Gu Family

Biodata

Power Progression

Branches and Standing

History

The Old Master’s Succession Plan

The old master intended his two legitimate sons to strengthen the family together. Gu Changfeng would become family head and manage external affairs and businesses, while the more talented Gu Beichi would pursue cultivation and serve as the household’s martial protector. Gu Beichi’s favored position did not originally mean that he was to replace his elder brother as heir 86 319.

Despite this arrangement, Gu Changfeng grew jealous of the resources and affection directed toward his younger brother. He feared that a successful breakthrough would make Gu Beichi too powerful to control 319.

Sabotage and Expulsion

Gu Changfeng enlisted the longtime steward Gu Kang to sabotage Gu Beichi’s first major breakthrough. Believing that he had failed through his own inadequacy, Gu Beichi knelt in the ancestral hall for three days and nights. The failure weakened the family’s finances and led to the withdrawal of its concentrated support for him 319 320.

When Gu Beichi later recovered enough to attempt another breakthrough, Qi-Dissolving Powder was placed in his food during seclusion. This second attempt nearly destroyed his meridians and left him unable to use qi. Gu Changfeng subsequently reached the Revolving Illumination Realm and arranged the expulsion of Gu Beichi and Gu Chen 320.

Father and son relocated to Zhou City. Gu Changfeng deliberately spread news of their expulsion, stripping them of the prestige associated with the Gu name. The Zhou Family, which had sought a marriage alliance through Gu Chen, turned against them after learning that they no longer had the family’s backing 18 86.

In Gu Chen’s previous life, Gu Beichi later returned to Shangjing to seek help after his son’s legs were crippled. Gu Changfeng and his supporters instead humiliated him to death, making the Gu Family one of Gu Chen’s principal targets after his rebirth 132 279 308.

Gu Mingheng’s Recruitment

Gu Changfeng’s son, Gu Mingheng, was admitted to the main family because of his exceptional cultivation talent. His recruitment revived the Shangjing household’s prospects and encouraged other families to seek marriage ties and closer relations with it 160 298.

At Gu Changfeng’s fiftieth birthday banquet, influential families and sects presented lavish gifts. Much of the attention rested on Gu Mingheng’s connection to the main branch and the possibility that the Shangjing household might regain its former position 298.

The Birthday Banquet Confrontation

Gu Beichi interrupted the banquet after recovering his cultivation. He accused Qin Yue and the Qin Family of involvement in the old master’s poisoning, and Gu Kang of sabotaging his secluded cultivation. He gravely injured Qin Yue and defeated the family’s coordinated sword attacks before confronting Gu Changfeng 298 302 303.

Gu Changfeng defeated his newly advanced younger brother with the Gu Clan’s Three Ultimate Techniques. Zhao Bo protected the injured Gu Beichi, and Gu Chen then entered the courtyard to demand repayment of the family’s debts 307 308.

Gu Changfeng allied with Chen Family martial artists against Gu Chen, but the confrontation ultimately left him isolated. The Liu Family and three sects arrived in support of Gu Chen, overturning his assumption that the gathered factions would stand with the existing family leadership 313 318.

Exposure and Reorganization

Under Gu Chen’s interrogation, Gu Kang disclosed the sabotage of both of Gu Beichi’s breakthrough attempts and implicated Gu Changfeng and the Qin Family in the old master’s death. The gathered family members and guests turned against Gu Changfeng 319 320 321.

Gu Chen ordered Gu Changfeng and Qin Yue imprisoned in the family dungeon, leaving their eventual punishment to Gu Beichi. He appointed Gu Qichu as steward and began preparing for his father’s succession, seeking recognition and support from Shangjing’s other powers 321 322 328.

The fighting had killed several family members and badly weakened the household. Although its downfall was described as the Gu Family’s “destruction,” the residence was being restored by the Heavenly Pivot Sect, and a new family-head inauguration was announced 322 327 328.

Conflict with the Main Family

Gu Huan arrived from the main family to congratulate Gu Changfeng and deliver news of Gu Mingheng’s advancement. Her party rejected the Shangjing branch’s right to replace its leadership without notifying the main family, injured Ma Gang, and threatened the new steward 327 328.

Gu Beichi accused the main family of supporting the plot against the old master. Gu Huan dismissed his right to judge its conduct and attempted to seize him. Zhao Bo intervened, but Gu Beichi and Zhao Bo were subsequently carried away by the main family’s representatives 328 334.

Gu Chen entered the Land of Heaven and Earth and disrupted Gu Mingheng’s Dragon Ranking ceremony. He publicly asserted his own claim as a Gu descendant, defeated Gu Mingheng with one finger, and overcame Elder Gu Muyu’s attacks with immortal arts. He then declared that he would visit the family to demand an explanation 341 352 353 355.

Organization and Notable Members

Shangjing Branch

Main Family

Cultivation and Martial Arts

Cultivation Methods

Martial Techniques

• Coordinated sword attacks — Senior family warriors use overlapping longsword techniques to surround an opponent and seal escape routes. Gu Beichi defeated their combined attack after his recovery 303.
• Heaven-Surpassing Sword — Named as the Shangjing household’s ultimate sword trump card 303.
• Gu Clan’s Three Ultimate Techniques — An ultimate art restricted to the family head. Gu Changfeng used three successive waves of force to defeat Gu Beichi 307.
• Fierce Dragon Sword Technique — A core main-family sword art used by Gu Muyu against Gu Chen 353.

Methods Outside the Family Inheritance

• Secret Records of Divine Light — Given privately to Gu Beichi by Gu Chen, with instructions to keep it secret. Gu Beichi judged it superior to the Demon-Slaying Art; its techniques helped him overwhelm the family’s defenders 134 303.
• Heaven and Earth Creation Art — Gu Chen’s independently cultivated method, rather than the family inheritance 14 104.
• Immortal sword arts — Gu Chen’s Sword Control and Sword-Splitting Techniques astonished the main family and demonstrated abilities beyond its conventional martial arts 353.

Residence

• Location — The Shangjing household occupies an estate in Rosy Cloud Mountain Villa Complex 265.
• Architecture — Traditional Chinese buildings with an antique character associated with Tang and Song styles 298.
• Ancestral hall — Gu Beichi knelt there for three days and nights after his first sabotaged breakthrough 320.
• Family dungeon — Gu Changfeng and Qin Yue were confined there after their overthrow 321.
• Restoration — The Heavenly Pivot Sect undertook repairs after the birthday-banquet battle 327.

Relationships

• Qin Family — Connected through Qin Yue’s marriage to Gu Changfeng. That marriage helped the declining Qin Family recover, while its members became implicated in the old master’s death 299 302 320.
• Zhou Family — Sought a marriage alliance through Gu Chen and Zhou Xue’er, then tried to end it after Gu Chen and Gu Beichi lost their standing 18 45.
• Liu Family — Related to the Gu Family by marriage. Liu Zixiao later supported Gu Chen during the overthrow of Gu Changfeng 267 318.
• Chen Family — Its martial artists fought alongside Gu Changfeng against Gu Chen during the banquet confrontation 313 314.
• Heavenly Pivot Sect — Assisted the reorganized Shangjing household and restored its damaged estate 323 327.
• Situ Clan — Viewed the weakened Gu household as a target after the banquet and planned to seize Gu Chen’s cultivation method 327.
• Mystery Gate — Its members once threatened to wipe out the family while attempting to take the three-year-old Gu Chen away because of his mother’s background 324.