Zhang Qiming

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Zhang Qiming (张启明) 229
Alias(es)	Sword God Zhang; Yi Deng (a fabricated Appearance Sect monk identity) 239 248
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Green Mountain Martial Academy; Jianghu Reform Committee and Yangzhou reform forces 244 248 252
Occupation/Role	Former Sword Qi teacher; reform operative and leader of the Pi City operation 245 252
Education	First batch of Green Mountain Martial Academy junior-high students 244
First Appearance	Chapter 229: Heaven High Monk

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
True Qi cultivation	229	Green Mountain students learn True Qi from first grade rather than first completing the traditional Blood Qi and Spirit stages. 229
Sword Eight	245	Learned the eighth form of the Green Mountain Sword Technique in his fourth academy year, far ahead of most students. 245
Circulatory Heaven-equivalent	229	Completed the academy’s nine-year program; its graduates are roughly comparable to Jianghu Circulatory Heaven Warriors. 229
Sword Nine	235	Created his own ninth sword form while facing three coordinated Circulatory Heaven monks; used it to defeat them. 235
True Person Martial Artist	252	Reached the True Person realm within a few years of graduation and assumed command of Yangzhou’s Xu Province operation. 252
Sword Ten	255	Developed a tenth form to counter Zhang Yi’s Ten Mountains True Thunder Sword and kill him. 255

Background

Zhang Qiming was among the first cohort of Green Mountain Martial Academy students. He excelled in Sword Qi, earned a perfect Sword Qi examination score, and learned Sword Eight by his fourth year. His aptitude, confidence, and appetite for trouble made him a legend among later students. 231 244 245

He repeatedly clashed with Dean Shi Feizhe over his desire to roam the Jianghu. After leaving his assigned work, he was sent first to a remote mine and later to a steel plant, where his Sword Qi made him an unusually effective worker. He subsequently served for half a year as a Sword Qi teacher before again requesting leave to enter the Jianghu. 244 245

Personality

Zhang Qiming is exuberant, competitive, and intensely drawn to life-or-death combat. He openly taunts opponents, becomes more excited when challenged, and considers a difficult fight a source of “pleasure.” 232 233 235

He is also impulsively compassionate. He intervenes when he sees abuse, saves people without seeking payment, and initially enters Pi City to punish the Golden Buddha Temple’s exploitation. His repeated attempts at individual chivalry leave him disillusioned when Pi City remains unchanged. 229 232 239

After returning to Yangzhou, he redirects that frustration into reform. He gives up his dream of carefree wandering and accepts responsibility for changing the conditions that produce Jianghu corruption. 248 249 252

Abilities & Skills

Green Mountain Sword Qi

Zhang Qiming’s primary martial art is the Green Mountain Sword Technique, which he uses with unusually fast comprehension and high-output Sword Qi.

• His Sword Two, the Armor-Piercing Sword Qi, is designed to penetrate Buddha Light and other protective True Qi; it pierced both Blessing Monk and his Amitabha Dharma image. 231
• He can continuously unleash Sword Three through Sword Eight, using overwhelming volume to suppress stronger opponents. 233
• His Sword Qi shifts from light blue to dark blue as his killing intent intensifies. 233
• He defeated Circulatory Heaven warrior Guang Kong with Sword Eight. 234

Self-Created Sword Forms

Zhang Qiming’s strongest techniques arose from combat and his evolving understanding of his own path.

• Sword Nine — A deep-blue, formless Sword Qi created while surrounded by Fu Guang, Fu Hai, and Fu Xing. It is his personal move rather than a standard Green Mountain form. 235
• Sword Ten — A countermeasure against the Ten Mountains True Thunder Sword. Zhang Qiming confines an opponent’s existing Sword Qi, preventing them from controlling newly created Sword Qi. 255
• After reinterpreting Sword Eight through his own convictions, he made the form simultaneously substantial and insubstantial, making it difficult to defend against. 255

Martial Theory and Imitation

Green Mountain Martial Academy’s martial-theory education allows Zhang Qiming to analyze unfamiliar techniques and reproduce their principles through Sword Qi.

• He can simulate Golden Buddha Temple martial arts, including Buddha Light, by reverse-deducing their martial principles. 242
• His imitation was convincing enough that even genuine Golden Buddha Temple practitioners could doubt whether their techniques had been stolen. 242

Martial Dao Cultivation Foundation — Version 3.13

Zhang Qiming employs a Yangzhou method for dealing with unstable “Madman Martial Artists.”

