Zhaoling

Biodata

Power Progression

No named martial realm is given for Zhaoling’s incarnation. Her documented progress centers on rebuilding her internal force and overcoming her new body’s limitations.

Background and History

Transmigration and the succession problem

Wen Qiushui entered Situ Qingtang’s body shortly after Fang Duobing fled their arranged marriage. The original princess was the emperor’s only child, but her gender left her overlooked as a potential successor. Her great-grandfather had obtained the throne after Crown Prince Fangji’s rebellion, which had eliminated most close imperial relatives 38 39.

Wen Qiushui concluded that an adopted heir from a distant branch would regard Zhaoling and any children she bore as potential threats. Rather than depend on marriage for protection, she resolved to become emperor herself. Her first precaution was secretly administering a sterilizing drug to her father, eliminating the possibility of another child competing for the succession 39.

Her knowledge of the martial world came partly from earlier incarnations. As the Ethereal Immortal Maiden, she had saved Li Lianhua from Bicha poison and later lived near him in an Eastern Sea fishing village. His accounts of his adventures supplied information she could use in her new life 41.

Building an independent power base

Zhaoling used Fang Duobing’s flight as an explanation for her changed temperament. After ostensibly studying martial arts in the imperial library and defeating Yang Yunchun, she persuaded the emperor to place the Inspection Bureau under her management. At this stage, he expected her future child—not Zhaoling herself—to inherit the throne 39.

She approached Feng Qing with proof that Shan Gudao had falsely claimed Nanyin royal ancestry. Revealing that Li Xiangyi was the true descendant, she offered a political alternative: marriage between herself and Li Xiangyi could protect him, accommodate the Nanyin people, and place their descendant in the succession. Feng Qing subsequently agreed to serve her 38 40.

Jade City and Chancellor Zongzheng

As chief envoy, Zhaoling asserted imperial jurisdiction over the Jade City murder investigation, defeated Shi Shui, and arrested the suspects. Information obtained from Yu Hongzhu led her to the mountain behind the city, where she rescued Li Lianhua and Fang Duobing. She then selected a replacement administrator with Feng Qing’s assistance 40.

The investigation also exposed Zongzheng Mingzhu’s dealings with Jiao Liqiao. Zhaoling ordered Feng Qing to prepare evidence implicating Chancellor Zongzheng’s family in rebellion, using the case to intimidate officials opposed to her authority. After the judicial proceedings, the chancellor, his son, and his grandson were sentenced to execution by waist-cutting. Zhaoling’s plea spared other relatives from execution and earned the emperor’s praise for apparent benevolence 40 41.

The First-Rank Tomb

Seeking Guanyin’s Tear to increase her internal force, Zhaoling joined Li Lianhua’s party at Wei Manor under the name Feng Qingtang. She introduced herself as his fiancée despite his lack of agreement. At the banquet, she killed Zhang Qingshi after he stared at her lecherously 41 42.

Inside the First-Rank Tomb, she drugged Li Lianhua and fought Di Feisheng for Guanyin’s Tear. When Li Lianhua began waking, she abandoned the duel, used poisonous smoke to activate Di Feisheng’s parasite, and secured the treasure. She also supplied Ding Yuanzi with a counterfeit Luomo Ding and compelled him to report back to Jiao Liqiao without disclosing her secrets 42 43.

Taking control of judicial affairs

At the Hundred Rivers Courtyard’s sword-viewing gathering, Zhaoling challenged Qiao Wanmian’s public devotion to Li Xiangyi and exposed the Courtyard’s protection of Yun Biqiu. Her forces arrested its four masters, while the Inspection Bureau assumed supervision of its affairs and old cases. She also shattered the displayed Shaoshi Sword, revealing it as a counterfeit 44 45.

Appointed vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review, Zhaoling studied Great Xi’s criminal law and the institution’s operations before ordering retrials of mistaken, arbitrary, or excessively lenient judgments. She applied the law to ministerial families and imperial relatives alike. By the time Shan Gudao moved against the palace, she controlled the Court of Judicial Review, Ministry of Punishments, Ministry of Personnel, and Censorate, with support from more than half the court 46.

