Ninth Uncle

Biodata

Background / History

Early Sword Cultivation and Wars Against Nine Nether

In his youth, Sword Nine fought and severely wounded the Devil Master, a feat that the Seven Peaks’ lords personally witnessed. They regard him as more than a highly ranked sect elder and retain faith that his sword can slay devils long afterward 110.

After fighting alongside him, Xu Taiping dreams of a thin boy with a stammer and a slight limp who is mocked by others. The subsequent dream identifies the smaller young man as Lü Sword Nine. His senior companion calls him the inheritor of the Heavenly Escape Sword Art, the only Qingxuan disciple capable of wielding the Ninth-Turn Heavenly Thunder Sword, and True Martial Heaven’s most promising prospective Sword Immortal. Sword Nine initially trembles behind that companion, but draws his sword after the latter exposes himself to a wolf monster’s attack 482 483.

According to A Meng, Ninth Uncle single-handedly wiped out Nine Nether eight times. A Meng connects these victories to the rumor that he possesses nine lives and has already spent eight of them. Ninth Uncle later confirms that he regards his current life as his last, describing his first eight lives as having been lived for Shangqing, Zhenwu, and Qingxuan 457 1844.

Observing Xu Taiping

Sword Nine takes notice of Xu Taiping after hearing him defend the principle of doing good even in an evil abyss. Although impressed by the boy’s words, he wants to see whether Taiping can actually uphold that heart of the Dao. He privately considers accepting him as a disciple if he reaches the Gate Opening Realm within three years and distinguishes himself in the Seven Peaks Sword Challenge 25 28.

He also condemns West Wind Pavilion for extorting outer sect disciples and failing to investigate the destruction of a spring supplying a cultivation site. Calling himself their ancestral master, he expresses disgust that such misconduct requires his personal intervention 28.

The Green Bamboo Abode Feast

White Rainbow brings him to Green Bamboo Abode under the modest introduction of a friend called “Old Nine,” concealing his true standing from Taiping. Ninth Uncle offers a pouch containing three hundred Merit Coins for dinner, but Taiping takes only seven. Amused rather than offended, he helps tend the kitchen fire and tries to bargain down the price 28.

During the feast, Ninth Uncle reprimands West Wind Pavilion Master Liu Songshan for speaking rudely to Taiping, then has him summon Raging Wind Hall Master Xu Youzhi. He instructs Xu Youzhi to strengthen patrols around Green Bamboo Abode, noting that sect rules restrict how much direct cultivation assistance they can provide 29 30.

When Taiping produces the talisman left by Zuo Ju, the senior guests recognize its connection to the patrolmen’s extortion scheme. Ninth Uncle makes Liu Songshan pay Taiping for it and summon Zuo Ju and Zhou Gu. The pair arrive expecting to intimidate Taiping, only to be forced into a cramped meal beside their frightened superiors 30 31.

The Northern Frontier Mission

After leaving, Ninth Uncle tells White Rainbow that Taiping’s refusal to flatter him is precisely what he admires. He revises his prospective discipleship condition: if Taiping reaches the Gate Opening Realm during his coming two-year absence, he will accept him as a Personal Disciple and teach him all his swordsmanship, even with only white-bone aptitude. This promise is made to White Rainbow, not directly to Taiping 32.

His destination is the Heavenly Pool of Greedy Wolf Country, where a demon lotus threatens to create another demon kingdom on the Divine Continent. He intends to destroy it before it emerges and warns White Rainbow that the journey offers “nine chances of death and one of survival.” White Rainbow nevertheless chooses to accompany him 32.

Taiping subsequently reaches the Gate Opening Realm, though formal discipleship is not established at that point. Ninth Uncle’s intervention also prompts Raging Wind Hall to send Taiping a Message Talisman as a gesture of goodwill 37 38.

Despite rumors implying his death, a secret report obtained by Liu Songshan states that Ninth Uncle returned alive from the Northern Border, slew the Devil Lord, and severed Greedy Wolf Country’s demonic root 79.

White Rainbow later questions how he survived wounds that should have killed him during the expedition. Ninth Uncle teasingly suggests that the Lü Sword Nine who accompanied him actually died, then laughs at White Rainbow for believing him. The exchange does not provide a straightforward explanation of his survival 338.

