Yaoguang

Biodata

Background and History

The Fanghu divination

More than twenty years before the Priva II incident, Yaoguang used Yuque’s Ten-Direction Light-Reflecting Dharma Realm to divine the war on Fanghu. She defied the result and tried to change cause and effect with the power of the Hunt, becoming entangled with the Dharma Realm 79.

Meeting Jingxing on Vesna IV

At their first meeting from Jingxing’s perspective, Yaoguang already knew him. She told him that his paintings would become famous, gave him an auspicious fortune and warned him to avoid Pathstriders of Harmony. She explained that a campaign against Lord Ravager Guiji had scattered her existence, leaving her to drift unpredictably through time; shortly afterward, she vanished in a shower of light 2.

Priva II and disappearance

Yaoguang traveled to Priva II after a divination warned that Yuque would face serious trouble unless she investigated personally. The Divination Commission had also detected an Emanator-level energy signature there. She encountered Jingxing near a Borisin camp, though she did not yet know him from her own perspective 74 75.

The pair discovered a branch of Qiong Sang beneath the camp, parasitizing the planet and preventing their escape. As Jingxing’s power threatened to overwhelm the area, Yaoguang gave him the Heavenly Wisdom Jade Knot and deliberately used Synchronic Displacement to leave the present. She asked him to find her, allowing him to destroy the branch without harming her 79 80.

The changed war and return

Jingxing and Fu Xuan found Yaoguang in the past, shortly before the Third War of the Denizens of Abundance. She refused to return immediately, instead seeking their help to change the war’s outcome and prevent their master from using the Cloud-Gazing Mirror 89 90.

Yaoguang helped prepare Fanghu’s defenses and arranged for Jingxing and Fu Xuan’s energy blocks to be deployed against the Jidu Mirage. After the Mirage was destroyed and the allied forces fled, she told Jingtian that the Cloud-Gazing Mirror no longer needed to be opened 100 105 107 108.

After Jingxing and Fu Xuan traveled further into the past, Yaoguang waited in the present and repeatedly divined for their return. When they reached Yuque, Jingxing returned the Jade Knot, anchoring her at that point in time 110 127.

Appearance

Yaoguang appears youthful and carries herself with a serene bearing, which Jingxing compares to that of an immortal wandering the mortal world 2.

• Hair: Long and silvery-white 2.
• Hands: Fair and slender 2.
• Disguise: At the Borisin camp, she wore a hood and a coarse, frayed robe 74.

Personality

Yaoguang remains composed even when describing her isolation while drifting through time. She can also be playful: she teasingly calls Jingxing “cute little one” when they meet on Priva II and later offers her name to help him if he encounters trouble with the Interastral Peace Corporation 2 74 131.

Although she says her divinations have never been wrong, Yaoguang hopes that she, Fu Xuan and their teacher might someday make one that is. Her determination to challenge a predicted fate leads her to refuse rescue until she has tried to change the war on Fanghu 75 89 90.

Abilities & Skills

Divination

Fortune-telling is Yaoguang’s specialty as a general 75.

• Uses patterned fortune slips to form and interpret omens; she gives Jingxing the most auspicious fortune 2.
• Foresees danger to Yuque if she does not personally investigate Priva II, though the divination does not identify the danger 75.
• Predicts the timing of the Jidu Mirage’s descent; Fu Xuan independently confirms her initial result 98.

Talismans and Constraint

Yaoguang uses talismans for reconnaissance and concealment. As an Emanator of the Hunt, she can also apply Constraint to another person’s power 75 77 78.

• Throws talismans during her escape from the Borisin, preventing pursuers from locating her and Jingxing 75.
• Reveals a live image of the distant Borisin camp with a talisman 77.
• Sets limits on the range, targets and results of Jingxing’s power, allowing him to act without controlling every part of it himself 78.

Timewheel Heavenly Pheasant Wisdom King

The Timewheel Heavenly Pheasant Wisdom King, nicknamed Little Shi, is a peacock spirit bestowed on Yaoguang by the Reignbow Arbiter. It symbolizes the Eye of the Hunt 79.

• Temporarily contains Jingxing’s overflowing energy on Priva II.
• Its talisman light cannot hold his energy indefinitely 79.

Synchronic Displacement

Yaoguang’s condition can remove her from her current point in time without warning. The Heavenly Wisdom Jade Knot keeps her anchored by maintaining observation of her 80.

• She can deliberately leave the present by removing the Jade Knot and ceasing to observe herself.
• She cannot control when an episode will occur without the Knot’s protection 80.

Equipment and Items

• Heavenly Wisdom Jade Knot — A carved jade pendant that anchors Yaoguang in the present. She entrusts it to Jingxing on Priva II and recovers it upon his return to Yuque 79 80 127.
• Fortune slips and talismans — Patterned slips used for divination, concealment and remote observation 2 75 77.
• Divination sachet — A sachet containing two divinations Yaoguang gives Fu Xuan before she and Jingxing travel further into the past 110.

Relationships

• Jingxing — She tells his fortune on Vesna IV and later meets him on Priva II before she knows him from her own perspective. She entrusts him with the Jade Knot and asks him to bring her back 2 74 80.
• Fu Xuan — Her junior sister and fellow disciple. Yaoguang asks her to help change their master’s fate and welcomes her back to Yuque after her travels 89 90 127.
• Jingtian — Her master. Yaoguang works to prevent him from using the Cloud-Gazing Mirror during the war on Fanghu 90 108.
• Lord Ravager Guiji — Yaoguang took part in a campaign against Guiji and told Jingxing that the conflict scattered her existence 2.

Notable Quotes

“If you meet any Pathstriders of Harmony in the future, try to stay away from them.” 2

“What cannot be restrained can only be destroyed.” 78

“Then I’ll have to trouble you to use the Jade Knot to find me in the lost timeline and bring me back.” 80

“Let’s see if we can find a more perfect ending.” 90