Li Moran

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Li Moran (李墨染)
Gender	Female
Affiliation	Spirit Cloud Sect; Sword Inquiry Peak 15 41
Occupation/Role	True Disciple; eldest senior sister of Sword Inquiry Peak 355
Master	Liu Qingmei 41 74
Innate Physique	Ice Phoenix Sword Body 14 333 335
Cultivation Realm	Refining Void Realm 539 551
Primary Weapon	Silver Longsword 41 588
Distinction	Described as the Spirit Cloud Sect's once-in-a-thousand-years genius and the youngest Refining Void cultivator 555
First Appearance	Chapter 10 10

Personality

Li Moran is initially aloof, reserved, and dutiful; she agrees to assess Demonic Path Escape because of her master's order rather than personal enthusiasm. After being defeated by Lu Ze's unconventional tactics, however, she begins treating Illusion Realm challenges seriously. 10 14

She is intensely competitive and persistent. She seeks to surpass the player “Nameless,” repeatedly challenges Lu Ze after learning his identity, and treats defeats as opportunities to refine her own techniques. 12 74 161

Li Moran is also analytical and adaptable in combat. She identifies and tests advanced movement-and-attack techniques in Immortal-Demon Supremacy, and her fluid execution impresses other cultivators. 204 207 Despite being afraid of ghosts, she accepts Lu Ze's challenge to clear the highest difficulty of Ghost Town Terror. 247

Her detachment is partly an effect of the Ice Phoenix Sword Body, which has suppressed her desires and emotional responses since birth. Her attachment to Sutier in This Demonic Cultivator Is Not Too Cold breaks through that restraint, revealing tenderness, grief, and fear of loss. After discovering that circulating her cultivation through the fading emotions strengthens her physique, she becomes noticeably more expressive and lively. 319 333 335

She values genuine mastery over rewards, reputation, and staged victories. She disdains Lu Ze's proposed promotional match-fixing, refuses to act out a rescue for his benefit, and repeatedly seeks an honest contest against him. At the Sword Dao Ruins, she remains untroubled by public mockery and a deliberately inferior reward, preferring to analyze her opponent's swordsmanship. 273 401 405 558 560

Beneath her cold public image, Li Moran loves cute animals. She initially refuses to kill harmless Tombat, Peckipeck, and Lamball in Palworld, accepting slower progress through gathering instead. She enjoys resting against her Shiny Lamball and is disturbed by her fellow disciples' harsh treatment of their Pals. 525 526

Her persistence can become uncompromising perfectionism. She defeats a vastly higher-level Forest Mammoth through thousands of one-point strikes, then repeatedly resets her Sekiro save to challenge an apparent scripted defeat. Even when victory over Genichiro is assured, she restarts rather than accept anything short of a no-hit performance. 527 529 570 586

Abilities & Skills

Nine Heavens Mystic Ice Swordplay

Li Moran practices the Nine Heavens Mystic Ice Swordplay. Watching Lu Ze's precise timing and control in Plants vs. Zombies gives her an insight that produces a breakthrough in the technique. 42

• Her Ice Soul resonates with the Illusion Realm's Ice-shrooms during her breakthrough. 42
• She displays ice-based fighting methods in Illusion Realm battles, including freezing the Heretical Buddha and later Du Cheng. 278 279
• Before the breakthrough, she had remained at major mastery for several months despite sensing that perfection was within reach. Her major-mastery swordplay was already described as sufficient to claim the top position in the Spirit Cloud Sect and rival few cultivators of the same realm across Tianxuan Continent. 41
• Liu Qingmei teaches that, at great perfection, a single strike can freeze heaven and earth and nearly halt time. The breakthrough witnessed by Chao Wendao brings Li Moran's swordsmanship to perfection; Plants vs. Zombies supplies the opportunity rather than the underlying foundation of her achievement. 41 42

