NovelPantheon

Cao Ying

Pill Tower disciple, Pill Gathering finalist, and tier-eight alchemistCao clan

Cao Ying is the Cao clan's foremost young alchemist and a personal disciple of Xuan Kong Zi. Her exceptional Spiritual Strength makes her a possible future head of the Pill Tower, while her confidence and playful manner earn her the name “Witch.” The five-clan examination and Pill Gathering establish her as one of Xiao Yan's few true alchemical peers, but the crises surrounding those contests also force her to distinguish reliable allies from admirers who fail under pressure. (Chapters 1124, 1143–1155, 1163–1172, 1185–1204, 1212)

Biography

Cao-clan prodigy and Pill Tower disciple

Cao Ying is marked as extraordinary from birth, when her uncontrolled Spiritual Strength nearly kills her mother. She formally becomes an alchemist at seven, enters the Pill Tower's core training at fifteen, and reaches the seventh tier by twenty. At twenty-two, she approaches the five-clan examination as both the Cao clan's representative and an ambitious candidate for eventual Pill Tower leadership. The reputation does not make her complacent: she studies Dan Chen as a serious rival and immediately identifies Xiao Yan's calmness and middle seventh-tier level as evidence that he may rescue the declining Ye clan. (Chapters 1124, 1143–1144)

The examination gives Cao Ying a direct measure of Xiao Yan. Rather than accept the Cao clan's secure result, she challenges him to a contest of Spiritual Strength and uses the Mysterious Spiritual Palm Imprint to drive him backward. His ability to withstand the attack and begin reading its hand seals delights rather than offends her, because she wants opponents capable of testing her. Their exchange confirms the contrast behind her “Witch” persona: the teasing provocation is deliberate, but the technical judgment beneath it is exact enough to recognize a rival before the wider Pill Gathering does. (Chapters 1144–1148)

Pill Realm and the Pill Gathering

Inside the Pill Realm, Cao Ying first supports a temporary coalition assembled to obtain task ingredients from the Ten Thousand Medicinal Mountain Range. When conflict threatens the group, she argues that competitors should postpone their grudges rather than waste the strength needed against a high-rank Magical Beast. A later Hall of Souls ambush traps the alchemists behind a spiritual barrier; Cao Ying determines that she can break it in three minutes, entrusts Xiao Yan with holding off the Dou Zun who created it, and succeeds before the attackers can close the escape route. Her soul control therefore becomes the group's means of survival, not merely a tournament display. (Chapters 1163–1172)

The escape also changes how Cao Ying judges the men around her. Song Qing abandons her when the pursuing Dou Zun immobilizes her, whereas Xiao Yan risks a valuable puppet to block the attack. Cao Ying does not quietly excuse the betrayal: once outside the Pill Realm, she rejects Song Qing's invitation because she will not be “left behind as a sacrifice” again and chooses Xiao Yan's company instead. Attraction and rivalry both grow from this sharper assessment of character, not simply from Xiao Yan's fame. (Chapters 1171–1172, 1194)

Cao Ying validates her prodigy status at the Pill Gathering by refining a tier-eight medicinal pill whose lightning contains two strong colors and the trace of a third. Xiao Yan's denser three-colored Pill Lightning surpasses hers, and he ultimately wins, but she accepts the result without denying his skill. As a top-ten finisher, she enters the Star Region and helps oppose Hall infiltrators seeking the Three Thousand Burning Flame. When Xiao Yan enters a soul battle with the flame, her concern is practical: she understands that interference could cripple him, tries to stop Old Mu Gu from exploiting the opening, and protests when the elders evacuate her while Xiao Yan remains behind. (Chapters 1185–1193, 1197–1204)

After the Star Region

Cao Ying's latest appearance comes when Yi Chen challenges Xiao Yan after his return from the Star Region. She encourages Xiao Yan, watches the Dou Qi duel closely, and recognizes the Great Blood Agglomeration Skill when Yi Chen uses it to evaporate his own blood for temporary power. Her warning demonstrates that her judgment extends beyond pill refinement into the dangerous methods used by Central Plains factions. She remains a Pill Tower prodigy and ally at this point, but the supplied corpus does not establish her eventual appointment as a Tower head or a later alchemical tier. (Chapter 1212)

