Li Hongjiu

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Li Hongjiu (李红酒)
Alias(es)	“Smiling Tiger,” Shi Chun’s description of his deceptively pleasant manner 396 397
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Treasure-Evolving Sect; Southern Jambu Battle Team during the Great Amnesty War 312 673
Occupation/Role	Cultivator and artifact refiner; Qu Wuming’s final personal disciple; leader of his sect’s Divine Fire Domain expedition; wartime centurion 312 682
Master	Qu Wuming, Sect Master of the Treasure-Evolving Sect 312
Disciple	Dong Liangying, his first formally accepted disciple 572
Status	Alive when last directly observed, but critically afflicted by suspected Demon Dew. His survival remains unresolved in the provided chapters 682 684
First Appearance	Chapter 312, “Li Hongjiu” 312

Power Progression

Li Hongjiu’s combat feats greatly exceed his stated cultivation. Defeating or resisting an immortal does not establish that he has reached that opponent’s realm.

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Advanced martial minor completion — historical milestone	312	Created his own cultivation method after finding the sect’s method unsatisfactory. His ability to catch a Human Immortal’s blow prompted the elders to investigate his cultivation.
Three divine flames absorbed	312	Reluctantly absorbed all three flames found by his expedition after the disciples pressured him. No resulting realm advancement is specified.
Borrowed Realm insight breakthrough	369	His near-fatal encounter with Shi Chun revealed a principle for overcoming the method’s long-standing flaw. He found an approach, not a completed technique or explicitly confirmed realm breakthrough.
Unaided aerial suspension demonstrated — realm unnamed	609	Hovered without wind support or a magical treasure. The narration identifies this as evidence of his current cultivation but does not name the realm reached.

Background / History

According to the account of his birth, Li Hongjiu’s mother was fleeing pursuers while heavily pregnant. She hid in a wine vat and gave birth there; her blood stained the wine red, inspiring the name “Hongjiu,” or “Red Wine” 312.

Qu Wuming eagerly accepted him after recognizing his talent. Li became the finest cultivation talent reported in the Treasure-Evolving Sect’s eighteen-hundred-year history, though this distinction concerned his potential, not his cultivation level. His exceptional artifact-refining ability made him equally valuable to the sect 312.

Li’s refusal to apply himself frustrated his master. Punishments, resource offers, and threats of expulsion failed to change him, while Qu Wuming could not bear to discard such a gifted disciple. The experience discouraged Qu from accepting another student, leaving Li as his final personal disciple and the martial uncle of many younger sect members 312.

After inventing Borrowed Realm, Li handed it over when the sect requested it. Its dependence on personal insight prevented anyone else from practicing it, and the method remained shelved. Li spent years stagnating on the sect’s rear mountain before his battle with Shi Chun opened a possible path forward 312 369.

Appearance

Li Hongjiu is handsome, with a languid bearing that makes him look more like a sightseeing visitor than a contestant or expedition leader 312.

• Radiant smile: His brilliant smile and white teeth are compared to sunlight capable of melting accumulated snow 312.
• Wine gourd: Frequently lounges or travels with a gourd in hand, sometimes drinking even while fighting 312 331.
• Changed combat bearing: When confronting Shi Chun with twin swords, his usual drunken cheerfulness gives way to an empty, still, almost ethereal presence 380.
• Lost left arm: Suffers the loss during the sea battle against three Heavenly Immortals. No restoration is documented in the provided context 614 616.
• Uncomfortable in armor: During the Great Amnesty War, he squirms in his battle armor as though it itches 673.

Personality

Li values comfort and freedom more than rank, fame, or constant improvement. His laziness is partly deliberate: displaying ability brings responsibility, and he dislikes becoming the person everyone approaches whenever trouble arises. He initially refuses divine fire, avoids routine refining work, and conceals advanced craftsmanship to escape further duties or eventual leadership 312 332 462.

His easygoing manner does not make him naïve. He notices irregularities in Shi Chun’s arrival, studies unfamiliar techniques before countering them, tests gifted wine for poison, and recognizes veiled threats. He can also lie smoothly, invent cover stories, and match Shi Chun’s extravagant declarations of brotherhood without believing their literal meaning 351 366 370 396 566.

Despite avoiding responsibility, Li cares deeply about his fellow disciples. Their deaths leave him guilty over having led them into the Forbidden Ground. His demand for revenge is an accounting to himself as well as to his sect, especially because his insight-based cultivation places considerable importance on his state of mind 397.

He respects courage and rejects the assumption that extraordinary strength belongs only to famous prodigies. Shi Chun’s refusal to retreat earns his admiration, while Dong Liangying’s reasoned choice of a difficult cultivation path makes him reconsider conventional judgments about aptitude and Root Bone 367 369 568.