Rebellion and designation as heir

Zhaoling and Feng Qing deliberately allowed Shan Gudao’s plans to develop, using him against selected political opponents. During the palace crisis, she attacked the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance and executed Jiao Liqiao and other Nanyin remnants before joining Li Xiangyi and the assembled martial heroes 46 47.

At the palace, she defeated the Three Saints of Futú. Qin Po destroyed Shan Gudao’s Mother Worm using Li Lianhua’s blood and publicly exposed his stolen identity. Feng Qing killed Shan Gudao and staged his own death with a feigned-death pill. The poisoned emperor then named Zhaoling crown princess in recognition of her role in suppressing the rebellion 47.

Marriage and accession

Zhaoling revealed that the emperor was the son of Consort Ying and the Nanyin sorcerer Feng Alu. She argued that marriage to Li Lianhua, a descendant of Prince Fangji, would protect their position if the secret of the emperor’s ancestry emerged 48.

Li Lianhua surrendered the Lethe Flower for the emperor’s treatment but explicitly refused marriage. Zhaoling immobilized him by sealing his acupoints and forced their union. He subsequently awoke cured of Bicha poison and learned that she was pregnant. He later agreed to the marriage because he would not abandon their unborn child 48 49.

After giving birth to twin boys, Zhaoling allowed Li Lianhua to give them his surname and choose their names. Determined that her successor would be female, she spent five years developing a pill to conceive a daughter. Her terminally ill father then passed the throne to her 49.

Reign and abdication

As emperor, Zhaoling reformed the imperial examinations to recruit different kinds of talent, including specialists such as weapons developer Shi Wenjue. She also ended exclusive reverence for Confucianism and encouraged competing schools of thought, violently suppressing opposition to the change 50.

To secure Situ Baye’s succession, she sent her twin sons to Mount Yun Yin immediately after birth and excluded them from the palace until their sister inherited. When her martial cultivation reached a bottleneck, Zhaoling voluntarily abdicated. At Baye’s enthronement, she granted the twins princely titles 50.

Appearance

Zhaoling has youthful, lovely features that acquire an aloof, noble quality under Wen Qiushui’s influence 44.

• Incognito clothing: Vivid red garments and a high ponytail tied with a red ribbon 41.
• Official clothing: Imperial cloud-brocade red robes embroidered with golden phoenixes 44.
• Ornaments: A precious jade crown and valuable but uncomplicated accessories, reflecting her preference for practical dress 44.
• False reputation: Rumors portrayed her as large, burly, and uncouth because Fang Duobing fled their marriage; Feng Qing’s meeting with her contradicted those stories 38.

Personality

Zhaoling pursues power as a safeguard against dependence and vulnerability. She distrusts emotional bonds, regards children as instruments of succession, and values strength above family affection. Her insistence on a female heir stems from fear that a successor could betray her or erase her achievements 46 49.

Despite her reputation for elaborate calculation, she dislikes scheming. Much of her apparent foresight comes from knowledge accumulated through transmigration, access to secrets, and expertise with poison. She prefers overwhelming opponents through strength whenever circumstances permit 46.

Her ruthlessness coexists with administrative diligence. She studies law before intervening in judicial operations and applies legal standards without exempting powerful families. Situ Baye describes her as overbearing, cold, and ruthless, but also exceptionally gifted, fair, and impartial 46 50.

Abilities and Skills

Heavenly Devil Instruction

Her foundational cultivation method rebuilds and improves the body 41.

• Its first level emphasizes cleansing the sinews and marrow rather than generating substantial internal force 41.
• It can circulate automatically, allowing continued progress while she cultivates another art 44.
• Physical reconstruction takes time; experience from previous lives does not remove that limitation 41.

Void Thought Art

A rapid cultivation method obtained during her incarnation as Yueqing, practiced alongside the Heavenly Devil Instruction 41.

• Absorbs other people’s internal force 41 42.
• Compensates for her new body’s initially negligible reserves 41.
• Benefits from the improved physique produced by the Heavenly Devil Instruction 41 44.

Swordsmanship and Lightness Skills

Zhaoling retains combat experience accumulated across many lives 41.

