Hong Ying

Biodata

Power Progression

Appearance

• Face and eyes: Fair, jade-like complexion, star-bright eyes, and willow-leaf brows 14 1892.
• Hair: Long black hair, often tied behind her head for battle 331.
• Forehead mark: A red flame mark appears between her brows; it becomes visible during major combat releases 171 191 252.
• Battle attire: Frequently wears red robes or armor, including red robes covered by golden armor and later gold-and-red battle robes 224 252 331 2004.
• Court attire: Wears luxurious phoenix robes and a phoenix crown while seated on the imperial throne 284.
• Imperial bearing: Initially radiates an openly commanding Imperial Qi. After extensive conquest, her aura becomes restrained, making its authority more apparent upon closer observation 14 750.

Personality

Hong Ying’s pride is rooted in her identity as an empress. On meeting Lu Changsheng, she questions whether he is qualified to become her master; later, even overwhelming pressure cannot persuade her to kneel before another emperor. Her refusal to submit is also tied to cultivation: timidity before a stronger opponent can undermine her Imperial Intent 14 1072 1145.

Her confidence does not prevent her from recognizing superior insight. Lu Changsheng’s guidance repeatedly astonishes her despite her experience as a Great Emperor, and she comes to thank him with genuine respect. She also recognizes her own mistakes, including the impatience that obstructs her early cultivation and the haste that leaves her trapped in a sealing formation 19 21 109.

She treats her fellow disciples as family. Threats against Ye Qiubai provoke her killing intent, and she trusts the Cottage’s disciples enough to leave her back unguarded in their care. That protectiveness is tempered by respect for their independence: she allows Ning Chenxin to continue a dangerous battle because it is an opportunity for him to improve 23 189 1904 1905.

As a ruler, Hong Ying considers legitimacy, timing, and public morale alongside force. She delays revealing her identity until her opponents have been decisively intimidated, understanding that premature coercion would leave resentment. She likewise refuses to rely on Lu Changsheng for every crisis, stating that her disciples cannot ask their master to solve everything 210 228 331.

Abilities & Skills

Reincarnation Physique and Nine Revolutions Samsara Art

Her Reincarnation Saint Physique supports the Nine Revolutions of Reincarnation, also called the Nine Revolutions Samsara Art 14 21.

• Each reincarnation relinquishes the previous life’s cultivation while increasing her talent; the method requires a special physique 14.
• Her nine past-life souls merge perfectly through the Nine Revolutions Origin Return Pill and Lu Changsheng’s Power of Rules 21.
• The accumulated understanding and talent of those lives accelerate her recovery once sufficient Spiritual Qi becomes available 284.
• Her reincarnation method allows her to survive the destruction of her first-life physical body and live again 1891.

Samsara Spear Technique

Lu Changsheng transmits this technique directly into Hong Ying’s mind. It combines spear cultivation with the Dao of Samsara and closely complements her reincarnation method 20.

• Its first form emerges after she studies Lu Changsheng’s demonstration and enters enlightenment 21.
• Her early Spear Intent attainment surpasses Ye Qiubai’s contemporary Sword Intent attainment, though she acknowledges his exceptional talent 21.
• She combines Samsara with fire to create destructive spear attacks and flaming spear phantoms 39 176 178.
• Before recovering her full cultivation, her strongest spear strike produces a presence comparable to the Void God Realm 191.
• The technique’s grade is unspecified, but Hong Ying considers it superior to the techniques she practiced previously 178.

Imperial Qi and Imperial Intent

Hong Ying’s imperial power grows through conquest, rule, and prestige rather than secluded comprehension alone 593 1071.

