Bao Lang

Biodata

Background / History

Bao Lang rose from an ordinary military position through his saber skills and the presentation of a supposedly priceless Luminous Pearl to Cui Keyong. His career included service as one of Cui’s personal guards before he became Defense Commissioner, commanding more than a thousand soldiers. Despite his considerable regional authority, his appointment did not give him a recognized official rank at the imperial court 27 38.

The pearl was a family heirloom belonging to Chen Yu’s household. Bao Lang murdered Chen Yu’s daughter, Yingniang, seized it, and claimed that he had obtained it by slaying a white snake. Chen Yu subsequently followed his daughter’s killer to Xuzhou and witnessed the wealth and status the stolen treasure had brought him 38 39.

Cui Keyong sent Bao Lang to present the pearl to the reigning emperor. He also escorted Changzhou craftsmen summoned to work on Princess Wanshou’s tomb, traveling with twenty personal guards. While passing through Xiagui County, he lodged at the official guesthouse and accepted Magistrate Wu Zhiyuan’s proposal to enshrine the treasure temporarily at Lotus Flower Temple 17.

Appearance

Bao Lang is tall, broad, and striking, with an imposing military bearing that draws admiration even from Yang Xingjian, an enemy 17 24 27.

• Features: Sharply defined features, a nose compared to a hanging gallbladder, and eyes likened to cold stars or lightning 17 24.
• Black attire: A round-collared robe with side slits and a subtle embroidered xiezhi pattern, accompanied by leather wrist guards 24.
• Brocade attire: A gray-green warrior’s robe and a silver-inlaid Dieliexie Belt patterned with taotie beasts; bloodstains mark the robe during his interrogation of Liaoru 33.

Personality

Bao Lang combines meticulous caution with extreme cruelty. He personally checks the pagoda’s statue for hidden mechanisms and devises safeguards against unauthorized access, yet treats witnesses, suspects, and his own guards as expendable when the treasure disappears. His polite conversation can turn abruptly into threats or violence, making his apparent courtesy frightening rather than reassuring 17 20 33.

His ambition centers on wealth, advancement, and possession. After recognizing Baozhu’s rare imperial fragrance, he desires both her and the power he believes she represents. He considers abducting her if marriage is impossible, finding the prospect of taking another man’s possessions especially exciting 27.

Although he boasts that he can kill the white snake again, reminders of snakes increasingly expose his fear and guilty conscience. He destroys a jar of snake-infused medicinal wine, avoids the supposedly snake-haunted Reflection Pavilion, and eventually suffers visions connecting the white snake with Yingniang’s bloodied body 36 39.

Abilities & Skills

Horizontal Saber Expertise

• Draws and beheads Wang Liangcai so quickly that Wu Zhiyuan and Hao Jin do not see the blade leave its sheath 22.
• Cleaves an incense table in two while raging over the missing pearl 20.
• Recognizes Luo Chengye’s formidable strength but admits that he lacks the arm strength to wield Luo’s heavy Four-Sided Pattern-Welded Iron Mace 17.
• Is decisively outmatched by Wei Xun, who kills him with a short dagger before he understands what has happened 39.

Investigation and Security Planning

• Inspects the Many-Treasures Pagoda for hiding places and concealed mechanisms before approving it as a repository 17.
• Establishes uninterrupted patrols in three daily shifts, combining his guards with Luo Chengye’s Unworthy Men 17.
• Requires three separate locks, with the keys held individually by himself, Wu Zhiyuan, and Liaoru 17.
• Questions the identification of a headless corpse merely because it was found in Luo Chengye’s house and clothing 22.
• Fails to account for the treasure having been switched before it entered the guarded pagoda 38.

Perception

• Notices that Yang Xingjian treats his supposed daughter with unusual deference, leading him to suspect a connection to the emperor or Prince Shao 24.
• Detects Baozhu’s lingering fragrance and eventually identifies it as Auspicious Dragon-Brain from a previous elite banquet 24 27.
• Senses a sudden murderous menace while secretly inhaling her incense, though he cannot identify its source 31.

