Patriarch Rubicund
Patriarch Rubicund is the Sky High Sect Patriarch and the most frenzied pursuer after Meng Hao's auction robbery.
Biography
The stolen auction fortunes
After Meng Hao steals the pursuers' auction wealth, Patriarch Rubicund becomes the most frenzied of the three sect leaders hunting him. The rubicund old man takes the lead, quivering with rage over his lost Spirit Stones and promising to pursue Meng Hao to the ends of the earth. When distance opens between them, he uses a technique that turns his face purplish black and multiplies his speed, nearly closing the gap before the region's fierce winds slow him again. His motive is less abstract sect honor than the painful loss of his fortune. (Chapters 333–334)
Assault on the Immortal's cave
At Meng Hao's cave, the parrot's formation turns the chase into a siege. Rubicund orders a mid Core Formation subordinate forward while he and Patriarch Pockmarks hold back, but the strange formation and its casualties introduce fear into their confidence. When Patriarch Big-head prepares his Hellfire technique, Rubicund and Pockmarks transmit cultivation power into him. The combined attack contributes to the cave's destruction, yet the confrontation ends with Meng Hao breaking through and the pursuers scattered by the resulting Tribulation. (Chapters 335–336)
Blood-incarnation pursuit
Rubicund flees with only forty to fifty percent of his cultivation available. His bag is empty, leaving no pills or magical items with which to recover, but even then his plan is to hide, heal, and recruit stronger cultivators by advertising Meng Hao's pillcraft. Meng Hao sends a Blood Clone merged with Demonic qi after him. Rubicund evades the first killing beam, but the incarnation's invisible pressure and uncertain nature fill him with dread. When it speaks in Meng Hao's voice and repeats his own boast about pursuit, he realizes the reversal. Surrounded by the clone and more than fifty formation-linked cultivators, he is left in despair; the supplied scene ends before an explicit final fate is stated. (Chapter 340)
Appearance and personality
He is a rubicund old man whose whole body shakes when enraged. He is greedy, vindictive, and prone to extravagant threats, with the loss of Spirit Stones driving him into greater fury than his fellow patriarchs. Danger reveals a more calculating instinct: he lets subordinates test the formation, cooperates with stronger allies, dodges when warned by crisis-sense, and immediately plans a future proxy campaign. His regret concerns failed expectations rather than the attack itself.
Abilities and cultivation
Rubicund is a Nascent Soul patriarch with sect authority, pursuit techniques, and enough cultivation to reinforce another patriarch's attack.
Pursuit technique
An unnamed technique changes his face to a purplish-black color and increases his speed severalfold. It allows him to begin closing a substantial gap with Meng Hao, but adverse winds reduce the advantage and his prey escapes immediate capture. The text does not specify the technique's cost. (Chapter 334)
Cultivation transfer and command
He can send cultivation power into Patriarch Big-head, helping fuel the latter's Hellfire formation-breaking strike. Rubicund also commands mid Core Formation subordinates and a larger Sky High Sect contingent. Both capabilities depend on cooperation: the Hellfire is Big-head's technique, and Rubicund does not personally solve the parrot's formation. (Chapters 335–336)
Nascent Soul perception and survival
Even badly injured and reduced to half power, he senses the Blood Clone's first attack in time to veer aside. He cannot read the incarnation's cultivation or determine whether it is a puppet or etheric body, which strips away his confidence. His empty bag and lack of recovery resources become decisive limitations after the siege. (Chapter 340)
Relationships
- Meng Hao: Target of his pursuit and eventual defeater.
- Patriarch Big-head: Fellow pursuer and leader of the Hellfire attack.
- Patriarch Pockmarks: Fellow sect patriarch in the assault.
Items
- No independently notable item within the finalized manifest is directly assigned to this character.