Novel

• 🔹 Aliases: The Golden Gate, the Fortune God School, the Sect of Gold and Power
• 🔹 Creed: Move martial arts with money, control enemies with wealth; there is nothing under heaven that cannot be bought
• 🔹 Headquarters: The Fortune God Tower on "Golden Tripod Island," Commercial Republic
• 🔹 Path of Cultivation: Money martial arts, secret hidden-weapon arts, commercial strategy

📜 Background

Several hundred years ago, the great merchant guilds of the Commercial Republic began funding martial arts masters to protect their goods and shipping routes. As commerce expanded, these fighters became more than guards — they became a true martial power. In the end, the merchant Kong family put up the money to unify these martial groups and founded the Wealth Sect, which has ever since taken the power of gold as its Way and dominated the martial world's trade.

Today the Wealth Sect is long past being merely a jianghu sect; it is a transcendent power that uses wealth as its weapon and controls the resources of every major martial force. It is the true ruler of the Commercial Republic: the seats of the Chamber of Commerce Parliament are in its hands, the trade routes are its monopoly, and the exchange rates of every nation's currency are its to manipulate. Its tentacles reach into the Shuntian Dynasty, the Moonrise Empire, and the Changfeng Republic — there is nowhere the Wealth Sect cannot reach.

The current sect leader, Kong Fang, is not only a martial grandmaster but also one of the wealthiest men in the Commercial Republic. His "Money Dart Style" has reached perfection, uniting hidden weapons and financial power to the utmost. Kong Fang looks shifty-eyed and ratlike, with a thoroughly seedy air, but he is exceptionally shrewd and quick-witted. Through years of management and maneuvering, he rose to become leader of the Wealth Sect in this generation. He loves making money but does not worship it, and above all he knows how to use money to reach his goals. He is at once a tycoon and a schemer, yet never loses his humanity. His power lies not in force, but in his command of information, people's hearts, and the flow of wealth — a true jianghu marvel of this age for whom "money can reach the gods."

But money also draws enemies. The Pirate Alliance regards them as mortal enemies, and the Faceless Theater Troupe sees them as both its largest intelligence client and a potential threat.

🏔️ Geography and Key Locations

Golden Tripod Island: The Wealth Sect's headquarters, an artificial island in the heart of the Commercial Republic's waters. On the island stands the towering "Fortune God Tower," seven stories high, built of golden-thread nanmu and glazed tiles, so that from afar it looks like a mountain of gold. The island is ringed by mechanical hidden reefs, and no ship can come ashore without a guide.

Fortune God Tower: The Wealth Sect's central building, combining council chambers, library, and training halls. The tower is full of mechanisms, and every floor serves a different function — the lower floors are the Gold Hall's financial operations center, the middle floors the Silver Pavilion's intelligence and assassination command, the upper floors the Jade Tower's hub of social and intelligence networks, and the top floor is Sect Leader Kong Fang's private study.

Gold Hall: On the first and second floors of the Fortune God Tower, in charge of the whole sect's finances and managing the Commercial Republic's banking, trade, and currency issuance. Inside the Gold Hall is a giant abacus wall, where every bead represents a transaction of more than a million taels.

Silver Pavilion: On the third and fourth floors of the Fortune God Tower, in charge of intelligence gathering, assassinations, and using financial power to intervene in politics. The Silver Pavilion's emblem is the "Silver Judge's Brush" — one stroke of it decides life and death.

Jade Tower: On the fifth and sixth floors of the Fortune God Tower. On the surface it is a luxurious social venue, but in truth it is the center of intelligence gathering and seduction tactics. The Jade Tower trains "Wealthy Charmers" and "Shadow Rouge Agents," influencing the upper echelons of government and business through beauty and political scheming.

Golden Tripod Tower Balcony: Kong Ning's favorite place, where she often basks in the sun and jingles her money pouch, looking out over the whole harbor of the Commercial Republic.

📖 The Three Great Divisions

🔶 Gold Hall (Bureau of Gold and Power) — Finance and Power Management

"Wealth can subdue enemies; a thousand pieces of gold bear down from above, and no battle is lost."

The Gold Hall controls the whole sect's finances, managing the Commercial Republic's banking, trade, and currency issuance, and is responsible for allocating war funds, supplying arms, and expanding the sect's power. Through the balancing power of gold, it influences the martial world and politics, bringing the great sects and the court to heel.