• He deploys a large Φ-symbol domain to confront opponents whose cultivation has distorted their minds. 318
• Rather than immediately executing such opponents, he supports corrective treatment and reintegration when they have caused no irreversible harm. 319 320

Equipment

• Personal long sword — Forged with Sword Qi; the name “Zhang Qiming” is carved near the guard, leaving visible burrs in the inscription. 249
• Diary — Required by Shi Feizhe during his Jianghu journey; Zhang Qiming records his travels and reflections in it. 237 246

Relationships

• Shi Feizhe — Dean, mentor, and frequent disciplinarian. Zhang Qiming challenged his authority as a student, but later accepts his guidance and reform mission. 244 249
• Fu Sheng — Former Golden Buddha Temple monk whom Zhang Qiming rescues and accompanies through Pi City; Zhang Qiming later insists on bringing him to Yangzhou. 229 232 243
• Zhou Jiaxing — Green Mountain junior and fellow alumnus. They recognize one another through academy slang; Zhou later supplies intelligence for the Pi City operation. 243 244 252
• Fan Qin Chu — Classmate who welcomes Zhang Qiming’s arrival in Yangzhou North and supports his leadership of the Xu Province campaign. 252
• Blessing Monk — Golden Buddha Temple monk defeated and captured by Zhang Qiming within a few moves. 231 232
• Guang Kong — Golden Buddha Temple abbot and Circulatory Heaven opponent killed by Zhang Qiming during the assault on the temple. 233 234
• NanGong Zhao — True Person City Lord of Pi City. Zhang Qiming refuses his demand for tribute and attacks him rather than submit to his “Obedience Test.” 241 242 249
• Zhang Yi — True Martial Hall martial artist killed by Zhang Qiming after the latter countered the Ten Mountains True Thunder Sword with Sword Ten. 254 255

Story Role / Major Arcs

Pi City and the Golden Buddha Temple

Zhang Qiming enters Pi City with Fu Sheng to investigate the “Heaven High Monks,” his mocking name for the Golden Buddha Temple’s exploitative monks. He defeats Blessing Monk, uses him as bait, infiltrates Golden Buddha Temple, and kills Guang Kong and several other senior monks. 229 232 233 235

His campaign exposes both the temple’s corruption and the cruelty of Pi City’s ruling class. After posing as the Appearance Sect monk Yi Deng, he is brought before City Lord NanGong Zhao, refuses to participate in the True Person Dance or pay the temple’s tribute, and attacks his host before escaping. 239 241 242

Return to Yangzhou

Disgusted by Pi City and unable to ignore the suffering around him, Zhang Qiming returns to Yangzhou with Fu Sheng. He reunites with Zhou Jiaxing, completes his diary, and reports his experiences to Shi Feizhe at the Jianghu Reform Committee. 243 245 246 248

Shi Feizhe recognizes that Zhang Qiming retained his instinct to protect others and refused the NanGong Family’s attempt to condition him into obedience. Zhang Qiming then commits himself to becoming a “cleaner” of the Jianghu rather than merely seeking adventure. 249

Xu Province Reform Operation

After reaching the True Person realm, Zhang Qiming leads a Yangzhou force preparing to take Pi City and expand reform into Xu Province. He chooses to shoulder the greatest risk himself, while directing his classmates to collect detailed information on Pi City’s population and livelihoods for its eventual transformation. 252

He later kills Zhang Yi in three moves, using Sword Ten to exploit the limitations of the Ten Mountains True Thunder Sword. 255

Administrator of the New Jianghu

By the time of the Xu Province campaigns, Zhang Qiming has become more measured in wielding power. When dealing with Kill Without End, he uses reform methods to stabilize the man’s condition and requires restitution, apologies, and future compliance with local law rather than simply killing him. 318 319 320

Notable Quotes

“Pursuing a life of excitement and pleasure is my lifelong pursuit and dream. But to clean up this cesspool of Jianghu, I am willing to be a cleaner!” 249

“In my generation, I’m the most powerful!” 232

Trivia

• Zhang Qiming was the only student from Green Mountain Martial Academy’s first cohort to leave Yangzhou in pursuit of his own Jianghu ideals. 235
• He was notorious for stealing cooking wine from the academy cafeteria and for provoking Dean Shi badly enough to make him break pens and smash a desk. 244
• The name “Zhang Qiming” was provided by a book friend. 229