daily affairs and later commands the Divine Dragon Cult’s Fish-Dragon forces 9 24.

• Maintaining cohesion: Holds together the defeated gang’s remnants after the former leader’s flight 8 9.
• Field command: Leads two hundred men jointly with Lin Mang into the Black Flood Dragon Gang’s manor 24.
• Training supervision: Oversees cult members practicing the Black Tiger Saber Technique 46.
• Resource management: Counts the Red Flower Society’s seized wealth and supports using it to buy weapons and medicinal ingredients, recruit disciples, and expand the cult 27 28.

Local Knowledge and Interrogation

As a Gusu native, Fu Rong supplies Li Yu with information about nearby factions, influential figures, and political risks 13 28 49.

• Alliance assessment: Identifies the most influential nearby leaders of the Seventy-Two Peaks and recommends approaching Lin Mang first 13.
• Recognition: Identifies the Camellia as apparently Madam Wang’s personal ship 17.
• Factional intelligence: Explains the relationship between Tie He and Chen Youchun and warns that the Beggars’ Sect’s Gusu Branch cannot be treated as an impartial mediator 49.
• Questioning suspects: Exposes contradictions in the scholar Yan’s account of his wife’s death 27.
• Separating witnesses: Questions two of Yang Le’s attendants separately, causing each to reveal the hidden treasury out of fear that the other will confess first 27.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Black Slaughter Great Saber — Zhang Biao’s former weapon. Fu Rong presents it as proof of his death before Li Yu gives it to her. She subsequently carries it in battle and uses it to intimidate prisoners during questioning 9 13 24 27.

Relationships

• Li Yu — Rescuer, gang leader, and later cult leader. She persuades him to assume leadership, serves as his deputy and envoy, and receives his promise to help her kill Deng Baichuan. Her admiration also takes on a personal, attracted dimension 8 9 13 24.
• Guo Xie — Adopted orphan who grew up with Luo Xia and later serves in the Divine Dragon Cult 47.
• Luo Xia — Adopted orphan and Guo Xie’s childhood companion. Chen Youchun breaks his leg during the confrontation at Green Willow Manor 47.
• Deng Baichuan — Target of her revenge. She intends to kill him despite his strength and backing from the Murong Clan 9.
• Gao Jingzong — Former gang leader whose flight with its wealth leaves her furious. She vows to fight him to the death if they meet again 8.
• Wu Lu — Fellow builder of the Fish-Dragon Gang, killed by Zhang Biao during its defeat 9.
• Lin Mang — Fellow commander and later White Dragon Envoy. They jointly lead the assault at the Flower-Honoring Banquet and discuss threats to the cult 24 29.
• Qin Xiu — One of her rescuers. Fu Rong offers to organize a search when Qin Xiu fails to return, though Li Yu declines 7 19.
• Abi — Fu Rong thanks her for rescuing Li Yu from the Camellia 19.
• Chen Youchun — Hostile Beggars’ Sect representative who sexually harasses and humiliates her during their fight in Divine Dragon Hall 47.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Alliance with the Seventy-Two Peaks

• Reports Zhang Hengye’s planned Flower-Honoring Banquet and warns that it is a trap for the weakened Fish-Dragon Gang 13.
• Accompanies Li Yu to White Sand Island after recommending Lin Mang as the best initial ally 13 16.
• Joins Lin Mang in leading two hundred men into the banquet manor, surrounding the central courtyard while Li Yu confronts the Black Flood Dragon Gang 24.
• Becomes Fish-Dragon Envoy when Li Yu reorganizes the victorious coalition as the Divine Dragon Cult 24.

Red Flower Society Campaign

• Accompanies Li Yu and the Fish-Dragon Banner in the attack on Yang Le’s villa, condemning the society’s abduction and trafficking of women 26.
• Forces the scholar Yan to admit that he pressured his wife to die, then interprets Li Yu’s instructions as an order for his execution 27.
• Uncovers a treasury containing approximately 8,000 taels of silver, 300 taels of gold, and other valuables worth another two or three thousand taels 27.
• Supports reinvesting the proceeds into the cult, but initially worries that its declared principle of “carrying out Heaven’s will and upholding justice” might alarm the authorities 28.

Conflict with West Canal Gate and the Beggars’ Sect

• Urges retaliation after West Canal Gate wounds Lin Mang and kills more than ten cult members; Li Yu instead orders a withdrawal to Green Willow Manor 28.
• Helps handle a messenger from Wolf Head Stronghold warning that West Canal Gate intends to force Li Yu into a public duel with Ge Zhixiong 44.
• Fights Chen Youchun during the disturbance in Divine Dragon Hall. After he exposes her undergarment, she ties her outer robe around her waist and prepares to continue fighting until Li Yu intervenes 47.
• Warns that Chen Youchun’s connections make retaliation by the Beggars’ Sect’s Gusu Branch likely. With Li Yu uncertain of victory over Ge Zhixiong, she proposes retreating onto Lake Tai as an alternative 49.

Notable Quotes

“As long as I'm still alive, still in the jianghu, and still holding a saber or sword, there is still a chance.” 9

“When you're weak, everything you do is wrong. Only when you can win a fight is there any justice to speak of.” 49