Ning Xiang

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Ning Xiang initially believes she is a transmigrator from the modern world occupying the role of a villainous supporting woman in a cultivation novel. The apparent original character’s jealousy toward Jiang Miaomiao advances the heroine’s relationships with the male leads, while Ning Xiang herself is destined for a brutal death 1 3 17. Later revelations establish that she truly is the Ning Household’s daughter: her apparent transmigration was the return of her own displaced soul, rather than the replacement of another woman 115 116.

The original Ning Xiang grew up in the wealthy Ning Household. Her father was a late-stage Nascent Soul peak master, and her family supplied her with expensive weapons, medicines, and protective treasures. In her initial account of her past, she became infatuated with Lu Qingchen’s appearance at seven and insisted on becoming his disciple. She learned swordsmanship to pursue him, despite preferring her bonded whip 3 5 6 8. Recovered memories later reveal an earlier attachment to Su Lang and repeated interference by the Heavenly Dao when she departed from the prescribed plot 111 115.

Ning Xiang has already lived through one version of the plot. Its ending leaves her restrained by seventy-two Soul-Locking Nails, with her dantian destroyed and Nascent Soul removed. Lu Qingchen pierces her heart with Canglang, and she falls into an abyss. The Heavenly Dao judges her performance inadequate, forcing her to restart rather than return home 1.

After restarting, she continues acting as the jealous disciple but seeks useful rewards and avoids unnecessary suffering. Her stated aim is to take her acquired abilities back to the modern world. Over time, however, she becomes increasingly troubled by the system’s insistence that the people around her are merely plot devices 3 46.

Childhood Trauma and Soul Displacement

Shaowei reveals that Ning Xiang was abducted by the Great Demon Hooked Snake at six and witnessed the massacre of True Lord Chonghua’s family at Nine Shao Gate. Her parents arranged for the traumatic memories to be erased. Su Lang subsequently realizes that the child he encountered during the calamity and the girl he grew up with were the same person 78.

The Hooked Snake extracted her soul using Soul-Splitting Needles supplied by Bai Xi. His later interrogation indicates that one strand supposedly dissipated, while Bai Xi took another to their master. Ning Xiang remembers the extraction as agonizing and recognizes Bai Xi when they meet again 104 107 121. Qin Ge eventually restores her divine soul by merging her with the Hundred Ghosts King and an artifact spirit, both identified as other parts of her 147.

Yu Zhengrong erased her memories on two occasions and preserved fragments in two pieces of Soul-Washing Jade. Each originally contained a single fragment, but thirty-six identical fragments later appeared in each piece 114.

The recovered history reveals repeated cycles of resistance to the Heavenly Dao. During the thirty-sixth cycle, Ning Xiang awakened a portion of her own will before her Nascent Soul was removed and obtained a Time-Space Shuttle in exchange for an oath on her heart demon. The artifact could travel through time twice and remained hidden within her soul after rebirth 115.

When the Heavenly Dao attempted to obliterate her at seven, the shuttle carried most of her soul to the twenty-first century. Her family later used a Soul-Summoning Formation to call her back. At twelve, her feelings for Su Lang again diverged from the novel’s plot, provoking another punishment and another escape to the modern world. She lived there until twenty before her father sacrificed half a lifetime’s cultivation to summon her home; the resulting turbulence also brought Xia Buyan into the cultivation world 115.

She returned at thirteen without memories of her true past. Believing herself an outsider, she cooperated with the plot to return to the modern world, unaware that she was already with her own family. The Heavenly Dao assigned her the survival system to monitor her and prevent another escape from its control 115 116.

Divine Identity as Yinghuo

Ning Xiang is revealed to be connected to Yinghuo, the former Mars Star Lord and celebrated War God. The Ghost Emperor initially considers their resemblance, shared Golden Crow Brightflame, and ability to use the Kongtong Seal impossible evidence of a common identity because the former Star Lord’s body and soul were believed destroyed 205.

Her confrontation with Lord Yuyi awakens Yinghuo’s memories and confirms the identity. Yinghuo opposed the Heavenly Emperor’s plan to bring calamity upon the Mortal World, was accused of treason, and suffered betrayal by the Heavenly Court and her own people. Rather than allow them to exploit her, she pierced her own heart with her flaming sword 210.

Yinghuo and Xijing helped create the Demon-Subduing Sword Formation and sacrificed themselves in the sealing of Demon God Houqing six thousand years earlier. The formation was later corrupted into the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation. Lu Qingchen’s former identity, the Eastern Pole Qinghua Emperor, sacrificed himself to secure Xijing and Yinghuo’s reincarnation 215 229.

A later account of Yinghuo’s mortal trial describes another life named Ning Xiang, born as the only daughter of Cloudstay City’s lord beside the Xiang River and raised to inherit the city. The intended trial script had been lost, forcing a star official to devise an unfinished replacement 232.

Appearance

Ning Xiang retains a youthful appearance despite being twenty-seven. She is described as exceptionally beautiful even without cosmetics 4 6.

• Hair: Ink-black 1.
• Complexion: Delicate skin and a luminous, jade-like face 10 20.
• Build: Slender, with a narrow, supple waist; not excessively frail 14.
• Clothing: Frequently wears red or vermilion, including practical vermilion training clothes 1 14.
• Disguises: Uses a sect uniform and veil to impersonate Jiang Miaomiao, and an ordinary jade-green dress when approaching a publisher 8 21.
• Tournament attire: Wears a crisp red combat outfit, her hair tied high, and a mask during the Spirit Fighting Tournament 90.
• Eastern Sea festival attire: Wears flame-colored clothing with gold-thread embroidery, pearls and jade in her hair, a pearl strand over her brow, and gold bracelets and anklets fitted with small bells 174.
• Palm scar: Bears a scar from saving Yu Tingchao during an escape from a Joyous Union Sect cultivator 154.

