Sukong

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Early Travels

In her younger days, Sukong unearthed the corpse of a juvenile One-Horned Rhinoceros Golden Beetle. She retained it until giving it to Yunqi for his travels 20.

Sixty years before Yunqi met Daoist Tian Fang, Sukong and her fellow-generation cultivator Chen Suxing traveled through the Southern Wastes under the name of Green God Mountain. They became lost and surrounded in the Miasma Forest during fighting between the Miao Borderlands and the Southern Wastes. Tian Fang, then a second-realm cultivator, rescued them 47.

The three were approximately the same age and became traveling companions. They promised to visit one another after parting, but the demands of second-realm cultivation kept them apart for sixty years 47.

Recruiting Cheng Yunqi

Sukong supervised an entrance examination at Zhan Biyun’s Bamboo Retreat. Candidates had to return to their bodies after she scattered their earth souls, with a stated limit of two hours. Those unwilling to participate could receive a Cao Shen Pill and return to the mortal world 2.

She had already observed Yunqi’s conduct through the Mirror Flower, Water Moon Art, including his composure during the journey and willingness to volunteer first. He became only the third candidate in Bright Governance Mountain’s five-thousand-year history to return within half an hour while choosing to possess the bamboo staff 4.

After the incense expired, Sukong recalled the unsuccessful candidates’ souls and accepted Yunqi as her registered disciple. This was only her second recruitment attempt. She explained that opening his Heart Mansion would qualify him for initiation, a Dao name, and entry into the Mansion Register of Fates 3 4.

Bright Governance Mountain normally accepts two disciples per generation, often at intervals of roughly three hundred years. He Bingkun considered Sukong’s recruitment unusually early and speculated that something had happened to her fellow-generation martial brother traveling outside; he did not know whether the sect had received news 7.

Teaching and Departure

Sukong personally taught Yunqi the foundations of qi ingestion because his arrival did not coincide with introductory sect classes. Her regular teaching period ran from the ninth through the fifteenth of each month 8 17.

While considering a yin-metal Lung Palace, Yunqi later wondered whether Sukong had deliberately chosen the beetle to guide his next cultivation step. This remained his inference rather than a confirmed statement of her intent 42.

Appearance

• Youthful appearance: Yunqi thought she looked nothing like someone approaching the end of her lifespan 7.
• Meditative posture: When receiving Yunqi in winter, she sat with her five centers facing heaven and her eyes half closed 17.

Personality

Sukong presents a composed, sometimes expressionless exterior. After accepting Yunqi, however, she privately released a relieved breath; she also smiled openly at his rapid progress and praised how easily he understood her instruction 3 4 9.

Her teaching is brisk and economical. Yunqi considers her explanations concise and precisely placed, while she appreciates that he needs neither repeated instructions nor lengthy pronunciation lessons. She expects broad study but allows him to choose his own cultivation path 8 9 17.

Tian Fang describes her as careless and exceptionally lazy, claiming that she avoids any task she can shirk. His comments contrast with her close observation of Yunqi’s entrance trial and her detailed personal instruction 4 47.

She is particularly insistent that Yunqi respect corpse nourishing as an orthodox Daoist practice. Before his departure, she patiently explains its principles, jokes about the beetle eventually finding him a dragon corpse, and repeatedly places survival ahead of ambition 20.

Abilities & Skills

Mirror Flower, Water Moon Art

• Observed Yunqi’s every movement from the time he met Daoist Ji Hu, without Yunqi knowing he was being watched 4.

Earth-Soul Extraction and Restoration

• Used her ruyi to draw Yunqi’s earth soul from his body during the entrance trial 2.
• Sent his disembodied soul into Bamboo Depths Unknown with a wave of her sleeve 3.
• Recalled the unsuccessful candidates’ wandering souls using a small white banner and an invocation 3.

Direct Mental Transmission

• Transmitted the Five-Character Mantra’s ancient characters directly into Yunqi’s mind through her jade ruyi 9.
• Projected a purple mote from between her brows into his forehead, entering his mental world and speaking there as clearly as an inner voice 17.
• Used this access to inspect and guide the construction of his mental Dao Palace 17.

Illumination Mantra and Inner-Landscape Guidance

• Illuminated Yunqi’s internal miniature cosmos, revealing apertures and meridians as clusters and pathways of light 18.
• Explained the three abodes, five palaces, yin-yang great hall, and purple tower 18.
• Demonstrated how imagined movements and synchronized physical breathing could draw spiritual qi into the body 18.

Internal-Alchemy Instruction

• Taught five-element qi ingestion and the fire-aspect single-phase lesser celestial circuit 9 18.
• Explained more complex circuits, including heart-kidney convergence, wind-thunder interweaving, wind-fire co-travel, and five-element rotation 18.
• Warned that exposing a circulation diagram could let an opponent strike vital apertures, causing magical-power leakage or cultivation deviation 18.
• Explained that magical power could not be retained in an unopened Heart Mansion and would dissipate within forty-nine days 18.

Corpse Nourishing and Pill Refinement

• Taught corpse nourishing as reciprocal cultivation between the living cultivator’s yang and the deceased’s yin, potentially allowing the corpse to develop intelligence and attain corpse immortality 20.
• Supplied instructions for finding, identifying, nourishing, and commanding corpses 20 43.
• Refined a Soul-Restoring Pill that Yunqi later used to treat a Miao child’s Soul Injury Syndrome 45.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Jade ruyi — Used for earth-soul extraction and direct transmission of the Five-Character Mantra 2 9.
• Small white banner — Used to summon wandering souls back to their bodies after the entrance examination 3.
• Three teaching jade slips — Left with Yunqi after his first qi-circulation lesson; included the Guangcheng Edict of Emptiness Wish-Following Mantra. Their access key was the fire-aspect lesser celestial circuit route 18.
• Green Beetle Life-Transformation Scripture — A parting jade slip containing corpse-finding, identification, nourishment, and command methods 20 43.
• One-Horned Rhinoceros Golden Beetle corpse — A dead juvenile metal-aligned insect, given to Yunqi both to deter venomous insects and to practice corpse nourishing 20.
• Purple bamboo basket — An exquisitely woven, fist-sized container holding the beetle corpse 20.

Relationships

• Cheng Yunqi — Registered disciple and intended twenty-sixth-generation successor. Sukong oversees his foundational cultivation and equips him for travel 4 9 18 20.
• Chen Suxing — Fellow-generation cultivator and Yunqi’s martial uncle. Traveled with Sukong through the Southern Wastes sixty years earlier 47.
• Daoist Tian Fang — Old friend and former rescuer. Their planned reunion never occurred, but he later welcomed Yunqi as the disciple of an old acquaintance 47.
• Feng Ji Hu — Assisted with her recruitment through a General Affairs Office commission and escorted Yunqi after the examination 3 4 5.

Notable Quotes

“You must learn them all.” 8

“Simply make each step firm. In the end, everything comes down to this: do all you can, and leave the rest to Heaven.” 17

“In short, be careful in everything while you are away. Staying alive comes first.” 20