• Her aura can instill submission or reverence even without a deliberate attack 14 418.
• Imperial Intent acts as a vessel that accepts other powers and converts them into strength; in combat, it functions like a special Power of Rules 1071.
• Her imperial heart benefits from advancing against opposition, while retreat or fear can weaken it 773 1072.
• She uses imperial authority to restore the morale of a retreating army during the Imperial Dragon God Emperor’s trial 1100.
• At Windcry Valley, her Imperial Intent stops disciples from self-detonating and suppresses seven powerful puppets. Ba Xiyue recognizes its superiority in both quantity and quality 2061.

Imperial Record and Nine Imperial Forms

The Imperial Dragon God Emperor grants Hong Ying the Imperial Record because her existing method cannot fully utilize her Imperial Intent 1101.

• Uses Imperial Intent as its cultivation foundation 1101.
• Contains the Nine Imperial Forms, each requiring a different level of Imperial Intent 1101.
• At the time of inheritance, her Imperial Intent is sufficient to execute the fourth form 1101.
• Greatly improves her application of Imperial Intent despite leaving her cultivation at early God Emperor Realm 1106.

Heavenly Dao and Latitude Power

Hong Ying gains authority over realms by combining their hearts with her understanding of rules 300 750.

• Reconstructs and controls the Wilderness Realm’s Heavenly Dao through the Dao Law of Samsara and its Heart of the Realm 300.
• Collects realm powers during conquest, though they initially remain scattered and become harder to integrate as she acquires more 750.
• Lu Changsheng condenses those powers into Power of the Latitude and seals it so she can absorb it gradually 752 772.
• Combines latitude power, Imperial Qi, and Samsara in combat. Their quality compensates for her lack of Immortal Qi when facing half-step Heavenly Immortals 773 785.
• Eventually controls the Mortal Realm’s World Heart and Heavenly Dao, allowing her to draw on the realm’s power to reinforce the alliance’s defensive array 1891 2006.

Flame Dao and Five Elements

• Initially combines the Fire Concept with Samsara in spear combat 39 171.
• Attains sufficient comprehension of the Five Elements Concept while returning to the Emperor Realm 286.
• Is identified as the Cottage disciple most accomplished in the Flame Dao Law; Fen Yan Valley’s valley master also recognizes her exceptional aptitude 891.
• Uses Flame Dao Law alongside the Dao Law of Samsara and Spear Intent during her Fen Yan Valley rematch 894.

Reincarnation Heavenly Art

Hong Ying masters this art during Lu Changsheng’s special training 1622 1627.

• Connects the cultivator’s Intent of Samsara to the reincarnation of heaven and earth 1622.
• Can retrieve a soul from reincarnation and restore the dead, provided the soul has not perished 1622.
• Includes offensive applications of reincarnation power 1622.
• Her training involves making the Reincarnation Necklace’s vast power her own, with the assigned goal of reviving an entire city 1622.

Hundred Refinements of Samsara

The Samsara Emperor Venerable grants this divine ability as an inheritance corresponding to her Nine Revolutions Samsara Art 1894.

• Condenses gears according to the user’s comprehension of reincarnation power 1894.
• Its ultimate scope is control over reincarnation throughout a great world; this is the technique’s potential, not a confirmed achievement of Hong Ying 1894.
• Requires both profound Samsara comprehension and control of world power. Her Heart of the Latitude provides one form of the latter 1894.

Imperial Dharma Form

• Manifests as an enlarged Hong Ying seated on a throne taller than the heavens, holding a spear, with a vast rotating Samsara wheel behind her 2137.
• Reflects her cultivated Dao and control over the Power of Rules; few in the Soaring Realm possess a comparably elaborate Dharma Form 2137.

Command and Strategy

• Experienced in winning battles while outnumbered, including campaigns to unify the Low- and Mid-Latitude Realms 1100.
• Proposes abandoning an untenable front and using the Mortal Realm’s territory for guerrilla warfare while rooting out traitors; major leaders endorse the plan 1253.
• Earns the Lower Five Realms alliance’s trust through planning, coordination, imperial authority, and the imperial preceptor’s support despite initial doubts about her cultivation 2004.