Pallas’s Cat Form

A system punishment transforms her into a small, fluffy Pallas’s cat unable to speak human language or initially return to human form. Her own father fails to recognize her and treats her as an unusual spirit pet 52 53. She later deliberately assumes this form to evade Zhu Yu’s attempt to kiss her, demonstrating that the transformation remains available beyond its original compulsory use 88.

Personality

Ning Xiang’s public behavior is deliberately theatrical: she performs jealousy, wounded devotion, haughtiness, and flirtation to maintain her assigned role. Her inner commentary is irreverent and often contradicts her spoken declarations. She initially insists that she has no genuine wish to become Lu Qingchen’s Dao companion, despite repeatedly proclaiming her love for him 1 3 5.

She values food, sleep, comfort, and financial independence. She resents interrupted meals, early-morning training, academic assignments, and Lu Qingchen’s demands for royalties. Her avoidance of routine work coexists with considerable technical ambition: she studies talismans, improves defensive arrays, practices alchemy, and prepares extensively for dangerous travel 3 4 18 19 42 49.

Her loyalty is selective but fierce. She openly defends Wen Maimai, fights beside Su Lang rather than abandoning him, and becomes a reassuring leader for weaker cultivators. Against hostile enemies, she can be decisive and ruthless, killing the Ghost-Faced Ape despite its threat to withhold information 26 27 33.

Her knowledge of the original novel also distorts her judgment. She repeatedly interprets affection as revenge, manipulation, or misplaced loyalty to Jiang Miaomiao. Even when Su Lang and Yu Tingchao compete for her attention, she imagines that the two men may be attracted to each other 5 34 39.

As her relationships develop, she openly favors the possibility of multiple husbands and rejects the Eastern Sea’s monogamous customs as incompatible with her preferences. Her attraction to several men coexists with concern for their feelings; during the wedding-night episode, she hesitates to favor Mingyuan because she does not want to hurt Su Lang 120 134. She also resists possessiveness, refusing Zhu Yu’s demands that she stop seeing Mingyuan or leave the Eastern Sea before she is ready 168 176 177.

Her protective instincts increasingly override the supposed villainess role. She declares Jiang Miaomiao her family and immediately prioritizes rescuing her when she is dragged underground, despite the competing urgency of Lu Qingchen’s treatment 162. Yu Tingchao recalls that she secretly followed and protected both him and Jiang during earlier outings while outwardly showing little concern 174.

War exposes a harsher side of her pragmatism. She avenges Xie Feihong by hunting demon beasts and exploits a literal reading of a promise to kill a beast after it guides her to an enemy palace 208. Grief over Yu Tingchao’s apparent death briefly drives her toward uncontrolled bloodlust, while memories of Zhu Yu’s suffering become a heart demon during her Nascent Soul tribulation 183 207.

Despite claiming to hate Lu Qingchen or regard him only as a master, she repeatedly risks herself to save him. She also refuses to choose between Zhu Yu and Mingyuan when Yuyi offers to release only one, insisting that she will bring both home 120 180 210 229.

Abilities & Skills

Fire Spiritual Root and Heartfire

Her exceptionally pure fire root supports refined fire control and an extraordinary personal flame 22 24.

• Dispels the icy chill left in Mingyuan’s wounds by Canglang 8.
• Combines flame with her whip to capture a third-tier Kui Ox 28.
• Enlarges an egg-sized flame into a blaze capable of engulfing the Tree Demon 31.
• Burns demon-monkey corpses to prevent a stronger monkey from consuming their hearts and cores 45.
• Lacks the water or wood spiritual root she associates with medical arts; her initial treatment of Mingyuan is improvised rather than expert healing 8.
• Uses Golden Crow Brightflame against Fu Yunsheng’s spirit beasts and later against Lord Yuyi 91 210.
• Carries Red Lotus Karmic Flame within her soul at grave risk to herself while saving Lu Qingchen. Later draws invading ghost qi into her dantian and attempts to suppress it with the flame, though it cannot easily subdue the corruption 168 217 229.

Swordsmanship

Ning Xiang practices the Fire Dance Sunflame Sword Art with Azure Sea. Her Sword Qi is fiery and intensely radiant 6 14.

• Defeats Yu Tingchao while suppressing her cultivation to his Foundation Establishment level 6.
• Demonstrates eight forms before Lu Qingchen while still concealing her full ability 14.
• Later earns Lu Qingchen’s recognition of perfect mastery 40.
• Prefers whip combat; swordsmanship originally served the previous owner’s pursuit of Lu Qingchen 6.
• Her even spar with Lu Qingchen does not establish equality in overall cultivation; he later protects her against a late-stage Nascent Soul demon 40 45.
• Uses the ninth form against Fu Yunsheng, killing his wolves and gravely injuring Ao Yin after her earlier whip attacks fail to damage it 92.
• Wins the Spirit Fighting Tournament after defeating Mu Jianying and Xia Buyan 96.
• Continues receiving daily sword instruction from Mingyuan in the Tai Bai Domain 153.
• After greater integration with Yinghuo’s cultivation, parries the Ghost Lord’s Chaos Demon Axes with Azure Sea 216.

Whip Combat

Her bonded weapon, Shattered Moon, is a powerful long whip made from Teng Snake sinew 6.

• Traps and overwhelms the third-tier Earth-Fiend Demon Lion 26 27.
• Captures the lightning-and-frost-wielding Kui Ox in conjunction with her flames 28.
• In her previous Nascent Soul lifetime, could split mountains and cleave seas 6.
• Uses its fiery whip shadows against Ao Yin, although the beast initially tears through the net and resists the whip’s strikes 92.
• Wields the Soul-Devouring Whip against Meng Xin and later uses it to bind Zhu Yu’s wrists while escaping his advances 98 171.
• Dispatches ghosts on Skull Mountain through a combination of whip attacks and talismans 156.

