Jingming

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Jingming (静明)
Lay surname	Chen; her lay given name is not disclosed 4.
Alias(es)	Second Senior Sister 3 5.
Gender	Female 3.
Affiliation	Clear Wind Temple 3 148.
Occupation/Role	Daoist cultivator; Ji Chen’s second disciple; Shen Hui’s teacher in reading, writing, and scripture 3 5.
Cultivation	Reached Foundation Establishment before her death; her exact realm after bodily restoration is not specified 148 434 435.
Status	Restored to a physical body after death and preservation in the Soul-Searching Gourd 148 434.
First Appearance	Chapter 3, “Becoming a Disciple” 3.

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Threshold of Foundation Establishment	6	Had approached Foundation Establishment after roughly twenty years of cultivation; Li Changxing praised her exceptional aptitude.
Foundation Establishment	148	Explicitly confirmed during her escape with Shen Hui. She carried him on her flying sword, but her worsening corruption and injuries ended the flight.
Cultivation resumed after bodily restoration; realm unspecified	434 435	Shen Hui reconstructed her body. With newly regained spiritual energy, she learned to retrieve items from a storage pouch.

Background / History

Life at Clear Wind Temple

Jingming entered Clear Wind Temple several years after Li Changxing, yet surpassed her fellow disciples in cultivation and understanding of Daoist arts. When Shen Hui joined, Ji Chen chose her to teach him literacy because she was meticulous, patient, and skilled in handwriting 3 4.

Her lessons combined brushwork, character recognition, scripture, and cultivation principles. She began with basic characters and later used an annotated edition of the Taishang Ganying Pian. She also recognized Shen Hui’s unusually early entry into the Dao and did not expose it when he later presented his advancement to the others 5 7 10.

After a meal of poisonous mushrooms caused hallucinations throughout the temple, Jingming recognized something was wrong upon seeing a talking civet cat. She immediately sought Ji Chen and accompanied him as he rescued the affected disciples with Talisman Wine 14.

Li Family Village

Jingming accompanied Shen Hui to investigate the demon threatening Li Family Village, offering to track it through demonic aura. A village elder recognized her from an earlier visit with Ji Chen 21.

When Shen Hui killed the wolf demon, she was startled by both his fire technique and the cold, blunt demeanor it temporarily produced. She admitted that his fire was more powerful than hers, but challenged his judgment of techniques he had never seen her use in combat 24.

The Temple Calamity

Jingming was the first disciple to notice something wrong when Ji Chen returned to the temple in a deranged state. When he struggled to request a peach branch, she reacted immediately and ran to fetch one 146.

During the ensuing catastrophe, Jingming became infected by a dark force and suffered a severe wound to her back. She rescued Shen Hui by flying sword, but they crashed in the forest as her condition deteriorated. She revealed that she had killed Fifth Junior Brother Qing Shi and had seized the Sword Box, Soul-Searching Gourd, and as much of the temple’s inheritance as she could carry 148.

Entrusting those treasures to Shen Hui, she named him the new Temple Master and warned him not to trust Qingyi. She also asked him to find her younger sister if the girl was still alive. To prevent the dark force from taking control, Jingming committed suicide; her soul entered the Soul-Searching Gourd 148.

Her corpse was subsequently possessed by a Corpse Fiend. Shen Hui incinerated it, while her soul remained preserved 149 253.

Preservation and Restoration

While residing in the gourd, Jingming continued helping Shen Hui. She obtained information from Mao Yong about the Plague Emperor Sect, cautioned Shen Hui to prioritize his safety, and offered to teach Lu Huan to read and write 213 214.

Shen Hui later summoned her after reaching Golden Core. Rather than reproach him for delaying everyone’s restoration, she supplied Ji Chen’s birth characters and told him to address their master first 253.

At the new mountain sanctuary, Shen Hui rebuilt the bodies of the temple’s members. Jingming retained her familiar appearance. During the reunion feast, she recognized Shen Hui’s grief over Qingyi and explained that she had always known Qingyi was not truly affiliated with Clear Wind Temple. She supported Shen Hui’s decision to kill him, saying she would eventually have purged him herself 434.

Afterward, Shen Hui returned her preserved sword and gave her a storage pouch containing protective supplies and clothing. Jingming’s quiet happiness at recovering her sword marked her return to physical life 435.

Appearance

Jingming has an oval face, delicate brows and eyes, and a calm gaze described as carrying serenity beyond her years 4.

• Build: Slender 253.
• Hair: Meticulously arranged, including an immaculate bun during the journey to Li Family Village 14 21.
• Usual clothing: Plain gray or blue-gray Daoist robes, sometimes washed pale, with a similarly faded cloth sash 14 21.
• Restored appearance: Unchanged from before the temple calamity 434.
• Later robe: A black Daoist robe decorated with clouds and cranes at her request 435.

