Mr. Mengfei

Biodata

Background / History

Training and travels

Mr. Mengfei studied under numerous teachers in his youth. His first teacher introduced him to his path, while a master surnamed Yang taught him the Midnight-Noon Heaven and Earth Art through a chance encounter. The art had previously been a closely guarded family inheritance; Yang himself received it directly from his grandfather, bypassing his father 11 227.

As a young man, Mengfei befriended Xuhui and frequently consulted him about identifying and processing medicinal herbs. Their compatible temperaments sustained the friendship, and Xuhui’s later martial training encouraged Mengfei’s own interest in martial arts 105.

Mengfei spent much of his time traveling across China, gathering herbs and seeking skilled practitioners among ordinary people. Although he occasionally searched online, personal encounters remained central to his pursuit of medical and cultivation knowledge 25.

Saving the Jiang family

Seven years before Su Ziyang’s visit to the Jiang household, Mengfei noticed black qi over their home while traveling near Mount Longhu in Jiangxi. He intervened after discovering that Jiang Kui was close to death and that the family had suffered following a dispute with a Fujian developer over their ancestral burial ground 25.

Mengfei revived Jiang Kui, then located cursed objects in his grandfather’s grave and beside the house. Destroying the first object only weakened the affliction; he had to find and destroy a second concealed bottle before clearing the remaining black qi. The combined curse incorporated several evil arts, and its objects contained fragments of the practitioner’s spirit 26 27.

In gratitude, Jiang Kui agreed to teach the Jiang family’s Spiritual Pivot Acupoint Striking Method to Mengfei’s future disciples 27.

Meeting Zhenze

Mengfei first encountered Zhenze while gathering herbs near a village suffering from a mysterious, apparently contagious illness. He found the Daoist using Thunder Arts against a huge owl and identified the menstrual cloth protecting it from those techniques 247.

The two stayed to investigate and help the villagers. Mengfei stabilized a convulsing child and later guarded Zhenze during their investigation of a ruined temple. They subsequently traveled and studied together, though neither fully understood the illness or the temple’s worship 248 249 250.

Appearance

Mengfei has youthful facial features but gives the overall impression of a middle-aged man 3.

• Variable clothing: Initially presents himself with an immortal-like bearing, but also wears casual clothes and oversized sunglasses 24 25.
• Habitual expression: Frequently wears a faint or knowing smile, even when others are confused or alarmed 3 5.
• Speech: Speaks Mandarin with a heavy accent 3.

Personality

Mengfei is playful, boastful, and deliberately provocative. His explanations often alternate between genuine instruction and teasing, leaving Su Ziyang simultaneously irritated by his cutting remarks and impressed by his knowledge. Daoist Master Xiao Yang finds his initial treatment of Su unusual: her earlier impression was of a detached man who spoke politely to everyone 6 7.

As a teacher, he values understanding over memorization. He challenges Su’s complacency, makes him reason through cases, and sometimes withholds answers so that he must reach his own conclusions. He also publicly credits Su’s achievements rather than claiming them entirely as his own 3 18 98.

His irreverence does not prevent fierce protectiveness. When Daoist Jin injures Su, Mengfei demands evidence for the accusations and insists that disciplining his disciple is his responsibility. He is equally serious about discretion, warning Su that displaying cultivation can attract dangers he may not survive a second time 41 63.

Mengfei’s concern extends beyond his disciple. He intervenes to save the Jiang family without being asked and becomes genuinely angry at the cruelty of their attackers. Conversely, his own grief is usually restrained: after his teacher’s death, Su and Fairy Li recognize that his cheerful behavior is masking distress 25 26 235.

Abilities & Skills

Traditional Chinese Medicine

Mengfei is introduced as a cultivator of remarkable medical skill, with extensive knowledge of classical texts, diagnosis, herbal prescriptions, and medicine preparation 3 9.

• Diagnosis by observation: Identifies Dazhuang’s kidney qi deficiency through visible physical signs and explains his reasoning to Su 6.
• Medical classics: Recites passages from Zhang Zhongjing’s works and uses them to expose gaps in Su’s clinical understanding 3 9.
• Image-based reasoning: Teaches correspondences between an herb’s characteristics and its applications, recommending donglingcao, shandougen, and muhudie while discussing Jin Yizhi’s cancer 82.
• Herbal preparation: Writes and teaches the processing of two herbal beauty treatments intended as a gift for Fairy Li 181.
• Emergency intervention: Temporarily stabilizes a convulsing child by pricking the fingertips, while recognizing that the underlying problem remains unresolved 249.

Midnight-Noon Heaven and Earth Art

Mengfei transmits this inherited cultivation method to Su Ziyang. Its effects go beyond ordinary qigong, including the diagnostic images and perception of black illness qi that Su develops 11 24.

• Guides Su through an intense overnight session and forcibly advances him to Great Heavenly Circulation 27.
• Assesses Su’s cultivation without needing a demonstration 63.
• Explains that qi can take different forms and uses encounters with other practitioners to discourage Su’s complacency 247.

Qi Perception

Mengfei can perceive abnormal qi and enhance his vision by directing qi from his dantian through the governing vessel into his eyes 25 26.

