Zheng Ziheng

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Zheng Ziheng (郑子珩)
Alias(es)	Senior Brother Zheng; Zi Heng 9 22
Gender	Male 7
Age	22; entered the sect at ten, twelve years before the current events 37
Affiliation	Cloud Radiance Sect; Marquis of Yongping’s Estate in Great Xia 5 37
Occupation/Role	Sect Master Lu Yuanyi’s first and chief disciple; conducts spiritual-root tests and handles sect affairs 5 11 22 46
Spiritual Roots	Water-Wood Dual Spiritual Roots; primarily cultivates water techniques 37
Status	Alive; remains in the capital handling family matters during the lead-up to the Apprenticeship Ceremony 37 45
First Appearance	Named in the village-fire investigation account 5; directly encountered by Shen Leyan 7

Background / History

Zheng Ziheng was the heir to Great Xia’s Marquis of Yongping’s Estate. His expected future involved a nobleman’s education and military service, but he loved reading and disliked fighting and killing. After his Water-Wood Dual Spiritual Roots were discovered in childhood, his family sent him to the Cloud Radiance Sect at ten 37.

He became Lu Yuanyi’s first disciple. Over the next twelve years, he returned home so rarely that his visits could be counted on one hand. His younger brother’s soul-related impairment eventually motivated him to seek Jadeblood Snakegrass in the Southwestern Jungle 5 26 37.

Appearance

Zheng has a tall, slender build, clear, handsome features, and a gentle, refined bearing. When Shen first meets him, he appears only a few years older than Shen 7.

• Eyes: Tea-colored, with a notably warm expression 9.
• Hair ornament: A jade crown secures his hair 7.
• Clothing: A dark blue, round-collared robe with a subtle woven pattern 7.
• Posture: Habitually upright and impeccable, even during an informal rooftop conversation 17.
• First encounter: Neither his clothes nor his hair becomes wet despite the torrential rain 7.

Personality

Zheng is mild-mannered, humble, and attentive to others’ dignity. He gently covers for Shen’s mistaken answer about a lesson, excuses exhausted disciples from morning classes, and provides Shen with a valuable healing pill without seeking credit 7 9.

His kindness does not mean excusing wrongdoing. He prevents the village chief from destroying the ancestral hall because rebuilding it would burden the villagers, then disables the explosives and leaves the chief responsible for his own fate 8.

He places personal choice above the sect’s desire to retain talent. Even after discovering Shen’s rare spiritual root, he promises that Shen may refuse cultivation, decline a master, or leave the sect. He also refrains from questioning Shen about his private arrangement with Qingli 9 12.

Usually composed, Zheng becomes visibly flustered around Shen: his ears redden after hearing Shen’s private praise and again when Shen tugs his sleeve while asking a favor. Their rapport also includes gentle teasing and offers of comfort 9 19 25.

Abilities & Skills

Water and Wood Cultivation

Zheng possesses Water-Wood Dual Spiritual Roots and mainly practices water techniques 37.

• Creates an azure water bubble to carry the village chief and his accomplice out of the ancestral hall 8.
• Disables the gunpowder beneath the hall so it cannot ignite 8.
• Releases abundant water Spiritual Power during meditation, drawing responses from nearby medicinal plants 16.
• Cultivates in an herb garden where his Spiritual Power benefits plant growth and the environment supports his practice 37.

Hearing Shen Leyan’s Thoughts

Zheng unexpectedly begins hearing Shen’s unspoken thoughts during the village-fire incident. Initially puzzled, he plans to consult Lu Yuanyi about the phenomenon 7.

• Learns that Shen possesses a Wind Spiritual Root and wants an ordinary life rather than cultivation 8.
• Hears Shen through a closed door during the Spirit-Testing Stone incident 11.
• Can hear mental sounds and music as well as words, including imagined coins and an unfamiliar song 7 12.
• Reports Shen’s repeated references to the Immortal-Demon War to Lu, although he initially dismisses them as storybook fantasies 7 18.
• The documented ability concerns Shen; the passages do not establish that Zheng can read other people’s minds 7 11 12.

Sword Flight and Communication

Zheng uses his sword for transportation and employs several methods of spiritual communication 8 18 29.

• Enlarges his sword to carry Shen back to his quarters 18.
• Transmits his voice using Spiritual Power and conjures a Voice Transmission Talisman 8 24.
• Sends Shen’s questions to Qingli through the Image Transmission Technique, allowing them to exchange messages across a long distance 29.
• Interprets the injured snake’s hissing during the Jadeblood Snakegrass negotiations 29.

Silencing and Binding Spells

Zheng restrains the newly sentient Spirit-Testing Stone without harming it 11.