Equipment & Items

• Samsara Long Spear — Her principal weapon across numerous campaigns; channels Samsara, flame, Imperial Qi, and latitude power 178 773 785.
• Holy Willow Phoenix Fire Spear — Her later spear, used against Ba Tiance. Its attacks overcome his imperial Sword Intent and damage the Sovereign’s Descent Sword 2120 2122.
• Imperial Divine Throne — Granted by Huang Tian after she proves her emperor’s heart. It shrinks into a necklace after she receives it with Samsara and Imperial Intent 1145 1146.
• Fusheng Diagram — An Ancestral Artifact whose core chooses her after absorbing her Imperial Intent and Dao Law of Samsara. She draws the core into her dantian and later brings it to assist Xu Yeming’s cultivation 1175 1176 1696.
• Reincarnation Necklace — Contains the vast reincarnation power used in her special training 1622.
• Realm and World Hearts — Holds the Wilderness Realm’s Heart of the Realm, acquires latitude hearts, and ultimately fuses with the Mortal Realm’s World Heart 228 1071 1891 2006.
• Protective jade pendant — Gives one to Ye Qiubai; sensing its destruction prompts her to hurry to his aid 53.
• Nine Revolutions Origin Return Pill — A consumed pill provided by Lu Changsheng that enables the perfect merger of her nine past-life souls 20 21.

History & Major Arcs

First Life and the Fall of Cloud Phoenix

Hong Ying founded the Cloud Phoenix Empire and reached the Emperor Realm. In her first life, she led a campaign along the Heavenly Road to give the Wilderness Realm’s inhabitants access to other realms. The campaign also concerned protecting the Heart of the Realm from outsiders who sought to seize it 14 228 1891.

The empire was defeated. Hong Ying died in battle, the Nine Heavens Division was suppressed, and her physical body was destroyed. The Nine Revolutions Samsara Art allowed her to reincarnate, but the deaths of her people and subordinates remained a source of regret through nine reincarnations 1891.

Joining the Cottage

Hong Ying initially appears to Lu Changsheng as a spirit before possessing a physical body, declining to explain the change. She asks to remain nearby while recovering her strength and initially dismisses his offer of discipleship. His cultivation insights, the unusual beings around the Cottage, and his subsequent instruction overturn her assessment 14 19.

As his disciple, she receives the Samsara Spear Technique and Nine Revolutions Origin Return Pill. His Power of Rules enables her to inherit all nine lives’ talents perfectly. She also begins treating Ye Qiubai as family, offering to deal with his enemies and later rescuing him after his protective pendant breaks 20 21 23 53.

Recovering Her Followers and Fighting the Sunset Dynasty

Hong Ying locates Yun Ming and attacks his weakened seals using Samsara and flame. A later attempt to free Yun Zhan at the former Cloud Phoenix site goes badly: the sealing formation exhausts her Spiritual Qi and overwhelms her final spear strike. Lu Changsheng intervenes, destroys the formation’s core with the Sword of Rules, and heals her 39 109.

She subsequently fights alongside Ning Chenxin and Ye Qiubai against the Sunset Dynasty and its allies. During a raid, she identifies Corpse Elder Yin’s involvement, strikes his armored servant, and withdraws with Ning Chenxin before additional corpse puppets arrive. In the later confrontation, she prepares to release concealed strength when a white-robed phantom appears 169 170 171 191.

Restoring the Empire and the Wilderness Realm

Hong Ying carefully times the public revelation of her identity as Empress Yunhuang. After demonstrating overwhelming force and killing Bei Feng, she receives the Nine Heavens Division’s allegiance, claims the Heart of the Realm, and calls on the gathered factions to defend their world against outsiders 227 228.

Following Lu Changsheng’s victory over the Heavenly Spirit Realm’s forces, she dictates surrender terms. Kong Jianghan agrees to repair the Wilderness Realm’s Heavenly Road, connect the realms, and surrender the Heavenly Spirit Realm’s Heart of the Realm. The surviving opposing leaders submit soul fragments to her control 263.

