Lu Qingshan

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Lu Qingshan is Mu Qinglan’s senior brother and a trusted confidant. His master, Chen Jinghong, rarely remains in the sect, and their master–disciple relationship is known only to Lu Qingshan and Mu Qinglan 277 406.

Eight hundred years before his later business ventures, Lu delivered a love letter to Zhou Qingyi on another senior brother’s behalf. The incident led to lasting ridicule and damaged his standing among the sect’s female elders. Zhou continued to mistake his intentions for romantic interest when he approached her with gifts centuries later 339 340.

Although popular with disciples, Lu has few close friends among the elders. Some attribute his accomplishments and rewards to Mu Qinglan’s patronage rather than his own work. He resents both their accusations of favoritism and his junior sister’s habit of asking him to accept modest rewards so that better resources can go toward entertaining guests 336 337.

Appearance

Lu Qingshan is an elderly, thin-framed man whose facial hair is particularly recognizable 201 287 317.

• Face: Lean, aged, and marked with age spots 201 317.
• Beard: Initially described as three long wisps of graying beard; later reduced to sparse whiskers 201 287 337.
• Usual clothing: A black elder robe 201.
• Disguises: Disciple robes, a shaved beard, and facial makeup during his undercover investigation; imitation Emperor Pavilion armor and concealed age spots during extortion trips 279 317.
• Later concealment: Black armor and a black mask while avoiding recognition by Mu Qinglan 450.

Personality

Within the Azure Cloud Sect, Lu is known as an amiable elder who treats disciples kindly regardless of status or potential. He normally wears a gentle smile, and Mu Qinglan considers him meticulous, well liked, and trusted by the disciples. Maintaining this reputation matters enough to him that he restrains his temper even when an investigation frustrates him 189 202 277 279.

His private conduct is considerably less upright. He accepts payment to shoulder false blame, embezzles a valuable sword, conceals the dangers of expeditions from recruits, and secretly deducts referral fees from their wages. Wealth appeals to him both as a means of gaining strength and as a way to recover the dignity he feels other elders have denied him 182 183 198 337 341.

Lu is cautious about potentially fatal schemes, but large profits repeatedly overcome his reluctance. He checks for ambushes before meeting Chun Xiaobai, tries to withdraw after seeing a demonic artifact, and eventually spends a billion-spirit-stone escape talisman to survive a pursuit 314 317 373.

Chun Xiaobai nevertheless considers him loyal enough to remain a brother of the Stronghold. Lu returned the larger portion of his alliance compensation to the sect rather than fleeing with everything, and he carried out his assigned role during dangerous operations despite his selfish motives 358.

Abilities & Skills

Cultivation and Combat

Lu practices conventional immortal cultivation and eventually reaches the Nascent Soul Realm 198 377.

• Palm force: Strikes Lin Yue during a disciplinary confrontation, unexpectedly killing her with what he believed was a weak blow 203.
• Flight: Travels through the air under his own cultivation power 312 377.
• Combat limitations: Remains weaker than the five Spirit Transformation elders recruited for Chun Xiaobai’s ventures. During the Cold Abyss Sect pursuit, his preparations only barely keep him alive before he escapes 358 373.

Divine Sense and Spiritual Perception

Lu uses divine sense to inspect possessions and assess threats 313 314.

• Searches Chun Xiaobai’s cave abode for killing arrays, ambushes, hidden weapons, and poison gas before relaxing 314.
• Examines the spirit stones inside Bai Yutang’s Storage Ring 313.
• Detects concealed Golden Core disciples near the guarded cultivation cave 283.
• At Golden Core cultivation, cannot access Bai Yutang’s sealed Storage Ring through divine sense alone 313.

Sect Knowledge and Connections

As Disciplinary Hall Master, Lu handles inter-sect defense activities and the reception and departure of guests. He claims extensive travel among the Eastern Region’s sects and visits to at least fifty of its eighty-two sacred lands 315.

• Explains the region’s major sects and the Azure Cloud Sect’s former status as a sacred land 314.
• Supplies the details needed to reproduce Emperor Pavilion Envoy uniforms 317.
• Recruits five powerful elders, then expands his recruitment to seventy Grand Supreme Elders 337 341 381.
• Knows all six Azure Cloud Sect Ancestors 406.