Return and Concealed Instruction

Ninth Uncle returns publicly after Xu Taiping’s confrontation with Ye Xuan, descending drunkenly on a wine gourd. Sect Master Zhou Tong and the seven Peak Lords immediately greet him with deference. Rather than allow the proceedings to be dismissed, he orders the Seven Peaks to begin choosing disciples and subsequently stops the bleeding and pain in Taiping’s injured arm 108 109.

He offers to accept Taiping as his final disciple and teach him everything he has learned. When Taiping remains committed to the promise he made to Qingxiao and Zhao Linglong to join Seventh Peak, Ninth Uncle declares that the offer was merely a test and praises him for not losing sight of his true heart. Privately, however, he intends to make Taiping seek his instruction later 110.

He then arranges matters with Zhao Qian while refusing to reveal his identity as Taiping’s prospective instructor. He claims not to care about a formal master-disciple bond and compares the disciple he seeks to a plain sword whose most important quality is an absolutely straight spine 113.

A later letter from Zhao Qian directs Taiping to study swordsmanship under Elder Sansan at Moon-Fishing Pool, describing the elder’s swordsmanship as no less than Ninth Uncle’s. Recluse Sansan ultimately reveals that he is Grand Martial Uncle Daoxuan, and Taiping bows to him as Master 172 482.

Opposition to Zhou Tong and the Nether Profound Grotto

When White Rainbow declares his intention to kill Zhou Tong, Ninth Uncle asks him to wait until the next Seven Peaks Grand Competition. He promises to arrange a Sword Inquiry that, if Zhou Tong loses, will strip him of his position and expel him from Qingxuan. The intended challenger belongs to Seventh Peak, though Ninth Uncle does not identify that person in this conversation 337 338.

Dugu Qingxiao later explains that Ninth Uncle knows about Zhou Tong’s wrongdoing but is constrained by his oath to the sect. A successful Sword Inquiry offers a way to remove Zhou Tong’s authority over the restrictions of Qingxuan’s seven peaks. This is why Ninth Uncle has spent years searching for a suitable challenger 387.

After his conversation with White Rainbow, a drunken Ninth Uncle descends beneath Forget-Me-Not Peak to visit his Senior Brother in the Nether Profound Grotto. Beyond its seal lies a blood-red cavern containing immense iron balls, chains, nine open coffins, and a huge Bronze Gate. The most intact corpse resembles Ninth Uncle almost exactly, and he looks upon it with sorrow 338 339.

Su Chan repeatedly engineers crises intended to force Ninth Uncle to act, including incidents in the Yunmeng Marsh Ruins and Immortal Gourd Grotto-Heaven. A Meng explains that Su Chan wants him dead because his continued existence deters an open Nine Nether invasion of the Nine Prefectures 387 457.

During the Yunmeng Marsh crisis, Longyuan and Chengying arrive under Lü Daoxuan’s orders to retrieve the Qingxuan disciples and destroy the Nine Nether Demon Army. They cut through the ruins’ barrier and enter 253.

Before the later Seven Peaks Grand Competition, Ninth Uncle acknowledges the danger posed by Zhou Tong’s sinister sword and the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation. Although outwardly unconcerned about Taiping’s chances, he declares that he can overturn the situation by force as a last resort 412.

Revealing Himself to Xu Taiping

Ninth Uncle and Xu Taiping fight together against the demonic forces threatening Qingxuan. Liu Chuxuan recognizes that their immense sword strike is largely Ninth Uncle’s work, with Taiping providing the sword capable of bearing his lifetime of cultivation. Together, Taiping and Recluse Sansan destroy Demon Venerable Nine Infants’s true body and shatter her Demon King Weapon 482.

They pursue Su Chan, but strike an afterimage as he escapes. Sansan reveals his identity as Daoxuan, and Taiping acknowledges him as Master. When Taiping’s excessive expenditure of Divine Essence causes him to fall, Ninth Uncle controls Rusty Lion to catch him, praises his performance, and gently sends him to sleep 482.

Afterward, Huang Que tells Taiping that the Nine Prefectures can no longer rely on Ninth Uncle as their fallback against Nine Nether. However, Huang Que also relays his master’s assurance that Ninth Uncle is unharmed and has merely gone somewhere ordinary people cannot enter 484.