Talisman Arts and Array Modification

The system’s Intermediate Talisman Art reward gives her a practical route to increasing her capabilities 3.

• Produces Explosive Talismans; her first attempt demolishes the entrance to her confinement cave 3.
• Uses soundproofing talismans for privacy and protective talismans to shelter weaker cultivators 3 26.
• Clears the Tree Demon’s bloody mist with talismans 31.
• Improves Yu Tingchao’s defensive formation by adding Fire and Earth-Digging Talismans, replacing reliance on a suicidal explosive fallback with an escape option 18 19.
• The Earth-Digging escape reaches only ten li; it is not the full Earth Escape Technique available to earth-root cultivators 19.
• Teaches talisman drawing to Su Lang 34 42.
• Detects and attacks Fu Yunsheng after he conceals himself with an Invisibility Talisman 92.
• Uses Invisibility and Gale Talismans for stealth and rapid escape, including against Zhu Yu and during combat with the Ghost Lord 150 171 216.
• Places formations and numerous defensive talismans around Secluded Bamboo Courtyard to protect Su Lang’s Nascent Soul tribulation 172.
• Uses Thunderclap Talismans extensively against invading demon beasts 183.
• Breaks the Spirit-Severing Formation using knowledge gained from manuals stolen from Zhu Yu’s secret chamber in a previous life and translated by a tiger demon 98.
• Recognizes the Moon-Gathering Residence as a clam demon’s illusion formation and dismantles its threat through observation, stealth, and a targeted attack on the demon’s core 159.

Alchemy and Practical Magic

Lu Qingchen considers her fire root and extraordinary flame well suited to alchemy 22.

• Studies the Nine-Turn Pill Scripture and performs alchemy work for Lu Qingchen 22 42.
• Is approached by Wen Maimai for instruction on refining Jade Marrow Pills 49.
• Uses household spells to wash and store dishes automatically 4.
• Knows Lu Qingchen’s Paper Spirit Art; her paper fox originates from a Paper Puppet Maid transformed by Yu Tingchao 7 9.
• Makes sunscreen with pearl powder and prepares portable food and camping supplies 24.
• Forces the Thunder Qilin into a Master-Servant Contract and makes it guide her to a healing spirit spring 143.
• Uses the Dream-Eating Tapir to question Xia Buyan inside dreams about his system and the novel’s later events 102 103 153.
• Explains the eerie blue flames on Skull Mountain as a natural phenomenon rather than treating them as supernatural threats 156.

Plot Knowledge and Performance

Ning Xiang remembers major events, character roles, future punishments, and secrets from the original novel 1 8 11.

• Predicts Jiang Miaomiao’s dialogue before she speaks 1.
• Knows Mingyuan possesses the hidden Netherworld Flame 11.
• Anticipates the dangers of the Purple Tenuity Domain from her previous capture there 49.
• Impersonates Jiang Miaomiao by copying her meek, wronged persona 8 9.
• Her information is incomplete: the novel follows Jiang Miaomiao’s perspective and leaves male characters’ backgrounds unexplained 12.
• Changing events make the remembered script unreliable, including Jiang Miaomiao’s absence from Mingyuan’s rescue and the drugging plot occurring ahead of schedule 8 46.
• Originally read only as far as the supporting character’s death. Xia Buyan supplies additional information, including the Ning Household’s destruction and the ending in which the protagonist and her husband sacrifice themselves to activate a Demon-Subduing Formation 112 153.
• Learns that her own apparent transmigration and role as a disposable supporting woman conceal a history of displaced souls, repeated cycles, and Heavenly Dao interference 115 116.

Survival System and Audible Thoughts

The Supporting Female Character Survival System rewards plot participation with skills, items, and random attribute increases. It promises that rewards can accompany her back to the real world 1 3.

• Can adjust her cold resistance, enabling her to endure kneeling in snow 1.
• Accepts some altered events as successful plot completion, including the 98% match for Mingyuan’s rescue 12.
• Imposes compulsory quests; punishments include another kakapo, becoming the Demon King, or erasure 18 33 46.
• Can disconnect when she needs help and disregard her objections to dangerous rewards 47 48.
• Declares her delivery of the Heaven-Splitting Python’s remains a failure after Zhu Yu destroys them, then imposes fifteen days without human speech and fifteen days as the Demon King’s beloved pet 52 53.
• Rewards a later completed mission with literary works placed in her Spirit Bracelet for access after she returns to human form 60.
• Orders her to accept residence in the Lotus Palace and qualify for the Spirit Fighting Tournament 78.
• Is later revealed to have been assigned by the Heavenly Dao to monitor her after her soul returned from the modern world 115.

Ning Xiang does not control the mind-reading phenomenon. Lu Qingchen, Su Lang, Xie Feihong, Yu Tingchao, and Mingyuan hear her inner thoughts while she initially behaves as though they remain private 1 2 8 34 39. Zhu Yu also hears her thoughts in her cat form and during later interactions 53 61 103. By the later storyline, she knows that several admirers can hear her and attempts to avoid them to preserve her privacy. Qin Ge explicitly reveals that he can hear her thoughts as well 215.

Divine Power and Temporal Travel

Her connection to Yinghuo allows her to activate the Kongtong Seal and use the cultivation preserved in the Fire-Illuminating Pearl. The Ghost Emperor identifies these abilities as signs of her resemblance to the former Mars Star Lord 205.

