Li Yunxin

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Li Yunxin (李云心)
Alias(es)	Li Xiao — an identity reported by Yin Pingzhi, which Yunxin himself finds unfamiliar and suspicious 46
Species/Race	Human; his soul is an anomaly outside the Book of Life and Death 27 36
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Dragon King Temple in Weicheng; nominal disciple of Liu Laodao, though he later teaches and directs Liu 9 30 33
Occupation/Role	Painter, Painting Daoist, cultivator
Status	Alive
First Appearance	Chapter 1: “Ninth Young Master” 1

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Watercloud Force foundation	10	Practiced for eight or nine years; tempers both body and spirit soul.
Snow Mountain Qi Sea sealed	8 10	The pursuing Daoists seal his qi sea, preventing him from using his own spiritual power.
Temporary “making the unreal real”	20	Uses Three-Flower Madam’s limited spirit power to manifest Yi, the Unparalleled Sword Saint, long enough to kill Chen Yi’an.
Prayer-power recovery	35 36	Endures and absorbs wish power gathered through the Dragon King Temple, restoring strength and spiritual capability.

Background

Li Yunxin was raised in a mountain village in Ding Prefecture. His parents were learned but secretive people who possessed supernatural methods; among the few techniques he witnessed was his father turning painted paper into salt. They died when lightning destroyed their home a year before Yunxin’s flight from the village, leaving their connection to the cultivation world unresolved 6.

At fourteen, Yunxin encountered Chisongzi and Kangcangzi, Daoists who arrived seeking the treasure connected to his parents’ deaths. He drew information from their explanations of cultivation and the Way of Painting, exposed their deception, and ultimately escaped their attack. The confrontation left his Snow Mountain Qi Sea sealed and forced him into the wider world 7 8 10.

His first days as a fugitive established his reliance on calculation over force. Wounded and pursued, he survived an encounter with Ninth Young Master by manipulating the demon’s curiosity and later summoned him against Constable Xing and the pursuing constables 1 5 6.

Identity and Origins

The Black-and-White Yamas found no record of Yunxin in the Book of Life and Death. During their apparent encounter, they described his previous life as “someone without a heart” and a “man-eating human demon,” then fled after associating him with a being that had attacked the Hall of Senluo long ago. Yunxin later concludes that the encounter was real 27 36.

Yin Pingzhi’s investigation identifies him as “Li Xiao” of the Ye Kingdom, orphaned young and trained as a Daoist boy. Yunxin has no recognition of this history, deepening the mystery surrounding his identity 46.

Appearance

Yunxin is fourteen but appears older because of his physical training. He is repeatedly noted to be handsome, refined, and unusually composed for his age 6 9 39.

• Initially appears in Qinghe Town with disheveled hair, torn clothes, and a badly wounded arm while carrying a refined steel sword 2.
• Often adopts white robes or Liu Laodao’s Daoist robes, which reinforce his cultivated, otherworldly appearance 20 36.
• Has a slight, youthful build; without spiritual power, he cannot physically match an adult swordsman despite his martial training 10.

Personality

Yunxin is observant, strategic, and psychologically incisive. He studies speech, body language, fear, vanity, and desire, then uses that knowledge to control stronger opponents. His survival against Ninth Young Master, Huainanzi, and several armed pursuers depends on making himself useful, entertaining, or dangerous rather than confronting them directly 5 6 23.

He can be coldly pragmatic. He exploits Xing Li’s grief, conditions Azze into serving as an unwitting informant, and considers murder a viable solution when Prefect Li threatens Liu Laodao’s home 5 42 45. His calm exterior also conceals an appetite for violence connected to memories of his prior life 43.

Despite this detachment, he does not wholly reject human attachment. Qiao Jiaxin’s concern changes his decision to intervene on her behalf, he accepts responsibility for guiding Three-Flower Madam, and he refuses Yin Pingzhi’s offer to save himself by betraying Liu Laodao 16 21 46.

Abilities & Skills

Painting Dao

Yunxin’s paintings can preserve artistic conception, spiritual impressions, and emotion; with sufficient power, they can influence reality.

• Animates a painting of Ninth Young Master to deceive Xing Li and the constables 4.
• Uses a trace of Ninth Young Master’s spiritual energy within a portrait to summon the demon 5.
• Recreates the artistic spirit of The Night Journey in Splendid Robes with a few strokes scratched into the ground 13.
• Creates convincing phantom images to distract armed pursuers while his qi sea is sealed 16.
• With Three-Flower Madam’s power, manifests the tangible green-armored Yi, the Unparalleled Sword Saint 20.
• Paints Jia Wen and Xiwana as new temple deities; Liu Laodao’s finishing stroke establishes a powerful spiritual connection 33.

Spiritual Perception and Formations

As a painter, Yunxin is highly sensitive to spiritual energy and can recognize supernatural disturbances that ordinary people cannot perceive 18 30.

• Uses the cloud patterns in his family courtyard to disrupt Chisongzi and Kangcangzi’s ability to gather qi 8.
• Recognizes the Yin Spirit Grand Formation around the prefectural yamen and avoids using spiritual power that could expose him 41.
• Identifies the Dragon King Temple’s statue as containing genuine spiritual power 30.

Watercloud Force

Watercloud Force is an introductory cultivation method of the Heavenly Heart Orthodox Law that trains both the body and spirit soul 10 33.

• Gives Yunxin agility and endurance beyond ordinary youths; he survived three days and nights against the Daoists before his qi sea was sealed 10.
• Lets him evade and disarm ordinary opponents even without access to his full spiritual power 20 31.
• He later teaches the method to Liu Laodao 33.