She establishes the Cloud Phoenix Empire in the Heavenly Spirit Realm, returns to the Emperor Realm, and works to reconnect the realms and restore the Wilderness Realm’s Spiritual Qi. Mastery of Samsara’s rules allows her to reconstruct its Heavenly Dao and become its controller 284 286 300.

Conquest of the Latitudes

After assisting against the Extraterrestrial Evil Race’s threat, Hong Ying receives a new direction from Lu Changsheng: expand the Cloud Phoenix Empire throughout the Low-Latitude Realm to overcome her stagnant Imperial Qi. Ning Chenxin is tasked with establishing the Confucian Dao in the conquered realms 418 593.

Her campaigns bring the Minghuang Domain into submission and accumulate realm powers, but those powers prove difficult to fuse. Lu Changsheng and Willow Tree resolve the problem by condensing Power of the Latitude. She then hones her control in a two-hour battle against four peak Earth Immortal Hehuan Sect elders, ultimately severely injuring and driving them back 599 600 750 752 775.

Her later conquest brings the Mid-Latitude Realm under Cloud Phoenix rule. Her Imperial Qi becomes Imperial Intent, and she begins absorbing the Mid-Latitude Realm’s Heart of the Latitude. She refuses to yield to the Supervisory Sacred Hall’s intrusion, both to defend her sovereignty and to preserve her imperial path 1071 1072.

Imperial Inheritances and Azure Firmament Academy

Hong Ying faces the Imperial Dragon God Emperor’s battlefield trial, rallying a retreating army before receiving the Imperial Record. At the Imperial Heaven Court, her refusal to kneel proves her emperor’s heart to Huang Tian, who entrusts her with the Imperial Divine Throne and asks her to restore the Mortal Realm’s former glory through an academy 1100 1101 1145 1146.

She later wins the Fusheng Diagram’s recognition and refuses Jiang Mu’s demand to surrender it to the Supervisory Sacred Hall. She assures its gatekeeper that she will not harm the Mortal Realm, describing it as the place of her roots 1175 1176.

Her responsibilities expand to Azure Firmament Academy. She and Ning Chenxin obtain dozens of Creation-grade techniques from Lu Changsheng for its students, and she registers the academy for the Six Realms Academy Exchange. These administrative duties reduce the time she spends adventuring and contribute to her cultivation falling behind Ye Qiubai’s 1325 1512 1627.

Undercover Work and the Samsara Trials

Hong Ying accompanies Xu Yeming into the Xu Clan disguised as a maid, while Xiao Hei poses as a guard. Her Fusheng Diagram and Xiao Hei’s Nine Nether Underworld Qi help Xu Yeming reach the fourth level of the Lunar Eclipse Nether Record before his assessment 1696.

During later exploration, Chu Yan repeatedly pursues her as a prospective dao companion, but she refuses. In the Samsara Domain, he follows her into a mirror recreating the catastrophe of her first life. At his suggestion, she intervenes, destroying the lightning dragons and forcing the insubstantial heavenly figure to vanish within the trial 1812 1885 1890 1891.

Changing that battle does not remove every danger: the reconstructed empire subsequently faces outside intervention and internal strife. Hong Ying receives Hundred Refinements of Samsara from the Samsara Emperor Venerable during this sequence of inheritances 1892 1893 1894.

Commander of the Lower Five Realms

The imperial preceptor eventually reveals that he is an independent avatar of the Chaos Divine Dynasty’s imperial preceptor. The suggestion that her life may have been guided disturbs Hong Ying’s state of mind, but he explains that he came to the Wilderness Realm seeking a divined source of future hope, not a predetermined individual 1986.