• Asks Mingyuan how to activate the Kongtong Seal to return to the past and rescue Yu Tingchao 195.
• Uses blood and hand seals to enter Mingyuan’s memories at Chaohua Palace, awakening in the past 197.
• Receives spiritual energy from the Fire-Illuminating Pearl and Water-Reflecting Pearl during her advancement to peak Core Formation 206.
• Awakens Yinghuo’s identity and draws on the pearl to break God-Sealing Chains and overcome Yuyi 210.
• Cannot permanently contain Yinghuo’s twenty thousand years of cultivation in her mortal body; Qin Ge returns that cultivation to the pearl 215.
• Integrates more fully with the stored cultivation during the battle against the Ghost Lord 216.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Shattered Moon — Bonded Teng Snake-sinew whip and her preferred weapon 6.
• Azure Sea Sword — Fire-attribute sword forged by Ning Pingzhang from Floating Jade Mountain iron essence using Golden Crow Brightflame over ten years. Ning Xiang has painted pig heads on its blade in retaliation for disturbing her sleep 6.
• Soul-Devouring Whip — Genuine artifact belonging to Mingyuan, awarded despite her refusal. Its power carved the spiritually draining ravine beneath Reflection Cliff. She later uses it against Meng Xin and to bind Zhu Yu; it is identified as Mingyuan’s life-bound treasure 9 48 98 171.
• Spirit Bracelet — Stores weapons, medicines, food, cookware, manuscripts, and the Heaven-Splitting Python’s remains. Her brother’s ice cellars allow her to carry prepared ingredients 10 18 33.
• Heaven-Question Stone — Access device for the cultivation world’s discussion and gossip forum 8.
• Nine-Turn Pill Scripture — Rare, long-lost alchemy text gifted by Lu Qingchen 22.
• Protective magical treasures — Numerous family-provided safeguards; Yu Tingchao considers possession of her body unlikely because of them 5.
• Chongming Bird / Little Nine — Rare flying mount used for travel and combat positioning 2 3 159 213.
• Paper Fox — Animated paper companion transformed from her Paper Puppet Maid by Yu Tingchao 7.
• Kakapos — Chubby, flightless system-reward pets she finds unwanted; two are later present in Lu Qingchen’s courtyard 12 40.
• Seven-Treasure Ship Pavilion / Seven-Treasure Spirit Vessel — Yu Tingchao’s vessel, borrowed for the Purple Tenuity Domain expedition and used during subsequent journeys. Shaowei crashes the ship during the initial expedition, though everyone escapes without serious injury 49 51 106 168.
• Time-Space Shuttle — Hidden within her soul after a bargain made during the thirty-sixth cycle; permits two temporal journeys and carries her soul into the modern world to escape Heavenly Dao punishment 115.
• Soul-Washing Jade — Two pieces received from Yu Zhengrong containing erased memories, each inexplicably holding thirty-six identical fragments 114.
• Five-Colored Stone Bracelet — Gift from Zhu Yu. Each bead contains ten years of his cultivation and protects her by expending that power. Cracked or shattered stones indicate its use; two broken stones are restored before she emerges from Nascent Soul Formation 88 93 98 139 207.
• Illusory Spirit Mountains and Seas Map — Spirit Fighting Tournament prize capable of transporting her anywhere across the Three Domains. She plans to use it to return from her temporal journey, later uses it to reach the Underworld’s entrance, and gives it to Lu Qingchen before entering the Demon-Subduing Sword Formation 104 197 215 229.
• Demon-Capturing Banner — Gives it to Ning Pingzhang so he can interrogate its captive about the mastermind behind the attacks 78.
• Luxury Cruise Ship — System-provided vessel she summons after a patrol of Penglai Island 120.
• Flying Building — Lavish aerial artifact gifted by Zhu Yu; used to carry the party departing for the Ghost Realm 178.
• Tracking Necklace — Zhu Yu places a curse on her necklace to sense her general location and detect danger 177.
• Begonia Hairpin — Gift from Qin Ge associated with their childhood memories and a marriage promise. She returns it during a New Year’s Eve quarrel; Qin Ge later uses it to awaken an apparent fragment of her divine soul 170 231.
• Fire-Illuminating Pearl and Water-Reflecting Pearl — Divine treasures associated with Yinghuo and entrusted to Zhu Yu in the past. Their energy advances Ning Xiang’s cultivation; the Fire-Illuminating Pearl later holds Yinghuo’s twenty thousand years of cultivation 206 210 215.
• Kongtong Seal — Divine artifact she can activate, associated with Yinghuo and temporal travel. Mingyuan is later identified with the artifact Kongtong and therefore regards himself as belonging to her 195 205 228.
• Thunder Qilin / Lei Aotian — Spirit beast forced into a Master-Servant Contract after attacking her and injuring Su Lang; subsequently serves as her mount 143 156 208.
• Dream-Eating Tapir — Used to construct dreams and question Xia Buyan about the novel and his system 102 103 153.
• Illusion-Sound Fragrant Ape / Little Flower — Music- and dance-capable spirit pet she lends to Caiwei, later takes back, and uses during the wedding-night incident to disrupt the lingering romantic atmosphere 82 103 134.

Writing and Commercial Activities

• The first volume of her novel sells 100,000 copies; Lu Qingchen subsequently learns she has sold another 300,000 copies 23 42.
• Lu demands 70% of her royalties after discovering his humiliating portrayal 23.
• Ning Xiang supplied the concept for Heaven-Question, which her eldest brother implemented and the Ning Household owns 41.
• She asks her brother to transfer the earnings from Bai Yueguang’s popular post to her, deciding to keep it available rather than remove it 41 42.
• Receives literary works as a system reward while transformed into a cat 60.
• Places tournament bets on Ji Wuyong and asks Wen Maimai to bet on Xia Buyan, intending to lose herself. Her family’s decision to stake their fortunes on her, and her father’s encouragement of the entire sect to do likewise, makes that plan financially disastrous for those supporting her 88.
• Records unusual murals with the intention of selling the footage 128.
• Wins large amounts of spirit stones at cards, particularly from Xia Buyan; Ning Hui refuses to play at her table 156.
• Her viral post develops into public speculation about the real people behind her fiction. Readers identify character counterparts and begin polling who should be her principal consort 173.
• Attempts to give Bai Yueguang ten million spirit stones as a wedding gift for him and Zhou Ruoxue during the war, but takes the money back after his melodramatic response 215.
• After returning to the cultivation world, serves as the public face of the Profound Heaven Sect’s recruitment efforts following the Beast Tide’s heavy losses 230.