Persuasion, Deception, and Administration

Lu can redirect suspicion, motivate disciples, and present self-serving arrangements as public service 180 189 405.

• Uses the Emperor Pavilion’s political influence as a shield when hostile alliance elders threaten him 180.
• Restores his standing among disciples through a speech urging them to become strong enough to resist humiliation 189.
• Recruits elders under the false claim that he discovered an ancient treasure-filled secret realm 381 384 386.
• Proposes mission-completion bonuses and spending sect points on access to the sixth-tier spirit-gathering array, offering Mu Qinglan a way to ration its limited capacity 305.
• Limitation: His escalating threats against the Heavenly Gang Sect are blamed for driving its leaders into open resistance 369.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Superior Heaven-Tier long sword — A roughly three-foot, dark-gold sword with a blade as thin as a cicada’s wing and a star-river-like surface. Lu keeps it while handing three lesser Heaven-Tier treasures to the sect. The text states that it increases his combat strength by seventy percent, allowing his late-stage Golden Core self to contend with an early-stage Nascent Soul True Lord 198.
• Peak-grade Mystic-Tier magical artifact — His previous equipment before receiving the alliance’s Heaven-Tier treasures 188.
• Storage Rings — Used to carry spirit stones, weapons, gifts, and recruitment payments 188 198 336 405.
• Imitation Emperor Pavilion armor — Cheaply reproduced black armor bearing a Sunburst Gold Emblem and folded-wing relief, intended to bluff targets rather than establish genuine envoy status 317.
• Rare Treasure-grade Translocation Talisman — Costs one billion spirit stones and teleports him to a random location three thousand li away; consumed during the Cold Abyss Sect escape 373.
• Half-Step Heaven-Tier Flying Boat — Purchased after becoming wealthy and used for travel and as evidence supporting his fabricated secret-realm story 381 382 404.
• Emergency supplies — Lifesaving pills, magical artifacts, and talismans stockpiled because of the danger of the group’s activities 373.

Relationships

• Chun Xiaobai — Initially his blackmailer, later his business partner and Stronghold leader. Their supposed “brotherhood through life and death” begins with mutually incriminating secrets but develops into shared criminal ventures 190 197 201 317 358.
• Mu Qinglan — Junior sister, Sect Master, and protector. She trusts him with investigations, while he conceals his association with Chun Xiaobai and fears punishment if she discovers his side business 277 312 337 450.
• Chen Jinghong — Master and Azure Cloud Sect Ancestor; their relationship is kept private from everyone except Mu Qinglan 406.
• Ling Tianchen — Alliance leader who arranges compensation for Lu to accept blame for colluding with the bandit 181 182.
• Zhang Xuanhe — Senior elder recruited into the demonic-artifact venture. Distrusts Lu, accuses him of setting the elders up, and joins the beating after discovering his hidden fees 337 346 353.
• Zhou Qingyi — Martial aunt with whom Lu has an eight-century grievance. He recruits her with an eight-hundred-million-spirit-stone offer after she again misconstrues his gifts as romantic overtures 339 340 341.
• Bai Jin’er, Fang Yuan, and Bai Yutang — Chun Xiaobai’s companions and Lu’s fellow operators. They frequently challenge him; Bai Jin’er later agrees to split recruitment-related proceeds with him 332 369 403.
• Yao Yao — Disciple who helps him enter the concealed cultivation cave. He considers her a promising personal-disciple candidate and later rewards her with pills 283 381.
• Lin Yue — Disciple whose information threatens the bandit cover-up. Lu first intimidates her into silence, then kills her during a later confrontation 190 203.
• Qian Wantong, Yao Yuanzi, and Hall Master Zhang — Hall Masters whom Lu brings into the promised money-making venture and persuades to recruit their friends 404 405.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Mountain of Ten Thousand Spirits and the Paid Scapegoat