Ice Phoenix Sword Body

The Ice Phoenix Sword Body is Li Moran's innate physique. Its influence leaves her unusually detached and suppresses desire, leading others to believe that strong emotions weaken its power. 333 335

• Her experiences with Sutier reveal a previously unrecognized avenue of advancement: as she circulates her cultivation and suppresses intense emotions, the physique grows stronger while those emotions fade. Its ordinary suppression of emotional upheaval had prevented earlier bearers from discovering this method. 335
• The emotional shock of Sutier begging her not to leave causes Li Moran's spiritual energy to exceed the Illusion Tower's restrictions and sever her connection to the realm. This opens a path beyond the physique's long-standing restraints, with a breakthrough subsequently confirmed. 333 335
• Ice Breath Technique is the physique's unique breath-concealing art. Its description states that mastery allows it to evade Divine Sense probes below the Integration Realm. Lu Ze obtains it as a system reward after defeating Li Moran; his subsequent mastery does not establish that Li Moran herself has mastered it. 14 15

Sword Intent and Ice Techniques

Li Moran's swordsmanship combines extremely precise execution with powerful ice-based attacks. She continues refining it through both conventional cultivation and Illusion Realm experimentation. 41 146 335

• Profound Ice Sword Intent — Lu Ze receives a minor-mastery version as a reward after defeating her in Immortal Realm Supremacy. 74
• Profound Ice Longswords — While suppressing her strength to early Spirit Transformation, she launches sixty-four ice swords as a single move. Each sword can pierce a Spirit Transformation cultivator's defenses. When offended by Lu Ze's description of her changed personality, she summons 128 swords. 335
• Swordsmanship Mod Development — In Minecraft, she repeatedly revises a Swordsmanship Mod, using the realm's exposed, block-based structures to examine movements and Sword Intent in increasing detail. This leads to more precise Sword Intent and a genuine breakthrough. 146 147
• Spirit Bullet Insight — She interprets unstable bullet trajectories as “wild Sword Qi,” applying her understanding of the sword to the Heavenly Weapon · Type Seven in Immortal Abyss Continent Operation. 384
• Ice-related Dao Resonance — During her battle with Frostallion, she perceives Dao resonance in a snowflake. The surrounding wind and snow change direction, Frostallion's ice attacks turn aside, and the divine beast submits to her. Enlightenment in the real world follows. 539

Void-Returning Sword Intent

Li Moran comprehends Void-Returning Sword Intent, one of the Limitless Sword Sect's supreme sword intents, after refining her swordsmanship in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. 588 589

• Hundreds of nearby cultivators' swords leave their owners' control and gather around her during the breakthrough. 588
• The First Sect Master's battered black longsword emerges from the Limitless Sword Domain's sealed grounds. When Li Moran touches it, the sword crumbles into motes that enter her Silver Longsword. 588
• Her manifested Sword Intent forms a black hole and drains strength from the surrounding weapons. 588
• Reports attribute her recognition by the intent to tempering her swordsmanship into its simplest, purest form while cut off from cultivation and prior Sword Dao knowledge. The achievement is presented as genuine self-improvement rather than a randomly bestowed Heavenly Dao opportunity. 589

Illusion Realm Combat

Li Moran is a highly capable competitive Illusion Realm player whose strengths include spacing, combos, and rapid adaptation to unfamiliar mechanics.

• Ran 3,000 steps in her first Demonic Path Escape trial, greatly exceeding Zhong Yi's 500-step result. 12
• Uses distance control and combo techniques effectively enough to defeat Zhou Yue. 160
• Masters W-TAP in combat against Lu Ze, though Lu Ze counters it with Hit Select. 161
• Discovers and practices movement-based attack-animation canceling, also called orb-walking or attack moving. 204 207
• Regularly requests midnight solo matches against White Curtain, improving quickly through repeated training. 217
• Selects the Peerless Sword Maiden Heroic Soul in Immortal-Demon Supremacy. 200
• Occasionally reaches the threshold of Human-Soul Unity, placing her second only to White Curtain in the account of her progress. 247
• Uses Gu Qinghan's ultimate, Mixed Origin Ice, Howling Wind, to freeze the Heretical Buddha during its skill-casting animation, following advice from Lu Ze. 278
• Learns shooter tactics through two-player matches with Lu Ze and memorizes all nineteen hiding spots he uses at Ascension Base. She can also identify his schemes from their characteristic execution without seeing his name. 389 401 404
• Notices the fluctuating strength and apparent predictive accuracy of [Last Dusk], then reviews a suspicious defeat in detail rather than attributing it solely to carelessness. 408 410

