Dignified Old Woman
The Dignified Old Woman is an unnamed Core Formation elder who helps compel Meng Hao to guide the State of Zhao expedition into Patriarch Reliance's meditation zone. She is the first Core cultivator consumed when the Patriarch closes his trap.
Biography
Coercing a guide
She arrives among six Core Formation experts surrounding Meng Hao. When he insists willing cooperation is necessary, she refuses his demand that Liu Daoyun be killed but offers one hundred thousand Spirit Stones in advance. She then supplies a centipede-marked poison pill to enforce obedience. Her warning cough later prevents Cold Wind elders from interrupting Meng Hao's private fight with Liu, honoring the negotiated space without granting his original demand. (Chapters 77–79)
Scripture fragment and death
Inside the meditation zone, she immediately recognizes that the displayed Sublime Spirit Scripture is incomplete. She combines river and mountain manifestations with her three-colored Core to break a shield and seize one stele fragment. When Patriarch Reliance emerges, she correctly flees rather than contest him. His giant hand crushes her anyway, extracts her Core, and uses it to ignite the first demonic lamp. (Chapters 81–82)
Appearance and personality
She is noble-looking and dignified, with a husky voice. Her negotiations are composed and pragmatic, while her recognition of the incomplete scripture shows experience. She is exploitative toward Meng Hao but keeps the expedition's immediate bargain once made.
Abilities and cultivation
Three-colored mixed Core
Her Core supplies true Core Formation power but contains three colors, indicating mixed quality. It drives techniques far beyond Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment, yet becomes usable fuel once Patriarch Reliance overpowers her.
Silver river and mountain arts
She manifests a frigid silver river containing wailing-soul imagery and a mountain-like force associated with stars. Used together, they break the protection around a scripture stele. The arts are powerful siege techniques, not defenses against a trapped Nascent Soul patriarch.
Poison enforcement
The centipede pill provides delayed coercion rather than immediate combat damage. It works only because Meng Hao accepts it to preserve the negotiation; the source does not show the woman remotely activating it before her death.
Relationships
- Meng Hao: Paid, poisoned guide whose conditions she partly respects.
- Liu Daoyun: Cultivator she initially protects institutionally but later allows Meng Hao to fight.
- Patriarch Reliance: Treasure-holder who kills her and converts her Core into lamp fuel.
Items
- Centipede-marked poison pill: One of the poisons forced upon Meng Hao.
- Three-colored Core: Cultivation center later used in Patriarch Reliance's first demonic lamp.