Li Yingling

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Li Yingling grew up in a wealthy household but received little affection. As a concubine’s daughter, her standing was only slightly better than a servant’s. Her mother had been seriously ill for years, and Yingling often stayed beside her, rarely leaving the estate. She longed to attend festivals but could only listen to the celebrations beyond the courtyard walls 17 29.

Her father intended to marry her to the Minister of Works’s son, who required help even to eat. Chu Xingchen spent three days arranging to bring her away. Although she was disappointed by his ruined-temple residence, she accepted him as her master rather than return to the unwanted marriage 1.

Her expectations of cultivation came largely from storybooks depicting magnificent immortal sects and imposing masters. Life with Chu Xingchen instead meant a drafty temple, a plank bed, hunting for meals, and practicing from a battered manual. The Water Heart Sutra’s effectiveness gradually replaced her initial suspicion with confidence in his teaching 1 2 5.

Appearance

Li Yingling is described as a beautiful, innocent-looking young woman, with beauty also recognized as a blue system trait 1 33.

• Hair: Glossy black hair 9.
• Eyes: Large eyes, also described as peach-blossom eyes 2 11.
• Early clothing: A pink, flowing fairy dress, which becomes muddy during her first hunt 3.
• Temple-fair clothing: A pale yellow embroidered dress, with separate black and silver money pouches at her waist; she carries a round blue fan embroidered with white lotuses 46.

Personality

Yingling is diligent about cultivation and unusually demanding of herself. She initially cultivates through the night without prompting, yet regards taking several days to learn a Divine Ability as disappointing. Chu Xingchen considers that speed exceptional, while she worries that her talent is insufficient in his eyes 2 3 7 9.

She is playful, expressive, and increasingly comfortable challenging her master. She uses exaggerated hurt, praise, and wheedling to influence him, but supports his authority when it matters. During his efforts to recruit Li Xingtian, she immediately understands his signals and plays along 6 9 11 31.

Her aristocratic upbringing leaves her particular about privacy and living conditions. She repairs the temple, partitions her bed, and later builds a separate cabin rather than permanently share a room with two men. She also develops a strong appreciation for Chu Xingchen’s cooking and has little patience for Li Xingtian’s attempts 3 12 13.

She dislikes exploitation even though she grew up familiar with it. Upon learning about the Clearwind Sect’s abused miners, she agrees to help. Her moral hesitation is not absolute, however: during the herb-field raid, her reluctance to steal gives way to excitement as she fills the sack 4 17.

Her practical knowledge lags behind her cultivation talent. She prefers entertaining cultivation stories to textbooks, abandons the primers Chu Xingchen supplies, and needs explanations of blood-tainted spirit stones and wish power 29 48.

Abilities & Skills

Water Heart Sutra

Her primary cultivation method is the Supreme Lunar True Profound Spirit Water Heart Sutra, supplied by Chu Xingchen’s system to match her water spiritual root. It is capable of leading to perfect immortal ascension 1 2.

• Rapidly draws in surrounding spiritual energy and guides it along the prescribed meridian routes 2.
• Supports swift advancement without sacrificing the foundation needed for Foundation Establishment 5.
• Appears in a battered, heavily corrected manual, with revisions attributed to at least seventeen powerful experts 2.
• Her cultivation gains provide a 100% cultivation return to Chu Xingchen through his system 2.
• Blood Qi Spirit Stones are unsuitable for her practice: their blood qi could disrupt her cultivation at her current level and state of mind 29.

Three Thousand Weak Waters Sword

A powerful sword Divine Ability that Chu Xingchen gives her after Foundation Establishment. Li Xingtian recognizes it as exceptionally well suited to her cultivation 5.

• Wandering Dragon: Forms small water dragons that coil around her wooden sword 8.
• Sword Qi: Used to excavate formation-foundation holes and fell trees for her cabin 11 13.
• Fine control: Learns to adjust her strikes so that trees fall cleanly, rather than simply blasting the surroundings 11 13.
• Sword intent: Later practices quiet, measured movements while pondering sword intent 31.
• System sharing: Her introductory mastery allows Chu Xingchen to use the Divine Ability himself 8.

Strong Fortune

Her purple Strong Fortune trait is supported by a childhood history of winning luck-based games. She accumulated silver from the household’s legitimate children, who eventually avoided playing against her 1 18.

• Chu Xingchen’s dice test produces the opposite result: she loses every round, even after changing the dice cup and letting Ning Qianqian shake it 18.
• The cause of those losses remains unresolved; Chu Xingchen wonders whether his own luck affected the results 18.
• Later returns from a ring-toss stall with an enormous collection of prizes 28.