Palworld Sword-Only Combat

Li Moran follows Lu Ze's challenge to progress through Palworld without summoning Pals during main-story battles. Capturing Pals for travel, crafting, and support is permitted, and arena combat is separately exempted from their agreement. 525 534

• At level 9, she challenges the level-37 Forest Mammoth with a Basic Iron Sword, dealing only one point of damage per strike. She eventually defeats it through thousands of guaranteed-damage hits without being struck during the successful fight. 527 529
• From that battle, she develops the conviction that any enemy with a health bar that her sword can reduce is ultimately beatable. 529
• After defeating Forest Mammoth, she fights alone from the Starting Plateau to the Pure White Snowfield without dying again. She reaches level 54 before her encounter with Frostallion. 539
• Her sword-only method has a mechanical limit: the final Quivern-and-Zoe encounter requires more damage than a player can produce without Pals and their support effects, making a solo clear impossible under the restriction. 551 552

Sekiro Combat and Technique Study

In Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Li Moran trains while cultivation, Spiritual Energy, Root Bone, and memories and insights related to the sword are sealed. She must relearn combat within Sekiro's fixed physical capabilities. 561 576

• Adapts to Deflect-and-counter combat after three failures against Yamauchi Shigenori, defeating his second life through a fluid sequence of attacks, defense, and counterattack. 566
• Becomes the first cultivator to defeat Genichiro Ashina on Normal difficulty, completing the Reed Field encounter without taking damage. Her deflections build his Posture Bar despite variations in the timing and form of his attacks. 586
• Defeats Gyoubu Masataka Oniwa in under fifteen minutes after her Genichiro victory, and clears Headless without damage after roughly a dozen deaths, using a method discussed at the Limitless Sword Domain. 598
• Studies Isshin Ashina's techniques after a crushing defeat and attempts to reproduce One-Slash, Cross Slash, and One Mind. These are attempts at imitation, not confirmed acquired Skills: the realm's fixed stats and requirement for a school's special “qi” prevent movement alone from reproducing their effects. 599 600