• Detects black qi around the Jiang household and Jiang Kui’s body 25.
• Finds a faint blood-red trace above a grave after ordinary searching fails; his enhanced eyes emit a faint silvery-white glow 26.
• Guides Su to perceive black qi around a patient’s upper abdomen 12.
• Senses Su attempting to examine him remotely and explains the sympathetic response between yin and yang qi; he clarifies that Su cannot actually see their activities 205.

Acupoint Striking

Mengfei uses precisely timed strikes to manipulate the flow of qi through the meridians 14.

• Temporarily interrupts a patient’s righteous qi so that the evil qi stops stimulating her internal organs 14.
• Agrees that Su can learn acupoint striking and later arranges instruction in the Jiang family’s specialized method 14 27.

Lion’s Roar

A voice-based technique Mengfei learned from an expert who also gave him a demon-subduing weapon 247.

• Makes windows vibrate and crack, and shatters teacups 41.
• Causes Daoist Jin’s organs and blood to churn, leaving him numb and unable to rise 41.
• Can be temporarily counteracted by Old Daoist Master Xiao 41.
• Mengfei refuses Su’s request to teach him the technique 42.

Curse Detection and Removal

Mengfei combines qi perception, medicinal substances, and ritual knowledge to investigate supernatural afflictions 25 26.

• Identifies and destroys multiple linked curse objects rather than assuming the first discovery resolves the case 26.
• Uses cinnabar, realgar, mugwort ash, and other materials during the Jiang family’s rescue 25 26.
• Recognizes that destroying spirit-infused objects can severely injure their creator 27.
• Tests Xuyang for gu poisoning and curses, finds neither, and turns the medical examination over to Su 104.

Grain Abstention and Dietary Knowledge

• Demonstrates the Light-Swallowing and Qi-Clamping Method; Su burns himself when attempting it under the midday sun 316.
• Identifies the ingredients and intended nourishing effects of Fairy Li’s medicinal congee 348.
• Demonstrates how to collect “rice oil,” the film formed on cooking congee, and describes its nourishing applications 349.

Cooking

• Prepares red-braised pork and fish-fragrant shredded pork with enough skill to astonish Su, Fairy Li, and even his longtime friend Yang Tianzheng 194.
• Urges Fairy Li to have Su learn cooking for her rather than becoming his cooking pupil herself 194.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Ucchusma Vajra / demon-subduing pestle — Gift from the expert who taught him Lion’s Roar. Blessed through years of Ucchusma Mantra practice, it retains protection against impurity that can defeat other techniques. Mengfei cannot remotely wield it like a flying sword as its former owner could 247 248.
• Medicinal and ritual supplies — Uses cinnabar, realgar, mugwort ash, and evil-warding medicinal powder in documented investigations 25 26 249.
• Training pills — Gives Su medicinal pills after learning that he has begun Golden Bell Shield training 82.
• Agarwood bracelet — Handmade gift from Su, accepted happily during a reunion with Su’s other masters 296.

Relationships

• Su Ziyang — Disciple and principal student shown in the story. Mengfei teaches him medicine and cultivation, arranges outside instruction, and intervenes when his training or safety is threatened 11 41 63 82.
• Master Yang — Teacher who passed the Midnight-Noon Heaven and Earth Art to Mengfei 11.
• His first master — An unnamed teacher whom Mengfei visits on his deathbed. Mengfei remains behind after sending Su back to the hotel 227.
• Old Daoist Master Xiao — Friend of twenty years. Introduces Mengfei to Su and helps mediate the apprenticeship, though their friendship includes petty pranks and heated disagreements 3 7 41.
• Fairy Li / Li Zijun — Frequent target of his teasing. Initially objects to his treatment of Su; later receives his encouragement and practical help as her relationship with Su develops 7 180 181 194.
• Jiang Kui — Friend who regards him as the Jiang family’s lifesaving benefactor and honors his promise to instruct Mengfei’s disciple 25 27.
• Xuhui — Friend since youth and an important source of herbal knowledge. Their habitual bickering coexists with strong loyalty 88 102 105.
• Lao Pang — Bonesetting expert introduced through Xuhui. Mengfei takes Su to him and entrusts Su’s instruction to him 64.
• Daoist Jin — Initially clashes with Mengfei after injuring Su, but later shares responsibility for Su’s education. Their interactions remain argumentative and teasing 41 82 295 296.
• Yang Tianzheng — Longtime friend and fellow teacher of Su. Cooperates with Mengfei on Su’s training while frequently protesting his schemes 131 194.
• Zhenze — Friend and former traveling companion who affectionately calls him Xiao Fei 235 250.
• Qi Chu — Friend who hosts Mengfei’s group and guides their mountain expedition 351 355 365.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Notable Quotes

“Comprehend it, and you’ll possess it.” 98

“My disciple hasn’t done anything wrong, but even if he had, I’d discipline him myself. It’s not your place as an outsider to interfere!” 41

“He’d only be more upset if I hadn’t let him see Master Luo off. I know you’re worried about him, but don’t you think I’m worried too?” 213