General Cultivator Techniques

• Spiritual control: Calls her wooden sword into her hand and controls it during excavation work 7 11.
• Spiritual protection: Shields herself from dirt while digging at Foundation Establishment 11.
• Flight: Departs as a streak of rainbow light while gathering cultivation resources for Li Xingtian 13.
• Five-element spells: Can control flames despite possessing a single water spiritual root 48.
• Reduced bodily needs: At Foundation Establishment, can abstain from food and go a month without sleep, although she continues enjoying meals and adopts her master’s sleeping routine 13 35.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Water Heart Sutra manual — Her battered primary cultivation text; its poor condition initially makes her suspect it came from a roadside stall 1 2.
• Three Thousand Weak Waters Sword manual — A clean, neatly written Divine Ability manual received after Foundation Establishment 5.
• Wooden sword — Originally carved by Chu Xingchen from his plank bed. Used for sword practice, confronting Li Xingtian, digging, and felling trees 5 6 11 13.
• Random Teleportation Rune — Given to her during the mine rescue. Activated with spiritual energy; Chu Xingchen instructs her to use it immediately if endangered, then hide until he finds her 22.
• Wooden fish instrument — Won at the ring-toss stall. A Qi Refining monk reportedly claimed to have infused it with merit before passing into nirvana; its actual value remains uncertain 28 29.
• Fox mask — Worn during the temple fair after she buys masks for the group 48.

Relationships

• Chu Xingchen — Master and the person she places first in her affections. She experiences his informal guidance more like friendship than the rigid authority she expected from a teacher, and considers the sect a source of warmth absent from her childhood 13 31 48.
• Li Xingtian — Junior brother. She enjoys her senior-sister status, initially underestimates his intelligence and aptitude, and assigns him work as cultivation practice. She also gathers demonic beast blood and flesh for his training and worries about his safety in the mine 10 13 20.
• Father — Arranges the unwanted marriage that motivates her departure from home 1 17.
• Mother — Chronically ill; Yingling spends much of her childhood keeping her company 29.
• Ning Qianqian — Agrees to help rescue her father. Qianqian later takes Yingling’s former temple bed after Yingling moves into her cabin 17 18.
• Yaoqin — Initially treats her as a possible threat to Chu Xingchen, then joins her at meals and the temple fair. Yingling privately suspects she is her master’s unacknowledged sweetheart; this is Yingling’s interpretation, not a confirmed relationship 33 35 46.
• Zhao Wanqing — Welcomes her into the courtyard and later encourages her to take Chu Xingchen’s healing medicine. Cooperates with Li Xingtian by occupying her while he privately reports to their master 37 40.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Founding the Heavenly Dao Alliance

• Her acceptance as Chu Xingchen’s first disciple completes his beginner recruitment quest after three years of searching and earns him a Flawless Golden Core 1.
• Cleans and repairs the ruined temple, making the sect’s first residence more habitable 3.
• Joins the herb-field raid, nearly strips a quarter of the field, and escapes with Chu Xingchen after waking the guard 4.
• Her Foundation Establishment breakthrough completes the second beginner quest, awards the sword Divine Ability, and unlocks further recruitment tasks 5.

Becoming Eldest Senior Sister

• Stops the unfamiliar Li Xingtian at swordpoint when he approaches the temple seeking the Millennium Bone Jade 5 6.
• Helps Chu Xingchen persuade him to join, then enthusiastically assumes her new senior-sister role 9 10.
• Begins the Spirit-Gathering Formation’s excavation work and builds a nearby cabin, which is largely finished before the mine rescue 11 13 18.

Clearwind Sect Mine Rescue

• Supports the effort to rescue Ning Kun and the abused miners 17.
• Waits outside the mine with Chu Xingchen while Li Xingtian infiltrates, then receives instructions to meet her junior brother while prioritizing her own safety 20 22.
• Evacuates the ruined temple with her master and junior brother to avoid retaliation; the entire sect relocates to Yuzhou City 25.

Yuzhou City and the Temple Fair

• Explores the city, collects unusual prizes, and gives Chu Xingchen a luxurious white outfit 28 31.
• Secures his promise to take her to the Lantern Festival, fulfilling a wish she had been unable to realize at home 29.
• At the fair, stops Li Xingtian from warning their master about Yaoqin’s approach after finding him surrounded by women 46.
• Buys matching animal masks for the group and openly expresses her attachment to Chu Xingchen 48.
• Accompanies the group to the Dharma Assembly and meets the Buddhist Child Yuankong. When Chu Xingchen suggests establishing a Disciplinary Chamber, she argues for winning disciples over with love instead 50.

Notable Quotes

“Master is above, please accept a bow from your disciple, Li Yingling!” 1

“Yingling will always stand on Master's side! Master's word comes first!” 31

“Master and I are the closest in the whole world!” 48

“Master, you can't put it that way. Winning people over with love is the true way within a sect.” 50