Power Progression

Chapter(s)	Advancement or Recorded State	Details
14	Spirit Transformation Stage recorded	Her cultivation is explicitly identified at this level during her first duel against Nameless. 14
41	Nine Heavens Mystic Ice Swordplay at major mastery	Has remained at the threshold of perfection for several months. 41
42	Nine Heavens Mystic Ice Swordplay reaches perfection	Resonance with Ice-shrooms while observing Lu Ze's Plants vs. Zombies play supplies the opportunity for her breakthrough. 42
74	Profound Ice Sword Intent demonstrated through a reward	Lu Ze receives Profound Ice Sword Intent (Minor Mastery) after defeating her; she also achieves the first Spirit Cloud Sect campaign victory in Immortal Realm Supremacy. 74
146, 147	Sword Intent refinement and cultivation breakthrough	Developing a Swordsmanship Mod in Minecraft sharpens her Sword Intent. The breakthrough is described as early-to-mid Nascent Soul, despite the earlier Spirit Transformation designation. 146 147
247	Approaches Human-Soul Unity	Occasionally touches its threshold in Immortal-Demon Supremacy. 247
333, 335	Ice Phoenix Sword Body breakthrough	Discovers that suppressing and allowing intense emotions to fade strengthens her physique, breaking its long-standing restraints. 333 335
384	Sword Dao insight through firearms	Understands unstable Spirit Bullet trajectories as wild Sword Qi. 384
523	Refining Void breakthrough remains blocked	Has stood at the realm's threshold for half a year but emerges from seclusion after another failed attempt. 523
529	Sword-only combat insight	Defeats Forest Mammoth through thousands of one-point strikes and concludes that any enemy her sword can damage can ultimately be overcome. 529
539	Breakthrough to Refining Void Realm	Encounters ice-related Dao resonance during Frostallion's submission, then attains enlightenment on Sword Inquiry Peak the following morning. Her Palworld character has reached level 54. 539
554, 555	Further Sword Dao progress; potential Sword Immortal	Reports genuine improvement through Palworld. Lu Ze's system announces an emerging Sword Immortal, whom he believes is likely Li Moran; this is a prediction rather than a confirmed attained title. 554 555
586	Flawless Genichiro victory	Achieves the first Normal-difficulty kill without taking damage while deprived of her usual cultivation and sword knowledge. 586
588	Void-Returning Sword Intent comprehended	Gains the Limitless Sword Sect's supreme intent, with the First Sect Master's sword dissolving into her Silver Longsword. No further cultivation-realm advancement is stated. 588
599, 600	Ashina-style technique study	Attempts advanced techniques after observing Isshin, but has not acquired their special effects or the required “qi.” 599 600

Relationships

• Lu Ze / “Nameless” / White Curtain — A frequent rival and sparring partner. Li Moran initially challenges Nameless in Demonic Path Escape, later supports Lu Ze during his interrogation, and continues seeking rematches after discovering his identity. 14 20 74 161 She knows that his Bai Mu/White Curtain alternate account is the former Nameless account. Their relationship develops into tactical instruction and considerable trust, although his dishonorable methods, intrusive observation, and misleading challenges repeatedly anger her. She credits his realms with her physique and Sword Dao breakthroughs, while he benefits from her Demonic Value and the skills his system awards through her. 158 217 335 389 401 529 552 588 Lu Ze publicly defends her against the Limitless Sword Sect's attempt to humiliate her, but later secretly brings in the Heavenly Dao's Fragment to delay her Sekiro progress for his own mission reward. 560 600
• Zhong Yi — Fellow True Disciple and game companion. They assess Demonic Path Escape together, exchange knowledge of Illusion Realm mechanics, and play on the Spirit Cloud Sect team. 10 12 204 Li Moran is disturbed by his treatment of Pals, including his claim that burning severely injured ones is “treatment.” His livestream later records Frostallion's submission to her. 526 539
• Mu Yawen — Fellow True Disciple who joins Li Moran during the original assessment of Demonic Path Escape and later supports her in sect competition challenges. 10 58
• Zhou Yue — Fellow competitive player. Li Moran defeats him in a duel, later fights alongside him against opposing Illusion Realm combatants, and is aided by Lu Ze before defeating Du Cheng. 160 278 279 She also wins their close shooter duel and joins him in securing the Spirit Cloud Sect's early qualification and first place in the second stage. In Palworld, he guides her to the sect's base and gives her Galeclaw and its saddle. Her self-reliant fighting later causes him to reconsider his dependence on Pals. 406 408 525 539
• Chao Wendao — An elder who assigns Li Moran the task of reaching level 50 during preparations for the sect competition. 58 He later selects her rather than Lu Ze to represent the sect at the Sword Dao Ruins and cites her Void-Returning Sword Intent breakthrough when investigating the cultivation benefits of Sekiro. 554 605
• Liu Mo — A competitor whose unusual match behavior prompts Lu Ze to warn Li Moran to be cautious. 217
• Liu Qingmei — Her master, who instructs her in the significance of perfecting the Nine Heavens Mystic Ice Swordplay and sends her into Immortal Realm Supremacy to find a way to conquer Campaign Mode. 41 74
• Sutier — Her disciple and a profound emotional attachment within This Demonic Cultivator Is Not Too Cold. Playing as Li Ang, Li Moran teaches Sutier swordsmanship, comforts her, and grieves her death. During another playthrough, she tries to delay Sutier's progress because the Ice Lotus Mark she previously left accelerates cultivation and draws the story closer to its ending. Sutier's fear of abandonment becomes the immediate trigger for Li Moran's emotional and physical breakthrough. 310 315 319 333 335
• Zhou Qiaoling — A close game companion who brings her into the group's Immortal-Demon Supremacy sessions and hears her firsthand assessment of Lu Ze after their real-world spar. Qiaoling's harsh supervision of Pals shocks Li Moran, but she also lends Li Moran an Iron Sword for her independent challenges. 199 355 525 526
• Frostallion — A Palworld divine beast that submits to her after responding to her ice-related Dao resonance. Li Moran gently pets its horn and captures it with a modest Pal Sphere without resistance. 539
• Shen Yan — A Sky Profound Gate acquaintance connected through Zhong Yi and Illusion Realm competition. After losing to her in a single strike, he privately shares his suspicions about the Sword Dao Ruins' purported Heavenly Dao opportunities, helping her recognize that her lack of rewards is not a failure of her own. 557
• Chen Yuan — Grand Elder of the Limitless Sword Sect and an opponent at the Sword Dao Ruins. Despite secretly enhanced stats, he realizes her superior technique will defeat him and abandons their duel while presenting the concession as generosity. His sect's slight against her becomes the basis of Lu Ze's wager, while her subsequent comprehension of Void-Returning Sword Intent validates the training value of Lu Ze's realm. 558 560 588
• Isshin Ashina — A powerful Sekiro opponent she deliberately challenges after recognizing his strength beneath the Tengu disguise. His initial defeat of her inspires close study of his techniques. 598 599
• Fragment of the Heavenly Dao — Secretly brought into her Isshin encounter by Lu Ze to increase its difficulty and prevent her from clearing the realm too quickly. Its participation creates pressure intense enough to affect even spectators. 600 601

