Nanzhao

Biodata

Geography

• Original climate: Clear mountains, abundant waters, and springlike conditions throughout the year 82.
• Water system: Numerous lakes and interconnected water veins, originating in a battle between an Orthodox God of Soil and Grain and an ancestral witch. The god subsequently nourished the disrupted waters 145.
• Overland approach: From Su Yao’s position in Qinghe, Nanzhao lay nearly two hundred thousand li away in a straight line. The route crossed the outlying Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, witch kingdoms, and Witch Departments 14.
• Earth-vein access: A secret realm connected to Zhongnan provided an alternative route. Su Yao’s party traveled through subterranean water and emerged from a pool atop Golden Ao Mountain 26 36.
• Later climate: Spiritual disorder destroyed the region’s seasonal regularity; thunder in the twelfth month and snow in the sixth became commonplace 258.

Notable Locations

Government and Religion

Royal Authority

Nanzhao’s ruler combined government and religion, maintaining an ancient, uninterrupted tradition of incense offerings. His people were also the foundation of his attainment: widespread deaths directly damaged his Dao Path 187 188.

The royal house claimed descent from an Orthodox God of Soil and Grain. Its first king gathered Nanzhao’s scattered water veins through Subterranean Water under the god’s guidance, attaining the subsidiary rank Cangyuan 70 149.

• Royal cultivation inheritance: The former king attained authority over Subterranean Obedience and Womb Surplus, and indirect control of a strand of Sacrificial Earth Moisture. Later kings followed one of these three paths 148.
• Reigning ruler’s path: Subterranean Water 148.
• Royal grotto-heaven: Contained islands surrounding a central Nüwa Temple. Statues outside the temple commemorated kings and priests who had attained the Dao 148 149.
• Princess Ziheng’s training: Divine Dao rites, rather than the Mysterious Gate’s Immortal Dao 82.
• Political accommodation: Despite their ancestors’ hostility toward the Witch Clan, later rulers cooperated with Witch Departments and surviving Witch Clan communities against Great Qing’s power 45.

Principal Authorities

History

Ancient Kingdom and Great Qing Administration

Nanzhao had long existed as an independent kingdom that paid tribute to the Central Plains. During Great Qing’s conquest, Taizu preserved its throne in recognition of the Orthodox God of Soil and Grain’s merits 80 139.

Great Qing nevertheless stationed officials and troops in its lands and divided them into Nanzhao and the Southern Frontier. The royal house retained the name of a kingdom without its former governing power. Subsequent efforts to replace native rule with appointed officials threatened even that remaining title 80 139.

Local gentry and native-chieftain families continued to staff minor government posts. Although registered as Qing officials, many still identified with Nanzhao’s older political and religious inheritance 159.

Qixia’s Establishment

Su Yao was sent to Nanzhao by immortal decree, initially without knowing the mission’s full purpose. Nuoli and Changlu went ahead, where their slaying of a black flood dragon brought them into conflict with local officials and religious leaders 14 26 36.

An imperial edict granted Qixia Temple a hundred li around Golden Ao Mountain, while forbidding interference in state affairs or the gathering of outlaws. The grant had been agreed upon by the emperor and several sect masters 36.

Su Yao named the branch Pear Garden, initially concealing its name and leaving its plaques blank. His divination indicated that he would need to advance gradually among Nanzhao’s competing powers 50. Princess Ziheng later attended its opening and formally congratulated him on her father’s behalf 80 82.

Witchcraft Dao Counteraction

Gui Hong identified the region’s changing spiritual atmosphere as Wuxian Returns to the Register. Witchcraft Dao power was suppressing rival cultivators, while the Witch Hall in Luohu possessed a Law Treasure capable of expanding such spiritual atmospheres 98.

Nanzhao’s local factions also resisted Qixia directly. Meng Shixi led a confrontation over Chu Yishan’s death near Golden Ao Mountain, resulting in a battle against Gui Hong, Nuoli, and their giant-serpent ally 70.

Drought and the Five Calamities

After attaining the Purple Mansion, Su Yao found that Nanzhao had endured three rainless years. A Great Yang True Person’s dispersed cultivation intensified evaporation, nearly exhausting both Subterranean and Mansion Waters 145.

Further failed attempts to seek Gold and the changing Five Virtues destabilized the region’s spiritual atmosphere 173. By the time Zhao Shouzhi descended to confront the disasters, five calamities were devastating Nanzhao 182.

Danqiuzi identified the wider spiritual disorder as Turbid Chaos of the Ten Directions, involving damage to nine Daos. Even the spiritual breath circulating through the Great Void became sluggish 187.

Resistance of the Three Heroes

The Three Heroes of Nanzhao—Cang Lan, Mo Yan, and Zhao Shouzhi—coordinated an attempt to obstruct the outside powers. They separately blocked Su Yao, Xue Min, and Yang Xuanye, intending to preserve an opportunity to protect Nanzhao’s people 176 182.

Cang Lan died stopping Su Yao, while Mo Yan suffered mortal wounds delaying Xue Min. Both willingly surrendered their fates so Zhao Shouzhi could survive and confront the calamities 182.

Proclaiming Earth Rebellion

The Proclaiming Earth True Lord’s reincarnation emerged from seclusion at the confluence of two rivers and led an army across Nanzhao. The royal city’s Subterranean Water Restriction held for half a year before the city fell 249.

By the council on Qingnuo Mountain:

• All of Nanzhao and the Southern Frontier were under Proclaiming Earth’s control, except a few immortal sect compounds at Cibi Lake, Golden Ao Mountain, and Qingnuo Mountain 249.
• More than half the Miao Frontier had also fallen 249.
• The royal family’s whereabouts were unknown 249.

A new Great Qing edict of self-reproach blamed Emperor Renzong’s policies and the growing power of immortal sects for the catastrophe. Su Yao and his allies considered it an attempt to redirect blame and prepare a justification for future action against the sects 249 250.

After ascending the throne, Zhu Ji made Nanzhao an urgent priority and ordered the Capital Garrison prepared for a southern campaign 252.

Abolition and Aftermath

After the Proclaiming Earth True Lord’s reincarnated body fell, Great Qing carried out reprisals. Numerous native Purple Mansion cultivators were arrested and killed on charges including exploitation of the population 263.

The royal household and its priests withdrew into their grotto-heaven. The royal city’s City God went to reincarnate, while Xue Min remained secluded on Cang Mountain. Great Qing reduced the royal title to duke, but the family refused to accept it and lost its remaining privileges 263.

Yang Nan secured his lineage’s survival through Qixia’s patronage and relocated his household to Nanyue on the South Sea coast 263. Buddhism subsequently gained ascendancy in Nanzhao, with the Chan School taking control of Three Sages Temple 282 284.

The surviving hero, called Zhao Shouyi in the later account, held the Mysterious Gate responsible for the disaster and stated that one in ten of Nanzhao’s people had died. He eventually attacked Qixia’s disciples and died fighting Su Yao 274 275.

Calculated Future

• Ren Han’s vision was not settled history: What he believed to be a previous life was a future calculated through Heavenly Governance 152.
• In that calculation, a dying miner ate a flat peach, rapidly advanced in cultivation, and led Nanzhao’s disaster-stricken population in revolt. Great Qing later abolished the throne and made its ruler the hereditary Duke of Baili 152.
• Su Yao’s intervention altered the circumstances; the later abolition of the kingdom did not establish every detail of the calculation as fulfilled 152 263.

Competing Powers