Military Authority

• Commands more than a thousand soldiers as Defense Commissioner; his personal guards obey him with conspicuous fear 17 38.
• Pressures Xiagui’s officials into detaining suspects and continuing interrogations despite repeated deaths under torture 20 23 24.
• Exercises decisive practical authority in Xiagui during the investigation, although he remains outside the imperial court’s ranked official hierarchy 27 29.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Horizontal Saber — His principal weapon, made of fine steel and carried in a sharkskin sheath 24 39.
• Dieliexie Belt — Supports his saber; one described version has silver inlay and taotie decoration 24 33.
• Te Le Li — A powerful black horse of Khitan stock. Its neck bears numerous whip scars; Baozhu calms it by speaking Khitan and rides it in place of the mare Bao Lang offers her 26.
• Luminous Pearl — The stolen heirloom he escorts as Cui Keyong’s imperial offering. After Bao Lang’s death, Wei Xun crushes it and exposes a glass core, proving it is a counterfeit 17 38 40.
• Seven-Treasure Glazed-Glass-Lacquer Box — The treasure’s container, made by the Changzhou craftsmen and central to their substitution scheme 38 39.
• Avatamsaka Sutra — Used to conceal the warning note left with the substituted treasure 33.

Relationships

• Cui Keyong — Patron and military superior. Bao Lang’s promotion and envoy assignment depend on Cui’s trust, and losing the pearl threatens that position 17 20 27.
• Wu Zhiyuan — Xiagui magistrate and reluctant accomplice. Initially hopes to make Bao Lang his son-in-law, but becomes terrified of him and complies with his demands 17 20 23.
• Baozhu / Lady Yang Fang Xie — Detainee and target of his possessive ambition. Her composure, riding ability, and imperial fragrance intensify his interest, but he never discovers that she is Princess Wanshou 24 26 27 40.
• Yang Xingjian — Opponent whom he confines alongside Baozhu. Bao Lang repeatedly prevents him from writing to Prince Shao for assistance 24 29.
• Chen Yu and Yingniang — The family he victimizes by murdering Yingniang and stealing their heirloom. Chen Yu organizes the treasure substitution to expose and avenge the crime 38 39.
• Wei Xun — Wrongly suspected pearl thief and eventual killer. Wei Xun frees Bao Lang’s prisoners before executing him in revenge for his crimes 24 37 39.
• Liaoru — Abbot and fellow pagoda keyholder. Bao Lang threatens and terrorizes him during the investigation 17 20 33.
• Thirteenth Son / Shanyuan — Arrested as a suspect after Bao Lang identifies him as a visiting novice matching several investigative criteria; subjected to interrogation and torture before being rescued 35 36 37 39.

Story Role / Major Arcs

The Locked Pagoda Case

• Places the supposed Luminous Pearl before Skanda Bodhisattva under three locks and continuous guard 17.
• Finds the box empty, with a note beneath its cushion and a white snake coiled around Skanda’s vajra pestle. The apparently impossible theft drives him to increasingly lethal interrogations 20.
• Investigates Luo Chengye’s apparent murder and kills Wang Liangcai to demonstrate how quickly a beheading could occur, intimidating the officials present 22.
• Accuses the Green-Clothed Slave of being the Green-Robed Wanderer and of stealing the pearl with Luo Chengye before murdering him over the spoils 24.

Baozhu’s Confinement

• Has Baozhu and Yang Xingjian detained under the pretext of protection, then displays the fried head believed to be Luo Chengye’s to frighten them 23 24.
• Takes Baozhu to investigate a reported theft. He orders a hundred heavy-cane strokes for the lying complainant, while she uncovers evidence that the man’s missing wife is buried beneath a stone mill 26.
• Refuses to let the Changzhou craftsmen leave Xiagui, dismissing their deadline for work on Princess Wanshou’s tomb 27.
• Claims he will use Baozhu as bait for the Green-Robed Wanderer and refuses to share the theft note. Wei Xun later retrieves the sutra concealing it, allowing Baozhu to examine and copy it 31 33.

Exposure and Death

• Arrests Thirteenth Son as the investigation expands to literate monks, outsiders, and people capable of using small animals to enter the pagoda. Wei Xun and Huo Qilang subsequently free him along with the other prisoners 35 36 37.
• Is exposed when Chen Yu confesses that the craftsmen switched the lacquer boxes before the treasure entered the pagoda. They substituted a pearl-coated bird egg and left the warning, “Heaven knows, Earth knows, you know, I know,” to confront Bao Lang with his crime 38.
• Falls into a violent frenzy at the sight of white snakes in the county yamen, hacking indiscriminately before collapsing 39.
• Awakens to find Wei Xun waiting for him. Believing his longer saber gives him the advantage over a dagger, he prepares to fight but is immediately beheaded 39.
• His head appears inside the still-guarded pagoda, impaled on Skanda’s vajra pestle as though the deity had executed him. Wu Zhiyuan abandons the investigation and does not pursue Baozhu’s departing party 40.

Notable Quotes

“Whatever stole my pearl, I’ll slaughter it and take the pearl back!!” 20

“Even if that monstrous fiend comes back to life and wreaks havoc, I can still chop it into two halves all over again, let alone a bald-headed thief spreading heresies like you!” 36