Zhao Yingqiong

Biodata

Feature	Information
Name	Zhao Yingqiong (赵英琼)
Alias(es)	Great General; General Zhao
Gender	Female
Affiliation	Gold-Seeking Guard; Zhao Family of Wanghe Circuit 577
Occupation/Role	Golden Body Great General of Jade City; commander within the Gold-Seeking Guard 487 577
First Appearance	Chapter 487

Background

Zhao Yingqiong is a Golden Body Great General whose authority extends across Jade City's Gold-Seeking Guard. She is also an expert of the Zhao Family of Wanghe Circuit, combining the Zhao lineage's teachings with Jade City's martial traditions. Her reputation rests on decisive command, formidable personal combat ability, and a refusal to tolerate incompetence. 487 577

She lives alone in a courtyard of the Zhao Residence and maintains a private training ground on Yingqiong Mountain, where she frequently tests herself through martial contests. 501 504

Appearance

Zhao Yingqiong is a tall, fair-skinned woman of approximately seven feet, with a sturdy build, broad shoulders, narrow waist, and an overwhelmingly heroic bearing. Her fierce gaze and commanding presence often eclipse conventional impressions of femininity. 487 503

• Usually wears a Ridge-Feather Crown, Light-Reflecting Armor, and knee-high deerskin or beast-leather boots. 487
• Often favors short skirt-style armor, designed to preserve mobility and distinguish her from male commanders. 498
• Keeps her long hair in a ponytail; she also wears a sachet, revealing a restrained personal softness beneath her martial image. 487
• Rides the scale-armored white horse Divine Jade and is accompanied by a jade-white crane. 487 508

Personality

Zhao Yingqiong is proud, competitive, and direct. She despises cowardice, rigid passivity, and subordinates who surrender their judgment to authority. Xu Shaoqian's fixation on Tao Xiangrong and failure in command cause her to strip him of real power, despite preserving his nominal title. 487 498 501

She values capability over pedigree. Li Xian initially earns her suspicion because of his concealment and rapid rise, but his tactical ability, courage, and refusal to flatter her gradually win her respect. She rewards merit openly, yet refuses to promote or trust someone until they have proven both their ability and character. 487 503 506

Her pride makes her intensely protective of face. She conceals injuries, humiliation, and uncertainty whenever possible, even when poisoned or trapped by Li Xian's bindings. 505 571 573 Beneath this severity, she can be pragmatic and unexpectedly considerate, as seen when she personally tends Li Xian's wounds after he accepts three palms in place of his soldiers. 526

Abilities & Skills

Golden Body Martial Cultivation

Zhao Yingqiong is a Golden Body expert whose personal strength vastly exceeds ordinary Gold-Seeking Guard officers.

• Defeated Pei Xin and Protector Duan together during the confiscation of the Pei Estate. 510
• Overpowered four attackers—He Tiexin, Master Willow Mountain, Yin Changya, and Pan Bo—after feigning weakness on Phoenix Island. 576 577
• Can fight through formations and shatter defenses through raw palm force. 512
• Her martial path favors overwhelming force and aggressive offense, leaving her less adept at subtle escape methods. 505

Mysterious Water Palm

Her best-known palm art is the versatile Mysterious Water Palm, which she has cultivated to Perfection. 571

• Uses water-force transformations for offense, defense, and medicinal treatment. 570 571
• Can improve the efficacy of medicinal baths by circulating the palm art through the water. 570
• Uses Flooding Water Dragon to expel poison, though deep-seated poison can return afterward. 571
• Later shares the manual with Li Xian so that his Profound Flame Palm can be studied alongside it. 579

Physical Combat and Restraint Techniques

Zhao Yingqiong is highly skilled in full-body combat, using her shoulders, knees, elbows, legs, and waist as weapons even when her limbs are restricted. 504 525

• Regularly handicaps herself in sparring by binding her hands and feet, seeking a more difficult contest. 504
• Knows the Full-Body Force Technique, which channels force through every part of the body. 525
• Uses Limit-Breaking Finger, Peng Transformation Form, and the Nine Transformations of the Fish-Dragon. 505 570
• Her experience against restraints is limited by her reliance on force; Li Xian's modified Tiger-Tendon Cord leaves her unable to escape by brute strength. 505

Other Martial Arts

• Jade-Shaking Palm — Used to counter Pei Xin's tea-water and table attack. 510
• Jade Luo Palm — Used during her exchange with Li Xian. 506
• Mountain-Covering Thousand-Extinctions Palm — A crushing palm art with oppressive killing intent. 526
• Heart-Breaking Roar — A forceful vocal technique that injures and destabilizes opponents. 510
• Divine Dragon Whip Technique — Enhances whip strikes with Chest-Drum Thunder Resonance, producing a dragon-like roar. 570
• Heaven-and-Earth Unitary Breath Technique — A breathing art used to study the condition of her body and breath. 571

Archery and Horsemanship

Zhao Yingqiong is an exceptional archer and rider.

