Hua Jiao

Biodata

Background / History

Outer and Inner Sect

Hua Jiao was the daughter of Hua Youque, the Pill Lineage’s Attendant Elder and a younger clan cousin of Sect Master Lu Ming. She met Ye Feng in the outer sect and supported Ye Feng when others mocked her talent, using her family’s influence to retaliate against the mockers. After entering the inner sect, Hua Jiao joined her father’s Pill Lineage, while Ye Feng entered the Sword Dao Lineage 19.

Hua Jiao fell deeply in love with Ye Feng, who treated her as a younger sister. Wanting to accompany and protect Ye Feng during the Spirit-Imprisoning Forbidden Land expedition, she secured a place through her father’s connections. Her cultivation had been built up with pills, and her talent alone would not have qualified her for the expedition 19 36.

Confrontation and Death

Before the forbidden land opened, Hua Jiao offered Ye Feng Poison-Warding Pills and Body-Protecting Pills. When Jiang Yantian approached, she openly condemned him for humiliating Ye Feng. Despite Ye Feng’s warning, she followed Jiang away from camp, convinced that her father’s rank and connection to the sect master would protect her 19 20.

Hua Jiao demanded that Jiang publicly kneel and apologize to Ye Feng. Instead, he showed her a recording of Ye Feng’s punishment and admitted that he had fabricated the accusation that led to Ye Feng’s castration. Hua Jiao threatened to inform her father, but Jiang immobilized her before she could leave 20.

Jiang used the Devouring Demonic Art to consume her soul, reducing her body to dust. He collected her belongings and deliberately left her Pill Cauldron as a clue, intending to make Ye Feng recognize his responsibility without obtaining proof 20.

Discovery and Aftermath

Luo Xingcai located Hua Jiao’s abandoned red cauldron. Ye Feng recognized the cracked soul stone embedded in it as confirmation of her death. Elder Long’s Clarity Technique found no trace of Hua Jiao on Jiang, and Luo accepted his explanation that a Spirit Devourer had killed her. Jiang subsequently confessed privately to Ye Feng and forced her to say that Hua Jiao deserved to die 21 22 23.

Upon returning to the sect, Ye Feng handed Hua Jiao’s cauldron and clothes to Hua Youque, who collapsed in grief. He accepted Ye Feng as his personal disciple in Hua Jiao’s place and protected her as a possible witness to his daughter’s death. The Pill Lineage also reprimanded its expedition disciples for failing to protect Hua Jiao 36 38 39 40.

After hearing Ye Feng’s account, Hua Youque demanded a Heavenly Dao oath confirming its truth. He later adopted Ye Feng and planned revenge, but delayed action until Jiang’s anticipated Spirit Transformation tribulation. Jiang continued exploiting the conflict, eventually extorting ten million high-grade spirit stones from Hua Youque under threat of implicating the Hua clan in another sect’s revenge 42 43 45.

Personality

Hua Jiao was affectionate and generous toward Ye Feng, but fiercely partisan. She defended Ye Feng regardless of the circumstances and explicitly refused to consider why Jiang had punished her. Her faith in her father’s authority made her dismiss warnings about confronting Jiang alone 19 20.

Her hostility also extended to her stepmother, Liu Mengjie. Hua Jiao treated her with disdain and repeatedly tried to drive her away. Hua Youque’s concern for his daughter’s feelings contributed to his marriage remaining distant and unconsummated 39 40.

Abilities & Skills

Alchemy

• Identified as an alchemist and owned a pill-refining cauldron inherited from her father 21.
• Had substantial access to medicinal pills; her cultivation had been raised through their use 20 36.

Equipment / Items

• Red Pill Cauldron — A pill-refining magic artifact passed down by Hua Youque. Jiang deliberately left it behind after killing her; Ye Feng later returned it to her father 20 21 36.
• Soul stone — Given to Hua Jiao by Ye Feng as a decoration for the cauldron. Hua Jiao infused it with her presence, allowing its cracked state to reveal her death 21.
• Poison-Warding Pills and Body-Protecting Pills — Supplies she offered Ye Feng before the expedition 19 20.
• Storage pouch, secret treasures, and luxurious clothes — Taken by Jiang after her death; her clothes were eventually returned to Hua Youque 20 36.

Relationships

• Ye Feng — Close friend and unrequited love; Hua Jiao was one of Ye Feng’s earliest supporters 19.
• Hua Youque — Father and alchemy master, whose protection she relied upon 20 21 38.
• Lu Ming — Her father’s older clan cousin, whom she addressed as “Uncle” 19 43.
• Liu Mengjie — Stepmother whom she resented and sought to drive away 39 40.
• Jiang Yantian — Enemy and killer; used her death to torment Ye Feng 20 23.

Notable Quotes

“I don't need to know. Doing that was bullying my Brother Ye Feng. That alone means you have to apologize. You have to kneel and apologize too!” 20

“My... my father and the sect master... won't... let you... get away...” 20