Zhao Gongming

Biodata

Power Progression

Appearance

• Wears a dark or black Daoist robe and has a stern, imposing face 98 164.
• During his rescue and early cultivation anew, his robe remains torn and bloodstained, and his complexion is pale 104 107 112.
• His rebuilt power manifests as twenty-four dark gleams in his eyes and layered world phantoms behind him 104 105.
• Commonly enters battle riding a black tiger 99 164.

Personality

Zhao Gongming values loyalty and personal obligation enough for his enemies to exploit them. Having accepted Great Shang’s incense offerings for years and maintained friendships with Wen Zhong and frontier generals, he knowingly enters Randeng’s trap rather than abandon soldiers being refined into blood mist. He acknowledges that he is disobeying Tongtian’s decree and accepts responsibility for the decision 97 98.

His anger is directed as much at cruelty and hypocrisy as at his own losses. Even when gravely wounded, he refuses to surrender the pearls’ control formula and challenges the claim that rescuing mortals constitutes defying Heaven. His desire for revenge encompasses both his slain tiger and the Shang soldiers whose souls were destroyed 100 102.

After rebuilding his cultivation, he becomes more deliberate without relinquishing his grievances. He restrains the Three Xiao’s immediate retaliation, recognizing that a spectacular victory could still give Yuanshi Tianzun grounds to deepen the sect’s calamity. He also openly acknowledges debts of gratitude, addressing Xiaotian Dog as a fellow Daoist and remaining loyal to Tongtian after receiving Gu Changqing’s method 102 103 108.

Abilities & Skills

Shrouding the Heavens Method

A body-centered cultivation path bestowed by Gu Changqing after Zhao Gongming’s original foundation collapsed 103.

• Establishes power within the body rather than making survival dependent on external treasures or Heavenly Dao spiritual currents.
• Uses twenty-four wounds in his former foundation as the starting points for twenty-four Seas of Bitterness.
• Keeps his fractured Primordial Spirit stable and prevents his hatred from tearing it apart.
• Initially provides far less total power than his former peak Great Luo cultivation, though the new divine power is exceptionally concentrated 103 104.
• Its complete teaching includes the Wheel of Life, Dao Palace, Four Poles, Dragon Transformation, and Immortal Platform; Zhao Gongming is not shown completing all these realms 103.

Twenty-Four Inner Worlds

Worlds formed within his Seas of Bitterness from his accumulated understanding of the Sea-Calming Divine Pearls 104 106.

• World pressure: Bears down on enemies’ Dao hearts and Primordial Spirits. At Guanjiangkou, this operates alongside the Divine Realm’s suppression of their Heavenly Dao connections 104 105.
• Physical combat: Channels primal divine power into his fists. A direct punch breaks through Chijingzi’s protection and severely damages his immortal body 105.
• Spatial movement: Uses his body and inner worlds to force passages through the void without employing his former immortal escape techniques 108.
• Battlefield control: Suppresses the void during Qiongxiao’s capture of Juliusun and restrains Taiyi Zhenren’s Nine Dragon Divine Fire Cover 112 114.
• Defense: Expands the worlds to shield the Three Xiao and resist Yuanshi Tianzun’s pressure 119 120.
• Limit: Cannot independently withstand a Sage’s full offensive. Yuanshi’s pressure fractures the world phantoms and drives their divine power back into his flesh 119 120.

Five-Colored Radiance

The principal offensive and defensive manifestation of his original Sea-Calming Divine Pearls 99.

• Shields surviving Shang troops from soul-destroying black fog and stabilizes their military souls.
• Repels the Heaven-Flipping Seal, disperses the Yin-Yang Mirror’s death light, and drives back other Jade Void treasures.
• Shakes the spirituality of treasures approaching within a hundred zhang of him.
• Forces the blood-transforming fog back thirty li 99 100.
• Was countered by the Treasure-Dropping Golden Coin, which severed his mental bond with the pearls 100.

Sea of Bitterness Devouring Power

The twenty-four dark treasure pearls displayed during the final rout of Xiqi exert a pull described as a law of damnation 164.

• Envelops spiritual objects and ordered laws within the Sea of Bitterness universes.
• Surrounds the God-Beating Whip, breaks its divine chains of order, and cuts Jiang Ziya’s connection to it.
• Prevents the whip from escaping back toward the Heavenly Dao’s laws 164.

Blood Evasion

An emergency escape technique powered by burning his remaining essence 100.

• Carries him out of the Blood-Transforming Grand Array.
• Disrupts Heavenly Secrets along his escape route.
• Further exhausts his already ruined foundation, leaving him to fall from the sky near Guanjiangkou 100 101.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Twenty-Four Sea-Calming Divine Pearls — Former life-bound Innate Spiritual Treasures, refined over ten thousand years. Stolen by Randeng with the aid of the Treasure-Dropping Golden Coin, then reclaimed and incorporated as source essence for Zhao Gongming’s inner worlds rather than restored as his external foundation 100 103 106.
• Twenty-Four Sea of Bitterness treasure pearls — Dark, small-world-bearing pearls displayed after Gu Changqing’s reforging through the Mythic Great Luo Technique. Used to suppress and take the God-Beating Whip 164.
• God-Beating Whip — Taken from Jiang Ziya during Great Shang’s rout of Xiqi 164 166.
• Ahu, the black tiger — Longtime battle mount killed by Randeng while protecting him. Zhao Gongming later rides a black tiger again, but the supplied account does not explain its relationship to Ahu 100 102 164.

