Xiaoqing

Biodata

Background / History

Su Qingli comes from the Su Family of the Gan Kingdom’s Celestial Maiden Sect. Her father sends her to Dingjiang Prefecture with her Second Uncle, Su Chongxiao, to see the world and broaden her knowledge. Chongxiao regards the journey as supervised experience, not permission to expose herself to unnecessary danger 40 46.

Her identity initially remains concealed behind the name Xiaoqing. After she shows Ding Songyan a white snake’s tail, he believes she is a snake demon. Ren Youyang later identifies her as Su Qingli and explains the Celestial Maiden Sect’s transformation art. This corrects Ding’s first assumption without settling all his doubts: he remembers glimpsing white tails near Dangkang Temple and continues wondering whether she has a supernatural nature 16 20 46.

Ren describes her as sixteen, recently come of age, and still unfinished in both body tempering and qi training. He is puzzled that she can already transform despite that reported level of cultivation 46.

Appearance

• Build and features: Slender and delicate, with black hair and expressive eyes; Ding and other observers repeatedly describe her as exceptionally beautiful 16 43 46.
• Hairstyles: Wears twin hanging buns, spiral buns, loosely gathered hair, or a white kerchief, depending on the occasion 20 34 39 46.
• Everyday clothing: Often favors plain short jackets and pleated skirts. One nighttime outfit combines a white jacket, yellow silk skirt, and a gold dangling hairpin bearing a pearl flower 20.
• Martial clothing: Appears in crimson martial attire while investigating Ding’s pursuers, and lake-blue fighting clothes with embroidered white boots for the Zhen Estate banquet 31 46.
• Disguised appearances: Can replace her conspicuous beauty with the ordinary face and clothing of a married woman or the appearance of a middle-aged man 29 36.

Personality

Xiaoqing is playful, impulsive, and deeply invested in stories. She frightens Ding with a transformation because he falsely presented his newly composed tale and song as works he had learned elsewhere. Her enthusiasm for The Legend of the White Snake is strong enough that she jokes about kidnapping him and making him narrate through the night if they must leave before hearing the ending 16.

Her apparent innocence masks considerable intelligence. Through carefully narrowed questions, she identifies the connection between the hidden guest at the Zhen Estate and the Moth God Sect when Ding cannot discuss it directly. Ding revises his opinion of her, concluding that she is clever but inexperienced and accustomed to having powerful elders resolve the consequences of her mistakes 39 40.

She is sincerely concerned for her friends. During the Zhen Estate crisis, she searches urgently for Ding and considers invoking her aunt’s name to persuade Yan Yong to spare him. She also takes serious promises more carefully than her casual behavior suggests, thinking through Tao Wenshu’s secrecy conditions before accepting them 57.

Her discretion is less reliable in informal conversation: Ding worries that she may disclose important secrets through careless remarks. At the same time, she shows practical restraint in battle, recognizing that she cannot safely participate in a Grandmaster-level confrontation 49 58.

Abilities & Skills

Myriad Transformations All-Beguiling Demonic Art

Ren Youyang identifies Xiaoqing’s transformations with the Celestial Maiden Sect’s Myriad Transformations All-Beguiling Demonic Art, whose legacy Ding associates with the Nine-Tailed Fox 46.

• Ordinary-person disguises: Assumes the appearance of an unremarkable married woman to meet Ding discreetly 29.
• Changes of age, gender, and voice: Appears as a man in his forties, then switches to her familiar soft voice while identifying a stalker 36.
• Snake transformation: Shows Ding a white snake’s tail to frighten him; the display leads him to mistake her for a snake demon 16 20.
• Uncertain limits: Her demonstrated transformations exceed what Ren expects from her reported incomplete body tempering and qi training 46.

Concealment and Lightness Skills

Xiaoqing uses concealment and swift movement to approach Ding without drawing attention 25 28 36.

• Disappears from his room like a wisp of green smoke 25.
• Conceals herself so effectively that Ren sees Ding apparently walking alone while conversing with her 43.
• Moves Ding beyond his closed courtyard gate and later returns him to the courtyard; the precise method is not explained 20 21.
• Carries him by the shoulder over walls and through courtyards with light, cloudlike movement 58.

Formless Whip

Her Formless Whip produces strikes without a visible whip. She uses it to repel an attacker who ambushes her on the way to the Tianyang Guildhall 40.

• Dodges the opening attack and forces the assailant to retreat after only a few exchanges 40 41.
• The unseen blows damage the alley wall 40.
• Believes the ambush was intended to force her to reveal a recognizable technique and expose her party’s identity to Southern Zhao’s authorities 40.

Investigation and Martial Knowledge

Xiaoqing acts as Ding’s informal adviser on sects, cultivation, and supernatural phenomena 20 21 31.

