Cao Jinxing

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Before transmigrating, Cao Jinxing obtained a gaming helmet for Great Rivers and Lakes and rolled an unusually strong character template. He expected to enter a beginner town, find a martial master, and pursue an unrivaled hero’s career. Instead, he awoke chained to a pillar and being whipped in the Crouching Tiger Gang’s stronghold. The exit command failed, and the captive’s memories revealed that he had become a same-named NPC 1.

The original Cao Jinxing was a twenty-year-old General Banner who had inherited his father’s office in the Northern Pacification Office. His father died young, leaving him a small courtyard home but no influential connections or cultivation resources. Company Commander Zhang Ying manipulated the selection for a dangerous infiltration mission, sending him into the gang’s stronghold, where he was captured before delivering its defense map 1 7 8.

Appearance

Cao Jinxing is tall, lean, and strikingly handsome. After his first promotion, he admires his reflection using the descriptions “a face like polished jade,” “swordlike brows,” and “eyes like stars” 7 8.

• Official dress: Wears the Flying Fish Uniform and carries the weapons associated with the Embroidered Uniform Guard 28 32.
• Travel clothing: Uses a black cloak and bamboo hat over his uniform 20.
• Later weapon arrangement: Carries Snow Soul across the small of his back, with the special Embroidered Spring Saber at his waist 49.

Personality

Cao Jinxing is pragmatic about survival and willing to feign submission. His apparent cooperation with the Crouching Tiger Gang buys time to heal and cultivate; against Zhang Ying, he deliberately provokes an attack so that his retaliation can be presented as self-defense. He also prepares reinforcements before confronting the Four Seas Escort Agency rather than relying solely on personal strength 1 2 8 18.

He is intensely retaliatory and refuses to defer to someone merely because they have powerful patrons. He tells Chen Long that he repays mistreatment tenfold, openly mocks Zhang Ying, and rejects Liu Sanjin’s attempt to obtain his antidote medicine for Yan Shaoting. Liu Zhenyuan admires his refusal to yield, even while warning that his conduct attracts jealous colleagues 2 8 15.

His harshness is not indiscriminate. He frees a helpless prisoner who reminds him of his own situation, patiently teaches his subordinates, and refuses to let Zhang Chengfeng treat a settled agreement as an unlimited financial obligation. He is particularly indulgent toward Xuan Yuan Fourteen 3 10 35 50.

His principal ambition is to reach the highest level and become invincible. He values antidotes and healing medicines as practical safeguards, repeatedly requesting them instead of less immediately useful rewards 14 19.

Abilities & Skills

Exceptional Aptitude and Comprehension

His abilities appear to carry over from the character template he rolled before transmigration. He recognizes the connection when watching Han Dang perform Lightning Movement Step allows him to understand it immediately 1.

• Rapid mastery: Learns Great Vajra Palm effortlessly and masters Tyrant Saber, Heavenly Sword-Linked Finger, and Xinyou Saber Manual in minutes 6 8.
• Memory and analysis: Reproduces the mountain’s detailed defense map without consulting the earlier copy 2.
• Technique integration: Can transition between contrasting sword and saber styles without the stiffness that would normally create openings 32 40.
• Instruction: Reads Three-Fold Cloud Dragon in fewer than ten breaths and offers guidance to Su Yunsheng and Sun Lang 35.

Continuous Cultivation

By separating his attention into simultaneous tasks, Cao Jinxing keeps his internal cultivation circulating while going about ordinary activities. A method he expected to require prolonged training succeeds after one day 13.

• Maintains cultivation without withdrawing from conversation or official duties 13.
• Reads, memorizes, and comprehends material simultaneously 13.
• Advances to Xiantian during a conversation over wine 14.

Cold Toad Art

Cold Toad Art replaces Origin Embracing Art as his main internal cultivation method. He converts his existing qi in less than five minutes, then meditates to replenish the reduced reserves 4.

• Produces highly condensed, pure cold true qi; the gatekeeper judges it at least upper-tier grade five and comparable to the Great Simplicity Yin Scripture 7.
• Supports healing, cultivation, and cold-enhanced attacks far beyond Origin Embracing Art’s capabilities 6.
• Freezes Zhang Ying after a single palm exchange 8.
• Extinguishes the Sacred Fire Canon’s fiery qi inside Zhang Dajing’s meridians 10.
• Maintains his already healthy, open meridians, leaving little for the jade flat peach’s cleansing effect to improve 42.

Ice-Controlling Art

This auxiliary esoteric technique teaches him to extend Cold Toad Art beyond internal-energy attacks and harness surrounding moisture 34.

