Chi Fubo

Chi Fubo is a leader of the Chi Family’s second lineage who exploits the first lineage’s weakness to take control of Azure Pond’s affairs. His cooperation with Li Yuanqin creates a nominal sect master he cannot fully manage and draws him into a scheme that ends in his own capture. (Chapters 892–894, 966–967, 1011)

Biography

Power gained through a borrowed sect master

Fubo seeks to keep Azure Pond under the Chi Family after the first lineage suffers severe losses and Buzi’s absence makes its protection uncertain. He resents the Si household’s influence and uses Yuanqin’s anger and ambition as leverage, even while recognizing that the younger man is sowing discord for his own ends. Ning Hejing refuses to convert control of Yuanxing Peak into appointments for the second lineage. Yuanqin therefore proposes installing Chi Zhiyan’s young legitimate son as sect master: the figurehead would provide legitimacy while Fubo’s group accumulated real authority. (Chapters 892–894)

The chosen young ruler, Chi Xuxiao, proves more capable than intended. Fubo can reject even minor appointments, but Xuxiao’s consistent courtesy and public support win popularity, leaving Fubo awkwardly positioned between his own ambitions, an increasingly respected first-lineage master, and impatient elders. Yuanqin then proposes exploiting a plot against Xizhi and Si Yuanli by allowing Zhihu to die, taking Xizhi captive, and pressuring the Si Family. Fubo sees both possible deception and Yuanqin’s continuing desire to control the Lis; nevertheless, the faction’s demands make restraint increasingly difficult. His later preparations send Buhua into the trap while restricting potential rescuers and concealing the formation’s deadly one-way property. (Chapters 966–967, 1006–1008)

The operation reverses the positions its authors expected. Xizhi and his allies defeat Buhua, Lingu Rao kills Ning Hejing, and Si Yuanli enters the sect’s main hall to capture Fubo’s group and free Xuxiao. A later Li account confirms that Fubo has died. The authority he built by treating alliances and the sect master as instruments collapses once those other parties regain the ability to act. (Chapters 1009, 1011, 1084)

Appearance and personality

Years of control replace Fubo’s youthful immaturity with composed manners. He can smile courteously while calculating how to entangle an ally, yet Xuxiao’s respect genuinely makes him reluctant to proceed against the young ruler. His private reflections reveal mounting fear that his impatient followers will drag him into catastrophe. (Chapters 894, 966–967)

Abilities and cultivation

Faction management and manipulation

Fubo’s principal demonstrated skill is political organization. He controls appointments, watches rival households, limits their movements, and deploys senior cultivators with contingencies. He understands Yuanqin’s self-interest and hopes dependence will prevent the younger man from withdrawing. These methods do not give him complete control: Ning refuses fabricated decrees, Xuxiao builds independent standing, and Yuanqin’s hidden arrangements undermine Fubo’s military advantage. (Chapters 894, 966–967, 1006–1009)

Relationships

• Li Yuanqin: Useful but self-interested political partner.
• Ning Hejing: First-lineage loyalist who obstructs his appointments.
• Chi Buhua: Trusted elder sent to capture Xizhi.
• Si Yuanli: Rival who finally captures Fubo’s faction. (Chapters 894, 1006, 1011)

Items

Fubo gives Yuanqin authority over the formation through a jade talisman and arranges for the Taiyu Sword and Glimmering Inquiry Mirror to be removed before the trap. Those arrangements concern control of an operation rather than established personal ownership of the treasures. (Chapters 1006–1008)