As commander of the Lower Five Realms alliance, she confronts wavering morale during the Divine Realm’s assault. She rejects the choice between submission and slaughter, rallying the cultivators to fight rather than accept enslavement. During the defense, she channels the Mortal Realm’s Heavenly Dao into the alliance’s array 2004 2006.

Banan Divine Kingdom and Later Conflicts

At Windcry Valley, Hong Ying prevents mass self-detonations and suppresses the enemy puppets, creating an opening for her allies to kill them. She later advances directly from peak Realm God Realm to middle Creation Realm through the Heavenly Seal Treasure Tree 2061 2073.

While selecting a reward in the Banan Divine Kingdom, she discovers a hidden message about the Nether River Abyss and Yin-Yang Heavenly Pool inside the Five Spirits Mystic Art. In a subsequent clash, she overcomes Ba Tiance’s imperial Sword Intent, but his Evil Qi transformation allows him to counterattack and blast her and Ba Tianxuan into the seabed 2089 2120 2122.

Her later manifested Dharma Form unites an enthroned imperial figure, a spear, and the rotating wheel of Samsara 2137.

Relationships

• Lu Changsheng — Master. Changes her assessment of him from apparent unworthiness to profound respect; his instruction, pills, techniques, and interventions enable several of her greatest advances 14 19 21 109 752.
• Ye Qiubai — Eldest senior brother. They spar, protect one another, and agree to support her future campaign; she respects his Sword Dao talent despite initially being stronger 21 23 31 53 782.
• Ning Chenxin — Third junior brother and longstanding collaborator in conquest, administration, and spreading the Confucian Dao. They understand each other’s strength particularly well 169 593 1696 1905 1906.
• Yun Ming — Loyal imperial subordinate. She works to free him from sealing restrictions, and he subsequently accompanies her and obeys her commands 39 53 109.
• Yun Zhan and the Nine Heavens Division — Her imperial followers. Yun Zhan is the target of her dangerous rescue attempt; all nine members later kneel to welcome her return as Empress Yunhuang 109 228.
• Imperial Preceptor — Principal adviser who helps consolidate the empire, plan the realm war, and unify the Mortal Realm’s imperial powers. His concealed origins briefly shake her trust in the course of her own life 253 1986.
• Mu Wan’er — Fellow disciple and supporter. Supplies recovery pills for Hong Ying’s expedition and openly admires her combat prowess 167 774.
• Mu Fusheng — Junior brother whose cautious methods interest her. Accompanies her through the Imperial Heaven Court and later helps prepare for the academy exchange 385 1145 1512.
• Huang Tian — Imperial Heaven Court elder who recognizes her emperor’s heart, grants her the Imperial Divine Throne, and entrusts her with restoring an academy 1145 1146.
• Chu Yan — Persistent suitor and fellow explorer. Hong Ying rejects his dao-companion proposals; he later accompanies her into the Samsara trial and urges her to address her first-life regrets 1812 1885 1891.
• Xu Yeming — Junior brother she assists with the Fusheng Diagram and an undercover operation in the Xu Clan 1696.
• Ba Tiance — Initially approaches her amicably in the Banan Divine Kingdom, but later becomes a combat opponent and unleashes Evil Qi against her 2089 2120 2122.

Notable Quotes

“I, the empress, intend to rebuild the Cloud Phoenix Empire. Anyone who objects may step forward.” 227

“Master doesn’t like trouble. Besides, we can’t rely on Master for everything.” 331

“Rest assured, Senior. I was born in the Mortal Realm. My roots are here. Who would pull out their own roots with their own hands?” 1176

“Better to die fighting than live on our knees!” 2004

Trivia

• Although she no longer needs food, life at the Cottage gives her the habit of eating three meals a day 34.
• After reconstructing the Wilderness Realm’s Heavenly Dao, she returns to the Cottage and immediately agrees to cook fish soup for Lu Changsheng 300.
• Leaving academy paperwork and imperial memorials to others during Xu Yeming’s mission makes her appreciate the appeal of being a hands-off leader 1696.