• Takes control of moisture within fifty meters 34.
• Condenses airborne moisture into ice crystals and freezes the surrounding ground 34.
• Raises layers of ice spikes in conjunction with a sword attack 34.
• Allows Draw Water, Carve Ice to activate instantly rather than first gathering sword momentum 34.

Movement Arts

Lightning Movement Step is a seventh-grade Thieves’ Gate technique centered on explosive acceleration. Cao Jinxing turns an art primarily intended for escape into an offensive tool 28 36.

• Closes distance before an opponent can fully release an attack 5.
• Combines with Xinyou Saber’s quick draw and Cold Toad Art’s bursts of force 36.
• Begins experimenting with Three-Fold Cloud Dragon’s layered force and three successive bursts to improve Lightning Movement Step 36.

Sword and Saber Arts

Cao Jinxing favors mastery and compatibility over simply accumulating techniques. Snow Soul’s broad blade lets him perform saber arts without carrying a separate saber during his earlier missions 7 32.

• Wild Wind Blade Technique: His inherited eighth-grade saber art; emphasizes fast, increasingly fierce combinations 2 4 5.
• Tyrant Saber: A sixth-grade art used for forceful attacks such as Mountain-Splitting River-Cleaving and Shocking Tide Slash 8 40.
• Xinyou Saber Manual: Supplies quick-draw techniques that complement his movement and explosive cold qi 8 36.
• Dark Yin Sword: Provides swift, cold sword attacks and the ultimate technique Draw Water, Carve Ice 24 34 40.
• Sword Control by Qi: Used to attack Xiang Qianli during the Imperial Prison escape attempt 46.
• Limit: Technical mastery does not erase cultivation gaps; he suffers internal injuries against combined attacks from stronger opponents in the peach grove 40.

Palm and Finger Arts

• Great Vajra Palm: A seventh-grade palm art whose force he reinforces with Cold Toad Art; defeats Zhang Ying in one exchange and contests Yang Gongbu’s palm attacks 8 18.
• Cloud-Discharging Palm: Gathers cloud energy to strengthen attacks and offers greater variation than straightforward freezing techniques 23.
  • Uses Dark Clouds Veil the Sun to gather airborne moisture against fire-based palms 40.
  • Uses Calamitous Clouds Descend to blast Xiang Qianli back toward his cell 46.
• Heavenly Sword-Linked Finger: A powerful, unorthodox art created by the expelled Shaolin disciple Huiming, the “Ghost Monk.” Cao Jinxing uses it to surprise the Bright Sect’s disguised holy maiden without drawing his saber 13 28.

Sonic Wave Skill

After encountering mind-affecting music, Cao Jinxing studies flute playing and Sonic Wave Skill under Xu Quan to learn how to defend against sonic attacks 49.

• Absorbs basic music theory in less than a quarter of an hour and plays a short tune accurately after another quarter-hour 49.
• Advanced mind-seizing effects require precise internal-energy control and understanding of a composition’s artistic realm 49.
• Despite his rapid learning, the higher applications cannot be mastered overnight 49.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Snow Soul Sword — Fifth-rank sword obtained during the Black Tortoise Mountain mission; broad enough to support both his sword and saber techniques 23 25 32.
• Thirteenth Embroidered Spring Saber — One of thirteen special sabers forged from meteoric iron and refined western metal. Liu Zhenyuan awards it after the failed prison break, explicitly without appointing him to the vacant Thirteen Guardians position 48.
• Flying Fish Uniform — Official clothing he wears openly during confrontations and at the Ghost Market 28 50.
• Black iron gloves — Taken from Smiling Tiger after the Sun-Moon Prosperity Restaurant battle 30.
• Medicinal pills — Prioritizes detoxification and healing medicines. Uses a Fortune Creation Pill after the White Dragon Gu breaks eight ribs and a Primordial Chaos Pill to treat Lu Kunlun 19 23 41.
• Coiling Dragon Golden Staff — Confiscated from the Ape King; identified as a Dharma Cave treasure of at least upper sixth grade. Cao Jinxing takes it to the Ghost Market intending to exchange it for pills 49 50.
• Seven-Star Saber — Lower fifth-grade blade formerly serving as Tyrant Saber Manor’s token. Received after the prison break and offered for sale alongside the staff 49 50.

