Ao Ding

Biodata

Power Progression

History

Transmigration and the Seven Spirits Sect

Ao Ding arrives in the cultivation world in his own body. The world’s laws initially destroy his flesh, but his blood contacts an unborn spiritual treasure. Its Great Dao True Nature merges with him, reconstructing his body as an eight-year-old and becoming the source of his extraordinary left eye. He initially misunderstands the event as soul transmigration into a native child 10.

A wolf pack attacks him during this vulnerable period. Seven Spirits Sect kitchen workers rescue him, nurse him through his injuries, and give him a place in the kitchen gardens. He spends the next six years tending fires, cooking, selling cosmetics, and pursuing cultivation despite being rejected by the outer court for his supposed blindness 1 2 10.

Ao Ding obtains cultivation knowledge by eavesdropping and requiring defeated challengers to submit written insights. Unknown to him, Sect Master Wang Weilong considers him the sect’s greatest prospect and has arranged for Wang He to oversee his foundation. The outer-court disciples are effectively whetstones for Ao Ding, rather than the reverse 1 3.

Departure with Sun Chen

The dying True Person Sun Chen recognizes that Ao Ding’s left eye is not blind and offers instruction and an inheritance in exchange for protection during reincarnation. Ao Ding learns that accepting will entangle him with a hostile Demon Court, examines Sun Chen’s damaged body with his eye, and insists on an oath sworn upon Great Dao True Nature before agreeing 2.

Sun Chen obtains permission to take him away for three Mystic Gang Pills. Wang He gives Ao Ding the Northern Yin Hell Diagram and his wooden staff, while the kitchen women prepare his belongings. Wang Weilong emerges from seclusion too late to prevent their departure 2.

Yellow Springs and Xuanjia

Sun Chen begins teaching Ao Ding the Golden Light Method and takes him through a Yellow Springs residence. Although already skilled in hell arts, Ao Ding is terrified by his first encounters with ghosts and the underworld. His desperate circulation of golden light produces a breakthrough and gives his pursuit of immortality a more immediate purpose 3 4.

In Jiaxia Kingdom, Ao Ding sees through the inhabitants’ beautiful human appearances to their Beauty Ant forms. He helps negotiate the visiting men’s rewards and enchants their weapons with the Chicken Feather-Shedding Curse, enabling them to defeat the Golden-Peng Pheasant 6 8.

Access to the Nine-Element Divine Spring restores the vitality consumed by his eye. Beneath the Xuanjia Immortal Tree, he then observes his own past, discovers the truth of his transmigration, and undergoes the fiery reconstruction that produces True Heaven Golden Gang. A branch affected by the process becomes his Xuanjia Spirit Staff 9 10 11 12.

Instruction and the Qianling Vigil

During their travels, Ao Ding recognizes Lin Rulong’s apparent terminal illness as preparation for Corpse Liberation into a wine ghost immortal. He also defeats Old Daoist Qi before the latter can spread plague in Lingcheng. Sun Chen uses these encounters to teach him about cultivation, revenge, responsibility, and avoiding harm to innocents 14 18 19.

At Qianling Mountain, Ao Ding studies intensively and creates the Cloud Aspect Primordial Truth Mirror. He develops specialized curse implements to defend himself while Sun Chen faces the demon ghosts seeking to obstruct his reincarnation 21 23 24.

When wolf ghosts attack, Ao Ding recognizes the pack responsible for disrupting his arrival six years earlier. His golden attacks drain their power, but his subsequent “Fragrant meat stew” curse grows beyond his control, transforming wolves into ghost food and spreading Oil Cauldron Hell across the area 24 25.

Ao Ding eventually turns the aftermath into a netherworld enterprise. He contracts with the Green-Eyed Ghost to sell the stew, exchange Northern Yin arts for underworld goods, and jointly control the passage between worlds. Hell Eatery brings him wealth and Yin Virtue while helping consume and purify the ghost-domain remnants 28 29 30.

He remains on the mountain for roughly three years. During this period, his mirror’s divided spirit becomes three children, his two cultivation paths advance, and his fortune reaches tens of millions of pattra leaves. He leaves as a seventeen-year-old, still delaying Jade Tower advancement until both methods can progress together 30.