Personality

Jingming is reserved, composed, and exacting. Her refined table manners and corrections of Jinghui’s behavior reflect her concern for discipline. She initially takes a strict view of cultivation, criticizing indulgence in food and questioning whether miscellaneous reading distracts from the Dao 4 6 12 17.

Her restraint does not prevent patient teaching or practical care. She corrects Shen Hui’s writing carefully, protects the secrecy of his early breakthrough, and later offers to teach Lu Huan. She is also perceptive enough to detect Shen Hui’s concealed progress and recognize his grief over Qingyi without being told 5 7 10 214 434.

Her loyalty to Clear Wind Temple is uncompromising: while dying, she prioritizes its inheritance over her own survival. After restoration, she shows a quieter, teasing side, responding warmly to Shen Hui’s gifts and lightly questioning his knowledge of women’s clothing 148 435.

Abilities & Skills

Aura Observation and Physiognomy

Jingming learned aura reading and physiognomy from Ji Chen 5.

• Reads facial signs and the flow of aura to assess fortune and possible calamity 5.
• Identifies signs of hardship and violent early death in Shen Hui, alongside hidden purple qi suggesting renewed life and unpredictable change 5.
• Can trace demonic aura to locate a beast 21.
• Recognizes the limits of her judgment: after the wolf encounter, she regrets not examining its Dao Xing more carefully before allowing the confrontation 24.

Yin Fire

Her fire technique uses cold, ghostly Yin Fire rather than Shen Hui’s fierce, direct fire 24.

• Suited to ambushes, trapping enemies, and disturbing their minds 24.
• Can kill without the victim immediately realizing they have been struck 24.
• Jingming acknowledges that it cannot burn through a powerful enemy’s protective Sha barrier or incinerate their physical treasures in a direct confrontation 24.

Flying Sword

Jingming uses a flying sword after reaching Foundation Establishment 148.

• Carries herself and Shen Hui away from the mountain during the temple calamity 148.
• Her flight fails as her corrupted, wounded body deteriorates 148.

Literacy and Scriptural Instruction

Ji Chen specifically entrusts Jingming with teaching Shen Hui because of her patience, precision, and neat handwriting 3.

• Demonstrates brush grip and clear, vigorous regular script 5.
• Corrects stroke order and character structure through repeated tracing exercises 5.
• Explains scripture, basic cultivation principles, and Daoist traditions alongside literacy lessons 7.
• Later offers to provide the same foundational instruction to Lu Huan 214.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Frostfire — Her treasured sword. Its blade is slender and shines with a clear, frigid light. Shen Hui preserves it after her death and returns it after her restoration 153 435.
• Storage pouch — Prepared by Shen Hui and given to her after she regains a body; holds her sword, protective supplies, and clothing 435.
• Clear Wind Token — A sect token bearing Shen Hui’s Thunder Talisman, intended to protect her and repel enemies in an emergency 435.
• Medicinal pills — Supplied in sealed white porcelain bottles, with written labels identifying their effects and usage 435.
• Cloud-and-crane robe — A black Daoist robe decorated through Shen Hui’s Matter Transformation Method. She requests clouds and cranes instead of his initial lotus pattern 435.
• Rescued temple inheritance — Temporarily carries the Sword Box, Soul-Searching Gourd, and inherited texts out of the ruined temple before passing them to Shen Hui 148.

Relationships

• Ji Chen — Master. He trusts her patience and scholarly precision, and she responds swiftly to his distress during the temple calamity 3 146.
• Shen Hui / Qingxuan — Junior brother and literacy student. Their relationship develops from formal instruction and philosophical disagreement into mutual protection, trust, and candid reassurance 3 12 148 434 435.
• Jinghui — Junior martial sister. Jingming restrains her excessive curiosity and corrects her table manners; Jinghui later expresses admiration for Jingming’s oval face 4 6 433.
• Qing Shi — Fifth junior brother. Jingming reports killing him during the temple calamity; he is later among those whose bodies Shen Hui restores 148 434.
• Qingyi — Former fellow disciple whose true affiliation she knew from the beginning. She warns Shen Hui against trusting him and later supports his removal from their ranks 148 434.
• Lu Huan — Shen Hui’s companion and fellow member of the temple lineage. Jingming offers to teach her reading and writing 214.
• Unnamed younger sister — Family member whose survival is uncertain. Jingming asks Shen Hui to search for her before dying 148.

Notable Quotes

“When form enslaves the mind, things burden the spirit. Those who indulge in flavor drift ever farther from the Dao.” 12

“The heritage of Clear Wind Temple must not be severed.” 148

“Even if you hadn't killed him, I would have purged him from our ranks someday.” 434