Abilities & Skills

Borrowed Realm

Li’s self-created cultivation method centers on borrowing force rather than relying solely on his own power. It develops through insight and can redirect an opponent’s strength or harness forces in the surrounding environment 312 369 613.

• Force reversal: Circulates an incoming attack’s power and sends it back toward its source 369.
• Force dissolution: Converts overwhelming pressure into currents that flow past his body, allowing him to enter the Black Lotus Avatar’s shock wave without being crushed 381.
• Cross-realm defense: Catches a Human Immortal’s blow in an early incident and later blocks and returns a Heavenly Immortal-level attack with his swords 312 609.
• Insight-dependent learning: No other sect member could practice the version he submitted to the Treasure-Evolving Sect 312.
• Original flaw: Shi Chun’s multiplying palm force grew too quickly for him to control and badly injured him 369.
• Breakthrough principle: Demonstrates that a stone’s impact becomes harmless when reduced to dust, giving him an analogy for dispersing attacks too powerful to handle intact 369.

Wind Control and Twin-Finger Mudra

An insight gained while observing wind rising from green duckweed enabled Li to summon wind with a raised finger. His Twin-Finger Mudra can produce a tornado strong enough to move a mountain 331 381.

• Mass suppression: Swallows and crushes an entire swarm of Fire Bats 331.
• Mountain transport: Grinds a mountain into a vast whirlwind, supports it above his palm, and carries it to the Heavenly Pit 331.
• Aerial maneuvering: Rides controlled currents to circle opponents freely and vary his speed 366.
• Borrowed-Momentum Strike: Launches a sword attack strengthened by momentum within the tornado 366.
• Obscuration: Draws clouds into the whirlwind to conceal a fight, although Shi Chun’s perception defeats this tactic 366.
• Wind-based perception: Detects approaching attacks while the Three Corpses Mirror deprives him of sight and hearing 381.
• Limits: Losing the whirlwind removes his wind-supported maneuverability; during their earlier duel, Shi Chun exploits openings in his control 366 368.

Lightning and Thunder Swords

Li commands lightning on a large scale, including the Heaven-Shaking Thunder Sword and storms filled with Ten-Thousand-Jun Thunder 604 612.

• Environmental commands: “Swift!” intensifies the Wind Nest’s winds, while “Strike!” directs lightning from its wind pillars 363.
• Monster destruction: Calls down a forest of lightning that annihilates attacking creatures and drives survivors away 364.
• Treasure destruction: His lightning renders numerous magical treasures useless, including the Boundless Banner, Six-Path Golden Wheel, and Azure-Soul Refined Rainbow Sword 364.
• Prepared countermeasure: Uses stored electricity to escape Shi Chun’s Immobility Substance 366.
• Colossal Thunder Sword: Forms lightning into an enormous sword for a concentrated descending strike 366 367.
• “Forge My Thunder Sword”: Creates three immense thunder swords to destroy the mountains shielding three Heavenly Immortal attackers 613.
• Sustained restraint: Holds the three experts in a shifting lightning forest long enough for Shi Chun to kill them 614.
• Limits: Severe injury and blood loss prevent him from completing further Thunder Swords. Shi Chun also withstands lightning that should have killed him 367 614.

Borrow the Light

Li gathers a water droplet between two fingers and turns it toward the approaching dawn, producing a blinding eruption of radiance 609.

• Forces pursuers to stop and guard themselves, creating an opening to escape 609.
• Affects observers watching through a mirror projection as well as those at the battlefield 609.
• Also blinds Shi Chun, whom Li carries away during the escape 609.

Borrow a Tide

Li channels the sea’s accumulated force through a vast, layered structure visible to Shi Chun’s unusual right eye. He suppresses and gathers the ocean’s movement before releasing it upward or through a palm strike 610.

• Defensive surge: Shatters a mountain-sized silver-axe attack and injures its wielder 610.
• Offensive surge: Breaks Ice Owl’s Cold Moon Shield and destroys nearly all the demon cultivators behind him 611.
• Protected space: Shields Shi Chun from the residual force of the clash 610.
• Environmental dependence: Opponents counter the technique by carving enormous trenches through the sea and disrupting his control over its accumulated power 611 612.
• Adaptive follow-up: After losing tide control, combines Red Flame divine fire, wind, and lightning to build a rapidly intensifying storm 612.

Twin-Sword Combat

Li uses two ordinary-looking swords to confront powerful magical treasures directly. Their appearance and use do not resemble conventional treasure activation 380.