Relationships

• Lu Qingchen — Master and the target of her performed devotion, literary revenge, and system quests. His growing care includes gifts, personal instruction, concern for her safety, and carrying her when she falls asleep; no formal Dao-companion relationship is established in the early storyline 22 36 40 42 48. He later kisses her and tries to bring her back to the sect, but she explicitly tells him that her feelings are only those between master and disciple 104 105 120. Despite that declaration, she risks carrying Red Lotus Karmic Flame and enters the Underworld to retrieve his soul 168 178 180 229. He secretly bears twenty-one days of her tribulation lightning, later shields her from Canglang and the Demon-Subduing Sword Formation, and resolves to wait for her return after her disappearance 207 229. Their divine histories are connected through his former identity as the Eastern Pole Qinghua Emperor and her identity as Yinghuo 229.

• Su Lang — Eldest senior brother, expedition partner, and talisman student. Supports her defense of Wen Maimai and seeks time alone with her; she often mistakes his affection for criticism or revenge. She gives him her system-reward jade flute 26 34 42. Their bond began in childhood: he taught her writing, accompanied her when she was frightened in the Library, and found comfort in her lively presence after losing his family 78 85 111. Recovered history shows that her feelings for him provoked Heavenly Dao punishment at twelve 115. He rescues her from Fu Yunsheng’s explosion, protects her from the Thunder Qilin, and becomes an openly romantic attachment she is reluctant to hurt 93 134 143 160. Before her temporal journey, he promises a substantial betrothal gift if she returns safely. They later enter the Demon-Subduing Sword Formation together and vanish within its light 197 229 231.

• Xie Feihong — Second senior brother and enthusiastic reader of her novels. His request for plot spoilers distracts her during the drugging mission, and he inadvertently serves her the spiked tea 22 23 46. They caused trouble together as children, including blowing up the Cold Pool 111. After he is gravely wounded in a demon-beast ambush, Ning Xiang hunts the attackers both to avenge him and obtain cores for his recovery 208. Their teasing and quarrels resume during the New Year festivities 213.

• Yu Tingchao — Junior brother whom she distrusts as the novel’s hidden “black lotus.” Repeatedly visits, trains with, protects, and courts her through teasing and gifts, while she initially assumes he belongs with Jiang Miaomiao 5 7 38 39. She immediately searches for him when he disappears into an Eastern Sea undercurrent, and his mother welcomes their closeness 107. Their bond deepens through memories of her protecting him, kisses, and his explicit confession during the Lower Primordial Festival 154 174. After a night together, she admits she is happy with him 176. His apparent death devastates her and motivates a journey into the past to rescue him; they later reunite after ninety-nine days apart 183 195 197 213.

• Jiang Miaomiao — Junior sister and original heroine. Ning Xiang performs their scripted rivalry but later insists on bringing Jiang to the Demon Domain because she regards the heroine’s protection from the Heavenly Dao as strategically valuable 1 48 49. Their relationship becomes openly familial: Ning Xiang protects her, calls her family, and insists that Xia Buyan must earn her approval before marrying her 162. Jiang attempts to match her with Mingyuan and rekindle her affection for Yu Tingchao, then remains a trusted companion during the war 153 156 197 208. In the side stories, Ning Xiang helps groom Jiang and Xia Buyan’s two-year-old second child, Jiang Yan 237.

• Mingyuan — Demon Venerable she rescues while pretending to be Jiang Miaomiao. Hears her thoughts, tolerates her teasing, and briefly considers taking her as a disciple 8 9 12. He becomes protective and romantically interested, staying behind to guard her, following awkward courtship advice, and caring for her in the Ten Thousand Demons Cave 98 153 159 160. He helps sustain her soul after she carries Red Lotus Karmic Flame and accompanies her temporal journey to rescue Yu Tingchao 168 197. She later refuses to abandon him to Yuyi and rescues him alongside Zhu Yu 210. His identity as the divine artifact Kongtong connects him directly to Yinghuo; after surviving the formation crisis, he concludes that he belongs to Ning Xiang 228.

• Zhu Yu — Demon King initially feared because he abducted and tortured her in a previous life. Her father unknowingly brings him to her as a supposedly weak captive, and a failed quest leaves her transformed into his pet 52 53. Their relationship grows through his indulgence, a protective bracelet, kisses, and persistent marriage proposals 61 88 98 105. Ning Xiang resists his possessiveness while repeatedly returning his affection on her own terms 168 176 177. Her vision of his past reveals that Yinghuo rescued and taught him when he was young 206. He suffers grievous wounds protecting her from Yuyi; she later risks herself to rescue both him and Mingyuan 205 210 212. Although he later plays along with calling her “master,” he states that the Master-Servant Contract does not actually control him 171.

• Qin Ge / Zhong Xuan — Childhood companion and her father’s favored marriage prospect. She clung to him during his four years at the Profound Heaven Sect and once agreed to marry him, although she also cast him as her mother or grandmother during childhood games 107 170. He restores her soul, gives her a begonia hairpin, impresses her with domestic talents, and protects her from demon beasts 147 170 174 177 178. He heals her severe injuries after the confrontation with Yuyi and later reveals that he can hear her thoughts 212 215. Both are associated with the Seven Luminaries Star Lords. After she vanishes in the formation, he searches for a means to restore her and awakens an apparent soul fragment through the returned hairpin 231.

• Ning Pingzhang — Father; provides swordsmanship guidance, forges Azure Sea, and sends extravagant festival gifts 6 14 39. His fierce protectiveness leads him to attack Lu Qingchen and repeatedly interfere with her suitors 51 71 174. He sacrifices half a lifetime’s cultivation to summon her displaced soul home and enthusiastically supports her tournament entry 88 115. He favors Qin Ge as a son-in-law while remaining deeply suspicious of Lu Qingchen 147 171 230.