Story Role / Major Arcs

Demonic Path Escape Assessment

Li Moran joins Mu Yawen and Zhong Yi in evaluating Demonic Path Escape for the Spirit Cloud Sect. She achieves the group's highest initial score, then challenges the top-ranked “Nameless” and loses to Lu Ze's unconventional gameplay, prompting her to take the Illusion Realm seriously. 10 12 14

After witnessing the heavenly phenomena associated with Lu Ze's Foundation Establishment breakthrough, she suspects a connection to the concealed player she fought and resolves that she will one day defeat him. 15

Lu Ze's Interrogation

When Ding Mingcang accuses Lu Ze of creating a heretical Illusion Realm, Li Moran speaks in his defense. She argues that the spells used in the realm are not too profound for a Qi Refining cultivator, helping establish the plausibility of Lu Ze's claim. 19 20

Swordplay Breakthrough and Sect Competition

Li Moran gains insight into her Nine Heavens Mystic Ice Swordplay by observing Lu Ze play Plants vs. Zombies. Later, she perseveres through Lu Ze's mental-fortitude trials and completes Chao Wendao's assigned objective of reaching level 50. 42 58

Her breakthrough resolves a months-long bottleneck at major mastery. Chao Wendao recognizes that her existing cultivation made perfection possible and that the game merely provided the necessary opportunity. 41 42

Rivalry with Lu Ze

After exposing Nameless as Lu Ze, Li Moran renews her challenge against him. During a later combat event, she defeats Zhou Yue with superior control and combos, then faces Lu Ze herself; although he defeats her through Hit Select, she resolves to improve further. 74 160 161

In Immortal Realm Supremacy, Liu Qingmei orders her to investigate Campaign Mode. Although she loses another match against Lu Ze, she learns from his ambushes, theft of money, and theft of technology. Shortly afterward, she leads the Spirit Cloud Sect to its first campaign victory over the Demonic Path. 74