• Persuades alliance elders that Heavenly Baleful Valley staged the kidnapping recording, then argues against an unauthorized sect war that could invite Emperor Pavilion sanctions 149 152.
• Accuses the opposing faction of colluding with the Devil Race, alarming both armies and prompting Bing Ningyue to tell him to stop speaking 175.
• Becomes a suspect when alliance leaders realize his advice repeatedly benefited the outlaw. He denies collusion and invokes the Emperor Pavilion to discourage an attack 180.
• Accepts a staged scapegoat arrangement funded with five hundred million spirit stones and four Heaven-Tier treasures. When Qin Ruoxue tries to clear him, he interrupts her to preserve the deal 181 182 183.
• Rebuilds his reputation among the returning disciples, then insists that the bandit’s death must remain unquestionable despite Lin Yue’s contrary information 189 190.

Blackmail and Inner Sect Access

• Chun Xiaobai threatens to expose the compensation arrangement and cover-up. Lu eventually hands over a Storage Ring to silence him but secretly retains the superior Heaven-Tier sword 190 194 198.
• Agrees to arrange Inner Sect places for Chun Xiaobai, Bai Jin’er, and Fang Yuan, partly because keeping Chun nearby might make him easier to monitor 198 199.
• Supports Chun during a disciplinary dispute and kills Lin Yue before she can finish connecting him to the bandit 202 203.
• Leaves instructions allowing Bai Jin’er and Fang Yuan to register. Chun’s missing sect record prevents his own registration without Lu personally acting as guarantor 236.

Investigation of the Sect’s Spiritual Qi

• Mu Qinglan assigns him to investigate declining spiritual qi and other abnormalities. When disciples evade him, he disguises himself as one of them but fails their password check 277 279.
• Yao Yao helps him reach the guarded cave. Its extraordinary spiritual qi loosens his Golden Core bottleneck, and he abandons the investigation long enough to begin cultivating in the entrance passage 283 284.
• Later proposes reforms to the sect’s mission-points system and conceals his acquaintance with Chun Xiaobai when Mu Qinglan again demands answers 305 312.

Demonic-Artifact Extortion Ventures

• Bai Yutang draws him to Green Bamboo Peak with promises of wealth. Chun recruits him for his connections and sect knowledge, then uses both persuasion and the threat of shared blame to keep him involved 313 314 315 317.
• Helps the group impersonate Emperor Pavilion Envoys and receives a five-billion-spirit-stone share from the Ten Thousand Flowers Sect operation 317 332.
• Recruits five Grand Supreme Elders while withholding the venture’s true purpose. After the Spirit Origin Sect operation, they discover his hidden introduction fees and beat him 337 341 346 353.
• Receives another beating after his companions blame his threats for the Heavenly Gang Sect confrontation 369.
• Escapes the Cold Abyss Sect pursuit with his costly Translocation Talisman, leaving the five elders behind to fend off the pursuers 373.

Expanded Recruitment and Sacred-Land Plans

• Recruits seventy Grand Supreme Elders using a fabricated ancient-secret-realm story. He passes Chun and his companions off as relatives and claims their armor will bypass the realm’s restrictions 381 384.
• Maintains the deception even when the supposed secret realm turns out to be inside the Elixir Cauldron Sect. When challenged afterward, he shifts responsibility onto Zhang Xuanhe 386 393.
• Receives instructions to gather Spirit Transformation experts and diviners for sacred-land expeditions. Zhang Xuanhe additionally urges him to bring the sect’s six Ancestors 403.
• Enlists three Hall Masters as recruiters while secretly planning to share a cut of newcomers’ wages with Bai Jin’er, then approaches Ancestor Wu Zhengde 405 406.
• Makes himself scarce behind a mask after discovering that Mu Qinglan has joined the group. She later encounters him and asks why he is masked as the bandits prepare to target a sacred land 450 468.

Notable Quotes

“What grounds do you have to say I’m in league with him?! You need evidence before making accusations!” 180

“But... but I really was possessed by madness! I already know I was wrong! Please stop trying to explain things for me. I’m begging you!” 183

“If you don’t want to be bullied, squeezed like a soft persimmon, or have dirty water splashed on your name at someone’s whim, there is only one way: become stronger!” 189