• Blocks the Black Lotus Avatar’s great sword with one blade and knocks it aside with the other 380.
• Tears through the Immortal-Strangling Sash while parrying Wu Jinliang’s Gods and Devils avatars 381.
• Combines close-range swordwork with borrowed force to challenge opponents far above his apparent realm 380 609.

Artifact Refining

Li possesses exceptional refining talent but generally reveals it only when compelled. During the Divine Fire Pact competition, his unconventional method leaves even accomplished refiners struggling to understand his work 312 457.

• Formless mold: Shapes an invisible, dustlike structure into the Exquisite Heart’s intricate internal channels 457.
• Whole-structure shaping: Guides molten material through thousands of branches, forming the artifact together rather than refining it piece by piece 457.
• Flower-Pinching Finger: Uses intricate finger gestures to trace and maintain the structure 463.
• True-aperture knowledge: Can refine a True One Orifice and knows how to make a True Nine-Orifice Exquisite Heart, an ability he concealed to avoid additional work 462.
• Precision requirement: Every tiny aperture must retain its shape as the material cools; a small flaw can ruin the refinement 457.
• Mental cost: His final push leaves him sweating, breathing unevenly, and mentally exhausted as he completes the sixth aperture and begins the seventh 463 465.

Apparent Demonic Techniques

Shi Chun initially believes Li knows both the Demon-Undoing Hand and Demon-Bathing Art. The later explanation identifies this as a misinterpretation of Borrowed Realm, not proof that Li practices those arts 368 369.

• Li redirects the force of Shi Chun’s Demon-Undoing Hand, making the return strike resemble the same technique 369.
• His bluff conceals the serious injury caused by the original attack and frightens Shi Chun into retreating 368 369.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Twin swords — His principal close-combat weapons, used alongside force redirection and wind perception 380 381 609.
• Wind Scales — A flight treasure used to pursue Shi Chun; its speed can rival an ordinary Earth Immortal’s flight 381.
• Wine gourd — His recurring drinking vessel, carried on expeditions and put away when a serious battle demands his attention 312 609.
• Sandalwood gold — Used as illumination while examining the stone damaged by Shi Chun’s remaining palm force 368 369.
• Mother-Child Talisman — Used for private communication with Shi Chun 566.
• Battle armor and command token — Issued for participation in the Great Amnesty War; Gao Lian uses his token to report the poisoning 673 682.
• Space-Rending Sword — An emergency weapon capable of breaking fifth-grade defenses. Ming Chaofeng alerts Gao Lian to its presence when Li’s survival becomes uncertain 683.

Relationships

• Qu Wuming — Master and protector. Repeatedly punishes Li’s idleness but continues supporting his talent; promises retaliation after Li returns from the assassination attempt 312 623.
• Guang Haoyou — Martial nephew and practical organizer. Frequently keeps Li on task, warns him about political complications, and shifts from frustration to admiration after witnessing his strength 312 331 339.
• Shi Chun — Former opponent turned self-styled younger brother and life-and-death ally. Their relationship begins with pursuit, captivity, and mutual manipulation, then gains substance through reciprocal protection. Li’s Thunder Sword also becomes crucial to Shi Chun’s cultivation 396 568 614 623 684.
• Wu Jinliang — Initially an enemy who captures Li while he is badly injured; later helps carry him through the Two-Realm Passage during their escape 393 616.
• Dong Liangying — First disciple. Chooses Li because his comprehension-based method offers a path she hopes to pursue despite poor conventional cultivation aptitude 558 568 572.
• Dong Liangyu — Li recommends Shi Chun as her teacher and later suggests she may reconsider the missed opportunity. He refuses Dong Wenshu’s request to take her himself 572 573 587.
• Ming Chaofeng — Eldest senior brother and Southern Jambu Battle Team commander. Saves fine wine for Li, conceals his squad placement, and urgently seeks help after he is poisoned 673 678 682.
• Ruojun / Red-Clad Woman — Hosts him at the Book Hall but secretly decides not to let him leave Gathering Grotto Continent alive; later orders his tracking and assassination 571 604 605.
• Luo Shengsheng — Artifact-refining rival whom Li repeatedly provokes. Luo’s refusal to respond and subsequent progress force Li into more serious competition 447 459 462.
• Ninth Lord — Overwhelms Li with repeated attacks in the Divine Fire Domain, leaving him vulnerable to capture 383 392.
• Gao Lian — Wartime assistant who reports Li’s poisoning, alerts the group, and helps organize its defenses 682 683.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Divine Fire Domain Expedition