• Mu Fang’ai / True Lord Fangyao — Mother and Wen Maimai’s master; asks Ning Xiang to look after her youngest disciple during the valley expedition 24 173. Helps conceal Ning Xiang’s childhood trauma, reassures her after the revelation of her true identity, and supports her right to choose among her suitors 78 116 148. Leads the expedition to the Ghost Realm and insists that Ning Xiang remain close to her 178.

• Eldest Ning brother — Implements Heaven-Question and gives her the income from Bai Yueguang’s post 41 42. Later escorts companions back to their sects during the widening crisis 153.

• Ning Hui — Second elder brother; emerges from three years of seclusion, recognizes her authorship, and joins the Demon Domain expedition 42 46 49. Assists her during later journeys, refuses to gamble against her at cards, and supports Mingyuan after receiving spirit stones from him 156 162 168.

• Ning Chuan — Third brother; cultivates on the Hundred-Flower Continent and supports his childhood friend Qin Ge as a match for Ning Xiang 107 178.

• Wen Maimai — Childhood companion and her mother’s youngest disciple. Ning Xiang supplies and defends her, but initially refuses to let her remain aboard the dangerous Demon Domain expedition 24 26 49. Wen later accompanies the Eastern Sea party, recalls Ning Xiang’s childhood writing lessons with Su Lang, and publicly defends her after the viral relationship post 85 106 173.

• Pin Jiji / Eleven-Mouth — Childhood friend and gossip companion. Ning Xiang pities him because she remembers his death while assisting her in the original drugging plot 17.

• Zhou Ruoxue — Initially antagonistic over Su Lang, later becomes Ning Xiang’s admirer. Buys passage to the Purple Tenuity Domain for five million spirit stones 26 40 49. Celebrates her tournament victories and prepares an enormous medicinal tonic after Fu Yunsheng’s explosion 93 96. Ning Xiang later attempts to give her and Bai Yueguang a wedding gift 215.

• Bai Yueguang — Fanfiction writer inspired by her work. Their relationship mixes literary conflict, financial exploitation, and his unwitting admiration for her pen name 37 40 41 43. Ning Xiang sometimes shows concern beneath her demands for his earnings, including leaving him resources because she suspects Fu Yunsheng may target him 91. During the war, she attempts to compensate him with a wedding gift, then withdraws it after he misreads the gesture 215.

• Xia Buyan — Genuine modern-world transmigrator and Jiang Miaomiao’s romantic partner. Ning Xiang uses dreams to question him about his Villainess System and the novel’s later plot, while frequently punishing his interference in her relationships 103 112 120 153. She entrusts Jiang to him before her dangerous temporal journey and warns him to treat her well 197.

• True Lord Shaowei — Martial uncle who watched her grow up. Dreads her fire techniques after she burned his beard 132 times as a child; she burns it again after he mocks her piloting 24 49. Reveals her hidden childhood trauma and helps Lu Qingchen divert her Nascent Soul tribulation lightning 78 207.

• Hundred Ghosts King and artifact spirit — Separate manifestations of parts of Ning Xiang’s soul. The Hundred Ghosts King resembles her and dreams repeatedly of being killed by Lu Qingchen. Both consent to merge with her during the soul-restoration ceremony 131 147.

• Hanying and Caiwei — Hanying invites Ning Xiang’s family to the Lotus Palace. Caiwei initially reacts jealously to Zhu Yu’s favor for Ning Xiang, but later approaches her about music and returns Little Flower when the pet becomes troublesome 61 78 82 103.

• Ghost Emperor — Reveals the limits of Ning Xiang’s mortal lifespan, allows her to search for Lu Qingchen, and provides information about Yinghuo, the missing junior brother, and the Demon-Subduing Formation 180 205. Later assures Lu Qingchen that Ning Xiang will return after the formation crisis 229.

• Lord Yuyi — Divine antagonist whose envy of Yinghuo drives his efforts to destroy her legacy and treasures. Attacks Ning Xiang, gravely wounds Zhu Yu, and imprisons both Zhu Yu and Mingyuan before Ning Xiang defeats him 205 209 210.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Restart and Reflection Cliff

• Repeats the snow-kneeling confrontation after the Heavenly Dao rejects her death performance. Her inner monologue becomes audible to Lu Qingchen and the male disciples 1 2.
• Withdraws to Reflection Cliff, equips the cave with comforts, and begins studying talismans rather than obsessing over romance 3.
• Yu Tingchao’s visits lead to sparring, puzzle challenges, and growing intimacy that she tries to avoid 4 5 6 7.

Mingyuan’s Rescue

• Falls after her paper fox and lands on the injured Mingyuan. With Jiang Miaomiao absent, she impersonates the heroine and treats him herself 8.
• Shares food and shelter with him while trapped in a ravine that suppresses spiritual power 9 10.
• Lu Qingchen arrives and fights Mingyuan. Ning Xiang later negotiates mission credit for the altered sequence, earning a kakapo and another Defense increase 11 12.

Training and Publication

• Reveals unexpectedly advanced swordsmanship under Lu Qingchen’s stricter schedule 14.
• Turns frustration over a 10,000-word reflection assignment into fiction portraying her master as a long-suffering victim 16 17 18.
• Publishes her work through Woodleaf Publishing House, gains substantial income, and loses most of her royalties to Lu Qingchen’s demand 21 22 23.

Thousand Calamities Valley

• Serves alongside Su Lang as a Core Formation protector for a poorly balanced Foundation Establishment team 24.
• Defeats the Earth-Fiend Demon Lion and Kui Ox, assigning their cores to Wen Maimai and Yu Tingchao respectively 27 28.
• Confronts the Tree Demon and kills a Ghost-Faced Ape impersonating a vanished Pill Sect disciple 31 33.
• Collects the Heaven-Splitting Python’s remains under a compulsory quest to deliver them to Demon King Zhu Yu. Escapes with the other cultivators after the realm’s formations malfunction 33 34.