Guiding His Disciple from the Netherdark Demon Grotto

Ninth Uncle’s Hidden Sword Art remains central to Taiping’s later sword cultivation. At the Golden Scale Assembly, Taiping understands that the hidden sword exists to protect his dignity and Dao heart and to give him the resolve to resist injustice. Lu Rushuang recognizes the sword he draws as the one Senior Brother Sword Nine had sought, and a slash taught by Lü Daoxuan defeats Third Prince Chu Yinan’s Heavenly Light Sword Shadows 825 827.

While in the Netherdark Demon Grotto, Ninth Uncle speaks to Taiping through Zhao Qian’s Jade Slip and warns him against seeking demonic power to restore his Spirit Bone. Taiping promises to remember his teaching and to show the world his master’s sword at the True Martial Sword Champion Assembly. Ninth Uncle responds with weak but exhilarated laughter 1452.

Before the assembly, he instructs Zhao Qian to merge Qingxuan’s Immortal-Slaying Grand Formation with the aura of all Cloud Cottage Mountain, transforming it from an acquired formation into an innate one capable of operating independently. He also orders the sect’s mountain gate sealed for three months 1747.

During Taiping’s Sword Inquiry against Su Chan, Zhao Qian asks Ninth Uncle to stop his disciple. Ninth Uncle refuses to interfere with a true sword cultivator’s decision to draw his sword. He instead agrees that, if Taiping wins, he will join Zhao Qian’s proposed march against the Netherdark Demon Grotto. He declares that, after devoting eight lives to others, he wishes to seek a path to survival for himself and the disciple who risks his life for him 1844.

Great Emperor of True Martial Heaven

When a falling bright moon threatens disaster, Lü Daoxuan reveals himself as True Martial Heaven’s Great Emperor. He silences the abuse directed through the Spirit Mirror and sends a sword beam into the moon, slowing its descent without drawing on the Emperor Seal’s power 2229.

Cultivators recognize him as the Ninth Uncle who once swept Nine Nether flat. He openly challenges anyone who denies True Martial Heaven’s possession of a Great Emperor, seeks compromise with Nine Abysses, or demands that Xu Taiping bear a thousand years of infamy 2229.

Great Emperors Cang Ai and Duanyue formally welcome his succession, while Great Emperor Zongyun acknowledges him as a fellow emperor. Even these observers are unwilling to lightly receive the sword strike with which he challenges the Five Heavens 2230.

Battle with Ancestor Pengzhi

During his later battle with Ancestor Pengzhi, observers identify Lü Daoxuan’s swordsmanship with the Sword-One Realm. They describe his sword not merely as a weapon or technique, but as a Great Dao Edict capable of breaking all arts, and conclude that he has glimpsed the origin of sword techniques 3654.

Pengzhi then manifests his true body and a vast storm phantom, displaying half-immortal combat strength. His descending palm contains numerous spells, including several bearing edict power. The provided account establishes the confrontation but does not state its outcome 3654.

Appearance

• An old man with graying hair and a beard 28.
• Has small eyes that become sharply piercing when angered 28.
• Wears clothing with a rag-like sleeve and carries a wine gourd at his waist 25 28.
• Frequently appears drunk, including when he returns to the sect reclining on a floating wine gourd 108.
• In the dream associated with his youth, he is thin and small, stammers, and has a slight limp in his right leg 482 483.

Personality

Ninth Uncle is playful with Taiping but intimidating toward sect officials. He laughs at the boy’s blunt insistence on payment, bargains over dinner, and envies White Rainbow’s invitation to return freely. His enormous appetite requires Taiping to prepare additional dishes; Taiping estimates that he eats four or five times as much as an ordinary person 28 29 31 32.

He values conduct over flattery. Taiping’s neither-servile-nor-arrogant manner earns unusually strong praise, while empty declarations of righteousness provoke his contempt. Despite claiming not to need gratitude, he becomes irritated when Taiping credits White Rainbow alone for the help he receives 25 30 32.

His ideal of a straight-backed sword reflects his preference for an upright heart over prestigious origins or exceptional innate materials. He is willing to teach Taiping despite white-bone aptitude and accepts the boy’s loyalty to an earlier promise, even while disguising his disappointment at being refused 32 110 113.

Although he professes indifference to formal discipleship, he takes pride in Taiping’s achievements and offers him reassurance after their joint battle. His later refusal to stop Taiping’s Sword Inquiry reflects respect for his disciple’s resolve rather than indifference to his safety 113 482 1844.