• Her arrows can shatter a polished dark-stone target that blades cannot mark. 503
• She rides Divine Jade with great speed and uses mounted movement to cross obstacles and pursue enemies. 508
• Her competitiveness extends to horsemanship; she challenges Li Xian to a race while en route to the Pei Estate. 508

Equipment

• Divine Jade — A white, scale-armored horse capable of leaving no trace on snow. 487
• Jade-white crane — A pristine crane that accompanies her and perches on her shoulder. 487
• Silver spear — Her signature weapon during formal military appearances. 487
• Treasured bow — Maintained by a dedicated Bow-Attendant Lang. 503
• Whip — Used with the Divine Dragon Whip Technique. 570
• Black-Gold Cord — Used to bind captured assassins securely. 577

Story Role / Major Arcs

Military Formation Contest

Zhao Yingqiong presides over the military formation contest at Sand-Gathering Basin, where Liu Longhai, Bai Zhengcheng, and Xu Shaoqian command competing formations. She immediately recognizes Xu's defensive strategy as ineffective and notices Li Xian's grasp of the Thunder-Drum Godslaying Formation after he salvages the battle. 487

She rewards Li Xian with 1,000 military merits and 5,000 taels, while withholding promotion until she can judge him more fully. 487

Removal of Xu Shaoqian

After concluding that Xu Shaoqian is compromised by his obsession with Tao Xiangrong, Zhao Yingqiong beats and reprimands him, then removes his actual authority over Tailstreet Marquis Wu Station while leaving him with an empty title. 498 501

Her conversations with Tao Xiangrong deepen her concern that beauty and personal desire can compromise military command. Tao, however, exploits Zhao's suspicions to steer her distrust toward Xu rather than Li Xian. 498 500

Testing and Promoting Li Xian

Zhao Yingqiong summons Li Xian to Yingqiong Mountain as a possible replacement for Xu Shaoqian. She challenges him to prove himself through a martial contest on a Jade Meteorite arena, binding her own limbs while forbidding the use of cultivation. 503 504

Li Xian defeats her despite the handicap, exposing both her overconfidence and his abnormal physical strength. After further confrontations, Zhao recognizes that his boldness and ability are necessary to the Guard's future. 504 506

She appoints him Bronze Body, Silver Face Central Lang General of Tailstreet Marquis Wu Station, placing him over a twenty-six-li territory, sixteen wards, three gates, Evil-Quelling Island, prison affairs, and roughly 6,000 guards. 506

Pei Estate Confiscation

Zhao Yingqiong leads the operation against Pei Xin, coordinating an encirclement while personally infiltrating the Pei Estate with Li Xian. 508 509

When Pei Xin and Protector Duan resist, she defeats both, oversees the capture of the estate, and authorizes its confiscation. She allows soldiers to claim three treasures each and grants Li Xian five treasures for his contribution. 510

Dragon-Slaying Tower

Following the dragon-slaying campaign, Zhao Yingqiong purchases the banquet grounds to establish Dragon-Slaying Tower, intended to commemorate the warriors who slew the dragon. She gives Li Xian a five-percent share for his work on the project. 521

Phoenix Island Assassination Attempt

At the Nirvana Feast on Phoenix Island, Zhao Yingqiong captures Pan Bo but is struck by a hidden assailant and poisoned. The island's celestial convergence prevents anyone from leaving for seven days, forcing her to confront the conspiracy while injured. 570 571

Though she initially conceals the injury, she ultimately seeks treatment from Li Xian under his Ghost Doctor identity. She later uses her apparent weakness as bait, capturing four would-be assassins alive. 573 576 577

Water–Fire Palm Training

After observing the complementary nature of her Mysterious Water Palm and Li Xian's Profound Flame Palm, Zhao Yingqiong proposes joint training. Their opposing palm forces refine Inner Qi through water–fire interaction, and she gives Li Xian the Mysterious Water Palm manual. 578 579

Relationships

• Li Xian — Subordinate, rival, and increasingly trusted ally. She first notices his tactical talent during the military formation contest, later appoints him Central Lang General after repeatedly testing his skill and resolve. Their relationship develops through rivalry, mutual provocation, joint operations, and water–fire palm training. 487 503 506 579
• Xu Shaoqian — Former Central Lang General under her command. Zhao considers him talented but ultimately unfit for responsibility because he allows his pursuit of Tao Xiangrong to interfere with duty; she removes his real authority. 487 498 501
• Tao Xiangrong — A courtesan Zhao initially distrusts as a dangerous influence over military officers. Their polite exchanges conceal mutual suspicion and ideological disagreement over love, power, and femininity. 498 500 570
• Zhao Tianxing — Her younger cousin, a Ghost Valley Sect and Star-Picking Bureau diviner. She spars and bickers with him, but also relies on his divination when assessing Li Xian. 577 578
• Liu Longhai — Gold-Seeking Guard subordinate and commander. Zhao relies on him during military operations but also harshly disciplines him when displeased. 487 508 521
• Bai Zhengcheng — A commander under her authority who participates in the military formation contest and later helps surround the Pei Estate. 487 508 510
• Wei Qinghuang — Commandery Princess Anyang and political adversary. Wei Qinghuang regards Zhao as a powerful obstacle and arranges the Phoenix Island assassination scheme to either kill her or provoke factional conflict. 577

Trivia

• Zhao Yingqiong's prestige is so great that Gold-Seeking Guard officers fear to look directly at her when she rides past. 487
• She wears a sachet despite her aggressively martial image. 487
• She is unusually willing to handicap herself in sparring, but her repeated defeats by Li Xian reveal that this competitiveness conceals a desire to face an opponent who will not yield to her. 504 525
• Zhao Tianxing cannot divine Li Xian's fate, describing him as someone who appears to have slipped beyond heaven's calculations. 578