Return and Independent Travels

Ao Ding returns quietly to the Seven Spirits Sect to reassure the kitchen workers and distribute gifts. Aware that Sun Chen’s legacy may attract unwanted attention, he avoids the inner court and leaves without provoking a confrontation. Wang Weilong subsequently restrains Wang He’s attempt to exploit the legacy through him 31 32 33.

On his travels, Ao Ding delivers a trapped water ghost, investigates Ning Zhi’s relationship with the plant spirit Huang Lang, and receives a calamity-resolving spell. He also clears dangerous accumulations of killing intent left by slain spirits 35 36 37 40.

A return to Xuanjia allows him to study Golden Court Sect restrictions, improve his House-Building Technique, and enter the spiritual treasury without assistance from Jiaxia’s rulers 39.

He Xiao, Wen Dan, and the Immortal Estates

Ao Ding rescues He Xiao from drowning and helps address the obstacles to his marriage with Tu Qing’er. Working with the flood-dragon maiden Wen Dan, he insists that He Xiao must take responsibility for his own courtship rather than leave everything to his helpers 41 42.

Ao Ding and Wen Dan also explore a Plague-Dispelling Dao cave abode. He obtains material suitable for his planned Collection of a Thousand Spells and helps remove a drought demon’s heart from the Innate Water Dragon Wall. Attempting to imitate the heart’s circulation injures him 44 46.

Although the marriage succeeds, Ao Ding worries that he has interfered too deeply in another person’s karma. Duan Lingxiao reassures him that offering help does not make him responsible for the couple’s choices, then guides his cultivation and helps form his crimson heart Dao seed 46 47 48.

Ao Ding subsequently stays at Bright Yang Immortal Estate while awaiting contact with Cang Xuan. He respects Ji Diyun’s library restrictions and finds the Heavenly Eye Thousand-Eyes Register, which offers a possible route to developing his ordinary right eye. The supplied account ends with him studying the method, not completing that transformation 49 50.

Appearance

Ao Ding has a jade-like face, vermilion lips, and a notably handsome appearance. At fourteen, he is slender and skinny, with a slightly hoarse voice as it changes; by seventeen, he has long, slender limbs and the beginnings of a Celestial Person’s bearing 1 5 30 32.

• Left eyepatch: Conceals a functioning supernatural eye rather than an injury 1.
• Primordial Truth Mirror: Worn as a monocle over his left eye, secured by True Heaven Golden Gang 21.
• Concealed eye condition: The mirror can create the illusion that his left eye opens and sees normally 32.
• Golden radiance: His cultivation manifests as halos and golden light; immediately after entering Mysterious Gang, he struggles to prevent accidental releases 9 12.

Personality

Ao Ding is intensely devoted to cultivation and spell research. Even while excluded from formal instruction, he turns repeated challenges into opportunities to collect cultivation manuscripts. Under Sun Chen, he willingly endures sleepless study sustained by a single golden bud each day 1 21.

His caution is practical rather than passive. He demands a binding oath before accepting Sun Chen’s offer, hides the nature of his eye, and avoids publicly displaying his inherited wealth at the Seven Spirits Sect. Nevertheless, he attacks decisively when confronting Old Daoist Qi or the wolf ghosts 2 18 24 31 32.

He is affectionate toward the kitchen workers who raised him and deeply grateful for Sun Chen’s instruction. His willingness to help strangers coexists with anxiety about taking over their responsibilities or entangling himself in their karma 19 30 32 41 47.

Ao Ding also recognizes his own ambition and acquisitiveness. Seeing an immortal physique makes him want one; possessing one extraordinary eye makes him dissatisfied with the other. His three spirit-offshoots embody the competing desires, moral convictions, and rational devotion to the Dao within him 30 50.

Abilities & Skills

True Person’s Eye

Ao Ding’s left eye contains the Great Dao True Nature of an unborn spiritual treasure. Its power is therefore not simply an unusually advanced human eye technique 10 46.

