Sun Dazhu

Sun Dazhu is Wang Lin's first formal master in the Heng Yue Sect, a fifth-layer Qi Condensation herb keeper whose greed for Wang's spiritually charged gourd turns instruction into surveillance, poisoning, and attempted enslavement. Wang kills him after rapidly outgrowing him, making Sun the first life he takes. (Chapters 17–61 and 271)

Biography

A disciple acquired for a gourd

Sun Dazhu accepts Wang Lin after discovering that the youth carries a gourd saturated with spiritual energy. He gives him inner-disciple identification, a storage bag, clothes, and the basic cultivation instructions, but confines him behind the herb-garden gate. His real hope is to obtain more gourds, refine a pill, and advance far enough to silence fellow elders who mock his low cultivation. (Chapters 17–19)

When Wang cannot produce another miraculous gourd, Sun follows him in secret and puts Qi Scattering Grass into his food. The drug is meant to keep a poorly talented disciple below the third Qi Condensation layer and permanently dependent. Ironically, Sun then spends a month of herbs and spirit stones trying to force Wang's cultivation forward, not realizing that his own poison dissipates each dose. Frustration makes him expel Wang from the garden, though he continues spying for signs of the hidden treasure. (Chapters 18–25)

Pride after the sect competition

Wang's secret use of the Heaven Defying Bead lets him advance far beyond Sun's expectations. Sun initially displays him with a ridiculous flying sword and protests when other elders choose him as a disposable opponent, revealing a limited sense of responsibility toward the disciple he considers weak. Once Wang defeats powerful Xuan Dao disciples, Sun claims credit and enjoys the sect master's sudden respect. Behind that pride, he correctly realizes the gourd was not an accident and that Wang has concealed a secret. (Chapters 46–55)

The poisoned tea

Sun offers “recovery tea” laced with Three Thread Nematode Grass, intending to control Wang and extract the secret. Wang forces him to drink it, breaks the spiritual-energy shell with which Sun hides the liquid in his mouth, and questions him after the parasite dulls his resistance. When Sun confirms his intent and offers no safe way to undo the threat, Wang kills him with a palm to the head. (Chapters 55–61)

The first carving

Centuries later Wang compares gentler teachers with Sun's vicious instruction. During his mortal-domain carvings, Sun becomes the first figure because he was Wang's first kill. Wang concludes that greed for the gourd caused the death: the relationship is remembered not as an honorable apprenticeship but as an early lesson in cultivation-world cause and effect. (Chapters 213, 265, and 271)

Appearance and personality

Sun Dazhu is an older herb-garden elder who strokes his beard and shifts rapidly between cold intimidation, forced smiles, and ingratiating warmth. He is insecure about his low standing, greedy, suspicious, and willing to harm a disciple while invoking sect rules when personally threatened. His brief defense of Wang at the competition shows possessiveness mixed with a trace of responsibility, but it never overcomes greed. (Chapters 17–61)

Abilities and cultivation

Fifth-layer Qi Condensation

Sun Dazhu is at the fifth Qi Condensation layer. He can open the herb-garden seal, pulverize a pebble against it as intimidation, manipulate basic spiritual energy, and brew medicines, but remains weaker than many rival-sect disciples and far below Foundation Establishment elders. Once Wang's hidden cultivation surpasses him, he cannot resist direct restraint. (Chapters 17, 33–55, and 60)

Herb preparation

As the herb keeper, Sun understands plants, spirit stones, and medicines that concentrate spiritual energy. His month of daily brews would genuinely accelerate a novice's condensation if not counteracted by his own Qi Scattering Grass. The contradiction shows competent low-level pharmacology corrupted by sabotage: he can nourish or hinder cultivation, but combines both because he wants progress without independence. (Chapters 18–25)

Qi Scattering Grass

Mixed into food, the grass produces foul qi that disperses spiritual energy at the moment condensation should occur. In a low-talent novice it could delay the first layer for thirty to fifty years. It can be expelled by overwhelming spiritual energy or a scattering method, so the poison is persistent but not irreversible. (Chapters 18–38)

Three Thread Nematode Grass

In tea, the herb sends three thread-like parasites toward the victim's head and makes responses dull and compliant, allowing interrogation and control. Sun tries to avoid his own dose by surrounding the liquid with spiritual energy, proving ingestion is required. Wang's strike disperses that shell and turns the trap against him. (Chapters 55–61)

Relationships

• Wang Lin: Sun is his first master and first kill. He provides basic access to cultivation but repeatedly poisons Wang to control the secret of the gourd. (Chapters 17–61 and 271)
• Wang Zhuo: Wang Zhuo's visible progress intensifies the contrast with Wang Lin's apparent failure during Sun's sabotage. (Chapters 20–21)
• Huang Long: The Heng Yue sect master praises Sun after Wang's victories, temporarily giving him the status he craves. (Chapters 47–55)

Items

• Sun Dazhu controls the herb garden, basic medicine supplies, spirit stones, a storage bag issued to Wang, and the poisoned recovery tea. None compensate for his low realm once Wang surpasses him. (Chapters 17–61)