Representative Figure | "Silver-Handed Fortune God" Zhao Yijin (Deputy Master of the Gold Hall)

Zhao Yijin is Kong Fang's most trusted right hand, a specialist in commercial strategy responsible for controlling trade networks across nations and helping Kong Fang manage the sect — very nearly an all-round talent. He wears a scholar's long robe with fine gold-thread patterns embroidered on the lapels and holds a folding fan, his bearing leisurely but his eyes shrewd and calculating. He is ruthless toward commercial rivals but utterly loyal within the sect. His famous saying: "Money isn't everything, but without money, nothing is possible — and that sentence is itself a business strategy."

🔷 Silver Pavilion — Assassination and Intelligence

"Money and power decide life and death; one stroke settles heaven and earth."

The Silver Pavilion is in charge of intelligence gathering, assassinations, and using financial power to intervene in politics. The emblem of its assassins is the "Silver Judge's Brush" — one stroke decides life and death. The Silver Pavilion controls the black market, underground auctions, and espionage, and does business with the Kaga Clan and the Pirate Alliance.

Representative Figure | "Wealth Shadow Assassin" Shen Cuodao (Master of the Silver Pavilion)

Shen Cuodao was once a samurai of the Kagemoon Sect, expelled for a transgression, who fled to the Commercial Republic. Years ago Chen Hui instructed him in the judge's brush art, and he feels he owes Chen Hui the debt one owes half a teacher. He is a master of the Silver Judge's Brush and the ways of assassination, fierce in temperament and deeply loyal to his friends; he once quarreled with Fu Yunxing, who "talks only of profit and never of loyalty." His famous saying: "Loyalty won't put food on the table, but a man without loyalty doesn't deserve to eat."

💗 Jade Tower (Jade Court) — Intelligence and Seduction

"Red and gold flow together, the wealthy charm without equal. Every man has his price, and no one cannot be bought."

The Jade Tower is in charge of intelligence gathering, honey traps, and seduction tactics, and runs the most luxurious pleasure houses and social networks in every nation. The Jade Tower trains "Wealthy Charmers" and "Shadow Rouge Agents," influencing the upper echelons of government and business through beauty and political scheming. On the surface a place of pleasure, the Jade Tower is in truth a center of the intelligence trade.

Representative Figure | "Red-Gold Consort" Su Jinling (Mistress of the Jade Tower)

Su Jinling is the undisputed leader of the Jade Court, a master of seduction and strategy. Dressed all in red, her brows smiling, there is not a trace of tenderness in her eyes. A few words from her can turn the mood of a whole city, and a single glance can change the course of a lord. She excels at using public opinion to suppress rivals, and once said: "The most valuable things on a battlefield are information and prediction. As they say, the great warrior wins no glorious victories — use intelligence well, avoid the battle, and of course there's no credit for winning it."

⚔️ Martial Arts of the Wealth Sect

The Wealth Sect's martial arts share the same lineage as its commercial nature — money as the weapon, wealth as the inner force. They believe that with enough silver, you can crush anyone to death.

📖 Inner Method

Wealth Qi

The Wealth Sect's unique inner method, which turns an obsession with money into inner force. Practitioners must count their money, balance their accounts, and make trades every day — every purchase and sale is cultivation. The richer the aura of wealth, the stronger the inner force. Those who reach its depths naturally radiate a "wealth majesty" — ordinary fighters in their presence feel an unconscious pressure, as if crushed breathless beneath ten thousand strings of cash.

🪙 Money Dart Style (Money Dart)

The Wealth Sect's signature martial art — gold and silver as hidden weapons, financial might as the killing move. The techniques are simple and brutal: throw money, and throw a lot of it.

Gold Finger: Using specially made gold or silver coins as hidden weapons, thrown with inner force to strike the enemy's acupoints with precision. The one struck freezes as if their acupoints had been sealed — not because their inner force has been blocked, but because that coin is worth a hundred taels and they can't bear to move.

Scatter Coin: A handful of dozens of gold coins flung out at once, blanketing a wide area like a heavenly maiden scattering flowers. If the enemy dodges, the coins roll across the ground and scatter their attention; if the enemy takes them head-on, every coin carries force, like being punched by a dozen people at once.

Money Rain: Pouring a huge amount of gold and silver down from above, pelting the enemy like a rainstorm. This move cares nothing for technique, only for wealth — one gold coin can't hurt anyone, but a thousand crashing down at once will flatten even a man made of iron. Jianghu folk joke: "He wasn't beaten to death; he was buried to death."

Wealth Overwhelm: The ultimate move of the Money Dart Style. A whole chest of gold, silver, and jewels is dumped out and charged with inner force, every coin becoming a deadly hidden weapon that fills the sky as it flies at the enemy. Once this move is unleashed, no one within several zhang is spared. The cost — this one move could feed a small town for three years.