Appearance and personality

Cao Ying is a graceful young woman usually dressed in black, with long hair, pale hands, and an exceptionally poised bearing. She often appears relaxed—playing with a jade bead or a strand of hair—while her gaze and smile make other competitors conscious of both her beauty and the power behind it. During the Pill Realm crisis, releasing her Spiritual Strength scatters the ribbon that normally restrains her hair and replaces that languor with concentrated pressure. (Chapters 1143–1144, 1163, 1171)

Confident, ambitious, and deliberately teasing, Cao Ying enjoys unsettling people and testing anyone who interests her. Her pride is rooted in disciplined expertise rather than an inability to recognize talent: she respects Dan Chen, accurately reassesses Xiao Yan, and accepts being surpassed at the Pill Gathering. Betrayal draws a colder response. Song Qing's admiration gives him no claim over her decisions, and she withdraws trust after his conduct proves that his attention will not become courage when she needs it. (Chapters 1143–1148, 1163–1172, 1185–1194)

Abilities and cultivation

Alchemy and exceptional Spiritual Strength

Cao Ying is born with abnormally powerful Spiritual Strength and begins formal alchemy in childhood. Her Pill Tower training develops that gift into refined perception, flame control, and medicinal transformation. During an earlier five-clan examination she sets a Soul Value record of 976; by the Pill Gathering, she can refine a tier-eight pill that attracts two-colored Pill Lightning with a faint third color. The achievement places her above ordinary seventh-tier competitors, although Xiao Yan's stronger three-colored result and eventual championship establish that her contemporary supremacy is not absolute. (Chapters 1124, 1143–1144, 1185–1193)

Her Spiritual Strength also has non-alchemical applications. Cao Ying can study and dismantle a spiritual barrier created under a Dou Zun's authority, but the task requires uninterrupted concentration and roughly three minutes while companions hold off the attacker. This limitation makes the Pill Realm escape a cooperative feat: her technical ability opens the route, while Xiao Yan and the other competitors provide the time she needs. The corpus does not establish a later advancement beyond the tier-eight refinement shown at the Gathering. (Chapters 1171–1172)

Spiritual Handprint

The Spiritual Handprint, also called the Spiritual Seal, is a Xuan-class high-level Soul Skill preserved by the Pill Tower. It uses sequences of hand seals to gather Spiritual Strength into attacks, allowing a practitioner to obtain greater force than an unstructured release of the same power. Cao Ying's Mysterious Spiritual Palm Imprint tears space, breaks the examination floor through the collision's pressure, and forces Xiao Yan backward even though his raw Spiritual Strength is formidable. (Chapters 1148, 1155)

The complete technique contains three seals. Cao Ying demonstrates enough of the first for Xiao Yan to begin imitating its principles, after which Xuan Kong Zi gives him a scroll containing the full sequence. Her later barrier work shows the broader precision behind the technique, but the chapters do not specify the Imprint's energy cost, maximum range, or a Cao Ying-specific upgrade. Its clearest limitation is that skilled opponents can withstand or study it rather than being automatically overwhelmed. (Chapters 1148, 1155, 1171–1172)

Relationships

  • Xuan Kong Zi: Xuan Kong Zi is Cao Ying's teacher and the Pill Tower head overseeing her development. He regards her as a credible Pill Gathering champion and possible successor, while still sharing her Soul Skill with Xiao Yan and judging the contest on merit. (Chapters 1143, 1154–1155, 1185–1193)

  • Xiao Yan: Cao Ying first treats Xiao Yan as an intriguing technical rival, then relies on him during the Pill Realm escape and reassesses him after he returns to save her. Their competition becomes attraction and situational alliance, but the corpus does not establish a formal romantic relationship. (Chapters 1143–1155, 1163–1172, 1185–1204, 1212)

  • Song Qing: Song Qing is a fellow Pill Tower prodigy whose interest in Cao Ying encourages jealousy toward Xiao Yan. Cao Ying cooperates with him during the Pill Realm, but his decision to abandon her during the Dou Zun pursuit destroys her trust and she later refuses his overtures. (Chapters 1154, 1163–1172, 1194)

  • Dan Chen: Cao Ying views Dan Chen as one of the rare alchemists of her generation worth testing. Their competitive exchanges are pointed but grounded in mutual awareness of ability, and both refine tier-eight pills at the Gathering before Xiao Yan surpasses them. (Chapters 1143–1148, 1185–1193, 1197–1204)

Items

No separately cataloged notable item is held by Cao Ying in the supplied evidence. The jade bead she handles and the refining equipment she uses are not given independent narrative identities.