• Sees through appearances, exposing Beauty Ants, hidden realms, spiritual structures, and concealed origins 6 9 42.
• Examines internal cultivation and bodily damage, including Sun Chen’s cracked golden core and severed meridians 2.
• Perceives fortune and supports diagnoses involving spirits and unusual cultivation conditions 14 19 36.
• Reveals the movement of natural laws and enables comprehension of Three Heavens Great Grotto True Seals 21.
• Can frighten or repel others through its gaze 9 42.
• Initially permits only three brief uses daily. After improvement, three separated uses can last about an hour each, or one continuous use about two hours; exceeding the limit risks temporary blindness 1 21.
• Consumes substantial bodily vitality. The Nine-Element Divine Spring temporarily removes that burden by continuously replenishing him 9.

Golden Light Method and True Heaven Golden Gang

The Golden Light Method is Ao Ding’s primary route to immortality. His personally suited True Heaven Golden Gang supplies both offensive force and protection 11 27 30.

• Great Golden Light Spell: Blasts apart baleful qi and suppresses ghosts; Ao Ding comprehends it without Sun Chen directly teaching him the spell 18.
• Protective light: Shields him from cold and automatically repels a weaker cultivator’s attack 20 32.
• Recitation-based cultivation: By the Qianling vigil, daily chanting advances the method without separate breathing exercises 27.
• Immortal-qi strike: Three years of golden-bud consumption yield a breath of immortal qi that cuts a fifty-zhang fissure; Ao Ding regards it as nearly comparable to a Divine Ability 30.

Northern Yin Hell Arts

Ao Ding uses Northern Yin Dharma chiefly for soul refinement alongside his Golden Light cultivation 27 30.

• Oil Cauldron Hell: Inflicts the experience of boiling punishment; his early combat version combines the hell illusion with a real Kindling Flame Curse 1.
• Fragrant meat stew: Converts wolf ghosts into nourishing underworld food. Its initial mass deployment exhausts him and spreads beyond his control 25.
• Hell Treasure Wheel: Manifests seven hells and their spiritual-thought artifacts 30.
• Deliverance: Purifies ghosts and helps send them into the netherworld 29 35 36.
• Refinement: Condenses ghost stew into Netherworld Wolf-Soul Pearls, though his early workmanship is crude 27.

Primordial Truth Mirror and Spirit-Offshoots

Ao Ding forges the Cloud Aspect Primordial Truth Mirror from Three-Qi Heavenly Crystal Stone, thirteen hundred true seals, and his divided consciousness. It analyzes and organizes cultivation methods through the Mystical Perfection Formula 21 22.

• Uses the Golden Light Method, Northern Yin Netherworld Hell Method, and Immortal Nest Nine Palaces Scripture as its initial foundations 21.
• Translates and compares scriptures, deduces spells, and returns its insights to Ao Ding. In one night, it helps him master twelve second- and third-grade Daoist arts 22.
• Records information, evaluates opponents, and plans travel routes 31 40.
• Eventually contains three childlike offshoots of Ao Ding 30:

Spell Creation and Utility Arts

Ao Ding combines ordinary spells with true-seal analysis to produce specialized effects rather than relying only on raw magical power 22 23.

• Defense-breaching spears: Combine seals derived from low-level spells to disrupt a target’s qi seed and Mysterious Gang. The wolf-targeting versions are temporary canine-specific implements whose enchantments last five days 23 24.
• Light-Splitting Shadow-Misplacement: Divides the Golden Spear Curse into showers of small attacks that drain wolf ghosts’ spiritual power 25.
• Chicken Feather-Shedding Curse: Enchants companions’ weapons to strip the Golden-Peng Pheasant’s feathers 8.
• House-Building Technique: Repairs structures and eventually creates a white-jade spirit terrace that resonates with a Dharma Realm 30 39.
• Meal-Painting Art: Conjures meals, allowing his group to avoid food supplied by the Beauty Ants 6.
• Thousand-Li Marsh Spirit Spell: Summons Qingji for transport and information 12 39.
• Movement and concealment: Uses shrinking, wall-passing, earth evasion, concealment, and assisted flight. In Mystic Gang, he still needs spells to fly and cannot freely ride qi through the air 18 32 34.

Five Qi Returning to the Origin Glazed Art

This method offers Ao Ding a route to a Glazed Immortal Body by nourishing his five organs, developing their corresponding spirits, and integrating immortal qi through the five elements 30.

