Jiao Liqiao

Biodata

Power Progression

Background

The Original Jiao Liqiao

Jiao Liqiao belongs to Nanyin’s imperial bloodline and accepts the position of holy maiden. Her strongest obsessions are her beauty and her master, Di Feisheng. Although she manipulates numerous men, her schemes ultimately serve her desire to help Di Feisheng achieve his ambitions 26.

Her Painted Skin Art involves harming innocent women, and she has destroyed entire families over minor disagreements. She also engineers a trap that kills meritorious Sigu Sect members during the sect’s war with the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance. Her followers detonate the alliance headquarters’ gunpowder storehouse, killing or injuring trusted followers on both sides 26 28.

Through Yun Biqiu, she arranges Li Xiangyi’s poisoning with Bicha. His disappearance and the Sigu Sect’s dissolution undo much of the order established in the martial world. These consequences, her personal atrocities, and her acknowledged responsibility for Nanyin’s restoration efforts leave her burdened with karmic sin 26 31.

Wen Qiushui’s Transmigration

Wen Qiushui enters the body after its original soul has departed. Although most of Jiao Liqiao’s karmic sin leaves with that soul, a substantial burden remains attached to the body. Its lingering desires also threaten to overwhelm Wen Qiushui despite her improved state of mind 26.

Wen Qiushui stores her previously earned merit in the Chaos Pearl rather than spending it on Jiao Liqiao’s debts. She instead resolves to abandon the Painted Skin Art, earn new merit, and repair the consequences of the original owner’s actions 26.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Taking Control of Nanyin

After rebuilding her cultivation, Jiao Liqiao orders Xue Gong and Xue Po to gather the Nanyin descendants loyal to her. She confronts Shan Gudao, cripples his Dantian, and uses a Karmic Fire Parasite to demonstrate that his supposed royal ancestry is false: his blood cannot kill it, while hers can 27.

She identifies Li Xiangyi as Feng Qing’s rightful imperial-clan master, then exploits Feng Qing’s guilt by claiming that his mistaken identification caused her to poison Li Xiangyi to death. She kills Shan Gudao, poisons Feng Qing into submission, and orders him to assemble his forces at the Dragon Gate. She later has Shan Gudao’s corpse preserved in a medicinal coffin for a future meeting with Li Xiangyi 27.

Jiao Liqiao also visits Yun Biqiu and gives him tea laced with Bicha. His subsequent death occupies the Hundred Rivers Courtyard while she prepares to leave Great Xi 27 28.

Founding the Nanyin Cult

Jiao Liqiao publicly leaves the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance, taking Medicine Demon, her established followers, and gathered Nanyin survivors with her. She argues that preserving the alliance, searching for Di Feisheng, and obtaining medicines for him have already repaid his past rescue of her 28.

Her forces conquer several small countries in the Outer Realm and establish the Nanyin Cult. Rather than immediately attempting to overthrow Great Xi, she prioritizes giving the scattered Nanyin people a secure home. Political connections, bribed ministers, and controlled officials help prevent a Great Xi expedition against the new organization 27 28.

She recruits craftspeople and specialists, funds research with wealth seized from bandits, and trades Outer Realm ores and medicinal herbs for grain. Glass, porcelain, and essential oils become important sources of revenue. Over the following decade, Nanyin develops machines, cotton goods, heated kangs, and higher-yield crops, trading with Great Xi and neighboring countries 28 29.

Earning Merit and Recovering Nanyin’s Heritage

Once the cult is established, Jiao Liqiao returns to the jianghu to earn merit by killing evildoers. She destroys the Women’s Residence on Fragrant Mountain and kills Yu Lou Chun. Other Nanyin lineages interpret the attack as a warning to submit to her authority 28.

Jin Mantang offers allegiance, more than half his fortune, and the Luomo Heavenly Ice. Jiao Liqiao cures his Tree-Man Disease in return. He then escorts new followers and women with nowhere else to go to the Outer Realm 28.

Using her inherited knowledge, she explores the First-Rank Tomb, retrieves its treasures and medicines, and removes Consort Xuan’s remains for reburial in Nanyin. The valuables are converted into supplies for her people. Meanwhile, her willingness to execute verified criminals regardless of their faction improves order in the martial world and makes her widely feared 29.

Curing Li Lianhua and Choosing a Successor

By the time Jiao Liqiao returns to Jade City, nearly all her inherited karmic burden has been addressed. The remaining heavenly punishment is tied to Li Lianhua’s continued suffering. Tired of leadership, she intends both to cure him and make him her successor 30.

When Di Feisheng attempts to seize her by the throat, she activates the gu worm in his brain, forces him to his knees, and warns him against further humiliation. She then takes Li Lianhua away and offers access to Shan Gudao’s corpse in exchange for three conditions that will neither violate chivalry nor harm his loved ones 30.

After Feng Qing shows Li Lianhua the corpse and explains the conspiracy, Jiao Liqiao secures his reluctant agreement to lead the cult and immediately leaves 31.

Duel Above the Eastern Sea

Several years later, Jiao Liqiao challenges Di Feisheng above the Eastern Sea. She removes his gu worm and defeats him, taking first place on the Ten Thousand People Register. Under their agreement, Di Feisheng brings the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance into the Nanyin Cult, leaving Li Lianhua to manage the enlarged organization 31.

Personality

The original Jiao Liqiao combines ruthless calculation with consuming attachment. Her obsession with beauty fuels her use of the Painted Skin Art, while her devotion to Di Feisheng underlies schemes carried out through other men. These desires remain powerful enough to affect Wen Qiushui after the original soul is gone 26 30.