• Creates sword techniques and a lightness skill requiring relatively little internal force 41.
• Uses Ethereal Swordsmanship, a former Kunlun Sect signature art adapted from immortal-cultivation swordsmanship 42.
• Matches Di Feisheng before consuming Guanyin’s Tear despite possessing less internal force 42.
• Initially cannot reach the First-Rank Tomb’s cliff mechanism through lightness skill alone because of insufficient internal power 42.

Poison, Medicine, and Gu

Her pharmaceutical expertise supports combat, interrogation, coercion, and cultivation 38 40 41 49.

• Temporarily suppresses Feng Qing’s internal power without his noticing, despite his expertise in poison and gu 38.
• Prepares interrogation poisons, lethal contact-with-blood poisons, and colorless, odorless knockout drugs 40 41.
• Briefly renders Li Lianhua unconscious despite the poison resistance associated with Bicha 42.
• Uses poisonous smoke and Asura Grass preparations against Di Feisheng 43.
• Cures Li Lianhua’s Bicha poison with a precious medicine whose identity is not disclosed 48 49.
• Develops a pill intended to enable conception of a daughter over five years 49.

Training and Administration

• Recognizes Feng Xiaoduo’s martial aptitude and teaches her a quickly mastered martial art 43.
• Trains Wu Di until her martial arts are no weaker than Yang Yunchun’s 43.
• Builds separate surveillance networks covering the palace and court officials 43.
• Reorganizes judicial oversight and broadens recruitment through examination reform 45 46 50.

Equipment and Items

• Phoenix Token — Carries the authority of the emperor’s personal presence and outranks Yang Yunchun’s Heavenly Dragon Token 40.
• Chaos Pearl — Used to store Guanyin’s Tear after taking it from Consort Xuan’s coffin 43.
• Sword — Used against Shi Shui and Di Feisheng; no weapon name is given 40 42.
• Folding fan — Used to shatter the counterfeit Shaoshi Sword 45.
• Counterfeit Luomo Ding — Prepared in advance and given to Ding Yuanzi; identical in appearance to the original but lacking its child parasite 43.
• Guanyin’s Tear — Retrieved from the First-Rank Tomb and consumed to greatly strengthen her internal force 43 44.

Relationships

• Li Lianhua / Li Xiangyi — Husband and father of her children. Initially a political asset and prospective consort; he refuses her before their coerced union and later accepts marriage for their child’s sake. His attentive care during pregnancy does not signify that he has fallen in love with her 38 48 49.
• The emperor — Father and predecessor. Supports her growing authority, names her heir, and eventually transfers the throne to her; she secretly sterilizes him early in her campaign 39 47 49.
• Situ Baye — Daughter and chosen successor. Fears and admires Zhaoling despite the limited affection between them 50.
• Twin sons — Children with Li Lianhua. Raised away from the palace to protect Baye’s succession and granted princely titles when she takes the throne 49 50.
• Fang Duobing — Original fiancé. His flight provides cover for her changed behavior; her eventual marriage to Li Lianhua frees him from the unwanted match 39 49.
• Feng Qing / Feng Buqi — Recruited through the truth about Nanyin’s royal descendants. Survives his staged death and later commands the Brocade Guard’s right guard 38 47 50.
• Di Feisheng — Opponent turned subordinate. After ten successive defeats, a wager and the chong worm in his brain bind him to her as commander of the Brocade Guard’s left guard 42 43 50.
• Yang Yunchun — Senior subordinate assigned to martial-world affairs. She repeatedly tests his loyalty because of his attachment to Shi Shui 40 43 45.
• Feng Xiaoduo — Former maidservant whom Zhaoling trains and places in charge of palace surveillance; later appointed commander of the palace guards 43 47.
• Wu Di — Former imperial shadow guard, renamed and trained by Zhaoling to monitor court officials 43 46.
• Qin Po — Li Lianhua’s master’s wife. Verifies his ancestry and supports the marriage as protection against the political dangers surrounding his origins 38 47 48 49.

Notable Quotes

“Anyone who stands in my way dies!” 41

“I don't believe in feelings. I even hate them, so naturally I don't know how to develop them.” 43

“Holding great power is better than marrying and bearing children.” 49