Minecraft Swordsmanship Development

Li Moran experiments with Minecraft's Mod Editor to construct a Swordsmanship Mod. Repeated failures become a process of refinement as the block-based realm makes the structures of techniques and Sword Intent easier to examine. Her resulting breakthrough becomes evidence in defense of Lu Ze when the possibility of comprehending the Dao inside an Illusion Realm is disputed. 146 147

She also knows the identity behind Lu Ze's Bai Mu alternate account and recognizes the danger of his Fireball Talisman setup before other players do. Later, Lu Ze uses a trained Cybersoul modeled on Li Moran to operate his alternate identity in Bed Wars while he appears publicly elsewhere, helping conceal his connection to White Curtain. 158 165

Immortal-Demon Supremacy Team

Li Moran joins Zhong Yi, Zhou Yue, and their companions in Immortal-Demon Supremacy. She develops orb-walking techniques, becomes one of the Spirit Cloud Sect team's strongest players, and regularly trains against White Curtain in solo matches. 199 204 207 217

She chooses the Peerless Sword Maiden Heroic Soul and eventually approaches Human-Soul Unity. Her midnight matches remain closely contested opportunities for improvement, and she takes reassurance from Lu Ze's presence as a substitute even when facing suspicious opponents. 200 217 247

Ghost Town Terror

Although afraid of ghosts, Li Moran attempts the highest difficulty of Ghost Town Terror. Lu Ze declines her custom-game invitation and challenges her to clear the Illusion instead. 247

Naraka: Bladepoint and Heavenly Dao Mystic Realm

Li Moran spars with Lu Ze in Naraka: Bladepoint and reluctantly agrees to promote new skins after losing. She later rejects his plan to endorse a revealing Gu Qinghan skin and proposes a real spar using a longsword instead. 272 273

During the Heavenly Dao Mystic Realm conflict, allied players sacrifice themselves to block attacks and allow her to approach the Heretical Buddha. Recalling Lu Ze's advice, she uses Gu Qinghan's ultimate to freeze it during its casting animation. She later defeats Du Cheng after Lu Ze rescues her with a grappling hook from being thrown toward the Dark Zone. 277 278 279

Sutier and the Ice Phoenix Sword Body Breakthrough

In This Demonic Cultivator Is Not Too Cold, Li Moran plays as Li Ang and becomes Sutier's master. Her normally restrained demeanor gives way to small acts of affection, encouragement, and eventual grief when Sutier dies after describing her as greater than the legendary Sword Immortals. 310 315 319 335

In a later playthrough, the Ice Lotus Mark Li Moran left on Sutier's forehead accelerates the girl's cultivation. Because progress also brings Sutier closer to the story's ending, Li Moran tries taking her sightseeing instead of constantly training her. Sutier's nightmare of Li Moran disappearing, followed by her plea not to be abandoned, provokes an emotional surge strong enough to break the Illusion Tower's restrictions. 333

The experience enables a breakthrough in Li Moran's Ice Phoenix Sword Body. She confronts Lu Ze in reality, testing him with sixty-four Profound Ice Longswords while restricting herself to early Spirit Transformation strength. His resilience surprises her, but his remark that she seems “more like a person” prompts her to summon 128 swords. Lu Ze subsequently asks her to publicize that she has already punished him, hoping to discourage further powerful challengers; she later tells Zhou Qiaoling that she could not defeat him. 335 355

Immortal Abyss Continent Operation

Li Moran learns the shooter realm through two-player sessions with Lu Ze and gains sword-related insight from the behavior of Spirit Bullets. Watching his tournament play, she remains convinced of his extraordinary ability even when others doubt his equipment choices and recoil control. 384 389

She refuses to participate in Lu Ze's staged rescue scheme and seeks a direct fight instead. After recognizing him as the instigator of the Immortal Bridge alliance's collapse, she signals for a fair contest. She defeats Zhou Yue in a close duel, but Lu Ze exploits the sound of his teammate's revival to hide at floor level and ambush her as she carefully checks the passage. 401 404 405 406