• Completes its second step at Xuanjia 39.
• Develops black, azure, and crimson Dao seeds; the crimson seed is stabilized with Duan Lingxiao’s guidance 48.
• Has not yet completed the immortal physique in the supplied account 48.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Original wooden staff — Made by Wang He from discarded kitchen-artifact materials; reduces spellcasting energy consumption. Destroyed during Ao Ding’s fiery reconstruction 1 12.
• Xuanjia Spirit Staff — A spiritually transformed branch of the Xuanjia Immortal Tree, obtained after his breakthrough and used as a casting implement 12 18.
• Northern Yin Hell Diagram / Iron Writ — The foundation of his Northern Yin studies, given to him by Wang He when he leaves the sect 2 28.
• Cloud Aspect Primordial Truth Mirror — His self-forged analytical monocle and the dwelling of his three spirit-offshoots 21 30.
• Azure Jade Golden Dragon Banner — A self-refining Dharma Treasure that has survived three tribulations; used to contain escaping ghost qi and break cave-abode defenses 27 30 44.
• Purple-Gold Cosmos Bag — Spatial Dharma Artifact holding his cultivation resources; has passed the Spirit-Nurturing tribulation 30.
• Vast Spirit Wooden Casket — Spatial Dharma Artifact used to store more than a thousand Daoist books; also Spirit-Nurturing grade 30.
• Subduing Dragon Coiling Tiger Yin-Yang Precious Swords and Five-Thunder Heavenly Heart Dharma Seal — Additional treasures inherited from Sun Chen 30.
• Qianling Mountain-Calming Pearl and Water-Moon Robe — Given to him by Sun Chen before the demon kings enter the Immortal Tomb 24.
• Jade communication bracelet — A farewell gift from the Green-Eyed Ghost; supports cross-realm contact and can help establish a Ghost Gate at a suitable location 30 37.
• Seven spiritual-thought hell artifacts — A cauldron, millstone, hook, saber, pestle, ice-soul sword, and echo chime, refined through Northern Yin cultivation and karmic merit 29 30.

Relationships

• Sun Chen — Mentor and benefactor. Their protection-for-inheritance agreement develops into instruction resembling a genuine master-disciple lineage, although Ao Ding remains formally without a master 2 19 47.
• Wang Daniangzi / Auntie Wang — A kitchen-garden caregiver whom Ao Ding treats as family. She worries about his safety after his departure and is deeply moved by his return 2 32.
• Wang He — Kitchen master who supplies his first staff and Northern Yin foundation. His care is complicated by a contingency scheme to obtain Sun Chen’s legacy through Ao Ding 1 2 33.
• Wang Weilong — Seven Spirits Sect master who secretly plans Ao Ding’s development as the sect’s future. After Ao Ding’s return, he argues against sacrificing their remaining goodwill for the inheritance 3 33.
• Luo Qiushui — Childhood friend who lends him books and understands his temperament. Rumors distort their relationship into a romantic rivalry; she later prevents Wu Linglong from pursuing him 1 3 33.
• Lu Xiu — Traveling companion whom Ao Ding teaches about cultivation stages. Sun Chen arranges Lu Xiu’s departure for the Heavenly Stone Sect 6 9 19.
• Green-Eyed Ghost — Cross-realm business partner and ally. They jointly establish Hell Eatery, regulate their Ghost Gate, and cooperate on ghost-related affairs 28 29 37 46.
• Lin Bai and Lin Rulong — Friends connected through Lin Rulong’s transformation into a wine ghost immortal. Ao Ding later asks them to provide He Xiao with support and a fallback connection 14 47.
• Wen Dan — Flood-dragon maiden and collaborator in He Xiao’s courtship and the exploration of the Plague-Dispelling Dao cave abode 41 44 46.
• He Xiao and Tu Qing’er — Lovers whose marriage Ao Ding helps secure. His involvement prompts him to reconsider the boundaries of helping others 41 46 47.
• Duan Lingxiao — Senior cultivator who advises him about karma, hosts him at Purple Yang immortal mountain, and assists his heart Dao seed’s formation 47 48.
• Ji Diyun — Host at Bright Yang Immortal Estate who grants library access while quietly testing Ao Ding’s restraint and respect for rules 49.
• Nethermoon Wolf Court — Hostile Demon Court tied to Sun Chen’s enemy. Ao Ding also identifies its wolf ghosts as the pack that disrupted his initial reconstruction 2 24 28.