Relationships

• Xuan Yuan Fourteen / Snow Glaze — White cat companion. Cao Jinxing protects it from Windcloud Manor’s demands, uses its tracking ability, shares a jade flat peach with it, and fights alongside it against Xiang Qianli 10 16 41 46.
• Liu Zhenyuan — Superior and patron who promotes him, grants martial-art access and medicines, and protects the office’s interests after attacks against him; frequently exasperated by his confrontations 7 15 32 34 48.
• Su Yunsheng and Sun Lang — Direct subordinates whom he considers reliable. He teaches their martial arts and checks their injuries after the prison battle 15 35 49.
• Feng Bao — Eastern Depot ally. They cooperate against the Hehuan Sect and Bright Sect infiltrators; Feng Bao praises his intelligence, warns him about premature promotion, and arranges antidote rewards 12 13 14.
• Lu Kunlun — Beggars’ Sect friend and combat partner. They oppose the Opera House assassins, investigate Peach Blossom Spring, and share its fruit 28 31 37 41.
• Shen Xiang — Fellow official and increasingly close friend. They inspect and defend the Imperial Prison together; Shen later gives him confiscated weapons to trade for medicine 44 48 49.
• Xu Quan — Imperial Prison guardian and music teacher who instructs him in flute playing and Sonic Wave Skill 43 49.
• Zhang Chengfeng — Windcloud Manor’s young master. After Cao saves his father, Zhang supplies agreed medicinal treasures for Fourteen and later helps appraise Ghost Market goods 10 11 50.
• Pei Yangchun — Taiyi Gate sect master who assists the Fire Tortoise mission and directs him toward the fifth-rank summit sword 22 23 25.
• Zhang Ying — Former superior who arranged the original owner’s near-fatal mission. Cao provokes and defeats him after returning to the capital 8.
• Yan Shaoting and the Yan Family — Enemies whose Opera House assassins pursue the Fire Tortoise. Their failure and Cao’s report contribute to severe political losses 26 30 31.
• Zhao Wenhua and the Zhao Family — Retaliatory enemies. Zhao Siyuan attempts to kill him, while Zhao Wenhua promotes a prison-break scheme intended to make him liable for neglecting his duties 34 35.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Crouching Tiger Gang

• Feigns cooperation with a falsified defense map after being forced to swallow a Heart-Piercing Poison Insect 1 2.
• Escapes confinement, obtains Cold Toad Art, and releases a helpless prisoner 3.
• Kills Wang Xuanying and Yan Baihu, then forces Han Dang to swallow venomous insects in retaliation 4 5 8.
• Returns to the capital, receives promotion to captain/company commander, and gains access to two sixth-grade martial arts 7.

Selected Maidens and Hehuan Sect

• Takes over security at Heavenly Fragrance House after injuring Zhang Ying 8.
• Helps Feng Bao repel the convoy raid and capture the disguised Bright Sect holy maiden 12 13.
• Investigates the Hehuan Sect’s search for its founder’s tomb and the Mani Jewel 16.
• Defeats Yang Gongbu’s group, exposes Jiang Yushan’s sheltering of the sect, and brings in reinforcements to arrest the conspirators 18.

Fire Tortoise and Opera House Assassins

• Retrieves the thousand-year-old Fire Tortoise from Black Tortoise Cave, then faces Yang Wanli and the White Dragon Gu 22 23.
• Uses a cinnabar replica to conceal the genuine treasure from pursuers 26 30.
• Joins Lu Kunlun in defeating the remaining assassins; Cao is credited with killing nine of the Twelve Xiantian Assassins 28 30 32.
• Delivers the tortoise and his report through Liu Zhenyuan, pleasing Jiajing and giving the emperor grounds to punish the Yan faction 31.

Peach Blossom Spring

• Helps Lu Kunlun trace the source of valuable wine, then investigates the disappearance of Old Zhou and Wei Wuyan 31 32 37.
• Kills Wu Feng and Han Rong in the peach grove; Su Miaoyun survives the wound he initially believes fatal 40 41.
• Secures two jade flat peaches, gives the smaller one to Fourteen, and converts his own fruit into cultivation power 41 42.

Imperial Prison Defense

• Intercepts Xiang Qianli’s escape and wounds him with sword attacks, palm force, and Fourteen’s assistance 46.
• Helps Shen Xiang and the jailers stop the prison break and capture the wounded Left Envoy of Light and Ape King 48.
• Receives the special thirteenth saber, resumes guard duty, and begins studying defenses against sonic attacks 48 49.
• Finds that news of his latest victories has already spread through the capital by that evening 50.

Notable Quotes

“You whipped me thirteen times and kicked me once. I've always been fair. Whatever someone does to me, I repay tenfold.” 2

“To level up to the top, of course, and then become invincible.” 14

“A true master can defeat everyone under heaven with a single set of Arhat Fist.” 28