• Appointed expedition leader because he is the strongest advanced martial fighter available and an outstanding refiner. With only twenty entrants, the Treasure-Evolving Sect depends heavily on him despite his unreliable habits 312.
• Loses interest in searching, reluctantly absorbs three divine flames, and pursues his curiosity about the Darkness-Free Forbidden Ground 312.
• Reveals his power by destroying a Fire Bat swarm and carrying a pulverized mountain to obstruct the Heavenly Pit. The obstruction is incomplete, and he does not know the bats have another exit 331.
• Seeks Shi Chun’s divine-fire-finding secret art and intervenes in the confrontation among the sects. His lightning saves them from monsters but also ruins many of their treasures 339 363 364.
• Nearly dies to Shi Chun’s multiplying palm force, survives through force redirection and bluffing, and gains the insight needed to address Borrowed Realm’s flaw 368 369.
• Later overwhelms Shi Chun’s treasure-based defenses and pursues his retreat. The battle’s shock waves kill sixty or seventy bystanders and injure many more 380 381.
• After attacks from the Ninth Lord, falls into Wu Jinliang’s hands. His captors eventually release and treat him while negotiating cooperation 392 393 396 397.
• Witnesses Gong Shixi admit that the accusation against Shi Chun’s group was fabricated, removing the immediate basis for blaming them for the Treasure-Evolving Sect disciples’ deaths 404.

Divine Fire Pact Competition

• Publicly exchanges exaggerated brotherly affection with Shi Chun while privately warning him about Stargazing Pavilion questioning and asking him to conceal information about the tower’s treasures 433 434.
• Provokes Luo Shengsheng before the contest, leading sect elders to suspect an attempt to injure or disqualify his rival 447 451.
• Astonishes spectators with his formless-mold refining method. After restarting, he reveals true-aperture craftsmanship and pushes himself hard as Tong Mingshan becomes a serious rival 457 462 464 465.
• The provided chapters document his progress, but do not establish his final placing.

Book Hall and First Disciple

• Travels to Gathering Grotto Continent after Shi Chun sends exceptional wine and a veiled summons. He conceals the letter’s contents from his sect and remains suspicious of the invitation 565 566.
• Agrees to help stage Shi Chun’s story about Bai Qiru and to accept Dong Liangying, initially on the understanding that the apprenticeship will impose little responsibility 568 569.
• Formally accepts Liangying as his first disciple. His separate attempt to arrange Shi Chun as Dong Liangyu’s teacher fails because Dong Wenshu rejects Shi’s reputation and origins 572.
• Remains at the Book Hall enjoying wine and its collection of books 573 604.

Sea Battle and Rescue

• Agrees to strike Shi Chun with the Heaven-Shaking Thunder Sword again to investigate the earlier lotus manifestation and Shi’s possible cultivation insight 604.
• Becomes the target of an assassination pursuit. He and Shi Chun evade aura tracking, then cooperate against demon cultivators and Eastern Victory pursuers 605 609.
• Uses light, tides, and a borrowed storm to counter much stronger attackers. After the enemies disrupt his sea connection, he escalates to thunder swords 609 610 612 613.
• Loses his left arm and sustains grave injuries but keeps three Heavenly Immortals trapped in lightning until Shi Chun kills them 614.
• Shi Chun refuses to abandon him, carries him through another encirclement, and escapes with Wu Jinliang into the Nether Realm. A Qiangyu City physician subsequently stabilizes his injuries 616 617.
• Helps Shi Chun use the Thunder Sword once more while still recovering, then returns to the Treasure-Evolving Sect to seek safety and avoid further endangering him 623.

Great Amnesty War and Demon Dew

• Participates with the Southern Jambu Battle Team. Ming Chaofeng misdirects observers by displaying him with Squad Nine before returning him to Squad One Thirty-Eight 673 678.
• Approaches a wounded woman only after checks indicate she cannot fight. A glittering droplet nevertheless penetrates his defense, causing his skin to redden and his blood qi to appear to boil 682.
• Observers identify the likely poison as Demon Dew, which activates when a victim recognizes and rejects it. Li survives longer than expected, but no reliable cure is known 682.
• His suspected possession of a powerful treasure draws an encirclement. Wei Mo exploits the crisis by arranging for Shi Chun to receive a warning, hoping to lure him into danger 682 683.
• Shi Chun verifies the poisoning and questions why Li remains alive beyond the expected onset. The outcome is unresolved 684.

Notable Quotes

“I'm living quite well right now. Why should I work myself to death?” 312

“The path of cultivation shouldn't be governed entirely by the body in the first place. As for root bone, the benevolent see benevolence and the wise see wisdom.” 568

“What outsiders see isn't necessarily the truth.” 572

“Heaven and Earth as One, tides rise and fall—Borrow a Tide!” 609