Bright Rabbit

Biodata

Background

Bright Rabbit and Cloud Goat were orphans adopted by the Venomous Chancellor, who spent more than ten years raising them as his sworn killers. A Jing Dynasty intelligence officer attributes their colleagues’ reluctance to oppose them partly to this connection 33.

Before attaining their positions among the Twelve Zodiac Animals, both served as low-ranking agents and were repeatedly abandoned during operations. They later became skilled at killing, concealing the aftermath, shifting blame, and claiming credit, but remained comparatively poor at investigating clues 5 19 29.

Appearance

• Build: Petite and nimble, with an upright bearing 6 19.
• Clothing: Usually wears black, including close-fitting clothes during the surveillance of Chen Ji 6 25.
• Features: Described as strikingly good-looking; her laughter appears cute despite her cruelty 5 6.
• Fragrance: Wears an expensive incense purchased from the Daughters’ Pavilion 29.

Personality

Bright Rabbit combines a cheerful, teasing manner with extreme brutality. During Zhou Chengyi’s interrogation, she gently offers his daughter a chance to accompany her to No-Thought Mountain, then kills the frightened child when she does not agree. She later suggests killing prison guards locally rather than making them endure exile to malaria-stricken Lingnan, presenting execution as the more considerate option 4 29.

Her decisions are usually practical rather than compassionate. She initially argues against killing Chen Ji because they have promised to spare him and will receive the credit for his discovery anyway. Later, she prepares to kill him to prevent him from becoming a witness against them, then changes course when he proves indispensable 5 18.

She is outspoken about money, credit, and personal interests. She demands a sixty-forty share of an operation’s merit because she killed more people and captured Zhou Chengyi, complains that payments could have bought clothes and jade bracelets, and sharply rejects Cloud Goat’s attempts to blame her for mistakes 6 21 25.

Abilities & Skills

Yin Spirit Projection

Bright Rabbit can release a Yin Spirit by cutting open the space between her brows. The spirit resembles her but wears light black armor and carries a Green Dragon Crescent Blade taller than a person 29.

• Mobility: Moves almost weightlessly across treetops, clearing more than ten large trees in a single leap 29.
• Infiltration: Passes directly through a stone tomb wall and blends into the darkness 29.
• Reconnaissance: Enters Old Master Liu’s tomb, inspects the coffin, and returns to her body with its findings 29 30.
• Stationary body: Her physical body remains motionless during projection; Cloud Goat guards it while she investigates 29.
• Secrecy: Requires Chen Ji to turn away and blindfold himself before she projects. Cloud Goat later stops her from revealing her cultivation path during their arrest 29 36.

Saber Combat

Bright Rabbit carries a short saber and can also wield a longer weapon with destructive force 19 36.

• Blocks a doorway against the Fish-Dragon Guards while preparing to confront Lin Chaoqing 19.
• Splits Old Master Liu’s stone tomb with one blow using a borrowed long saber 36.
• Is knocked backward by a Liu Family expert when she attacks after Cloud Goat is kicked away 36.

Needle Techniques and Agility

Bright Rabbit moves with sudden, phantom-like speed. When Zhou Chengyi attacks Chen Ji, she intercepts him and pricks his waist with a silver needle, subduing him before he can kill the apprentice 5.

• Vaults over the Zhou residence’s back wall first and checks the escape route for the other agents 18.
• Travels swiftly through Luo City while evading the Liu Family and Bureau of Punishments 19.

Wound Closure

After standing down from her confrontation with Lin Chaoqing, Bright Rabbit runs her thumb across the cut between her brows. The wound closes instantly without leaving a trace 20.

Intelligence Operations

Bright Rabbit commands agents, interrogates suspects, and recognizes important local figures, but deduction is not her specialty 6 17 18.

• Investigates the Xuan paper shops connected to Zhou Chengyi’s correspondence and uncovers links to the Liu Family 6 16.
• Notices that the Liu ancestral graves have increased their guards from roughly a dozen to more than a hundred 29.
• Uses the royal command token to mobilize five hundred Trouble-Resolving Guards 36.
• Relies on Chen Ji to identify the paper’s distinctive manufacture and decipher the evidence hidden in copied books 6 20.

Equipment & Items

• Short saber — Carried at her waist; used in combat preparations and to open the cut through which she releases her Yin Spirit 19 29.
• Silver needle — Used to subdue Zhou Chengyi 5.
• Royal command token — Authorizes her mobilization of the Trouble-Resolving Guard during the Liu Family operation 36.
• Red sandalwood Buddhist Sect Circulating Treasure bracelet — Bears a coded value redeemable for one hundred taels at Dharani Temple; given to Chen Ji as payment 30.
• Daughters’ Pavilion incense — An expensive fragrance she proudly invites Chen Ji to smell 29.