Wen Qiushui’s incarnation is pragmatic, vindictive, and protective of her independence. She pursues public benefit because merit is necessary for her cultivation, but prefers destroying predators to practicing indiscriminate kindness. Her treatment of Yun Biqiu also reflects personal resentment: she refuses to shoulder karmic consequences while he remains comfortable and powerful 27 28.

She takes Nanyin’s survival seriously without wanting permanent responsibility for it. Once she has established a prosperous community and found a suitable successor, she is delighted to surrender leadership 30 31.

Abilities & Skills

Heavenly Devil Instruction

Wen Qiushui replaces the original body’s evil art with her own cultivation method 26.

• Cleanses the body’s essence and marrow.
• Produces energy capable of nourishing the Chaos Pearl.
• Carries an increased risk of Qi Deviation in a body burdened by obsessions and karmic sin 26.
• Becomes easier to cultivate as newly earned merit offsets that burden 30.

Martial Arts and Lightness Skill

• Cripples Shan Gudao’s Dantian and later kills him with palm strikes 27.
• Drives Fang Duobing and Shi Shui back with a palm strike 30.
• Carries Li Lianhua away using lightness skill 30.
• Defeats Di Feisheng in their later Eastern Sea duel 31.

Poisons and Gu Control

• Uses Bicha-laced tea to poison Yun Biqiu 27.
• Secures Feng Qing’s obedience with a poison pill, eventually giving him its antidote after years of service 27 30.
• Releases black poisonous smoke to activate the gu worm in Di Feisheng’s brain; later removes the worm before defeating him 30 31.

Medicine

• Cures Jin Mantang’s Tree-Man Disease 28.
• Uses an Origin-Nurturing Pill to repair Li Lianhua’s damaged foundation before treating his Bicha poison 31.
• Oversees detoxification with a second pill and Yangzhou Man; eliminating the poison does not immediately restore all his martial power 31.

Imperial Bloodline

• Her blood kills Karmic Fire Parasites, providing a practical test of Nanyin imperial ancestry 27.
• Acknowledging and benefiting from her holy-maiden status also attaches a share of Nanyin’s restoration-related karmic debt to her 26.

Technical Knowledge and State-Building

• Possesses knowledge of forging, medicine, engineering, and agriculture, which she uses to recruit and direct specialists 28.
• Understands the five elements, eight trigrams, astronomy, and geography well enough to navigate the First-Rank Tomb’s mechanisms 29.
• Permits Divine Weapon Valley to relocate to the Outer Realm and continue weapons research under agreed restrictions 29.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Chaos Pearl — Wen Qiushui’s soul-bound treasure; stores her prior merit, valuables, and personal possessions. As it absorbs energy and merit, its interior expands and gains a well of clear, sweet water with no stated special effects 26 29 30 31.
• Medicinal coffin — Used to preserve Shan Gudao’s corpse until Li Lianhua can see it 27 30 31.
• Luomo Heavenly Ice — Presented by Jin Mantang; prompts her renewed interest in the First-Rank Tomb 28 29.
• Luomo Ding, Asura Grass, and Guanyin’s Tear — Recovered from the First-Rank Tomb 29.
• Bicha poison and antidotes — Used for punishment, coercion, and the eventual settlement of past grievances 27 30 31.

Relationships

• Di Feisheng — The original Jiao Liqiao’s rescuer, master, and romantic obsession. Wen Qiushui rejects that subservience, later defeating him and securing his alliance’s incorporation into Nanyin 26 28 30 31.
• Li Xiangyi / Li Lianhua — Former victim and eventual successor. She cures the poisoning she originally arranged and entrusts him with Nanyin’s future 26 30 31.
• Feng Qing — Administrator initially controlled through guilt and poison. His years of service earn him an antidote and continued responsibility under Li Lianhua 27 30.
• Shan Gudao — Former co-conspirator and false royal claimant. She kills him and preserves his corpse as leverage for approaching Li Lianhua 27.
• Xue Gong and Xue Po — Loyal attendants who guard her seclusion and gather Nanyin descendants at her command 26 27.
• Medicine Demon — Refines Bicha for the original Jiao Liqiao and follows her out of the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance 28.
• Jin Mantang — Wealthy supporter whose allegiance deepens after she cures his hereditary disease 28.
• Yun Biqiu — Accomplice in poisoning Li Xiangyi; later killed through Jiao Liqiao’s use of the same poison 27 28 31.
• Zongzheng Mingzhu — Admirer who secretly helps her departure from Great Xi; in the Princess Zhaoling arc, his cooperation also connects her to Chancellor Zongzheng’s family 28 40.

Other Transmigration Arcs

• Qiao Wanmian arc — Jiao Liqiao is killed after encountering Wen Qiushui’s Qiao Wanmian and commenting on her appearance. Di Feisheng seeks revenge ten years later. Wen Qiushui explicitly recalls this killing when she later transmigrates into Jiao Liqiao herself 19 26.
• He Xiaolan arc — At this earlier point in events, Jiao Liqiao has not yet become holy maiden or become involved with Feng Qing. He Xiaolan therefore leaves the Nanyin people associated with her unharmed 36.
• Princess Zhaoling arc — Jiao Liqiao remains involved with Shan Gudao. Zhaoling sends her subordinate Ding Yuanzi back with a counterfeit Luomo Ding and later reports executing Jiao Liqiao and other Nanyin remnants. Zhaoling also tells the emperor that she sought Jiao Liqiao to investigate a secret method of verifying bloodlines 40 43 47 48.