His long service to the sect and the wider cultivation world is tempered by personal loyalties. His regard for Sword Buddha Zhou Ang helps explain his tolerance of Zhou Tong, while his attachment to Taiping eventually leads him to seek survival for both himself and his disciple. As Great Emperor, he defends Taiping openly against the judgments of the Five Heavens 475 1844 2229.

Abilities & Skills

Swordsmanship

• Possesses swordsmanship sought by disciples of the Seven Peaks 32.
• Previously refused to teach those disciples even when the sect leader personally asked 32.
• Offers to pass on his entire swordsmanship to Taiping if the boy meets his condition for becoming a Personal Disciple 32.
• Fought and severely wounded the Devil Master in his youth 110.
• According to A Meng, annihilated Nine Nether eight times single-handedly, making his survival a deterrent against open invasion 457.
• Can direct a flying sword through Divine Essence, including supporting Taiping on Rusty Lion and controlling most of their joint sword attack 482.
• Later displays swordsmanship recognized as the Sword-One Realm, in which his sword functions as a Great Dao Edict that can break all arts 3654.

Heavenly Escape Sword Art and Heavenly Thunder Sword

• Identified in the dream of his youth as the inheritor of the Heavenly Escape Sword Art and the only Qingxuan disciple then able to wield the Ninth-Turn Heavenly Thunder Sword 483.
• Used the Ninth-Turn Heavenly Thunder Sword together with the Heavenly Escape Sword Art’s mind method to slay a Nine Nether Devil Master from ten thousand li away 475.
• Zhao Qian’s later Heavenly Thunder Sword display leads A Meng and Chen Hao to regard him as a possible inheritor of Ninth Uncle’s mantle 475.

Hidden Sword Art

• Teaches Xu Taiping the Hidden Sword Art, also referred to as the Stored Sword Art 620 1613.
• Its purpose, as Taiping comes to understand it, is to preserve dignity and the Dao heart, enabling its practitioner to resist oppression rather than submit even before overwhelming powers 825.
• Remains unchanged when the Spirit Bone Stele extrapolates Taiping’s cultivation techniques, although it gains an annotation concerning true intent 620.
• Enables Taiping to bring forth Rusty Lion and its Vast Righteous Qi at the Golden Scale Assembly, where a slash taught by Ninth Uncle shatters Chu Yinan’s Heavenly Light Sword Shadows 825 827.
• Is the technique Taiping later uses to shatter the Heavenly Gate in the Mysterious Wasteland Tower. Fairy Lingyue privately credits Ninth Uncle’s instruction for the feat 1304.
• Is used by Taiping alongside the Shurangama Sutra’s power to slaughter Demonic Beasts, including tearing apart a huge-mouthed beast from within 1613.

Sword Flight

• Rides a bronze longsword through the sky 28.
• His departure from Green Bamboo Abode produces a gust that splits the overhead clouds and mist 32.
• Taiping recognizes the feat as the legendary Sword Flight 33.

Other Demonstrated Abilities

• Remote aid — Stops the pain and bleeding in Taiping’s wounded arm with a distant grabbing gesture 109.
• Gentle Divine Essence control — Uses Rusty Lion to catch and safely carry the exhausted Taiping; his reassuring voice then lulls his disciple to sleep 482.
• Multiple lives — Rumored to possess nine lives, eight of which were spent destroying Nine Nether. He later explicitly calls his current life his last, though the precise mechanism is not explained in the cited passages 457 1844.
• Imperial-scale sword power — Sends a sword beam into the falling bright moon and slows it without using the Emperor Seal’s power 2229.

Power Progression

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Bronze longsword — Carries him through the air during sword flight 28.
• Wine gourd — Worn at his waist; he frequently drinks from it. He also reclines on a floating wine gourd when returning to the sect 25 28 108.
• Merit Coin pouch — Contains three hundred Merit Coins when he offers to pay for Taiping’s meal 28.
• Plain dark-iron longsword — An old-fashioned sword with crude patterns but an exceptionally straight spine and edge. He uses it to illustrate the kind of sword, and character, he values 113.
• Youngest — His flying sword, which reacts when he approaches the entrance to the Nether Profound Grotto. He tells it that he does not need its protection there 338.
• Rusty Lion Sword — The sword he controls to support Taiping after their joint battle, and the sword associated with the Hidden Sword Art he teaches his disciple 482 825.
• Emperor Seal — Associated with his position as True Martial Heaven’s Great Emperor. Heavenly Lord Shihu reasons that it recognized him without trials because of his strength; Ninth Uncle does not use its power when slowing the falling moon 2229.