Relationships

• Cloud Goat — Longtime colleague, fellow adopted orphan, and operational partner. They quarrel over blame and rewards, but protect one another in danger. She offers to carry Chen Ji when Cloud Goat is injured, while he guards her body during Yin Spirit projection and persuades her not to fight their arrest 6 19 29 33 36.
• Inner Chancellor / Venomous Chancellor — Adoptive guardian and superior who trained her as a killer. She trusts that her usefulness offers some protection from punishment, although she recognizes when orders leave her exposed as a potential scapegoat 19 33 35.
• Chen Ji — Initially a threatened witness, then a paid investigative helper and suspected Jing spy. She repeatedly considers recruiting or killing him; after her arrest, she proposes paying him to devise a rescue 18 21 35 36.
• Dream Rooster — Fellow Zodiac operative hired to test Chen Ji’s loyalty. She complains about his fees and suggests employing Treasure Monkey instead 24 25.
• Lin Chaoqing — Bureau of Punishments commander who confronts her during the investigation and ultimately orders her arrest. Despite Liu Mingxian’s demands, he refuses to let the Liu Family harm her before the Inner Chancellor passes judgment 19 36.
• Liu Family — Targets of her investigation and eventual armed intervention. Their resistance culminates in the failed opening of Old Master Liu’s coffin and her imprisonment 16 29 36.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Zhou Chengyi’s Interrogation

Bright Rabbit participates in the interrogation of suspected Jing spy Zhou Chengyi and kills his daughter. Her interest in Chen Ji grows when he kills the steward and bargains for time to uncover intelligence 4.

After Chen Ji reveals an invisible message, she intercepts Zhou Chengyi’s attack on him. Zhou nevertheless dies from concealed poison. Bright Rabbit identifies the poisoning and refuses Cloud Goat’s attempt to hold her responsible 5 6.

She and Cloud Goat subsequently treat Chen Ji as a suspected spy and plan to use him as bait for a Jing assassin. Bright Rabbit takes charge of interrogating the shopkeepers and assistants from two shops selling matching Xuan paper, then secures sixty percent of the operation’s credit 6.

The Liu Family Investigation

The paper investigation leads to the Liu Family without producing sufficient evidence. Bright Rabbit remains occupied with the family while Cloud Goat recruits Chen Ji’s help. She later reports the patriarch’s apparent death, the disappearance of two agents, and the family’s armed march on the Zhou residence 16 17.

When escape becomes necessary, she proposes killing Chen Ji so he cannot testify that they lack evidence. His claim that he can locate proof changes her decision: she orders Seven Characters to keep him alive and leads the escape over the back wall 18.

At Liu Shiyu’s sealed residence, Bright Rabbit holds the doorway against the Bureau of Punishments while Chen Ji searches. She prepares to release the power behind her brow, but the confrontation ends when he produces evidence from the copied books 19 20.

Testing Chen Ji

Bright Rabbit suggests bringing Chen Ji into the Directorate rather than continuing to pay him. Cloud Goat fears that his talent could allow him to rise above them, and the pair instead seek assurance that he is not a Jing spy 21.

She accompanies Cloud Goat when Dream Rooster interrogates Chen Ji through a dream. They mistake Dream Rooster’s visible suffering for the ordinary cost of his technique; inside the dream, copies of Bright Rabbit and Cloud Goat conjured by Chen Ji are tormenting him. Dream Rooster ultimately clears Chen Ji of their suspicions 24 25.

The Empty Coffin

Bright Rabbit accompanies Cloud Goat and Chen Ji to investigate Old Master Liu’s supposed death. Finding the ancestral graves heavily guarded, she uses her Yin Spirit to enter the tomb covertly and confirms that the coffin contains neither a body nor burial goods 29 30.

She proposes informing the Inner Minister and bringing troops against the family. Before leaving, she reluctantly settles Chen Ji’s payment with her Buddhist treasure bracelet 30.

Failed Raid and Imprisonment

After receiving instructions that leave the decision to them, Bright Rabbit recognizes that she and Cloud Goat will bear the blame if the operation fails. When their superiors also request Chen Ji’s identity, she agrees that he has become dangerous, and Cloud Goat proposes having someone else kill him 35.

Bright Rabbit mobilizes five hundred Trouble-Resolving Guards and breaks open Old Master Liu’s tomb. Contrary to her earlier inspection, his body is now inside. The operation collapses, and Lin Chaoqing orders both operatives arrested 36.

After being knocked down by a Liu Family expert, she prepares to release her Yin Spirit and fight free. Cloud Goat persuades her that they cannot defeat the assembled troops. Under guard, she suspects Chen Ji may have warned the family, acknowledges his ability, and proposes paying him to save them 36.

Jinzhu later confirms that both remain imprisoned. He explains that the Inner Chancellor had stationed him nearby in advance, ready to act after their failure drew their enemies into the open 48 49.

Notable Quotes

“In this world, a weak girl will suffer a great deal.” 4

“I killed nine people tonight, and you only killed six. I was the one who captured Zhou Chengyi too. Sixty-forty, or don't invite me to work with you again.” 6

“We need to find someone to go to Chen Ji and have him figure out a way to save us! Give him money!” 36