Yunzhi

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Yunzhi gained sentience during an era when spiritual qi was already scarce. With few accomplished cultivators or other supernatural beings to consult, she pieced together her own cultivation practices and later traveled through the mortal world. During those travels, she befriended a female spirit and read the then-recently circulating Romance of the Three Kingdoms 9 18 25 29.

As spiritual qi continued to decline, she entered a deathlike sleep in the tenth year of Wanli. She occupied an existing Southern Song tomb built for a prince or nobleman, leaving its original occupant’s remains and belongings untouched. Unsure whether she would ever awaken, she placed her own treasured possessions there as burial goods 3 15 16.

A mountain torrent broke open the tomb as spiritual qi returned, awakening her more than four hundred years later. The long dormancy had damaged her cultivation and magic power. Threatened by the thunderstorm outside, she sought shelter at Chen Du’s temple and received a guest room in exchange for sweeping the courtyard 3 8.

Appearance

• Clothing: Wears Ming-style hanfu, including a mamian skirt with intricate golden-thread patterns 3 34.
• Beauty: Described as breathtakingly beautiful; her appearance and old-fashioned dress remind Chen Du of a fox immortal from classical tales, without establishing that she is one 3 34.
• Bearing: Usually stands with her head bowed and eyes lowered before Chen Du. Armed with the ancient longsword, she takes on an otherworldly, valiant air 10 31.

Personality

Yunzhi is cautious, deferential, and deeply concerned with securing a safe place in an unfamiliar era. She initially regards Chen Du as an overwhelming immortal expert whose displeasure she cannot afford to provoke. His shelter, instruction, and rewards gradually make the temple feel like home, although she remains anxious about her standing there 7 12 15 33.

Her humility coexists with ambition and calculated tact. She credits Side-Swept Bangs before herself, seeks opportunities to earn rewards, and draws lessons about service and patronage from Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The arrival of the stronger Door God worries her because she fears becoming less useful to Chen Du 12 25 33.

She is stubbornly eager to learn despite embarrassment about her ignorance. She quietly studies visitors’ behavior, watches the news, and becomes so absorbed in Greater Earth Evasion that she reads through the night. Modern weapons frighten her, while everyday technology repeatedly overturns her assumptions about mortals 10 12 16 41 42.

Her conduct also shows conscientiousness and gratitude. She preserves the original contents of her borrowed tomb, considers contributing her valuables toward temple expenses, and repays animals that helped her by buying them meat 15 16 31 34.

Abilities & Skills

Self-Taught Yin–Yang Cultivation

Yunzhi follows the Dao of yin and yang, using a makeshift cultivation method developed through her own observations 20 25.

• Gathers the sun and moon’s essence to refine yin and yang spiritual qi 20.
• Teaches Essence Platform visualization, Essence Fire, qi refinement, and the formation of a qi sea 19 20.
• Senses moonlight essence especially clearly, along with changes in the mountain’s spiritual resonance 25.
• Can recognize suitable jade containing the special spiritual energy Chen Du needs for talismans 49.
• Admits that she does not know how to cultivate beyond gathering qi into a sea and has no knowledge of alchemy 17 19.

Gathering Beasts and Summoning Birds

This technique allows Yunzhi to call nearby creatures and coordinate with them 32 35.

• Persuades birds and beasts to leave the spirit-fruit tree during harvesting 17.
• Calls animals for help when trapped inside Linji Temple 30 32.
• Asks hens about their egg-laying ability when selecting one for the temple 34.
• Manages the temple’s hens so they forage independently, return to their coop, lay eggs there, and relieve themselves outside 35.

Like a Dream and Illusions

Yunzhi knows Like a Dream and other illusion techniques used to deceive rather than overpower opponents 9 16 47.

• Blows green smoke at the defeated spider demon, confusing it into using its own transformation technique to shrink 31.
• Can use illusions together with Night Tour of the Palace for covert activity; she proposes this combination to recover her excavated possessions, but Chen Du forbids it 16.
• Identifies impressive-looking magic as useful in an era when genuine supernatural encounters were rare 47.

Night Tour of the Palace

Also rendered as the Night Wandering Palace Method, this technique conceals Yunzhi’s body in darkness 26 30 47.

• Makes her difficult to locate during combat in an unlit temple 30.
• Helps her travel without attracting villagers’ attention 26.
• Conceals her beside a road as a vehicle convoy passes 47.
• She teaches the technique to Xie 40.

Wind Travel

Yunzhi can travel on the wind, although she cannot turn into smoke like some other yao 26.

• Stronger nighttime winds allow her to travel faster 26.
• Uses this mobility while searching nearby mountains and distant villages 26.

Greater Earth Evasion

Chen Du gives Yunzhi this Five Elements technique after she teaches Xie Night Tour of the Palace 40.

• Gains a preliminary understanding sufficient to burrow briefly underground 47.
• Can remain below the surface for only a few breaths and cannot yet move through the earth 47.
• Uses it as an emergency means of avoiding serious harm 47.
• Her yin–yang cultivation is poorly matched to the technique, making deep mastery and effortless use more difficult 41.