✍️ Judge's Brush Art (Exclusive to the Silver Pavilion)

The signature martial art of the Silver Pavilion's assassins, using the judge's brush as a weapon and blending acupoint strikes, assassination, and the artistry of calligraphy.

Iron Brush Seven Verdicts (IronPen Verdicts)

A judge's brush art passed down by Silver Pavilion Master Shen Cuodao and developed to new heights by Kong Ning. It has seven forms, and each is a "verdict" — judging good and evil, deciding life and death, settling debts of kindness and grudges, shaking yin and yang, overturning heaven and earth, turning the cosmos, and destroying the nine heavens.

This skill has seven stages (each form is one stage):

First Form, "First Verdict: Good and Evil": The brush's point goes straight for the heart meridian, judging good and evil in one strike. Mastering this form allows one to seal acupoints and subdue the enemy.

Second Form, "Second Verdict: Life and Death": Both brushes strike at once, sealing the throat from left and right. Mastering this form allows one to kill with a single strike.

Third Form, "Third Verdict: Kindness and Grudges": The brush moves like dragon and serpent, seeking an opening in close combat. Mastering this form allows one to take an enemy's head amid a melee.

Fourth Form, "Fourth Verdict: Shaking Yin and Yang": The brush's force can overawe the enemy's spirit, leaving them briefly dazed. Mastering this form allows it to be combined with hypnosis.

Fifth Form, "Fifth Verdict: Overturning Heaven and Earth": The brush moves in grand, sweeping strokes, able to hold its own against long weapons. Mastering this form allows one to face an enemy head-on.

Sixth Form, "Sixth Verdict: Turning the Cosmos": Borrowing the enemy's force to strike back, rebounding their attack. Mastering this form lets four ounces move a thousand pounds.

Seventh Form, "Seventh Verdict: Destroying the Nine Heavens": The legendary ultimate form — a single stroke that can break ten thousand methods. This form exists only in theory, and Kong Ning is still studying it.

This brush art requires the state of "brush and heart as one" — when the brush moves there are no stray thoughts, the brush follows intent, and intent follows the heart. Shen Cuodao once said of Kong Ning's brush art: "She isn't writing with a brush; she's judging life and death with her heart."

🍃 Lightness Skill

Golden Shadow

The Wealth Sect's lightness skill, in which the body flips like a gold coin, drifting unpredictably, combining lightness skill with the use of money.

Basic Footwork: The body moves gracefully as the wind, the golden robe snapping as it goes and leaving a golden afterimage behind, making it hard for enemies to lock on.

Coin Blind: In battle, a handful of gold coins is flung out; the coins roll, bounce, and flash on the ground, blinding the enemy. In the instant the enemy's eyes are drawn to the money, the practitioner has already slipped behind them.

Gold Brick Stepping Stone: A gold brick is flicked out from the sleeve and stepped on for leverage, allowing a brief hover in midair or a change of direction. Jianghu folk joke: "Money really does let you do whatever you want — even your lightness skill runs on gold bricks."

📊 Merchant Strategy

The Wealth Sect's true power lies not in martial arts but in the marketplace. Its "Merchant Strategy" is the sect's most essential skill — not killing, but controlling.

Monopoly: Controlling the entire supply chain of a commodity so that rivals have nothing to sell. Used in battle, it means blockading the enemy's supply lines, cutting off their provisions, and stopping their reinforcements.

Inflate: Hoarding goods and driving up prices so that rivals can't afford weapons and equipment. Used in battle, it means buying off the enemy's allies and making their reinforcements switch sides at the last moment.

Loan: Lending money to those in desperate need and binding them fast with high interest. Used in battle, it means buying off the people around the enemy — guards, servants, even trusted confidants.

Short: Selling first and buying later to profit from the difference. Used in battle, it means spreading false intelligence so the enemy makes the wrong decision, then crushing them in one blow while they're in chaos.

📜 Key Figures

Sect Leader | Kong Fang

The current leader of the Wealth Sect, a man of about forty, shifty-eyed and ratlike, with a thoroughly seedy air — but exceptionally shrewd and quick-witted. Through years of management and maneuvering, he rose to become leader of the Wealth Sect in this generation. His "Money Dart Style" has reached the stage of "One Coin Seals the Throat," and his "Wealth Qi" the stage of "Reaching the Gods"; he is acknowledged as the "King of Flying Coins."

Kong Fang loves making money but does not worship it, and above all he knows how to use money to reach his goals. He is at once a tycoon and a schemer, yet never loses his humanity. His power lies not in force, but in his command of information, people's hearts, and the flow of wealth — a true jianghu marvel of this age for whom "money can reach the gods." His famous saying: "My name is Kong Fang — the square hole in a coin. I was born to make money."

