Tang Ningshuang

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Martial Training and Examination

Tang Ningshuang practiced martial arts from childhood and spent several years studying under an unnamed master. Her father’s prolonged absences left him unable to remain regularly with her and her mother. By the time he returned to the capital, she had already earned the title of Martial Top Graduate and intended to use her audience with the emperor to request enlistment, despite Tang Kui’s opposition 57 59.

She placed first in mounted combat, personal combat, and archery in the Military Examination. During the court’s Literary and Martial Examination, she challenged civil Top Graduate Jiang Xiaobai to endure her attacks without retreating or dodging for half a quarter-hour. He interrupted before she struck and proposed a different test; later passages confirm that she lost the examination contest to him 69 73.

When asked where she wished to serve, she requested the frontier rather than a post within the imperial city. Her ambition was to fight enemies on an actual battlefield, not merely hold a military position in the capital 71.

Jiang Xiaobai’s Protector

Xiao Jinxuan temporarily appointed her a patrol inspector in the Shadowguard Bureau and tasked her with protecting Jiang Xiaobai at close quarters. While he investigated the Ministry of Rites case, she moved into the outer room of his quarters to fulfill that duty 113 136.

Their initially strained relationship softened through their time together. Jiang Xiaobai obtained permission for her to choose a sword manual from the Heavenly Mechanism Workshop, which she acknowledged as a favor. His storytelling also drew her in: she admired Hua Mulan and became so engrossed in Dream of the Red Chamber that she appeared beside his bed at night to request more 122 151.

After she dismissed a deep shoulder wound as a minor injury, Jiang Xiaobai applied medicine and bandaged it while continuing the story. Her embarrassment the following morning gave him another opportunity to tease her 160.

Foreign Delegations and Imprisonment

Tang Ningshuang accompanied Jiang Xiaobai during his dealings with the Qi and Northern Yu delegations. She warned that killing the Northern Yu Visiting Scholar who had beaten Zhang Xinnian could create diplomatic trouble, but nevertheless went with Jiang Xiaobai to confront him 260.

Helian Zhaoyue later poisoned Tang Ningshuang and the others before taking Jiang Xiaobai away. Upon waking and learning that he had been imprisoned, Tang Ningshuang immediately tried to leave to rescue him and offered to testify that he had been framed. Tang Kui restrained her and explained that her account was already known at court 327.

After Jiang Xiaobai’s release, Tang Kui repeatedly teased his daughter about having lost sleep over the crisis. She emphatically denied it 342 343.

Receiving the Nation-Guarding Sword

While searching the Former Emperor’s tomb within the Mysterious Dragon Gate, Jiang Xiaobai offered Tang Ningshuang the Nation-Guarding Sword. Recognizing its significance, she initially refused. She accepted only after Xiao Yunshu encouraged her and Jiang Xiaobai suggested that she could wield it as a general someday 517.

She subsequently adopted it for practice and found that it handled very well, though she continued to question whether she deserved it. At court, Xiao Jinxuan authenticated the sword and returned it to her, expressing hope that she would achieve distinguished military feats with it 521 541.

When Jiang Xiaobai later deliberately allowed people from the Seventh Prince’s Residence to capture him, Tang Ningshuang rushed to inform Jiang Jingcheng and Shen Yun. Her report prompted preparations for a confrontation with the residence 550.

Appearance

• Build and bearing: Tall, with cool features, steady steps, and a sharp, heroic presence 68.
• Usual clothing: Fitted martial attire, long hair tied high, and a sword at her waist 68 160.
• Dress appearance: To settle a wager with Jiang Xiaobai, she wears a pale blue-green dress with a plain white silk sash and simply pinned hair. The outfit softens her appearance without removing her valiant bearing 254 413.

Personality

Tang Ningshuang is blunt, reserved, and stubborn. Tang Kui attributes her lack of social polish to her martial upbringing and secluded training. Once she reaches a judgment, she is difficult to persuade otherwise without firsthand evidence 57 59.

She initially despises Jiang Xiaobai for buying his official position, regarding his frivolity and boasting as further proof of poor character. Even his early success at court does not immediately change her opinion. Witnessing his literary achievements, composure under criticism, and resourcefulness gradually replaces that prejudice with admiration 58 74 162 172 230.