• Sect lore: Explains the Xiaoming Sect’s damaged foundational scriptures, surviving techniques, and sword formations; she does not know its recruitment requirements 20.
• Mythical Beast cultivation: Explains that eating essence-bearing parts can temporarily grant perfected Law Realm strength, but permanent advancement requires developing and completing one’s own cultivation. Excess consumption can cause bodily or spiritual catastrophe 31.
• Netherworld knowledge: Identifies Ding’s ghostly visions as “netherworld scenery,” suspects Yin-Yang Eyes, and proposes questioning Yan Yong’s lingering soul 21 57.
• Deduction: Connects Yan Changqing, the Moth God Sect, and the Zhen Estate from Ding’s restricted answers 39 40.
• Research: Obtains information about Jiang Weichen, the destroyed Pan, Xiong, and Qu lineages, Netherworld-related sects, and the Imperial Daughter Sect for Ding 77 138 165.
• Numerology: Claims some knowledge of the Art of Numerology, but explicitly denies being skilled in it 34.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Patron of *The Legend of the White Snake*

• Becomes an eager listener to Ding’s adapted tale, visiting him at night to read new installments and reacting strongly to Lady White’s suffering 16 20.
• Contributes five taels of silver during his first four days of storytelling, far exceeding the combined copper-coin earnings from his other listeners 24.
• Helps choose martial traditions and a suitable Mythical Beast for the fictional Xu Shilin, giving Ding a pretext to learn about the real martial world 20 31.

Investigation of the Zhen Estate

• Disguises herself to watch for Ding’s pursuers and identifies a suspicious man wearing a bamboo hat 31 36.
• Deduces that Yan Changqing is hidden in the Zhen Estate and reports the matter to Su Chongxiao after surviving an ambush 40.
• Recognizes a connection between Ding’s compelled purchase of a dagger and the upcoming banquet, promising to consult her uncle 42.
• Calls Ding her first friend from her martial-world travels and offers to help him find a suitable sect in the Gan Kingdom 43.
• Arrives at the banquet dressed for combat. When Grandmasters begin fighting, she avoids the main clash and helps Ren Youyang escape across the rooftops 46 49.

Kunlun Secret and Departure

• Finds Ding alive after his confrontation with Yan Yong and learns that Yan had discovered the vanished Kunlun and entered the Celestial Emperor’s Palace 57.
• Suggests questioning Yan’s ghost. Tao allows her to listen after she promises to restrict the information to the Su Family and share future discoveries concerning Kunlun 57.
• Receives the Huai Fruit that Ren no longer needs. She intends to eat it aboard the departing ship; consumption and its effects are not shown in the supplied passages 59 60.
• Attempts to say goodbye to Ding but recoils outside his courtyard during his Hundun transformation. Forced to depart, she leaves a farewell letter with Xu Chang’an 60 62.

Correspondence from Five Hills Mountain

• Sends Ding an affectionate letter containing research on Jiang Weichen and dried osmanthus blossoms 77 78.
• Later sends dried crimson plum blossoms, reports on her travels, warns him about Qin Guanchan, and asks for more vivid accounts of his adventures 138.
• Abandons a planned New Year visit south because she would not see Ding, encouraging them both to train until they can meet again 138.
• Receives his long-delayed reply with golden winter jasmine at Jade Splendor Peak, complains about the delay, and prepares to answer 164.
• Uses multiple intermediaries and favors to investigate the Great Method of Concealing One’s Nature for him. Her reply asks him to write before her birthday and expresses her wish to celebrate with the friends she has met while traveling 165.

Relationships

• Ding Songyan — Patron, first friend from her travels, and close correspondent. Their bond develops through storytelling, investigations, mutual concern, flower gifts, and hopes of future adventures together 24 43 57 138 165.
• Su Chongxiao — Second Uncle and guardian during her journey. Protects her, restricts dangerous nighttime visits, and insists on leaving Dingjiang Prefecture promptly 40 43 60.
• Su Yunzhang — Elder brother, known as the “Dust-Free Young Master” 46.
• Su Liudan — Aunt. Xiaoqing considers using her reputation to help Ding and later mentions her history with Qin Guanchan as a possible source of goodwill 57 138.
• Yu Yao — Maid and traveling companion. Shares her enthusiasm for Ding’s story, accompanies her nighttime outings, and reminds her of pending research requests 16 58 60 164.
• Ren Youyang — Fellow ally with whom she exchanges barbs. Despite their teasing hostility, she helps him escape the banquet fighting, and he gives her the Huai Fruit in recognition of her assistance 49 59.
• Tao Wenshu — Trusted senior who permits her involvement in the Kunlun inquiry under explicit secrecy and information-sharing conditions 57.

Notable Quotes

“Can't a white snake be called Xiaoqing? Can't I have 'qing' in my name?” 16

“Once you finish your apprenticeship and I've made progress in my cultivation, we'll meet again in the martial world and uphold justice together.” 57

“Second Brother Ding, when shall we meet again, and let a cup of wine soothe faces worn by parting?” 165

Trivia

• Ding’s description of Xiaoqing and Ren as his “fox friends and dog companions” plays on her sect’s Nine-Tailed Fox legacy and Ren’s dog ears 57.
• Xiaoqing initially objects to Ding passing off his own creations as inherited stories and songs, making her frightening transformation an act of playful retaliation rather than an attack 16.
• Her poetic letters prompt Ding to search for suitable classical lines and buy poetry books so that his replies will not seem uncultured 99 115.