Festival and Growing Attachments

• Accompanies Yu Tingchao to Cloud Province’s Moon-Worship Festival and restrains him from further harming an imperial noble whose True Dragon Aura makes retaliation dangerous 37 38.
• Receives romantic-token clay Bunny Lords from Yu, preferential mooncakes from Lu Qingchen, and extensive gifts from her father 39.
• Shares sword practice and a snow fight with Lu Qingchen; her joke about growing white-haired together quietly moves him 40.

Redleaf Valley and the Accelerated Main Quest

• Visits Redleaf Valley with Lu Qingchen and becomes caught in a demon-monkey attack. Burns corpses to limit the enemy’s growth while a system quest forces her to perform heroic devotion 43 45.
• Is ordered to drug Lu Qingchen within two hours under threat of erasure. Her discomfort marks a growing rejection of the system’s claim that the characters are merely NPCs 46.
• Accidentally drinks the prepared aphrodisiac tea herself. After waking beside Lu Qingchen with confused memories, she feigns amnesia and retreats behind her cottage’s protective array 46 48.
• Receives the Soul-Devouring Whip and Evasion reward when the system nevertheless declares the mission successful 48.

Purple Tenuity Domain Expedition

• Prepares talismans, pills, artifacts, and formation knowledge because she remembers being captured in the domain during her previous lifetime 49.
• Joins Lu Qingchen, Shaowei, Ning Hui, Su Lang, and other disciples, strongly recommending that Jiang Miaomiao accompany them 49.
• Borrows Yu Tingchao’s ship and negotiates passage with stowaways while refusing Wen Maimai’s plea to join 49.
• Her father interrupts Lu Qingchen’s embrace and attacks him. Shaowei subsequently crashes the ship, though everyone escapes without serious injury 51.
• Recognizes the supposedly harmless male “gift” brought by her father as Zhu Yu and fears that exposing him will endanger everyone 52.
• Attempts to complete the remains-delivery quest by hiding the Heaven-Splitting Python’s remains in Zhu Yu’s robes. He destroys them, causing the system to impose its pet and speech punishments 52.

Pallas’s Cat and Lotus Palace

• Transforms into a Pallas’s cat and is caught by Zhu Yu, who hears her thoughts and imposes a Master-Servant Contract 53.
• Her father and companions confront Zhu Yu without recognizing the cat as Ning Xiang 53.
• Lives in Zhu Yu’s bedchamber, interrupting his work through sleeping, playing, and sharpening her claws 55.
• Retaliates against a Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox that plucks fur from her tail, receives Zhu Yu’s protection, and bites his tiger ear after persuading him to reveal it 61.
• Mingyuan carries her away after Caiwei facilitates their encounter, frustrating Zhu Yu’s efforts to keep her close 62.
• Later accepts Hanying’s invitation to the Lotus Palace because the system orders her to move in and qualify for the Spirit Fighting Tournament 78.

Spirit Fighting Tournament and Meng Xin’s Rebellion

• Trains with her brothers and receives parental guidance before the tournament 82.
• Plans to lose deliberately but learns that her family and the Profound Heaven Sect have bet their fortunes on her 88.
• Wins early matches with suspicious ease, unaware of Zhu Yu’s attempts to arrange favorable opponents 91.
• Defeats Fu Yunsheng’s spirit beasts with the ninth form of her sword art. He detonates his Golden Core, destroying the platform; Su Lang reaches her and carries her out unharmed 92 93.
• Defeats Mu Jianying and Xia Buyan to win the tournament, then learns that Meng Xin has abducted immortal-sect cultivators 96.
• Breaks the Spirit-Severing Formation, is protected by Zhu Yu’s cultivation-filled bracelet, and fights Meng Xin with the Soul-Devouring Whip while Mingyuan stays to guard her 98.
• Receives the Illusory Spirit Mountains and Seas Map and numerous prizes at the award ceremony 104.
• Resists Lu Qingchen’s attempt to take her home, announcing a desire to remain in the Purple Tenuity Domain for two years. Zhu Yu presses for marriage, but she postpones the decision and moves into her mother’s quarters 105.

Eastern Sea Crisis and Recovered Identity

• Travels to the Eastern Sea after ominous nightmares and news of a crisis. Learns that Bai Xi has been abducting people for experiments and may hold part of her stolen soul 105 107.
• Sets out immediately with Lu Qingchen when Yu Tingchao is reported missing in an undercurrent 107.
• Receives the Soul-Washing Jade and learns the truth about her repeated cycles, displaced soul, and return from the modern world 114 115 116.
• Rejects Lu Qingchen’s romantic pursuit, saying she now feels only master-disciple affection for him, while participating in patrols around Penglai Island 120.
• Is abducted by Bai Xi; after escaping, the Nine Nether Array separates her and Yu Tingchao from the others and sends them to Ghost-Crying Island, where they meet Mingyuan 121 126.
• Encounters the Hundred Ghosts King, whose appearance and recurring dreams mirror her own history 131.
• Navigates a wedding-night rivalry among Mingyuan, Su Lang, and Yu Tingchao, using improvised sleeping arrangements and music to counter suspected aphrodisiac incense 134.
• Contracts the Thunder Qilin after it gravely injures Su Lang, takes him to a spirit spring, and later advances to late-stage Core Formation while cultivating there 143 144.
• Qin Ge reunites her with the Hundred Ghosts King and artifact spirit, restoring her divine soul 147.

