Tianfu City

Biodata

History

Former Capital

Tianfu City served as the capital of a dynasty hundreds of years before the current events. By the Fourth Prince’s arrival, it is described as a magnificent city with a long history and an uncertain number of concealed powers 46.

The city is the hometown of Jun Jingyi and Jun Yixue, who remain there while their parents are in the Capital. It is also the hometown of Jin Datong, Great Yan’s second-rank minister of revenue, who returns to recuperate from illness 4 5.

Bai Ruoli’s Medical Reputation

Bai Ruoli seeks out Jin Datong after recalling that he is suffering from Nine Nether Grass poisoning. Successfully treating him secures her an influential backer, and the Jin Estate’s confirmation of her success brings crowds to her pharmacy 3 4 12.

Her subsequent treatment of a man with a severe abdominal wound, assisted by Jun Jingyi, becomes a citywide topic. Residents speculate both about the patient’s survival and about her relationship with Jun Jingyi 12 13 14.

Conflict with the Li Family

After witnessing the consequences of the Li Family’s abuse of a young woman, Jun Jingyi and Sikong Ye retrieve her body from a mass grave outside the city and bury her. Jun Jingyi then publicizes her story through his merchant alliance, provoking denunciations from scholars and women throughout Tianfu City 18 21 23.

The backlash reaches the family’s businesses: its shops are surrounded, authorities visit its residence, and the Liu Family cuts off supplies. The Eighth Prince intervenes because the Li Family financially supports an important court figure whose backing he wants 23.

The family nevertheless continues abusing commoners. When another victim follows Jun Jingyi’s advice to complain at the county yamen, her complaint is dismissed as false and she is handed over to the Li Family. Jun Jingyi suspects the Eighth Prince’s influence 30 31.

Divine-Weapon Turmoil

Jun Jingyi’s stories about the Dragon-Slaying Precious Saber and Heaven Reliant Sword spread through Tianfu City’s entertainment houses. Rumors that the saber has appeared locally draw martial artists into the city shortly before Mid-Autumn, bringing frequent fighting and killings 34 37.

Magistrate Jia Dayan borrows the Eighth Prince’s guards to suppress open violence and search for the saber. Major outside factions continue arriving, including the Water God Gang and Snow Mountain Sect 37.

Acting on Jun Jingyi’s instructions, Sikong Ye delivers a newly forged saber to the Li Family’s gates. Its ability to break ordinary weapons convinces onlookers that the legend is real, triggering a bloody struggle in western Tianfu City. The Li estate is devastated and subsequently burns 36 38 39 40.

The magistrate has the army restore order, removes the bodies, washes the streets, and heavily guards the gates against further jianghu arrivals. Ordinary life resumes around the ruined Li residence 40.

The Beggar Sect’s Emergence

Jun Jingyi organizes the city’s beggars into the Beggar Sect, using charitable porridge distribution to support recruitment. He considers their overlooked status useful for concealing their backgrounds and gathering intelligence 29 30.

When two Upright Heart School disciples torture and kill a sect member, Jun Jingyi arranges the purchase of their lodging, the Four Seas Inn. Both disciples die in a fire that night, without other casualties. Investigators discover the inn’s abrupt change of ownership and the Beggar Sect’s hidden involvement 43.

The incident makes martial factions and court-connected forces wary of provoking anyone in Tianfu City. Despite the continued gathering of experts, the city becomes unusually safe for ordinary residents 43.

The Princes’ Departure and Arrival

An apparent supernatural omen outside the city fuels claims that immortals have sent the two weapons to choose a new emperor. The story spreads beyond Tianfu City, shaking both the jianghu and the Yan Kingdom 41 42.

Jun Jingyi then releases Kongming lanterns bearing a prophecy favoring the “eighth dragon.” The Eighth Prince accepts the message as heavenly recognition, realizes that its implications will cost him official protection, and prepares to leave Tianfu City 44.

The Fourth Prince later visits to investigate the forces behind his rival’s downfall and meet Jun Jingyi. He also seeks treatment from Bai Ruoli under the name Haoran; she recognizes him and determines that his apparent illness is a deadly poison 45 46 47.

Notable Locations

Government and Factions

Economy

• Restaurant trade: Journey to the West grows from a failing establishment into one of Tianfu City’s busiest restaurants. Its white-flour steamed buns attract orders from schools and other restaurants 5 14.
• Dukang wine: Poetry-driven promotion creates a rush for wine priced at one hundred taels per jar. It becomes particularly fashionable among scholars and at social gatherings 17.
• Festival promotions: Qixi offers include a twenty-percent discount for married couples and reduced-price Dukang Liquor. The alliance’s profits encourage additional merchants to join 25 28.
• Soap production: Free trials and a twelve-percent discount launch a successful local soap campaign. Recruited beggars provide inexpensive labor for Jun Jingyi’s factory 42.
• Mooncakes: Jun Jingyi promotes mooncakes as a Mid-Autumn delicacy through storytelling, gift packages, and a planned hundred samples per day. The Fourth Prince sends some to the emperor in the Capital 49.

Culture and Society

Poetry and Festivals

• Yunying Poetry Gathering: A major pre-Qixi event known throughout Tianfu City and Jiangnan. It offers young men and women an accepted setting for meeting, displaying literary talent, and seeking prospective partners 6.
• Admission: Guests enter with invitations or by solving lantern riddles. By the time Jun Jingyi attends, no one has solved those riddles in decades 6 8.
• Literary advancement: Recognition at the gathering can establish a scholar’s regional reputation and attract attention from officials and imperial examiners 6.
• Restaurant poetry contests: Journey to the West offers Dukang wine prizes and displays the top three poems across its Tianfu locations. The county magistrate, a Jin Family representative, and the Eighth Prince judge its Qixi contest 26.
• Jun Jingyi’s reputation: His performances earn him recognition first as Tianfu’s foremost scholar and later as Jiangnan’s leading poetic talent 27 28.

Social Conditions

• Elite influence: Powerful families can intimidate bystanders and obstruct justice. The Li Family’s public abductions and the yamen’s rejection of a victim’s complaint expose the vulnerability of ordinary residents 30 31.
• Neglected beggars: Before Jun Jingyi’s intervention, beggars commonly occupy dark corners of the city and their deaths attract little notice. Their social invisibility later helps conceal the Beggar Sect’s reach 30 43.
• Belief in omens: Apparent supernatural phenomena convince much of the population that heaven is selecting a new ruler. Even the magistrate is frightened into silence by the implications 42 44.