Her military ambition centers on collective purpose as much as personal combat. Watching an army march, she contrasts the lone martial artist’s “one person with one sword” with soldiers united in a common cause and feels that the army is where she belongs 233.

She dislikes admitting embarrassment or vulnerability. She conceals her enthusiasm for stories, denies being frightened after Painted Skin leaves her sleepless, and reacts fiercely when Zhang Xinnian suggests she is jealous of Jiang Xiaobai’s affection for Li Zhiwei 151 227 228 282.

Abilities & Skills

Swordsmanship

Her swordplay is clean, decisive, and supported by years of daily practice, including training through bitter winter weather 196 483.

• Wins first place in personal combat during the Military Examination 69.
• Draws and positions her blade quickly enough to deflect a pebble aimed at Jiang Xiaobai; the projectile subsequently embeds itself in a wooden pillar 429.
• Intercepts one of the Free-and-Easy Sword School elders attacking Jiang Xiaobai 469.
• Recognizes that she is outmatched by Chen Jian; Jiang Xiaobai also prevents her from challenging eighth-rank Shadowguard Chief Commander Jin Sheng 131 366.

Unarmed Combat

She possesses practical fighting technique beyond her skill with a sword 427.

• Immediately counters Jiang Xiaobai’s charge during a spar, twisting his arm behind his back.
• Identifies his lack of basic fist and footwork training as a weakness despite his newly acquired internal energy 427.

Lightness Skill

She can cross water while carrying another person by repeatedly pushing off its surface 217.

• Transports Jiang Xiaobai from Terrace Tower to Lakeheart Isle.
• Struggles somewhat with his added weight; her shoe sinks several inches into the water during the crossing 217.

Internal Energy and Martial Assessment

Her fourth-rank cultivation allows her to channel internal energy into another person and recognize signs of cultivation 380 427.

• Detects Jiang Xiaobai’s newly developed internal energy before he reaches the first rank 380.
• Recognizes that Pei Shen’s remote sword retrieval suggests greater cultivation than the rumors credit him with 116.
• Assesses Qin Zhaoye’s techniques as mixed but his internal cultivation as pure, and suspects that he concealed something during their fight 208.
• Cannot prevent a powerful elder from scattering her gathered internal energy and knocking her unconscious 378.

Military Examination Skills

• Mounted combat: First-place finisher 69.
• Archery: First-place finisher 69.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Nation-Guarding Sword — Gifted by Jiang Xiaobai from the Former Emperor’s tomb. An ancestral imperial treasure whose appearance commands the respect accorded to the Former Emperor himself; Xiao Jinxuan verifies it and permits her to retain it 517 541.
• Earlier longsword — Her regular weapon before acquiring the Nation-Guarding Sword 68 196 521.
• Unnamed sword manual — Selected from the Heavenly Mechanism Workshop’s Martial Arts Vault through Jiang Xiaobai’s intervention 122.
• Jasmine perfume — Given to her by Jiang Xiaobai, who demonstrates how to apply it 355.

Relationships

• Tang Kui — Father. Opposes her initial plan to enlist, worries about her safety, and later teases her about her concern for Jiang Xiaobai 59 343 539.
• Jiang Xiaobai — Assigned protectee and the son of her family’s longstanding allies. Her early contempt develops into admiration and personal concern, although she explicitly denies Zhang Xinnian’s suggestion that she has fallen for him 57 230 282 327.
• Jiang Jingcheng — Her father’s old friend and Jiang Xiaobai’s father. Welcomes her into the residence, entrusts his son’s safety to her, and receives her report of the Seventh Prince’s Residence incident 136 282 550.
• Zhang Xinnian — Fellow companion and protector of Jiang Xiaobai. His teasing about her supposed jealousy earns him a sword at his neck 282.
• Xiao Yunshu — The Elder Princess, who stays beside Jiang Xiaobai in disguise. Tang Ningshuang already knows her identity before Yunshu formally confides in her; Yunshu also encourages her to accept the Nation-Guarding Sword 382 517.
• Helian Zhaoyue — A threat she watches closely while guarding Jiang Xiaobai. Helian poisons her as part of the scheme that leads to his imprisonment 310 327.

Notable Quotes

“Not to remain within the imperial city, but to go to the border, to the battlefield, somewhere I can kill the enemy.” 71

“Besides, I'm not interested in stories! … Except Hua Mulan and Dream of the Red Chamber!” 164

“If he touches you, I'll strike him!” 544