Ten Thousand Demons Cave and Lu Qingchen’s Rescue

• Refuses to abandon the injured Lu Qingchen and joins the search for blood-burning red lotus needed for the Pure-Nurturing Pill 151 162.
• Stays temporarily at Chaohua Palace, where Mingyuan trains her and attempts awkward courtship. Questions Xia Buyan about the original novel’s sacrificial ending 153.
• Travels through Skull Mountain, eliminates ghosts, and wins heavily at cards while waiting for the cave entrance 156.
• Lands separately in a deceptive paradise at Vermilion Cliff. Identifies the clam demon sustaining its illusion and attacks it rather than accepting the offered luxury; Mingyuan shields her and finishes the demon 159.
• Receives treatment from Mingyuan for an injured ankle and grows closer to him while trapped by bad weather 160 162.
• Prioritizes saving Jiang Miaomiao when a shifting grove drags her underground, declaring her junior sister family 162.
• Risks her Golden Core and divine soul while carrying Red Lotus Karmic Flame. Mingyuan helps sustain her soul, and Zhu Yu later scolds her for endangering herself 168.
• Returns toward the Eastern Sea, where her viral Heaven-Question relationship post exposes her entanglements with both powerful men 168.
• Helps stabilize Lu Qingchen’s body, then joins her mother and brothers in entering the Ghost Realm to retrieve his soul 174 178.
• Learns that her lifespan has reverted to twenty-eight, leaving less than four months, but continues searching for Lu Qingchen. Rejects an illusion offering a peaceful life together before confronting the real Lu 180.

Junior Brother’s Loss and Temporal Journey

• Yu Tingchao’s apparent self-detonation leaves her devastated. She believes he used the forbidden Spirit-Detonation Formation and fights demon beasts in a state approaching uncontrolled bloodlust 183.
• Seeks Mingyuan’s help activating the Kongtong Seal to return to the past 195.
• Parts from Su Lang and Jiang Miaomiao, prepares weapons, and travels to Chaohua Palace with Mingyuan. His human and divine selves reunite, and she learns that the Heavenly Gods are connected to the cultivation world’s unrest 197.
• Uses blood and hand seals to enter Mingyuan’s memories, awakening before a familiar young man who asks to hear the bells 197.
• Learns from the Ghost Emperor that her junior brother’s name has vanished from the Book of Life and Death and that the Demon-Subduing Formation requires a living human sacrifice 205.

Nascent Soul Formation and Yinghuo’s Awakening

• Yuyi attacks after the Ghost Emperor leaves. Zhu Yu intervenes, but divine chains pierce his shoulder and heart while he shields Ning Xiang 205.
• Zhu Yu teleports her away. She dreams of his childhood with the goddess who rescued and taught him, then awakens at Tangli Cottage 206.
• The divine pearls advance her to peak Core Formation and trigger Nascent Soul tribulation 206.
• Overcomes a heart demon recreating Zhu Yu’s suffering and completes twenty-one days of tribulation, unknowingly protected by Lu Qingchen’s secret diversion of the lightning 207.
• Travels to Azure Nether Valley, tends to her mother, visits the gravely injured Xie Feihong, and hunts the demon beasts responsible 208.
• Tracks Yuyi to a palace and refuses his demand that she choose only one captive to save 209 210.
• Endures God-Sealing Chains and black quicksand, awakens her identity as Yinghuo, and uses Golden Crow Brightflame to defeat Yuyi. Finds Zhu Yu and Mingyuan near death before Qin Ge interrupts her attempt to finish their captor 210.
• Qin Ge heals her ruptured meridians, shattered bones, and damaged internal organs 212.
• Reunites with Yu Tingchao after ninety-nine days apart and celebrates New Year with her family and sect 213.

Demon-Subduing Sword Formation and Disappearance

• Tries to reach the Underworld while claiming she is privately stabilizing her Nascent Soul. Qin Ge intercepts her and reveals that he can hear her thoughts 215.
• Learns that Houqing’s surviving soul fragment has fused with the Ghost Lord and that the Heavenly Gods may have engineered the crisis. Refuses to let Senior Brother repeat the formation’s earlier sacrifice 215.
• Fights alongside the cultivation world’s defenders as the Profound Heaven Sect comes under siege and learns that the sect has forged the Demon-Subduing Sword Formation 215.
• Draws more fully on Yinghuo’s cultivation against the Ghost Lord, then struggles to suppress ghost qi threatening to corrupt her Nascent Soul 216 217.
• Tends Lu Qingchen’s wound and gives him the Illusory Spirit Mountains and Seas Map before entering the formation with Su Lang. Its light consumes them, leaving their companions believing they are gone 229 231.
• Qin Ge unsuccessfully attempts to pull them out. Later, his blood activates the begonia hairpin in Yinghuo’s sealed Divine Palace and manifests an apparently incomplete Ning Xiang, whose demeanor shifts from childlike confusion to familiar sharp-tongued banter 231.
• The Ghost Emperor tells Lu Qingchen that Ning Xiang will return, while Mingyuan survives the crisis and recognizes his identity as Yinghuo’s artifact Kongtong 228 229.

Return and Side Stories

• Returns to the cultivation world and assists the Profound Heaven Sect in recruiting replacements for disciples lost during the Beast Tide 230.
• Her continuing relationship with Mingyuan includes listening to his account of surviving after she offered herself as a sacrifice 228.
• In the later child-rearing side stories, lives with the children on the Hundred-Flower Continent and returns for the sect’s ten-thousandth anniversary. Grooms Little Tiger Girl, Little Tiger Cub, and Jiang Miaomiao and Xia Buyan’s two-year-old second child, Jiang Yan, before the celebration 237.

Notable Quotes

“Yes, indeed. I’m very protective of my own.” 26

“Are you messing with me? I quit! I’m not doing this moronic plot all over again!” 1

“Let me tell you, all I feel for Iceberg Lu now is affection between master and disciple. There’s absolutely nothing romantic about it, so stop meddling.” 120

“No matter what, as long as there’s even a sliver of hope, I can’t abandon my master.” 151

“No. I’m very rebellious. I won’t listen to anyone except my mom. She told me to keep a close eye on my men, so I’m taking both of them home!” 210