Relationships

• Tongtian — Master and enduring object of his allegiance. Gu Changqing explicitly preserves this relationship when teaching him a new method. Zhao Gongming later becomes the first disciple to kneel and pledge eternal loyalty when Tongtian challenges the sect to reject its destined destruction 103 139.
• Gu Changqing — Savior, teacher of the Shrouding the Heavens method, and recipient of his Dao-protecting pledge. Zhao Gongming brings the Three Xiao to him to seek a path beyond the sect’s impending calamity 102 103 106 107.
• Yunxiao, Qiongxiao, and Bixiao — His three younger sisters, collectively the Three Xiao. They rush to avenge his ruined foundation; he redirects their anger toward learning new methods and later fights alongside them at Jiepai Pass 107 108 112.
• Xiaotian Dog — Rescuer who carries him away from pursuing Golden Immortals and into the Ruined Temple. Zhao Gongming thanks it as a fellow Daoist and promises repayment 101 102 103.
• Ahu — Loyal mount whose death becomes a central reason for his blood feud with Randeng 100 102.
• Wen Zhong and the Shang frontier generals — Old friends whose endangered soldiers help compel him to leave seclusion 98.
• Randeng — Principal enemy in the ambush that destroys his original foundation. Zhao Gongming later seizes him by the throat and recovers the pearls, but Randeng escapes before the feud is settled 100 105 106.
• Xiao Sheng and Cao Bao — Randeng’s accomplices in stealing the pearls and wounding him; destroyed in body and soul during his retaliation 100 105.
• Yuanshi Tianzun — Opposing Sage who attempts to break his new foundation after the Twelve Golden Immortals’ defeat. Zhao Gongming refuses to kneel or accept his definition of Heaven’s decree 119 120.
• Yin Jiao — Battlefield ally. Zhao Gongming intercepts the God-Beating Whip aimed at him and grants his request to leave Jiang Ziya alive 164.

Background / History

Great Shang’s immortal ally

Zhao Gongming cultivated under Tongtian and repeatedly attended his Dao teachings at Biyou Palace. His Great Luo Dao fruit had remained stable for ten thousand years, while his long association with Great Shang included receiving its incense and befriending its military leaders 98 102 107.

Gu Changqing identified wealth, the seas, and warfare as possible foundations for Zhao Gongming’s future mythic status. He suggested that single-handedly suppressing the Chan Sect immortals could supply the renown needed to begin forging that status; this was a proposed path, not a confirmed attainment 49.

Randeng’s trap

Randeng arranged the massacre of Shang troops specifically to draw Zhao Gongming out despite the Interception Sect’s restrictions. Zhao Gongming recognized the open conspiracy, warned Bixiao not to let the sect be manipulated further if he died, and descended Emei Mountain on his tiger 97 98.

He initially overwhelmed eight Jade Void Golden Immortals and protected the army’s remnants. The battle reversed when Xiao Sheng and Cao Bao helped Randeng steal his pearls and strike him down. Ahu died shielding him, and Zhao Gongming escaped by burning his essence 99 100.

Rescue and cultivation anew

Pursued to Guanjiangkou with his Primordial Spirit close to dissolution, Zhao Gongming was carried to the Ruined Temple by Xiaotian Dog. Gu Changqing stabilized him, then explained how his dependence on Heavenly Dao power and life-bound treasures had made his foundation vulnerable 101 102 103.

Accepting the Shrouding the Heavens method, Zhao Gongming rebuilt his foundation within his body. He retaliated against his pursuers, confronted Randeng, and absorbed the recovered pearls’ source essence into his inner worlds. Randeng escaped by detonating the Qiankun Ruler and sacrificing half his Dao body. Zhao Gongming returned to the temple and pledged to protect its teachings and the Interception Sect’s disciples 103 104 105 106.

Jiepai Pass and the confrontation with a Sage

After persuading the Three Xiao to seek Gu Changqing’s instruction, Zhao Gongming fought beside them against the Twelve Golden Immortals. Their victory stripped the Jade Void disciples of cultivation and treasures. He ordered the captives’ power sealed and had them displayed outside Xiqi’s camp to expose their crimes against mortal soldiers 108 111 112 114 116 117.

Yuanshi Tianzun personally intervened, overwhelming the formation and threatening their foundations. Zhao Gongming resisted kneeling and shielded his sisters, but the group required Guanjiangkou’s intervention through the Beginningless Bell to survive the renewed attacks 119 120 121.

When Yuanshi turned toward the Ruined Temple, Zhao Gongming and the Three Xiao hurried back to protect it. Before they arrived, Gu Changqing forced the Sage to retreat. Zhao Gongming subsequently supported Great Shang’s counterattack against Xiqi 123 125 127 128.

Xiqi’s defeat

After renewing his allegiance to Tongtian, Zhao Gongming later oversaw battle during Great Shang’s rout of Xiqi. He stopped Jiang Ziya’s attack on Yin Jiao, swallowed the God-Beating Whip into his Sea of Bitterness universes, and spared Jiang Ziya at Yin Jiao’s request before departing to confront the remaining Chan Sect immortals 139 164.

Notable Quotes

“I saved people. You refined souls. If even this is called defying Heaven, then this Heavenly Mandate should have been shattered long ago!” 100

“Randeng could steal the pearls” is answered by his resolve: “Then I will create twenty-four worlds anew within my body.” 104

“We are not going there to summon reinforcements. We are going to seek a method.” 108

“I, Zhao Gongming, honor only my master, Shangqing. Not Jade Purity Heaven’s decree!” 120