Sending Spring Afar

Yunzhi lists Sending Spring Afar among her known spells. She also uses a spell to contact an old spirit friend, warning her that the world has changed without disclosing specific information about Chen Du 9.

Combat and Exorcism

Yunzhi relies on concealment, perception, and tactical judgment rather than a powerful true form 25 30.

• Detects attacks through disturbances in her hair, clothing, and surrounding air, compensating for poor visibility 30.
• Hurls broken masonry at an opponent with gestures and uses misleading sounds to draw attacks away from herself 30.
• Disperses a minor accumulation of yin qi with a breath; adds wind and smoke to reassure the affected household 14.
• Wields the treasured sword to wound supernatural opponents and release sword qi 31 44.
• Cannot penetrate the spider demon’s defenses unaided, even after exhausting its magic power 30.
• Tracks the wounded pig demon first through spider silk and then its lingering scent; rain washes the scent away 47.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Ancient treasured longsword — Borrowed from Chen Du to overcome the spider demon’s defenses and wielded again against the pig demon. Its sword qi provides strong killing power but limited ability to halt an enemy’s advance 30 31 43 44.
• Protective jade talisman — Supplied by Chen Du during the pig demon pursuit. It gives her an advantage within the mountains but ceases working after the demon escapes beyond them 45 47.
• Spirit fruits — Receives one after helping with the harvest and another as a reward following the pig demon pursuit. Only the first fruit’s consumption and effects are documented 17 18 47.
• Electric tricycle — Chen Du teaches her to operate it for shopping trips, reducing the need to walk or reveal spells before ordinary people 33 34.
• Silver-plated bronze mirror — A flower-and-bird mirror given by an old friend and left among her burial goods. Archaeologists remove it along with her other possessions, much to her distress 16.
• Ming-era garments — Treasured clothing left in the tomb; she had hoped to alter it with magic and wear it again 16.

Relationships

• Chen Du — Host, employer, and source of cultivation rewards. She calls him “Immortal Master” privately and is instructed to use “Daoist Priest” before outsiders. Her belief in his immense power contrasts with his early dependence on that misunderstanding to keep himself safe 12 17 18.
• Side-Swept Bangs / Xie — Chen Du’s cat, whom Yunzhi respectfully addresses as “Senior Xie” or “Little Immortal Master.” She teaches the cat cultivation and Night Tour of the Palace, while envying the advantages of growing up under Chen Du’s protection 18 20 40.
• Door God — The spider demon she captures and brings to the temple. Its subsequent employment makes her fear competition for Chen Du’s favor, though they later fight on the same side 31 33 43 44.
• Jiang Xi — Fellow temple volunteer assigned to guide Yunzhi to a jade market near Yidu. Jiang Xi is to handle transport and payment while Yunzhi selects and bargains for jade 49.
• Unnamed spirit friend — A female spirit met during Yunzhi’s earlier travels. Both entered dormancy, and Yunzhi sends her a warning about the transformed modern world after awakening 9.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Settling at Earth Sage Temple

After their mutually wary first night, Chen Du leaves the mountain temporarily, while Yunzhi turns back toward the temple. Her later trip to collect his sword and packages exposes her to the overwhelming modern town. Once she returns, he offers her lodging in exchange for helping with errands 4 7.

Television becomes an important part of her education, though she initially mistakes a game advertisement about killing the Dragon King of the East Sea for a real event. Her attempt to retrieve her burial goods ends with her watching archaeologists display them on the news; fear of missiles helps dissuade her from stealing them back 9 16.

Cultivation Teacher

After receiving a spirit fruit, Yunzhi agrees to teach Chen Du’s cat everything she knows about cultivation. Chen Du listens to the lessons to obtain the foundational knowledge he lacks, while Yunzhi worries that her self-taught methods will appear inadequate before him 18 19 20.

Capture of the False Door God

Yunzhi volunteers to find an escaped yao, intending to reason with it and invoke Chen Du’s reputation before fighting. At Linji Temple, the creature refuses her demands and traps her inside. She exhausts its magic but cannot injure its durable body, forcing her to escape and request Chen Du’s sword 25 29 30.

Returning with the weapon, she wounds the giant trapdoor spider and tricks it into shrinking. She brings it to Chen Du, who keeps it at the temple as a trainee Door God 31 32.

Battle and Pursuit of the Pig Demon

Yunzhi accompanies Chen Du to inspect another weakening seal and attacks the powerful demon that breaks free. Her sword qi complements his suppressing talismans, wounding the creature before it escapes 43 44 45.

During the pursuit, she repeatedly catches and fights the wounded pig demon, but rain destroys its scent trail. Blood left after a passing convoy suggests it may have escaped aboard a vehicle. Chen Du reassures her, rewards her with another spirit fruit, and permits her to continue searching 47.

Preparations for the Jade Market

After another unsuccessful search, Yunzhi is assigned to obtain spiritually suitable jade for Chen Du’s talismans. Because she cannot navigate modern transport or use electronic payment services, Jiang Xi agrees to accompany her after she rests 49.