Psychological Manipulation

Yunxin uses timing, language, suggestion, and emotional pressure as deliberately as he uses spiritual arts.

• Explains that he controlled Ninth Young Master’s emotions and breathing through carefully chosen words, eventually directing the demon to spare him 6.
• Provokes Xing Li into attacking the demon he fears, removing his immediate threat 5.
• Uses rhythmic tapping, conversation, and a prepared phrase to condition Azze into influencing Prefect Li 45.
• Regularly adopts harmless, respectful, or naïve personas to make others underestimate him 7 9 42.

Talisman Arts

• Draws a Mind-Loss Talisman on Yin Xueruo’s palm, causing her to forget their immediate conversation 40.
• The Mind-Loss Talisman works only on ordinary people and cannot be used frequently 40.

Heart-Slaying

Yunxin calls Heart-Slaying his “divine ability,” but its method remains unexplained 43.

• He investigates Prefect Li’s health, habits, and strange behavior before deciding to act 43.
• Prefect Li dies violently inside the Yin Spirit Grand Formation without the resident cultivators detecting spiritual power or sorcery; Yunxin openly claims responsibility 47.
• He later tells Yin Pingzhi that he also killed Qiao Liushi, though the events inside the hall remain confused and contested 48.

Equipment / Items

• Tongming Jade Slip — A jade slip linked to the lost legacy of the Painting Sage. It activates after Yunxin’s encounters with great demons and contains teachings of the painting path, including knowledge relevant to overcoming his qi-sea seal 24 25 33.
• Bai Yunxin’s silver sword — An exceptionally sharp sword given by Bai Yunxin. Yunxin suspects it can track him; it returns to his waist after he buries it 24 25 26.
• Brush, paper, and pigments — His primary tools for illusions, talismans, spiritual paintings, and manifested figures 4 13 16.
• Portrait of Ninth Young Master — Kept concealed in his sleeve as a potential means of summoning the demon 18.

Relationships

• Ninth Young Master — A man-eating demon who initially intends to consume Yunxin, then spares him because he finds him interesting. Yunxin later summons him for protection; Ninth declares that Yunxin owes him a life and must continue entertaining him 1 5 6.
• Chisongzi and Kangcangzi — Daoist pursuers seeking his family’s treasure. They deceive him, threaten him with flying swords, and seal his qi sea after he escapes 7 8 10.
• Liu Laodao — Yunxin formally becomes Liu’s disciple, but their relationship reverses after Liu recognizes Yunxin’s mastery. Liu becomes Yunxin’s student, host, ally, and increasingly fearful dependent 9 13 33 47.
• Three-Flower Madam — A calico cat demon inhabiting the Temple of Lady Three Flowers. Yunxin bargains with her for assistance, sets rules for her conduct among humans, and promises to create a proper body for her 19 21.
• Qiao Jiaxin — A young escort-agency daughter whose concern moves Yunxin to save her. She is killed by a swordsman; Three-Flower Madam later possesses her corpse, while Jiaxin’s own spirit reappears as a Faceless Ghost 16 17 21 36.
• Bai Yunxin — A powerful demon drawn to Yunxin’s scent. She kills Huainanzi at Yunxin’s request, gives him a returning silver sword, and leaves to search for Ninth Young Master 23 24 25.
• Yu Meng — Dragon Head of the Great Qing Escort-Bureau Guild. Yunxin finds him difficult to read but considers him kind, wealthy, and potentially useful 27 29 30.
• Yin Xueruo — A temple worshipper who develops clear romantic feelings for Yunxin. He appreciates her goodwill but keeps emotional distance and refuses to become dependent on her family 39 45 46.
• Yin Pingzhi — Yin Xueruo’s uncle and Nanhe Prefecture’s chief constable. He attempts to recruit Yunxin by urging him to betray Liu Laodao, then becomes frightened after the prefectural killing 46 47 48.

Story Role / Major Arcs

• Qinghe County escape — Survives a ruined-temple encounter with Ninth Young Master, reaches Qinghe Town wounded, and turns Xing Li’s fear of the demon against him 1 2 4 5.
• Village departure — Learns of the Way of Painting, the lost Luminous Jade Slip, and his parents’ possible connection to the True Martial Sect before escaping the Daoists’ ambush 6 7 8.
• Hongfu Escort Agency massacre — Travels with the escort caravan, investigates the Six Ghosts’ motives, suffers the consequences of his sealed qi sea, and becomes entangled with Qiao Jiaxin and Liu Laodao 9 10 11 13 16.
• Temple of Lady Three Flowers — Recruits Three-Flower Madam, uses her spirit power to kill Chen Yi’an, and begins treating the cat demon as a dangerous dependent 18 19 20 21.
• Jade-slip awakening — Exploits Bai Yunxin’s arrival to eliminate Huainanzi, then discovers the activated Tongming Jade Slip and begins studying the Painting Sage’s legacy 23 24 25.
• Dragon King Temple — Settles in Weicheng, teaches Liu Laodao, transforms the temple’s worship through his painted deities, and absorbs prayer power to recover strength 30 33 35 36.
• Qiao Household and prefectural-yamen conflict — Investigates Meng E’s case, uncovers the conspiracy against Liu Laodao’s courtyard, and kills or claims to have killed enemies inside the protected yamen 40 41 42 43 47 48.

Notable Quotes

“Don’t eat me, all right?” 6

“My divine ability... is called Heart-Slaying.” 43

“I killed him for you to see.” 47