• Uses a silencing spell to stop its public declarations about Shen’s Supreme Single Spiritual Root 11.
• Replaces the silencing spell with pale blue binding cords 11.
• Moves the bound stone to his side with a slight lift of his hand 12.

Sect Administration and Plant Care

Zheng handles practical sect responsibilities and raises the unusual plants and creatures at Cicada Song Pavilion 22 37.

• Conducts spiritual-root testing at Spirit Perch Pavilion 11.
• Helps implement Shen’s newspaper proposal and secures approval for his restaurant plan within three days 18.
• Remains behind to settle details of sect business while Lu visits Shen’s restaurant 22.
• Raises the pavilion’s exotic flowers, rare herbs, birds, and beasts 37.
• As chief disciple, is permitted to take disciples of his own 46.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Ink-black longsword — An unusual blade surrounded by faint blue spiritual energy; also used for Sword Flight 7 18.
• Storage Ring — Holds the edible mushrooms Shen gathers in the Southwestern Jungle 27.
• Reflection Stone — Records Shen’s food-based invitation and plays it for Lu Yuanyi 19.
• Healing medicines — Gives Shen a Nine-Turn Soul-Replenishing Pill and later supplies medicine to the injured snake 7 29.
• Demon-Seeking Compass — Gives this detection tool to Shen; it reacts strongly near the Spider Demon’s territory 34.
• Jadeblood Snakegrass — Obtains the century-growing herb to prepare medicine for his younger brother 24 26 30.

Relationships

• Lu Yuanyi — Master. Zheng treats him with formal respect, reports sect business to him, and consults him about Shen. Lu cautions Zheng against cultivating with an unsettled mind 16 18 19.
• Shen Leyan — Junior sect disciple whom Zheng protects, assists, and gently teases. He safeguards Shen’s privacy, respects his refusal to cultivate, and regrets that Shen might not become his fellow disciple under Lu 7 12 16 25.
• Younger brother — Unnamed brother with a soul-related impairment. Zheng undertakes the Southwestern Jungle expedition to obtain medicine for him 26 30 37.
• Qingli — Spirit-Testing Stone whose sudden sentience Zheng helps manage. He initially silences and binds her, then escorts her for Lu’s questioning 11 12.
• Chen Jing — Sect disciple who hopes to become Zheng’s student and wishes for his return before the Apprenticeship Ceremony 36 45.
• Snake guarding Jadeblood Snakegrass — Negotiating partner. Zheng swears a Heavenly Oath to secure its cooperation, interprets its words, and gives it healing medicine 29.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Village-Fire Investigation

• Investigates the recurring village fires and discovers that resentful souls, assisted by bereaved villagers, are responsible rather than demons 5.
• Leads the sect group Shen meets after escaping the ancestral hall and quietly provides him with medicine 7.
• Prevents the chief’s planned explosion, then leads the disciples back to the sect 8.
• Discovers both his ability to hear Shen’s thoughts and Shen’s rare Wind Spiritual Root 7 8.

Protecting Shen’s Privacy

• Reassures Shen that spiritual talent does not oblige him to cultivate 9.
• Disperses the crowd after the Spirit-Testing Stone publicly identifies Shen’s exceptional aptitude 11.
• Explains that the discovery cannot be hidden from the elders, but offers to seek an order keeping it secret from other disciples 12.

Newspaper and Restaurant

• Raises the problem of damaging sect rumors, prompting Shen’s newspaper proposal 17 18.
• Supports the newspaper, helps advance restaurant approval, and taste-tests demonic-beast hot pot 18.
• Helps name menu dishes and records Shen’s invitation for Lu 19.

Southwestern Jungle Expedition

• Travels south with Shen and Lu to obtain Jadeblood Snakegrass, consulting maps and looking after Shen during the journey 23 26.
• Enters the dangerous jungle interior with Lu while Shen waits under protection 27.
• Secures the snake’s cooperation through a Heavenly Oath sworn upon his soul; breaking such an oath carries fatal Tribulation Lightning punishment 29.
• Leaves with the mature herb to prepare his brother’s medicine. Later reports place him in the capital, where he remains before the Apprenticeship Ceremony 30 37 45.

Notable Quotes

“Of course. Everyone has their own aspirations. Not wanting to cultivate is nothing to make a fuss over.” 9

“Whether you take a master, cultivate, or leave the Cloud Radiance Sect is entirely up to you. No one will force you.” 12

Trivia

• Zheng is exceptionally popular: Shen has heard that half the sect’s female disciples, and half its male disciples who prefer men, are fond of him 9.
• He proposes “Peacock Flies Southeast” as the menu name for Seven-Colored Luan Bird meat 19.
• Lu recognizes Shen’s insistence on not accepting unearned rewards as something Zheng would say 46.