He married the beautiful Shang Chulian, and they have a beloved daughter, Kong Ning. He is raising his daughter as a future sect leader, both strict with her and doting on her. He once told Zhao Yijin privately: "The girl takes after me — she has brains and nerve. She just puts too much stock in loyalty. In business that's a strength, and also a fatal flaw."

Deputy Master of the Gold Hall | "Silver-Handed Fortune God" Zhao Yijin

Kong Fang's most trusted right hand, a specialist in commercial strategy responsible for controlling trade networks across nations and helping Kong Fang manage the sect — very nearly an all-round talent. He wears a scholar's long robe with fine gold-thread patterns embroidered on the lapels and holds a folding fan, his bearing leisurely but his eyes shrewd and calculating. He is ruthless toward commercial rivals but utterly loyal within the sect. His "Resource Blockade" has reached the stage of "Cutting the Road," and his "Balance of Gold and Power" the stage of "Chess Master."

His famous saying: "Money isn't everything, but without money, nothing is possible — and that sentence is itself a business strategy." He and Shen Cuodao often clash over principles — he holds that "profit comes first," while Shen Cuodao holds that "loyalty must never be forgotten" — but each respects the other's ability.

Mistress of the Jade Tower | "Red-Gold Consort" Su Jinling

The undisputed leader of the Jade Court, a master of seduction and strategy. Dressed all in red, her brows smiling, there is not a trace of tenderness in her eyes. A few words from her can turn the mood of a whole city, and a single glance can change the course of a lord. Her "Buying Hearts" has reached the stage of "Winning Hearts," making her the Wealth Sect's most skilled strategist at manipulating people.

She excels at using public opinion to suppress rivals, and once said: "The most valuable things on a battlefield are information and prediction. As they say, the great warrior wins no glorious victories — use intelligence well, avoid the battle, and of course there's no credit for winning it." She treats Kong Ning as her own daughter, carefully teaching her the arts of reading people and steering public opinion.

Master of the Silver Pavilion | "Wealth Shadow Assassin" Shen Cuodao

Master of the Silver Pavilion, once a samurai of the Kagemoon Sect, expelled for a transgression, who fled to the Commercial Republic. Years ago Chen Hui instructed him in the judge's brush art, and he feels he owes Chen Hui the debt one owes half a teacher. His "Iron Brush Seven Verdicts" has reached "Sixth Verdict: Turning the Cosmos," making him the Silver Pavilion's strongest assassin. He is a master of the Silver Judge's Brush and the ways of assassination, fierce in temperament and deeply loyal to his friends.

He once argued with Fu Yunxing during a council in the Gold Hall: "Chen Hui once taught me the judge's brush art — I owe him the debt of half a teacher. Now he's dead, and we're just going to sit here and do nothing? That doesn't fit the 'loyalty' the Wealth Sect's commercial credit is supposed to stand for!" His famous saying: "Loyalty won't put food on the table, but a man without loyalty doesn't deserve to eat."

📜 Relations with Other Factions

Commercial Republic Chamber of Commerce Parliament: The Wealth Sect is the true master of the Chamber of Commerce, and its Twelve Families hold half the seats in the Parliament. They maintain the Commercial Republic's order through money and contracts, and reap the greatest profit from it.

Pirate Alliance: Mortal enemies. The Pirate Alliance sees the Wealth Sect as the greatest obstacle to its dominance of the seas, and the two frequently clash in naval battles. The Wealth Sect has put a bounty on the head of the Pirate King, Drake, of as much as one hundred thousand gold coins.

Faceless Theater Troupe: Client and threat at once. The Wealth Sect is the Faceless Theater Troupe's largest intelligence client, buying commercial intelligence on every nation; but it also stays wary of the Troupe — the secrets the Troupe holds are enough to shake the foundations of the Twelve Families.

Changfeng Republic: Close trade. The Wealth Sect runs money houses and trading firms in the Changfeng Republic, and does business with both the Mountain and Sea Society and the Storm Thunder Sect.

Shuntian Dynasty: Infiltration and cooperation. The Wealth Sect's influence has long since seeped into the Shuntian Dynasty's officialdom and business world. It funds the powerful in exchange for trade privileges and intelligence.

Moonrise Empire: Commercial dealings. The Wealth Sect has trading posts in the Moonrise Empire and does business with every daimyo and every sect. It stays out of the Moonrise Empire's internal power struggles and simply does business.

Storm Thunder Sect: Friendly. Kong Fang is one of Chen Wenbin's patrons and was an important supporter in the Storm Thunder Sect's early days. The two sides still maintain close ties today.