He Luohua
He Luohua is the Reliance Sect leader who protects its disciples within his limited power and dissolves the sect rather than let stronger outsiders use them as leverage.
Biography
Choosing the Inner Sect disciple
He Luohua watches the Inner Sect selection remotely from East Mountain. He initially expects Wang Tengfei's predetermined victory, but Meng Hao's performance forces him to revise that judgment. When Meng Hao is about to kill Wang, He intervenes, ends the match, and names Meng Hao the winner and third Inner Sect disciple. The decision preserves Wang's life without denying Meng Hao the position he earned. (Chapters 29–33)
Protecting and instructing disciples
When Wang Xifan nearly kills Meng Hao with the pressure of a glance, He Luohua recognizes a fellow Core Formation cultivator and blocks the attack. He later explains Patriarch Reliance and the Qi Condensation Manual of the Sublime Spirit Scripture, distributes Vorpal Jade to Meng Hao, Chen Fan, and Xu Qing, and opens the sect's meditation zone. These acts use sect resources to give the remaining disciples a path forward. (Chapters 35 and 38–40)
Dissolving the Reliance Sect
The apparent heavenly sign draws the State of Zhao's strongest cultivators, while He realizes both the sign and copied stele are false. Unable to defeat every faction, he dissolves the Reliance Sect and threatens to detonate its grand protective spell if former disciples are harmed. The legal and spiritual dissolution removes the outsiders' excuse to seize disciples as sect assets. After Patriarch Reliance drives them away, He salutes the abandoned mountain in shame and leaves. (Chapters 41–43)
Final reunion
Much later He lives with Grand Elder Ouyang and travels from their noodle stall to Meng Hao's wedding. Their longevity is nearly exhausted, and the journey gives them a final chance to see the former Reliance disciples reunited. (Chapters 759 and 764–766)
Appearance and personality
He carries a sect leader's authority but acts with restraint rather than vanity. He can correct an expected tournament result, shield a weak disciple, and admit when the sect cannot survive. Dissolution pains him, yet he chooses living disciples over the institution's name. His later quiet life with Ouyang reinforces that leadership was duty rather than personal grandeur. (Chapters 33–43 and 759–766)
Abilities and cultivation
Core Formation combat
He Luohua can identify and counter Wang Xifan's lethal Core Formation pressure and use shapeless wind against peer experts. His strength protects disciples from a single attacker but is insufficient against the combined powers converging on the sect, which drives his strategic decision to dissolve it. (Chapters 35 and 41)
Grand protective spell
As sect leader he controls the Reliance Sect's defensive formation and can threaten its self-detonation. The spell is a deterrent: destroying it would impose unacceptable cost on attackers, but would also erase the sect's physical foundation, so he uses the threat to secure safe passage rather than as ordinary offense. (Chapter 41)
Sect instruction and authority
He can open restricted meditation areas, distribute Vorpal Jade, decide Inner Sect promotion, and release disciples from sectal obligations. These are institutional mechanisms, but they directly determine who can study the legacy and whether outsiders can lawfully claim the disciples. (Chapters 33 and 38–43)
Relationships
- Meng Hao: Declares him an Inner Sect disciple, protects him, and later attends his wedding.
- Chen Fan and Xu Qing: Gives them legacy access and permits their departure toward stronger sects.
- Grand Elder Ouyang: His senior partner in administering the sect and companion in old age.
- Patriarch Reliance: The absent founder whose legacy He administers and whose return confirms the sect's end.
Items
- Vorpal Jade: Sect tokens given to the three Inner Sect disciples for access to the Sublime Spirit Scripture meditation zone. (Chapter 38)