In the second stage, Li Moran and Zhou Yue secure early qualification and first place while Lu Ze coaches rather than fighting directly. She notices [Last Dusk]'s inconsistent strength and apparent ability to predict her movements. After a later rapid elimination, she reviews the encounter and asks Lu Ze for his assessment, sharing his suspicion that the opposing team's performance is abnormal. 408 410

Palworld and Refining Void Enlightenment

After another failed attempt to enter Refining Void, Li Moran seeks opportunities in Lu Ze's realms. She chooses to explore Palworld independently under his restriction against relying on Pals in combat. Initially interpreting the rule too strictly, she avoids capturing them and levels through gathering because she cannot bring herself to kill the harmless, cute creatures near the starting area. Lu Ze clarifies that travel, crafting, and other support uses are allowed. 523 524 525

She visits the sect's highly developed base with Zhou Yue but is shocked by its exploitative treatment of Pals. Declining the group's offer to help her level through a summoned boss, she accepts an Iron Sword from Zhou Qiaoling and chooses to test herself. The group's summoned Bella Nova immediately destroys the base. 525 526

At level 9, Li Moran repeatedly challenges the level-37 Forest Mammoth. She believes Lu Ze placed it there as a meaningful trial, although he privately admits that he merely intended to annoy players. Her eventual victory through thousands of one-point attacks becomes a genuine martial insight and the foundation for a deathless sword-only journey toward the snowy regions. 527 529 539

She briefly enters the arena with her Pals after Lu Ze confirms that it lies outside their main-story agreement. Her collection includes Bladefish, an ordinary Lamball, and her enormous Shiny Lamball, reflecting affection rather than optimized team-building. 534

At level 54, Li Moran encounters Frostallion on Spirit Peak Mountain. During the battle, she senses ice-related Dao resonance, redirects the wind and snow, and receives the divine beast's willing submission. The following morning, she attains enlightenment on Sword Inquiry Peak and enters the Refining Void Realm. 539

Her sword-only run eventually meets an unavoidable damage-output barrier at the Quivern-and-Zoe final encounter. After testing it, she summons Lu Ze and demands that he demonstrate his claimed hidden solution. His hesitation exposes that he cannot solve it without altering the realm's data; her departure is followed by a violent storm of snow, hail, and blades at the Spirit Jade Pavilion, implying retaliation. Other players nevertheless begin imitating her solo journey to the World Tree in hopes of obtaining a comparable opportunity. 551 552 553

Sword Dao Ruins and the Limitless Sword Sect

Chao Wendao selects Li Moran to represent the Spirit Cloud Sect at the Sword Dao Ruins rather than risk Lu Ze's reputation. By then, she has gained real swordsmanship insight from Palworld and is seeking stronger opponents. Lu Ze's system warns of an emerging Sword Immortal, leading him to suspect that her progress has triggered a mission to disrupt the gathering. 554 555

Her reputation shapes the event's format. At the previous gathering, no younger-generation Limitless Sword Sect cultivator lasted three moves against her; now that she has reached Refining Void, even Chen Yuan doubts he can defeat her. The sect's cooperation with the Illusion Alliance shifts competition toward obtaining supposed Heavenly Dao opportunities, avoiding direct matches against her. 556

Li Moran clears Sword Slashing the Stars' hardest challenge without taking damage but finds its cultivation-dependent design inferior to Lu Ze's restricted realms. While others obtain valuable items, she receives nothing and wonders what she has failed to achieve. After she defeats Shen Yan in a single strike, his account of receiving an unsuitable high-grade sword confirms her suspicion that the rewards are artificially arranged rather than authentic enlightenment or inheritance. 555 557