Relationships

• Xu Taiping — Initially a prospective Personal Disciple. Ninth Uncle protects his cultivation site and admires his integrity, composure, and lack of deference to status. After Taiping chooses Seventh Peak, he arranges to teach him under the identity of Sansan. Taiping later recognizes him as Master, inherits his Hidden Sword Art, and resolves to show the world his sword. Ninth Uncle openly defends him as his disciple upon revealing his imperial status 30 32 110 113 172 482 825 1452 2229.
• White Rainbow — Sect junior who regards him as a granduncle-master; brings him to Taiping and accompanies him on the dangerous northern mission. White Rainbow later seeks permission to kill Zhou Tong, but agrees to wait for Ninth Uncle’s planned Sword Inquiry. He is also one of the few people to question how Ninth Uncle survived his northern wounds 28 29 32 337 338.
• Liu Songshan — West Wind Pavilion Master who fears his authority. Ninth Uncle rebukes his arrogance and makes him pay Taiping and summon his subordinates. Liu later identifies him as Granduncle-Master Daoxuan and warns the patrolmen against treating his name casually 29 30 31 79.
• Xu Youzhi — Raging Wind Hall Master whose master once brought him to meet Ninth Uncle. Ordered to improve protection around Green Bamboo Abode 29 30.
• Zuo Ju and Zhou Gu — Patrolmen implicated in extorting Taiping. Ninth Uncle summons and intimidates them but does not personally punish them during the feast 31 32.
• Zhao Qian — Sect junior and later Sect Master who helps arrange Taiping’s concealed sword instruction. His Heavenly Thunder Sword leads observers to see him as a potential inheritor of Ninth Uncle’s mantle. He maintains contact with Ninth Uncle in the Netherdark Demon Grotto and pledges Qingxuan’s support for the gamble to save him 113 172 475 1452 1747 1844.
• Zhou Tong — Sect Master who outwardly defers to him but opposes him politically. Ninth Uncle knows of his wrongdoing but is constrained by his sect oath, prompting his search for a legitimate Sword Inquiry challenger 108 110 111 337 387.
• Sword Buddha Zhou Ang — Zhou Tong’s father and a major defender of the Nine Prefectures in earlier wars. Liu Chuxuan attributes Ninth Uncle’s tolerance of Zhou Tong partly to his regard for Zhou Ang 475.
• Su Chan — Enemy who engineers crises to force Ninth Uncle to act. His aim is to remove the man whose presence deters Nine Nether’s open invasion 387 457.
• Dugu Qingxiao — Seventh Peak disciple involved in the effort to challenge Zhou Tong. Qingxiao understands the significance of becoming Ninth Uncle’s successor and later explains the sect restrictions preventing Ninth Uncle from acting directly 110 387.
• Lu Rushuang — Refers to him as Senior Brother Sword Nine and recognizes Taiping’s righteous sword as the one he had long sought 825 827.
• Unnamed Senior Brother — Resides within the Nether Profound Grotto and permits Ninth Uncle to enter when he visits with wine 338.
• Ancestor Pengzhi — Later opponent on the Sword Platform; displays half-immortal combat strength during their confrontation 3654.

Notable Quotes

“Dwell in an evil abyss yet do good. If that is your heart of the Dao, then show me how you intend to defend it. I, Sword Nine, despise braggarts above all!” 25

“He knew I was no ordinary person, yet remained neither servile nor arrogant. That temperament far surpasses his peers. It’s rare even among the Inner Sect Disciples of the Seven Peaks.” 32

“A sword that I, Sword Nine, like need not come from a renowned smith’s hands, nor be made of the finest materials, nor be honed to any great sharpness. But one thing matters greatly: its spine must be straight, preferably without the slightest curve.” 113

“Xu Taiping, you did well. Very well. Now, have a good sleep.” 482

“In my first eight lives, I, Lü Sword Nine, lived for Shangqing, for Zhenwu, and for Qingxuan. In this last life, This Old Man wants to ask the Heavenly Dao for a path to survival—for myself, and for this disciple who draws his sword for me without regard for life or death!” 1844

“Who dares say True Martial Heaven has no Great Emperor now? Who dares compromise with Nine Abysses again? Who dares demand that my disciple Xu Taiping bear a thousand years of infamy again? First ask the sword in my hand—Lü Daoxuan’s sword!” 2229

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