Chen Yuan then challenges her with both participants apparently restricted to early Refining Void. Secret privileges give him superior stats, yet Li Moran's technique and comprehension gradually expose his weaknesses. Realizing that he will lose, he abandons the duel while publicly presenting his concession as generosity. He receives the Three Tribulations Sword Art amid dramatic effects, while Li Moran is given a crumpled basic sword manual. She ignores the audience's mockery and continues analyzing his abnormal speed and power. 558

Lu Ze objects that the reward is a deliberate attempt to undermine her Dao Heart. He wagers that Chen Yuan must clear his new sword-focused realm within five days or surrender the Three Tribulations Sword Art as compensation to the Spirit Cloud Sect. Li Moran remains untroubled by the insult but eagerly recognizes the potential of Lu Ze's proposed method of sealing prior sword knowledge as well as cultivation. 560 561

Sekiro and Void-Returning Sword Intent

Li Moran enters Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice with her cultivation and accumulated sword knowledge sealed. After three failures against Yamauchi Shigenori, she studies the combat rhythm and defeats him through precise deflections and counterattacks. Spectators who initially belittle her performance gain new appreciation when Lu Ze lets them experience the same loss of sword understanding. 561 566

Unlike other players, she refuses to accept the opening Genichiro encounter as an inevitable defeat. She repeatedly deletes her save and starts again, blocking livestream comments so she can concentrate. When victory finally becomes possible, she resets once more to pursue a flawless result, then achieves the realm's first Normal-difficulty Genichiro kill without taking damage. The scripted post-battle ambush still severs Sekiro's left arm despite her victory. 570 586 587

Her training culminates in a real-world Sword Dao breakthrough on the Viewing Terrace. Hundreds of swords gather around her, and the First Sect Master's black longsword emerges from the sealed depths of the Limitless Sword Domain. It dissolves into her Silver Longsword as she manifests Void-Returning Sword Intent. The achievement validates Lu Ze's claim that his realm improves Sword Dao and draws even skeptical cultivators into Illusion Realm training. 588 589

Afterward, ordinary bosses provide little sustained challenge. She defeats Gyoubu Masataka Oniwa rapidly and clears Headless after learning its countermeasure. Seeking stronger opposition, she follows Lu Ze's reminder that every character can be challenged and attacks the Tengu of Ashina, revealing Isshin Ashina as a hidden opponent. 598

Isshin defeats her with ease, but she responds by studying and imitating his techniques rather than becoming discouraged. Alarmed that her progress could let her clear the game before his five-day mission deadline, Lu Ze secretly recruits the Heavenly Dao's Fragment to intensify the encounter. Li Moran continues fighting under immense pressure; no victory over this strengthened Isshin or complete realm clear is established in the available account. 599 600 601 602

Trivia

• Li Moran is the strongest of the three True Disciples in their first recorded Demonic Path Escape attempt, with 3,000 steps. 12
• Her competitive nature extends to game cosmetics: she agrees to promote skins only after losing a spar with Lu Ze. 272
• Despite her composed public demeanor, she is afraid of ghosts. 247
• She has experienced every Illusion Realm Lu Ze had created by the time she joins the group for Immortal-Demon Supremacy, despite rarely appearing publicly outside Bed Wars. 199
• After winning the Immortal-Demon Supremacy championship, she chooses a Teemo skin, an early indication of her fondness for cute creatures. 525
• She qualifies for Lily's hidden Palworld recruitment condition of never harming a recruited Pal, but does not pursue it because she is focused on challenging powerful enemies. 541
• Her Frostallion carries a fortuitous opportunity; after she captures it, the Frostallions encountered by other players are no longer unbeatable. 542
• Her maxim that an enemy with a reducible health bar can be defeated carries from the Forest Mammoth challenge into her refusal to accept Genichiro's opening battle as unwinnable. 529 570
• The early cultivation descriptions are inconsistent: Chapter 14 identifies her as Spirit Transformation, while Chapter 147 describes her breakthrough as early-to-mid Nascent Soul. Her later Refining Void breakthrough is explicitly established. 14 147 539